Surpassing Others Later, with Hopes of Becoming a Grandmaster

Lu Qingchan began delicately and elegantly eating the spirit medicine beast-meat meal before her, forming a stark contrast with Chen Lie, who was wolfing down his food beside her.

"Chen Lie, your blood vitality is only 0.02 calories higher than mine. Won't eating like this cause problems? I've only had a few bites, and I can already feel nutrients building up inside my body," Chen Xingyao said from beside him.

Chen Lie did not stop eating. He merely nodded, swallowed the food in his mouth, and said, "I know what I'm doing."

He could feel that he had already escaped his nutritional deficit. In fact, nutrients had begun accumulating in his body.

Even without Lu Qingchan's spirit medicine beast-meat meal, the spread at Lu Qidong's table probably cost over a hundred thousand star credits.

Seeing that Chen Lie did not appreciate her concern at all, Chen Xingyao snorted and turned her little face away.

At the dinner table, Chen Gequn and Lu Qidong discussed amusing stories from their time in the military.

Meanwhile, Chen Lie had quietly cleared out more than half of the nutrient-rich dishes on the table.

By the time Chen Gequn and the others finished talking and noticed this, they were all shocked.

"You brat, can your body even digest that much food?" Chen Gequn was the first to react, hurriedly scolding him.

"This... don't eat yourself into trouble," Xu Yunyan said, covering her mouth.

Feng Yuelan was also full of alarm. "What's gotten into you today? Can your body handle so many nutrient-rich dishes?"

Lu Qingchan also looked at Chen Lie in astonishment, her eyes filled with confusion.

Chen Lie straightened his back and delivered the explanation he had prepared beforehand. "Mom, don't worry. I forgot to tell you that yesterday, while I was training at the martial arts hall, I happened to run into the director of East River Martial Arts Hall, who was assessing the students.

"He saw through my condition at a glance and said I have a pseudo-nutritional-saturation constitution. That's why I haven't been able to absorb nutrients to raise my blood vitality. It's like someone being exhausted but unable to fall asleep, except my potential is extremely high.

"So, he advised me to consume large amounts of nutrients. He said that if I adjusted my condition properly, I would definitely soar to great heights, surpass others later, and have hopes of becoming a Grandmaster in the future."

Before Chen Gequn and Feng Yuelan could react, Chen Xingyao burst out laughing.

"Chen Lie, stop being ridiculous, okay? Soar to great heights? Have hopes of becoming a Grandmaster?

"Those Grandmaster martial artists—at your age, even if their blood vitality hadn't broken four digits, it would definitely have been above 800 calories. You're a thousand times worse than them, yet you dare say you have hopes of becoming a Grandmaster?"

Not only Chen Xingyao, but Lu Qidong and his wife also did not believe Chen Lie's words. They had never heard of a pseudo-nutritional-saturation constitution with such enormous potential.

Chen Gequn and Feng Yuelan exchanged a glance before asking, "The martial arts hall director you mentioned—is he Xu Tianchuan, the director of East River Martial Arts Hall?"

"It was him!" Chen Lie nodded.

"Does that mean we've been holding our son back all these years?" Chen Gequn looked at Feng Yuelan, sinking into deep doubt.

Feng Yuelan also found it strange. Why was Chen Xingyao so talented while Chen Lie was so lacking?

They were both born of the same mother. Logically speaking, there should not have been such a massive difference between them.

"Could that martial arts hall director have been mistaken?" Feng Yuelan could not help asking.

"Absolutely not!" Chen Gequn said. "Xu Tianchuan isn't merely a martial arts hall director. He is also the president of the East River Province Martial Artists Association, a Grandmaster-level martial artist, and one of the foremost figures in East River Province's martial arts world.

"The chance of a martial artist of that rank making a mistake when judging an ordinary martial arts student is infinitesimal."

The moment she heard the word "Grandmaster," Feng Yuelan's doubts vanished.

East River Province had a population of more than seventy million, yet how many Grandmaster-level martial artists had it produced? They could probably be counted on one hand.

Grandmaster martial artists were great figures standing at the pinnacle of martial arts. With a mere stomp of their feet, all of East River Province would tremble.

"You're certain you encountered the martial arts hall director assessing students yesterday while training at East River Martial Arts Hall?"

Xu Yunyan stared fixedly at Chen Lie.

Chen Lie nodded without changing expression and gave a quiet affirmative.

After receiving his answer, Xu Yunyan, who had been wearing a serious expression, suddenly covered her mouth and chuckled. She said to Chen Gequn and Feng Yuelan, "Sister-in-law, Brother Chen, congratulations. To receive such an assessment from a Grandmaster, Chen Lie will surely leave countless peers in the dust on the path of martial arts."

Chen Gequn laughed heartily. "Then we'll gladly accept your good wishes."

With his parents' approval, Chen Lie continued eating the remaining nutrient-rich dishes on the table.

By the final stage of the banquet, nearly every plate on the table was empty.

Lu Qidong was instantly overcome with embarrassment. He had hosted this banquet, yet before it had even ended, the dining table had already been cleaned bare, as though he could not afford to treat them properly. He said, "Brother Chen, how about we order a few more dishes?"

"No, no. We're already full. Ordering more would only be wasteful."

As he spoke, Chen Gequn glared at Chen Lie. "You brat, replenishing nutrients can't be done all at once. You ate so much in one sitting—aren't you afraid of stuffing yourself sick?"

Chen Lie was very satisfied with this banquet. The nutrient-rich dishes enhanced with supplements had not only freed him from his nutritional deficit, but had also allowed him to accumulate a great deal of nutrients.

When Chen Lie's family left, Lu Qidong escorted them to the airship outside the hotel.

Inside the Spring Scenery Hall on the second floor of the Starlight Hotel.

Lu Qingchan asked in confusion, "Mom, what is a pseudo-nutritional-saturation constitution? Can someone with that constitution really have hopes of becoming a Grandmaster in the future?"

Upon hearing her daughter's question, Xu Yunyan sneered. "What pseudo-nutritional-saturation constitution could there possibly be? It was nothing more than that Chen boy's lie."

"How could that be?" Lu Qingchan asked in surprise.

"Xu Tianchuan is a Grandmaster and the president of the provincial Martial Artists Association. He's usually impossible to pin down. He does not even have time to personally guide the younger generation of his own Xu Family—would he go to a martial arts hall to assess students?

"Yuan Hao is one of the most gifted martial arts geniuses among the Xu Family's younger generation, yet even he cannot regularly receive a Grandmaster's guidance. Let alone an outsider."

Remembering Chen Lie's dull and honest manner, Lu Qingchan asked again, "Could it have been a coincidence?"

"As far as I know, Grandmaster Xu was invited by the governor of a neighboring province to attend a seven-day martial artist summit there. He left two days ago and has not returned.

"Your mother is half a member of the Xu Family. How could I not know a Grandmaster's whereabouts? That Chen boy claimed he received a Grandmaster's guidance yesterday. He was obviously deceiving people."

After hearing this, Lu Qingchan nodded and murmured, "Mm."

Xu Yunyan continued, "I don't think that boy surnamed Chen will amount to much in the future. He's nearly a year older than you, yet his blood vitality still hasn't even broken 1. His aptitude is far worse than his father's was at the same age.

"I don't know what your father was thinking, trying to match you with that Chen boy. He must have lost his mind.

"So listen to your mother. Your future should be bright and brilliant. You should not waste your life on such trivial matters."

"I understand."

Lu Qingchan nodded. Although she felt that her mother's words were somewhat inappropriate, she truly had not taken her father's matchmaking intentions to heart.