"Teacher, I understand that on the path of martial arts, trying to bite off more than you can chew will only leave you unable to digest any of it."
Facing Li Qingshan's fury, Jiang Yuan remained remarkably calm.
"But I'm not being greedy. I have a need for them."
"What need?"
Li Qingshan's chest heaved with anger. The appreciation he had just begun to feel for talent was nearly extinguished by this brat's arrogance.
"Teacher, I already have the Heaven-Burning Sword Art as an offensive method, and I've trained it to the subtle level. You saw that with your own eyes."
Jiang Yuan analyzed the matter unhurriedly.
"But when it comes to defense and control, I'm practically a blank slate. In my fight with Song Xi, I relied on my bodily mutation. When I killed the Iron-Winged Vultures today, I relied on the speed of my sword. But if someone gets close, or if I encounter an opponent with exceptionally strong defenses, I'll fall into a passive position."
He raised his head and looked Li Qingshan straight in the eye.
"That's why I need a body-tempering technique to strengthen my defense, and grappling techniques to deal with close-quarters entanglements."
"Among A-Rank Martial Arts, the Baxia · Stone-Metal Body is supreme in defense, while the Profound Heaven · Shattering Bone Hand is the king of grappling. I need these two to make up for my weaknesses."
Jiang Yuan's clear and orderly analysis left Li Qingshan stunned.
This brat was not acting on a hot-headed impulse. He was truly making long-term plans for his martial path.
But...
"Baxia · Stone-Metal Body? Profound Heaven · Shattering Bone Hand?"
Li Qingshan sucked in a cold breath, his expression even more exaggerated than before.
"Do you know how difficult these two martial arts are to cultivate? The Baxia · Stone-Metal Body is known as a self-torture divine skill. The cultivation process is incomparably painful, progress is slow, and in the past hundred years, not a single person at our school has cultivated it to lesser mastery!"
"As for the Profound Heaven · Shattering Bone Hand, it places extremely high demands on one's skeletal and meridian structure. Its moves have over a thousand variations. Forget even one, and you could cripple yourself!"
Li Qingshan earnestly tried to persuade him. "Jiang Yuan, listen to your teacher. A meal must be eaten one bite at a time, and a road must be walked one step at a time. Your comprehension is monstrous, but your energy is limited! Coveting A-Rank Martial Arts may very well leave you unable to master even one, wasting your talent for nothing!"
"Teacher," Jiang Yuan interrupted him, "I cultivated a remnant chapter of an A-Rank sword art to the subtle level within days. Doesn't that prove my comprehension?"
He stepped forward, his tone resolute.
"For me, learning B-Rank and C-Rank martial arts would be the real waste of time. My goal is New Star, not to lord over everyone at an Old Star martial university."
"I want to use the strongest martial arts and walk the fastest road!"
The office fell silent.
Li Qingshan looked at the youth before him. The flames burning in those eyes reminded him of his younger self.
No, when he had been young, he had possessed nowhere near such unstoppable spirit and determination.
An epiphany at the brink of battle, swordsmanship entering the subtle level...
To judge such comprehension by common sense was itself a mistake.
Perhaps he really should let him try?
Take a gamble!
"Fine!"
Li Qingshan slammed a palm onto the desk, producing a dull thud.
"I'll go mad with you this once! If you want to learn them, I'll apply for them!"
He grabbed the internal communicator on his desk and directly connected to the principal's office.
"Principal, it's me, Li Qingshan. I have a new idea about Jiang Yuan... Yes, he wants two A-Rank Martial Arts... That's right, the Baxia · Stone-Metal Body and the Profound Heaven · Shattering Bone Hand... I know they're difficult, but he insists... His reason? His reason is that his name is Jiang Yuan!"
The other end of the communicator remained silent for a long while.
Li Qingshan's palms began to sweat.
At last, the principal's steady voice came through. "Give them to him. The school's A-Rank Martial Arts repository is fully open to him."
"However, tell him that the investigation team is already on its way. Tell him to be prepared."
Li Qingshan hung up the communicator, let out a long breath, then led Jiang Yuan toward the Martial Arts Building deep within the teaching complex.
The Martial Arts Building was a forbidden area of the school, heavily guarded on ordinary days.
Li Qingshan passed through three layers of access control and brought Jiang Yuan into a secret chamber.
At the center of the chamber lay more than a dozen jade slips glimmering with an eerie light.
"This is where all the school's A-Rank Martial Arts inheritances are stored."
Li Qingshan pointed at the two jade slips he had just mentioned.
"Think it through. Once you choose, there's no turning back."
"I've thought it through."
Without the slightest hesitation, Jiang Yuan reached out and grasped the two jade slips.
The instant he touched them, system notifications rang out in rapid succession inside his mind.
[Ding! A-Rank Martial Arts inheritance detected!] [Infusing: Profound Heaven · Shattering Bone Hand 1%...30%...100%!] [Profound Heaven · Shattering Bone Hand has been learned!] [Ding! A-Rank Martial Arts inheritance detected!] [Infusing: Baxia · Stone-Metal Body 1%...30%...100%!] [Baxia · Stone-Metal Body has been learned!]
Two enormous, complex streams of information surged into his mind. Countless cultivation methods and variations of moves were completely absorbed by him in an instant.
Jiang Yuan released his grip, and the glow on the two jade slips dimmed.
"That's it?"
Li Qingshan leaned closer, somewhat unable to believe it.
"Inheriting an A-Rank Martial Art requires at least half an hour of contemplation. How did you..."
"Maybe my comprehension is pretty good."
Jiang Yuan answered casually, then flexed his fingers.
He could feel that the bones in his fingers and his skin had gained an additional layer of toughness the instant the Baxia · Stone-Metal Body entered the beginner stage.
And all the force-generating techniques of the Profound Heaven · Shattering Bone Hand had already been engraved into his muscle memory like instinct.
"Let's go, Teacher. I'm hungry. Let's eat."
The school cafeteria.
Five enormous trays sat before Jiang Yuan, each piled high with steaming beast meat.
The Nine Yang Divine Skill, the Heaven-Burning Sword Art, and the two A-Rank Martial Arts he had just learned all consumed tremendous amounts of energy.
Only after wolfing down all five set meals in one go did the hunger in his stomach ease slightly.
Guo Hongtao held his own tray and sat across from him, dumbfounded.
"Brother Yuan, did you swallow a whole cow? Did you really burn through that much today?"
"More or less."
Jiang Yuan wiped his mouth, just about to speak when Guo Hongtao lowered his voice and leaned in with a mysterious air.
"Brother Yuan, I went to the restroom just now and heard the dean talking to someone on the phone."
"He said that some special investigation team from New Star has already entered the school. They're in the principal's office right now, and they'll probably be looking to question you soon."
Jiang Yuan nodded, unsurprised.
"What must come will come."
Just then, a discordant voice rang out beside them.
"Well, if it isn't our school's great hero? Eating five people's worth in one meal—are you planning to eat all the school's beast meat so the other students won't have any left to train with?"
Jiang Yuan turned around. Zhou Hu stood beside his table with several lackeys, his face full of mockery.
"What, does me eating bother you too?" Jiang Yuan said flatly.
"I'm just curious." Zhou Hu's gaze fell on the wooden case behind Jiang Yuan. "I heard you relied on a broken sword to kill four Iron-Winged Vultures."
He gave a derisive snort. His voice was not loud, but it was enough for students at several nearby tables to hear.
"Jiang Yuan, without that sword, what the hell are you?"
Before you continue