Chapter 311: The Martial Body Tournament Champion Returns in Triumph

Yujing Academy.

The Martial Body Tournament champion returned in triumph, yet not a single person was there to welcome him.

Chen Shu shook his head, sighing as he walked toward the dormitory, and ran into Brother Jiang, who was training his physical fitness in the park.

"Brother Jiang."

Chen Shu greeted him: "Working out?"

"Mm..."

Brother Jiang was wearing a gravity belt, panting heavily as he jumped repeatedly.

For a Five-stage Martial Artist, when practicing explosive jumps, the jump height should be controlled at around two and a half meters; the training effect is highest at this height. When one can exceed this distance in a full-power jump, the training intensity is no longer sufficient; if one can no longer jump this high, one should reduce the weight until one cannot jump this high even without any weight, at which point it can be finished.

Chen Shu stood in front of Brother Jiang, nodding his head in time with his constant jumping, while asking without any regard for the fact that he was working out:

"Is Brother Meng in the dormitory?"

"Not... in..."

"Where did he go?"

"Out... side..."

"Isn't it the weekend?"

"He... is... busy..."

"Hehehe, talking to you like this is so fun."

"Hoo..."

Brother Jiang stopped, lowered the setting on his gravity belt, and said to Chen Shu while panting: "After watching your match yesterday, Brother Meng was stimulated and specifically hired a Spell teacher from the Spirit Sect to tutor him in learning Spells; he said he wouldn't be back until tonight."

"Oh..."

"I'm going to continue now."

"Alright, go ahead and train."

Chen Shu glanced at the gravity belt on his waist; it was brand new.

Brother Jiang had bought it a few days ago.

This type of gravity belt has adjustable settings and can provide the user with different weights just by wearing it; it is a common training aid for Martial Artists. The one Brother Jiang bought has very strong performance, uses sliding adjustments, and can provide up to ten tons of weight at its highest setting; it is the highest-level gravity belt available on the market.

The product itself is positioned as high-end with outstanding performance, and with the battery life included, a belt like this costs several hundred thousand.

For a normal Martial Artist, it can be used all the way until the Sixth Stage.

Thanks to the bountiful harvest from the Hunting Festival, plus the income from the Arena over time, Brother Jiang's finances had become increasingly comfortable. Even after excluding the support he sent back to the orphanage and the massive expenses required by a Martial Artist, he still had quite a bit left. Even so, Chen Shu had watched him struggle for nearly half a month before finally gritting his teeth and buying it under his own guidance.

This counted as the largest expense of his life.

He really couldn't avoid buying it.

With Brother Jiang's current monstrous physical fitness, it was difficult to find suitable weight-bearing equipment for him, whether in ordinary martial arts halls or the school's Martial Cultivation Hall.

Don't look down on Martial Artists for being inferior to Cultivators; in fact, their expenses are no lower than those of Cultivators.

Because modern Martial Artists have an extremely scientific, standardized, and efficient progress process, even the militaries of various countries primarily focus on cultivating Martial Artists. This provides places for Martial Artists to burn money, and as long as you burn money, you can progress; to progress quickly, you must burn money.

All kinds of potions, for internal and external use.

All kinds of supplements: nutritional supplements, Spirit Power supplements, and injury repair agents.

All kinds of training auxiliary potions.

Hiring coaches, signing up for martial arts halls.

Rune design and engraving.

And Beast Bloodline implantation.

It is very expensive.

Cultivators are actually a bit better off, especially Spirit Cultivators, whose main expense is the Promotion Auxiliary Potion. Besides that, if you can do it, you can do it; if you can't, you can't. Other systems have more places to spend money than Spirit Cultivators, but one thing is the same—trying to rely on burning money to become a powerful Cultivator is a dead end.

Only Martial Artists can be mass-produced and manufactured in a standardized way.

Brother Jiang was the most frugal Martial Artist Chen Shu had ever seen, bar none. Seeing him spend so much money, Chen Shu actually felt a sense of gratification.

Returning to the dormitory, it was indeed empty.

Chen Shu lay down on the sofa and pulled out his mobile phone.

He scrolled through the forum.

There were quite a few posts about the Martial Body Tournament, and there was no shortage of discussions about him. But whether rational or irrational, professional or just talking nonsense, they were almost all pure discussions, and some were even arguing quite intensely—he didn't even know what they were arguing about.

What puzzled Chen Shu was that even now, no one had posted his detailed information on the forum.

A top-tier genius who was Second Tier upon enrollment, Fourth Stage as a freshman, and Sixth Stage as a junior couldn't go viral—was this the degradation of morality or the distortion of human nature? Clearly, Zhang Suannai had won the championship two years ago with a Fifth Stage cultivation, which had much less gold content, yet she had gained countless fanboys and fangirls.

What was going on?

Where were my long-legged, big-breasted little fangirls?

Where were my little fanboys who felt inferior in my presence?

It was already the second day.

Chen Shu felt very disappointed.

This year's netizens lacked the necessary attention for geniuses and big shots, and also lacked the basic ability to appreciate male attractiveness. Males only knew how to look at a girl's face and legs, and females only knew how to look at pretty boys—how could this be allowed?

"Pah!"

Night fell.

Brother Jiang returned from his workout, drenched in sweat, and went straight to take a shower.

Chen Shu turned on the television news.

Not long after, Brother Meng also returned, sat down next to him, and asked casually about his injuries and his feelings during the match.

"May 10th, a certain Hunter Unit of the Central Military Region will hold a large-scale live-fire exercise in the Qingshanling Ziran Baohuchu in Yujing City. It is reported that the scope of this exercise covers the entire Qingshanling Ziran Baohuchu and will last for several months. At that time, the entire Qingshan Ridge will be blockaded; we ask the general public not to trespass... This exercise is in conjunction with our country's major traditional cultivation sects, with the goal of improving our military's ability to strike at illegal cultivation forces hiding in complex environments, and will not cause an impact on the ecology of the natural reserve..."

Chen Shu was wearing shorts and a tank top, sitting cross-legged on the sofa, staring at the image on the television.

Qingshan Ridge has already been completely sealed off.

There are several "Ridge" nature reserves around Yujing, which are actually quite large in scope and all contain a Forbidden Land inside.

Just like Qingshan Ridge; the commonly referred to Qingshan Ridge is the area where Chen Shu participated in the Hunting Festival activities, but in reality, the Qingshanling Ziran Baohuchu is very large, roughly the size of a prefecture-level city's jurisdiction. If one were to cross the entire Qingshanling Ziran Baohuchu, they would exit Yujing directly and arrive in another city.

One of the Imperial Family's Forbidden Lands is located in the center of the reserve.

It seems the time for the Tribulation-Transcending Bodhisattva to attain Buddhahood has arrived.

At this moment, Jiang Lai also came out after finishing a shower, hair damp, a towel draped over his neck, standing to the side and staring at the television.

"Brother Chen."

Meng Chunqiu's voice rang out: "Have you received news from the Spirit Sect?"

"Not yet."

"Then it should be soon."

"You received it?"

"Mm."

Meng Chunqiu knew they had long since learned the news from the mouth of an exotic beast, and that Brother Chen would soon receive sect instructions as well, so he did not hide it and said: "The exotic treasure in Qingshan Ridge that the exotic beast mentioned that day is actually not an exotic treasure; it is the Tribulation-Transcending Bodhisattva about to attain Buddhahood, and the Forbidden Land is about to open. In the process of the Tribulation-Transcending Bodhisattva merging with the origin, the Divine Power overflowing from the Forbidden Land is a tremendous opportunity for a Cultivator."

As Meng Chunqiu spoke, he secretly glanced at Chen Shu—

Only by being an Imperial Family descendant could he obtain this kind of news at the first opportunity.

Moreover, this sentence seemed simple, but in fact, it contained a lot of information that ordinary people could not know at all. Even as an Imperial Family descendant, it was only after he decided to strive for excellence recently that he obtained the authorization to understand them.

However, he did not see an expression of Surprise on Brother Chen's face.

Meng Chunqiu was somewhat disappointed.

Brother Jiang, on the other hand, had his eyes wide open, looking stunned.

Meng Chunqiu felt a little comforted in his heart and continued: "However, each Forbidden Land has different characteristics and is accompanied by different dangers; among them, the three Forbidden Lands controlled by my Imperial Family have the highest risk factor."

This time, Brother Chen showed some interest.

Meng Chunqiu finally smiled, grinning as he said: "But since the Tribulation-Transcending Bodhisattva is attaining Buddhahood here this time, the danger is basically smoothed out."

"Brother Meng, are you going too?"

"The Forbidden Land opens at the beginning of June. I am currently at the Third-tier Peak, and I plan to push for the Fourth Stage. If I can reach the Fourth Stage before the end of the month, I will go; if I cannot reach it, I won't go," Meng Chunqiu said. "If the rank is too low, there is no point in going."

"Brother Meng is impressive."

"It's alright, it's alright..."

"Brother Meng, do you know..." Chen Shu glanced at the smugness on his face, "what characteristics the Imperial Forbidden Land has?"

"I didn't ask about that."

"Go find out quickly."

"Brother Chen, didn't you join the Spirit Sect?"

"The books recording these have very high authorization requirements in the Spirit Sect; only the top floor of the Phoenix Tower has them, and I cannot see them."

"Then it can only depend on me!"

Meng Chunqiu puffed out his chest as he spoke, then looked at Jiang Lai: "Brother Jiang, are you going?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Lai hesitated.

"I don't know..."

"I also don't know if the benefits of the Forbidden Land are useful for a Martial Artist, but I see that every time a Forbidden Land opened in ancient times, it attracted people like a swarm of ducks, including Seventh or Eighth Stage and even just Fifth or Sixth Stage Cultivators, as well as Martial Artists, and many High-Tier exotic beasts rushed over," Meng Chunqiu paused. "I specifically checked this for you, for reference only; it is also possible they were just going in to hunt for treasure. Because every time a Forbidden Land opens, there are celestial phenomena, and since no one has entered for a long time, there are indeed many rare treasures, as well as the legacies left behind by Cultivators and Martial Artists who died inside when the Forbidden Land last opened."

"What are attaining Buddhahood, the origin, and Divine Power..."

"Brother Jiang, you don't know yet, do you? This involves some incredible secrets that not just anyone can know," Meng Chunqiu said with a serious expression. "What I say next is only because I trust your personal character enough to tell you; do not spread it."

"Mm."

"Actually, the gods in our country's temples truly exist; they are really gods..."

Meng Chunqiu began to popularize some precious knowledge for Jiang Lai, and Jiang Lai's eyes gradually widened as he listened, as if he were recognizing this world for the first time.

Meng Chunqiu was extremely satisfied with his reaction.

Since moving into this Dormitory, watching these two become increasingly monstrous, if it were in the past, he could have used words like "I disdain pursuing cultivation and martial power," "these two are just vulgar brutes," or "my dream is poetry and songs, being carefree and unfettered, unlike them" to comfort himself. But ever since he decided to follow the path of the Old Ancestor of the Wang family, he also began to cultivate and pursue martial power, and he felt the terror of these two even more.

Now he had finally found a point where he was better than them.

Ah no, just better than Brother Jiang.

Meng Chunqiu suddenly thought of the little sun he saw at the Martial Arts Arena of the Military Academy yesterday.

"Emmm..."

Meng Chunqiu fell silent for a moment, then continued to say to Brother Jiang: "However, modern times are different. Every time a Forbidden Land opens, the celestial phenomena are covered up, and the military is mobilized to seal off the Forbidden Land and the surrounding area to prevent innocent people from entering and meeting with disaster. If you want to go, I can make an exception and take you."

"Can you?"

"I specifically asked my grandfather and told him about your situation, and he allowed it."

"Thank you, Brother Meng!"

"Have you decided?"

"Decided!"

Upon hearing about High-Tier exotic beasts, Jiang Lai had already decided to go.

But before that, he had to increase the intensity of his training to possess greater power by the beginning of next month.

Meng Chunqiu, meanwhile, had to push for the Fourth Stage before the end of the month.

"..."

Chen Shu looked left, then looked right, feeling very helpless.

Truly two workaholics...

……

Golden Jasmine has initiated the Save Monthly Ticket Plan for you—

It is the end of the month again, and the monthly tickets accumulated in your hands are about to expire. If you all have nowhere to cast them, you can cast them for Jasmine. Otherwise, it is a waste if they expire; you would lose a hundred million!