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That afternoon, the siblings were busy until evening before settling into the martial academy.
The landlord returned an eight-tael deposit of Demon Silver, slightly improving their financial situation.
Chu Yunyun felt very ashamed. The original deposit for their rental was fifteen taels, and the deducted seven taels were due to various furniture, doors, windows, and five floor tiles that were damaged by her.
However, the environment of the miscellaneous courtyard was excellent, surrounded by white walls with black tiles on top, shaded by green trees, serene and tranquil.
Chu Yunyun was very satisfied, and Chu Xisheng was also delighted, as it saved him a considerable expense.
Chu Xisheng had to be frugal because they still had a significant expense coming up.
In a few days, it would be time to pay the "tuition fee" at the martial academy.
The so-called tuition was the ancient school fee.
Zhengyang Martial Arts Hall could not possibly teach martial arts for free; all disciples had to pay tuition every month.
The Inner Sect disciples each paid twelve taels of Demon Silver per month.
Besides Chu Xisheng, Chu Yunyun was also an Inner Sect disciple of the academy.
Her martial arts had little hope of recovery in the short term, so she had to switch to learning magic, currently studying at the Mage Institute of Zhengyang Martial Arts Hall.
Chu Xisheng had already prepared himself that once he established himself in the Inner Sect, he would find a way to solve the funding problem.
As for the primary matter, it was, of course, to study his system.
When Chu Xisheng was alone at night, he first exchanged for another novice special "Eagle Eye."
As the Martial Arts Points dropped to "5," Chu Xisheng immediately felt a warm current flow into his eyes.
The feeling was exactly the same as when he exchanged for the "Chasing Wind and Lightning Hand" during the day.
In less than a breath, Chu Xisheng found that the world before him was completely different from before.
It was like a nearsighted person with six hundred degrees of myopia putting on glasses, or a 480P video image switching to an 8K high-definition.
Chu Xisheng had heard that an eagle's vision could see a prey's movement from ten kilometers away.
Now he had a similar ability; Chu Xisheng could discern the wing patterns of a mosquito twenty meters away and could look far, clearly seeing every detail of the Xiushui City Wall five hundred meters away.
Chu Xisheng, like a child with a new toy, used his Eagle Eye in various ways.
He was amazed and thrilled,
For a martial cultivator, the value of "Eagle Eye" was immeasurable, no less than the Chasing Wind and Lightning Hand.
Strong dynamic vision allowed him to discern every detail of an opponent's movement, predicting each combat intent.
After half an hour, Chu Xisheng calmed down.
He looked at the virtual screen in front of him and began to ponder the system's upgrade mechanism. How exactly were the Martial Arts Points obtained?
Today, Ye Zhiqiu said something on stage that changed his reputation column from "None" to "Ninth Grade Lower (Virtual)."
A battle with Long Sheng changed his reputation from "Ninth Grade Lower (Virtual)" to "Ninth Grade Lower (Real)."
Obviously, this system was related to his reputation.
The greater the reputation, the more benefits he could obtain from the system?
Chu Xisheng looked at the "Ninth Grade Lower (Real)" on the screen and vaguely felt it was not that simple.
He had some ideas that required experimentation.
Furthermore, the first change in reputation brought him 5 Martial Arts Points, and the second brought 6.
Was there a reason behind this?
Or did each future upgrade of the system follow a progressive increase?
Chu Xisheng then looked at the "Martial Arts Treasure Vault" in the lower right corner, where there were only twelve colorful icons left.
Autumn Sky Saber—a Seventh Rank treasure sword, capable of unleashing sword energy; the blade as sharp as autumn frost, able to cut hair at a touch.
This sword had few descriptions but required 5 Martial Arts Points.
Divine Power Pill—temporarily enhances strength by twofold, speed by sixty percent, reflex by sixty percent, lasting 24 hours.
The benefit of this elixir was that it had no side effects and required 1 Martial Arts Point.
All twelve items had their uses, making Chu Xisheng very tempted.
But what moved him the most was the icon at the top.
Virtual Training—in a dreamlike virtual scene to practice martial arts.
The effect of virtual training was the same as real scene training, without consuming physical strength or mental energy.
One Martial Arts Point could be exchanged for one hundred and twenty hours of training time, which was a full ten days.
Chu Xisheng looked deeply at this icon before continuing to look down.
There were no more item icons below, only a line of text—The items in the treasure vault are refreshed once every natural month, and it could also be refreshed once at the cost of one Martial Arts Point.
What Chu Xisheng did not know was that while he was studying the system, in the room next door, separated by a wall, Chu Yunyun was reading a slightly yellowed document.
It was a hand-copied Imperial Mansion Report, and one paragraph caught Chu Yunyun's attention for a long time.
[On the seventh day of April, Great General of Northern Peace, Duke Wei Yuan Qin Muge, died suddenly of illness in his mansion. The Emperor mourned, stopping court sessions for three days. On the eighth, he was posthumously awarded the title of Grand Protector and conferred the title of Dominating Martial King.]
[On the twelfth of April, General of the Cloud Banner Qin Sheng was appointed to succeed Duke Wei Yuan, Great General of Northern Peace, and Governor of the four states of Bing, You, Ji, and Jue.]
[On the seventeenth of April, Qin Xiyang, the younger sister of the former Great General of Northern Peace Qin Muge, was conferred the title of Commandery Princess of Iron Mountain.]
After a long time, Chu Yunyun expressionlessly crumpled the report into bits and silently walked out of the room, glancing into Chu Xisheng's room through the crack in the window.
Inside, Chu Xisheng was sitting on the bed, staring ahead with a silly smile, with drool even dripping from the corner of his mouth.
Chu Yunyun immediately frowned. What on earth was this guy thinking?
Could he be thinking about women? The notorious Prince Kang, known for his lechery, always showed this expression when he saw beauties.
Chu Yunyun inexplicably felt a bit uncomfortable.
She quickly set aside her distracting thoughts, and her body suddenly floated over the courtyard wall.
Chu Yunyun, like an incredibly agile spirit cat, moved swiftly in the night.
She could not use her Martial Arts True Essence, but her body was still that of a First Grade Martial Cultivator's "Leakless Golden Body." She walked silently, her aura concealed to the utmost.
Although the martial masters of Zhengyang Martial Arts Hall patrolled the night along the way, they could not detect her traces.
Even if Chu Yunyun passed right beside them, these martial masters were unaware.
Chu Yunyun finally reached the backyard of the academy and climbed over a stone wall four meters high.
This courtyard, enclosed by high walls, was about twenty meters wide and long, empty of people and devoid of vegetation.
In the center stood two huge black iron pillars.
The iron pillars were ten meters high, each crossing into the ground from left and right.
Chu Yunyun's eyes showed a peculiar light, and then her entire body floated over like a weightless feather, landing between the two iron pillars.
She first cut her wrist, smearing her blood on the surfaces of the pillars. Pressing on both sides simultaneously, she closed her eyes to concentrate.
In an instant, Chu Yunyun heard fierce beast roars, and two strange divine thoughts attacked her mind.
These divine thoughts, though only at the Eighth Rank, were insignificant to her.
However, they were extremely refined and pure, extraordinarily sharp and domineering.
Chu Yunyun vaguely sensed that beneath the ground were two pitch-black fierce beasts pinned by blades, unable to move, roaring angrily towards her.
One had the body of a jackal and the head of a dragon, resembling "Vengeance," while the other looked like a lion, its body full of smoke and fire, resembling "Suan Ni."
Yet their forms were tiny, even smaller than a six-month-old kitten.
These were not real fierce beasts but malevolent spirits formed from the special environment.
However, the malevolent spirits had become sentient, biding their time to transform.
Chu Yunyun couldn't help but smile, a strong desire flickering in her eyes.
At that moment, Chu Yunyun sensed danger.
"Who is there?"
Following this voice, a burly figure swiftly appeared from the night.
Chu Yunyun looked into the distance and saw it was Lei Yuan, the academy's master.
She clicked her tongue in mild discontent, quickly wiped off the blood from the iron pillars, and vanished into the shadows without a trace.
By the time Lei Yuan arrived, the place was empty, with no sign of disturbance.
He couldn't help frowning, wondering if his earlier perception had been a mistake?
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