How Can You Know If It's a Dragon or an Earthworm Without Trying

"Sheng'er, how's your martial arts training going lately?" Madam Han asked softly.

"It's going well. I should be able to get in," Wang Sheng said as he offered a glistening chicken leg. "Mother, you eat too."

"If you don't eat it, I'll just keep holding it like this!"

Hearing this, Madam Han's eyes welled up with tears. She reluctantly took a bite of the chicken leg.

After a few bites, Madam Han finally couldn't help but say, "Sheng'er, the Li family is recruiting new servants lately. Why don't you have your father talk to the butler? If you miss this chance, who knows when the Li family will recruit again."

Madam Han still didn't quite believe Wang Sheng could forge a path to success through martial arts. She thought Wang Sheng was just trying to comfort her when he said he could succeed.

In Madam Han's mind, Young Master Li had spent over a hundred taels of silver and drank potent tonics every day, yet he still hadn't managed to get in. How could Wang Sheng, who hadn't taken any tonics, possibly get into the Martial Path! Many people said that those who could enter the Martial Path were rumored to be reincarnations of heavenly soldiers and generals.

Wang Sheng was stunned and stopped chewing the chicken.

Seeing Wang Sheng fall silent, Madam Han immediately grew anxious and quickly said, "Sheng'er, I was just talking nonsense. Don't take it to heart."

Wang Sheng said, "Mother, don't worry. Master said I can do it."

Madam Han's eyes lit up. The Martial Academy's master said Sheng'er could succeed! A smile appeared on Madam Han's face, and she became quite emotional. "Good, good, my son can do it, he can definitely do it!"

The next day.

Wang Sheng continued to practice the Great Tablet Shattering Hand against a wooden dummy at the Zhao Family Martial Arts Academy. The whip-like movements of his hands struck the dummy, making cracking sounds. The dummy remained unharmed, but Wang Sheng's arms were covered in bruises, especially his hands, which were already red and swollen. To master this ultimate technique, one also needed Master Zhao's exclusive medicinal ointment, applied once every two days to relieve swelling and pain, allowing disciples to continue this self-harming training.

"Everyone stop!" Master Zhao suddenly walked out from the inner courtyard, hands behind his back, his voice deep and resonant.

All the new and old disciples stopped and looked in his direction. Standing beside Master Zhao was another young man, Lin Shu.

"Today, Lin Shu has entered the Martial Path and become the eighty-sixth disciple under my tutelage, Zhao Jie. He is now rewarded with twenty taels of silver and three Blood Replenishing Pills. You new disciples should take him as an example and learn from him." Master Zhao, also known as Zhao Jie, announced loudly.

"Yes!" Wang Sheng and a group of new disciples cupped their fists in acknowledgement, though they were all inwardly shocked. It had only been a month, and Lin Shu had already entered the Martial Path!

"Master Zhao found Lin Shu yesterday. Could it be that Master Zhao gave Lin Shu some treasure to help him get in?"

"Hmph, who knows. Anyway, I don't think Lin Shu could have gotten in so quickly on his own. He doesn't even train at the Martial Academy sometimes, and it hasn't even been a full month." Two people beside Wang Sheng were whispering, their words filled with envy and jealousy. Some were overjoyed, having already started currying favor with Lin Shu, laying the groundwork early. Now it was paying off.

Soon, Zhao Jie, looking quite pleased, led Lin Shu back to the inner courtyard. The outer courtyard resumed its noisy training. However, many new disciples found it difficult to focus, their minds restless and uneasy. Some disciples had only just managed to practice the movements of the Great Tablet Shattering Hand, possessing form but lacking spirit. Lin Shu, on the other hand, had already achieved both form and spirit, having entered the technique. Mastering the form was one thing, but achieving the spirit, the true essence, was the most difficult part. This gap... Lin Shu was far ahead of them!

"Junior Brother Wang Sheng, you can really keep practicing! I think we have no hope!" Du Suo, who also had Low-grade Physique, struggled even with the basic form and was dejected.

"Hmph, you never know until the last moment. Right now, Lin Shu has only taken one step ahead of us," said Su Youwen. He was the son of a scholar who had abandoned literature for martial arts. With Mid-Lower Aptitude, he possessed a certain pride and a stubborn refusal to admit defeat.

"Yeah. He's just one step ahead. How will we know if he's a dragon or a worm if we don't try?"

Wang Sheng thought to himself, his whip-hand strikes becoming even more forceful.

His hands were visibly radiating a faint jade-red hue, but it quickly faded.

As long as he could maintain this jade-red color, even if he stopped cultivating, the moment he made a move, it would appear jade-red. That would signify he had entered the Martial Path.

Ten days later.

Within the Martial Academy, some of the new disciples in this batch were beginning to give up.

With forty days of cultivation time, some already knew they weren't cut out for martial arts. They could only steel themselves, abandon the remaining twenty days, and quickly find another path.

Another ten days passed.

The number of new disciples in the Martial Academy had significantly decreased.

Out of more than forty new disciples, fewer than thirty were still persisting.

The tuition fee alone was the savings of an ordinary family accumulated over several years.

Some were truly unwilling to accept it, unable to believe such a large sum of silver had gone down the drain, leaving them with nothing to show for it.

Three days later.

Just as Wang Sheng and the others were practicing martial arts, A new disciple suddenly vomited blood and collapsed, eventually dying.

After Master Zhao's examination, it turned out this disciple, in his haste to get initiated, had been cultivating day and night recently. This led to a severe depletion of his resources, with insufficient medicinal salves to compensate. Internal injuries accumulated, and they suddenly erupted, causing the new disciple's death.

Some new disciples were frightened. They had no hope of getting initiated, and now someone had died practicing. A portion of them quietly packed their belongings and left the Martial Academy that very day.

"Hmph, they know their limits!"

Fang Mingguang sneered contemptuously as he saw some new disciples leave with tears streaming down their faces, heads bowed. The space they vacated was now empty.

"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 persisting, he had held onto a sliver of hope that they might get initiated, so he continued as well.

Now that someone had died practicing, Du Suo was suddenly flustered.

"Wang Sheng, why don't we leave together and pool some money to start a small business? I think selling pickled mustard stems would be good, or we could try to become guards for a wealthy family! We've practiced martial arts, after all!"

Du Suo whispered his plans.

The reason he didn't suggest leaving with Su Youwen was that he felt Su Youwen had a slightly better chance of getting initiated than Wang Sheng, who cultivated diligently every day.

After all, Su Youwen had Mid-Lower Aptitude.

Wang Sheng ignored him and, with a thought, opened his golden finger.

[Heaven Rewards Diligence: Learning will surely yield results.]

[Stone Stance Technique: Not yet initiated (92/100)]

[Great Tablet Shattering Hand: Not yet initiated (92/100)]

Logically, he should have entered the Martial Path today, or even earlier.

But as of now, he was still eight points short of progress, which translated to about four days.

The root cause was Wang Sheng's insufficient nutrition, preventing him from accumulating enough progress points. After practicing for half a day, he would lose all his strength, forcing him to reflect, recover his energy, or wait for a meal.

This meant Wang Sheng would be four days late in entering the Martial Path.

"Four days, I can wait."

Wang Sheng murmured to himself.

There were still seven days left until the two-month deadline.

His original estimate wasn't far off.

Starting from today, due to the death during practice, new disciples began to withdraw in large numbers.

At least four or five people left every day.

Unable to persuade Wang Sheng to leave with him, Du Suo gave up practicing martial arts on his own.

Until the third day before the two-month deadline.

Only seven new disciples remained in the Martial Academy.

Many initiated formal disciples watched the bi-monthly spectacle, looking down from their high positions at the despair and unwillingness of these new disciples.

They would sometimes even bet on which of these newcomers would be the last to leave.

These initiated formal disciples viewed the new disciples like people on shore watching those in the water. They naturally found a sense of relaxed pleasure in it.

Some formal disciples, recalling their own anxiety and restlessness during their novice period, puffed up their chests with pride as they looked at the current newcomers.

And by this point, only Lin Shu among this batch of new disciples had been initiated.