Talent Again!!!

"Zhang Hanqing, Seventh-Level Body Tempering."

Zhang Hanqing slowly stepped onto the arena. His build was like a small mountain, and the platform trembled with every step he took.

"Chen Yu, Third-Level Body Tempering."

The smile on Chen Yu's face faded considerably. After all, with a gap of four stages, their physical capabilities were worlds apart.

He had failed to copy a talent from An Bisheng, but this Zhang Hanqing definitely possessed something extraordinary.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Zhang Hanqing wielded a long-handled axe. Every swing sent gusts whistling through the air.

"Ready... fight!"

Boom!

The moment the words fell, the wooden axe suddenly chopped down at his head.

Chen Yu stepped forward and precisely struck the weak point in the wooden axe's force. Yet the axe's power only weakened slightly before pressing directly onto his wooden saber.

Bang!

There was no deadlock at all. A surging force traveled through the weapon, making Chen Yu's blood churn as he staggered backward again and again, all the way to the edge of the arena.

"What tremendous strength!"

Chen Yu was secretly alarmed. He had no qualifications to directly contend with the other party's power.

Using four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds required him to have at least those four ounces of strength in the first place.

"He actually caught it?"

Zhang Hanqing was somewhat surprised, but he did not stop. He took two strides and closed in before Chen Yu, bringing down his axe once more.

Mountain-Cleaving Axe, Greater Mastery!

Chen Yu had now been forced into a corner of the arena, with nowhere to dodge and nowhere to retreat.

Boom!

At that moment, a thunderous crack suddenly exploded across the arena.

Ji Wenqing, who had been certain of victory, had his expression change drastically. "Thunder Extreme Saber! Thunder Extreme Saber at the Proficient Stage!"

Proficiency and Greater Mastery seemed to be separated by only one level, but they were actually worlds apart.

At Chen Yu's age, anyone capable of mastering martial arts at the Proficient Stage was a top figure at their school.

Every one of them was a peerless genius qualified to enter a prestigious martial arts academy!

Even if all the talented youths in River City were counted together, there would be at most a few dozen.

Bang!

The wooden saber still struck the force node of the wooden axe, but this time, it was not knocked away by the difference in strength.

Speed was also strength.

At the instant of collision, the wooden saber and wooden axe exploded at once, turning into fragments of shattered wood.

Zhang Hanqing stood there in a daze, seemingly not expecting such a thing to happen.

"That's enough, that's enough!"

Seeing that something was wrong, Ji Wenqing immediately flashed between them. "Since the weapons have been destroyed, let's call this match a draw."

As he spoke, his gaze fell on Chen Yu, seeking his opinion.

"A draw it is, then."

Chen Yu did not continue pressing the matter.

His goal had already been achieved. A talent called [Body Fortification (Yellow)] had formed on his System Panel.

[Body Fortification (Yellow)]: Strengthens the body and increases Body Tempering efficiency tenfold.

"Yellow Quality. Another new quality tier." Chen Yu carefully examined his current System Panel:

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Name: Chen Yu

Realm: Third-Level Body Tempering

Martial Arts: Star-Treading Stance, Thunder Extreme Saber (Proficient)

Talents: [Persistence], [Blade Technique Grandmaster (Purple)], [Martial Dao Grade-B Bone (Blue)], [Fortune's Blessing (Blue)], [Body Fortification (Yellow)], [Gluttonous Factor (Green)], [Exceptional Swordsmanship (White)], [Cat Body (White)], [Elephant Legs (White)], [Strong Kidneys (White)], [Ape Arms (Gray)], [Thought Imprint (Gray)]

Expansion Function: (Activation requirement: Copy three Blue-Quality Talents)

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"Without even realizing it, I've already copied so many talents." Chen Yu felt somewhat emotional.

The reason he had been able to draw with Zhang Hanqing despite being at Third-Level Body Tempering against Seventh-Level Body Tempering was not only because he had comprehended the Thunder Extreme Saber to the Proficient Stage. The many talents supporting him had also played a major role.

"From what I can tell now, the talent quality rankings from weakest to strongest should be gray, white, green, yellow, blue, and purple."

However, this was only Chen Yu's conclusion based on the information currently available. He predicted that there should be other talent grades between blue and purple, since the difference in their effects was simply too great.

"Gray and white talents should only make someone slightly stronger than ordinary people. They aren't particularly rare."

"But starting from green and yellow talents, the effects become extremely obvious. They completely pull someone ahead of ordinary people, making them stand out from the crowd."

"Blue-Quality Talents are already among the most outstanding talents within an entire city."

"As for Purple Talents..." Chen Yu could not help thinking of Fang Xiong. If what he said was true, then across the entire Crimson Radiance Star, there were only a handful of people with Purple Talents.

Such geniuses often left Crimson Radiance Star to pursue higher realms of martial arts.

Having drawn with Zhang Hanqing, Ji Wenqing's expression eased somewhat. At least he had not lost all face.

"Little Brother Chen Yu, regarding this result..."

Before Ji Wenqing could finish, Chen Yu said, "Hall Master Ji, don't worry. I simply enjoy fighting strong opponents, but that doesn't mean I'm arrogant."

"This wasn't a challenge to your hall, only a friendly spar. As long as you don't speak of it, no one else will know."

"That's good, that's good." Ji Wenqing could not determine what kind of force stood behind Chen Yu, so he could not afford to offend him.

This was already the best possible outcome.

Over the next two days, Chen Yu specifically went to challenge the United Heroes Martial Arts School and Grand Talent Martial Arts School.

He obtained three talents in total: [Strong Heart (Green)], [Bear Waist (White)], and [Exceptional Memory (Yellow)].

[Strong Heart] and [Bear Waist] both increased the strength of certain parts of the body, with obvious effects.

[Exceptional Memory], as a Yellow-Tier Talent currently second only to Blue Quality, truly had formidable effects.

Chen Yu tried reading several articles. After just one pass, he could remember roughly seventy percent of the content.

After reading them a second time, he could remember ninety-nine percent.

The effect was terrifying.

Exceptional Memory even provided considerable benefits for practicing the saber.

Besides that, Chen Yu's martial arts realm had also advanced, breaking through to Body Tempering Fourth Stage.

[Martial Dao Grade-B Bone (Blue)] and [Body Fortification (Yellow)] gave him a Body Tempering speed forty times that of an ordinary person.

The [Gluttonous Factor (Green)] he had copied from the Evil God Cultist was also extremely powerful, greatly improving Chen Yu's digestive ability.

He could now consume one Advanced Body-Tempering Elixir in half a day, so its Body Tempering effects went without saying.

Of course, the money was also disappearing at a very real rate.

"But unfortunately, I didn't get a single Blue-Quality Talent." Chen Yu sighed.

He had thought copying [Fortune's Blessing (Blue)] at Heroic Martial Arts Hall was a good beginning. Who would have thought that would be the peak?

Even among River City's three great martial arts halls, there might have been many experts, but there was not a single outstanding young talent like Hao Xi.

After all, unless it was their own martial arts hall, why would geniuses like Wang Qianjun and Hao Xi need to be cultivated by one?

"Tsk, looks like I'll still have to spend money."

Chen Yu shook his head. He had already made other preparations for this situation.