Chapter 6: Heavenly King
In this world, there was not much academic pressure. In high school, academic classes started at 8:30 A.M., followed by cultivation class at 1:30 P.M., with the school day ending at 4 P.M.. After school, students could either participate in the school clubs or go home instead.
The bell rang at the end of a school day, and the campus bustled as thousands of students poured out of various buildings.
Soon, there were students playing football, basketball, or tennis. Even the corridors were still filled with students participating in club activities, creating quite the lively scene.
For most high school students, academic classes were boring and cultivation classes were difficult, which made club activities more interesting, especially for the sophomores and seniors who weren't talented in cultivation and had instead chosen the academic route. Overall, for many of the youth, high school life was relaxing.
Compared to the busy academic area, the cultivation area was much quieter; everyone was diligently practicing in training rooms, creating a different world from the academic area.
Carrying a single-shoulder bag, Chen Chu walked out of the B-block building while rubbing his shoulder.
It had taken only a few short hours to go from the enthusiasm of seeing true martial arts to being sore and tired from training. His progress with the Body Refining Art was way too slow. On the first day of school, he could barely finish the eighteen postures, even while feeling his vitality under the radiance of the Vitality Crystal. He was lagging behind his class.
The slower ones in class took around thirty minutes to go through a full cycle, while others took only around twenty minutes. In the hour-long Body Refining class, the fastest ones repeated the cycle four times before stopping; with every repetition, it took less and less time.
As for Chen Chu, he felt exhausted after just one repetition of the form. He simply could not keep up.
That meant that, while he was fairly gifted mentally for cultivation, his body was too weak to be talented at it. Or rather, it wasn't that his body was particularly weak, but that his mind was too strong in comparison; even with his soul split, he was still considered average. If his soul were whole...
Looking up at the bright sun hanging in the sky, Chen Chu smiled faintly. "Not bad. At least I can start cultivation. Overall, it's not much different from what I expected."
He had anticipated this situation. He had even fantasized about being a genius before, but reality was cruel, and his overall talent in cultivation was nothing special. He ranked below average in his class of forty, not to mention his entire year with over a thousand students.
But where talent fell short, cheats came in to help. Chen Chu focused his mind and brought up the attributes page.
Physique: 7.1
Strength: 7
Agility: 6
Spirit: 10.1
Innate Talent: Soul Splitting
Techniques: Lotus Platform Meditation Art [Progress: 5/100] Body Refining Art [1/100]
Avatar: ...
On the attributes page, there were entries for the two newly learned cultivation arts, each with notes on the learning progress. On top of that, Physique and Spirit had both increased by 0.1. Probably due to the effects of cultivation, which was a pleasant surprise.
Moreover, Chen Chu had discovered that once the arts were recorded on the attributes page, his body wouldn't forget them. When he was first practicing the Body Refining Art and reached the tenth posture, he had to stop as it was too painful to continue. After a short break, however, he had picked up where he left off and smoothly executed the first nine postures without any difficulty.
This phenomenon, by which the proficiency of arts was forged into his body, would let Chen Chu bridge the gap between himself and the cultivation geniuses. The fact that he could clearly see the progress of his cultivation also motivated him more during practice.
"No rush, take it slowly." With a relaxed smile, Chen Chu calmly strolled out of school.
In September, the weather was still hot. Fortunately, the city's greenery was well-maintained. Walking under the shade of trees along the sidewalk, Chen Chu headed toward the market, welcoming the faint cool breeze.
The streets were bustling with cars, surrounded by towering buildings. Numerous billboards displayed advertisements featuring various celebrities. Both sides of the streets were filled with shops offering a variety of goods; feeling hungry, Chen Chu stopped at an intersection to buy an egg pancake and a bottle of juice. All in all, it was a vibrant city.
Upon making it home at 5P.M., Chen Chu took out and thawed some fish in the microwave. He then proceeded to prepare the evening dishes, blanching and slicing some pork and preparing ginger, scallion and garlic. With these tasks done, he took out the thawed fish, cleaned it, and cut it into smaller pieces for easy consumption.
In his bedroom, the six-horned salamander, which was now eighteen centimeters long and twice as thick as before, started munching on the fish with a mental command from Chen Chu. After digesting the food from the last two meals, the salamander visibly thickened and grew two centimeters longer.
This never-before-seen growth rate was defying the laws of physics. No other living being could grow this fast.
The evolution points had also accumulated to 5. With a couple more days of feeding, the avatar could undergo its first evolution. Chen Chu was eager to see it happen.
Satisfied and full, the salamander laid on the table in a lazy manner. Meanwhile, Chen Chu turned to his computer to search for information about true martial arts.
He wasn't sure if it was because of the high fever that had almost killed him, but he suffered from amnesia. When he tried to recall his past, his memories were blurry. Only some of them, including those of his mother, brother, and daily habits, remained vivid, making him feel like a blank slate in regard to cultivation.
Even if his family was ordinary and lacked exposure to the news, in a world where martial arts prevailed, he shouldn't be so ignorant of common knowledge.
Once Chen Chu conducted a search on the internet, a plethora of information about true martial arts appeared on his screen, revealing their origins and historical development.
In addition, there was information about the classification of true martial arts, referred to as the Nine Heavenly Realms of True Martial Arts. The First Heavenly Realm was the lowest, while the Ninth Realm was the highest, but the specifics of the strengths of each realm wasn't elaborated on.
He also easily found numerous videos showcasing martial arts masters demonstrating their skills, each more impressive than the last. Some punched through walls with a single punch, others leaped dozens of meters high to traverse rooftops between skyscrapers, and some had flames swirling around their bodies. There were also videos of Body Refining experts resisting submachine guns, sniper rifles, even rocket explosions without a scratch.
After getting excited by the video demonstration, Chen Chu finally remembered his original reason for doing this. He searched and found a highly rated article about the Foundational Arts.
"In high school, Foundational Arts are two: the Lotus Platform Meditation Art and the Body Refining Art. With these, the number of cultivators has increased tenfold in the past decade, significantly enhancing our country's strength.
"The Body Refining Art was created by the Heavenly King Zhenwu ten years ago, by exploring the mysteries of the human body to the fullest, then integrating various essentials of martial arts and simplifying these findings into one art.
"This art helps ordinary people stretch their body, open up meridians, and circulate energy, allowing a temporary state of elevated vitality. Research has shown that the Body Refining Art has a great effect on individuals under the age of twenty. High schoolers are therefore the most suited for using it.
"With the Lotus Platform Meditation Art, one can quickly build their mental foundation. Unfortunately, this is a First-Grade art, only suitable for foundational cultivation. It cannot be compared to the Ninth-Grade Divine Lotus Meditation Art of the Heavenly King Jiuyou..."
Under this post, the author also categorized talent levels.
In his opinion, the talent of students who completed foundational cultivation within a week, through the practice of the meditation and body refining arts, was considered superior. Those who achieved it within half a month were average, and those taking a month were considered below average.
He discouraged those who were taking more than a month from continuing the cultivation path. Anyone who needed more than a month, even with the various resources and systematic training in school, lacked the talent for cultivation.
Even if one forcefully continued cultivation, there would be no hope of breaking through the Third Heavenly Realm of true martial arts in their entire life. The path of martial arts cultivation was like rowing against the current; if one didn't advance, they would be pushed back.
Rather than spending their entire life on cultivation only to live a lonely life and grow old with weakened vitality, it would be better for these people to live as an ordinary person and enjoy life that way.
"Heavenly King Zhenwu[1], Heavenly King Jiuyou." After reading this post, the names of these two individuals left a deep impression on Chen Chu. He wondered about the kind of people they were, and how strong they had to be for them to create the Foundational Arts that benefited countless individuals.
1. Zhenwu means True Martial ☜