High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices

Chapter 156: Chapter 156: Zeng Bonan’s Confusion

”Hah!”

Xu Wuyi bellowed, unleashing the full power of his body as pure Qi and Blood surged ferociously into his arms.

Taking advantage of the Rat King’s forward momentum, he abruptly put all his strength into his arms, wrenching the spear lodged in the beast’s neck down and sideways in one vicious motion.

”SQUELCH—!”

A sickening tearing sound rang out.

The already large wound on the Rat King’s neck was nearly doubled in size by the violent tear!

Green blood sprayed out like a fountain, revealing the pale white of its vertebrae.

”AAGH—!”

The Rat King’s agonized howl instantly turned hoarse and feeble. Its forward charge completely dissipated from the fatal blow. The massive creature staggered a few steps before crashing heavily to the ground, sending up a cloud of dust.

It struggled to rise, but with its neck nearly severed, life was rapidly ebbing away.

Xu Wuyi landed firmly on his feet. He stood beside the twitching Rat King, blood-stained spear in hand. His breathing was slightly ragged, but his eyes remained perfectly calm.

For a moment, the entire chamber fell silent.

Everyone stared, speechless, at the young figure standing with his spear. At his feet lay the Rat King, which only moments before had seemed utterly invincible.

From throwing the spear to save his ally, to dodging the charge, to leveraging its own momentum to widen the wound and deliver the fatal blow... The entire sequence was seamless, executed in the blink of an eye.

Precise. Ruthless. Decisive.

’Are all the geniuses from Star Martial University this strong?’

Chen Feng took a deep breath, suppressing his shock. He walked over to Xu Wuyi and said with immense gratitude, ”Xu Wuyi, on behalf of the City Defense Army, thank you for your assistance... You saved Old Li’s life!”

Xu Wuyi shook his head. He pulled his spear from the Rat King’s neck, sending an arc of blood through the air.

”Just doing my duty,” Xu Wuyi said with a slight nod, his gaze falling to the Rat King’s corpse, particularly its abnormally sharp incisors and foreclaws.

’Those are prime materials for forging weapons or making medicine. This is a nice bonus on top of the mission reward.’

’The corpses of the common rats aren’t worth much and have already been bundled up by the City Guard Army. The mission briefing mentioned that.’

’But for a monster that appeared out of nowhere like this, things were different.’

Chen Feng followed his gaze and immediately understood. ”You killed the Rat King,” he said with conviction. ”According to regulations, the spoils belong to you.”

”You can take any materials you need directly. Alternatively, the City Guard Army can process them for you and pay you their value in Federation currency.”

”As for the additional reward for this mission, I’ll submit a full report to my superiors. The exact amount will depend on their discussions with your university.”

Xu Wuyi was quite satisfied with this arrangement. He smiled at Chen Feng and said, ”Thank you for the trouble.”

Just then, Lin Yue ran out from her hiding spot. She looked from the Rat King’s corpse on the ground back to Xu Wuyi, her eyes filled with awe.

She had thought her role was just to stand guard and provide backup. She never expected to witness such a spectacular kill against a far more powerful foe.

The other City Defense Army Martial Artists began securing the area and tending to the wounded, all of them looking at Xu Wuyi with deep respect.

Ten minutes later, a squadron from the City Guard Army arrived, led by a powerful Level 28 expert.

They had missed the main event, but their arrival marked the official end of the incident.

...

「The next morning.」

Xu Wuyi was in the Cultivation Room of Villa 7 in the Hidden Dragon Garden.

The first light of dawn was breaking outside. He had just finished a cycle of cultivation with the *Hundred Refinements Melting Furnace*, and the searing Qi and Blood steaming from his body gradually subsided.

He connected his consciousness to the Star Martial Battle Network. The change to his point balance was clearly visible: his 490 points had become 540.

The base reward of 20 points for clearing out the Bone-Eating Rat Swarm had been deposited. In addition, the bonus for helping take down the Rat King—a full 30 points—had been approved with impressive efficiency that very evening.

’Fifty points, which came out to five hundred thousand Federation credits, for just a few hours of work. If word of that got out, it would make many freshmen, desperate for resources, green with envy.’

Xu Wuyi, however, remained level-headed.

He knew this particular mission had involved a fair bit of luck. He hadn’t just gotten an impromptu mission alert; he had also run into a sudden crisis in the form of the Rat King.

A typical D-level extermination mission would be considered good if it paid 10 points, and it would often take an entire day, if not longer, to complete.

”Anna,” Xu Wuyi mentally addressed his AI assistant. ”Continue screening for missions. Priority: moderate point rewards, short time commitment.”

”You can raise the difficulty to the Intermediate Martial Artist tier—around Level 20 to 25—but you must assess the mission’s risk. Exclude any options that are clearly beyond my capabilities or have too many unknown variables.”

”Command confirmed. Continuously monitoring the mission database. You will be notified the moment a suitable mission is found,” Anna replied instantly.

Despite his urgent need for points, Xu Wuyi had no intention of running around aimlessly taking on every mission he could find.

Cultivation was his foundation. He earned points to improve his cultivation, not the other way around. He couldn’t get his priorities mixed up.

Besides, it was Tuesday. This afternoon, he had to be at [Lingyun Small Building - Jiasan] on time for his instruction with Master Han Mo.

A few words of guidance from a Quasi-Grandmaster were worth far more than a few dozen points, infinitely more valuable than just fumbling around on his own.

...

「That afternoon.」

Xu Wuyi had just logged out of a virtual training session on the Battle Network when his doorbell rang.

On the security monitor, he saw Zeng Bonan standing outside the villa’s main gate.

”Wuyi,” Zeng Bonan said as he walked into the living room, a genuine smile on his face. ”Congratulations on breaking through to the Martial Artist realm so quickly. The entire first-year class is talking about you.”

His tone was sincere, and he seemed genuinely happy for his old friend’s achievement, but Xu Wuyi keenly detected a flicker of deep-seated frustration in his expression.

”It was a natural breakthrough,” Xu Wuyi said, leading him to a seat in the living room as an automated butler served tea. ”You don’t look so good. Are you having trouble with your cultivation?”

At his words, the smile on Zeng Bonan’s face faded. He silently lifted his teacup, took a sip, and then sighed. ”I really can’t hide anything from you, can I?”

He set down his cup and clasped his hands together. ”I... I exchanged my points for a B-Level Body Refining Technique a while back.”

Xu Wuyi remembered. Zeng Bonan had indeed asked for his opinion, and he had supported his friend’s decision to choose a path that suited him after consulting a mentor.

”That’s a good thing. A B-Level Body Refining Technique has enormous potential. Did you hit a bottleneck in your training?” Xu Wuyi asked.

”A bottleneck would be an understatement...” Zeng Bonan said with a bitter smile laced with deep frustration. ”It’s been a full month, and I’ve made zero progress. No, it’s worse than that. I can’t even reach the Beginner threshold.”

He looked up, his eyes bloodshot. He had clearly spent many sleepless nights training relentlessly.

”I feel like a complete idiot, just staring at those complex Qi and Blood circulation pathways and getting nowhere. Every time I try to circulate my Qi and Blood, it feels sluggish and impossibly difficult. Forget about actually refining my body—I’m lucky if I don’t mess up the circulation and hurt myself.”

Zeng Bonan’s voice grew quiet, trembling slightly.

”I poured everything into it—the stipend I saved up from my ranking and a huge chunk of money my family scraped together. If I have nothing to show for it in the end, I...”

He trailed off, but the uncertainty about his future and the doubt in his own choices were almost palpable.