In the office.
Su Yun stared at Ning Chuan, the corners of her mouth almost curling into a smile. "Don't just stand there. You don't need to be so formal with your teacher. Let's sit down and talk."
"I'm fine standing. The most important thing for a student is to respect his teachers and their teachings!"
Ning Chuan gave a light cough as he spoke.
He hadn't noticed it while his fighting spirit still burned, but as he calmed down and the adrenaline faded, the soreness of his injuries grew increasingly apparent.
The slightest movement made the pain worse.
Only his toughness kept him from losing his composure.
A smile crept onto Su Yun's pretty face, and she teased him, "At Awakening Stage Four, you dared to trade injuries with someone at Stage Six. I really thought you weren't afraid of pain."
As she spoke, she opened her right hand. A mass of emerald-green light emerged from her palm, gathering like flowing water.
Ning Chuan immediately perked up. He widened his eyes and carefully studied the emerald light.
This was Force!
A powerful force that could only be mastered by becoming an Official Martial Artist.
"Stop staring and come closer, so I can treat you!"
Su Yun said.
At a thought from her, the emerald light in her right hand rose like thick fog, completely enveloping Ning Chuan and steadily seeping into his skin.
"Hm?!"
Ning Chuan felt as though cool water were washing over his body, and the soreness quickly subsided.
A few minutes later, the emerald light dissipated.
Ning Chuan couldn't feel the slightest trace of pain.
He looked down at himself. There wasn't a single swollen or wounded spot on his body, and even the cracked skin on his fists had healed.
"This... how did you do that?!"
Ning Chuan looked at Su Yun in shock, finding it hard to believe.
Official Martial Artists were actually this powerful!
And Su Yun was still only a relatively weak martial artist.
Perhaps it wasn't an exaggeration to describe those supreme experts as the equals of gods.
"You're too weak right now. There's no need to learn about these things. Once you reach Awakening Stage Nine, an instructor at university will naturally tell you."
Su Yun waved a hand as she spoke.
Then she pulled open a drawer beneath the desk and took out a square package wrapped in gauze, about the size of a soccer ball.
"Yesterday, you killed the Thunder Sparrow and saved Guo Renyu. After the school leaders asked me about you, they discussed it and decided to give you this."
Su Yun handed the gauze-wrapped package to Ning Chuan.
"Is this... a medicine packet?"
Ning Chuan sniffed lightly and caught a faint medicinal scent.
"Yes."
Su Yun nodded. "It's a medicine packet specifically for a Vajra Body medicinal bath. Just toss it into the water and soak in it."
"Thank you, Teacher Su!"
Ning Chuan broke into a radiant smile.
A pillow had arrived just as he was getting sleepy.
Su Yun rolled her eyes slightly and said irritably, "Don't get happy too soon!
A medicinal bath only makes cultivating Vajra Body a little easier. It won't change the fact that it's extremely difficult to cultivate.
Don't even think about breaking through to the second level before the college entrance exam!"
"What if I didn't have a medicinal bath?"
Ning Chuan was curious.
He wanted to know how fast Vajra Body was normally cultivated.
"If you cultivate day and night without ever stopping, and you're lucky, you might be able to break through to the second level before you graduate from university!"
Su Yun said bluntly.
She hoped this would make Ning Chuan realize how difficult Vajra Body was and shift his focus to his breathing technique.
Su Yun realized she had miscalculated again.
Ning Chuan had actually laughed out loud.
Was he laughing at her for being wrong?!
"Take your medicine packet and get back to class!"
Su Yun ground her teeth, forgetting even to ask about his martial talent.
"Goodbye, Teacher Su!"
Ning Chuan left the office with a cheerful laugh.
It seemed he had misunderstood the martial art Vajra Body.
It was still highly competitive.
Even without the stimulus of physical injury, Vajra Body made more than two percentage points of progress a day.
In a little over a month, it could advance to the second level.
A normal person, on the other hand, needed at least four years!
When Ning Chuan returned to the classroom, he immediately drew the attention of his classmates.
Guo Renyu circled Ning Chuan a few times, looking puzzled. "Where are your wounds?"
"Teacher Su Yun used Force to heal me."
Ning Chuan answered casually.
"Crack!"
Many of the boys in the classroom seemed to hear the sound of their own hearts breaking.
Treating injuries was no easy task, even for a martial artist.
Especially when Ning Chuan had so many injuries.
It must have taken Su Yun tremendous effort.
Yet she had still been willing to treat him.
At his seat, Ma Hai held a bottle of ice water and rubbed his swollen cheek, so miserable he wanted to cry.
He was injured too.
Why hadn't Teacher Su Yun treated him?
He was an outstanding student!
"Treating that guy Ning Chuan must have left Teacher Su Yun exhausted. Otherwise, she definitely would have treated me. It's not that she doesn't value me!"
Ma Hai glared resentfully at Ning Chuan.
Soon, the day's classes ended.
Ning Chuan got into Lu Mengyue's red sports car and went to the Extreme Path Martial Arts Hall.
As on the previous day, he gave her instruction first, then sparred with her.
Once his strength was spent, Ning Chuan took the six thousand yuan in cash he had earned, and Uncle Yang drove him to a shopping plaza. He bought fifteen jin of Scale-Horned Pig meat and carried it home.
After dinner.
"Let's see how effective the medicinal bath is!"
Ning Chuan hurried into the bathroom and filled the tub with water.
A little more or less didn't matter.
The water was merely a medium for carrying the medicine's properties. As long as it covered most of his body, it would do.
Once there was enough water, Ning Chuan turned off the tap and tossed the medicine packet into the tub.
Before long, the water turned golden yellow, like orange juice.
Ning Chuan took off his clothes and slowly lay down in the tub.
"Vajra Body is taking a medicinal bath and striving to improve. Its cultivation speed has surged dramatically!"
"The medicinal water is brimming with energy. Vajra Body is continuously absorbing it, and its progress is increasing rapidly!"
"Progress increased by 1%!"
The mechanical synthesized voice sounded repeatedly. As Ning Chuan listened, his consciousness gradually grew hazy, and he fell asleep.
He had been exhausted by two fights in a single day.
The night passed without incident.
When he woke again, it was already broad daylight.
Through the small window in the east wall, he saw a dawn glow like fire and the rising sun slowly climbing into the sky.
Ning Chuan noticed that the water in the tub had turned clear and transparent again.
The medicine's properties had probably been completely absorbed.
Ning Chuan pinched his skin. It was exceptionally firm, yet resilient, like leather armor that had been hammered over and over.
"Hm?!"
Ning Chuan's eyes flashed. Dimly realizing something, he immediately summoned the system panel.
A translucent, glowing interface appeared before his eyes.
When he saw the last entry clearly, Ning Chuan couldn't help freezing.
[Vajra Body]: Second level (progress: 13%)
He had broken through overnight, and even gone well beyond the threshold!
The effect of the medicinal bath far exceeded Ning Chuan's expectations.
Ning Chuan's heart pounded wildly.
With enough medicinal baths, he could cultivate Vajra Body to ninth-level completion in a short time. Plenty of firearms wouldn't be able to hurt him!
At that thought, Ning Chuan sprang up, ate some boiled Scale-Horned Pig meat for breakfast, and ran at full speed toward Qingshan No. 1 High School.
Seven in the morning.
Ning Chuan pushed open the wooden door to Su Yun's office.
At the large desk, Su Yun was putting down her bag. She had clearly just arrived as well.
She asked casually, "What do you need?"
Ning Chuan coughed lightly. "Teacher Su Yun, do you have any more medicine packets for Vajra Body? I'd like another eight or ten!"
"You've got some nerve asking. Do you know how expensive those medicine packets are?" Su Yun shot Ning Chuan a sidelong glance. "A single packet costs more than forty thousand yuan!
That's a year's income for an ordinary Qingshan City resident.
If the TV station hadn't broadcast you saving Guo Renyu live, there's no way the school would have been so generous."
Ning Chuan smiled sheepishly.
As a public school backed by the Federal Education Department, Qingshan No. 1 High School had no shortage of resources such as martial arts, but its finances were limited.
A reward worth more than forty thousand yuan really had cost it a chunk of flesh.
Su Yun thought for a moment, then reminded him, "Don't throw the medicine packet away. That's enough for more than a month, and you can use it repeatedly.
As long as it colors the water, it still has medicinal effect."
"I don't think so. I absorbed it all in one night. It worked really well, and Vajra Body has already broken through to the second level."
Ning Chuan told her the truth.
He knew that speed of advancement was astonishing.
But precisely because of that, perhaps Su Yun would take notice and apply for another medicine packet for him.
"Heh!"
Su Yun raised an eyebrow and smiled teasingly at Ning Chuan. "Ninth-level Vajra Body would be more like it. The school's finances are limited. For breaking through to the second level of Vajra Body in one night, one medicine packet is the limit."
She simply took Ning Chuan's words as a joke.
Leaving aside whether one medicine packet could support cultivating Vajra Body to the second level,
breaking through overnight was a tale straight out of the Arabian Nights.
After all, external martial arts were essentially slow, grinding work, requiring the body to be tempered bit by bit, day after day.
No matter how great one's comprehension was, it couldn't be accomplished in a single step.
Ning Chuan shrugged, feeling somewhat helpless.
If Su Yun didn't believe him, there was really nothing he could do.
Vajra Body only began to display certain characteristics at the third level.
Putting away her smile, Su Yun considered why Ning Chuan had come. "Are you a little short of money right now?"
"Not a little. Very!"
Seeing that there was still a chance, Ning Chuan hurriedly spoke.
"You're short of money? Word of your three-thousand-yuan hourly instruction fee has spread all over the school. It's higher than what I, an Official Martial Artist, make!"
Su Yun pursed her lips as she spoke.
Ning Chuan gave an awkward smile. "That's only temporary. It might disappear someday. Even now, it's just barely enough to buy ferocious beast meat."
Su Yun had been through it herself and knew Ning Chuan was telling the truth. Considering that he was an orphan, she said, "The Qingshan City Education Department has a genius development program..."
Ning Chuan interrupted her and said with righteous conviction, "Teacher Su, to be honest with you, I'm a genius-the one-in-ten-thousand kind.
Before, I was just young and foolish, absorbed in having fun, so it never showed.
In fact, I have what it takes to get into Galaxy University!"
Su Yun arched a slender eyebrow and said playfully, "Why not say you can become the top scorer on the college entrance exam in our Donglin Administrative Region?"
"No problem! Give me ten S-rank martial arts! And a few tens of millions in cultivation funds!" Ning Chuan said confidently. "On the battlefield of the college entrance exam, I'll sweep away every foe and pluck the laurel from the moon palace!"
As he spoke, Ning Chuan raised his head, gazed at the deep blue sky outside the window, and declared, "When the time comes, a bold, colorful stroke will be added to Qingshan No. 1 High School's glory!
And you yourself, Teacher Su Yun, will be remembered in the history books because of my great feat!"
"It's only morning. Isn't it a little early to be daydreaming?"
Seeing Ning Chuan grow more and more carried away, Su Yun waved her hand helplessly, signaling him to stop. "If you can make it into the top one hundred in the school's next monthly exam, I can apply to the Education Department for a vial of Hundred Beasts Nutrient Solution on your behalf!"
At that, Ning Chuan perked up.
Hundred Beasts Nutrient Solution was a tonic refined from essence extracted from the flesh and blood of over a hundred kinds of vicious beasts.
A single vial cost over a hundred thousand yuan!
It was packed with nutrients and could greatly speed up breathing technique cultivation.
Ning Chuan rubbed his hands together and gave an awkward chuckle. "Teacher Su Yun, do you think... I could get the Hundred Beasts Nutrient Solution in advance?
"After all, I've mastered Flash Thunder Slash at the Minute Subtlety Realm. No one below the High Awakening Stage is a match for me.
"There are only fifty or sixty High Awakening Stage students in the senior year.
"Me making it into the top one hundred is a nail hammered into the board!"
"That's true."
Su Yun broke into a smile, her eyes narrowing into crescents. "Since you're invincible below the High Awakening Stage, I can't look down on you. How about changing the condition to the top ten in your year?"
"Haha, I was joking. Don't take it seriously. Go ahead and take care of your business!"
Ning Chuan turned and left.
It wasn't that he was scared.
To make the top ten in his year, he'd have to be at the Awakening Eighth Stage, at the very least.