He shifted his gaze to the Slaughter Arts panel.
[Slaughter Arts]:
Thousand Army Spear (Perfection)
[Proficiency]: 53477 / 100000
Fierce Bird Fist Style (Perfection)
[Proficiency]: 11245 / 100000
In one month, his Thousand Army Spear proficiency had skyrocketed by over forty thousand points, putting him halfway to the one hundred thousand needed for the realm of Control.
But he could also clearly feel that the rate of increase was beginning to slow down.
Conventional battles with the greenskins could no longer provide him with any new, breakthrough insights.
Meanwhile, his Fierce Bird Fist Style had already reached the Realm of Perfection ahead of schedule, thanks to the high-intensity close-quarters combat.
’I’ve hit a bottleneck.’
Qin Feng understood.
He set a clear, long-term goal for himself.
’One year!’
’In the roughly one year of mission time I have left, my life force index must reach 30.0!’
’My Thousand Army Spear and Fierce Bird Fist Style must also break through their bottlenecks and reach the realm of Control!’
...
Having planned his future, Qin Feng emerged from his deep thoughts, stood up, and walked to the other side of the Martial Arts Room.
Lin Yue was sitting cross-legged on a cushion, her eyes closed in meditation.
"Teacher, can I collect last month’s B-grade contract resources?"
Qin Feng asked.
Lin Yue opened her eyes, nodded, and retrieved a sealed metal case from her Subspace inventory, handing it to Qin Feng.
Qin Feng took the case and added, "Also, I’d like to use my merit points to redeem another ten high-grade Spiritual Energy Potions."
He had saved up nearly three thousand merit points over the past month, enough to cover his next round of consumption.
This time, Lin Yue didn’t agree immediately.
She looked at Qin Feng, a deep, irrepressible confusion finally showing in her sharp eyes.
"Qin Feng,"
she began slowly, her voice low. "What is your life force index right now?"
"You’ve gone through a total of ten high-grade Spiritual Energy Potions this past month, and now you want to redeem ten more... This rate of consumption is far from normal."
"As far as I know, not even a physical body at the Gold Standard Human, Grade III level should have such an outrageous resource consumption rate."
Faced with Lin Yue’s question, Qin Feng didn’t hide anything.
"Teacher, my current life force index is 21.23,"
he answered truthfully.
"Hm?"
Hearing this, Lin Yue’s frown deepened.
’Something’s wrong.’
’Something is very wrong.’
His life force index was only just over 21, yet his consumption was even more terrifying than that of Third-level Martial Artists with an index of 30.
This completely defied the law of conservation of energy.
Unless...
A bold idea surfaced in Lin Yue’s mind.
She looked at Qin Feng, her expression turning a little strange, even tinged with a hint of inquiry and curiosity.
"Qin Feng, may I... touch you?"
She asked a question that even she found a bit abrupt.
"Huh?"
Qin Feng was taken aback, a hint of embarrassment on his face.
"Don’t get the wrong idea."
Forest Master immediately explained, "I need to personally investigate the condition of your body—your meridians, your bones, and your cellular activity. I suspect that your body might have undergone some... changes that none of us are aware of."
Qin Feng hesitated for a moment, but seeing the serious and professional look in Lin Yue’s eyes, he nodded.
"Okay, Teacher."
Lin Yue extended a fair, slender hand and gently placed it on Qin Feng’s wrist.
Immediately, a gentle and pure stream of Spiritual Energy extended from her fingertips, carefully entering Qin Feng’s body.
The next second.
Lin Yue’s eyes flew wide open!
For the first time, her usually placid face showed an expression of horror and disbelief!
She "saw" it!
She clearly "saw" the scene inside Qin Feng’s body!
Meridians tougher and wider than superalloys!
Muscle fibers, each one containing terrifying power!
Bones of astonishing density, even glowing with a faint golden light!
But what shocked her most were Qin Feng’s cells!
Every cell in his body was filled with an explosive, unimaginable life force, like countless miniature suns burning fiercely!
This level of vitality...
This terrifying potential, hidden in the deepest parts of his physical body, like a hibernating behemoth...
"A monster... you’re a... monster..."
Lin Yue’s fingers were even trembling slightly.
She murmured to herself, and the way she looked at Qin Feng changed completely.
It was no longer a teacher looking at her student, but as if she were looking at... a non-human, a terrifying creature wearing human skin.
"Your cellular activity, your meridian strength, your bone density... they all far exceed the scope of a Gold Standard Human, Grade III!"
"This... this is almost like... like the cub of a Starry Sky Giant Beast!"
Lin Yue finally pulled her hand back, her chest heaving violently. The shock she felt clearly wouldn’t subside anytime soon.
"Teacher Lin..."
Qin Feng, seeing her exaggerated reaction, asked uncertainly, "Theoretically, isn’t the limit of the human species’ physical aptitude the Gold Standard Human, Grade III?"
"Am I... am I still human?"
This question snapped Lin Yue out of her shock.
She took a deep breath to calm herself, then looked at Qin Feng with an extremely complicated expression and slowly explained:
"Of course you’re human. In fact, you’re a far more ’perfect’ human than the rest of us."
"The so-called ’theoretical limit’ isn’t accurate."
Lin Yue shook her head. "A more accurate way to put it is that with the Empire’s current top-tier Spiritual Technology and biotechnology, the highest we can artificially cultivate is the physique of a Gold Standard Human, Grade III. And for ordinary Martial Artists, the various Celestial and Earthly Treasures and fortuitous encounters they might come across can also only raise their aptitude to about that level."
"Therefore, for the convenience of teaching and classification, textbooks define the Gold Standard Human, Grade III as the limit."
"But limits are meant to be broken."
Lin Yue looked at Qin Feng with a trace of envy in her eyes.
"Above Gold Grade III, higher levels definitely exist. It’s just that those who can reach that level are, without exception, truly favored by destiny—one in ten thousand. Their very existence is a fluke, so naturally, they can’t be included in textbooks."
"I see."
Qin Feng had a sudden realization.
"Physical aptitude is so important not just because it makes you stronger than others at the same level."
Lin Yue continued to explain, her voice guiding Qin Feng into a higher level of the Martial Arts World.
"When you break through to become a Level 4 Martial Artist, you’ll need to focus on cultivating your Mental Power. The most critical step involves using your powerful Mental Power as a carving knife to open energy ’apertures’ within your body. The higher your physical potential, the more ’apertures’ you can open, just as more fertile and solid ground can support more structures. This, in turn, makes you stronger and directly determines your power ceiling as a Level 4 Martial Artist."
"Once you reach the Fifth-level Martial Artist realm, you’ll need to ’merge the apertures.’ This means combining all the apertures you’ve opened into a single, complete, and self-sustaining energy circulation system, preparing you to ascend to the next stage of life. Similarly, the stronger your physical body, the smoother the merging process will be, and the higher your chance of success."
"Ultimately,"
Lin Yue summarized, "before you become a Planet-level Life Form, all cultivation is, in essence, about polishing and strengthening the ’physical body’—the ’vessel’ that contains the spirit."
"The higher your physical potential, the more perfect this ’vessel’ becomes. This will make it much easier and faster for you to cross the great threshold to becoming a Planet-level Life Form compared to others."
"Take the peak of the Ninth-level Martial Artist realm, for example. An ordinary, pure-blooded human Martial Artist might need to spend hundreds, or even thousands, of years accumulating power for the breakthrough, and even then, the success rate is extremely low. But you? You might only need a few decades to complete the transformation naturally, perhaps without even facing a single bottleneck."
"By that time, when you truly become a Planet-level Life Form, the shackles of the flesh will be completely shattered. Everyone’s life form will trend toward becoming energy-based, and only then will the advantages of your extraordinary aptitude gradually disappear."
"At that point, everyone will truly be standing at the same starting line again."
This detailed explanation was a moment of enlightenment for Qin Feng, giving him an unprecedentedly clear understanding of his future path on the Martial Dao and the true meaning of his extraordinary aptitude.
"So that’s how it is."
Lin Yue’s words were like a key, opening a door for Qin Feng to a higher realm of the Martial Arts World.
He now completely understood the true value of his extraordinary aptitude and no longer had any confusion about his future cultivation path.
His plan was not shaken; on the contrary, it became even firmer.
Returning to the Martial Arts Room, he didn’t hesitate for a moment, downing one of the three high-grade Spiritual Energy Potions Lin Yue had just given him.
A vast amount of energy began to repair his body, which had been depleted by exhaustion.
He didn’t begin cultivating immediately, but instead fell into a deep sleep.
A balance between exertion and rest, a rhythm of tension and relaxation.
This was the most important lesson he had learned on the cruel battlefield.
When he awoke again, ten hours had passed.
His injuries and fatigue were long gone, replaced by an unprecedented surge of energy.
He once again entered the familiar deployment pod and, without a second thought, threw himself into that unceasing Purgatory of War.
Time flowed by, day after day.
Lin Yue quietly stayed by Qin Feng’s side.
For high-level Martial Artists, who might enter seclusion for decades at a time, the concept of time had long become blurred.
To her, a mere one-year protection mission was but the blink of an eye.
And Qin Feng was like a piece of crude iron thrown into a furnace, repeatedly hammered and tempered by the great hammer of War upon a vast and cruel anvil.
...