Passing the Torch

That afternoon, No. 1 Training Hall was much emptier. Most of the sprint class students had already left, either going home to cultivate on their own or handling personal matters.

Xu Wuyi did not leave. He lay down once more inside the silver access pod that belonged to him.

The hatch closed, and his consciousness sank under the wrap of flowing data. The next moment, he was standing in the noisy public lobby of Star Martial Battle Net.

Without the slightest hesitation, he directly opened the system interface and chose matchmaking for the "Beginner Arena."

[Matching you with an opponent of similar strength... Match successful!]

[Transferring to Newbie Arena No. 8858.]

Light and shadow flickered, and Xu Wuyi's figure appeared on the familiar square arena.

His opponent across from him was a stocky boy with a wary expression. His ID displayed: [Yingang No. 1 High School - Zhao Meng].

Xu Wuyi did not know him, but he knew Yingang No. 1 High School.

Yingang City and Honghe City were both in Dongjiang Province, and they were very close, almost right next to each other. They often had exchanges as well.

Normally, an ID only displayed a name, but if users were willing, they could also add similar prefix tags to indicate their identity.

Of course, such tags had to be certified by the battle net and could not be faked.

Xu Wuyi withdrew his thoughts. The instant the system prompt fell, the battle had already begun.

Zhao Meng let out a low roar, his qi and blood surging. He used the wide, sweeping D-rank fist art Wild Ox Fist, and as his fists swung, they carried a brutish momentum straight toward Xu Wuyi.

Xu Wuyi's gaze was calm. Mountain Moving Method quietly circulated, and his mind was as still as an ancient well.

His steps were steady, and he responded with the foundation of the Basic Body Tempering Method, either blocking or dodging, dissolving the opponent's fierce offensive one move at a time.

Zhao Meng's level was utterly ordinary. Forget comparing him to Zeng Bonan or Hu Haobo—even Liu Jing was far beyond him. At most, he was only a little stronger than Wang Yunze.

Facing an opponent like this, an ordinary student from a sprint class, Xu Wuyi no longer pursued the ultimate defensive counterattack.

He deliberately controlled the tempo, trying to sense the subtle changes in his qi and blood under different attack angles and levels of force.

To put it plainly, he was using Zhao Meng to practice his moves.

Both sides' life energy levels had been adjusted to 10.0, but before Xu Wuyi's increasingly seamless defense, Zhao Meng's attacks were like waves striking a reef. They seemed fierce, yet could hardly pose any real threat.

Three minutes later, Xu Wuyi felt somewhat bored. Then he caught the stiffness in Zhao Meng's body during a breath change and threw out a seemingly ordinary straight punch, piercing through the gap in the opponent's fist momentum and landing on his chest.

Bang!

Zhao Meng's figure flew backward, then broke apart and vanished.

[Winner: Xu Wuyi!]

After exiting the arena, Xu Wuyi did not rest. He immediately began the next match.

In the second match, his opponent was an agile woman skilled in leg techniques, her attacks coming like a storm.

She looked very mature, unlike a student. She should have been a martial artist who had already entered society.

Xu Wuyi adjusted his strategy. He no longer held his ground completely, but instead paired small movements with blocks, training his reaction speed and eyesight under high-speed attacks.

Five minutes later, he felt he had gained a little from it and no longer continued tangling with her.

He seized the chance when she landed unsteadily after a high kick, swept her down with a swift leg sweep, then followed up with a punch to end the battle.

With his current level, catching the flaws of opponents at this standard was simply as easy as turning over his hand.

The third match, the fourth match...

Xu Wuyi immersed himself in the virtual battles. After cultivating Mountain Moving Method to the second level, the mental advantage it brought began to show.

After continuous high-intensity battles, his mind was still able to remain highly focused, and he did not feel the unbearable fatigue he used to.

The amount of time he could continuously spend in real combat on the battle net each day was also growing longer and longer.

His combat experience was accumulating at high speed as well. At first, he had needed full concentration just to respond, but later, he gradually became able to spare attention to observe his opponents' flaws and habits. His progress was visible to the naked eye.

No wonder people said that if one wanted a high score in the practical combat portion of the college entrance exam, they were basically all candidates with life energy levels above 10.0.

The experiential advantage brought by Star Martial Battle Net was simply too great.

Xu Wuyi felt that if he fought his pre-winter-break self now, even with the same life energy level, he could easily take himself down within three moves.

When he once again blasted an opponent out of the arena with a simple and effective punch, a communication request popped up in his field of vision. The initiator—Wang Wenhai.

Xu Wuyi was slightly startled and immediately chose to accept, while also exiting the matchmaking queue.

[Wang Wenhai invites you to his personal space.]

He chose to teleport, and the scenery around him instantly changed.

The noisy Public Combat Zone disappeared, replaced by a training room so simple it was almost empty.

The four walls were made of some kind of matte metal material, and only Wang Wenhai stood in the center.

"Teacher Wang."

Hearing Xu Wuyi's voice, Wang Wenhai turned around and looked him over a few times. A hint of satisfaction appeared on his face. "Looks like the battle net matches have worked well. Your aura has condensed quite a bit... Your Basic Body Tempering Method has reached minor mastery?"

In Xu Wuyi's fight against Liu Jing, he had not deliberately hidden his fist art, only refrained from displaying his martial true intent.

If Liu Zhenwu could tell his level, then Wang Wenhai, who was even more familiar with Xu Wuyi, naturally could tell as well.

"Yes. I broke through just before winter break ended," Xu Wuyi said with a nod.

"Good. Looks like the fundamentals route suits you. Don't rush, don't get impatient, and keep it up." Wang Wenhai nodded, then got to the point. "I called you here to talk about your training plan going forward."

"You should already know about the top-tier resources for the sprint class: an allowance of one hundred thousand Federal Credits every half month."

Xu Wuyi nodded without saying anything, but the number still sent a faint heat through his heart.

One hundred thousand Federal Credits was a huge sum to him, enough to buy twenty standard E-rank Blood Energy Potions.

And this was only the resource allowance the school provided for half a month. With six months left until the college entrance exam, if he stayed in the top three the entire time, that would be equivalent to receiving 1.2 million in support.

And that was just for him alone. For the entire sprint class, the resources the school invested had to be an enormous sum of at least ten or twenty million.

"Does it feel like a bit much?" Wang Wenhai suddenly asked with a smile when he saw his expression.

Xu Wuyi froze for a moment, then hesitated before answering honestly, "Yes. If I don't get into the Three Greats or Seven Stars, I'll feel like I've let down resources like this."

"Don't put pressure on yourself." Wang Wenhai patted his shoulder. "The reason the school is willing to invest so much, and even form a convention like the 'sprint class,' isn't only to aim for famous schools."

"If students can get into famous schools, the school certainly benefits, but that benefit clearly isn't proportional to the investment. What matters more is investing in students like you."

Wang Wenhai winked and smiled. "Even if you don't get into the Three Greats or Seven Stars, as long as you achieve something in martial arts in the future, could you really forget the help the school gave you today?"

"That's true... No matter how the college entrance exam turns out, if I have the chance in the future, I'll definitely repay my alma mater." Xu Wuyi scratched his head, somewhat understanding the school's intentions now.

"Those senior schoolmates of yours thought the same way, so the school definitely won't lose money on this deal. In fact, a large part of the resources you're receiving now were donated by them."

"If you really feel bad about it, then improve yourself as quickly as possible and go cross the peaks of martial arts," Wang Wenhai said. "When you become a big shot, just a little leaking through your fingers will be enough for the school to live in luxury."

Xu Wuyi could only agree helplessly. He knew Teacher Wang was joking, but the logic really was exactly that.

Human martial artists passed the torch from one generation to the next. That was how it had always been.

"Back to the point." Wang Wenhai's expression turned serious. "How this money is used is extremely important. My suggestion is that, at this stage, you use all of it to exchange for Blood Energy Potions."