As everyone in the class selected their weapons, the combat training entered a new phase: the practice of basic weapon forms.
According to Teacher Yuan, one must always begin with fundamental movements, regardless of the martial art being learned. Only when these basic techniques are ingrained deep within one’s bones can they truly achieve the state where ‘no moves surpass moves.’
Consequently, each student received a unique set of video tutorials, demonstrating the foundational forms for their chosen weapon.
Teacher Yuan mandated that every student must master these basic forms within three weeks. Such a demand was undoubtedly challenging for ordinary individuals who had never encountered martial arts before.
Mere issues like poor hand-eye coordination and insufficient stamina were enough to give them significant trouble.
However, for the Awakened individuals, while difficult, it was a challenge that could be overcome with diligent effort.
Especially after a week of foundational training, their control over their bodies had already improved significantly. Furthermore, their inherent coordination was generally quite good.
Most students, upon receiving the video tutorials during Thursday’s class and practicing along for one session, could already perform their weapon’s basic forms with a respectable semblance of skill. What they lacked was merely the refining touch of time.
Since training weapons were not permitted outside the training room, Teacher Yuan fully opened Training Room No. 1 to them for convenience. Students could now access it for practice at any time, day or night.
While practicing according to the video tutorials, Huang Xiu suddenly realized that her own aptitude for weapon combat seemed quite promising.
There’s a saying: ‘A month for a staff, a year for a saber, a lifetime for a spear.’ The spear’s status and difficulty among weapons are undeniable.
Even its basic moves, such as block, seize, and thrust, number over a dozen, far exceeding those of swords and sabers. Yet, Huang Xiu quickly grasped each form, her speed placing her in the top tier of the class, just slightly behind a few others.
In stark contrast to Huang Xiu’s talent in weapon combat, Ying Zhiyu, her adorable roommate, displayed an almost comically poor aptitude in this area. Despite possessing the physical prowess of an Awakened individual, her practice of the basic sword forms was halting and clumsy.
She could only put in extra effort, practicing diligently in private. However, she was not the only one doing so; ever since the training room was opened to the students, roughly four-fifths of the class would head there after dinner each night to practice weapon combat for one to two hours.
The entire class atmosphere had become incredibly competitive. Even Huang Xiu, who initially believed she picked up weapon combat quickly and wouldn’t need extra practice, found herself swept up in this environment.
Like completing a daily quest, she would visit the training room every evening for half an hour before returning to her dorm. Within just a few days, she was already feeling overwhelmed.
‘University life is truly packed to the brim!’
Huang Xiu felt more exhausted than she ever had in high school. Her days were filled with classes, and her evenings required both cultivating her Body Tempering Art and engaging in extra weapon combat practice.
Time was utterly insufficient; she wished she could split every minute into two. Moreover, unlike other students, Huang Xiu had an additional plant mutation project with the Research Department, alongside her regular Exploration Department coursework.
While Fang Miaoging was responsible for the project, its critical advancements could only be achieved by Huang Xiu. Due to several days of heavy rain in Xijiao, the delivery was a day later than anticipated.
It was Friday noon of the second week when Fang Miaoging’s online order — four pots of everbearing strawberries, four pots of kumquats, and potting tools — finally arrived at the school from the Tiandu City collection point.
Upon receiving the pickup notification, she immediately summoned Huang Xiu. After finishing lunch, the two of them didn’t even spare a moment for a nap.
Under the blazing sun, they pushed a borrowed small cart, bringing all the large and small packages to Fang Miaoging’s dorm.
****
The courier boxes piled up in the corner of the living room, while the eight potted plants were arranged in a straight line on the floor. Huang Xiu stood at the very front, a small knife in her hand, flanked by Fang Miaoging and two roommates who had emerged to watch the commotion.
“I’m about to begin!” she whispered.
“Alright,” Fang Miaoging nodded, her eyes fixed intently, brimming with curiosity. Despite having joined Tiandu University, this was her first time witnessing an Awakened individual use their ability at such close proximity. Moreover, this was the very power that had transformed her ‘Brother Xiu’ into ‘Sister Xiu.’
****
Under the gaze of three pairs of eyes, Huang Xiu gently sliced open the tender skin of her right palm with the small knife. Blood seeped from the wound, instantly dyeing her entire palm crimson.
Clenching her right hand into a fist, Huang Xiu moved to the leftmost potted plant and slowly extended her right hand. Under the pull of gravity, blood dripped from the underside of her fist, landing upon the leaves of the everbearing strawberry plant.
‘Mutation direction—faster maturation, better taste…’ Huang Xiu specified the mutation direction in her mind. She did not imbue the everbearing strawberry with sentience, simply using Void Energy to mutate it in the desired manner.
For experimental mutated plants, imbuing them with intelligence was actually counterproductive. The vibrant red blood droplets almost instantly merged into the everbearing strawberry’s body the moment they touched a leaf.
Immediately, Huang Xiu’s Void Energy, using her blood as a medium, was transmitted seemingly out of thin air into the strawberry plant. Fuzzy flower stalks unfurled like snakes, emerging from beneath the strawberry leaves.
These were flower stalks undergoing rapid growth. Small white flowers quickly bloomed at the tips of the stalks. Then, the receptacles in the center of the white flowers visibly swelled and grew outwards, transforming into small, green strawberries.
One second later, red spread from the base of the receptacle to its tip. Normally, an everbearing strawberry would require three to six months from its first bloom to fruit maturation, but now, under the effect of [Senluo], this process was condensed to less than a minute.
A dozen vibrant red fruits hung from the flower stalks, trembling slightly. The unique aroma of strawberries permeated the entire living room, carried by the circulating air.
“It smells so good!”
Fang Miaoging loved strawberries and had eaten many varieties. Yet, she had never seen any so fragrant, so plump, or so red.
“Oh my god, is this a fairy art?”
Fang Miaoging’s two roommates were also dumbfounded. They had only been told that the girl before them and their roommate needed to use the living room for a plant-related project feasibility verification, and that abilities would be used.
They had only come out to watch the excitement, but they had never expected the entire process to be so profoundly astonishing. Hearing the exclamations behind her, Huang Xiu paid them no mind.
She moved to the other potted plants and, following the same method, mutated another pot of everbearing strawberries and two pots of kumquats. The remaining four pots were intentionally left as a control group.
As soon as Huang Xiu completed the mutations, Fang Miaoging approached her, holding iodine and cotton swabs.
“Let’s disinfect it.”
“It’s fine, the bleeding has stopped.” Huang Xiu shook her head, extending her right hand. A scab had already formed over the wound on her palm.
An itching sensation, indicative of flesh regrowth, continuously emanated from beneath the scab, tempting her to scratch.
“Sweet and refreshing, want to try one?” Fang Miaoging asked, her eyes full of anticipation. ‘It must hurt terribly!’ Fang Miaoging thought. ‘Cutting herself… that requires immense courage.’
‘I almost feel the pain myself.’ “It does a bit, but I’ve adapted.” It definitely hurt. She remembered when she first used her ability, even with preparation, the pain would bring tears to her eyes.
However, as she used her ability more often, her body’s tolerance for pain increased. Now, she could draw blood without her expression changing. Fang Miaoging understood Huang Xiu’s meaning; she had adapted now, but what about before?
When she was fighting in the campus Touchpoint, was it…? Her mouth opened, wanting to offer comfort, but she stopped. The past was past, and Huang Xiu herself had already adapted. Speaking up now would seem like an afterthought and overly sentimental.
A thousand words ultimately condensed into a single sentence. “Alright, your work is done for now; you can leave the rest to me!” She patted Huang Xiu’s shoulder, determined not to let Huang Xiu’s ‘hard work’ go to waste.
“Do you want to taste one of each first? Comparing the flavors is a very important part,” Huang Xiu said. Looking at the strawberries and kumquats, she recalled the deliciousness of the mutated sugarcane she had created earlier, and she was actually a little tempted herself.
“Okay,” Fang Miaoging nodded. To test the efficiency of the mutated potted plants’ fruiting, this initial batch of fruits would certainly need to be picked and preserved first.
They would also need to be compared in taste with the fruits produced in subsequent yields. Picking a few strawberries and kumquats, Huang Xiu distributed them to Fang Miaoging and her two roommates.
“It’s really delicious!” Fang Miaoging’s eyes lit up after eating a strawberry, while her two roommates praised them endlessly, exclaiming that such fruits could only exist in the heavens.
Then, Fang Miaoging told Huang Xiu that if the project concluded successfully, she absolutely had to give her more. Even Huang Xiu, who wasn’t particularly fond of strawberries, couldn’t stop after eating just one.
“If this variety can be cultivated, it will definitely obliterate all other types on the market,” Fang Miaoging stated with conviction. She had never tasted such delicious strawberries.
If this project proved feasible, the byproducts of these enhanced plants alone could likely stir up a storm in the fruit market. Thinking this, Fang Miaoging looked at Huang Xiu as if she were a sparkling mountain of gold.
‘This isn’t just my best friend; she’s a walking treasure!’ “By the way, do you want to take a few for your roommates? A few are enough for comparison,” Fang Miaoging asked.
Huang Xiu did not refuse, taking a few of each, intending to let Ying Zhiyu and her other roommate have a taste. The remaining fruits were immediately carefully wrapped by Fang Miaoging, ready to be frozen and preserved in the school’s cold storage.
After completing the mutation of the potted plants, this project temporarily no longer required Huang Xiu’s intense focus. She began to shift the emphasis of her extracurricular time to the Body Tempering Art, even temporarily setting aside her weapon combat practice.
The reason for her choice was that on Saturday morning, the first student in the class to successfully begin cultivating the Body Tempering Art finally appeared: the class monitor, Tian Rong.
Chi Xue was already on the verge of starting, while Ying Zhiyu, Jiahe, and Ganrou each took their first steps on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Although Huang Xiu knew that the Body Tempering Art could not be rushed, she did not want to fall too far behind others.
Amidst a slight sense of urgency, on Monday evening, Huang Xiu’s cultivation of the Body Tempering Art finally saw a breakthrough. As before, she wore her pajamas and sat cross-legged on her bed, holding the thick *Basic Body Tempering Art of the White Tower*.
She closed her eyes slightly. She began her one hundred thirty-ninth contemplation of the evening. Her closed eyelids blocked most of the external light, yet a small portion still seeped through her skin into her pupils.
Thus, the world behind her closed eyes was not entirely black; it held a faint glimmer. It seemed as if something was flowing before her eyes, like twisted, twitching luminous filaments, but upon closer inspection, they would suddenly become intricate and complex.
Huang Xiu strained to recall the patterns of the White Lotus Contemplation Diagram in her mind, only to find it utterly blank. ‘Still nothing! Damn it, I don’t believe this!’
She closed her eyes tightly, gritting her teeth, and resolved to work extra until midnight every night starting today. If her aptitude wasn’t enough, then effort would make up for it.
Huang Xiu was about to open her eyes for the next contemplation. By this point, she had stopped trying to recall the White Lotus Contemplation Diagram’s pattern in her mind.
But then, she suddenly looked at the luminous filaments that had been continuously flowing before her closed eyes. In a trance, she inexplicably felt that these twisting filaments seemed somewhat familiar.
It was as if she had seen them before. “It looks like… the White Lotus Contemplation Diagram?”
The moment Huang Xiu thought this, it was as if a clap of thunder suddenly struck her mind. The luminous bodies before her eyes rapidly transformed in the darkness, eventually slowly forming a lotus pattern.
Every detail was identical to what Huang Xiu had seen in the book. At this moment, even though her eyes were still closed, she was absolutely certain of it.
“Wait… holy crap, did I just start?” Huang Xiu realized belatedly, quickly opening her eyes to look at the book. She confirmed that the contemplation diagram was indeed identical to what had just appeared in her mind.
Then, closing her eyes again, she could still visualize every detail of the White Lotus Contemplation Diagram in her mind. Huang Xiu was instantly ecstatic.
From Wednesday to Monday, it had taken her nearly five full days, but she had finally begun cultivating the Body Tempering Art. “This way, I’ve managed to keep up with the class’s progress.”
After her initial excitement, Huang Xiu glanced at her classmates and then felt a strange sensation. ‘I remember Chi Xue and the others… they seemed to first visualize the initial pattern of the contemplation diagram in their minds, then slowly transition to visualizing the entire diagram.’
She seemed to be different from everyone else, skipping a step. She went directly from being unable to visualize anything to having every detail of the contemplation diagram perfectly clear, achieving instant entry.
Huang Xiu felt a little bewildered. So what did that make her? A prodigy? But if she were a prodigy, why would it take five days? Shouldn’t she have started in two or three days?
‘Am I taking an unconventional path?’ Huang Xiu was certain that the book contained no record of this, nor had Teacher Wen Zhidie mentioned such a situation in class. “So, am I an anomaly? Is my case rare?”
Thinking this, she suddenly felt a surge of panic. In any matter, being an anomaly was usually more bad than good. It was like the highest stage of an illness, where it was named after the patient themselves.