Tang Mu

"Look, Junior Brother Tang Mu is here!"

"Is that him? That genius with Superior Bone Aptitude!"

"He looked so ordinary, yet his talent was so terrifying..."

At that moment, a wave of commotion rose up.

A dark-skinned, plainly dressed youth arrived, surrounded by a crowd of disciples.

Watched by everyone in the dining hall, the youth was clearly somewhat at a loss. He instinctively moved to line up for coarse-flour steamed buns.

"Junior Brother Tang, I'll treat you to a meal."

A graceful, lovely figure came to Tang Mu's side.

That person was none other than the flower of the Outer Courtyard, Wang Qingzhu.

The formerly aloof and reserved Wang Qingzhu seemed like a different person now. Not only was she smiling brightly like a blooming flower, she also naturally took hold of Tang Mu's arm.

"S-Senior Sister..."

Tang Mu had already been at a loss, and Wang Qingzhu's intimate gesture made his entire body stiffen. His face turned as red as a monkey's backside.

Seeing Tang Mu's reaction, Wang Qingzhu's lips curled slightly.

She only had Ordinary Bone Aptitude, and her Lineage had never placed any hopes on her. The only reason they had sent her to the martial academy was for her to hook a golden turtle son-in-law.

Unfortunately.

The Outer Courtyard disciples had ordinary aptitude and could not catch her eye.

The Inner Courtyard disciples, meanwhile, were too proud and lofty to take her bait at all.

Now, among the newly admitted disciples, there was unexpectedly a peerless genius with Superior Bone Aptitude. Naturally, she would pull out all the stops to win him over.

"So this was how geniuses were treated."

Seeing that scene, Luo Yang became even more envious.

Was this still the same cold and distant courtyard flower from before?

She was practically more of a bootlicker than Jiang Chen had ever been.

At that thought, Luo Yang could not help glancing at Jiang Chen.

Though Jiang Chen's behavior recently seemed to show that he had truly let go of Wang Qingzhu, he had still fawned over her for more than half a year.

Seeing a scene like this now, he was probably feeling pretty miserable inside.

After all, from beginning to end, Jiang Chen had not even touched Wang Qingzhu's hand on his own initiative, much less received such intimate treatment.

"Didn't this junior brother have Superior Bone Aptitude? Why hadn't he gone to the Inner Courtyard?"

Jiang Chen's attention was not on Wang Qingzhu at all.

According to the martial academy's rules, there were only two paths for Outer Courtyard disciples to enter the Inner Courtyard.

The first was to pass the Three Qi and Blood Gates within one year and show the potential to challenge the True Martial Realm.

The second was to possess sufficiently outstanding talent.

Logically speaking.

With the talent of Superior Bone Aptitude, not only should he have entered the Inner Courtyard, it would not have been excessive for the academy master to take him as a personal disciple and have the Zhou Clan focus on nurturing him.

"Yeah, why was he still in the Outer Courtyard?"

Luo Yang came to his senses as well and looked at Tang Mu, who seemed like a puppet on strings.

Could the rumors have been wrong? Was Tang Mu not actually of Superior Bone Aptitude?

That should not have been the case either.

Wang Qingzhu had always been extremely proud and had never shown an Outer Courtyard disciple a smiling face.

Yet she was being so intimate with Tang Mu now. It could only be because of Tang Mu's talent.

"From the looks of it, he was probably only suspected to have Superior Bone Aptitude. The exact conclusion about his bone aptitude will still depend on his cultivation speed later on."

Jiang Chen spoke.

For such a huge stir to arise, Tang Mu's talent should not be poor. It only remained to be seen what level it would reach.

Even taking a step back, if Tang Mu merely had Medium Bone Aptitude, he would probably still be enough to look down on the entire martial academy.

One had to know that even among those with Medium Bone Aptitude, there were distinctions of high and low.

"Tell me, we're all human, so why was the gap so huge?"

Luo Yang sighed.

Ever since entering the martial academy, he had not relaxed in the slightest.

Even so, it had taken him nearly two months to successfully condense martial Blood Qi.

Compared with Tang Mu, that was simply one in the sky and one underground.

The gap was so vast it drove people to despair.

"If you put it that way, what were those without any bone aptitude supposed to think?"

Jiang Chen said with a smile.

Tang Mu's martial talent was indeed exceptional enough to leave them seventeen or eighteen streets behind, but Jiang Chen had not been shaken in the slightest.

Because the Myriad Dao Chart gave him sufficient confidence.

It was still the same saying.

With the Myriad Dao Chart's assistance, he would sooner or later stand at the peak of martial arts. There was no need to compete with others over momentary superiority.

What he needed to do now was cultivate diligently and enter the True Martial Realm as soon as possible.

He would strive to secure a good ranking in the year-end Martial Exam.

"Junior Brother Tang."

At that moment, a clear voice rang out.

Everyone in the dining hall turned toward the sound.

One imposing figure after another arrived.

"Senior Sister Zhou!"

"Senior Brother Zhao!"

"Junior Brother Jiang!"

The beautiful figure at the front was none other than the academy master's daughter, Zhou Yuqing.

The people behind Zhou Yuqing were all Inner Courtyard disciples.

Either they had hopes of entering the True Martial Realm.

Or they had already entered the True Martial Realm.

Clearly, news of Tang Mu had already reached the Inner Courtyard.

The previously noisy dining hall immediately fell silent.

So many Inner Courtyard disciples coming to the Outer Courtyard dining hall was something that had never happened before.

"Senior Sister Zhou and Junior Sister Wang were both beauties chosen from ten thousand!"

Quite a few martial academy disciples secretly compared the academy's two flowers.

Both were rare beauties, but their bearing was different.

Wang Qingzhu was delicate and dazzling, while Zhou Yuqing was valiant and confident.

Each possessed her own charm, making it impossible to look away.

"Senior Sister Zhou, Senior Brother Zhao, Senior Brother Jiang..."

Tang Mu, whose face was still flushed from Wang Qingzhu's intimate behavior, hurriedly stood up.

"Junior Brother Tang, after you finish eating, come with me to the Inner Courtyard so we can test your bone aptitude again."

Wang Qingzhu smiled as she spoke, revealing her purpose.

For ordinary disciples, bone aptitude testing was usually handled by Sun Wu.

But in Tang Mu's case, he had to go to the Inner Courtyard for her father to personally conduct the test.

She was also quite curious whether Tang Mu truly possessed Superior Bone Aptitude.

"Superior Bone Aptitude..."

Zhao Kuo, Jiang Xuan, and the others who had come with them sized Tang Mu up.

Once the news of Superior Bone Aptitude spread, the entire Inner Courtyard had been stirred.

At present, the martial academy's most talented person was the personal disciple Meng Wentao.

But even Meng Wentao only had Medium Bone Aptitude.

Naturally, they were curious just what height Superior Bone Aptitude could reach.

"I-I'm done eating."

Seeing this, Tang Mu wolfed down his food in a few quick bites.

"Then let's go."

Zhou Yuqing turned around with a smile.

She did not care in the slightest about Wang Qingzhu and the others who were so eager to attach themselves to him.

In the martial world, strength came first and talent came second.

As for beauty, its only value was for marriage alliances.

The Wang Clan clearly wanted to use Wang Qingzhu to win Tang Mu over, but with the Zhou Clan present, they naturally would not allow such a thing to happen.

Even if there was to be a marriage alliance, it should be with someone from the Zhou Clan. It was not yet an outsider's turn to snatch food from their bowl.

This was also the core reason why the Zhou Clan had established the martial academy.

"Damn it!"

Watching Tang Mu leave closely behind the Inner Courtyard disciples, Wang Qingzhu clenched her fists tightly, deeply unwilling to accept it.

If she had only been given a little more time, she could have completely won Tang Mu over.

Now that Zhou Yuqing had taken him away, she had no confidence at all in fighting for him.

That was right, before Zhou Yuqing, she had no confidence whatsoever.

Her greatest trump card was her looks and figure.

Zhou Yuqing's confidence, however, came from her martial talent.

One was a vase, while the other was a powerhouse.

There was an essential difference between the two.

"I never expected Senior Sister Zhou to personally come and receive Tang Mu."

"It seemed Junior Brother Tang's bone aptitude really was of the highest grade."

"In just three days, he successfully condensed martial Blood Qi. With such terrifying cultivation speed, even if he didn't have Superior Bone Aptitude, he still had the very best Medium Bone Aptitude."

"Before long, Junior Brother Tang would probably become the number one person in the martial academy."

After the Inner Courtyard disciples left, the dining hall disciples continued discussing it fervently.

"Cultivate."

Jiang Chen did not join the martial academy disciples' discussion.

After lunch, he went to a quiet corner and sat cross-legged to regulate his breathing.

Huff!

Two hours passed, and it was roughly the middle of the ninth hour. His cultivation session ended.

Neither the Myriad Dao Chart nor the First Aperture had changed in any way.

Clearly, if he wanted to break through, he still needed the help of medicinal pills.

"Go home and get money."

After packing his belongings, Jiang Chen quickly left the martial academy.

To guard against another ambush, he kept Soul Seal Perception activated the entire way.

Although it continuously consumed the Soul Seal's energy, it greatly guaranteed his safety.

If anyone attacked him again, no matter how well they concealed their ambush, he would be able to sense it easily.

As for the consumption of Soul Seal energy, he did not need to worry about that.

After exploring it over the past few days, he had discovered that the Soul Seal could automatically restore its energy.

Simply put, even if its energy was completely depleted, the Soul Seal would recover after one night of sleep.

Nothing happened along the way, and he returned home safely.