Zeng Anmin did not care in the slightest about the evaluation of his poem.
What he cared about more now were the three Qi Guiding Diagrams he had obtained from Nan.
"There are three diagrams in total."
"Each one can guide qi into the body."
After Zeng Anmin withdrew from the Sea of Consciousness Space, a sharp gleam flashed in his eyes.
The three diagrams Nan had given him all depicted extremely twisted poses.
Fortunately, the academy-assigned quarters were spacious enough, and Qi Dachun did not dare share a room with Zeng Anmin.
His privacy was therefore guaranteed.
Frowning, he tried to assume the pose shown in the first diagram.
"Achy, painful..."
Though it did not feel particularly comfortable.
Fortunately, this body was only sixteen, with excellent flexibility.
Even though it was somewhat agonizing, he barely managed to strike the pose.
"Sense the spiritual qi drifting between heaven and earth."
When Nan gave him the diagrams, she had also provided the corresponding breathing method.
Zeng Anmin closed his eyes and, in that horribly awkward pose, began trying to sense it...
As his breathing grew steadier and steadier.
"Phew~"
Before long, Zeng Anmin keenly noticed that with the Sea of Consciousness aiding him, he could easily perceive the drifting aura in the air.
The Sea of Consciousness Space had given him sharper six senses.
Gradually, his state improved more and more.
Almost as soon as he entered a meditative state, he felt a warm current sweep through his body.
"Phew~"
Zeng Anmin did not dare slack off and continued circulating the breathing method.
"Pop~"
As an indistinct sound rang out from within his body.
Zeng Anmin abruptly opened his eyes!
"This is..."
He stopped maintaining that awkward pose, stood up, closed his eyes, and carefully sensed it.
The Sea of Consciousness the Dragon Survey Map had helped him open up now revealed its use.
He swiftly caught hold of the waves of warmth drifting through the air.
With the slightest movement of his mind, those auras gathered into his body.
He had entered the ranks just like that?!!
The next moment.
The Golden Finger panel flashed into view before his eyes:
Congratulations on breaking through a rank Martial Arts Entries loaded Please choose one of the following three Martial Arts Entries. (Prismatic) High-End Power: Your Martial Arts Combat Power is one rank higher than your Martial Arts Realm. (Prismatic) Martial Arts Advancement: You cannot independently improve your Martial Arts Realm, but for the first three years, you gain one Martial Arts Realm rank each year; afterward, one rank every ten years; after that, one rank every hundred years. (Prismatic) Featherweight Three: When cultivating Martial Arts Techniques, your progress speed increases by forty percent. Note: Entries not selected will permanently disappear. Countdown: 30, 29, 28...
?
Holy shit?
Awesome!!!
The three entries left Zeng Anmin dazzled.
There was no need to mention the first one—it was an entry at the level of a Causal Weapon!!
The least effort for the greatest improvement!
The second... in a mere three hundred and thirty-three years, he could rise from an ordinary mortal body to the realm of a Martial Saint, one of the few who could be counted on one's fingers!!
It was utterly outrageous!
As for the third... with the first two pearls and jade before it, the third seemed somewhat mediocre.
Zeng Anmin took a deep breath. He had already made his decision.
First, eliminate Featherweight Three.
It did not look that good. Setting everything else aside, Martial Arts cultivators with good talent were already several times faster than ordinary cultivators.
As for Martial Arts Advancement and High-End Power...
To be honest, Zeng Anmin found it truly difficult to choose between them.
However, at the very instant the selection time was about to end, he had made up his mind.
High-End Power!
Zeng Anmin's gaze was exceptionally resolute.
With a Causal Weapon, there was no need to consider anything else!
Once he completed his choice, the panel vanished.
Immediately afterward, he felt an extraordinarily dramatic change take place in his body.
His muscles emerged bit by bit...
The lines of his body became smoother bit by bit as well.
"Crackle, crackle~"
Zeng Anmin's body underwent an unprecedented transformation.
He had only just broken through to become a Ninth-rank Martial Artist.
Yet his current combat power had already reached... the eighth rank!!
Inside his body, that warm current suddenly swelled. After completing a full circuit through his body, it slowly gathered in his abdomen, endlessly absorbing the spiritual qi between heaven and earth like a vortex and nourishing his body.
"Eighth-rank Martial Arts!!"
Zeng Anmin thoughtfully sensed his own body.
No dantian had been opened within his abdomen.
That also meant he was not truly in the eighth-rank realm.
But... Zeng Anmin slowly extended a hand.
A dense Martial Arts Aura swirled around his hand.
Yet the method was exactly the same as that of an Eighth-rank Breath Nurturing Realm martial artist!
"So once I open my dantian... I'll directly possess the methods of the Seventh-rank Visualization Realm..."
Sure enough, anything produced by the system was bound to be top-quality!!
Zeng Anmin had not expected it to be this wonderful!
The first time the system appeared, the three entries had been silver.
The second time had been after he entered the ninth rank in the Confucian Path, and those entries had also been silver.
But the third time, with his Martial Arts breakthrough, they were prismatic.
There were two possibilities.
First, the entries appeared at random.
Second, the system might favor Martial Arts more and wanted him to improve his Martial Arts progress first through this method...
Thinking of this, Zeng Anmin felt a surge of frustration.
My father was a renowned Great Scholar throughout the Nine Prefectures Under Heaven!
Why did it insist on making me into some Crude Martial Artist?
Why not pour all the classics from my previous life into my mind?
Help me become a Confucian Sage of One Side—wouldn't that be wonderful?
At the academy.
The instructor had not yet arrived.
Quite a few students were already seated and waiting.
Taking advantage of the time, Zeng Anmin chatted with Qi Dachun by the roadside for a while.
"How has Young Master been progressing at the academy these days?"
Qi Dachun looked at Zeng Anmin with his simple, honest face, then stuffed the flatbread in his hand, larger than his face, into his mouth in one bite.
Breathing in the fresh air, Zeng Anmin felt utterly refreshed.
"I've learned quite a few principles. Naturally, they're extremely useful."
"Hm?" Qi Dachun's eyes lit up. He then rubbed his hands together and asked, "Tell me some too? Then I'll have something to report to my dad when I go back."
Hearing that, a wicked grin appeared on Zeng Anmin's lips.
"You wouldn't understand the principles I've learned even if I told you, but I can teach you something else."
Qi Dachun immediately became solemn. "What is it?"
"Listen carefully." Zeng Anmin explained to Qi Dachun with a perfectly serious expression.
"'Hear the Way in the morning, and die in the evening without regret.' You don't understand that sentence, do you?"
Qi Dachun nodded repeatedly. "I really don't!"
Zeng Anmin chuckled. "It's actually very simple. It means that if I learn the way to your house in the morning, I'll beat you to death that night."
This was way too much to his taste!
Qi Dachun felt as though he had been struck by lightning, his whole body feeling indescribably good.
"Young Master's talent is beyond me!!"
Seeing that the effect was good, Zeng Anmin continued, "'While one's parents are alive, one does not travel far; if one travels, one must have a destination!'"
Qi Dachun said nothing at all, merely clasping his hands and bowing, putting on an exceptionally respectful posture.
"Your parents are still alive, so you can't run far. And if you do run, they'll definitely have a way to catch you."
"Good, good, good!! Simple and clear! Young Master is immensely talented!! A Confucian Sage reincarnated!"
Qi Dachun practically wanted to clap both hands together.
Zeng Anmin increased his output. "'To learn without thinking is bewilderment; to think without learning is peril.'"
"If you learn my martial arts but not my ideas, you'll be lost. If you learn my ideas but not my martial arts, you'll be beaten to death!"
"Zeng Anmin!!"
The instructor's stern voice rang out from behind Zeng Anmin.
"To think such words insulting to refinement could come from your mouth!!"
There was even a trace of disbelief in his voice.
It was like a teacher from his previous life seeing one of his model students, excellent in both character and academics, suddenly smoking and drinking with a group of yellow-haired delinquents one day...
Clearly, he had never imagined that Zeng Anmin, in whom he had placed such high hopes, would be so frivolous and unruly...
Hearing that exasperated voice, the wicked grin on Zeng Anmin's face froze.
"Today, you will stand through the lesson as punishment, and you are not allowed to eat!"
Before you continue