"So, our plan from now on is... to train like hell!"
Qin Feng looked at his three new partners, feeling this pure and fervent atmosphere of training, and a long-forgotten passion stirred within him.
"That’s right! We train like hell!"
Dragon Jade laughed. He looked at everyone and proposed a concrete plan. "I’m thinking, starting tomorrow, we’ll do closed-door training to raise our life force index every morning. In the afternoons, we’ll head straight to the combat zone in the Fearless Zone for a few hours of practical fighting. At night, we can go to the Imperial Arena for some excitement. Then, every so often, we can schedule a long, deep sleep. That way, we can save as much as possible on Mental Power recovery Potions and conserve our prestige points. So, what do you think? You guys want to join me on this schedule?"
"No problem!"
Nissan was the first to respond, already eager to start.
"Sounds good."
Ning Jing nodded.
Qin Feng watched them, a gentle smile on his face. He said softly, "Back at Qiming First Martial Arts High School, I used to train like this with my two roommates. Later, one of them went to a Top 100 Star Martial Arts University, and the other... came here, to Canaan Star Martial Arts University."
The other person he mentioned was, of course, Shi Potian.
These simple words, tinged with a hint of nostalgia, brought a slight pause to the fiery atmosphere.
The smiles on the faces of Dragon Jade, Nissan, and Ning Jing faded slightly, replaced by a complex and empathetic envy.
"Sigh..."
Nissan let out a long sigh, a trace of loneliness appearing on his rugged face. "In high school, I also tried to get my dorm brothers to train like this with me.
"But it was a shame. Those guys were a bunch of lazy dogs. They’d shout the slogans louder than anyone, but they couldn’t even last three months before they all started making excuses and bailing.
"In the end, I was the only one left, sticking it out all alone until graduation."
He looked at Qin Feng, his eyes filled with genuine envy.
"I’m so jealous, Qin Feng. To have a friend from high school who’s still your classmate at the same Starry Sky Martial Arts University now."
"Yeah..."
Dragon Jade also sighed softly, his gaze distant as if he too was recalling his own past. "It’s too hard, it really is. There are almost no childhood friends who can keep walking side-by-side on the path of the Martial Dao."
Weren’t the three of them the same?
They were geniuses, the most dazzling existences of their respective planets and eras.
On their paths of growth, they had once had countless friends, classmates, and partners.
But as time went on, as they distinguished themselves in one competition for geniuses after another, those figures who once stood beside them were left further and further behind, one by one.
Those friends eventually became warm yet distant memories in their lives, just names that would send well-wishes during the holidays.
Only geniuses with the same level of talent and the same level of Will could possibly stay on the same path and see the same sights along the cruel, long, narrow bridge of the Martial Dao.
That was why they envied Qin Feng from the bottom of their hearts.
It wasn’t just that he had a friend he’d known since his teens who was still at Canaan Star Martial Arts University.
What they envied was that pure bond—of having someone who could understand you, support you, and advance with you, all the way from weakness to strength.
But there was no doubt that the four of them now all possessed Top-grade Primordial Acupoints. They were all at the starting line of the Sixth-Level Soaring.
Perhaps the four of them could go far, very far, walking along the same path.
"Alright, enough of that!"
After that brief moment of sentimentality, Nissan shook his head forcefully, casting the trace of melancholy from his mind. He grinned, revealing a brilliant smile as his spirits lifted once more.
"Then let’s start today! The four of us, let’s work hard together!"
He held out a massive fist, his gaze burning as he looked at the others.
"The Starry Sky Cup officially begins in exactly one year! Let’s see just how much the four of us can improve in that time!"
"Alright!"
Dragon Jade, Ning Jing, and Qin Feng replied, almost in unison.
They extended their own fists, bumping them firmly against Nissan’s.
With a solid THUD, it wasn’t just the collision of fists, but the resonance of four equally proud and equally resolute Martial Arts Hearts making a pact.
For glory, and for the greater sights in the distant, starry sky!