"Sheng'er, how has your martial arts training been going lately?"
Madam Han asked softly.
"Not bad. I think I can make it—I can get started!"
As Wang Sheng spoke, he set aside a glossy chicken leg.
"Mother, you should eat too."
"If you do not eat it, I will keep holding it up like this!"
At his words, tears welled in Madam Han's eyes. Helplessly, she took a bite of the chicken leg.
After eating a few bites.
Madam Han ultimately could not hold herself back. "Sheng'er, the Li family has recently been recruiting new servants. Do you think we should ask your father to speak with the steward? Once this opportunity passes, who knows when the Li family will recruit again."
Madam Han still did not quite believe Wang Sheng could carve out a path to survival through martial arts. She thought he was merely trying to comfort her because he was too embarrassed to admit otherwise.
In Madam Han's heart, Young Master Li had spent over a hundred taels of silver and drank potent tonics every day, yet still failed to get started.
Wang Sheng had never taken any tonics. How could he possibly enter the martial path!
Many people said that those capable of entering the martial path were rumored to be reincarnations of heavenly soldiers and generals.
Wang Sheng froze at those words, his chicken-chewing motion coming to a halt.
Seeing Wang Sheng fall silent, Madam Han immediately panicked and hurriedly said, "Sheng'er, I was talking nonsense just now. Do not take it to heart."
Wang Sheng said, "Mother, do not worry. Master said I can make it."
Madam Han's eyes lit up. Even the master of the martial arts academy said Sheng'er could make it!
A smile bloomed across Madam Han's face, and she said excitedly, "Good, good! If my son can make it, then he can make it!"
The next day.
Wang Sheng continued training the Great Tablet Shattering Hand against the wooden dummy at the Zhao Family Martial Arts Academy.
One whipping palm after another lashed across the wooden dummy with sharp smacks. The dummy was unharmed, but Wang Sheng's arms were covered in bruises, while both hands had long since turned red and swollen.
To get started in this supreme art, one also needed Master Zhao's exclusive medicinal ointment. Applied once every two days, it dispersed bruising and eased pain, allowing the disciples to continue this self-mutilating style of training.
"Everyone, stop!"
Master Zhao suddenly emerged from the inner courtyard with his hands behind his back, his voice deep and resonant.
All the old and new disciples stopped and looked toward the sound.
Beside Master Zhao stood a youth—Lin Shu.
"Today, Lin Shu has entered the martial path, becoming the eighty-sixth disciple under me, Zhao Jie. He is hereby awarded twenty taels of silver and three Blood Replenishing Pills. All you newcomers should take him as an example and learn diligently."
Master Zhao—Zhao Jie—declared loudly.
"Yes!"
Wang Sheng and the other new disciples clasped their fists in acknowledgment, yet every one of them was shaken inside.
Only one month had passed, yet Lin Shu had already entered the martial path!
"Master Zhao called for Lin Shu yesterday. Could it be that Master Zhao gave him some treasure to help him get started?"
"Hmph, who knows? Anyway, I do not believe Lin Shu could have gotten started so quickly on his own. Sometimes he was not even at the academy training. Altogether, it has not even been a full month."
Two people beside Wang Sheng muttered quietly, their words brimming with envy and jealousy.
Others looked overjoyed. They had begun currying favor with Lin Shu long ago, tending a cold stove. Now, that stove had finally caught fire.
Very soon,
Zhao Jie led Lin Shu back into the inner courtyard with considerable satisfaction.
The outer courtyard once more filled with the clamor of training.
However,
Many of the new disciples could no longer calm their hearts, their minds restless and unsettled.
Some disciples had only just mastered the forms of the Great Tablet Shattering Hand, possessing shape but no spirit. Yet Lin Shu had already entered the path with both shape and spirit complete.
After getting started in the Great Tablet Shattering Hand, achieving spiritual resemblance was the hardest part.
This gap meant Lin Shu was not merely a cut above them!
"Junior Brother Wang Sheng, you can really keep training! I think there is no hope for us!"
Du Suo, who also possessed a Low-grade Physique, could not even quite achieve physical resemblance. He hung his head in dejection.
"Hmph. Who can know before the final moment? Lin Shu is only one step ahead of us for now."
Su Youwen said. He was the son of a scholar who had abandoned letters for martial arts. With Mid-Lower Aptitude, he naturally possessed a certain pride and refusal to admit defeat.
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"Yes. He is only one step ahead. Without trying, how would we know who is a dragon and who is an earthworm?"
Wang Sheng silently recited to himself as he struck the whipping palms with even greater force.
His hands were visibly taking on a faint jade-red hue, but it quickly faded away.
So long as that jade-red color could be maintained—even without training, appearing the moment he made a move—it would mean he had entered the martial path.
Ten days later.
Within the martial arts academy, some among this batch of new disciples gradually began to give up.
Of the forty days of training, some had already realized they truly were not cut out for martial arts. They could only steel themselves and abandon the remaining twenty days so they could find another way out as soon as possible.
Another ten days passed.
There were visibly fewer new disciples in the martial arts academy.
Of the more than forty new disciples, fewer than thirty remained persevering.
A single Tuition Fee was savings that an ordinary family had accumulated over several years.
Some people truly could not accept it. They could not believe such a large sum of silver had gone down the drain, leaving them with nothing accomplished in the end.
Three days later.
Just as Wang Sheng and the others were training,
A new disciple suddenly spat blood, collapsed to the ground, and ultimately died.
After Zhao Jie examined him, it turned out that he had been desperate to get started. In recent days, he had trained day and night without pause, creating a severe deficiency in his body. Without enough medicinal ointment to replenish himself, his internal injuries had accumulated too heavily. When they suddenly erupted all at once, the new disciple died on the spot.
Some of the new disciples were frightened. They had already had no hope of getting started, and now someone had trained himself to death. That very day, a portion of them quietly packed their things and left the martial arts academy.
"Hmph, they know their own limits well enough!"
Fang Mingguang watched several new disciples wipe away tears as they left with their heads lowered, clearing open space behind them. He gave a disdainful laugh.
"What do we do? What do we do!"
Du Suo said anxiously. He had wanted to leave long ago, but seeing Wang Sheng and Su Youwen still persevering, he had dreamed that perhaps he might get started after all, so he had continued as well.
Now that someone had trained himself to death, Du Suo immediately began to panic.
"Wang Sheng, how about we leave together? We can scrape together some money and start a small business. I think selling pickled mustard greens would be good. Or we could go to a wealthy household and see if we can become estate guards! No matter what, we have trained in martial arts!"
Du Suo calculated in a low voice.
The reason he had not asked Su Youwen to leave with him was because he felt that Su Youwen had a little more hope of getting started than Wang Sheng, who trained diligently every day.
After all, Su Youwen had Mid-Lower Aptitude.
Wang Sheng ignored him. With a thought, he opened his golden finger.
[Heaven Rewards Diligence: Study must bring achievement.] [Stone Stance Technique: Not yet started (92/100)] [Great Tablet Shattering Hand: Not yet started (92/100)]
By all rights, he should have entered the martial path today, or perhaps even earlier.
Yet even now, he was still eight progress points short—equivalent to four days.
The root cause was still Wang Sheng's insufficient nutrition. He could not accumulate enough progress points. After training for half a day, he had no strength left. He could only reflect on himself while recovering his strength, or wait for mealtime.
This meant Wang Sheng would need another four days before entering the martial path.
"Four days. I can wait."
Wang Sheng murmured to himself.
There were still seven days until the two-month deadline.
That was not too far off from his original estimate.
Starting today, because someone had trained himself to death, the new disciples began withdrawing in large numbers.
At least four or five people left every day.
Du Suo failed to persuade Wang Sheng to leave with him, so he gave up martial arts training by himself.
Until the third-to-last day before the two-month deadline.
Only seven new disciples remained in the martial arts academy.
Many formal disciples who had gotten started were watching the spectacle that occurred every two months, looking down from on high at these new disciples' despair and unwillingness to accept defeat.
They would sometimes even gamble on which of these newcomers would persist until the very end before leaving.
The formal disciples who had gotten started looked at the new disciples the way people on shore looked at people in the water. Naturally, their hearts carried a relaxed, comfortable sense of amusement.
Some formal disciples recalled their own anxiety and unease during their newcomer days. Looking at these newcomers now, they could not help puffing out their chests with pride.
And up to this point, only Lin Shu among this batch of new disciples had entered the martial path.
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