A broad-shouldered man with dark skin and jet black hair stood before the class.
"Welcome back to school everyone. I hope you all had a restful break."
He wore a stern expression as he addressed the students who were sitting on woven mats around him. They all wore a simple martial arts gi, though theirs was white while his was a deep navy blue with "13," sewn onto his right shoulder.
He was Qin Wu, the martial arts instructor of Class 7 at Haigang City Public School No. 13.
Pale scars criss-crossed his toned arms and extended up to his neck, reminiscent of Lichtenberg scars— like his veins had exploded from inside out. Rumors had it that he had served in the military's special forces, but was forced to retire after an injury.
The deep timbre of his voice filled the training hall again. "We will be doing a review of what you learned before break. The rest of the class will be a silent cultivation session."
With a wave of his hand, a holographic screen flickered to life next to him. He frowned at the staticky interface, waving his hand through it several times before it cleared up. A black silhouette of a person appeared on the screen.
His voice tinged with lingering frustration, Qin Wu asked, "Can anybody tell me about the nature of Internal Energy?"
Several of the students immediately raised their hands. He scanned the room before pointing at one of the students sitting in front. "Yes, Yunfan?"
Chu Yunfan had dark hair and eyes. He wasn't very noticeable and seemed to blend in with everyone else. While near-imperceptible, everyone in the room had an aura from practicing martial arts and cultivation since they were kids. Contrasting with the other students, Yunfan's aura was weak and soft like clay.
"Internal Energy is essentially a highly concentrated form of ATP," he said. His voice was neutral and unremarkable. "After the Great Collision, the introduction of energy of heaven and earth changed the human biology which allowed us to store, release, and use adenosine triphosphate to strengthen our bodies far beyond their original limits."
Qin Wu blinked. Chu Yunfan's explanation had almost been textbook perfect. He had always been a top student, which made him a good candidate for the liberal arts stream. A few of the other students snickered. The instructor shot them a glare and they shut up. Qin Wu nodded and continued.
"…yes, Internal Energy, also called bioenergy, Vital Energy, or Internal Qi, is essentially ATP." He traced the chemical formula (a nitrogenous base, a ribose sugar, and three bonded phosphate groups) onto the screen with his finger. "If you recall from your liberal arts classes, your body breaks glucose down into usable adenosine triphosphate, or ATP."
"Can someone explain why this information is important?"
Chu Yunfan's hand shot up again, but Qin Wu ignored him this time. Instead, he called on another person sitting in the front row. "Go ahead, Siyu."
Tang Siyu was the class monitor. Her silver hair was tied into a knot, with some loose strands framing her sharp, carefully neutral face. Despite the loose martial arts uniform, her body was undeniably beautiful. Needless to say, many students, both boys and girls, were infatuated with her.
"Cultivation requires vast amounts of Internal Qi. However, our body needs ATP to function; if you use too much of your Internal Qi, your body will wither and starve."
Qin Wu nodded approvingly. "That's why during the Common Era, even though humans had long devised methods of cultivation prior to the Great Collision's biological mutation, very few were wealthy enough to purchase spiritual and protein-dense foods to sustain cultivation. Thankfully, with the wonders of modern science and recovered artifacts from the Kunlun Realm, we can now effectively produce enough cultivation resources that even ordinary citizens can practice martial arts!
"Combined with the energy of heaven and earth emerging from the Rifts leading to the Kunlun Realm, the Kunlun Era has become an age of cultivation."
However, the Kunlun Era didn't come without great cost, Chu Yunfan mused to himself. When the three Black Towers, giant obsidian monoliths that dwarfed even the largest Common Era constructions by ten times, appeared three centuries ago, the Catastrophe Era began.
The Towers themselves were the First Catastrophe, the Catastrophe of Earth; without warning, they fell from space at terrifying speeds, landing in Florida, United States; in the middle of the Indian Ocean, closest to Madagascar; and in the middle of the South China Sea. Florida and several surrounding states were instantly reduced to a very large crater by the shockwave. The whole world experienced powerful seismic waves which cleaved continents, awakened dormant volanoes, and caused massive tidal waves. However, Southeast Asia was rocked hardest by the massive tsunamis which completely changed the landscape.
Furthermore, when the Towers passed through the sky, they tore open Rifts to the Kunlun Realm. Torrents of heaven and earth energy flooded onto Earth, which caused Earth's wildlife to mutate, beginning the Catastrophe of Beasts; the less intelligent and spiritually resistant, the more uncontrollable their mutations. These dangerous Spirit Beasts began hunting and eating humans with impunity. Furthermore, the three infamous Beast Kings emerged from the Kunlun Rifts, unrivaled monsters that could shake the heavens and earth with ease.
The final Catastrophe was the Catastrophe of Fire: yang-attributed Qi in the air triggered the United States' nuclear arms stockpile. In an instant, the American Midwest became an immense, radioactive wasteland. Nuclear arms and other warheads were quickly disassembled afterwards, but not before smaller explosions devastated China and Russia. The yang-attributed Qi also rendered firearms, munitions, and armored tanks prone to misfire, making them equally dangerous for the user and the target.
Needless to say, countless lives were lost.
Yunfan refocused as Qin Wu announced, "Let's begin our silent cultivation session."
He closed his eyes and began stimulating his Internal Energy.
***
"Remember, the end of year examination will be coming in three months. We will integrate martial techniques into the curriculum to prepare the martial arts stream aspirants, starting tomorrow!"
The class cheered, their eyes practically buzzing with excitement. Even those who were going to join the liberal arts stream were ecstatic. Qin Wu silenced them again with a wave before continuing.
"Those of you aiming for the liberal arts stream, I want to encourage you all to continue cultivation for your immune system, health, and longevity!
"For those who are interested, the Haigang Academy of Sciences' traveling exhibition is displaying Ancient Zenith relics at the auditorium today. You can visit after school ends!"
Following Qin Wu's announcements, class was dismissed and they dispersed.
As the other students began bustling towards the changing rooms, Yunfan followed them. He sighed with disappointment. Just like almost every other young boy, he had dreamed that he would grow up into a fierce warrior who would protect the Cities. However, reality was different from childish aspirations; only those who had reached the seventh minor stage of Physical Refinement could even join the martial arts stream.
Cultivation was broken up into several major realms and a multitude of minor stages. The first, most fundamental realm was the Physical Refinement Realm. According to the famed cultivator and author of Striking the Hexagram Lines, Lu the Progenitor, "Developing the mind alone will leave you with all the answers with no means to accomplish them; developing the body alone will leave you with power and misguided purposes; developing both body and mind is the true path towards splitting the seas."
Fundamentally, cultivators who aspire towards the Martial Dao require strong bodies. Training martial arts could be compared to crossing an incredibly vast ocean, with the body acting as the seafaring vessel; one leak could mark the beginning of exponentially serious issues. Thus, prior to even beginning the Physical Refinement Realm, high school students were forced to participate in rigorous exercise in their first year to prepare them for cultivation and only began dipping their toes into true martial arts in their second year.
The Physical Refinement Realm was divided into nine minor stages: Muscle Shredding, Bone Condensing, Skin Thickening, Tendon Stretching, Inner Strengthening, Joint Popping, Blood Purifying, Energy Gathering, and Observation of Self. Following the Physical Refinement Realm was the Internal Aperture Realm, which was followed by the Qi Sea Realm. Yunfan didn't know much about the Realms beyond the Qi Sea Realm.
Only those who had reached the seventh minor stage of Physical Refinement— the Blood Purifying stage —could enter the martial arts stream. Chu Yunfan had only reached the fourth minor stage, Tendon Stretching; he was considered slightly below average amongst liberal arts students. Meanwhile, the class vice-monitor, Feng Deying, had reached the eighth stage. Rumors said that Tang Siyu had already reached Observation of Self. If that was true, then her talent would be considered monstrous amongst the Haigang City public schools. She could likely stand toe-to-toe with rich cultivators from private academies or even Donghai City.
Compared to these rising stars, Yunfan knew that his chances were next to none. He laughed to himself, self-pityingly amused that he even thought he could stand next to them in any field other than liberal arts.
I've made my peace with that, he bitterly smiled to himself. I can still help on the Kunlun exploration frontier as an archaeological expert like Mom did.
He clutched the jade-green pendant under his shirt sadly. A little moisture gathered at the corners of his eyes, but he quickly wiped it away with the back of his hand before quickly changing out of his uniform and making his way towards the school entrance.
"Yunfan! Yunfan!"
Hearing his name, he turned around to see Gao Hongzhi.
"How was your break, Gao Ge?" Yunfan immediately smiled, his melancholy dissolving like mist under sunlight. He familiarly slapped the other boy's broad back.
"Great! My father bought me some high-end supplements, and they've helped my cultivation quite a lot! How about you?"
Gao Hongzhi was much larger than Yunfan, standing about five centimeters taller and twice as wide. Although he was chubby and his uniform looked tight to the brink of ripping, Yunfan knew that he was deceptively strong.
"Same old, same old. My little sister kept nagging me to go outside." He sighed, disgruntled.
"You could use the sunlight; your complexion is ghoulish. You'll scare off all the girls with your face."
"Shut up," Yunfan snorted. "At least I don't have my own gravitational pull."
"Alright, alright. That one was deserved." Hongzhi laughed, the buttons on his uniform nearly popping right off. "Anyways, want to go check out the Ancient Zenith relics exhibit? Aren't you interested?"
Yunfan nodded. "Sure, why not? Let me text my dad and sister, so they can start dinner without me."
You: You guys can start dinner without me; I'm going to visit a school exhibit so I'll be a little late.
Dad: Ok. Take care.
Sis: Tell me about it when you get home! Love you <3
He chuckled, smiling at the messages on his smartwatch before turning it off. Looking up at Gao Hongzhi, he nodded. "Let's go."