CH 16

Chapter 16 — Breaking Through the Bottleneck, A New Realm of Martial Arts!

“The Blood Nourishment tonic my dad bought me last week cost about 3000 yuan a set. Which is still the most commonplace tonic. Upwards there are also Qi Nourishing tonic, Bone Strengthening tonic, Energy Replenishment tonic…

[TN: “Tonic” is the alternate I’ve been using for “Pills”.]

“The most expensive one was even about 15,000 yuan a set, this price is simply way too exorbitant.”

Zhong Zhengguo assured Lu Sheng that he could get him a special scholarship from Baihe Third High School. An amount of 30,000 yuan.

Lu Sheng originally regarded this money to be quite a lot, but now that he took a look, he realized the amount would prove to be completely insufficient.

The 30,000 yuan was only enough to buy ten sets of Blood Nourishment tonic and two sets of Energy Replenishment tonic.

If Lu Sheng had applied for a first-class scholarship of 10,000 according to his original plan, he wouldn’t have been able to afford even one set of Energy Replenishment tonic.

“Martial arts cultivation, it’s a money consumption machine …”

Lu Shen now understood the things he hadn’t before, and the money martial artists like Yang Yifei spent behind the scenes.

Children like him and Liu Qiming who hailed from ordinary families simply couldn’t compare with people like them.

Being a martial artist from a poor family in this cruel martial artist era was simply too difficult.

Lu Sheng also realized the heft of the burden pressind down on his parents.

“Lu Qinghe is right. With her martial arts talent, if only she didn’t have a mediocre brother like him to drag her down, the accomplishments she might’ve had under her belt would’ve been even greater than now …”

It’s like how Lu Hai had decided to provide him and Qinghe with two sets of Blood Nourishment Tonics each per month—the current limit of the Lu family.

If these four sets of Blood Nourishment tonics could be provided to Lu Qinghe alone, the result would naturally be more pronounced.

When he thought over it again, the conviction to earn money became even stronger in him.

“Whether it’s for my own cultivation or for Lu Qinghe’s martial path, I should work harder …“

Lu Sheng did not continue to look any further and walked out of the mall.

The central mall was quite far from the neighborhood where Lu Sheng’s family lived, so Lu Sheng did not take the bus and chose to walk home.

With his high intensity training ongoing, taking a stroll home like this was especially relaxing to Lu Sheng.

“Today is a golden opportunity for me to showcase my swordsmanship that I’ve been practicing. I’ll go all out today!!”

“So childish!”

“You dare to look down on my sword?! Wait till I teach you a lesson …”

Several high school students wearing school uniforms and carrying backpacks jostled and ran past Lu Sheng in a group, rushing into the nearest Internet café.

Lu Sheng’s stirred a little.

A month or so ago, he was just like these people, hanging out at school every day, and the internet café after school.

It was like fish living in muddy water, blinded by the turbidity in front, muddled every day, flapping in place–no direction, no motivation.

Now that he had poked his head out the water, he was clear-headed, and understood exactly what he wanted, and knew exactly where the road from him lie.

“Do I regret?” Lu Sheng asked himself softly.

“I do not.”

Lu Sheng eyes were calm as he answered firmly.

It seemed to have given up some happiness, but now he is undoubtedly more fulfilling and satisfied.

He seemed to have sacrifices some of his happiness, but he was undoubtedly more fulfilled and satisfied at this moment.

At the instant, various memories of martial arts suddenly flashed through Lu Sheng’s mind.

A large portion of fragmented images swished past his eyes.

At the instant, he seemed to have grasped something, and something seem to have been broken.

Lu Sheng’s mind became incomparably clear, and something brand new burgeoned in his heart.

“A breakthrough …” Lu Sheng looked at his hands and was somewhat lost in thought.

He clearly felt that the bottleneck on hand combat and fist techniques that he had reached by absorbing a large amount of memories before was broken at this moment. His understanding of fist techniques had reached a whole new level.

It was a state that was hard to describe.

The wheat had been removed from the chaff*. His perception on hand combat and fist techniques had gained a new perspective.

[TN: *also separating weeds from flowers. Meaning something that has been given a new look or dimension.]

The current Lu Sheng felt that he could perfectly master any of the fist or hand combat techniques in his mind.

He could do the most appropriate response using hand combat techniques in different situations.

Integration.

That’s probably what it meant.

“I heard from Teacher in class before that those powerful martial arts masters would gain some astounding insights under certain specific situations and their state of mind. This allowed enabled their martial arts to undergo a huge metamorphosis.

“A clear heart and a clear mind. This phenomenon is known as “epiphany” in martial arts. Did I just experience an epiphany?”

Lu Sheng was not sure.

But it didn’t matter.

He only knew that his strength should have improved again.

If he fought the current him and the previous him, the winner would be decided within a few moves.

This was the gap brought about by his attainment.

Lu Sheng had the impulse to run to the Red River Martial Arts Academy to do another test, but immediately restrained himself.

His strength might not change just because he was taking another test. His strength was his own, and it won’t run away because he refrained from taking the test in time.

Besides, it was getting late now, so if returned home late, he’d be chased out by parents.

Thinking of this, Lu Sheng quickened his pace.

…

“I’m going back to my room.”

Lu Sheng put down the dishes and greeted his family calmly, then turned around and went back to his room.

“What’s wrong with Little Saint today? Is it because he’s unwell …”

[TN: Little Saint – nickname]

Zheng Yufen looked at the rice bowl in front of Lu Sheng and said with some concern, “Today, he ate half a bowl less than yesterday …”

“…”

Lu Qinghe shook his head somewhat speechlessly and also got up and said, “Mom, Dad, I’ll head back to my room to exercise.”

Lu Qinghe quickly dashed to her room.

Perhaps because of the great changes that happened to Lu Sheng recently, Lu Qinghe had some inexplicable sense of crisis in her heart, and her cultivation became more diligent than before.

Lu Hai patted his wife’s palm, and said smiling: “The children have grown up, they understand the need to study hard. This is a good thing, but they do need to worry about us. Ah, yes. Keep this money. You buy some big bones for Little Sheng and Qinghe …”

“You’ve gone to take up overtime work again, didn’t you cry yesterday about back pain, can your body withstand anymore strain?”

“That’s nothing. You can apply two more plasters on me later …”

“Where should I apply them …”

…

Lu Sheng listened to the sound of his parents’ conversation coming from the living room, he took a deep breath and slowly calmed down.

After the growth of BQV, his five senses had also been greatly strengthened, he could even hear talking through a room door.

A certain string in Lu Sheng’s heart also began to palpitate.

After doing two sets of Body Refining Techniques to eliminate the stray distracting thoughts in his head, Lu Sheng gradually entered the dream world.

Now he could easily control his brain to fall asleep in a very short period of time.