94: Chapter 94 Big Boss

This Cultivation Technique, which once brought him extreme pain and helped him forge an iron will, no longer required the precious [Absolute Focus] for assistance after he cultivated it to the Perfection Realm.

Now, when running it, he only needed to mobilize a sliver of Primordial Spirit Power for inner sight to ensure the circulation and absorption of his qi and blood were flawless.

His mastery at Perfection made the cultivation process stable and efficient, as natural as breathing.

As his Physical Body Rank continuously increased, the duration he could sustain practicing the Splitting Edge Golden Fiend Method in one session was also steadily growing.

Correspondingly, the Body Tempering effect brought by the Cultivation Technique and the excitation of his Physical Body's potential became even more pronounced.

Time quietly slipped away amidst focused cultivation.

After more than an hour.

Li Wen slowly concluded his practice. A distinct feeling of emptiness emanated from the depths of his body—a sign that his qi and blood had been consumed by the high-intensity tempering.

But compared to the heart-wrenching and unbearable pain experienced during his initial practice, this slight exhaustion now only brought a sense of fulfillment and mild fatigue, as if shedding redundant burdens.

His consciousness was clear, and two new pieces of information surfaced before his eyes as naturally as water flowing into a channel:

[You diligently Cultivated the Basic Method for over an hour, Physical Body Rank + 0.1]

[Realm: Unranked (8.3 → 8.4)]

Gazing at the concise yet weighty "+ 0.1" in his vision, along with the notification of his advancement to Rank 8.4, Li Wen could not help but curve his lips into a gratified smile.

This visible, instant feedback of growth was one of the greatest motivations driving his obsession with the Martial Dao and his willingness to endure lonely, monotonous cultivation.

Every bit of progress was an affirmation of past efforts and a firm foundation for the future.

After regulating his breath briefly on the spot to recover some strength, Li Wen rose and walked toward the table nearby.

He picked up a cool Level 2 qi and blood potion, skillfully uncorked the bottle, and tilted his head back to pour out a dose slightly more than one-third full.

Accompanied by the familiar surging warmth flooding his limbs and bones, the depleted qi and blood began to rapidly replenish, and his muscles and sinews seemed to emit satisfied murmurs.

He could clearly feel that as his Physical Body Rank continued to advance toward Level 9.0, the amount of potion his body could digest and absorb in one go was quietly increasing.

Li Wen even had an intuition: "Perhaps once my Physical Body Rank reaches 9.0, I'll be able to handle half a Level 2 qi and blood potion at once. If I keep improving, downing the whole bottle in one gulp won't be an issue."

Compared to the Level 3 mental potion, which cost a staggering 140,000 points even after discount—a veritable gold-swallowing beast—Li Wen felt truly calm drinking the relatively much cheaper Level 2 qi and blood potion, without a trace of heartache.

He skillfully sealed the remaining potion with the special stopper and carefully placed it in the low-temperature storage box for proper preservation.

Having finished all this, he stretched his muscles and bones and walked toward the washroom in the corner of the private martial arts room.

The sound of rushing water washed away the dust and fatigue of cultivation, symbolizing that this tense yet fulfilling day had finally drawn to a close.

When he was tidied up and walked out of Hongyi Building, stepping into the cool night air, a luxurious, pitch-black private car bearing the emblem of Kindling Hall was already waiting quietly in front of the building, like the most loyal guard.

Li Wen opened the car door and sat into the spacious and comfortable massage seat in the back. His body sank into the soft support, and the vehicle's intelligent System silently activated, beginning to massage his tense muscles with a soothing frequency.

The vehicle started smoothly. The city lights outside the window flew past rapidly as the car accelerated, weaving into hazy ribbons of light.

Li Wen leaned back against the seat, his eyes slightly closed, and began to clearly review the gains from his cultivation today—

The next morning, April 6th, Saturday.

It happened to be the day of the Qingming Festival.

Father Li and Mother Li, who had already resigned to manage household affairs full-time, began to get busy early in the morning, meticulously preparing all sorts of offerings, incense, candles, and joss paper until everything was full and perfect.

Ever since their son, Li Wen, seemed to have an epiphany overnight, leaping from an ordinary student to a Martial Dao Genius admired throughout Qing Shi and even the entire Jiangnan Province, and subsequently signed by Kindling Hall with an A-Rank contract, "Ancestors' blessings" became the phrase the couple uttered most frequently.

This year's Qingming Festival saw the couple's piety reach an unprecedented level; their expressions were as focused as the most devout believers performing an extremely sacred rite.

Father Li and Mother Li had originally planned to take Li Wen with them in the morning to gather with other clan members to prepare for the ancestral worship. However, Li Wen informed them early that the Flying Star Class had an important Culture Week Exam that morning.

This was a critical link for accumulating scholar experience for his Scholar profession, and he had never missed a single weekly exam.

His parents deeply understood this and decided to let Li Wen go to the school for the exam first, planning to meet him at noon to have lunch with the other clan members.

As the main source of weekly scholar experience, Li Wen arrived at the spacious and bright cultural classroom of the Flying Star Class early, as always.

When he walked into the classroom looking refreshed and relaxed, he was met with a completely different scene.

The classroom, usually quite lively, was now tense.

Huang Hao, sporting faint dark circles under his eyes, was rapidly flipping through a thick copy of "Outline of Historical Source Energy," muttering key points to himself, his eyebrows nearly twisted into a knot.

A male student next to him, who usually prided himself on his good performance in cultural subjects, was now anxiously pulling at his hair, looking pained at the dense historical dates.

More students looked as if they were facing a great enemy, clutching various review materials, either reading in low voices or frantically highlighting key points. The air was thick with the anxiety of last-minute cramming.

Clearly, for most Flying Star Class students who had not yet achieved mastery in cultural subjects, the weekly exam remained torture.

Li Wen's composed and relaxed demeanor, as if he were on vacation, stood out sharply among his anxious classmates.

Soon, sour whispers were unavoidable: "Tsk, the Big Shot is here—look at how calm and collected he is, tsk, no comparison."

A girl looked at Li Wen's empty hands and pursed her lips.

"Sigh, I'm crying from envy. We don't understand the world of the God of Study. I feel like he gains cultural points even while sleeping, right?" This was Huang Hao's lament, "Brother Wen, share some of your luck?"

Another classmate relatively familiar with Li Wen teased him directly: "Brother Wen, with your state, how are we mere mortals supposed to cope? Your title of 'Enlightened Scholar' is truly well-deserved!" His tone was full of envy and jealousy, but without malice.

Listening to these familiar complaints and exclamations, and seeing Huang Hao and the others scratching their heads and looking distressed, Li Wen couldn't help but smile faintly.

This ease indeed stemmed from the solid foundation he built through day-after-day arduous study as a Scholar.

When the class bell rang, the exam papers were distributed precisely on time.

The exam paper presented no difficulty for Li Wen.

After this period of at least six hours of efficient, focused systematic study and knowledge accumulation every day, he had already reached a state of truly knowing something like the back of his hand and mastering it thoroughly.

Almost the moment his eyes scanned the questions after receiving the paper, the answers clearly surfaced in his mind.

Li Wen's pen danced across the paper as if driven by precise code, the sound of the tip friction against the paper smooth and confident, sounding almost arrogant in the quiet examination hall.

Multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, long answer questions—he proceeded smoothly without any hesitation.

In stark contrast to his fluid answering style, his surrounding classmates were still struggling with the multiple-choice section, or frowning deeply at the complex long answers, their intermittent writing punctuated by occasional sighs.

When the time was just past halfway, Li Wen had already finished the entire test.

He habitually performed a quick check. After confirming there were no errors, under the gaze of all his classmates—whether surprised, helpless, or long accustomed to it—he stood up briskly and handed the exam paper and answer sheet to the invigilator.

His figure as he walked out of the classroom was tall and composed. The nonchalance of submitting early left behind not just his retreating back, but also a wave of silent awe and unconcealed envy from those behind him.

"Holy crap—he turned in his paper again!"

"Comparing people is infuriating. I feel like I haven't even finished half of mine—"

"Is this the world of a God of Study? They are existences on completely different dimensions."

Li Wen naturally did not leave early just to show off for a moment.

Exams were always merely a means to test the level of knowledge mastery and acquire experience points, never the goal itself.

After a few quick turns, he was back in his private martial arts room on the top floor of Hongyi Building.

Without any relaxation, he walked purposefully to his desk, sat down, casually picked up a copy of "Introduction to Planetary Level Life Energy" that he hadn't finished reading, and plunged back into immersive study.

The huge amount of scholar experience he gained from ranking in the top ten province-wide during the Provincial First Mock Exam was still fresh in his memory; that bombardment of experience points had almost caused him to advance two Ranks instantly.

But his deeper realization was that all seemingly sudden, massive gains were founded upon the tiny accumulations made day after day without slackening.

Cultural literacy was the indispensable knowledge base for him to climb the peaks of the Martial Dao, and the core resource supporting the continuous transformation of his Scholar profession, which in turn fed back into his martial cultivation.

Even without explosive opportunities like provincial exams or mock exams, he would not allow himself the slightest bit of relaxation.

Gathering sand to form a pagoda, dripping water to penetrate stone—this was the eternal truth on the path to higher summits.

Otherwise, even with supreme Martial Dao talent, if his cultural foundation was weak, he would inevitably be unable to soar to greater heights in the crucial assessments that truly determined fate.

The page in his hand turned gently, his gaze of seeking knowledge firm and bright.

The morning passed quietly amidst focused study of cultural knowledge.

When Li Wen put down the "Introduction to Planetary Level Life Energy" in his hand and looked at the precise clock built into his tactical tablet, the hour hand had quietly pointed to eleven forty-five.

"Time to leave," Li Wen murmured softly, neatly tidying his desk.

Although his heart was set on advancing his Martial Dao and Scholar Ranks, he was moved by the solemnity his parents attached to this year's Qingming ancestral worship.