When the Young Are Strong, the Nation Is Strong

"This has to be fake. Something from a game can be brought into reality? Do you think this game world is a real world?"

"Just look at how movies are made. This stuff is just clickbait to rake in traffic and make money. There are actually quite a few people saying it's real. I swear, this batch of netizens really has no brains."

"Exactly. How could this possibly be real? We've all had nine years of compulsory education. Believe in science, okay? What, are you expecting a flying sword to circle me after I say that, then carry me off into the sky?"

Countless people lambasted the uploader in the video's comments.

They all thought this guy was playing to the gallery, making monkeys out of everyone.

And those netizens were genuinely stupid, too. How could they believe something like this?

At the thought, quite a few people shook their heads repeatedly, convinced that this batch of netizens was utterly stupid.

Some people also thought the same.

The company behind Quest for the Dao must have done this deliberately. As for its aim, naturally, it was to bring more traffic to its game.

Yet not long after they began voicing their doubts, an official Blazing Summer account directly reposted the video.

It even attached a sentence, instantly sending the video to the top of the trending searches and causing a sensation throughout Blazing Summer.

"When the young are strong, the nation is strong!"

When the young are strong, the nation is strong?

Gasp!

What sort of monsters and demons were these?!

Had the official account's name not been written there in plain sight, everyone would probably have thought it was an impostor.

That single sentence was actually enough to show that the video had received official approval!

Then did that mean what the video said was true?

Could everyone learn something called Qi Force, which resembled Internal Force?

"This is huge! Official endorsement! You really can learn martial arts from this game! Holy shit, I'm picking up the gaming helmet I tossed aside and getting back to it!"

"That's terrifying. The authorities themselves stepped in and even said, 'When the young are strong, the nation is strong.' What are they trying to do? Get everyone practicing martial arts and make martial prowess all the rage?"

"I don't quite understand. Why are the authorities promoting martial arts so much? Aren't they afraid people will use their martial arts to cause trouble?"

"LMAO. Cause trouble? My lord, times have changed!"

The authorities' appearance instantly pushed the video's popularity to its peak.

What followed was an influx of countless people into Quest for the Dao.

Quest for the Dao saw an explosive surge in players.

After seeing this, quite a few people who had already mastered Qi Force could no longer hold themselves back and began showing their Qi Force to their friends.

Previously, they had been somewhat worried, wondering whether exposing themselves would get them into trouble.

But now the authorities had proven through their actions that nothing would happen to them even if they had mastered Qi Force.

On further thought, though, that did seem reasonable.

What trouble could there be?

No matter how powerful Qi Force was, could it withstand bullets?

What a joke. At most, this stuff could strengthen the body.

"The public learned Qi Force considerably earlier than we expected."

Smoke wreathed a conference room.

Ye Liuling's video played to one side.

The group paid little attention to his palm strike shattering the marble. What concerned them was when he had learned it.

He was merely someone who had learned Qi Force. That really was not worth any special attention.

"We should probably push that date back a little further. There must be people who learned it but didn't dare show it."

Someone to the side said this.

The others all nodded upon hearing it, agreeing that this was correct.

"We do owe a debt to the person who previously posted the Wind-Riding Sword Art and Qi Force online. They saved us quite a few detours."

"How much time do we have left?"

"Not much. Time is pressing. We must establish a foothold in there as quickly as possible. Otherwise, when the time comes, things won't be easy to handle."

Everyone in the conference room talked over one another.

Had an outsider been present, they would never have understood what these people were saying.

But as insiders, they understood one another's meaning very clearly.

Time was pressing.

At that moment, a trace of worry appeared on everyone's faces.

Jiuchuan: "Did you see it?"

"I saw it, I saw it."

Looking at the message Jiuchuan had sent, Fang Zelin checked the video and was startled as well.

Although he had known someone would try sooner or later, and that someone would learn Qi Force, he had not expected it to happen so quickly.

Only three months had passed since Fang Zelin published the Wind-Riding Sword Art.

By Fang Zelin's original calculations, it should have taken more than a year before anyone learned Qi Force in the real world.

Counting it up now, roughly five months had passed altogether.

Fang Zelin had spent about half a month learning Qi Force in Quest for the Dao, then roughly a month learning it in the real world.

Another half a month or so had passed before he posted the Wind-Riding Sword Art on the forum.

Adding it all together, the others had naturally taken about five months.

In terms of time, that really was fast.

"Honestly, I'd already been practicing in secret. I feel like I'm about to master Qi Force. What about you? How's it feeling?"

Jiuchuan was incredibly excited.

After all, he had already been practicing in secret before this; he simply had not told Fang Zelin.

Now that he had confirmed it really could be done, he could not wait to tell Fang Zelin.

"I've been practicing too. It feels so real in Quest for the Dao that I couldn't help practicing after coming back."

Fang Zelin typed his reply, sensing the utter emptiness where his Spiritual Power should have been, and sighed inwardly.

So much time had passed, yet he still had not sensed the slightest trace of Spiritual Qi.

Could it be that Earth had no Spiritual Qi, making cultivation impossible?

When he had cultivated before, he had clearly entered a cultivation state, yet there had not been the slightest trace of Spiritual Qi around him to absorb.

Under these circumstances, no matter how hard Fang Zelin tried to cultivate, it produced no results.

And the more this happened, the more Fang Zelin longed for that feeling of cultivating.

"Then let's compete and see which of us can cultivate Qi Force first!"

Jiuchuan sounded exceedingly pleased with himself now. He already felt that he was on the verge of cultivating Qi Force.

Naturally, he wanted to compete with Fang Zelin.

Seeing this, Fang Zelin curled his lip, utterly uninterested in the contest.

He was still thinking about where he could look to find a place with Spiritual Qi.

Perhaps once he found somewhere with Spiritual Qi and could cultivate, his leg could be healed too.

Fang Zelin had sensed the wondrous properties of Spiritual Qi with perfect clarity while cultivating in Quest for the Dao.