Ring, Ring, Ring!
The school bell suddenly rang.
Following that, Lu Heng heard bursts of laughter coming from inside the school compound.
"Class is over..."
Lu Heng raised his head and looked at the innermost class block.
Back then, he used to study there with the other students. When he heard the school bell, he would also leave the classroom with cheers and laughter.
At that time, his parents and big brother were still around, so he did not have any burdens to bear. All he had to focus on were his studies.
Although the conditions at home had not been much better than they were now, at least he had hope for a better tomorrow.
While he was reminiscing about those times, Lu Heng spotted two familiar figures walking out from inside.
The taller one was Liu Shiyao, and the one walking beside her was her cousin Liu Hongxia, who was of the same age as her.
The two of them soon arrived at the school gate.
As soon as Liu Shiyao walked out of the school gate, she instinctively glanced in Lu Heng's direction, as if she had long known that Lu Heng would appear there.
"Lu Heng, are you looking for me?" Liu Shiyao asked Lu Heng.
Lu Heng walked quickly over to Liu Shiyao and said, "Yes, I'd like to ask you to help me borrow a set of martial arts books."
He had just thought up a few excuses but, in the end, he decided to get straight to the point. After all, if he beat around the bush, it would delay their journey back.
"You need help borrowing a set of martial arts books?"
Liu Shiyao was not the one who spoke up. Instead, it was Liu Hongxia who piped up in surprise.
As soon as Liu Hongxia finished speaking, Liu Shiyao asked, "Lu Heng, are you trying to take the university entrance examination?"
Lu Heng was briefly stunned, after which he immediately nodded and said, "Yes, I want to give it go. I just might succeed."
Liu Shiyao quietly looked at Lu Heng. There was no particular expression on her beautiful and exquisite face; no surprise, nor doubt.
"Okay, I will help you borrow the books. Come and get them at noon tomorrow." Liu Shiyao agreed.
"Thank you!" Lu Heng said gratefully.
He had not expected Liu Shiyao to agree so readily. She did not ask any questions, nor did she advise him not to take the examination. She did not even ask where the saber on his waist had come from.
"I'm leaving first. You should go back as well."
Liu Shiyao gently waved her hand and left with Liu Hongxia.
After the two of them walked on for a while, Liu Hongxia could not help but ask, "Shiyao, do you think Lu Heng can get into the University of Martial Arts?"
"It's very difficult, almost impossible," Liu Shiyao said decisively.
"Then why did you agree to help him borrow books?" Liu Hongxia asked curiously.
Liu Shiyao glanced at her and said, "I just didn't want to destroy the hope in his heart. My father told me that when a person's heart is full of hope, they can create a miracle."
"Did uncle really say that?" Liu Hongxia asked.
"Yes, he also said that every time he encountered a bottleneck in his cultivation, he would take on the challenge without ever losing hope. He was never afraid of backing down. That's how he crossed the bottlenecks step by step and became a grandmaster."
"According to him, if a martial artist loses his spirit and ambition, then their path of martial arts will soon come to an end."
"The most important thing for a martial artist is the courage to move forward and the spirit to persevere through setbacks."
"Lu Heng hasn't given up hope even after encountering so many setbacks. This made me remember what my father said."
Liu Shiyao explained.
"I see." Liu Hongxia nodded thoughtfully. "Then I can only wish him luck and hope that he creates a miracle. But then again, trying to take the university entrance examination is really in line with his character."
"His character is one of his strong points."
Liu Shiyao continued, "My dad especially likes people like him, who are full of fighting spirit. I believe the teachers of the University of Martial Arts are the same. If he can really get into the university, then he will truly find a place where he can soar."
By the time they finished speaking, the two of them had already reached the car. They quickly got in and sat in the back seat.
The driver then started the engine and the car slowly sped away into the distance.
…
After Lu Heng watched Liu Shiyao and Liu Hongxia leave, he also turned around and rushed home.
Of course, what he did not know was that the entire scene between him and Liu Shiyao had been witnessed by Big Mouth Jia, who was hiding in the distance.
After getting into an argument with Fan Kun and the others, Big Mouth Jia had been searching for Lu Heng in the dojo, wanting to see Lu Heng's test results with his own eyes.
After asking around, he discovered that Lu Heng had left the dojo a long time ago.
When he heard this news, the first thing he thought of was that Lu Heng might have come to this high school, so he rushed over quickly.
In the end, he was right. Lu Heng was really here.
In the corner, Big Mouth Jia rubbed his hands excitedly as if he had found some great treasure. He was beyond elated.
"Lu Heng, oh Lu Heng, I knew that your results weren't legitimate. It turns out that it was a fake result that was forged through connections!"
Within just a short moment, countless scenes and visions, like a plot from a movie, had magically materialized in Big Mouth Jia's mind.
Right now, what he was most worried about was how to convince Fan Kun and the others.
"Damn it! This is really quite the headache!"
Big Mouth Jia was very anxious.
He had stumbled upon such an explosive piece of news, but he could not convince the others to believe him. To him, this was a fate worse than death.
At this moment, his heart felt like there were countless ants crawling all over it; making him feel extremely uncomfortable.
"There's no rush, no rush at all! If I tell them now, I will definitely be laughed at by them!"
"But since all of this is the truth, then there must be a way to find evidence. It's not too late to wait until I find some evidence!"
Big Mouth Jia scratched his hair, and then turned around and ran toward Dojo No. 9.
By this time, Lu Heng had already run all the way to the East Third District.
Jiangnan City's No. 1 High School was located in the East First District, and his home, like Dojo No.9, was located in the East Third District.
The distance between the two was very far. In the past, while he was still in high school, he would take a bus to and fro.
However, nowadays, he chose to run all the way back to save money on the bus ticket. In addition, he wanted to take advantage of this time to practice his internal strength.
As long as he used the Pranayama technique of the Qi Induces Internal Strength technique, any movement would help qi travel throughout the body and strengthen the tissues in the body.
Of course, this training method was naturally much slower than the Qi Gathering technique.
'There seems to be some monster meat available at this grain station.'
Passing by a grain station, Lu Heng could not help but stop for a moment and look inside.
This grain station was much bigger than the grain station in his neighborhood, and there was much more food piled up inside.
Lu Heng saw a box containing the fresh monster meat in the corner and thought that he should purchase some fresh monster meat so that he could cook it for lunch.
'Let's see what kind of monster meat they have here in this grain station.'
Lu Heng strode into the grain station.