"Watching Wang Tong practice Wind Splitting Leg has been highly beneficial. Training speed multiplied by five!"
Sure enough, when Lu Chong followed Wang Tong in practicing Wind Splitting Leg, the system notification appeared again.
However, after Wind Splitting Leg reached Small Accomplishment, its automatic training speed had dropped to 1% per hour. After multiplying it by five, that made it 32% per hour.
"I don't think I'll quite reach Great Accomplishment today."
An hour later, Lu Chong's Wind Splitting Leg progress had reached 68% of Small Accomplishment.
He was still a little short of Great Accomplishment, but he wasn't in a hurry. With the Head Teacher giving him special instruction, his progress would be rapid anyway.
Even so, Head Teacher Wang Tong was astonished again and again. It wasn't until Lu Chong left that he murmured in a daze, "Could that kid already be close to Great Accomplishment?"
"In just a few hours, he's covered the ground that took me more than a year back then. Is this really the difference between a genius and an ordinary person?"
Lu Chong had no idea what his Head Teacher was thinking. He hurried out of school, ready to make some money at Lou Qingqing's house.
But as soon as he left the school gates, someone stepped in front of him.
"Zhao Longfei? What does he want with me?" Lu Chong recognized the person and wondered to himself.
"Lu Chong." Zhao Longfei came up to him, as arrogant as ever. "Come with me. Someone wants to see you."
Lu Chong didn't take offense at his rude manner. He simply replied calmly, "I've got something to do. Whatever it is, we can talk at school tomorrow."
As he spoke, Lu Chong headed toward the luxury van from Lou Qingqing's family. Zhao Longfei shifted to block his way again.
"You'd better think carefully before you answer. I, Zhao Longfei, am here to invite you to work as a private instructor at the Xiang Clan Martial Arts Hall."
"It's a great opportunity to improve your life. Don't be ungrateful." Zhao Longfei spoke as though he were doing Lu Chong a favor, as if he really were helping a fellow student.
Lu Chong couldn't help laughing. It wasn't every day you saw someone invite people like that.
"Then I can tell you right now: I'm not interested." With that, Lu Chong deftly used Nine-Shadow Step and slipped past him.
What a joke. Did Zhao Longfei really think he was somebody? Lu Chong wasn't going to indulge a student who acted so high and mighty.
As for the private instructor job at the Xiang Clan Martial Arts Hall, it might have something to do with Xiang Yueya. So what? With that attitude, it didn't matter who was behind it.
By comparison, Lou Qingqing, a low-key and polite heiress, was far easier to get along with.
Zhao Longfei was stunned. No student at Yuncheng First High School had ever dared to disregard him like that.
Besides, Xiang Yueya had entrusted this task to him. How could he mess it up?
"Lu Chong." Zhao Longfei didn't lower himself by chasing after him. Instead, he threatened him coldly, "I'll give you one night to think it over. Come find me at school tomorrow."
"Otherwise, you'll find out what happens." After delivering his icy warning, Zhao Longfei turned and walked off with a flourish.
He was sure that once the kid, whose reputation was just beginning to grow, thought it through, he'd know what to do.
"What an idiot."
Muttering to himself, Lu Chong ducked into the alley where the vehicles were parked and climbed into Lou Qingqing's van.
With a rich young lady like her around, he couldn't be bothered to work as an instructor at a martial arts hall. Even a high-level private instructor couldn't earn as much as he did.
Besides, he genuinely didn't have any spare time right now.
After spending a little over an hour at Lou Qingqing's family estate, Lu Chong returned home with another four thousand yuan.
It was worth mentioning that with a sparring partner who had mastered two Martial Skills to Perfection, Lou Qingqing was indeed making good progress.
With Lu Chong's current eye for such things, he judged that Lou Qingqing would most likely achieve Microscopic in both Martial Skills within a week.
"I've earned this money fair and square."
Back home, Lu Chong didn't rush to practice Qi Absorbing Art. Instead, he opened his phone and went to the official Martial Arts Mall.
It sold all sorts of things that martial artists needed, including martial arts passed down to the general public, nutritional supplements of various grades, materials harvested from Exotic Beasts, and rare flowers, plants, and medicinal herbs gathered in the wild.
There were even videos of powerful martial artists practicing and fighting, which people could pay to watch.
Lu Chong had tried watching the videos before, but they hadn't affected his training speed. At most, they'd broadened his horizons.
From what he'd figured out, it only worked when someone personally taught him or when he fought someone face-to-face.
Lu Chong had a specific reason for visiting the Martial Arts Mall now.
The school's nutritional supplements were already more than enough.
But to practice the Golden Cicada Robe taught to him by the Old Principal, he had to buy the required body-refining materials himself.
"Found them. The essence blood of a Level 2 Blade-Winged Golden Cicada, and the Level 2 medicinal herb Phoenix Tail Grass. They've got both."
Lu Chong's eyes quickly lit up when he found what he was looking for.
Practicing Golden Cicada Robe required these two materials. Mixed in the right proportions, they made a medicinal bath. Soaking in it would let him practice Golden Cicada Robe.
But when Lu Chong saw the price, he couldn't help drawing a sharp breath, despite having prepared himself for it.
"A single drop of Blade-Winged Golden Cicada essence blood costs two thousand."
"One stalk of Phoenix Tail Grass costs one thousand."
Lu Chong felt a pang of regret. To prepare one medicinal bath, he needed one drop of cicada essence blood and three stalks of Phoenix Tail Grass.
That came to five thousand.
The martial arts inheritance said that one bath could last for many days.
But with his cheat, Lu Chong didn't think he'd need that long.
"Forget it. I'll buy one batch and see how it goes."
Lu Chong gritted his teeth and spent five thousand yuan on an online order.
With that single careless click, his assets as a newly minted ten-thousand-yuan man had been cut in half.
"At least I don't have to worry about food or clothes now, and the school provides nutritional supplements. Otherwise, I'd be bankrupt in no time." Lu Chong sighed.
While waiting for the delivery, he couldn't help browsing the other products. Their prices made his heart race.
It wasn't until he saw that a low-grade Martial Skill cost over thirty thousand, a middle-grade one over eighty thousand, and a high-grade Body-Refining Martial Skill more than two hundred thousand that he finally grinned.
"I guess that counts as an intangible asset I've earned from the school."
Half an hour later, the doorbell rang.
"Hello. Your order from the Martial Arts Mall has arrived."
The delivery person's voice came from outside.
"That was fast!"
Lu Chong paused in surprise, then excitedly opened the door and collected his package.
"Now let's see how quickly I can practice this Body-Refining Martial Art."
Lu Chong opened the package and started preparing the medicinal bath himself.
Another half an hour later, Lu Chong carefully lowered himself into the bathtub.
The water had turned a fiery red, like a pool of red wine wreathed in flames.
Ding!
Just then, a system notification sounded in Lu Chong's mind.
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