One punch shattered the established laws of martial arts

For the rest of the lesson, Zhou Lie continued leading the students in paired sparring, breaking down the details of attack and defense one by one.

But as Lin Hao listened, he could clearly tell that much of what Zhou Lie taught was not the optimal solution.

And throughout his explanations, Zhou Lie's gaze kept drifting unconsciously toward Lin Hao.

After guiding several groups of students, Zhou Lie announced free practice.

Then he walked up to Lin Hao, patted his shoulder, and said in a low voice, "Lin Hao, come with me to the testing room."

Lin Hao knew what he wanted to do. He nodded and followed him toward the testing building beside the sports field.

Inside the testing room stood a qi and blood tester and a combat power tester.

Zhou Lie wasted no words. Pointing at the combat power tester, he said with barely contained anticipation, "Come on, use your most practiced move and try throwing a punch with all your strength."

Lin Hao said little either. He also wanted to see whether the readings on the tester matched the figures the system had given him.

He suppressed the hunger inside him, adjusted his condition, and struck the center of the tester's target with a Mountain-Breaking Thrust Punch.

The numbers on the screen flickered before finally settling on...

2.02!

Zhou Lie stared at the number, his eyes instantly widening in shock.

Even his voice shook. "2.02! Your combat power broke through 2! Lin Hao, do you know what this means? Capital Martial University, the best in the Dragon Nation, is beckoning to you!

"I can apply for the school's top martial arts subsidy for you right now-a full set of qi and blood potions!"

At those words, Lin Hao's heart jolted.

The school's top martial arts subsidy was coming his way just like that?

"Come on, let's test your qi and blood too." Zhou Lie pointed at the qi and blood tester beside them, his face full of anticipation.

Lin Hao nodded and placed his hand on the qi and blood tester's sensor plate.

The screen flashed a few times, then settled on...

0.42.

The smile on Zhou Lie's face froze instantly.

He stared at the screen, checking it three times, still unable to believe it.

He could not help reaching out to pat the tester's casing, but the number still did not change.

"0.42..." Zhou Lie murmured, unable to hide his disappointment. "How could 0.42 qi and blood produce 2.02 combat power? That goes against the fundamental laws of martial arts... What a shame. Such a shame..."

His excitement faded, leaving only deep regret on his face.

Qi and blood were the foundation of combat power. Without enough qi and blood, even high combat power would have its limits, which amounted to having no potential for development.

Lin Hao's nearly fivefold combat power was already the one and only case Zhou Lie had ever seen.

He sighed and looked awkwardly at Lin Hao. "Lin Hao, I got ahead of myself. The mandatory threshold for the martial artist entrance exam is a qi and blood value of 1.0. No matter how high your combat power is, if your qi and blood don't meet the threshold, you still..."

He paused, as though making some sort of decision, and reached into his pocket. "There's definitely no way to apply for the school's top martial arts subsidy. How about this? I'll give you some money out of my own pocket. Go buy some tonics to build up your body."

But after searching every pocket on him, he only managed to pull out a handful of scattered banknotes.

There were tens, fives, and even a few coins mixed in. Altogether, they came to less than a hundred.

Holding the handful of change, Zhou Lie gave a dry laugh. "Uh... well, my wife keeps a tight grip on the money. I don't usually carry much on me... Take this for now..."

Looking at the change in his hand, Lin Hao grew embarrassed too. He waved his hand and said, "Mr. Zhou, you should keep that money for yourself. I'll figure out the money myself. Thank you for your kindness."

After school, Lin Hao dragged his hungry body along the road home with Jiang Chao.

Jiang Chao's face still shone with excitement. "I'm telling you, Haozi, you really did the two of us proud today! That bastard Bai Cheng-I've been sick of him for ages!"

His hunger unbearable, Lin Hao did not want to say much. "You've been going on about that one little thing all day."

Jiang Chao smiled at that, then remembered something else and asked curiously, "Oh, right, what did Mr. Zhou call you away for this morning? It was all so mysterious."

Lin Hao's tone was flat. "Nothing much. He tested my qi and blood and combat power."

Jiang Chao's eyes lit up with anticipation. "How was it? Was your combat power off the charts? Those two moves of yours definitely weren't ordinary!"

Seeing his excitement, Lin Hao shook his head with a smile. "Nothing came of it. I went in full of joy and came out full of disappointment."

The excitement on Jiang Chao's face faltered briefly, then he patted Lin Hao's shoulder.

"Hey, what's there to be disappointed about? You could knock Bai Cheng flat today, so you'll get into a martial arts university tomorrow. No doubt about it! Oh, right, have you decided which martial arts university you want to get into?"

A playful smile crossed Lin Hao's face as he said, "I've decided. I'm going to get into Capital Martial University."

Having said that, he waited for Jiang Chao's look of disbelief.

Instead, after freezing for two seconds, Jiang Chao raised his voice. "Jingwu's fucking awesome! Haozi, you've got guts! I always said you weren't a creature destined to stay in a small pond!"

This time, it was Lin Hao's turn to freeze.

His steps faltered for half a beat, and he laughed. "You actually believe that? If I said that to anyone else, they'd probably think I'd gone mad."

"What the hell do I care whether they believe it?" Jiang Chao rubbed his chin, thought for a moment, and said, "Isn't there a saying that diligence makes up for shortcomings? You work so hard. You'll be fine."

Lin Hao smiled wryly to himself. For a goal like Capital Martial University, could diligence really make up for shortcomings?

Still, he said nothing more, knowing Jiang Chao did not want to throw cold water on him.

Then Jiang Chao remembered something else and said, "Oh, right, I saw you wolf down six big steamed buns in the cafeteria at lunch.

"You must be training too hard and draining your body. You need to replenish it. I happen to have twenty thousand here. Take it and buy some tonics.

"You're my brother. If you say you can get into Jingwu, then you definitely can."

As he spoke, he pulled out a stack of banknotes and pushed it into Lin Hao's hands.

Lin Hao hesitated briefly, then stopped standing on ceremony and accepted the twenty thousand, putting it in his schoolbag. "All right, I won't stand on ceremony, then. Thanks, big shot."

He thought that since Jiang Chao treated him as a brother, and he really did need the money, he might as well accept it.

If Jiang Chao ran into trouble in the future, he would certainly lend a hand wherever he could.

Without further fuss, he tucked the paper packet into his inner pocket close to his body, raised his hand to pat Jiang Chao's shoulder, and smiled.

Seeing Lin Hao accept the money made Jiang Chao happy too. He smiled and said, "Your brother here could've given you more. But... I recently got a new girlfriend, and I'm a little short on spending money myself."

Lin Hao raised his eyebrows and looked him up and down with a smile. "Rich big shots really do have plenty of luck with women!"

Jiang Chao immediately shook his head. "This one's different! Xia Zhi isn't after my money. She genuinely likes me! Every time I try to buy her something, she stops me and tells me not to waste money."

Lin Hao asked curiously, "Then what does she see in you?"

Jiang Chao immediately puffed out his chest and said proudly, "She said she fell for my talent!"

Looking at him, Lin Hao felt puzzled.

Jiang Chao's talent?

They had been deskmates for three years. He knew perfectly well that Jiang Chao relied entirely on guessing to get through exams and muddling along to get through cultivation.

His only talent might have been taking on five opponents alone in games.

Was that the talent Xia Zhi had fallen for?

Doubts stirred in his mind. Could Xia Zhi be casting a long line to catch a big fish?

Seeing the disbelief in Lin Hao's eyes, Jiang Chao grew anxious. "Tomorrow's Friday. I've arranged to have dinner with Xia Zhi at Spirit Charm Restaurant in the evening. Want to come along? You can meet Xia Zhi yourself."

"What would I be doing tagging along on your dinner date?" Lin Hao waved his hand. "I'm not being your third wheel."

"No, that's not it," Jiang Chao explained. "Xia Zhi said she wanted us to meet each other's close friends. She's bringing her best friend tomorrow too. You can take a look and help me vet her while you're at it!"

Lin Hao thought it over. He, too, kept feeling that something was off, so he nodded. "All right, I'll come mooch a meal."