Chapter 120: Joining the Society

Fortunately, modern universities encourage students to work-study, and the student union posts part‑time job listings in some places, welcoming students to seek employment—of course every student is registered, and their credit standing is recorded. Bai Lang found the student union and began looking for suitable work on the job board—provided he had enough time to practice martial arts.

"Tutoring? You're joking—these training institutions are everywhere nowadays, yet there's still tutoring?" Moreover… Bai Lang recalled his own level and realized he could at most teach elementary school math; by middle school he was already lost, and his 211 university degree had completely rusted away in just over ten years—picking it up again would take at least a few months to go through the textbooks from start to finish.

His Chinese was still okay, but his English had lost about seventy‑to‑eighty percent, mainly forgetting vocabulary. Still, who would need martial‑arts tutoring? Bai Lang had done some homework and knew many universities and primary/secondary schools offer physical‑education martial‑arts classes, but truly few cultivate a qi sense to make a living from martial‑arts fighting—odds of one in a hundred—and even those who develop qi sense aren't necessarily masters; in this, one's talent, diligence, and matching cultivation method are all indispensable.

Even Bai Lang knows that everyone has a cultivation method best suited to them; otherwise it's twice the work for half the result. Nowadays martial‑arts practitioners basically go into professional fighting or certain special industries, yet they still can't withstand firearms, and even ordinary cold weapons can pierce their defenses… Hard‑style training is hardly practiced anymore. The hardship and difficulty of hard‑style training aren't the issue; the problem is that after training, one still can't block attacks from others with similar skill using cold weapons—one can only fend off ordinary people or petty thieves wielding knives or daggers—provided the opponent isn't a master…

There are still plenty of tutoring jobs for martial‑arts instruction, but the precondition is that one must belong to the university martial‑arts club—and Bai Lang hasn't joined yet. This is probably the most suitable and relatively highest‑paying option—just tutoring promising middle‑school students, which is fine. Bai Lang immediately turned and ran to the university martial‑arts club to sign up: "250 per hour! That's practically rich!"

The university martial‑arts club is for high‑level players; although many members are enthusiasts without qi sense, as long as you're under thirty there's hope—maybe you'll grasp qi in college and enter the affluent class. Bai Lang has been in this world for three days, and finally has a preliminary understanding of this society—indeed, it's true. Practicing martial arts strengthens the body, competitions can earn money, and it even promotes longevity—illnesses can be treated, but a strong body and the circulation of Internal Force truly can delay aging.

In medicine, they likewise study martial arts, especially that illusory Internal Force, researching how to make it universally applicable—yet neither East nor West has produced results. Westerners and Easterners both possess Internal Force; they just call it different things—in the West it's breathing method, in the East and on the mainland it's called Internal Force.

This is indeed another sense of "fair and just"—it's not that the wealthy or powerful can definitely cultivate Internal Force; the transmission methods have long been lost or proven false, and there's no genetic evidence that descendants of Internal Force‑cultivating martial‑arts masters are more likely to acquire it. However, Internal Force can be temporarily infused into another's body, providing health‑care, protection, or even aiding comprehension.

So the wealthy can still take a few extra steps, but that's where it ends.

The martial‑arts club is always recruiting, always allowing members to join or quit—since joining requires buying uniforms and the school provides funding, it can fully sustain a healthy routine. The state has set routines for daily training, and of course the club offers internal guidance—seniors with qi sense can coach newcomers; as for whether that guidance turns into something else, that's hard to say.

Anyway, the proportion of calcium‑deficient people among martial‑arts practitioners is no higher than in gyms.

When Bai Lang signed up, the senior sister in charge of reception wore her usual expression: "Name, major, year, student ID, cultivation level." He picked up a pen and began filling it out, then casually asked, "By the way, does the club offer any benefits to members who have truly cultivated Internal Force?" The pretty senior sister glanced at him and replied, "Indeed there are, but are you really a student who has cultivated Internal Force?"

Her expression and words were utterly serious—this is indeed a crucial question. In the entire martial‑arts club, only thirty‑odd students have cultivated Internal Force; they are the club's true core. Those who sign up and come and go are merely "probationary members"; full membership has always required Internal Force cultivation. Other martial‑arts enthusiast clubs are the same: their core of a dozen or so members must have cultivated breathing method or Internal Force.

"There are benefits here," the senior sister leaned forward to look at Bai Lang's name on the registration form, gave an inexplicable chuckle, and said, "Bai, take a look." Bai Lang had originally wanted to join the martial‑arts club to earn money as a tutor because he was short on cash, but seeing that joining required paying for a uniform, he inwardly objected. When registering, he suddenly recalled the social status of those who have achieved Internal Force cultivation and immediately asked about benefits—and indeed there were.

"After joining there will be subsidies… Great! There's a meal allowance and a living stipend, though one must fulfill a set teaching‑hour obligation, and there are even competitions?" Bai Lang read the clauses and thought they were fine. Just these subsidies amount to roughly three‑to‑four thousand per month; although they can't match the possible salary of Internal Force achievers he found online, if spent on campus cafeteria meals it's more than enough, covering ordinary living expenses.

How much cultivation can a martial artist in university have? Usually just someone who has barely managed to cultivate Internal Force, let alone complete a heavenly circuit. At most one can say a bright future lies ahead of them. After looking, Bai Lang turned to the expectant senior sister, nodded, and said, "Exactly! I am a martial‑arts master who has cultivated Internal Force!" The senior sister really got excited: "Then come with me; let's test you."

Indeed, no idiot would boast about this—if one claims to have cultivated Internal Force, they truly have; if they're a liar, they'll get a beating later!