Little Genius

"Wait!!!"

Ning Yue hurriedly called a halt. He was still in bed, and if he fused with the physique while lying down, would the fusion fail or cause his physique to go haywire?

Life needed a sense of ceremony.

He sprang out of bed, ran over to the floor, and lay flat again, spreading his limbs in the shape of the character 太.

"System, begin."

Streams of qi and blood flowed into his body like warm currents, turning him red all over. He noticed the qi and blood value on his panel rising rapidly.

As his qi and blood value increased, his physique changed too. His muscle definition grew more perfect, and even his bones slowly changed. His prone body gradually arched, brimming with explosive power like a leopard.

Most importantly, he felt an indescribable place expand and contract nine times in succession, followed by a sensation of tightness.

"Whew."

Ning Yue flexed his waist and leaped up from the floor.

"Awesome!"

He felt full of strength, as though he could kill an ox with one punch. He threw punches at the air, each one whistling.

After feeling the changes in his body, he realized that the outward changes were secondary. The most important difference was internal: he could sense certain spiritual substances in the air, which should be spiritual qi.

He closed his eyes and tried to draw the spiritual qi into his body. If he succeeded, he could set a new record, gaining an attribute of the First-Rank Realm while still in the Body Tempering Realm: absorbing qi and abstaining from food.

"I failed."

After several attempts, Ning Yue had to give up. Spiritual qi gathered on the surface of his body, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get it inside.

Sure enough, setting records and making history weren't so easy.

He stopped dwelling on it. He could leave making history to others.

He just had to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

"Son, did you sneak off for plastic surgery last night?"

At breakfast, his mother, Mo Zini, was surprised to see his new appearance.

If his face hadn't still been the same, she wouldn't have dared believe that the sunny young man before her was her son. With his perfect height of 1.88 meters, he was unmistakably a wolf god among little wolfdogs.

"Isn't the martial arts mock exam coming up? I secretly cultivated all night, so isn't it normal for there to be some changes?"

Faced with his parents' strange looks, Ning Yue didn't panic in the least and spoke in a casual tone.

He didn't know whether his parents believed him, but he believed himself.

He really had cultivated all night.

If he hadn't spent the night, could he have waited for the second life simulation to arrive?

When he arrived at school, he ignored his classmates' surprise at seeing him, displaying an aloof air.

"Class, settle down."

Soon, it was time for class, and their homeroom teacher, Zuo Tianchang, entered the classroom.

After coming in, he swept his gaze across the room. He froze for a moment when he saw Ning Yue, then a look of realization appeared on his face.

Seeing this, Ning Yue understood that the old teacher hadn't recognized him at first either.

"Class, first, some bad news. The academic subject teachers have all fallen ill because their physiques are too weak, so today will be martial arts class all day."

As soon as the old teacher finished speaking, an uproar rose from the class.

"Fuck, no!"

"Academic classes are great. It's not because I want to sleep; I genuinely love studying."

"The academic teachers are all sick? Something that ridiculous actually happened? Do you believe it? I sure don't."

"I don't believe it either."

"Quiet!!!"

Zuo Tianchang's face darkened. A sound like clashing metal issued from his mouth and exploded in the students' ears.

"Quiet, quiet..."

The sounds reached Ning Yue's ears, echoing and reverberating without end.

He thought to himself, So this is the power of the third grade of martial dao. It really is worthy of being called the realm of "copper skin and iron bones, a body of steel."

The Nine Grades of Martial Dao were divided into the First Grade Qi Absorption Realm, Second Grade Tiger Strength Realm, Third Grade Iron Bone Realm, Fourth Grade Metal Devouring Realm, Fifth Grade Acupoint Refining Realm, Sixth Grade Gang Qi Realm, Seventh-Rank Heaven-Human Realm, Eighth Grade True Fire Realm, and Ninth Grade Golden Body Realm.

Once the class had quieted down, Zuo Tianchang continued, "This morning, the whole class will go to the martial arts room to cultivate the Body Tempering Art together. This afternoon, we'll begin practical combat lessons, fighting in pairs to gain combat experience."

With that, he led the way out of the classroom.

The students in the classroom exchanged glances, raised their brows, and made all sorts of strange gestures. Then, led by their class monitor, Liao Dong, they followed him.

As they left the classroom, their eyes drooped and their faces turned bitter, as though they had suffered a crushing defeat.

The martial arts rooms were located on the east side of the school, a row of spacious, large classrooms with green bricks and red tiles, full of an ancient air.

Only after entering did they discover how different the inside of the martial arts room was. Its walls were covered in all kinds of mysterious, unfathomable patterns.

Once all the students had entered the martial arts room and received a qi and blood pill from the old teacher, they spread out.

"Swallow the qi and blood pills. Cultivation begins."

Under the old teacher's guidance, the whole class cultivated the Basic Body Tempering Formula together. It was a cultivation technique that trained both the inside and the outside, suitable for all of humanity, and primarily strengthened the qi and blood within the body.

The Basic Body Tempering Formula consisted of thirty-six movements in all. This was not the first version; it had evolved over more than three hundred years from the original three hundred and sixty movements. Unnecessary movements had gradually been removed and some incorrect ones changed, resulting in the current thirty-six.

This version of the Basic Body Tempering Art had gone nearly twenty years without being revised, and everyone said it was the final version.

As he completed the movements one by one, Ning Yue could feel his heartbeat speeding up and his lungs breathing, while a mouse seemed to scurry around inside his body.

Only then did he remember that he had fused with an Initial Yang Physique that morning, greatly increasing his qi and blood points. He couldn't help opening the system panel.

Character: Ning Yue

Physique: Initial Yang Physique (weak)

Realm: none; qi and blood value: 51 points

Cultivation technique: Basic Body Tempering Formula (beginner)

Inventory: Jade Blood Saber, Sunflower Manual, true qi pill

Simulations: 0

He found that his qi and blood value had already reached 51 points, an increase of 29 from yesterday, more than doubling it. No wonder his physique had changed so much.

At the same time, he understood why Liu Xing in the simulation world had been so popular with women despite being utterly penniless.

It was all because he had one special advantage: ninety-nine points of stamina.

Just then, he saw his qi and blood value tick up by one point, reaching 52.

A qi and blood value of only one hundred points was needed to break through to the First-Rank Realm. He was already past halfway, so could the First-Rank Realm still be far away?

The First-Rank Realm, also known as the Qi Absorption Realm, allowed one to absorb the spiritual qi of heaven and earth to strengthen oneself. Even in desperate circumstances, one could abstain from food for a month, trading potential for a chance at life and surviving without any food.

As his qi and blood points increased, he felt his stomach grow empty, and it became difficult to continue the Body Tempering Art.

Looking at the others, he found that most of them showed no signs of anything unusual and were much the same as they had been half an hour ago.

The exception was class monitor Liao Dong, who looked a little tired. He then took a bottle of qi and blood pills from his robes, took one out, and swallowed it.

Ning Yue considered what made Liao Dong different from the other students. In other respects, they were much the same: all poor academic students. The only difference was that Liao Dong's martial arts results were excellent.

In the previous school-wide rankings, Liao Dong had placed in the top ten, with a qi and blood value of 86 points.

"So I'm a little genius now too," Ning Yue said upon seeing this.

Perhaps it was because his natural talent had recovered, combined with the Initial Yang Physique he had obtained, but his cultivation made him worthy of being called a little genius.

"I wonder how effective the true qi pill is?"

He still had to continue cultivating. Ning Yue had no qi and blood pills, but he remembered there was a bottle of true qi pills in his system inventory and wanted to see whether he could use them in place of qi and blood pills to complete his cultivation.