11 MA
In the second match, Xu Yikai battled Fang Wenxiang.
Xu Yikai followed Fang Ping's advice and moved steadily. He kept dragging Fang Wenxiang on, provoking him once in a while.
Everybody's eyes were wide and glued to the Peak Rank-1 powerhouse that was Fang Wenxiang. Due to his injuries, he eventually toppled and fell to the ground, moaning.
In the third battle, Zhang Zhenguang battled Xu Yikai.
Zhang Zhenguang had an arm injury and could only use one hand.
Even so, the incensed Zhang Zhenguang relied on his single arm and made seven continuous shots, heavily wounding Xu Yikai.
As for himself, blood dripped profusely from the arm that had already been hurt during Xu Yikai's counterattacks.
Two twice-honed Peak-Rank 1 martial artists were beaten by two once-honed Upper-stage Rank-1 martial artists, making things seem even bleaker.
…
In the fourth battle, Chen Yunxi faced Zhang Zhenguang.
Seeing that Zhang Zhenguang fairly seriously injured, Chen Yunxi said gently when she got to the stage, "It's better if you quit now. Don't delay your treatment…"
Perhaps Zhang Zhenguang thought that Chen Yunxi was ridiculing him, as the martial artist who had always been level-headed was suddenly incensed.
Perhaps it was because he was unwilling, or it was some other reason.
Anyhow, Zhang Zhenguang fought extremely ferociously!
Everybody thought his left arm could not move, but as he dueled Chen Yunxi, Zhang Zhenguang suddenly used his seriously injured left arm for a low-level Combat Skill—Cannon Punch!
As he showcased this technique, many CCMAU people gave a low cry, and some could not stop their tears from flowing.
…
On the second floor, a powerhouse sighed and said, "The little bastard desires too much to be strong. With that Cannon Punch, I'm afraid his arm bone will be broken into pieces. Even three or five months of recuperation might not make it better."
Chen Yunxi was a genuinely kind person. When she saw the wreck that her opponent was, she wanted to force him offstage by depleting his Vitality.
Before she could react, Zhang Zhenguang fiercely punched her abdomen and fresh blood sprayed from her mouth.
…
Backstage.
Bai Ruoxi said helplessly, "Reminded her from the start not to underestimate anybody, not to take pity on her opponent on the battle stage.
"And now…"
Zhang Zhenguang had been seriously injured a long time ago. Chen Yunxi's Vitality was full. Being onstage for the first time, she could not have been in better shape.
Even so, she had been beaten up by a semi-disabled martial artist of the same level. Bai Ruoxi could not be more disappointed.
…
Chen Yunxi clearly did not expect this either.
She spat blood while she looked at Zhang Zhenguang falling to the ground, completely senseless.
He had made this desperate attack only to heavily hurt himself.
Was it worth it?
CCMAU's loss was imminent. At this time, should they not focus on recuperation?
Nobody could provide Chen Yunxi an answer!
When Han Xu became the third person to come onstage, Chen Yunxi was filled with puzzlement and rage, which she vented on Han Xu. Previously, it was also Han Xu who had hurt Yang Xiaoman so badly!
"I'll kill you!"
This was probably the most vicious anyone heard Chen Yunxi since she entered MCMAU.
Chen Yunxi, who had always been soft and delicate, fully demonstrated her combat abilities in the next moment!
She and Bai Ruoxi learned swordsmanship, but at this moment, Chen Yunxi had already tossed her sword aside.
She used a sword because she felt it was very mystical.
However, it did not mean she had achieved a lot in swordsmanship.
On the contrary, Chen Yunxi was the representative of close combat. At the start of the classes, she had used a pair of long legs to nearly kick Fu Changding to death.
Making full use of her combat strength, Chen Yunxi leaped into the air, walking on it. Her legs moved at the speed of light, and she kicked toward Han Xu in midair!
…
"Elevated stance!"
Among the crowd, a martial artist whistled. Another elevated stance!
From MCMAU, Fang Ping had previously already shown his pole-standing elevated stance. Currently, Chen Yunxi also displayed the strength of her elevated stance.
Han Xu was somewhat dumbfounded.
Earlier, when Chen Yunxi was battling the half-dead Zhang Zhenguang, it seemed she had some difficulty and was even punched by Zhang Zhenguang in the end, receiving a sizeable injury.
Why was it that when it was his turn, this girl changed completely?
Han Xu was confused and furious!
Why were they all like this!
His opponents always battled like their life depended on it!
He had already performed poorly this time. He wanted to redeem himself in the last round, but just as he went onstage, he met this crazy woman!
The enraged Han Xu was hit by his opponent's consecutive kicks. His feet flashed, trying to make some distance between them and grind the woman to death with his speed afterward.
However, just as Han Xu moved, a pair of big long legs once again appeared at his forehead!
"Her Stepping Techniques are highly accomplished!"
Liu Huarong was astonished and hastily said, "MCMAU's reserves team member Chen Yunxi has an elevated stance pole-standing and well-accomplished Stepping Techniques. Her speed isn't slower than Han Xu's either… Han Xu has met his match!"
"Ah!"
Han Xu was enraged. Why, why was it like this!
A reserves team member—who were MCMAU f*cking trying to fool!
He had dueled MCMAU's Fu Changding and Yang Xiaoman. Neither of their pole-standing had reached the elevated stance. They were fooling ghosts!
Moreover, Tang Songting and Zhao Xuemei were of average strength, and they were starter members.
How could Chen Yunxi, a reserves team member, be so strong!
Han Xu was angered, but so was Chen Yunxi!
Her friend was injured, her instructor looked down on her, and she had pitied Zhang Zhenguang only for him to plot against her.
The others had entered the starter team, but she had gotten into the reserves team.
Tang Feng had even asked her to become a civilian and be a logistics member!
What part of her was not good enough!
The more she thought about it, the more indignant she felt. The more indignant she felt, the angrier she got!
The long legs that were a blur suddenly erupted with a stronger Vitality, attacking Han Xu's lower region.
She would kick this asshole to death!
There really was nothing good about men!
Zhang Zhenguang had better not appear in front of her next time, or she would absolutely kick him to death!
"Xiaoman was right. There's nothing good about men!"
Chen Yunxi could not stop herself from shouting aloud. Her gaze, as she looked at Han Xu, was not different from one looking at an archenemy. This guy wanted to beat her too!
From the moment he came on stage, this asshole wanted to beat her. It was too annoying!
…
"Middle-ranked Combat Technique—Eighteen Consecutive Kicks. Han Xu's luck…"
Liu Huarong gave three seconds of silence for Han Xu.
Chen Xueyan also kept quiet for a moment before explaining softly, "Eighteen Consecutive Kicks is a type of leg technique among the harder Middle-ranked Combat Techniques. Its requirements are very high. Your pole-standing has to reach the elevated stance before you can cultivate it.
"Moreover, with Eighteen Consecutive Kicks, each kick increases in strength.
"Chen Yunxi's first kick had a Vitality outburst of around 10cal, but now that she's on her seventh kick, the Vitality outburst has already reached around 70cal!"
As she said this, Chen Xueyan was shocked. "Her Vitality's not right!"
Seven consecutive kicks like this would have reached a Vitality depletion of 280cal. She would die!
However, Chen Yunxi showed no signs of that. Liu Huarong watched for a while before saying, "It's not that her Vitality is over 350cal, she… Seems to have eaten…"
Just as he wanted to say something, he saw Han Xu, who was on the battle stage, kicked to the ground with a bang, his entire body covered in fresh blood!
In the seven consecutive kicks, Chen Yunxi had kicked for an accumulated 280cal of Vitality!
Under this Vitality outburst, Han Xu was almost kicked to death!
"This…"
The whole arena was quiet.
Nobody had expected this outcome!
CCMAU's strongest fighter Han Xu had been thoroughly beaten by a reserves team member, twice in a row!
…
Lying on the ground, Han Xu felt nothing but the desire to die. He did not think of anything else.
He did not think about why he was so unfortunate!
He also did not think about why these women had all waited to face him before exploding!
Zhang Zhenguang, a semi-disabled bastard, could beat her till she spat blood. Why did this always happen when it was his turn!
This woman, after the outburst, was not the least bit weaker than him.
He had not fully recovered from the injuries he had gotten in the past few days, and after being struck by Chen Yunxi, he could not shake her off and was kicked seven times. His life was nearly lost!
'Why!'
Only this thought floated in Han Xu's mind. Just why?
…
Backstage.
Fang Ping gulped, asking in a small voice, "But she looks so small and cute?"
Fu Changding's face was embarrassed, and he said awkwardly, "She's possibly… A little angry…"
"That time of the month?"
"Maybe menopause came early…"
As the two of them spoke nonsense, Bai Ruoxi viciously glared at them before an expression of surprise came on her face.
'This girl… Since when could she kick consecutively seven times?'
Also… What Chen Yunxi ate just now did not seem like a Vitality Pill… It was…
Bai Ruoxi considered in her head for a while before whispering, "A Resurrection Pill?"
When Fang Ping heard this, his mouth fell wide open. Half a beat passed before he stammered, "Resurrection Pill? That… That 200-credits Resurrection Pill?"
"It should be…"
Bai Ruoxi was not too sure, but she still nodded and said, "Only a Resurrection Pill would allow her to recover from her wounds a little. Her Vitality has replenished quite a bit…"
Fang Ping was shocked to the heavens. Motherf*cker, there was someone in the class who was even grander than Fu Changding's family!
200 credits!
Even at MCMAU, daring to spend 200 credits for a medicinal pill that replenishes Vitality and heals wounds was something that only Rank-3 or higher martial artists did.
One Resurrection Pill was sold for a price not less than 5 million in other places!
She just ate it?
With just that small injury, she ate it!
There were still so many people after him, yet this woman just ate it so she could have a Vitality outburst for a while?
'You should've said something earlier! If you had said something earlier, you could've left it to me, and I would've killed Han Xu, that son of a bitch, and it would've been fine!'
After fighting so many rounds, it was not uncommon to eat medicinal pills, but nobody was that wasteful!
Even CCMAU was the same. It was not worth it.
Medicinal pills all had a time period when the effect of the medicine would slowly kick in, which meant that the effectiveness would not be better just because the pill was of a higher rank.
Resurrection Pills were not ranked as it was considered a part of a special category of medicinal pills.
These medicinal pills could be used under critically injured circumstances to sustain life while waiting for rescue. As for the recovery of some Vitality, it was also for the preservation of life.
Nobody used it as a Healing Pill!
Currently, Chen Yunxi could not be any more wasteful!
…
Fang Ping stewed in resentment, but Zhao Lei was dazed.
'What number am I going on?'
'Number four!'
'Yes, number four!'
'CCMAU still has two people—two semi-disabled reserves team members. Put this way, do I still have people to beat?'
Just as he thought this, Chen Yunxi was already dueling Zhang Yichuan onstage.
Three minutes later, Zhang Yichuan could not oppose her any longer, and Chen Yunxi's Vitality was also completely used up. The two of them fell to the ground one after another.
"There's still Yang Shuai… That's right, there's still Yang Shuai…" Zhao Lei muttered.
Fang Ping, at the side, was shaken out of his stupor at the moment, and his lip curled. "Yesterday, Yang Shuai's breast bone was broken by Chen Jiasheng. At most, he would have the strength of an Upper-stage Rank-1 martial artist. You better not lose."
"I…"
Zhao Lei was so angry, he nearly spat blood!
'What's the point of me preparing for a few months only to get on the stage to challenge an Upper-stage Rank-1 martial artist?'
…
At that moment, victory and defeat were already clear, in truth.
Han Xu suddenly lost by Chen Yunxi's hand, which was out of everybody's expectations.
CCMAU had not expected it either!
According to their beliefs, Han Xu could beat Chen Yunxi at the very least, and they held hope that he could beat Zhao Lei before entering a deciding battle with Fang Ping at the end.
This way, even if CCMAU lost, their defeat would not be embarrassing.
A battle between the strongest members. If Han Xu had lost to Fang Ping because he had battled two people first, this was not worth any fanfare.
Behind him, CCMAU still had two people. Even if he was beaten to a pulp, this could still prove that CCMAU was truly very strong, it was just that their luck was bad.
But now?
…
Onstage, Zhao Lei was clearly a little listless.
Bullying a semi-disabled Peak Rank-1 martial artist, who was only honed once too, felt somewhat humiliating.
He felt the opponent would be spitting blood walking up to the stage. He, an MCMAU powerhouse, would have to bully a disabled person like this?
'Should I surrender and let Fang Ping deal with it?'
The thought floated into his head, but he thought the moment he did this, his instructor would hammer him dead. Zhao Lei could only sigh and proceed with bullying the half-dead fighter.
…
A minute later, CCMAU's Yang Shuai fell.
Zhao Lei did not take the opportunity to pursue and kill him as there was no need.
CCMAU's instructor sighed and shouted their surrender.
MCMAU won this battle!
Backstage, Fang Ping was also a little uninterested. This time, the competition schedule was packed too closely. Consequently, they battled an almost all-crippled CCMAU.
Moreover, MCMAU's full strength was revealed, and they fought without any motivation.
Furthermore, it was the first competition. In the beginning, everybody had fought too ferociously without any thought of conserving some strength.
They only noticed at the end that even the five-people teams were incomplete.
Now, with Chen Yunxi's sudden outburst, Zhao Lei did not have to attack many times, let alone Fang Ping. Rather than saying Yang Shuai was defeated by him, it could be said that his own wounds were aggravated and caused his fall.
"MCMAU wins!
"This championship's first place, Magic City Martial Arts University!
"Second place, Capital City Martial Arts University!
"Third place, the Martial Arts University Alliance…"
Along with Liu Huarong's loud cheers, the first nationwide public martial arts tournament officially ended.
In this competition, there were many martial artists who made impressions on people.
Fang Ping was one, Han Xu was one, Sun Mingyu, Chen Jiasheng, Zhang Zhenguang, Li Ran, Yang Xiaoman, Zhao Xuemei, Bai Yin, Liang Weiyao, Chen Yunxi… Even Wei Shujie, who had been hit in the crown jewels, was included.
Only Zhao Lei did not make the cut.
Nobody remembered this top student of Magic City's martial sciences even though he had fought the last match in the finals.
The fight was too boring!
With three punches and two kicks, Yang Shuai's wounds were aggravated, and he fell to the ground!
Was Zhao Lei strong?
Nobody knew!
They had no way of knowing. Who knew if he was strong or not—they only knew he had defeated a semi-disabled Rank-1 martial artist.
The moment the competition ended, the audience beneath the stage and MCMAU's students all celebrated and cheered.
On the other hand, backstage, Fang Ping and the others could not be excited.
Zhao Lei was at a loss, feeling distraught.
Fu Changding was very cautious, not daring to look at the injured girls.
The girls talked in low voices, including Zhao Xuemei and Yang Xiaoman—who both rushed from the infirmary. The three girls chatted very excitedly.
As for Fang Ping…
Currently, Fang Ping kept staring at Chen Yunxi's pockets. He wanted to know, were there any Resurrection Pills in there?
"We won!"
It was unknown who said this, but the atmosphere slowly took a turn for the better. Everybody exchanged glances and gave a relaxed smile.
They had finished the battles!
Not long since classes started, they kept preparing for the championship, and it was now over.
MCMAU entered fights continuously and steadily won their way to first place.
"We won… We should discuss money matters now…"
Fang Ping mumbled, a genuine smile spreading on his face. First place—how much should the school award?
"As the first national martial arts university students' championship comes to a close, MCMAU takes the crown!"
"CCMAU was defeated! As the top martial arts university, their reputation is better than the reality!"
"It's a pity the MCMAU team leader Fang Ping still couldn't duel with CCMAU team leader Han Xu."
"Among the strongest new students, whose house would the flower petals fall on?"1
…
There were various controversial posts online as usual.
Who was the strongest new student?
Han Xu?
Han Xu had defeated the Rank-2 powerhouse Sun Mingyu but lost one after another. The earlier parts were still alright, but he lost in the finals at the end to Chen Yunxi, which made countless people feel that Han Xu's reputation was better than reality, and he might not be Fang Ping's match.
Cheng Yunxi was MCMAU's reserves team member, and Fang Ping was the team leader. Everybody felt Fang Ping was stronger than Chen Yunxi.
However, Fang Ping and Han Xu had yet to duel, and he did not duel two Rank-2 martial artists either. Who could say for sure that Fang Ping must be the strongest?
He had won four battles in a row against the Eight School Alliance, but the Eight School Alliance was the first to be eliminated and could not prove his strength.
In this matter, each had their own valid opinions, and nobody was fully assured.
However, MCMAU won CCMAU twice. Their advantage was huge, this was obvious.
Could CCMAU take on being the top martial arts university?
Aside from this debate of who was the strongest, the number one trending topic online was still about why they were spreading knowledge of these martial artists' strengths.
Martial artists had never been purely just brave men. This was widely accepted.
However, this championship showed a trend—martial artists placed martial arts as a priority!
This championship, from start till finish, everybody was talking about how martial artists took these battles like they were war!
Sino Nation's martial sciences that had been very quiet for many years suddenly made such a wave. What was it for?
Some people guessed that the Sino Nation was possibly going to war with other countries.
Some people guessed that the Sino Nation's internal supervision was going to go through changes.
Some were guessing whether other enemies were wanting to invade, and the martial artists would need to participate in the fight.
This last guess was already close to the truth, but these guesses were very quickly buried in other news and other published rankings.
…
On January 16th, the Education Ministry, Martial Arts Alliance, Sino Nation Newspaper and Sino Nation martial artists' websites announced the Sino Nation martial arts university students' combat strength rankings.
The ranking did not include information on other casual martial artists, Military Department martial artists or Department of Investigation Services' martial artists, solely recording the Sino Nation martial arts university students' situations.
There were Rank-1, Rank-2, and Rank-3—three rankings.
The rankings were spread very quickly on the Internet.
The three lower ranks of martial artists were those that were closest to normal people. These were the realms that normal people could achieve too.
…
On the train, Fang Ping also saw these rankings through the newspaper.
The Sino Nation Newspaper had especially used an entire section of the report to list them in detail.
There were three rankings, and each ranking had 100 people.
In the Rank-1 ranking, Fang Ping was in sixth place.
"Brother, aren't you the champion? How can you only be sixth!"
Fang Yuan cried against the injustice on behalf of her big brother. Although Fang Ping did not take to the stage in the last round, Fang Ping's strength was obvious to all who laid eyes on him.
He was a thrice-honed Peak Rank-1 martial artist who had an ultimate move, yet a martial like this was not first place?
"Yeah, Fang Ping. Why aren't you in the first place?"
Wu Zhihao and the others called this out for him too. This was just the ranking for martial arts universities. It did not include martial artists. How could Fang Ping not be first?
Fang Ping himself did not care much. He smiled and said, "It's normal. There are a hundred thousand martial arts university students, and most of them are Rank-1 with over 60 thousand students.
"With so many Rank-1 martial artists, there are some juniors and seniors who are still Rank-1 too.
"Some of them have stayed in Rank-1 due to various reasons.
"This time, it was just the new students' tournament. Old students didn't enter.
"The first five are all old students…
"Not to mention, if we do meet, whoever wins or loses is not a definite matter.
"Of course, the most important thing is that there's no need to care about this. It has nothing to do with me."
"Nothing to do with you?"
Wu Zhihao could not understand.
Fang Ping smiled but said nothing. 'Yeah. First or sixth, what does that have to do with me?'
'It's not as if I'm a Rank-1 martial artist!'
Yesterday, when the competition ended, Fang Ping chose to breakthrough that night. He had already reached Rank-2 last night.
Fang Ping had Rank-2 Vitality Pills.
The school was generous this time too, awarding Fang Ping 500 credits in one go, increasing his Wealth points by ten million!
Fang Ping quickly used his credits to exchange them for a Rank-2 Viscera-shielding Pill and Rank-2 Bone-honing Pill. He decided to breakthrough and did so that night.
Fang Ping now had major changes in all categories of his stats.
Wealth points: 20400000
Vitality: 330cal (349cal)
Mentality: 300Hz (309Hz)
Bone-honing: 62 bones (90%), 1 bone (50%), 13 bones (40%), 130 bones (30%)
He had already started honing his upper limbs.
His Wealth points had also reached a new height, breaking through 20 million!
He also had 9 million in cash. Before this, he had more than 10 million, but he used some of it to buy over Rising East Company.
He had a pair of F-grade alloy shoes and a D-grade alloy saber.
As for medicinal pills and elixirs, he had 10 Normal Vitality Pills, 6 Rank-1 Vitality Pills, 3 Rank-2 Vitality Pills, and several healing medicines.
This was all Fang Ping currently had.
As for his Combat Techniques cultivation, Fang Ping had cultivated three consecutive strikes of Manic Explosion. Each strike was an outburst of 100cal. It was a pity he had no opportunity to show it previously.
Before this, Fang Ping could either do three consecutive strikes but not reaching 100cal of Vitality, or he could have an outburst of 100cal but only being able to strike once and not thrice in a row.
He had thought he could use it on Han Xu, but unfortunately, he had no opportunity from the start until the end to face Han Xu despite both parties fought two rounds.
He had cultivated Cloud Steps well too. His Vitality outburst had reached the lethal move point but was still unable to enter the ultimate move boundary.
Of course, a Rank-1 ultimate move was no longer an ultimate move after his Vitality increased in Rank-2.
'A semester has ended, and I'm Rank-2.'
Fang Ping was a little moved. 'I've reached Rank-2 too!'
The first time he met Huang Bin, he was Rank-2. The first time he saw Wang Jinyang, he was also Rank-2.
Although these people were Peak Rank-2, all of them were martial artists of the same rank now.
In a blink of an eye, 9 months had passed.
From a regular person with a Vitality of 100cal to Rank-2—a strong Rank-2 too—Fang Ping felt that although things stayed the same, he had changed.
'I've accumulated 20 million Wealth points, I have a company that I've invested more than 10 million in, and my cash is near 10 million…'
Fang Ping had gained too much in less than a year!
Furthermore, from school till now, he had accumulated 420 credits, but Fang Ping had exchanged a portion of it for medicinal pills and elixirs.
There was an award of 100 credits with him breaking through Rank-2, but Fang Ping had not found the time to collect them yet.
Also, Lu Fengrou said there would be a prize for defeating Fang Wenxiang, but Lu Fengrou was not at school recently, so would she skip out?
'These resources are enough for me to use until Peak Rank-2 or even Rank-3!'
With 20 million Wealth points, 10 million's worth of credits and 10 million in cash, he had 40 million. How could that not be enough for Rank-2 cultivating?
'I should swiftly cultivate to Rank-3. Perhaps it's time I should also visit the Catacombs.'
This idea floated into Fang Ping's mind. While Wu Zhihao and his other classmates were still fighting to become martial artists, Fang Ping was already considering to become a Rank-3 martial artist.
…
He walked out of the train station.
Fang Ping was moved. "I'm home!"
Wu Zhihao and the others did not share the same feeling and laughed. "Uh-huh, it's nearly New Year1."
Today was January 16th, the twelfth month's twenty-first day.1
In another few days, New Year's Eve would arrive.
Fang Ping snapped out of it then. The streets seemed to be much livelier.
"Is it nearly New Year?"
Seeing the passers-by hurrying about with expressions of joy on their faces, Fang Ping involuntarily smiled too.
Perhaps the reason so many martial artists were willing to put their lives on the line at the Catacombs was due to this.
So everybody can have a peaceful New Year and let their families be more at peace too—letting them be far from war, far from death…
This was perhaps what many martial artists were thinking and doing.
"Let's go home!"
Fang Ping pulled Fang Yuan along and waved at Wu Zhihao and the others before pacing away.
He was home and at ease. He did not have to think about the battle stage competitions, deathmatches or the dangers of the Catacombs.
Even if the sky fell, there were so many high-ranked martial artists to hold it up.
The current Fang Ping had no qualifications to worry about the country and its citizens.
…
Scenic Lakeview Gardens.
"Pingping is back!
Li Yuying was as usual. Seeing Fang Ping reach home, happiness effused on her face.
On the other hand, Fang Mingrong wanted to say something but did not. Li Yuying did not go online and did not read the news much. The people in their small area also mostly gossiped about household affairs and seldom spoke of martial artists' matters.
But the Department of Education was different!
It was a department that nurtured martial artists.
Adding the fact that Tan Zhenping had personally gone to Magic City to watch the battles, the Department of Education here was also discussing and watching the competition online.
Hence, Fang Mingrong saw his son!
At first glance, he did not dare to believe it. He felt he had identified the wrong person.
Yet his name and surname were the same, and his looks were the same too. If Fang Mingrong did not admit that that was his son, he would be fooling himself.
Fang Mingrong did not call Fang Ping to ask as he was afraid he would disturb his son.
However, he called his daughter and confirmed the MCMAU team leader was his son. The people in the department all knew then too—this Peak Rank-1 martial artist who nobody could match up to him since entering the competition was Fang Mingrong's son.
Fang Mingrong did not know if he should be proud or worried.
Watching those martial artists fighting to their death on the battle stage, Fang Mingrong felt his blood boiling watching other families' kids.
However, when his son was one of them, the boil of blood turned to worry and fear.
When the department people saw him now, they were warm and friendly to Fang Mingrong, praising him for having a good son.
The director had not noticed him much before this, but last time, he personally visited him at the office showing great concern for him.
Because his son was Fang Ping—a Peak Rank-1 martial artist, the strongest!
Fang Mingrong's feelings were complicated. When he saw Fang Ping, he wanted to say something but did not do so. In the end, he did not know what to say.
What should he say?
Should his son quit school?
His son had managed to enter a martial arts university and stepped onto the martial sciences path. Should he not let his son continue this path anymore?
However, thinking of how the fights for life or death happened on the battle stage, Fang Mingrong had grave concerns that he could not put into words.
This concern was quickly dissipated at his daughter's merry laughter.
"Mom, Brother is too amazing!"
"Mom, Dad, you two should have come with me. Brother's abilities were so great!
"Hmph! Hmph! Ha! Hey…"
Fang Yuan flung her small fists around. She picked up the broom in her house and swung it around wildly, saying excitedly, "In the fights, my brother used one blow to get one person. One blow for one person…
"Wow, Xiaoling was stunned!
"I was stunned too!
"He was so amazing. Even the people next to me were praising my brother for being amazing…"
The girl had been badly repressed at Magic City. There was nobody she could share with. Xiaoling and the others were watching the battles live.
Now that she had returned home, Fang Yuan had completely opened up, pulling at the confused Li Yuying and excitedly describing everything to her.
It was fine if she was just talking about it, but then she started to wave the broom and pranced around with it as if she was the one who annihilated the opponents on the battle stage.
After a while, Li Yuying finally understood.
She stared at her son, shocked, and asked, "Pingping, you entered that competition?"
She did not watch it live, nor did she watch it on the Internet. She only knew this competition existed, not that people were hurt from participating in it.
In Li Yuying's eyes, a competition was perhaps similar to the ones performed on television. You hit me once, I'll hit you once…
Getting hurt, dying—Li Yuying did not know a student competition would be like this.
Fang Mingrong glanced at his wife. He thought for a while before deciding not to say anything. It would only add to the trouble.
Fang Ping did not say anything either, smiling casually. "Uh-huh, I entered it. Don't listen to Fang Yuan's nonsense. There were just a few Rank-1 martial artist matches. We're all new students. How could it be that amazing?"
"It was amazing, Mom. I'm not lying to you. Also, also, Brother earned a lot of money. His classmate said his saber is worth tens of millions…"
"Saber?"
"It's this one, it's this one!"
Fang Yuan happily picked up the wooden box Fang Ping had put down, opened it and giggled. "Mom, it's this one!"
"Tens of million? Who told you such nonsense?"
"It's true…"
The mother-daughter duo started discussing it. Because Fang Ping was not wounded, and she only saw Fang Ping beating people and not him being beaten, Fang Yuan was not as worried now as she had been in the beginning.
Talking about the fights, her words flowed as endlessly as a river, and she could not contain her excitement.
Fang Ping, seeing his little sister so happy and his mother so confused, could not resist cracking a smile.
…
As the mother-daughter duo talked at the side, Fang Ping and his father walked to the balcony.
Fang Mingrong smoked a cigarette and said lightly, "You didn't get hurt, did you?"
"No."
"Martial artists… Must they be like this? The director and the others…"
"It'll be the same from now on. Not to mention this time was a special situation. A duel between martial artists is not necessarily so bloodthirsty. Most of them are friendly matches."
Fang Ping was not saying something untruthful. There were not many matches where they fought for life or death in every turn.
The martial artists' true opponents were the living beings in the Catacombs!
Fang Ping did not know exactly how the situation would be like battling the Catacombs' beings.
However, Fang Ping could guess that it was bleaker and more bloodthirsty.
How many martial artists died at the Catacombs every year?
Quite a few of Lu Fengrou's students died at the Catacombs. Nanjiang Martial Arts University, Tiannan Martial Arts University and Magic City Martial Arts University too had many elite Rank-3 students who died at the Catacombs.
How many Rank-3 martial artists died at the hands of other martial artists because of fights on the battle stage?
"I don't know about your matters… Your mom and I only hope you can be safe and come back every year so the whole family can be reunited for New Year…"
"I will, Dad. You don't have to worry about me. I'm not that foolish. If there's anything dangerous, I won't do it."
"That's fine then, that's fine…"
The father and son sunk into silence. Fang Mingrong did not bring up the fights again. It was as if he had forgotten these matters.
Fang Ping did not want to discuss this with his family either. He only hoped they would go through this life happily and healthily.
…
On this night, Fang Ping once again had a peaceful sleep.
Coming back to his house was as if he had returned to another world.
Here, everything was so peaceful, so pleasant.
When he woke up in the morning, he listened attentively.
He listened to the sound of his mother making a meal, his father's coughing and his sister's yawning—he reveled in it all.
'Is it to protect?'
This thought came to Fang Ping. Was this a martial artist's true purpose?
He did not know, and he did not want to think about it.
ter resting at home for two days, Fang Ping felt unusually relaxed.
While Fang Ping was relaxed, Fang Yuan was so busy she could choke.
Sometimes Fang Ping wondered, between him and Fang Yuan, who was the real president of the company?
Fang Yuan's phone never stopped ringing!
"Sister Yuanyuan, it's time for the meeting!"
"Sister Yuanyuan, please help me look through this proposal. I'm planning to put up a stall over the new year…"
"Sister Yuanyuan…"
As the lady boss, Fang Yuan was incredibly busy!
As soon as one call ended, the next one came in immediately.
…
Lying on the couch watching television while watching Fang Yuan busying around, Fang Ping was starting to doubt about his life.
"Fang Yuan, isn't this business of yours a little too much?"
Fang Yuan was busy accepting phone calls. She did not have time to chat with her older brother. She simply waved a hand as if she was too busy to answer him.
"Oh ho!"
Fang Ping was amused. This brat had an attitude!
When her phone call ended, Fang Ping was just about to put on his "big brother" look and teach her a lesson when her phone rang again. The members of Yuan Ping Club had called to greet their boss and wish her a happy Little New Year!1
Fang Ping felt like he could cough up blood. That was right, today was the twenty-third day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar. They were celebrating Little New Year here in Sun City.
Fang Yuan had people wishing her a happy New Year, yet he did not have any!
He picked up his phone and looked at it for a moment. After some consideration, Fang Ping made a call to Fang Yuan. The call went through and was ringing, so clearly, his credit had not run out.
However, just the thought of Fang Yuan having people wishing her while he had none made Fang Ping frustrated. He could not continue living like this.
Feeling helpless, Fang Ping could only take the initiative to send a few new year's greeting texts himself. He sent them to his instructor, to Old Wang, to Tan Zhenping…
After sending a few texts, Fang Ping finally received a response.
The one who replied was Tan Zhenping, who texted, "Check out Nanjiang's news."
"Watch the news?"
Fang Ping was slightly confused, but he still switched the channel to Nanjiang's Satellite TV.
"Recently, Governor-General Zhang inspected every county and city and made some evaluations…"
In the news, the fairly attractive news anchor was reporting about Governor-General Zhang's inspection.
In the past few days, Governor-General Zhang had begun to lead a team in an inspection of the Nanjiang Province. He had visited every county and city, even here in Sun City, but Fang Ping was not home at that time.
According to the news, Governor-General Zhang was not very satisfied with the martial arts environment in Nanjiang.
He made some evaluations.
The most important point was that a local martial artist combat team was to be established in every county and city.
Based on Fang Ping's understanding, it was a martial artist militia.
For a prefectural-level city, a combat team of not less than 30 martial artists would be established.
For a county-level city, a combat team of not less than 5 martial artists would be established.
Ever since the year 09, every county and city would host regular martial arts championships, along with an allocation of funds for education, infrastructure…
In the future, all kinds of government financial subsidies would depend on the outcome of the championships.
There would also be an additional assessment for the local officials, which was the results of the local combat martial artists team.
"This means… Combat martial artists are really going to be pushed forward?"
After watching the news for a while, Fang Ping wrinkled his brows lightly. Was this just a Nanjiang reformation, or was it a national one?
If it was just the Nanjiang area, then it probably had something to do with Governor-General Zhang.
However, if it was for the entire nation, for them to select combat martial artists among the civilians in advance to replenish the depleted manpower meant that the situation in the Catacombs was not good.
However, to issue a command for there to be a local martial artist combat team—it had to be known that there were not many martial artists in the local area.
For instance, in Sun City, there were about twenty or thirty martial artists.
Half of them were in the government, while the other half were doing commercial businesses. How many of the martial artists would volunteer to be in a combat team?
Now, the higher-ups were forcefully implementing this, even going so far as to tie it to government fund allocations.
No matter how much you had wanted to protest, you still would have to establish a martial artist combat team.
It was still fine at county-level places, with a minimum of 5 people as the standard, but a prefectural-level city required 30 people and above.
Nanjiang Province alone had over a hundred county-level cities and more than ten prefectural-level cities.
With all of this coming together, Nanjiang might have over a thousand battle-ready martial artists just like that.
Upon seeing this, Fang Ping dialed Tan Zhenping's number.
The moment the call went through, Tan Zhenping asked, "Have you seen the news?"
"Uh-huh, I saw it. Uncle Tan, you wanted me to see the news…"
"Before the new year, Sun City must also establish this martial artist combat team.
"But how many martial artists are there in Sun City?
"Moreover, most of them are just casual martial artists like me. Even if they joined, it's obvious that they would just be mucking around, waiting to die.
"We received the documents earlier, and we've already discussed it here in Sun City.
"There are very little martial artists in Sun City, and most of them are in their old age. Our intention in Sun City is to see if we're able to recruit some martial artists from the outside to be a part of the combat team.
"Fang Ping, are you interested?"
"Me?"
Fang Ping laughed abruptly. "Uncle Tan, I still have to attend classes…"
"It wouldn't take up too much of your time. When there's a tournament, you just have to come back to represent Sun City in battle.
"It's just some fellow sister cities. Their strengths are also all average…"
"Uncle Tan, this might not be possible. School classes are rather intense, and the time is packed rather tightly…
"Here at Sun City, it can't be that impossible to even find 5 martial artists, is it?"
"The crux of it is… Not a single one of them can fight…"
Tan Zhenping spoke a sentence of reality, feeling a little helpless.
As big as Sun City was, to-date, there were not any martial artists who could fight.
It could be seen from the Department of Investigation Services—when the opponent was Rank-2's Huang Bin, they immediately sought help from the martial arts university.
A county-level city that could not go up against a mere Rank-2 martial artist. It was clear how depressing it was.
"Not even a single combat martial artist?"
Fang Ping was a little shocked. Embarrassed, Tan Zhenping said, "It's not that there aren't any… It's just that… It's just that it's been too long since they've used their Combat Techniques, so in all this haste…"
"This… Isn't this too slack!"
Fang Ping thought this was a little inconceivable. No wonder Governor-General Zhang wanted to enforce and establish a local combat team!
Were they still even martial artists?
In any case, Sun City had twenty or thirty martial artists, yet now they could not even gather enough people for a combat team of 5 members.
Tan Zhenping felt a little embarrassed. The Department of Education and the Department of Investigation Services—even the city government all held a large responsibility in this issue.
After a long period of peace, the martial artists really had slacked off.
Back then, they only looked at ranks and nothing else. No one cared too much about all of these.
However, that would not do now. Not only did they have to establish a combat team, but they also had to completely redo the way they determined the ranks. This was to force the Vitality martial artists to learn Combat Techniques.
Luckily, the higher-ups had given them some time and had not requested immediate execution.
However, Tan Zhenping could see that in the future, perhaps only the combat-worthy martial artists would be in power.
Although the current situation was similar, Vitality martial artists currently still held a large number of important positions. In the future, there might be great changes to this situation.
Groaning slightly, Tan Zhenping said suddenly, "Fang Ping, do you think there's hope for Sun City to invite Wang Jinyang back to teach Combat Techniques to the combat team?"
"He…" After a moment of thought, Fang Ping continued. "There's not much hope for that. He's already entered Rank-3, so it's practically impossible now."
"Then what about you?"
"What?"
"You're also a Peak Rank-1 martial artist on the verge of entering Rank-2. In terms of Combat Techniques, you've cultivated them very well, and you're also a student of MCMAU. You turned a lot of heads in the championship… I think there's no problem for you to be the Combat Techniques coach.
"Fang Ping, do you want to consider it?"
This was Tan Zhenping's true purpose.
As for Wang Jinyang, it was a joke. For a Rank-4 martial artist to come back and coach a bunch of pure Vitality martial artists, and to top it off they were all Rank-1 and Rank-2 martial artists, how could Wang Jinyang agree to that.
More importantly, if he had agreed, how large of a price would Sun City have to pay?
On the contrary, Fang Ping seemed to be a much more suitable choice.
Currently, Fang Ping was only at Peak Rank-1, but one did not have to be very powerful to teach Combat Techniques. Sun City's gathered combat team would mostly consist of Rank-1 and Rank-2 martial artists, while there may not be any that were Rank-2.1
For a team like this, it was enough to get an elite student from MCMAU to guide them!
The price would also presumably be not too expensive.
"Uncle Tan, you've overestimated me. Me, as the Combat Techniques coach? What a joke."
Fang Ping rejected it immediately. What kind of joke was that? Who had the time to delay here?
What price could Sun City give?
A hundred thousand was an overestimation!
For just that little bit of money, Fang Ping would have to be stupid to waste such a large amount of time.
Fang Ping was not very concerned with this. What he was considering now was that to establish such a combat team, was the government situation so bad that they had no choice but to build up a martial arts militia?
Upon hearing Fang Ping's rejection, Tan Zhenping felt helpless, finally saying, "After the New Year, Sun City wants to host a one-time gathering of Sun City martial artists. Fang Ping, would you be interested to come and take a look?"
"A Sun City martial artists gathering?"
"The city wants to establish a Sun City Martial Artist Mutual Benefit Association, so we just wanted to get everyone's opinions.
"Recently, life hasn't been easy in Sun City. We were hoping that the martial artists who have left Sun City could put in some effort for their hometown."
Having rejected the first invitation, it would be slightly inappropriate to reject it again.
After pondering for a while, Fang Ping said, "If I have not returned to school by then, then I'll join."
"That's fine. I'll let you know when the time comes."
"…"
After hanging up the phone, Fang Ping was still in deep thought when Fang Yuan popped over out of the blue, asking curiously, "What combat team? Did they want you to be an instructor?"
"Such a busybody!"
Fang Ping rolled his eyes at her. Did she not know that curiosity killed the cat!
However, neither was this thing a secret, so Fang Ping said casually, "In the future, there will be a martial artist combat team established in every county and city in Nanjiang. There may be regular martial arts battles held.
"Also, you should be a little more obedient. There's some unrest going on now, so don't go running around outside."
"Nanjiang is also going to have a martial arts grand battle?"
Fang Yuan thought it was odd. "Fang Ping, there seems to be a lot of fights going on lately. Why is that?"
"For martial artists to not fight, are they supposed to grow fat instead?"
Fang Ping gave a huff. The Vitality martial artists were just growing fat now!
Since the government had given these people special treatment, there was no way they would let go of them now.
In the martial arts universities, in the Military Department, in a lot of places, everyone had to abide by a simple rule. Effort equaled reward!
Now, these Vitality martial artists were just taking the benefits without putting in any effort.
It did not come as a surprise that after just a few years, the living freedom that the Vitality martial artists had would be suppressed even more. This trend was now very obvious.
The only unknown point now was whether or not the Vitality martial artists themselves had realized it.
It was most likely that they probably had. Recently, Tan Zhenping showed signs of anxiety—maybe it was because he knew his secure days were over.
"Just hope they don't create any trouble…"
Fang Ping vented in a low voice. Now that the government was forcing these Vitality martial artists to change, it could lead to some chaos. It was best if they could make it not too big of a deal, and not make too large of a wave.
With this in mind, Fang Ping suddenly turned to Fang Yuan, his brows wrinkled slightly as he asked, "Has your pole-standing entered the stable stance state yet?"
"It has!"
Fang Yuan frantically nodded her head, her face full of pride. "When you didn't ask me earlier, I thought you could see it and knew already. I already entered the stable stance before I went to Magic City!"
"Spending half a year on that, and you still feel proud?"
Fang Ping rolled his eyes at her. After a moment, he added, "Having a little strength to protect yourself is better than lacking the strength to truss up a chicken.
"Even though I am reluctant for you to enter the martial arts circle, this circle might not be so obvious in the future."
Fang Yuan did not understand the meaning behind his words and looked at Fang Ping with a confused expression.
Fang Ping smiled as he pulled on her cheeks. "Just practice your martial arts well. You can start to cultivate the Methods of Honing as well. In that case, tomorrow I'll ask Liu Ruoqi to come to guide you in cultivating.
"Till now, your Vitality is just this little…"
Fang Yuan said indignantly, "My Vitality is high. Just a few days ago, Dad took me to the Department of Education to do a check and it's 120cal!"
For a Year 3 student in junior high to have a Vitality of 120cal was indeed very high.
Still, Fang Ping was not satisfied. "Don't compare with others!
"You need to know that a lot of people are already martial artists during the Gaokao. In fact, they're twice-honed martial artists.
"The lowest Vitality needed for twice-honing is 180cal. You only have three years before you take the Gaokao.
"Based on how you progressed, would you be able to have a 180cal Vitality in three years?
"Moreover, they don't just have 180cal Vitalities. Some of them have undergone honing and honed tens of bones in their bodies!"
When Fu Changding and the others arrived at the school, they were not only martial artists, he had also honed 31 bones.
This was all completed in high school!
At the rate Fang Yuan was progressing, there was a chance that she might not that stage by Gaokao.
It was too slow!
There was still a little over three years, and who knew what the situation would be like in three years.
Fang Ping's improvement was not slow, but he would not always be home. Should any trouble arise, he would not be able to save them even if he wanted to.
Fang Yuan pouted, expressing her disappointment as she said, "Isn't it good? Here I thought I was really good. Back then, those who took the Gaokao and got into martial arts universities also had this much Vitality…"
"That was back then. Plus, those were just normal people.
"In any case, your brother is a Rank-2 martial artist. Don't embarrass me, alright?"
"Oh… Rank-2?"
Fang Yuan was a little slow in her reaction. Fang Ping said coolly, "Rank-2. Got any problems with that?"
"Weren't you… You broke through?" Fang Yuan's mouth gaped wide open in astonishment.
Fang Ping was actually at Rank-2!
"Now, do you know what genius means? Your brother could have achieved Rank-2 ages ago. If it wasn't for the martial arts championship, I would have broken through in December.
"Think about it. In 8 months, from a normal person to enter Rank-2, what level of genius is that!
"And you?
"From your pole-standing stance till now, it has been over 6 months, and your Vitality is 120cal!
"When you go out next time, don't say you're Fang Ping's younger sister. What an embarrassment…"
Fang Yuan was once again feeling indignant as she thought, 'Am I really that embarrassing?'
But…but, Fang Ping seemed like a true genius!
After a moment of indignation, Fang Yuan suddenly said delightfully, "Brother, you've become a Rank-2 martial artist. If my classmates knew about it…"
"Don't spread this. Keeping it to yourself is enough. You must be humble in life."
Fang Ping scolded his sister before giving a call to Liu Ruoqi to request for help in guiding her.
Liu Ruoqi agreed enthusiastically while feeling very envious. Fang Ping had the means to support his sister's cultivation. There was no way to compare.
…
Just as Fang Ping was starting to make plans for Fang Yuan, the news about every land establishing a martial artist combat team had started to spread.
Other than Nanjiang, many other provinces had chosen the same policy.
When Fang Ping saw the news, he felt his heart tightened slightly. It seemed like the situation had taken a turn for the worse.
January 19th, the twelfth Lunar month's twenty-fourth day.
Scenic Lakeview Gardens.
Fang Ping was embarrassed and said, "Sorry for troubling you and making you go out of your way."
"No worries. It just so happened that there has not been much to do recently."
Liu Ruoqi smiled before looking at the somewhat-excited Fang Yuan and saying, "You should properly appreciate this opportunity. Back then, to increase our Vitalities, we…"
Liu Ruoqi could not continue. It was hard for a normal family's kid to raise their Vitality.
She had been reluctant to buy even a single Blood and Qi-replenishing Pill!
Fang Yuan, on the other hand, had eaten an unknown amount of Blood and Qi-replenishing Pills, as well as some Normal Vitality Pills.
In stark contrasts to this, the current Liu Ruoqi did not eat Normal Vitality Pills as she pleased.
When she entered Tiannan Martial Arts University, the school gave her 30 credits. However, the exchange rate for medicinal pills and elixirs in Tiannan's schools was higher, as 5 credits were needed for one Normal Vitality Pills.
If you crunched the numbers, the school had only provided them 6 free Normal Vitality Pills after getting into the martial arts university.
These provisions were not even as much as Fang Yuan had used.
Moreover, what the school had provided this year was considered a lot by their standards. In past years, they had handed out even fewer.
Fang Yuan hastily nodded her head and followed the two people to the second floor.
"Remember the location of your meridians. The opening cultivations of the Method of Honing aren't difficult…"
As Fang Ping spoke, two Normal Vitality Pills appeared in his hand. He handed them to Liu Ruoqi and said, "If her Vitality isn't enough, look after her and give her the medicine if needed."
"Alright."
Liu Ruoqi agreed and once again lamented Fang Ping's wealth, as he had been able to casually produce two Vitality Pills.
…
After Fang Yuan and Liu Ruoqi entered the house together, Fang Ping stood guard outside the doors.
His thoughts, however, were on how Fang Yuan would officially be entering the realm of martial sciences once she finishes cultivating the Methods of Honing.
Still, Fang Ping did not mind this as much anymore.
Prior to this, he had been thinking that Fang Yuan being a regular person was not necessarily a bad thing.
However, if the state of the Catacombs worsened, how could a regular person possibly survive longer than a martial artist?
As such, the stronger she was, the better.
As he was thinking of this, Fang Ping's phone vibrated.
Fang Ping glanced at the caller ID and headed for the stairs. He answered and said, "Why have you suddenly remembered to call me?"
"Ha ha ha, Fang Ping, I've broken through Rank-2!
"Am I the first of MCMAU's new students to break through Rank-2?
"After thinking about it, I felt I should share the good news with you. I've managed to enter Rank-2 in just one semester!"
Fu Changding was clearly overjoyed.
Previously, his bone-honing's progress was no match for Zhao Lei's, and was also surpassed by Fang Ping's later on.
By the time the championship came around, everybody stopped at Peak Rank-1.
He had gone home and recuperated for a couple of days before preparing for the breakthrough, which he completed just moments ago.
Now, as Yang Xiaoman and Zhao Xuemei were injured, they definitely could not enter Rank-2 anytime soon.
On the other hand, he was not very hurt, and had entered Rank-2 so quickly. Thus, he could breathe a sigh of relief and became much more relaxed.
"Oh, Rank-2 already."
"That's right. A Rank-2 martial artist!"
"I broke through right after the competition. I've honed two of my upper limbs' bones already. How many have you honed?"
"Huh?"
The other end of the line went quiet for a moment before Fu Changding stammered, "You… Broke through already?"
"Uh-huh. Do you have any doubts?"
"None. I'm hanging up!"
Du du du…
Fu Changding ended the call at the speed of light and cursed loudly after hanging up!
Fang Ping had already finished honing two bones!
There were 62 bones in the lower limbs and 64 bones in the upper limbs. At this rate, would he not be Peak Rank-2 in 4 months?
Could this bastard possibly enter Rank-3 by the end of the freshman year?
The more he thought about it, the more woeful he felt. MCMAU had too many geniuses—Fu Changding could barely stand amongst them anymore.
…
Fang Ping shoved his phone into his pocket and pursed his lips. 'You even wanted to brag to me, huh? Did water enter your brain?'
If not for the fact that he could not bear to spend the money, he could buy tens of Body-honing Pills to bathe in and enter Peak Rank-2 quickly.
"Maybe just this will do…"
Fang Ping said unconsciously. He did not want to take too long with bone-honing in the bottom three ranks.
However, if he did not want to take too long, he would have to spend a large sum of money.
In the condition he was in now, if he used a Body-honing Pill each day to bathe, he might be able to complete the bone-honing in one or two months.
But a single Body-honing Pill costs 1 million!
It was much cheaper at the school—30 credits for one pill, to which Fang Ping still had 420 had credits at the moment. Moreover, he had also been awarded 100 credits for breaking through Rank-2, which meant that he had 520 credits in total.
If he exchanged them all, he could get 17 Body-honing Pills.
"If I use Body-honing Pills to hone my outer body and use Wealth points to hone my inner bones, that speed would definitely be shockingly fast…"
Fang Ping muttered to himself. It was a pity he was so reluctant.
"I'll think it over again when I reach school. I'll see how many bones I can hone over these few days."
…
As Fang Ping calculated this, half an hour soon passed.
The door to the fitness room opened, and Liu Ruoqi smiled. "Everything went smoothly. Her first cultivation of the Methods of Honing has succeeded."
Behind her, Fang Yuan followed her out, her face filled with joy.
Fang Ping was also very pleased to know that her cultivation had gone smoothly. Nevertheless, he quickly snapped, "Fang Yuan, go take a shower. You stink!"
"Ah?"
Only then did Fang Yuan realize that her body was still full of polluted blood. The moment she heard this, she swiftly dashed to the bathroom.
After she left, Fang Ping smiled at Liu Ruoqi and said, "Thank you so much for this."
"I already said it's no problem. You're welcome. Oh yeah, Fang Yuan had enough Vitality earlier, so the medicinal pills remain unused…"
"You can keep them."
"Huh?"
Liu Ruoqi looked at Fang Ping in surprise.
"I've troubled you to make you go out of your way, and I've taken up so much of your time. Keep them for yourself. They'll help you become a martial artist sooner."
"This… This is too precious. It's not appropriate!"
Liu Ruoqi hurriedly rejected the offer and put the medicinal pills aside before saying, "I'll take my leave then. Call me if anything happens in the future."
After saying this, Liu Ruoqi rushed down the stairs.
After thinking for a while, Fang Ping decided not to say anything either. Even so, the look on Liu Ruoqi's face at the end made him confused as to whether to laugh or cry.
He truly had no other intentions toward her. It was just that Fang Ping could not find the right person to help out with Fang Yuan's matters as all the female martial artists he knew were at MCMAU.
Since he had prepared those medicinal pills anyway, he thought she could take them as a sign of thanks for her efforts.
As a result, he was afraid that Liu Ruoqi had taken it the wrong way and fled.
While he was caught off guard, he also felt a little down. He mumbled, "Even if I was interested in you, you don't have to be so scared, do you?"
Where else could you find such a genius martial artist — Liu Ruoqi had launched a personal attack!
Fang Yuan, who had just learned the Methods of Honing, was forbidden from leaving the house by Fang Ping over the next few days so that she could stabilize her meridians.
As for the Yuan Ping Club's trivial matters… How could they be more important than cultivation?
As the siblings cultivated, Chinese New Year's Eve soon crept up on them.
…
The twelfth Lunar month's thirtieth day.
Fang Ping's whole family got up very early.
Fang Yuan's face lit up with happiness. This year's New Year's Eve was even better than the past year's.
They had moved into a new house, Fang Ping had become a martial artist, Dad had entered the Department of Education, and she had started cultivating too… Moreover, she had become the Big Sister of junior high!
Most importantly, she had some personal savings that the others did not know about.
At the moment, her personal savings were already full.
Even so, after getting up early in the morning, Fang Yuan still grabbed ahold of Fang Ping with a wide smile on her face as she said, "Fang Ping, New Year money!"
"You're asking for New Year money with this attitude?"
"Brother, New Year money!"
The girl changed her manner of speaking without an ounce of hesitation.
Fang Ping burst into laughter. He retrieved a large hundred-yuan note and gave it to Fang Yuan.
"A hundred?"
"What's the matter? Too much?"
Fang Ping smiled widely. "If it's too much, you can give me fifty in change."
"Fang Ping!"
Fang Yuan was pouting. "You're too stingy!"
"I'm being generous! I remember back in the day when I gave you five bucks, you were so happy that you would do anything. Making you do the laundry and dishes was no problem.
"Now I'm giving you a hundred, yet you're calling me stingy?"
"But… But…"
"When your pole-standing enters the firm stance and your Vitality reaches 150cal, I'll give you a big gift.
"Aren't you forgetting about my saber?
"When that time comes, I'll gift you one. Of course, it doesn't have to be a saber. Whatever weapon you like, I'll give to you."
"Really?"
Fang Yuan was shocked. Fang Ping was so rich!
It was not enough that he had bought a weapon for himself, he was also going to gift her a weapon…
Fang Ping smiled and said, "Of course – provided that you achieve this quickly. Otherwise, you can just keep staring at it with red eyes.
"An increase of 30cal in Vitality isn't considered too difficult.
"I still have 10 Vitality Pills here. You finish them around the time you've cultivated enough, as long as you don't sell them off!"
When he said this, Fang Ping's expression darkened a little. "I'm warning you—if you dare to sell them, don't even think about getting anything from me!"
He was extremely suspicious of this brat selling off the medicinal pills he had left for her.
Otherwise, when he came back last time around, she would have already had 110cal of Vitality.
Later on, he had given her more medicinal pills, including Normal Vitality Pills. Why did her Vitality only increase by such a small amount?
Fang Yuan was indignant. "I didn't sell them. You're falsely accusing me!"
"Either way, I'll make Mom watch you. If you eat a pill, she'll give you a pill. If you don't eat it, she won't give it.
"When you finish eating it, if your Vitality hasn't reached 150cal… Hmph hmph!"
From start to finish, she had eaten more than ten Blood or Qi-replenishing Pills, and more than ten Normal Vitality Pills too.
According to the market rate, that was nearly 2 million.
If she still could not reach 150cal of Vitality, it meant that the girl's conditions were really quite bad.
Fang Yuan pouted, still unhappy about Fang Ping falsely accusing her. She really had not sold them!
Furthermore, they were so expensive, so her classmates could not afford them, could they?
After the brother-sister duo argued for a while, Fang Yuan got the feeling that she would not get anything else from her brother and so hurriedly ran downstairs to ask her parents for red envelopes.
…
The whole family joyfully pasted New Year scrolls, hung lanterns and prepared the New Year's Eve dinner…
Outside, the sound of firecrackers started early in the morning.
Phones rang from time to time too. Some of the calls were for Fang Mingrong and Fang Ping, but…
Most were for Fang Yuan!
Fang Ping also made a few calls to wish people a happy New Year.
Lu Fengrou's phone could not be reached, so Fang Ping guessed that Lu Fengrou might have gone to the Catacombs.
The call to Wang Jinyang went through, but he was not coming back to Sun City for New Years this year. Instead, he was spending it at River City.
At first, Fang Ping did not notice anything, until a voice suddenly sounded through the phone, "Bro Jinyang, get ready for dinner!"
This voice sounded a little familiar to Fang Ping.
After he thought for a while, he remembered. Was this not Wang Jinyang's teacher's daughter?
Old Wang was spending New Year there… Tut tut!
Fang Ping lamented for a while. He was still a student, so was he really going to be a son-in-law?
However, that girl did not seem very old. In fact, she was a little younger than Fang Yuan.
Silently disapproving, Fang Ping did not chat with him much and quickly ended the call.
Next, Fang Ping called his aunt's family.
After the two families wished each other well, the New Year's Eve dinner officially started.
The television was airing an image of the leader of the Sino Nation comforting and expressing his concern for frontier fighters.
Fang Ping could faintly make out somebody injured among the fighters' formations…
In the frontier zone, there were many entrances to the Catacombs.
…
At night, tens of thousands of houses were brightly lit, and the fireworks were dazzlingly bright.
Fang Ping accompanied Fang Yuan downstairs and lit fireworks for a while before going upstairs to continue with his cultivation. He was not as carefree as Fang Yuan.
After all, Fang Yuan was only 14. After New Year, she would only be 15 years old.
She did not share the same sense of urgency that Fang Ping had. In Fang Yuan's eyes, as long as her big brother was terrific, that would be enough.
As for herself, her biggest wish was that she would be able to become a martial artist and enter MCMAU when it was time for the Gaokao. Despite having an interest in cultivation, this girl did not possess a very strong sense of urgency.
In the fitness room.
Fang Ping once again analyzed his stats.
Wealth points: 19200000
Vitality: 340cal (355cal)
Mentality: 305Hz (312Hz)
Bone-honing: 66 bones (90%), 10 bones (40%), 130 bones (30%)
He had already completed the honing of his lower limbs' 62 bones. He had honed 4 out of 64 of his upper limbs' bones and was 60 bones away from Peak Rank-2.
If he used the system to speed up the honing of all of them, it would take 35 million Wealth points!
'If I use the system to speed up the honing, it will take 600 thousand Wealth points to hone one bone, and I will also have to buy Body-honing Pills.
'If I rely on myself to hone, around 300 thousand Wealth points will be enough to hone each bone. However, it will also take at least two days or more, to hone each bone.
'There's still half a month before classes start. In this half a month, I should aim to complete the honing of the 10 bones that have already been honed to 40%.
'By then, only 50 bones will be left. In that case, 30 million Wealth points will be enough to finish all that honing.'
Fang Ping calculated this in his head. He considered whether he should pay the price after classes started to speedily enter Peak Rank-2 and move toward Rank-3.
It was very dangerous in the Catacombs without the strength of a Rank-3.
Moreover, the Manic Explosion he was cultivating now could only have the greatest Vitality outburst after he completed the honing of his upper limbs.
Otherwise, 100cal was his limit. If he wanted more, it would have to come from his body.
"A normal Rank-2 martial artist has a Vitality of between 250cal to 400cal.
"When I reach Peak, I might be able to reach around 500cal. Thrice-honing is slowly increasing the gap between me and normal martial artists.
"Still, I lack money and Wealth points…"
Fang Ping muttered to himself. If he had the money and the Wealth points, he might have been able to achieve Peak Rank-2 within a month.
Being poor had once again limited his improvement.
"Ah, I hope in the coming years, the society will be peaceful. Otherwise, it won't be good for business!"
Fang Ping prayed toward the open window before quickly entering cultivation mode and continuing with his pole-standing and bone-honing.
…
At the same time.
Magic City's Catacombs entrance.
Lu Fengrou furrowed her brows and said, "If situation continues, in three years, we may not be able to hold on anymore!
"The 2012 end of the world…"
Huang Jing scolded. "Even you believe this sort of nonsense. No wonder those evil sects can live on!"
Lu Fengrou replied in displeasure, "Did I say I believe it? However, the fact that the evil sects can rope in a portion of the martial artists does indeed have something to do with this. This situation will only worsen in three years!
"What I'm saying is can't you Grandmasters think of something?
"The Catacombs' organisms are all around the entrances. Low-ranked martial artists are basically unable to enter."
Huang Jing exhaled some tainted air and said as he walked, "The government is thinking of something. They've even started to organize and see if they can unite all martial artists Rank-7 and above to enter the Catacombs together in order to carry out a large-scale extermination."
"Are you guys crazy?"
Lu Fengrou was shocked to the core. "This kind of large-scale invasion will definitely lead to the retaliation of those scary beings from the deeper parts of the Catacombs!"
A few Grandmasters were nothing much, but if hundreds of Grandmasters went into the Catacombs to clean up, the beings residing in the deeper parts of the Catacombs would not just sit by and watch.
When that time came, the situation might become even more dangerous.
"We'll see then. This is just the last resort. If not, we can only rely on the middle- and low-ranked martial artists, as well as regular people to carry out the cleaning.
"It's a pity… The development of the energy mine weapons hasn't come through. Otherwise, we could give the normal military this equipment and lessen the pressure on us."
Lu Fengrou knitted her brows. "Still no progress?"
"There are too few energy mines. It's not enough."
Huang Jing shook his head and thought for a while before saying, "There are some changes here in the Education Ministry. After New Year, there might be a few changes in strategy to allow Rank-2 martial artists from martial arts universities to enter the Catacombs too!"
"Rank-2… this… Isn't this too dangerous?"
Lu Fengrou was slightly worried. Rank-2 martial artists entering the Catacombs was really very dangerous.
Huang Jing pressed his lips together with a determined expression. "Martial arts university students are people, but soldiers are people too! There are so many normal military members stationed in the Catacombs…"
"It's not the same! Military units are organizationally structured…"
"It's the same. Martial artists can be organizationally structured too!"
After he finished speaking, Huang Jin waved a hand and said, "Let's talk about it some other time. This matter has not been confirmed yet as of now. If it is, I won't let MCMAU off the hook either. There won't be any martial arts university students who will be able to avoid fighting!"
That said, Huang Jing suddenly added on, "You go back first, your family's Old Wu is still waiting too…"
"We're divorced. He's living his own life, and I'm living mine. Stop bringing this up."
"Heh heh!"
Huang Jing's laugh carried a slightly mocking tone.
'Divorced?
'You two have been divorced for more than ten years!
'But whenever something happens, why do you go Old Wu this and Old Wu that?'
As he was too lazy to deal with her, Huang Jing had exited the Catacombs at that moment. Outside, lights from Magic City not too far away.
"It's a prosperous time. A prosperous time that also happens to be the 5000th year since the opening of the Sino Nation…"
Huang Jing mumbled. More than a billion Sinonese people ate well and dressed warmly. None of them were freezing and starving. Had there even been a time as prosperous as this?
When dealing with hardships, could the people really come together and rally the country?
On what basis?
It took so much effort to start living a good life, so why did they still have to experience hardships!
"The Catacombs…"
With a sigh, Huang Jing's shadow dissapeared.
