Chapter 103: Second Realm: Tendon Refinement (Requesting Monthly Votes)

Lin Qi nodded, listening intently.

Today’s gains were substantial—he encountered many secrets he had never known, and learned of the insect race’s existence.

If he were still an ordinary student, he would have no right to know these things.

“But Lin Qi, you can rest easy.”

“Even if you become an S-class entity, they won’t put you on their assassination list.”

Supervisor Sun said with a smile.

“Why?” Lin Qi asked, puzzled.

“Because you haven’t awakened a special ability.”

“The insect race’s targets are always geniuses who awaken special abilities. Even if you’re an S-class genius with incredible physical talent, they won’t care about your comprehension.”

“So they just didn’t notice me?” Lin Qi was speechless.

“So right now, you’re safe—but once you awaken a special ability, everything changes.”

Yue Feng sat back down and said:

“Our Xia Nation has satellite defense systems—the Tianyan System—that monitor the entire city in real time. It’s extremely difficult for the insect race to succeed in an assassination.”

“You don’t need to worry too much.”

“Your next task is to learn a source-energy cultivation art. Now that you’ve broken through to the second realm, you’re eligible to study one.”

“Absorb the free-floating source energy in the air to refine your body and increase your blood qi value.”

“During this disaster beast surge, some geniuses performed exceptionally well—even better than you.”

“I received word yesterday that Chen Li, the top student in Bai Lu City, appeared in the disaster beast surge at Cube Square—he slew 23 disaster beasts in ten minutes!!”

“Including 21 Level One disaster beasts and two Level Two ones, and he even briefly fought a Level Three disaster beast, the Gray-Spined Wolf.”

“And like you, this was his first battle against disaster beasts.”

“The Chongming Martial Arts Gym is thrilled—they might offer him an S-class contract!” Yue Feng said slowly.

Lin Qi was stunned: 23 disaster beasts—he killed eight more than Lin Qi, and even fought a Level Three disaster beast.

Is this the true strength of the top student in Cang Province?

Clearly, Chen Li is a bit more talented than him.

But with a little more time, his own strength will rise even faster—he’ll surpass Chen Li, it’s just a matter of time.

Lin Qi clenched his fists, feeling a touch of pressure.

A few minutes later, Lin Qi and Supervisor Sun left the gym director’s office.

Yue Feng watched their retreating backs.

“Lin Qi, you’ve got to push harder—don’t let Chongming’s genius take the top spot in our Cang Province.”

…

After leaving the gym director’s office, Lin Qi asked:

“Supervisor Sun, do you have any recommendations for choosing a cultivation art?”

Supervisor Sun spoke slowly: “Human martial arts are about the evolution of life—that’s the foundation.”

“Source-energy cultivation arts are the fundamental method.”

“These arts help us absorb source energy leaking from the other world, enabling our bodies to transform.”

“The sophistication of the art determines how efficiently we absorb source energy—the more refined the art, the more source energy we absorb, and the higher the refinement efficiency.”

“So it’s simple: choose the most refined art.”

“On the condition that it matches your own constitution.”

“If your compatibility is low, you’ll only waste your cultivation time.”

“For example, the Golden Emperor’s art is the best—but it’s not suitable for everyone. Remember that.”

“I understand!”

Lin Qi nodded, silently committing it to memory.

…

Half an hour later, Tianhai City First People’s Hospital, Room 306.

Fang Huiyi sat up, looked at Lin Qi and Lin Zhen, stretched her arms, and smiled:

“After removing the toxins, I feel much lighter, and my arms have regained strength.”

“Mom, I bought you a lot of tonics—you can return to the martial path again.” Lin Qi handed her a vial of healing serum.

It could nourish internal organs.

Fang Huiyi drank the serum and nodded:

“I need to grow stronger too—otherwise, when disaster beasts appear, I’ll just be a burden again.”

…

An hour later, Fang Huiyi had fully recovered and was cleared for discharge.

The family returned home together; their car in the underground parking lot had suffered no damage.

After returning home, Lin Qi went alone to Chiqiong Martial Arts Gym.

Room B123

Lin Qi changed into his martial uniform, took a vitality potion, applied Crimson Blood Ointment, and began standing the Hunyuan Stance for today’s training.

Half an hour later, his body burned hot as fire, his face flushed, sweat pouring down.

Chest tucked, back straightened, shoulders sunk, elbows dropped, qi sunk to dantian…

Every movement of the Hunyuan Stance was perfectly precise, maximizing its effect.

His blood qi surged like tiny snakes winding through his body, beginning to circulate and refine his major tendons.

“Huh~”

An hour and a half later, Lin Qi exhaled a thick breath, stood up, and fixed his gaze on his panel.

【You endured grueling training—your blood qi value has broken through. Blood qi +0.01】

Lin Qi frowned at the panel—his refinement efficiency was far too slow.

After breaking through to the second realm, standing stance alone increased blood qi at a snail’s pace.

Even with his talent, progress was this sluggish—others would be even worse.

!

So he definitely needed to begin cultivating an art—directly absorbing source energy from the air.

Lin Qi picked up his spear and began practicing spear techniques.

Unlike stance training, he practiced three spear arts—even after mastering the third killing technique in each, he still felt vast room for improvement.

“Shhh! Shhh!”

Soon, he seized his repaired Thunder Horn Spear and began training.

The fifty-jin Thunder Horn Spear was perfectly suited to his thousand-jin strength.

With the right weight, he could apply greater pressure to his arms, improving his wrist power and control over spear techniques.

Feeling the power flow into the spear as he wielded it, he soon became immersed.

…

The next day

During the day, Lin Qi arrived at Chiqiong Martial Arts Gym with Jiang Tao and Li Zhou for a TV interview.

Li Zhou and Jiang Tao had excellent talent and were aided by various healing potions—they now appeared fully recovered.

The three of them mechanically answered questions, reading from prepared scripts; Lin Qi had no intention of improvising.

The interview went smoothly.

It lasted until the afternoon.

…

Night

Lin Qi changed into his martial uniform; across from him stood a middle-aged man of immense, bear-like build, his face scarred.

It was Lin Qi’s martial arts instructor—Zhang Cheng!

“Teacher Zhang, sorry for making you come all this way.”

Lin Qi apologized.

Zhang Cheng waved his hand: “No need to apologize—it’s just one night for me.”

He grinned: “You actually broke through to the second realm? I heard you trained all five forms simultaneously.”

“Your talent is far stronger than I imagined.”

“You’re the top genius of our No. 2 High School.”

“My time doesn’t matter.”

“But for a genius like you, wasting even a day is a huge loss.”

Lin Qi shook his head: “Teacher Zhang, you flatter me too much.”

“Enough. Let’s get to the point!”

Zhang Cheng crossed his arms, organized his thoughts, and spoke slowly:

“Martial arts have nine gates—one gate, one realm.”

“The first realm is refining flesh; the second realm is refining tendons!”

“Your muscles have already been refined to a certain level—further pounding won’t yield much more improvement.”

"You need to shift your focus to your fascia; during the process of tendon training, your strength and blood qi will increase even faster."

Zhang Cheng walked with his hands behind his back, speaking as he went.

"After years of research, we humans have found that the transition from muscle training to tendon training is the most rational and most efficient."

"Training the skin or the bones would not be the most efficient choice."

Zhang Cheng stopped, took off his shirt, spread his arms, and clenched his fists.

"Crack!"

Hearing the "crack, crack" sounds, his arm muscles swelled instantly, tendons bulging prominently.

"Now, I will thoroughly explain to you what tendon training truly is!"

…

(End of Chapter)