An exceptionally heavy atmosphere hung over the classroom the next day.
The bodies of the classmates who had gone missing yesterday had all been found today.
The City Defense Bureau and the school were discussing compensation with the deceased students' families.
The rewards for the students who had taken part in the trial had also all been handed out.
Everyone received a cash prize of one thousand yuan.
Those who had performed exceptionally well received additional blood crystals.
Teacher Yao had given Qin Ze an S rating, and he had received two blood crystals.
Each blood crystal was about half the size of a baby's fist and was filled with dense qi and blood that could be absorbed directly.
Qin Ze was stuck at a bottleneck right now, so absorbing them would have been useless. He carefully put them away.
"The trial missions have been suspended."
"I heard the City Defense Bureau sent intermediate martial artists into the alternate realm to sweep out the high-threat exotic beasts."
Fatty told Qin Ze the inside information he had heard from his dad.
"Good thing I didn't go, or I would've gone and never come back too."
Fatty couldn't help sighing.
He was a gifted ability user, so he didn't have to take the martial arts exam, and participation in the trial was voluntary.
Fatty had woken up late yesterday and missed the number two bus, but he had saved his own life.
"Brother Ze, what's that thing you're wearing on your wrist?"
Fatty had noticed Qin Ze's administrator terminal.
Qin Ze showed it off without hesitation. "A Little Genius phone watch, plus version."
Fatty immediately lost interest.
"You're so boring, Brother Ze."
There was a body-forging class that morning.
Qin Ze had thought Teacher Yao wouldn't come to school today after being so badly injured yesterday.
But after the bell rang, Teacher Yao still showed up for class.
She was dressed in her usual white martial arts uniform, with no sign of injury whatsoever.
The two exchanged a knowing glance, then each went about their own business.
After class, Qin Ze knocked on Teacher Yao's office door.
"Something you need?"
Teacher Yao put down the documents in her hands and looked at Qin Ze questioningly.
Qin Ze grinned. "Teacher Yao, I have a question for you. Do you know how to break through to Level One Martial Artist?"
Teacher Yao's face showed surprise at his words.
"You're about to break through?"
Qin Ze nodded. "Untalented as I am, it is indeed yours truly."
Teacher Yao got up and took Qin Ze by the wrist.
"Your qi and blood have reached the limit. You really are about to break through."
Teacher Yao looked at Qin Ze in disbelief, as though she were looking at a monster.
According to the information she had looked into, Qin Ze had been born into an ordinary family.
His parents and older sister were ordinary people, and there hadn't been a martial artist in the previous three generations either.
One could say that the appearance of a martial artist like Qin Ze meant that green smoke was rising from the Qin family's ancestral graves.
Throughout his three years of high school, Qin Ze's martial arts performance had been unremarkable, and he had shown no talent whatsoever.
How had he suddenly become a different person in the past half month?
He was going to break through to Level One Martial Artist before turning eighteen. Even the children of martial arts families who ate Qi-Gathering Pills like candy didn't break through this quickly.
"Have you been cultivating some forbidden technique?" Teacher Yao asked, her brows tightly furrowed.
Some prohibited cultivation techniques could also bring about a rapid breakthrough in a short time, but naturally, there was a price to pay.
It could be one's life, one's mind, or one's faith.
In short, there was no such thing as a free lunch.
Qin Ze answered honestly, "The only techniques I cultivate are the Fate Reversal Technique and the Lotus Visualization Method."
Teacher Yao looked Qin Ze straight in the eye. At that moment, Qin Ze suddenly felt as though he were meeting the Law Card's gaze.
"Tell me, what cultivation techniques do you practice?"
Teacher Yao's voice rang out in Qin Ze's mind like a monastery's morning bell, impossible to resist.
This power was even stronger than the Law Card's.
Soon, the pressure and righteous aura were dispersed among the other clones. The pressure on Qin Ze vanished, and he repeated his previous answer.
"The only techniques I cultivate are the Fate Reversal Technique and the Lotus Visualization Method."
Teacher Yao was dumbfounded.
Could Qin Ze really be a martial arts genius who appeared only once in a century?
"So, Teacher Yao, do you actually know how to break through or not?"
"If you don't, I'll go ask someone else."
Qin Ze pretended to be impatient.
Teacher Yao snorted and went back to sit in her chair.
"Do you feel as though your qi sea is bursting right now, and no matter how much you meditate, your qi and blood won't increase in the slightest?"
Qin Ze nodded.
Teacher Yao said calmly, "I told you before, didn't I? Qi and blood and the Fate Reversal Technique complement each other."
"Your progress in cultivating the Fate Reversal Technique actually reflects the strength of your physical body to a certain extent."
"Your qi and blood have now reached the limit of your current physical body. Your body can't bear any more."
"If you want your qi and blood to break through the thousand-point threshold, you must first temper your physical body."
Listening to your words was just like listening to your words.
Qin Ze suddenly felt as though the reeds blocking his mind had been cleared away.
"So what should I do next?"
Teacher Yao stopped keeping him in suspense. "It's simple. Use qi and blood to refine your physical body."
"The first step is to start by refining your bones."
"The more bones you refine, the stronger your physical body will become, and the more qi and blood it can bear."
Qin Ze said, "Why have teachers never covered any of this in class?"
Teacher Yao rolled her eyes. "Obviously, these are things you won't learn until you go to university."
What normal person broke through to Level One Martial Artist before turning eighteen?
Qin Ze blinked and understood what Teacher Yao meant. It turned out he was breaking through too early.
"I thought the upperclassmen at university were all at least Level One Martial Artists."
Teacher Yao flung a book at Qin Ze's face, too fed up to listen to him brag any longer.
"Go back and practice on your own. If there's anything you don't understand, come ask me."
Qin Ze picked up the book. The words "Bone Tempering Method" were written on it.
There was also a line of small print in the upper left corner.
Third edition bone-tempering textbook for martial arts universities.
So it was a university textbook.
"Thank you, Teacher Yao!"
Qin Ze happily put the book away.
"There are always people beyond people, and heavens beyond heaven."
"Don't get complacent and look down on everyone just because you have a little talent."
"Especially when you get to a martial arts university, where gifted people will be all around you."
Worried that Qin Ze's early promise might come to nothing, Teacher Yao gave him a few words of warning.
Qin Ze nodded. "Don't worry, Teacher. I'll keep a very low profile."
"Goodbye, Teacher."
Bang~
Qin Ze didn't forget to pull the door shut behind him.
"This little Jiang City really has produced an extraordinary youngster."
Today, Teacher Yao saw Qin Ze in a completely new light.
She glanced at the file on her desk with Qin Ze's photo attached, then picked up her phone and made a call.
"Deliver the apology gift to the He Family today. Also, make it clear to them once again that He Bi's death had nothing to do with Qin Ze."
Before the little sapling grew into a towering tree, Teacher Yao had decided to give him what little protection she could.
"Understood, miss."
"The family head just asked about the progress of the mission. When will we take the next step?"
Teacher Yao picked up a pen and drew a circle on her desk calendar.
"Today, then."
"Pass the word along. The rats can be released."
The person on the other end of the phone answered, "Yes."
Qin Ze returned to the classroom, happily clutching the book.
He was about to become a Level One Martial Artist!
However, after reading through the book, Qin Ze discovered that breaking through wasn't quite so simple.
Of the eighty-one tribulations, he had only just reached Gao Village.