"Thank you, Uncle Li, I'm going to rest in my room now."
Li Fei stood up.
"Take this plate of strawberries with you."
Zhang Yuqing followed, saying.
So Li Fei picked up the fruit plate from the table and returned to his room.
In the living room, Li Lei's expression was somber:
"If it weren't for Xiao Fei's father taking that knife for me, I would have died on the battlefield long ago and wouldn't have this family business. I promised Xiao Fei's father I would treat Xiao Fei as my own, but now..."
How could he not see Li Fei's intention? He knew Li Fei didn't want to make things difficult for himself, which is why he initiated the idea of not applying for college and instead going to the Martial Arts Hall.
Zhang Yuqing held her husband's hand and consoled:
"Have we not treated Xiao Fei well enough over the years? Everything Tian Yu has, have I not provided the same for Xiao Fei? Even in normal families, if there is only one opportunity, it should be given to the one with more talent, and you have seen Tian Yu's talent."
"Um."
Li Lei nodded.
He thought for a moment, then turned his head to Zhang Yuqing: "Xiao Fei must also feel unwilling, otherwise he wouldn't have thought of going to the Martial Arts Hall. He certainly wants to compete for a recommendation to college from the Martial Arts Hall. No matter what, we should still support him to give it a try."
Zhang Yuqing understood her husband's meaning.
Although going to the Martial Arts Hall was not as expensive as attending the Zhi Ge Department in university, practicing martial arts still required money everywhere, and Li Lei didn't want to deprive Li Fei; this meant that the family would have to spend a significant amount more.
Zhang Yuqing looked at Li Lei, smiling gently:
"You are the head of the family, what you say goes."
...
In his room, Li Fei sat at his own desk.
On the bookshelf to his left were various books, most of which related to martial arts, such as: "Human Body Vital Points Diagrams", "Thirty-Six Ways of Grappling Third Edition", "Complete Collection of Da Lan Dynasty Martial Arts"...
These were all textbooks from the Zhi Ge Department in the Da Lan Dynasty.
Li Fei now held "The Great Blue Chronicles", a book about the history of the Da Lan Dynasty.
"This world is truly fascinating."
As he read, Li Fei couldn't help but sigh.
He was not originally from this world.
After graduating from university in his past life, he entered the workplace. By being careful and thorough in his work, he never made a single mistake in ten years, and finally had the opportunity to be promoted.
But at that time, he accidentally uncovered a secret, seeing things he should not have seen.
Being cautious and meticulous for ten years, he still couldn't help but act impulsively once, writing a whistleblowing letter.
After that, his promotion opportunity vanished, and he was targeted in the workplace, bullied!
All the hardest and most tiring tasks were thrown his way, and all the holiday shifts fell to him.
Every day, overtime, overtime, overtime... was also filled with various scoldings, taking the blame, enduring immense mental pressure.
Li Fei had thought about resigning, but being over thirty, it was tough for him to find another job.
Thus, he endured for another two years and died suddenly one night working overtime.
When he woke up again, Li Fei found himself having transmigrated!
The technology of this world was only equivalent to the 19th century of his previous life; the most powerful country was still a feudal empire called the Da Lan Dynasty, considering itself the Heavenly Dynasty, and had been established for over 500 years.
Initially, the Da Lan Dynasty was an imperial system, later transitioning to a dual monarchy constitutional system, governed jointly by the Emperor and the Cabinet Ministers.
In over 500 years, many significant events had occurred in the history of the Da Lan Dynasty, with two major events in recent decades.
The first event happened seventeen years ago when the Da Lan Dynasty went to war with several Western countries simultaneously, which led to the allied forces nearly reaching the gates of the Imperial City.
In the end, the most powerful Teal Blue Iron Cavalry of the Da Lan Dynasty defeated the allied forces outside the Imperial City, saving the Da Lan Dynasty.
Although the Da Lan Dynasty ultimately won the battle, the strength of the Western Countries alarmed many, leading to the next major event—modern reforms.
The content of the reforms involved adopting Western culture and technology in various aspects, striving to "learn from the barbarians to control the barbarians."
In the span of seventeen years, the Da Lan Dynasty had undergone many changes due to the influence of Western culture, such as the electric light in Li Fei's room, the radio on the desk, and the bicycle and car parked outside—all products of recent reforms.
These items were nothing special to Li Fei, who was accustomed to high-tech products in his previous life, but what really intrigued him was the extraordinary power of this world.
According to the Great Blue Chronicles, the weapons used by the allied forces included rifled guns with a range of 500 meters, dubbed the "End of Cavalry Era" heavy machine guns, mortars with the largest caliber of 70mm and a range of 3000 meters, as well as armored vehicles, warships, and airplanes!
Such armaments could easily sweep through an army still using cold weapons.
However, history recorded that one hundred twenty thousand allied troops were defeated by ten thousand Iron Cavalry and were utterly routed!
This loss deterred Western countries from provocation for a full seventeen years.
This revelation made Li Fei realize the extraordinary power of this world was no small matter.
This world possessed both martial arts and magic.
Within the Da Lan Dynasty's Six Ministries of the Cabinet, there was even a department specifically known as the Righteous Law Department, where everyone practiced high-level magic.
The Da Lan Dynasty was established on martial prowess, placing even greater emphasis on martial arts.
However, details regarding the extraordinary were vague in the Great Blue Chronicles, merely glossed over with a few words.
Although his predecessor had chosen the Zhi Ge Department when enrolling in a specialized secondary school, the teachers there hardly mentioned anything related to martial artists, only saying,
"If you manage to get into university in the future, the Zhi Ge Department professors there will tell you what a true Martial Artist is."
Li Fei was naturally interested in magic as well, but since the path to it was shrouded in mystery and the Zhi Ge Department of the twelve universities was a clear and attainable Martial Arts Hall, he was determined to get into the university's Zhi Ge Department.
He wanted to become powerful—to no longer be trampled underfoot and manipulated like in his previous life!
Touching his chest, Li Fei concentrated and immediately sensed a pale blue pearl residing within him.
When he had crossed over to this world, this object was already inside him, and he was able to connect with it mentally at any time and instinctively extract information from it.
If this information were to be expressed in words, it would read as:
[Myriad Blood Pearl
Rank: Level 1 36%
Blood Soul: 10]
The Myriad Blood Pearl was closely related to Li Fei's life, quantifying his vitality into ten Blood Souls.
In simple terms, these ten Blood Souls represented Li Fei's life force, or in other words, his health bar.
Without the health bar, he would die.
But as long as it remained, no matter how fatal the injury Li Fei received, he wouldn't die instantly.
Most importantly, the Myriad Blood Pearl could automatically absorb energy from the body to level up, which would increase the number of Blood Souls and unlock other abilities!
With such an item, Li Fei was naturally filled with confidence.
Moreover, he felt that the Myriad Blood Pearl might not only strengthen his resilience to damage but could also aid in his martial arts cultivation.
In the memories of his predecessor, there was an episode:
Two months ago, his vocational school had organized a physical examination.
Initially, the content of the check-up was the same as before, consisting of regular physical tests, but at the end, each student was required to ingest a bottle of poisonous potion.
After taking the potion, everyone's body reacted differently.
Some people had severe reactions, their whole bodies breaking out in allergies, foaming at the mouth; others merely experienced mild dizziness and nausea.
When someone felt like they couldn't take it anymore, the teacher in charge of the exam would administer a pre-prepared antidote.
Ultimately, based on each person's physical reaction and the duration they endured, scores were assigned.
The test scores determined who was eligible to apply for the university's Zhi Ge Department; only those graded C or above qualified.
His predecessor's score was Grade B, which was considered quite good.
It was based on this memory that Li Fei speculated that the Myriad Blood Pearl could be beneficial for martial arts cultivation.
"Perhaps this world's martial arts cultivation requires the intake of certain harmful substances, so the school preemptively tests each person's reaction to the medication. Having the Myriad Blood Pearl could thicken my health bar and enhance my resilience, perhaps qualifying me as one in ten thousand!"
With these thoughts, Li Fei was filled with anticipation.
...