Chapter 6: Martial Arts and the Golden Cavern

Chapter 6: Martial Arts and the Golden Cavern

"Maybe I have a high natural talent?" Li Yuan's pupils constricted as he considered the possibility.

His thoughts turned to the Shen Gong data panel, specifically the last remark about possessing an unawakened high-level spiritual energy.

Li Yuan trusted the accuracy of the Shen Gong panel's detection, as it had never been wrong in the past year.

It was likely more reliable than Teacher Xu Bo's speculation.

The information Teacher Xu Bo shared today also gave Li Yuan more ideas to consider.

Previously, Li Yuan had searched numerous times on the virtual network, but due to insufficient permissions, he couldn't access much of the information he sought.

"What if I have high natural talent? I possess the Shen Gong of the Mind, and that might be a form of talent as well," Li Yuan silently affirmed to himself.

Over the past century, numerous cultivation methods had gradually become available, and with technological advancements, a large number of martial artists had emerged in human civilization.

Among them, those who could fly through the sky and burrow through the earth, even surviving nuclear explosions, were legendary figures. Li Yuan didn't believe that his possession of the Shen Gong of the Mind was an exception.

"Teacher, what should I do then?" Li Yuan asked proactively.

He was intelligent enough to realize that Teacher Xu Bo must have called him for more than just encouragement.

"Perseverance," Xu Bo said, looking at Li Yuan. He had originally intended to say 'follow the standard path', but the words that came out were slightly different.

Seeing Li Yuan's surprised expression, Xu Bo continued, "Your progress is fast, and you don't need to worry too much about not having awakened your martial spirit yet. With your grades, getting into a Martial Arts University will be easy."

"If you cultivate normally, within two or three years, your physical quality should reach a 10.0 level."

"Once you become a ranked martial artist, advanced cultivation methods will no longer be a hindrance to you."

"Maybe in the future, you'll be able to create a high-level cultivation method that's unique to you," Xu Bo said with a smile.

"Create a cultivation method?" Li Yuan couldn't help but ask, "Can I do that?"

"Haha, what's there to say about can or can't?" Xu Bo laughed. "How old are you? At your age, the possibilities are endless."

"Even the founders of the Three Martial Halls, who knew what they would achieve when they were young?" Xu Bo smiled at Li Yuan. "The founders of the Three Martial Halls are too distant, but can't you even aim to surpass me?"

"My physical quality is only at level 19."

Li Yuan held his breath.

Ever since Xu Bo became his martial arts class teacher, Li Yuan had always looked up to him.

Only now did he learn of Xu Bo's true strength, with a physical quality as high as level 19.

No wonder he was a Special-Grade Martial Arts Teacher.

"Let's talk about something more practical," Xu Bo said, looking at Li Yuan. "Your physical quality and martial arts skills are quite good, and considering your family situation... I'll apply to the school for a third-level scholarship for you."

"A third-level scholarship?" Li Yuan's eyes lit up.

Cultivating martial arts required significant resources.

Therefore, students with excellent martial arts grades would receive various bonuses and subsidies from the government starting in their first year of high school.

As the top high school in Guanshan District, Guanshan First High School received more government funding than ordinary schools.

During major unified exams, the top 100 students in each grade would receive additional rewards for their martial arts grades.

The top 50 would receive a bonus of 2,000 Bluestar Credits.

The top 30 would receive 5,000 Bluestar Credits.

The top 20 would receive two additional bottles of basic Vitality Potions on top of the top 30's rewards.

The top 10 in each grade would be provided with a separate Martial Arts Cultivation Room in addition to the top 20's rewards.

These were the examination rewards.

Scholarships were even more special, as they required excellent grades, a suitable family background, and a teacher's recommendation to be considered.

Only a few students received scholarships.

"Your progress is significant, but your martial arts grades are still only in the top 30 of your grade. If you want to apply for a second-level scholarship or higher, it'll be quite difficult," Xu Bo explained.

"However, there's still a chance for a third-level scholarship. Even if we get it, the amount won't be much, just 20,000 credits. Don't be disappointed by the small amount," Xu Bo added.

"Thank you, Teacher," Li Yuan said, filled with gratitude.

Twenty thousand credits were equivalent to two months of his aunt's salary.

All the scholarships he had received since entering high school didn't even add up to 20,000 credits.

"Is there anything you want me to do, Teacher?" Li Yuan asked.

"No, just cultivate diligently and aim for a good score," Xu Bo waved his hand. "Go have your meal, and I'll let you know once the application is approved."

"Yes, Teacher," Li Yuan replied and left, closing the door as he exited.

Xu Bo watched Li Yuan leave.

"This kid, does he think I want something in return?" Xu Bo shook his head and smiled.

Suddenly, his eyebrows furrowed.

The towering man now showed a hint of pain on his face.

"Time to take some medicine?" Xu Bo endured the pain and headed towards the rehabilitation room.

...

Exiting the office building, Li Yuan clenched his fists, suppressing the excitement in his heart.

"Good," he muttered to himself. He had a feeling something good was about to happen when he was called by Teacher Xu earlier.

But he never expected it to be this significant.

"Teacher Xu didn't mention these things before because my past performance was good, but he thought it wasn't excellent enough?" Li Yuan wondered. "Is my performance today worthy?"

Li Yuan had read many books and knew that in some stories, people liked to help others who were worthy.

But the prerequisite was that the person had to be worthy of such help.

"If one doesn't work hard enough and isn't excellent enough, then even if an opportunity arises, it will be missed," Li Yuan silently reminded himself.

"Should I send a message in the family group?" Li Yuan thought, but immediately dismissed the idea.

Just then, a gust of wind blew by, calming Li Yuan even more.

"No rush."

"Teacher Xu is a Special-Grade Teacher, but he's not part of the school management. Even if the application is approved, it'll take some time," Li Yuan thought. "If it's not approved, it'll just be a false hope."

"I'll wait until the scholarship is actually approved before telling Uncle and Auntie."

"Yes, I shouldn't tell the other students about this either," Li Yuan decided. "Teacher Xu asked me to stay and let Wan Xiao leave first, probably because he doesn't want others to know."

"If the school wants to promote it, they can announce it later."

With his past experiences and the books he had read, Li Yuan understood the principle of 'secrecy ensures success, while revealing leads to failure'.

He didn't want to broadcast something that hadn't yet come to fruition.

"Let's go eat first." Li Yuan regained his composure and headed towards the canteen.

...

The First High School of Guan Shan District had over six thousand students, so the canteen was quite spacious.

As Li Yuan entered the canteen, he heard Zhou Qi calling out to him from a distance, "Brother Yuan, over here!" Zhou Qi, Wan Xiao, Yan Zhou, and more than ten other boys were sitting at two large tables, enjoying their meals.

Li Yuan smiled and walked over to join them.

The boys in his class often liked to eat together in groups.

"Brother Yuan, here are your two special meals," Zhou Qi said, pushing two specially prepared meal boxes towards Li Yuan as he ate.

"Who paid for it? Was it you, Yan Zhou?" Li Yuan asked with a smile as he sat down and started eating.

"I'll pay you back," Yan Zhou replied with a smile.

"The breakfast I brought you a few times, like hot dry noodles and eggs, cost less than fifty yuan altogether," Li Yuan shook his head. "These two special meals cost one hundred and fifty yuan."

Among the boys present, the prices of their meals varied greatly.

A typical meal with two meat and two vegetable dishes, or three meat and two vegetable dishes, cost less than twenty yuan.

Zhou Qi, Yan Zhou, and the others were eating this type of meal.

Since they would be attending cultural classes in the evening and wouldn't engage in intense physical activities, their energy expenditure was relatively low.

However, for someone like Li Yuan, who needed to undergo high-intensity Martial Dao cultivation in the evening, regular meals weren't sufficient. Over time, this would lead to a deficiency in his body's vitality.

Therefore, he had to eat special meals, but they were expensive.

Each meal cost seventy-five yuan, and Li Yuan needed two of them.

To be precise, Li Yuan's normal daily meals, when added up, cost nearly three hundred yuan per day.

In a month, he would spend at least eight thousand yuan on these meals.

This was still not enough to support Li Yuan's cultivation, and occasionally, he would need to consume various expensive Vital Energy Potions and supplements.

If he included physical therapy, his monthly expenses would be a staggering amount.

The reason Li Yuan could manage this was because he was a student and could cultivate in the school's Martial Dao Classroom, which had a complete set of training equipment, including cold weapons, sandbags, and areas for practicing Spear Technique.

Although the effect wasn't as good as a dedicated Martial Dao Cultivation Room, the school's Martial Dao Classroom had the advantage of being free.

If he were to go to a professional Martial Dao Hall in society, the rental fee was calculated by the hour, and ordinary families couldn't afford it.

Martial Dao cultivation was indeed a money pit, not an empty talk.

This was also why Li Yuan desperately wanted to get into one of the Top Five Universities.

Because, up to this point in his Martial Dao cultivation, his uncle and aunt were finding it increasingly difficult to continue supporting him.

...

After leaving the canteen, Zhou Qi and Yan Zhou said to Li Yuan, "Brother Yuan, we're going to the cultural building. See you tomorrow."

"Okay," Li Yuan nodded.

In this era, from the first year of high school, students would study cultural subjects in the morning and practice Martial Dao cultivation in the afternoon.

In the evening, it was up to the students to choose how they wanted to spend their time.

There were only twenty-nine Martial Arts Universities in the entire country of Xia Guo.

On the other hand, there were more than a thousand cultural universities nationwide.

If one were to take the Martial Arts University entrance exam, the cultural subject scores would be converted and account for 10% of the total score.

If one chose the cultural course path, the Martial Dao scores would be converted and account for 30% of the total score.

Although the choice between Martial Dao and cultural courses would only be made when filling in the application form, most students would start focusing on one or the other from the first year of high school.

Li Yuan returned to the Martial Dao Classroom.

Looking around, he saw that there were fewer than ten students left in the spacious classroom.

Most of the students from Class Three (Two) chose to focus on cultural courses, which was the choice of the majority of students.

"It's indeed difficult to get into a Martial Arts University," Li Yuan thought to himself.

Every year, over a million students took the college entrance examination in Jiangbei Province.

The only Martial Arts University in the province, Jiangbei Martial Arts University, admitted no more than ten thousand students annually, accounting for less than 1% of all examinees.

As a key high school in the province, the First High School of Guan Shan District rarely had more than a hundred students passing the entrance exam for the Martial Arts University.

The sky hadn't darkened yet.

In the classroom, most of the dozen or so students were chatting with each other.

The evening Martial Dao cultivation relied on self-discipline, as there were no teachers present.

Li Yuan's gaze fell on a figure in the corner of the classroom.

A boy of about one meter and eighty centimeters tall, with a slightly thin face, was wearing a Martial Dao uniform and silently cultivating a basic cultivation technique.

He was completely unaffected by the others' chatting.

The sweat on his forehead indicated that he had been cultivating for some time.

"Amazing!" Li Yuan exclaimed inwardly, "No wonder he's the top scorer in our class."

Not wanting to disturb the others, Li Yuan took out his long spear from his weapon cabinet and chose a bright spot in the classroom to start practicing his Spear Technique.

Why didn't he cultivate the basic cultivation technique? Because Li Yuan would wake up at three in the morning, come to school, and cultivate the basic cultivation technique alone in the empty Martial Dao classroom for more than two hours.

Then, at around six, he would go to the canteen for breakfast and attend cultural classes.

In the afternoon, he would cultivate the basic cultivation technique with his classmates for two hours.

The daily cultivation technique was divided into two to three sessions, and the best duration was four hours, as tested by numerous Martial Dao experts.

The evolution of life, the tempering, recovery, and growth of the body's muscles and bones, all required time.

Excess or deficiency would be counterproductive.

Li Yuan used the remaining time to study Spear Technique and Body Technique.

Two hours later, the school bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. The other students had already left the classroom, except for Li Yuan, who was still practicing Spear Technique, and Li Tianyou, who was practicing Knife Technique.

Suddenly, in Li Yuan's field of vision, a piece of information popped up that only he could see.

[Your Spear Technique level has increased from 36% of the third tier to 37% of the third tier]

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end