Back and Forth, Beef Offal Stew

A moment later

"Bang!"

The moment Ye Liuyun's standard-issue longsword was knocked away.

He was kicked against the wall by Li Xijun, and thanks to the cushioning material, he formed a perfect "big" shape before falling to the classroom floor with a thud.

This scene, combined with Ye Liuyun's ancient-style nobleman attire, is quite comical.

But instinctively, he stared blankly at the starry ceiling design of the classroom and said:

"Two months ago, I could easily defeat you by overwhelming you with my speed of 17 meters per second and punching power of 740 kilograms."

"After the monthly exam, you have indeed been able to track my movements and remain undefeated."

"Even now, even though I've advanced to level 8.1 in Qi and Blood, with a speed of 18 meters per second and a punching power of 810 kilograms, I still can't beat you when I'm using swordsmanship with a weapon."

"I didn't expect you to have found the time to practice an old-fashioned external martial art. It's somewhat like the description of an old-fashioned martial arts master as having a body of copper and iron. Now I can only use my full strength to thrust, otherwise my usual light and agile sword moves of slashing, picking, and wiping can't break through your defense."

At this point, he couldn't help but sigh softly:

"Sigh, if it were someone with a worse temperament, they would have become your buddy by now, secretly hoping something bad would happen to you."

"So, I only have one friend like you."

Li Xijun nodded in agreement.

During the time he spent with Ye Liuyun, what he admired most was the other's calm and steadfast mindset, like "flowing water that does not compete for the lead."

If this were in my previous life, this mindset would have made me a chosen investor in the A-share market, the kind who would have crushed quantitative trading in no time.

"By the way, when are you planning to further your weapon training? At the speed at which you've mastered the True Martial Killing Move - Cloud Hanging Hand, you should already be able to start the third stage, right?"

Although the official rules don't explicitly state it, people have been dividing the martial arts exam for the college entrance examination into four stages based on unspoken rules.

The first two stages involve training in fist and foot martial arts techniques represented by the "Thirty-Six Forms of Zhenwu". After mastering two Zhenwu killing moves, one can generally reach a maximum score of 320.

The third stage involves training in weaponry to break through the 320-point limit. By using weapons as an extension, one can combine mind, body, and weapon to maximize one's strength through the weapon, potentially reaching a maximum score of 360.

As for the fourth paragraph, both Li Xijun and Ye Liuyun had only heard Zhang Haifeng say the phrase "the unity of man and tool, touching upon the artistic conception."

It is said that in previous years, there have even been cases where someone was specially admitted to the martial arts university because they reached the fourth dan level in martial arts and got a perfect score.

"Soon, within this month, I think." Li Xijun glanced at his mastery of 91% of the "True Martial Thirty-Six Forms". "Teacher Zhang told me to try my best to master the third killing move, Void Tremor. Weapon training is not urgent."

"Yes, the Void Tremor does indeed help stimulate the internal organs and deeply tap into the physical body's potential after Qi and Blood reaches level 9.0. I didn't expect that Teacher Zhang had such high expectations for you back then."

Ye Liuyun knew his talent; if he could raise his Qi and Blood level to 9.0 and master his martial arts, he would be considered successful if he could join a decent Nine Schools Alliance.

However, Li Xijun might actually have a chance to challenge the "Two Heavenly Kings of the Imperial Capital," and both of these top universities require students to reach Qi and Blood Level 9.0 before further exploring their potential.

Previous events have also proven that geniuses who reach levels 9.3 and 9.4...

When undergoing life essence evolution in the Transcendent Realm, the improvement will be greater than that of Level 9.0, with strength, speed, and physical strength all exceeding those of Level 9.0 by a significant margin.

Those who can fight fiercely among their peers and rank among the top in their university class at the Transcendent Realm are all geniuses who deeply explored their potential to level 9.0 or above during high school.

"Then you should bring your electromagnetic pistol with you to and from school these days."

After Ye Liuyun stood up, his lips moved slightly and his voice became very soft as he continued:

"Recently, missing persons incidents have been occurring frequently, and the missing people have gone from having a Qi and Blood level of 2 or 3 at the beginning, to 4 or 5 later, and recently even a person with a Qi and Blood level of 6 suddenly disappeared."

"The Prevention and Control Bureau suspects it's a problem with the Blood God Cult, but the Blood God Cult members were almost completely wiped out during the Mythical Rift incident. Once a Transcendent Realm cultist makes a move, the traces of spiritual energy fluctuations are hard to escape the tracking of an Outer Realm expert. Teacher Su went to the scene a few days ago and confirmed that it wasn't a Transcendent Realm martial artist."

"The uncles in the bureau guessed that there was most likely a very powerful apprentice-level Blood God Cult member who was constantly hunting to improve his strength and break through to the Transcendent Realm."

"In this state, Blood God Cult members will hunt and devour life force like madmen in their pursuit of breakthroughs."

"The official reward for this creature has reached 100 million."

"You'd better bring your gun to and from school."

Upon hearing this, Li Xijun nodded slightly.

He's currently at level 7.3 in terms of health and vitality. Given the opponent's pattern, if they really reach his level next, they might actually become the target of their hunt.

He naturally took Ye Liuyun's warning to heart.

But since he has used the electromagnetic pistol twice in the Dasheng World, he will definitely not take it back to the main world.

Moreover, although he no longer has the electromagnetic pistol, he now has even more covert and effective methods.

Li Xijun looked at the backpack at the entrance of the private martial arts classroom.

The peach wood sword, which looked like an ornament, trembled slightly after sensing its master's mind. The blood patterns inside, which had been refined and nourished by the power of the soul for many days, slowly surged like real blood.

"No matter how strong an apprentice-level martial artist is, their physical defense is still no match for a filthy martial artist. Since it's not a Transcendent Realm martial artist, I'm actually looking forward to it."

He has spent most of the money Zhang Haifeng had given him, and now he eats 200-yuan meals at school instead.

Not to mention that when he learns swordsmanship in a while, he'll probably need to get a good one, and all of that requires money from the main world.

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

That night

Zhou Shenghao changed out of his usual black nano-integrated suit and into a loose, casual outfit before strolling through the food street for a while.

It wasn't until it was getting late that he walked into a small, old-fashioned shop inside the food street.

The light bulbs were a rather old-fashioned, dim yellow, and the signs were also somewhat worn and greasy, vaguely revealing the shop's name: "Grandma's Cantonese Beef Offal".

Upon entering, before he could even survey his surroundings, he saw a middle-aged man with a large belly emerge from a curtained "private room" and shout:

"We have some young folks here today, so add a portion of beef stew with beef tripe until it's thoroughly soaked."

After speaking, the middle-aged man, who was clearly a regular customer and gourmet, waved to Zhou Shenghao as he entered and led him into a private room that was obviously not very nice.

Sitting on the red plastic stool, Zhou Shenghao couldn't help but frown. After looking around, he couldn't help but say:

"Are you sure this is your base? You're not some kind of evil..."

He stopped mid-sentence, his senses already at a high level of 8.4, just as the somewhat perceptive owner brought in a beef offal stew.

"Brother Chang, hurry up and eat while it's hot."

After putting the food down, the owner invited the two to taste it, and then went out to serve other regular customers.

The aroma of the beef offal hot pot was very strong, but Zhou Shenghao frowned even more.

If he hadn't been unlucky enough to have the "Blood of Devouring" forcibly implanted in him, he would never have wanted to come to this kind of place and deal with these cultists.

But he had already become one of them, and as a result, he was making faster progress. He was even confident that he could break into the top three in his grade, or even the "Two Days in the Imperial Capital".

This made it increasingly difficult for him to sever ties with the Blood God Cult members.

"Don't worry, our sect is very difficult to detect unless it is within 8 hours after it reveals the Devouring Maw and the Blood God Totem and begins to devour flesh and blood."

"The people here are all our believers, there won't be any problems."

As he spoke, Brother Chang picked up a piece of tripe and stuffed it into his mouth, revealing a look of enjoyment.

"Besides, I told you back then that our Blood God Cult will also keep up with the times."

"This isn't like the time of the great catastrophe when human life was cheap and people could develop and devour each other. Now it's a stable society. If people suddenly die one after another in a short period of time, the pressure on the higher-ups will be enormous. The epidemic prevention and control bureau will be watching closely and making arrests."

"We usually sneakily devour the lifeblood of mythical creatures by collecting their corpses. The huge scene of the mythical rift before was caused by that instructor who was parachuted in from above. As you saw, not only did he die, but most of our Bo City members also went in, leaving only my old brothers from this branch."

At this point, Brother Chang sighed, as if remembering something, and said angrily:

"When I was at work, I was most afraid of leaders who parachuted in and messed things up. Now, to run a church like this, I can't believe I've run into such an idiot. How can the Blood God Cult possibly flourish with this reckless and brainless worm around?"

"Times have changed. The church needs to recruit gifted students like you who have the potential to attend top universities!"

Ultimately, you are the future...

Hearing this, Zhou Shenghao, who had been frowning, was so angry that he laughed.

"So, you're saying you weren't behind the recent spate of disappearances?"

"Of course not! Doing something like that is harmful and short-sighted. The higher-ups have already made their stance clear; what happened before was an accident. Our goal is still to get more geniuses like you into the church, then get into good universities, enter important positions in various federal agencies, work hard, and get promoted..."

"Then what?"

"Then... first, we revealed and publicized our new Blood God Church doctrine, showing that we actually coexist harmoniously with most people, only that we can devour the flesh and blood of mythical creatures to advance in martial arts faster, and that there are only a few side effects."

At this point, Brother Chang puffed out his belly, and his words gradually took on a strange, magical quality.

"We need to tell the public that although we are a minority group, we should not be discriminated against, and we must fight for more legal rights. Ultimately, we should push for relevant legislation so that people will recognize that our Blood God Cult is not a cult, but a church that can coexist with humanity..."

This middle-aged man was speaking with great confidence and his words were very persuasive.

But Zhou Shenghao just kept sneering.

"If you really go this far, you're not just an ordinary cult, but a cult that needs a heavy blow!"

"You don't actually think that someone who's in the top 30 of their grade has terrible grades in academics, hasn't read any history from the old era, or never taken any moral education classes, do you?"

"Are you trying to replicate the LGBT movement from back then? If it really succeeds, and a large number of people become monsters like me, the crisis humanity will face will be far more troublesome than a war."

Seeing that the other party remained unmoved, Chang Ge stopped his impassioned speech, simply picked up the beef offal stew again, and said coldly:

"So what? Even if you see things clearly, are you going to jump ship? If you expose your identity as a member of the Blood God Cult, can you still get into the Nine Schools Alliance? Can you still achieve your goal of becoming an exterior filmmaker? Your moral character is really good; you reported it to the Prevention Bureau that very night."

Zhou Shenghao's right hand had already reached into his pocket; he also had an electromagnetic pistol.

The opponent's strength was indeed enough to overwhelm an apprentice with a Qi and Blood level of 9.0, but ultimately he was not a Transcendent Realm martial artist.

He was confident he could kill his opponent with a single shot from that distance.

"In the end, what a prodigy like you values ​​most is your bright future, and our Blood God Sect can help you improve quickly and become an even more talented person."

"With the 'Ten-Year Cultivation' training program, you might very well become a candidate for the Martial Saint realm. The Blood God's Devouring Blood can restrain ordinary martial artists and affect their external appearance, but it's useless against Martial Saints. You might just devour it instead and advance even further, wouldn't you say?"

Zhou Shenghao remained silent for a long time before releasing the electromagnetic pistol from his hand.

"He is indeed a middle-aged working man, and he can skillfully make empty promises as soon as he opens his mouth."

"You keep saying you'll nurture me and help me... then show some sincerity first."

"How so?" Brother Chang asked, putting down his chopsticks.

"Our school also has a peerless genius named Li Xijun. In just three months since the start of the semester, his Qi and Blood level has increased from 5.7 to 7.3, which is faster than me, who can absorb Qi and Blood. Moreover, he has a strong talent for martial arts and has been noticed by Waijing from Qingquan Chunhui Palace. He will likely be taught swordsmanship."

This made the middle-aged working man's eyes light up.

"He is an orphan, and his residence is not very safe; there aren't many security cameras in the neighborhood."

Looking at the other person's expression, Zhou Shenghao continued:

"Such a genius is worth the risk, isn't he?"

"That's true, but this kid's future is far too bright. I'm afraid that if he's implanted with the 'Blood of Devouring,' he might actually report it to the authorities." Chang Ge hesitated.

"Then don't leave after planting the 'Blood of Devouring'. Observe him secretly. If he reports to the Prevention Bureau, turn around and devour him directly, absorbing his blood and life essence."

Zhou Shenghao spoke more and more casually, which surprised the middle-aged office worker opposite him.

After a long pause, he took a sip of tea and sighed:

"You really have to read more books. Today's students are really cunning and ruthless."

Zhou Shenghao didn't say anything, but picked up his chopsticks and started eating the beef offal. What he had previously disliked tasted more and more delicious as he ate.

As time passed little by little,

When the beef offal stew was almost empty, Brother Chang took out some tissues from his pocket, wiped his mouth, handed a few to the other person, and calmly said:

"I'm willing to take the risk and try this. However, I have one last question for you."

"explain."

"Having worked in the workplace for so many years, I consider myself to have a decent eye for people. Before, you were pushing yourself to the limit, focusing on practicing martial arts to improve your qi and blood, wanting to achieve results to prove yourself to others."

"If you want to defeat Li Xijun at school and prove that you are better than him, I think it's a natural progression from your previous thinking."

"But this harmful idea came out of nowhere, unlike what I had been thinking before."

"Were you influenced by someone?"