From Lighting Up Talents to Becoming a Demon God Section 14

"Senior Brother Zheng, you seem to admire that new Junior Brother Lu?"

Near the back entrance of the Training Building, where the three true disciples were.

Senior Sister Lin, her long hair pinned up, glanced toward Lu Chao. Clearly, she had noticed the look the two of them had exchanged earlier.

This was the peculiarity of having vitality above forty points. One's senses surpassed ordinary people's to a certain degree.

"Junior Brother Lu has a firm will and works extremely hard."

"I like that resilience of his. In the future, he may have a chance to break through Rock Skin and reach Combat Grade."

Zheng Wu did not deny it. He answered openly.

Only by reaching Combat Grade within three months could one continue staying at the Martial Arts Hall, and he had some expectations for Lu Chao.

"Is that so?"

Senior Sister Lin's slender lashes trembled lightly, her face cool and aloof.

She sized Lu Chao up again, and the sight of him wolfing down his food came clearly into view.

"If I remember correctly, he should only have middling-low aptitude, right?"

"And he was born in a welfare home, only has a job as a cleaner, and has to repay a Welfare Loan every month..."

At this point, her dark brows furrowed slightly, and she gave a faint shake of her head.

The implication was self-evident.

Without talent or financial resources, breaking through to Combat Grade would probably not be that easy.

At least in her view, the hope was slim.

Zheng Wu's movements paused when he heard this, but he did not argue.

Because this was indeed the truth.

Compared to perseverance and patience, talent and resources determined a higher ceiling.

"At least there's a sliver of hope."

In the end, Zheng Wu still spoke up for Lu Chao. He sighed inwardly as he thought of the other man's earlier performance.

That resilience and endurance, along with that same ordinary, bottom-rung background, could not help but remind him of his former self.

"What Senior Brother said also makes sense."

Senior Sister Lin did not refute him further. She smiled sweetly and fetched him a lunch.

"Junior Sister didn't mean anything else. I only hope Senior Brother won't be biased."

"After all, the Martial Arts Hall's tournament is coming up... and Master also intends to nurture a few outstanding seedlings."

No one knew what was said between the true disciples.

Lu Chao merely continued training hard inside the Training Building.

The days passed faster than he had imagined. The hardship and exhaustion of cleaning and corpse collection were diluted by the hope of practicing martial arts.

Because Zhao Yuanqing had something come up unexpectedly, the visit to Brother Hao was quietly delayed by a few days.

And during this period...

[Vitality: 6→7!]

His vitality rose by another point, neither fast nor slow.

In addition, he sparred in actual combat with Senior Brother Zhang Hong and learned quite a lot of valuable combat experience.

"Your fists need to be fast, your legs need to be lively. Stay swift and decisive, and strive to defeat the enemy in one blow."

"Right, just like that."

"Junior Brother Lu, you're improving very quickly. Looks like you'll have no problem dealing with those veteran students on your own. In just a few days, you should be able to fully grasp the first level... Right, how about we rest for a bit before continuing?"

In the sparring area, the dark-skinned Zhang Hong wore protective pads, panting slightly and drenched in sweat.

The arm he had used to block the punch trembled faintly. He looked at Lu Chao across from him, who was still holding his punching stance, his breathing hurried but far from exhausted, and felt somewhat shocked by the other man's lasting stamina.

Originally, he had been somewhat overconfident, thinking that since his vitality and practical experience were a step ahead, it would not be too strenuous.

But over this week, he had gradually discovered that the other party was full of energy and had extraordinary endurance.

Each time, before they had rested for long, Lu Chao could start a second round of practical sparring. Even though Zhang Hong's vitality was higher, a whole morning of continuous sparring still made him find it somewhat taxing.

"All right. I'll have to trouble you after that, Senior Brother Zhang."

Lu Chao smiled and nodded, thanking Zhang Hong before raising a hand to wipe away his sweat.

Practical combat training was also an essential part of developing vitality.

It could both increase combat experience and stimulate one's potential during actual fighting, giving a certain chance to spur vitality growth.

In addition, Master Luo had specifically mentioned it before.

If one wanted to break through Rock Skin, one had to firmly master the first level of the Seven-Style Combat Arts.

Entry, practiced, minor mastery—each stage was a gradual step closer to Combat Grade, and live sparring undoubtedly sped up that progress.

The other side had even divided it into several live-combat levels for this very purpose.

From defeating ordinary students in one-against-many bouts, to sparring with Combat Grade senior brothers, and then to receiving personal coaching and sparring from true disciples like Senior Brother Zheng, one had to show the corresponding strength at every stage before earning the right to touch it.

"The path of martial arts requires sweat at every step."

"If not for [Primary Resilience], I probably wouldn't have been able to persist, let alone make Senior Brother Zhang see me differently and willingly spend his energy sparring with me."

His gaze flickered slightly. Lu Chao was coming to appreciate the benefits of this innate specialty more and more.

After resting for a while, it was already noon.

Seeing the nutrition meals being pushed over on a dining cart, he went forward to take his portion, then found a corner with Zhang Hong and wolfed it down.

The aroma of Black Horned Ox beef rushed into his nose. Amid gulping swallows, his hungry stomach was filled and satisfied once again.

At the end, he smoothly drank down a bowl of Blood-Qi Supplement.

Potential Progress: 11% → 12%!

"So slow."

Lu Chao quietly glanced at the panel and felt a trace of helplessness.

There was no need to mention the effects of [Primary Resilience], and that also made him look forward even more to new innate specialties.

However, even though the food he ate now was much more than before he entered the Martial Arts Hall, and its nutrition was also more sufficient, the new round of growth in his potential progress was still rather slow.

"Looks like I need to add some extra food supplementation."

"Preferably food with even higher nutritional value."

Lu Chao knew what the best method was, but all of it required money to support.

And up until now, after deducting the Martial Arts Hall's ten-thousand-yuan tuition fee, along with the more than two thousand yuan he had spent these days to maintain his nutrition, his savings had once again dropped to freezing point, leaving only a little over a thousand.

The Cleaning Squad's wages had only been paid not long ago, and next week he still had to pay eight hundred yuan in rent.

Counting on his fingers again and again, Lu Chao once more felt the pressure of poverty.

If this went on, forget accumulating potential progress—he was afraid he would starve to death before his next paycheck.

"No wonder they all say martial arts is hard, harder than climbing to the heavens."

"Looks like... I need to think of a way to make money."

The next day, nine in the morning.

A motorcycle sped from south to north, roaring wind whipping past on both sides.

"Where did you get this bike?"

For once, Lu Chao had not rushed to the Martial Arts Hall. Instead, he had changed into a clean black crew-neck short-sleeved shirt and long pants, carried a bag of fruit, and sat on the back seat of the motorcycle wearing a black riot helmet.

"From the repair shop, of course."

Zhao Yuanqing gripped the handlebars with both hands. He was also wearing a helmet, and the gray sleeveless hoodie on him snapped loudly in the wind.

"A client asked me to help fix it. She won't pick it up until tomorrow."

"So, although it's fixed, I've still gotta take it for a couple laps to inspect it, right?"

He chuckled and kept revving the throttle. Clearly, this was not his first time doing this.

"Isn't that kind of bad?"

"Relax, nothing's gonna happen."