Talent Screening! Resource Allocation!

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"

In just over three months, how could Jiang Shu have gone from an ordinary person to crossing two major thresholds in martial arts, from Qi and Blood Sensing to Qi and Blood Circulation?

The Academy.

Jiang Shu could enter an Academy?

There were only four Academies in the entire Xia Kingdom.

In all of Jicheng, only a few dozen people could enter an Academy each year.

How could Jiang Shu... possibly do it?!

Fake. It was all fake!

Wang Han collapsed into his seat, utterly despondent.

As if struck by lightning.

Qinxue Building.

Principal's Office.

Dressed in a single thin shirt, Jiang Shu held a steady Horse Stance. With his Horse Stance at great mastery, he circulated his Blood Qi.

Before him, Zheng Yanbo and Zhang Taining stood side by side.

Yet compared to Zheng Yanbo's composure, Zhang Taining's eyes held undisguised unease. Though he had already reached the age of knowing Heaven's decree, he seemed like a student about to enter an examination hall.

Jiang Shu's Blood Qi Circulation and bid for the Academy had merely been his own spur-of-the-moment judgment.

As someone who was not a professional, he still needed Zheng Yanbo's confirmation.

"Principal Zhang, congratulations, congratulations. Your school has produced a colt that can run a thousand li this time. An Academy is within reach."

Hearing this, Zhang Taining felt as though a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and delight surfaced on his face.

At that moment, Zheng Yanbo looked at Jiang Shu, his voice as mild as a spring breeze.

"You're Jiang Shu, right? Sit down and let's talk. No need to be nervous."

Without putting on any airs, Zheng Yanbo sat down first and went straight to the point. "Besides practicing martial arts, has Student Jiang paid attention to the current news? If you have followed it even a little, it shouldn't be hard to notice that the world seems to have entered a new era. It is burgeoning with life, changing with each passing day."

"Many things may be unknown to you, but they have long been spreading across certain Forums. Medicinal herbs over a hundred years old have continuously appeared in the deep mountains and old forests. Some wild animals seem to have entered a channel of rapid evolution, with their intelligence and physiques growing by the day. In the depths of the ocean, deserts, and tropical rainforests—dangerous and forsaken places rarely visited by people—small-scale natural disasters occur from time to time."

"None of this is false. The world is undergoing tremendous change, much like the agricultural age encountering the Industrial Revolution. If we do not advance or develop, we will fall behind others! That is why we in the East cultivate Martial Dao, while The West researches genes: all to break through the limits of the human body and meet greater opportunities and challenges."

After turning on the air conditioner, Zhang Taining humbly began brewing tea. He handed a cup at just the right temperature to Zheng Yanbo, then passed the second cup to Jiang Shu.

"Thank you, Principal Zhang."

Jiang Shu accepted the tea with both hands, took a small sip, then set it aside and sat upright.

His expression was calm, but waves surged within his heart.

Ever since breaking the Mystery of the Womb, aside from practicing martial arts, he had constantly kept watch over the changes in the world.

Events that had once left him somewhat puzzled suddenly became clear, like fog dispersing.

For instance, the zoo relocations had most likely happened because some animals inside had already begun evolving, their intelligence and physiques greatly enhanced.

Animals were evolving. Plants were evolving. Then what about humans?

Eastern Martial Dao, Western genes!

Unlike the passive evolution of animals and plants, humanity's evolution was proactive.

They could actively choose the path of evolution and adapt to this ever-changing world!

Within Zheng Yanbo's few simple remarks were both direct statements and indirect revelations.

For example, meeting greater opportunities and challenges.

What were the opportunities? What were the challenges?

He had not explained them clearly.

Yet he had already shown that the real world was absolutely not as the various nations presented it to be.

Jiang Shu thought silently, but did not ask outright. He listened quietly, waiting for Zheng Yanbo to take a sip of tea before continuing.

"Student Jiang, since you have trained the Horse Stance to great mastery, you should have noticed this as well. The Horse Stance is actually only the most basic martial art. Its sole purpose is to strengthen one's own Blood Qi. It can steadily elevate one from Qi and Blood Sensing to the Whole Body Qi and Blood Great Circulation."

"But that is its limit. No matter how gifted a Martial Dao prodigy may be, they cannot break beyond it. Thus, after perfecting the Horse Stance, we need to cultivate another martial art: the Guidance Technique."

"To condense the Whole Body Qi and Blood Great Circulation into Jin. That is the Guidance Technique. And the Ming Jin, Hidden Force, and Transforming Force I spoke of in today's lecture are three realms, as well as three methods of exerting force."

"Do you know what this represents? It means that Martial Dao realms cannot simply be piled up with resources! A martial artist must cultivate them solidly for themselves and comprehend them through talent!"

"If one's talent is insufficient, even vast quantities of resources can only strengthen an ordinary person's Blood Qi. Without understanding the methods of exerting force and being unable to strike Ming Jin, no amount of precious medicinal herbs or rare beast meat can break the thousand-jin limit! For an entire lifetime, they will only be a somewhat stronger ordinary person!"

"Therefore, including the Horse Stance in the College Entrance Examination system is actually a large-scale screening of Martial Dao talent among society's young students!"

"Without any supplementation from Blood Qi medicinal herbs or beast meat, reaching a certain level through cultivation means that this martial arts student has the potential to become a martial artist, can comprehend the methods of exerting force on their own, and break through the limits of the human body!"

Sitting upright in his chair, Zheng Yanbo spoke with words that struck the ground like iron. "What the martial arts College Entrance Examination truly examines is not how great your strength is! Nor is it whether your Blood Qi is powerful. It examines your Martial Dao talent!"

"Qi and Blood Sensing, Qi and Blood Circulation, and the Whole Body Qi and Blood Great Circulation are not realms, but three grades of talent! The higher the talent, the more resources one will receive in the future!"

The more Zheng Yanbo spoke, the more excited he became.

Yet Zhang Taining grew increasingly alarmed as he listened.

Even as a principal, the information he knew was limited.

The evolution of all things, the cultivation of Martial Dao—a brand-new world unfurled before him in an instant like a painting scroll.

He could not help interrupting. "Mr. Zheng, then wouldn't this be unfair to some students who did not choose the martial arts track? They also do not know this is a talent screening. Perhaps they possess Martial Dao talent as well?"

"Fairness? Where in this world is there absolute fairness?"

Zheng Yanbo sneered. "In every profession, choice matters more than effort! The world is developing, and human understanding is developing as well. Concealing certain information is merely to preserve social stability. But the Xia Kingdom's promotion of Martial Dao has not stopped for a single day!"

"The martial arts track has been incorporated into the College Entrance Examination system, films about Martial Dao have been approved and begun production, and there is no need to mention Shengjing Academy's important speech. Modern students need more new faces. What those new faces are, Principal Zhang, surely you can understand."

"Talent is not some common cabbage that everyone can have. It has been nearly four months since the Horse Stance was made public, and nearly four months of promoting Martial Dao. If someone still refuses to practice martial arts, does not love martial arts, is not devoted to martial arts, and cannot form a true Martial Dao heart, then what talent can they speak of?"

The chapter was blocked. Even after revising and reposting it a second time, it was still blocked... Since I have to update at least four thousand words during the new book period, I'm posting it again to try. When tomorrow's new chapter comes out, it may slightly affect some new readers' reading experience. Sorry, sorry.