The night was deep.
In the dormitory area of Qiming First Martial High School, the clamor of the day had faded, replaced by a profound tranquility.
The lake’s surface reflected the dark purple moon in the sky, its shimmering light like a flowing bolt of black silk dotted with crushed diamonds.
Inside the living room of Dorm 402, only the low hum of the energy circulation system could be heard.
Qin Feng sat in his room, the faint blue light screen projected from his desk illuminating his calm and resolute face.
On the other end of the light screen was the familiar and kind face of his father, Qin Dahai.
"Dad."
Qin Feng’s voice carried a hint of youthful excitement that he was trying to suppress. "I made a lot of progress this month."
He didn’t mention the bloody battle that had nearly exhausted him, nor the desolate wasteland of Planet Gamma-7 and the ferocity of the greenskins.
Telling him would only cause his father, thousands of miles away, to worry needlessly.
He simply chose to share the progress he had made over the past month.
"My vitality index, I just tested it today, it’s already 3.01. I also learned a slaughter technique called the Thousand Army Spear. I’ve almost mastered it, and my teacher said I have a good aptitude for it."
"3.01?"
On the other end of the call, Qin Dahai, who was polishing his old military saber, froze mid-motion.
He looked up, and his usually calm eyes instantly burst with an irrepressible, joyous light.
"Good! That’s great!"
He said "good" twice in a row. His voice was much steadier than when he had heard the number 1.23, but the heartfelt joy was just as strong. "It’s only been a month, and you’re already about to catch up to those geniuses who were built up with resources from a young age. I knew it. My son is the best!"
He looked at his son on the light screen. That face, still with a trace of childishness, had gained a rock-like steadfastness and resolve after being baptized in blood and fire.
Qin Dahai had been on the battlefield before.
So...
He could tell with a single glance that Qin Feng had killed.
And not just a few.
Only those who have experienced life-and-death situations possess such a subtle aura.
Qin Dahai’s heart clenched.
But he also knew that the path of a Martial Artist was filled with killing intent and bloodshed. It was actually a good thing for his son to experience slaughter while still in school, much better than being a sheltered flower in a greenhouse.
Since he chose the path of a Martial Artist, the sooner he experienced killing, the better!
"The monthly exams are tomorrow. Don’t feel any pressure, just perform as you normally would."
Qin Dahai comforted him softly, "Son, Dad is proud of you!"
"Yeah, I know."
Qin Feng nodded, then changed the subject. "Dad, how have you and Uncle been lately? Is work going well?"
At the mention of this, a genuine, relaxed smile appeared on Qin Dahai’s face.
"Good, very good."
His voice held a touch of sentiment that even he hadn’t noticed. "Thanks to you, your uncle and I have it much easier now."
"I’ve been transferred to the logistics management department as a director. I don’t have to deal with Exotic Beast carcasses on the front lines anymore. Every day, I just look at reports and sign documents. The work isn’t tiring, and the pay is higher."
"And your uncle, he’s had even better luck."
Qin Dahai’s smile widened. "He caught the eye of the factory’s management and was transferred directly to the Power Armor Design Department as an assistant. Right now, he’s studying ’Advanced Power Armor Structural Science’ day and night under a master craftsman. He doesn’t even have time to call me. He said that in a few months, he’s going to take the advanced technician certification exam. If he passes, his monthly salary could reach one hundred thousand Imperial Coins!"
One hundred thousand Imperial Coins!
This number startled even Qin Feng.
That was almost the entire annual income of an ordinary middle-class family.
"That’s great."
A sincere smile also appeared on Qin Feng’s face.
With his family doing well, he could pursue the path to power, toward the sea of stars, with fewer worries.
The father and son chatted a bit more about family matters, reminding each other to take care of themselves before ending the call.
The room returned to silence.
Qin Feng glanced at the digital clock on the wall. There was still half an hour until his nine o’clock bedtime.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he turned off the lights, sat cross-legged on his bed, closed his eyes, and began his daily, unshakable Mental Power training.
The Emperor Meditation technique.
He skillfully emptied his mind and, in the darkness of his Spiritual World, began to visualize the Eternal Emperor, clad in golden Battle Armor, reigning supreme over the Cosmos.
That familiar, boundless, and supreme majesty, as vast as an abyss, descended once more.
Qin Feng guarded his mind, using his Will—which had been tempered over the past month and grown much tougher—to resist and hone himself against it.
The process was silent but exceptionally perilous.
Each confrontation was like a brutal wrestling match on the mental plane, consuming a tremendous amount of energy.
Half an hour later, when he slowly opened his eyes, he felt mentally drained, as if he had just run a 10,000-meter race, utterly exhausted.
He pulled up his panel.
[Emperor Meditation (Uninitiated)]
[Proficiency: 9/10]
His proficiency was still at nine, just one step shy of initiation.
In the month he had been practicing the Emperor Meditation, his proficiency had increased at a snail’s pace.
It wasn’t like Body Refining Techniques or slaughter techniques, where sufficient sweat and effort would yield clear returns.
The cultivation of Mental Power was more like a long, grinding process, requiring day after day of persistence and that elusive flash of inspiration.
But Qin Feng wasn’t discouraged.
The more difficult the path, the more magnificent the scenery at its end.
The Emperor Meditation, a fundamental technique named after the Empire’s supreme ruler, could not possibly have its true power be so simple to unlock.
He dismissed the panel and thought no more of it, lying down on the bed and closing his eyes.
The physical and mental exhaustion intertwined, and soon, he fell into a deep sleep.
...
「The next morning, at five o’clock sharp.」
The sky was still a deep, inky blue. The brilliant lights of the Qiming Core Area traced a golden silhouette on the distant horizon.
Qin Feng’s biological clock woke him from his deep sleep with perfect precision.
He rose silently, washed up, and changed into his training clothes.
The entire process was as smooth as flowing water, without a single wasted sound.
When he knocked on Qian Duoduo’s and Shi Potian’s doors, they both opened them at almost the same time.
After a month of getting used to each other, the small three-person group of Dorm 402 had developed a silent, unspoken understanding.
The three of them left the dormitory building together, heading toward Teaching Building 7 in Area C.
The campus was even quieter than usual this morning.
Perhaps it was because yesterday’s bloody battle had consumed too much energy, or perhaps they needed to conserve their strength for the first monthly exam today.
When they arrived at the huge Martial Arts Room for Class Three of the first years, they found it emptier than on any previous morning.
On the vast training floor, besides the three of them, there were only three or four other figures, sweating profusely in their respective areas.
The nearly ten figures who had appeared here with them on the very first morning were absent today.
Persistence. On the Martial Dao, it was always the simplest, and also the most difficult, of concepts.
Persisting for a day, a week, or a month was something many could do.
But to persevere for decades, day in and day out, through wind and rain, to integrate this tedious, bitter training into one’s very bones until it became as natural as breathing—that was the true watershed that separated the strong from the mediocre.
Just like today, perhaps due to yesterday’s bloody battle or today’s monthly exam, those few others hadn’t woken up early. Only the residents of Qin Feng’s dorm persisted with their morning training.
Qin Feng didn’t overthink it. He walked to his usual corner, slowly assumed his stance, and began his daily Body Refining Technique practice.
Sweat soon soaked his brow, trickling down the resolute contours of his cheeks.
The sore, aching feeling in his muscles arrived on schedule, like an old friend.
He immersed himself in this state of ultimate Control over his body, savoring every increase in strength, every breakthrough of his limits.
Time slipped by quietly amidst the tedious repetition.
At eight o’clock sharp, as Qin Feng finished his last round of the Body Refining Technique practice, the door to the Martial Arts Room was pushed open, and the rest of the students began to file in.
When they saw the three of them already drenched in sweat in the middle of the training floor, their eyes revealed a mix of complex emotions—admiration, and a sense of their own inferiority.
"Those three are Madmen."
"No wonder they’re so strong."
"They’re such freaks. So self-disciplined it’s scary."
"..."
At eight-thirty, the exam officially began.
Today’s proctor was the very same goat-bearded elder from the principal’s office who had highly praised Qin Feng’s spearmanship.
His name was Gu Yue, one of the school’s Martial Dao teachers, and he specialized in spear techniques.
He walked into the room, his gaze sweeping across the students. When he saw Qin Feng in the back row, a flicker of imperceptible admiration crossed his perpetually squinted eyes, and he gave a barely noticeable nod.
The morning exam was a comprehensive liberal arts test.
The test paper was sent as electronic data to each person’s terminal.
The content covered four major subjects: *Comprehensive History of the Empire*, *Advanced Alien Race Linguistics*, *On Interstellar War*, and *Basic Spiritual Energy Theory*.
The questions were tricky and the topics dense, far beyond the basic education of middle school.
But for Qin Feng, it wasn’t particularly difficult.
He had a mature mind and a phenomenal memory, and he hadn’t slacked on his academic studies for the entire month.
In two hours, his pen flew across the screen, and he calmly completed all the questions.
At one in the afternoon, the comprehensive martial arts assessment began.
The test was divided into two parts: an evaluation of the Body Refining Technique demonstration, and a test of hard physical stats.
The students went up one by one to demonstrate the Imperial Body Refining Technique (Beginner) they had been practicing for the past month.
When it was Qin Feng’s turn, he walked to the center of the floor, took a deep breath, and performed the entire Body Refining Technique in one smooth, unbroken sequence.
His movements were standard and fluid, filled with power and grace. The circulation of his qi and blood was completely unimpeded, earning frequent nods from the goat-bearded teacher at the side.
After the demonstration came the most direct part: the data test.
"Qin Feng, vitality index test."
Qin Feng stepped into the familiar, silver "giant egg" testing apparatus.
A dozen or so seconds later, the number locked in.
[Vitality Index: 3.01]
Among the thousands of first-year students, this number wasn’t enough to rank in the upper-middle tier, but it was more than enough to pull him out of the bottom and place him in the lower-middle tier.
Next were the fist power and speed tests.
"Fist power test, begin!"
Qin Feng walked up to the testing machine, took a deep breath, put his whole body into it, and slammed a standard straight punch into the target.
[1602 KG]
"100-meter dash, prepare!"
He took his position at the starting line. As the signal sounded, his entire body shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring.
[Final time: 7.98 seconds]
When the data appeared, the entire room fell silent once again.
If the 3.01 vitality index was within many people’s expectations...
...then this fist power and speed, far exceeding what his index level would suggest, were enough to prove that his application of power and explosive techniques had reached a remarkably high level.
To put it simply, his Slaughter Realm was high, and his Control over his own body was strong!