Five Days to Sense Qi

Although he had spent more time training martial arts, he still had no clue how to find his sense of qi.

The second day, the third day... By now, he had practiced the Small Wind-Thunder Stance for a full four days, yet the panel remained completely motionless.

To be honest, Zhou Ye was growing more and more anxious. The other disciples had all found their sense of qi, most within two or three days. Those who found it within a single day were geniuses, while there were occasionally a few who took four days. And nearly all of them succeeded—there was not even anyone who had been stumped by sensing qi?

Of course, those who came to the martial arts hall to learn were already outstanding among their peers in terms of physical fitness. Otherwise, their families would not be willing to waste that kind of money, right? So such a success rate was understandable.

But no matter what, he could not be the only exception, could he?

In the end, Zhou Ye was so desperate that he tried anything. He even went to ask Junior Sister Du Juan, thinking the little girl would be easier to fool.

Unexpectedly, Du Juan rolled her eyes at him. She looked utterly incredulous. "Senior Brother A-Ye, no matter how stupid someone is, they can't possibly fail to find their sense of qi after three days, right?"

Zhou Ye: defeated!

Of course, there was good news as well. Huang Sheng, that genius youngster, had actually achieved complete qi sense in just seven days?

"A-Jun, A-Ye, I only took seven days—seven days, and I'm complete!" Huang Sheng was especially excited. "Master Du just spoke to me and told me to settle down and build my foundation more solidly. I'll spend a few more days preparing, then strive to break through into Force on my first attempt."

Zhou Ye and Wu Jun both looked envious and jealous. "You still need a few more days?"

"Of course! Master Du said this is my first time breaking through, and I have no experience, so I absolutely have to play it safe. Better to be slower and succeed in one go! Otherwise, if the breakthrough fails, I'll need time to recuperate. And the next breakthrough will be even harder."

Fine! They did not understand the world of geniuses. Better return to the ground and be ordinary mortals.

But on the following day—the fifth day of martial arts training—perhaps it was the good fortune Huang Sheng had brought.

While practicing the Small Wind-Thunder Stance, Zhou Ye suddenly felt an almost imperceptible warm current. If he had not sensed carefully, he would have barely noticed it.

Zhou Ye nearly wept with joy. According to Huang Sheng and the others' descriptions, this was qi sense!

It had been damn hard-won. After five whole days, he had finally found his sense of qi—

Small Wind-Thunder Stance (Enter Force): Not Initiated (0/10)

At last, new content appeared on the panel. Even now, Zhou Ye still found it hard to believe.

Afraid that he was dreaming, he hurriedly continued practicing the Small Wind-Thunder Stance. That was right! This was qi and blood! It was flowing into his dantian thread by thread.

Before long, Huang Sheng and Wu Jun both came over to congratulate him. "A-Ye, who would have thought you'd succeed too?"

"Haha." Zhou Ye grinned so widely his mouth would not close. "Luck, just luck."

"Then the three of us brothers can advance side by side. In the future, we can enter Force together and become Bright Force masters together."

"Hahahaha!"

Once the news spread, even Han Guang and Du Juan came over to congratulate him.

"Junior Brother Zhou, that's wonderful. Work harder, and you still have a little chance of entering Force. As long as you enter Force, your money won't have been wasted."

Zhou Ye kept smiling, but could not help shooting him a sidelong glance. Senior Brother Han Guang, he knew the man was not good at comforting people, but did he have to put it so bluntly?

Du Juan was more straightforward instead. "Senior Brother A-Ye, that's great! Now you won't quit after one month and ask for your tuition back, right? I believe in you—you must stick it out for three months?"

Zhou Ye: "..."

In fact, among all the disciples in the martial arts hall, only those who reached Bright Force would be accepted as disciples by the hall master, Du Keyuan, becoming official disciples of the martial arts hall.

Among the official disciples, as long as they did not choose to leave the martial arts hall—that was, as long as they kept paying tuition—they would receive a ranking. There were currently more than a hundred ranked disciples. But most of them did not appear at the martial arts hall; they merely maintained their ties with it.

For example, the eldest senior brother was said to have stepped into Dark Force and become a Dark Force master. The second senior sister had already married, but she still continued paying tuition to preserve that bond.

Third Senior Brother Han Guang was actually the true eldest senior brother. Together with the junior brothers and sisters who remained at the martial arts hall to train, he took turns passing on instruction to the new disciples.

New disciples like Zhou Ye, including those sensing qi or entering Force, were merely registered disciples. They did not truly count.

They could not use the martial arts hall's name outside, and within the hall, their relationship with the hall master and disciples was strictly just that of people paying to learn martial arts. They were not even considered master and disciple.

Without entering Bright Force, one could not become a martial artist. In the martial world, such distinctions were quite strict.

Precisely because of this, there was a huge divide between the inner and outer branches of the martial arts hall. People from the two sides basically had no contact.

Titles like "Master," "Senior Brother," "Junior Brother," and "Junior Sister" were merely pleasant forms of address. There was no such actual relationship between them.

So Zhou Ye finding his sense of qi this time had actually drawn the attention of the two major inner-branch disciples? As for Du Juan, she naturally belonged to the inner branch as an official disciple. Was that not only a matter of time?

Perhaps Zhou Ye's astonishing five-day qi sense was simply too bizarre...?

However, after those people dispersed, mocking voices suddenly sounded from nearby.

"Five-day qi sense? If people didn't know better, they'd think someone was a martial arts prodigy."

"If it were me, I'd rather buy a block of tofu and smash my head into it."

"Exactly. Who has skin that thick? Lazy and shameless too! Pah!"

"..."

The speakers were Xu Feng, Cheng Jianghe, and the others. Perhaps being utterly ignored these past few days had completely broken their defenses, making them grow even more excessive?

But when dealing with such cringey youngsters, ignoring them was the right answer. What the hell did their broken defenses have to do with him?

Feeling that he was nearing his time limit, Zhou Ye simply turned around and went home.

Over the following days, Zhou Ye kept training diligently. Unfortunately, the progress bar did not budge at all. It was not until the fifth day that 1 point of experience finally arrived late.

That made Zhou Ye breathe a sigh of relief. As long as the progress bar could move, it was fine. Since he had no breakthrough bottleneck, as long as he persisted for fifty days, he would be able to enter Force smoothly.

Since that was the case, there was no need to waste any more time. He had to pick up the martial skill training he had set aside...

In the yard, Zhou Ye had already planted wooden stakes one after another. Between the stakes were numerous ropes, crisscrossing in dense layers like the Spider Cave. He had even dug quite a few small pits in several places, then covered them with loose soil.

After putting on that chainmail shirt, he tied thirty-pound iron-sand bags to each leg. His total load had now reached roughly one hundred pounds. And that chainmail shirt seemed to have become specialized equipment for practicing Basic Movement?

His figure flickered as Zhou Ye began darting swiftly between the wooden stakes. He dodged the ropes, and whenever he stepped onto one of the small pits, he merely tapped lightly and skimmed easily over it...

He could not stop grinding himself to the bone! Basic Movement was almost at max level!