As he thought about it...
Gu Qing suddenly remembered why he had come to the gym in the first place-to test his strength.
He made a round of the gym.
He briefly tested his bench press, deadlift, and punching power.
The results were as follows.
Bench press: 110 kg. Deadlift: 180 kg. Punching power: 162 kg.
Gu Qing was a little surprised.
He hadn't expected to break a hundred in all three.
He was seriously strong.
Still, his punching power was only 162 kg, which seemed relatively low.
After all, his bench press had reached 110 kg.
But Gu Qing didn't dwell on it.
He wasn't a professional boxer, after all.
It was normal that he didn't know how to put his strength into a punch.
With his strength tests finished...
He left the gym and went outside.
Instead of returning to his dorm, Gu Qing headed straight for the sports field to test his speed.
He arrived at the sports field.
After a quick warm-up...
Gu Qing wasted no time. He took out his phone, opened the stopwatch, and started running.
He tested himself over 100 meters, 400 meters, and 800 meters.
The results were as follows.
100 meters: 10.98 seconds. 400 meters: 52.11 seconds. 800 meters: 2 minutes 07 seconds.
His first two results met the standards for a national second-class athlete.
Only his 800-meter time fell a little short.
Overall...
His strength and speed were now both outstanding.
Only his endurance was relatively weak.
But compared with an ordinary person's, even his endurance was already incredible.
Calling him a human pile driver wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Just then...
An attractive figure in the middle of the sports field caught Gu Qing's attention.
It was a girl with the label [Martial Arts Grandmaster] above her head, practicing spear techniques with a Red-Tassel Spear.
The girl wore her hair in a high ponytail. She had an upright figure with smooth, firm contours, a beautiful, finely featured face, clear eyes and brows, and healthy, attractive wheat-colored skin with the sun-kissed look of someone who had trained outdoors for years.
As she swept the spear through broad arcs, the hem of her top occasionally lifted, revealing perfectly defined abs. Her movements were crisp and powerful, making her quite a sight.
"Hey."
Gu Qing approached her with a smile. "You look amazing with that Red-Tassel Spear. I've been interested in traditional martial arts since I was little. Could you teach me?"
His approach seemed a little contrived.
His technique needed work.
But he was all stats. He didn't need technique.
"Sure."
Seeing how handsome Gu Qing was, the girl agreed without a second thought.
Gu Qing introduced himself. "I'm Gu Qing. Gu as in 'to care for,' and Qing as in 'green grasslands.' I'm a third-year student at the Foreign Languages College. What about you?"
The girl smiled. "Hello, senior. I'm Xia Shuran. Xia as in 'summer,' Shu as in 'comfortable,' and Ran as in 'all-natural.' I'm a first-year student at the Physical Education College."
"Oh, a junior. Nice to meet you."
Without wasting any more words, Gu Qing got straight to the point. "Then, do you have time now to teach me how to use that Red-Tassel Spear?"
"Yes, I do."
Xia Shuran nodded with a smile.
Seeing how readily she agreed, Gu Qing smiled as well. "You're so nice. Here, let's add each other on WeChat. I'll treat you to a meal sometime."
As he spoke, he took out his phone, opened his WeChat QR code, and held it out in front of her.
From his initial introduction, to asking her to teach him the Red-Tassel Spear, to adding her on WeChat now...
Everything Gu Qing said was aimed at testing how the labels worked.
After they added each other on WeChat...
Soon...
Under Xia Shuran's patient instruction, Gu Qing began awkwardly practicing with the Red-Tassel Spear.
Meanwhile...
The two chatted on and off.
Through their conversation, Gu Qing learned that Xia Shuran wasn't an ordinary sports student.
She was a student specializing in martial arts performances.
The university had specially recruited her to represent it in competitions and win awards.
He also learned that her family had practiced martial arts for generations and currently ran a martial arts school.
"If your dad can run a martial arts school and teach people, he must be pretty good, right? Can he easily take on ten people at once, like the heroes in martial arts movies?"
Gu Qing asked curiously.
Xia Shuran shook her head, her tone somewhat self-deprecating.
"Maybe in the past. But combat sports have developed so quickly that traditional martial arts have long since become obsolete in actual fighting. They've been reduced to performances that keep you fit. They don't have much fighting power."
"Really..."
Gu Qing hadn't quite expected that.
Seeing the [Martial Arts Grandmaster] label floating above Xia Shuran's head, he had thought her family's traditional martial arts might have something to them. He hadn't expected them to be useful only for keeping fit.
Seemingly sensing that Gu Qing was genuinely interested in traditional martial arts...
Rather than using them as an excuse to chat her up...
Xia Shuran took the initiative to discuss the subject with him in greater depth.
"People who practice boxing, judo, and kickboxing have come to challenge our martial arts school before. Guess how that turned out?"
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Chapter 6: Man-eating Monsters
"They edged you out, and you narrowly lost?"
Gu Qing offered a tactful, cautious answer.
He didn't want a poorly chosen answer to inadvertently offend Xia Shuran, whose entire family practiced martial arts.
However...
Xia Shuran was even more open-minded than he had expected.
She genuinely didn't sugarcoat anything. With a rueful laugh, she aired her family's dirty laundry.
"Senior, you're still giving traditional martial arts too much credit."
"We didn't narrowly lose. Not a single person in the entire school could last more than a few moves."
"Every one of us was knocked down in two or three moves by the challengers. We couldn't fight back at all."
"That's why I said traditional martial arts have long since fallen into decline."
"Either you use them to keep yourself fit or to perform for others. Those are the only two pitiful uses they have left, both completely removed from actual combat."
At this point, Xia Shuran's eyes dimmed a little.
When she was little, she had often heard her grandfather talk about it.
How glorious their family had once been, how their ancestors had produced a top-ranked imperial military examination graduate, and how they had been an exalted martial arts family.
Even when passersby saw their watchdog, they had to bow and respectfully address it as Lord Dog.
Unfortunately, times had changed.
The traditional martial arts they had once taken pride in had long since been crushed beneath the wheels of history into remnants of a bygone age-unappealing to keep, yet a shame to discard.
Their family's former glory had likewise faded into an unregarded past.
Time flew.
In the blink of an eye, more than an hour had passed.
The blazing sun was already high in the sky.
Sunlight fell on Xia Shuran, reflecting off the fine sheen of sweat and making her wheat-colored skin glimmer faintly, giving her a distinctive, wild allure.
But Gu Qing was in no mood to appreciate that allure.
Instead, he frowned slightly, feeling a faint sense of disappointment.
More than an hour had passed, yet no text had appeared before his eyes.
This meant the requirements for obtaining attributes from labels were much stricter than he had expected.
Simply learning each other's names wasn't enough.
He probably needed to spend some time with her before meeting the requirements for obtaining attributes from her label.
Looks like I'll have to spend more time with this junior from now on.
I'll see how well I have to get to know her before I can obtain attributes from her [Martial Arts Grandmaster] label.
"Senior."
As they were about to part, Xia Shuran looked at Gu Qing with a sunny expression, anticipation in her eyes. "You said earlier that you'd treat me to a meal when you had time. Did you mean it?"
"Of course."
Gu Qing smiled.
Upon receiving that definite answer...
Xia Shuran was overjoyed, her smile especially bright and cheerful. "Senior, I'm free anytime. I'll be waiting every day for you to invite me out to eat."
"Don't worry. I definitely will."
Gu Qing smiled and waved to Xia Shuran, then turned and left the sports field.
Before you continue