The Cultivation Method of a Genius

After Chen Lie left, Li Xianyu saw that it was still early and continued practicing at the martial arts hall.

Starting from the center of the training grounds, she practiced the Cloud Smoke Step on her own.

As her Cloud Smoke Step rapidly improved, she seemed to sense the artistic conception behind it. It was as though she had become a wisp of green smoke, a drifting cloud, weaving back and forth across the training grounds.

After completing one full run of the Cloud Smoke Step, Li Xianyu was startled. "I actually performed an entire set of Cloud Smoke Step flawlessly?"

It seemed that she had truly brought this C-rank martial art to the beginner level.

She had practiced it for more than half a year before, yet she had only been a novice. Without an instructor guiding her at her side, there was no way she could have completed an entire set of Cloud Smoke Step. Even with a teacher's instruction, she would make endless mistakes halfway through, stopping and starting repeatedly.

Yet after just two hours of Chen Lie's guidance, she could perform the Cloud Smoke Step by herself from start to finish without a single mistake.

Had Chen Xingyao's brother passed his own cultivation insights on to her?

The improvement was visible to the naked eye. Was this how geniuses cultivated? As expected, it was beyond the likes of a fake genius like her, the kind praised by her parents, teachers, and classmates.

That visible progress filled Li Xianyu with even more motivation. She kept practicing the Cloud Smoke Step, hoping to improve further.

However, without Chen Lie's guidance, she could no longer enter that divinely inspired state of cultivation she had felt earlier. Still, she became increasingly proficient in the Cloud Smoke Step.

Just as Li Xianyu was completely absorbed in practicing the Cloud Smoke Step, she suddenly heard a voice.

"Not bad, not bad!"

Li Xianyu hurriedly stopped practicing and looked toward the source of the voice.

She found a short-haired middle-aged man watching her and giving her a light round of applause.

"Instructor Qu?"

Li Xianyu's expression sharpened as she immediately recognized him. The man before her was Qu Xinyou, the instructor who taught the Cloud Smoke Step course she had wanted to sign up for yesterday.

"Oh, so it's student Li Xianyu. I was just wondering who had managed to practice the Cloud Smoke Step to such a proficient level."

After seeing Li Xianyu's face, Qu Xinyou nodded slightly.

"Hello, Instructor Qu."

Li Xianyu greeted him respectfully.

This Instructor Qu, Qu Xinyou, was a mentor for an elite class at a provincial key high school and worked part-time as an instructor at East River Martial Arts Hall.

Li Xianyu only knew that Instructor Qu was her sister's mentor in the elite class. Because of her sister, she had signed up with Instructor Qu more than once for individual Cloud Smoke Step guidance sessions.

"A few days ago, your sister came to me and obtained a referral letter for the Cloud Smoke Step guidance course. Yesterday, I was wondering why you hadn't brought the letter to sign up for my class. So it turns out you had secretly cultivated the Cloud Smoke Step to this level already.

That makes sense. Now that you've roughly mastered the Cloud Smoke Step, I probably would not have much left to teach you even if you came to me.

It seems your aptitude is even better than your sister's," Qu Xinyou said.

"Thank you for the praise, Instructor Qu." Li Xianyu nodded slightly.

Qu Xinyou asked again, "Mm, what is your current vitality value?"

"The school conducted a unified test some time ago. It was 0.91 calories."

Qu Xinyou nodded repeatedly. "I watched from the side for a while just now. You only recently mastered the Cloud Smoke Step, correct?"

"Yes."

Qu Xinyou said, "Now that you've mastered a C-rank martial art, your vitality value will surely advance by leaps and bounds over the coming period. Train diligently during this time, and make sure your nutrition keeps up. If my judgment is correct, your vitality value will definitely exceed 1 calorie within ten days.

When you get home, have your parents immediately prepare the vital energy primal fluid and supplements you'll need after your vitality value exceeds 1 calorie. Strive to enter the elite class before winter break.

If you don't have an elite class mentor in mind by then, how about registering under my name when you advance into the elite class?"

Exceed 1 calorie within ten days? Enter the elite class before winter break?

Li Xianyu was somewhat dazed. Had her vitality value really begun improving so much faster?

Her parents' plan for her was to exceed 1 calorie within two months after the start of the winter term, then exceed 3 calories and enter the elite class before the end of the second semester of her first year. That plan had already placed immense pressure on her. She had never dared imagine that she could progress ahead of schedule.

"Oh, all right. I'll consider it. Thank you, Instructor."

Qu Xinyou nodded and said, "It's getting late, and the martial arts hall will be closing soon. Practice a little longer, then go home. Improving the Cloud Smoke Step cannot be done overnight, especially for someone like you who has already initially mastered the footwork."

"Okay." Li Xianyu nodded.

After giving Li Xianyu a few more reminders, Qu Xinyou left the martial arts hall's training grounds.

After Qu Xinyou left, Li Xianyu continued practicing the Cloud Smoke Step.

She thought that since she had only just entered the beginner stage, she needed to practice more while the iron was hot.

After practicing for a while, Li Xianyu checked the time and found that the martial arts hall was nearly closing, so she decided to go home.

When she reached the main entrance on the first floor, she suddenly remembered what Qu Xinyou had said: mastering a C-rank martial art would increase one's vitality value. Unable to resist, she turned around and walked over to the vitality value tester inside the hall.

Her teachers and parents had all told her not to measure her vitality value too frequently, lest it affect her mentality. It was best to test it once a month. It had been less than five days since her last measurement, and she had not trained during those days. Under normal circumstances, her vitality value could not possibly have increased.

But recalling what Qu Xinyou had just told her, she decided to test it once. It was only one time, after all. Even if her vitality value had not changed at all, it should not affect her mentality.

She stepped into the vitality value tester's chamber, and the machine began emitting light as it scanned Li Xianyu's body.

Before long, the scan was complete, and the test result began to play.

"Beep. Test complete. Vitality value: 0.94 calories."

When the vitality tester's chamber opened, Li Xianyu was completely stunned.

"0.94 calories? Why did my vitality value suddenly increase by so much?"

After stepping out of the vitality tester's chamber, Li Xianyu stared blankly at the striking red number above the machine.

Even if she trained intensely for three consecutive days, exhausting herself every day, she might not necessarily increase her vitality value by 0.01 calories. Besides, at her age, her body could not withstand the strain brought on by three days of such high-intensity training.

Her vitality value had clearly just risen to 0.91 calories, yet without training at all, it had reached 0.94 calories within a few days.

Most importantly, this increase of 0.03 calories was only the beginning.

Was this the vitality value feedback that mastering a C-rank martial art brought to the body?

She thought about how she had mastered a C-rank martial art after receiving less than two hours of guidance, then thought about how the senior guiding her was her classmate's older brother.

With a brother like that, wouldn't Chen Xingyao be able to receive this kind of guidance all the time?

"Chen Xingyao, you really are lucky."

She and Chen Xingyao were indeed close classmates. They usually studied and trained together; otherwise, she would not have asked Chen Lie to help her stand in line.

But beneath the surface, they were also fierce rivals. Their grades were on the same level, and in the key class, the top two were the two of them. Even when it came to crossing the threshold of 0.9 calories, they had done so only one day apart.

They were said to be the top two in the key class, but neither of them wanted to fall behind and become second place.

Now, after just two hours of instruction, she had mastered a C-rank martial art, and her vitality value had surged forward. Yet Chen Xingyao had always received this kind of guidance, while her vitality value remained roughly on par with Li Xianyu's.

Li Xianyu could not help but wonder whether Chen Xingyao's innate aptitude was actually not that great. Was it only because she had a brother who could guide her martial arts cultivation that her vitality value could keep pace with Li Xianyu's?

After leaving the martial arts hall, Li Xianyu drifted her way home in a daze.

As soon as she entered, Li Xianyu saw her older sister, Li Muge, standing outside the training room.

"Yuyu, you're back? Didn't you want to learn combat techniques a few days ago?

Your sister was rather busy then and couldn't make time, but I'm free today. Come on, I'll teach you in the training room."

The moment she saw Li Xianyu, Li Muge immediately walked over to greet her.

Her jumbled thoughts snapped back into place. Li Xianyu rolled her eyes at Li Muge, curled her lips, and said, "Combat techniques are all you know anyway."

With that, Li Xianyu returned to her room without even looking back.

"Huh?"

Li Muge looked utterly baffled.

She was a top student in the elite class. In the past, her younger sister had always respected her greatly and often pestered her to guide her martial arts cultivation. Why did it feel like her sister was looking down on her today?