Annual Talent Cultivation Plan

Zhang Haifeng, the martial arts instructor, was decisive and efficient; after finishing his speech, he turned and left directly outside the door.

The students of Martial Arts Class 6, who had been drowsy, suddenly became energetic. They chatted curiously about what Teacher Zhang had just said while hurrying towards the martial arts classroom.

Li Xijun naturally followed her own diligent nature and became one of the first to arrive.

At the entrance of the martial arts classroom, there was a white gate-shaped device similar to the security checkpoint at a high-speed rail station, where four or five people were already lined up to enter one by one.

As the white device flashed red light, each student entering the classroom would see their name and current health level displayed on the huge electronic screen at the front of the classroom.

"Zhou Mengsheng, Qi and Blood Level: 4.1".

"Zhang Fang, Qi and Blood Level: 4.9".

...................

"Li Xijun, Qi and Blood Level: 5.7".

According to federal standards, the blood and qi level of an average adult citizen is level 5.

Most ordinary students in key high schools are in the 4th to 5th grade range.

If one's Qi and Blood level reaches level 9, they have already met the qualification line for breaking through to become a martial artist and can apply to the official authorities for advanced cultivation methods that allow one to sense spiritual power in order to break through and advance.

Even in a top-tier high school like No. 7 High School, only a very small number of students can reach level 9 in the college entrance examination after a year of hard work in their senior year. Such geniuses are not aiming for ordinary martial arts universities, but for key universities like the Nine Schools Alliance.

After glancing at his Qi and Blood level, Li Xijun didn't linger on it but immediately began cultivating.

Based on his physical memory honed through years of practice, he naturally and slightly gripped his toes, bent his knees, closed his eyes, tucked his chin, and lifted his head to complete the basic posture. Then, he focused his consciousness on his dantian and began a rather complex breathing technique.

Gradually, as he continued to breathe, his spine began to vibrate rhythmically, like a great dragon gradually coming to life. Li Xijun, who was in a stance, was visualizing himself as a giant tree reaching the sky, with his spine as a green dragon, coiling and swimming on the ancient tree.

For ordinary people to become martial artists, they naturally need to cultivate through basic training methods.

Over the past 180 years of the new calendar, martial arts have flourished even more.

Over the past hundred years, numerous basic martial arts training methods have emerged that can cultivate qi and blood, tap into human potential, and enhance physical strength. Many former practitioners of ancient martial arts and federal biological scientists have published their own versions of these basic training methods.

However, the most widely circulated, studied, and recognized as the most complete martial arts cultivation method in the entire Blue Star Federation is the Seven Martial Saints' Seven Basic Martial Arts Cultivation Method, which is vigorously promoted by the government.

Furthermore, if someone's cultivation of the Seven Sages' basic cultivation methods is exceptionally compatible, and their cultivation speed is much faster than others, they will have a certain probability of awakening a suitable martial arts spirituality as they continue to cultivate. When they become a martial artist, they can smoothly connect with and cultivate the advanced cultivation methods created by the Martial Sages.

The Azure Dragon Heaven-Reaching Method that Li Xijun practiced was the basic cultivation method created by the Wood Saint, the youngest of the seven Martial Saints of Blue Star.

However, his compatibility with this technique was only average, and his knowledge of the other six basic cultivation methods was also just ordinary.

The reason he chose this basic cultivation method was simply because the Azure Dragon Heaven-Reaching Method was the newest of the seven basic cultivation methods.

In this world, there is no such thing as the older the cultivation method, the more powerful it is. On the contrary, the newer the cultivation method and martial arts, the more perfect they are and the better their effects.

For example, at the beginning of the Great Cataclysm, people usually roughly divided the realms of martial artists before they entered the next level into beginner apprentice, intermediate apprentice, and advanced apprentice. They only looked at whether the strength and speed met the standards and did not care about the level of qi and blood. This often caused some people with good talent to get stuck at this small bottleneck for several years before they could break through.

Later, as the system continued to improve and the basic cultivation methods became more complete, the apprentice realm cultivation before becoming a martial artist was refined into nine levels, and the minor bottlenecks that used to waste time and cause people to get stuck disappeared.

Mu Sheng is the youngest of the seven Martial Saints, having only been promoted to Martial Saint twenty years ago.

It is said that in order to create this basic cultivation method, he, who had just become a saint, even entered a mythical world and spent several years observing the World Tree and the Azure Dragon guarding it.

Therefore, for someone like Li Xijun, whose compatibility with the seven basic cultivation methods was only average, the latest version of the "Azure Dragon Heaven-Reaching Method" from sixteen years ago was actually nearly 10% more effective than the other six.

This is a little trick that students who don't have enough compatibility and choose their cultivation methods arbitrarily based on their preferences might not have noticed.

"Phew~~~"

"call........"

"It feels so good." Once in the zone, Li Xijun's breathing became calm, and the blood and qi in her body were constantly circulating, causing all parts of her body to heat up and vibrate her muscles, bones, skin, and slightly stimulate the rhythm of her internal organs.

Feeling his physique gradually becoming stronger, Li Xijun unconsciously pondered the meaning of what his martial arts teacher had just said.

What could be this good news for all students?

Teacher Zhang is usually a very calm person, so his unusually agitated behavior this time suggests that the situation is probably not simple.

As a trader in the A-share market, what he hates most is uncertainty.

This sudden change caused a stir of unease and a sense of foreboding in Li Xijun's heart.

Time flies when you're immersed in cultivation. Before he could even think things through, half an hour of stance training had passed in the blink of an eye.

Before anyone knew it, Teacher Zhang, who had just returned from the meeting, had pressed his dark and imposing face against the back window.

After carefully observing for a while and seeing that the students of Martial Arts Class Six were all diligently practicing, he finally walked around to the front door with satisfaction, slowly pushed the door open, and said:

"Not bad. Although I've been a bit lax in my academic studies since the start of the semester, I haven't neglected my training in the basic martial arts techniques."

"Keep practicing your stance training. Now I have something to say..."

As he spoke, he walked among the students practicing standing meditation, kicked the student whose body was swaying slightly in the back of the knee, causing the student's leg to bend slightly and their center of gravity to shift a bit, before continuing:

"The Martial Arts Academy has just issued a new directive that, starting this year, the nation will join forces with the Federation to launch the second 'Ten-Year Talent Cultivation' program."

The moment the words were spoken, the martial arts classroom, which had been so quiet you could hear a pin drop, erupted in a frenzy.

"Holy shit!"

"The Second Decade Development Plan!"

"I can't believe I got to experience something this good!"

"After living for so many years, I'm finally able to reap the benefits of this era!"

In fact, it wasn't just the classroom where Martial Arts Class 6 was located; at almost the same time, students from all eight martial arts classes in the entire building were discussing it animatedly. Some couldn't even maintain their stance and collapsed to the ground, covered in sweat, yet their eyes still held a mixture of surprise and delight.

This wasn't because they were making a fuss over nothing, but because this seemingly ordinary "ten-year talent cultivation" program was extremely important to them!

As the saying goes, "It takes ten years to grow a tree, but a hundred years to cultivate a person."

The original meaning of the idiom is: If you hope for a ten-year harvest, plant trees; if you hope for a hundred-year harvest, cultivate talent. It is a metaphor for how a country can only achieve sustainable development and guarantee its future by cultivating high-quality talent.

However, martial arts cultivation pursues courage and progress, and truly talented martial arts geniuses cultivate in ways that defy common sense.

The first human saint, Yan Sheng, cultivated from nothing to the Martial Saint realm in just over twenty years, and subsequent Martial Saints almost all took no more than thirty years to reach that level.

The most recent seventh Martial Saint, under the first "Ten-Year Cultivation Program," achieved the status of Martial Saint in just fourteen years, rising from a high school student to a Martial Saint, which shocked the entire Federation at the time.

Therefore, rather than calling it a "ten-year talent cultivation" program, it would be more accurate to say that the Federation and the Great Yan government, after more than thirty years and having accumulated enough resources, wanted to replicate the miracle of the last time and once again spend ten years investing massive resources to cultivate a Martial Saint from among many geniuses!

As this is the first year of the "Ten Years to Cultivate People" training program, these senior martial arts students will receive far more school resources for training than in previous years, provided they demonstrate sufficient talent and ability.

If one can demonstrate exceptional talent beyond their peers in the college entrance examination, they can gain admission to one of the thirty-three martial arts universities.

By then, the resources and training they receive in universities will be far superior to what ordinary martial artists can gain from a lifetime of life-and-death struggles in the mythical world.

Just thinking about this made the young people, who were in the prime of their youth, extremely excited, as if they had been injected with chicken blood. They all began to fantasize about becoming geniuses who were admired by everyone, obtaining various resources from the mythical world and advancing one realm per year, and standing at the top of the world.

Only Li Xijun and a few others in the martial arts classroom remained calm, showing no excitement or agitation at this "great news".

Some of them came from prominent families and had already heard the news. After all, such major moves in education are not military secrets, so leaks are inevitable.

Li Xijun, on the other hand, was tempered by his experiences in the A-share market in his previous life. When faced with "good news" and "great opportunities," his instinct as a seasoned investor kept him calm and vigilant.

He habitually detached himself and calmly examined this "ten-year talent cultivation" program from an objective perspective, and soon realized a problem.

First of all, there is no stock market in the world where everyone makes money.

Similarly, even with the Federation and the nation investing heavily in the "Ten-Year Talent Cultivation" program, it is absolutely impossible for all senior martial arts students in the Federation to benefit from it.

the reason is simple,

Since the Federation and the nation want to replicate their previous success, they should select the most talented young geniuses and train them to become martial saints.

With the experience of success last time, the Federation and the nation will be even more rigorous in selecting geniuses this time!

After all, we succeeded last time, so we can be even more aggressive this time.

Concentrating the vast majority of precious resources on a small group of exceptionally talented geniuses is the most efficient way to cultivate a martial saint.

"Quiet! Quiet!"

"Those few whose stances have fallen apart, practice for an extra hour after you get home today. Remember to have your parents record a video and send it to me for review!"

Sure enough, Zhang Haifeng's booming voice quickly rang out, instantly overwhelming everyone, and he continued:

"This year, the school will indeed increase its investment in funds, qi and blood-nourishing medicines, and has hired martial arts instructors at the outdoor training level!"

"but!"

"To receive instruction from outdoor martial arts instructors, you must pass the entrance exam for the elite class in a month."

"The school's resources, such as Qi and Blood Elixirs and other private martial arts classrooms, must be used to ensure that you rank in the top fifty of your grade in this opening exam."

"Finally, the monthly scholarship will be at least doubled, but it will still only be available to the top 100 students in the grade."

This result brought the martial arts students, who had just been basking in the "huge benefits" and "dividends of the times," back to reality.

"Wait a minute, why are there fewer scholarship spots this year!"

"In previous years, didn't the top 100 students in their senior year receive a monthly stipend of ten bottles of Qi and Blood Activating Medicine from the school?"

"There are only thirty spots in the elite class. Awakening martial arts spirituality allows you to directly join and compete for a spot. This... it feels like none of the benefits are relevant to us."

The boys and girls in the martial arts class couldn't hold back any longer, and they were all groaning and complaining.

However, Zhang Haifeng calmly clapped his hands to signal everyone to be quiet, and then dropped another bombshell that completely silenced the previously excited crowd.

"Getting benefits is easy, of course. Just show your talent and you'll get all the benefits you want."

"As long as you can get into one of the thirty-three martial arts universities, you will definitely enjoy the rich benefits of the 'Ten Years to Cultivate People' training program. At that time, the training resources you will receive will definitely be the mythical world resources that previous university students would envy."

"But similarly, all 33 martial arts universities will reduce their enrollment quotas to some extent this year."

"Instead of complaining here, you should work hard and try to get into the martial arts university. That's where the entire training program is headed!"

"If you can get into the Nine Schools Alliance, the resources you get in university will be the envy of even the most skilled martial artists! If you can get into the top-tier 'Two Heavens of the Imperial Capital'... well, given this year's situation, the entire Seventh Middle School might not even produce one."

After saying that, Zhang Haifeng shook his head, feeling that he had just been dreaming.

The "Two Heavens of the Imperial Capital" were founded by Yan Sheng and Feng Sheng. They are top universities that countless geniuses around the world flock to. Even in previous years, the city could not produce more than a few, let alone in the current situation.

He'd be laughing in his sleep if more students in his class got into the Nine Schools Alliance this year.

Thinking this, Zhang Haifeng kept walking among the students, occasionally slapping or kicking them where they were doing incorrect stances.

Similarly, seeing that the school's benefits for senior high school students no longer apply to them, the students who were complaining have shut up and are quietly adjusting their stances to continue promoting their qi and blood circulation.

After all, compared to the reduced number of award slots offered by the school, the increased difficulty of the college entrance examination is what matters most to them and puts the most pressure on them.

Nowadays, high school seniors don't get the benefits they deserve, but many of them come from well-off families, and with their family's support, they might still be able to get into a martial arts university!

For this,

Li Xijun, though silent, couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

This "ten-year talent cultivation" program is not only reducing the number of students admitted to martial arts universities, but it will also trigger a severe "catfish effect."

It's unknown how many students will be motivated and tempted to study hard, and how many families will spend their fortunes to help their children improve their skills so they can get into a good martial arts university.

How could an orphan burdened with gambling debts compete with these people?

Witnessing the college entrance examination, which was originally a very promising opportunity, suddenly turn into a hellish difficulty with extremely high risks, even someone with Li Xijun's resilient mentality, who had experienced the stock market crash and the torment of speculators, felt like cursing at this moment.

"The flow of Qi and blood in the lumbar spine is disordered!"

Before anyone knew it, Zhang Haifeng had walked up to Li Xijun. This teacher, who had many years of teaching experience, pointed to a spot on Li Xijun's lumbar spine.

This made Li Xijun feel the blood and qi in that area surge, instantly returning to their normal flow, and the entire "Azure Dragon Connecting Heaven Method" stance training became even smoother.

at the same time,

A message also appeared before Li Xijun's eyes:

Your mastery of the Azure Dragon Heaven-Reaching Technique has increased from 56% to 59%.