Lu Heng did not have the time to care about what other people thought, nor did he have the mood to listen to the praises of others.
He stared blankly at the numbers on the fist strength machine and fell silent.
'151 points, this result is far from sufficient.'
In order to become a martial artist, one had to score at least 500 points in the fist strength test; that was the minimum requirement. One also had to pass all the other tests as well as the actual combat assessment.
Only when one satisfied all of these requirements could one be officially called a martial artist.
However, his fist strength test results were far from sufficient. It was simply impossible for him to become a martial artist within a short period of time.
"I'll take my leave first."
Lu Heng calmed himself down and quickly excused himself from the crowd of surrounding students. Then, he quickly left the training hall.
After exiting the dojo, he ran straight back to his own residential area.
"I've been so arrogant these past two days. I actually forgot how lacking my strength is."
The fist strength test just now made Lu Heng once again realize the gap between his current state and his objective of becoming a martial artist.
In fact, he often avoided the fist strength test machine. This was not only because there was always a queue, but also because he was unwilling to face the painful truth.
After all, every time he tested his fist strength, he would feel a sense of defeat after seeing his results.
As long as he did not test his fist strength, he could avoid this feeling.
He had initially thought that his strength would improve greatly after successfully producing the striking sound, and that he would score at least 200 points in the fist strength test. In the end, he was still brought back down to earth by reality.
Fortunately, this reminded him once again how very difficult it would be for him to become a martial artist. Even if his current level of talent was outstanding, he could not afford to slack off in the slightest.
Even those students who were allocated to the martial arts class back in junior high school needed to enter high school, graduate after three years, and successfully enter the University of Martial Arts before becoming a martial artist.
Of course, there were also a small number of martial arts geniuses who passed the martial arts examination before the university entrance examination, which earned them a ticket into the University of Martial Arts.
The most powerful ones were the geniuses from the University of Martial Arts' youth class. These people were all sent to the university before they even graduated from junior high school. Not only did they not participate in the university entrance examination, they even skipped the junior high and high school entrance examinations.
Grandmaster Liu was one of these geniuses.
'I wonder how my current level of talent compares to Grandmaster Liu.'
'There's probably a huge gap between them, right?'
While he was thinking, Lu Heng saw a familiar forest of tall buildings in the distance.
Seeing this, he sped up a little and quickly arrived at his residential block and ran into the stairwell.
Deng Deng Deng Deng…
Lu Heng walked up the stairs all the way to the entrance of his unit.
Inside the unit, Xiaoxiao was sitting on the chair as usual, waiting for him to return.
"Xiaoxiao, are you hungry?"
Lu Heng asked as he opened the door.
"I'm not hungry." Lu Xiaoxiao shook her head and then asked, "Second brother, why did you come back so late today?"
"I got carried away with my martial arts practice and didn't pay enough attention to the time," Lu Heng replied casually. He then began to prepare lunch.
He felt a little guilty, and was afraid that Xiaoxiao would ask him if he wanted to hunt for monster meat outside the city again.
If Xiaoxiao asked him this question again, he would have to lie…
Because he had already made up his mind to explore the wilderness outside the city.
This was even more so after he saw the result of his fist strength test just now.
"Oh," Lu Xiaoxiao replied. She did not ask any further questions.
…
At night, at a farm in the outer city.
While he was working, Lu Heng started to practice his stance technique.
The stance technique was a basic technique. Whether it was the fist or saber technique, the stance technique was necessary for both.
At the moment, Lu Heng was not allowed to bring his saber out of the dojo, so he could only practice his stance technique in his spare time.
'This won't do,' Lu Heng thought to himself, 'If I don't practice the saber technique and just practice my stance technique, I won't be able to cultivate my internal strength. Do I have to continue practicing my fist technique in the meantime?'
The internal strength technique that he practiced was called the Qi Induces Internal Strength technique. It had been created through the synthesis of wisdom of countless people.
Among its creators, there were not only powerful martial arts grandmasters, but also top scientists who specialized in studying qi.
Anyone who had just started their martial arts journey would basically practice this internal strength technique.
The principle behind this internal strength technique was to absorb the qi, which was everywhere in the air, and allow it to strengthen the body, thereby improving a person's physical attributes.
If one cultivated it for a long time, not only would one's muscle strength be greatly improved, but one's nerves, bones, and so on would also be strengthened.
The cultivation of this internal strength technique was divided into three stages.
The first stage was called Pranayama, and the cultivation of this stage was rather troublesome. One had to practice both saber techniques and fist techniques and, at the same time, use a special breathing technique to circulate qi throughout the body.
The difficulty lay in the fact that beginners were unable to control the flow of the qi inside the body, so they could only rely on intense movements to direct the qi to flow and naturally penetrate into the various parts of the body.
In other words, the cultivation of the Pranayama stage had to be carried out together with fist techniques, saber techniques, as well as other martial techniques.
The second stage of cultivation was called Qi Gathering.
By this time, the cultivator had already learned how to control the flow of the qi in the body autonomously. Therefore, even if the cultivator was just sitting quietly on the ground, he or she could continuously increase the strength of their body.
The third stage of cultivation was called Qi Nurturing.
After entering this stage, as long as the cultivator maintained a natural breathing cycle, the qi would nourish their body.
In other words, they would be able to cultivate even while they slept.
Of course, the speed of cultivation using the natural breathing cycle was limited. To increase one's speed of cultivation, one had to focus on cultivating and guiding the qi inside the body.
Lu Heng was currently at the first stage. He had to combine the practice of saber and fist techniques in order to direct the qi to flow throughout his entire body.
Therefore, he figured that since he could not bring the saber out of the dojo, he might as well continue training his fist techniques. Otherwise, he would not be able to cultivate his internal strength.
'My comprehension ability has improved though, so perhaps I can try to enter the second stage of cultivation.'
'If I succeed, I'll be able to cultivate my internal strength just by standing around. The speed of my improvement will be greatly accelerated.'
A bold idea flashed through Lu Heng's mind.
The second stage of Qi Gathering was extremely difficult to achieve. It was extremely reliant on a person's comprehension ability.
It was not as simple as just controlling the qi to move around in the body. The human body was very fragile. If one was unable to comprehend the essence of the technique and practiced it blindly, they would inadvertently damage the muscles, bones, and fascia.
That was not the worst outcome either. If one's nerves or internal organs were injured, then they would face a major problem.
This was why the cultivation of internal strength had to be taught and guided by professionals, because it was easy for amateurs to get themselves into trouble.
Due to the above reasons, the major dojos in Jiangnan City had made it clear that anyone who wanted to practice the second stage of the internal strength technique would first have to practice the first stage of the internal strength technique for at least one year.
In fact, this rule was not limited to just the dojos. The school's martial arts class also had the same rule, except that the time requirement would be slightly relaxed.
After all, the people who entered the martial arts class were all very talented and had relatively strong comprehension abilities.
Due to these rules, Lu Heng, who had only been practicing the internal strength for two months, was unable to seek out the instructor to ask for advice on the second stage.
Even if he did, the instructor would definitely not make an exception for him, no matter how outstanding his performance was.
'I have already memorized the contents of the Qi Induces Internal Strength technique. I can try it out on a localized scale first,' Lu Heng thought to himself.
He reckoned that he could control the qi to temper the muscles of his left arm first. If anything went wrong, it would only hurt for a period of time.
'Let's try it out!'
Lu Heng made up his mind and decided to give it a try.