’This strength isn’t right. Yu Fei wasn’t this strong before!’

Gao Yunxiang’s battle plan was the same as before. He would defend early on to wear down Yu Fei’s Qi Blood. Once Yu Fei was tired, he would swiftly defeat him and then give him a good thrashing!

But the force of that last punch was too great, far exceeding his expectations. It caused his defense to waver slightly!

BANG!

The perceptive Yu Fei seized the opportunity. He mixed the forces of the Single-Line Pierce Style and Yin Stream Shattered Jade, unifying them with the Dragon and Snake Double Stack. It created a surprising hint of a state where hardness and softness were perfectly blended.

This was the first time he had ever used it in actual combat!

Gao Yunxiang had never encountered something so advanced. He had always operated in amateur martial arts circles. For years, he had been called Mr. Gao within his own little world, which had made him a bit arrogant.

In his circles, very few people could ever master a single martial art technique.

Struck by the hard force and twisted by the yin force, Gao Yunxiang’s defense instantly broke. He could no longer maintain his stance. Yu Fei seized the advantage, giving Mr. Gao no chance, and ended the spar with a knee strike!

Gao Yunxiang knelt on one knee, catching his breath, before Yu Fei pulled him up.

He rubbed his chest with one hand and asked joyfully,

"You broke through the Flesh Gate!?"

He was absolutely certain. Only a breakthrough to a new realm could cause such a massive increase in physical attributes in a short time, bringing about a new stage of life.

"Yep!"

Yu Fei nodded with a smile.

"I prepared a little surprise for you."

Gao Yunxiang playfully punched him in the chest.

"Attaboy, you little rascal!"

He looked Yu Fei up and down, calculating aloud,

"It’s only March now, and you still have fifteen months until the college entrance exams. Based on the progress of the other promising young martial artists in our county in past years... the Tendon Gate is a bit quicker, say two months. The Bone Gate takes some grinding, so that’s about five months. And let’s be conservative and say five months for the Blood Gate, too."

"Hmm... so that means, by this time next year, you’ll be a Second-Realm Martial Artist?"

"My god, a Second-Realm Martial Artist, and before the college entrance exams!"

"Yu Fei! You could very well become a legend in Tianning County, young man!"

"If you reach the Second Realm in your martial arts cultivation, you’re a shoo-in for one of the Seven Greats!"

Gao Yunxiang was overjoyed, unable to stop looking Yu Fei over.

Every student from the Seven Greats was a true prodigy. Throughout the years, over seventy percent of all the figures in the Yu Kingdom who achieved the rank of Grandmaster or higher had graduated from one of the Seven Greats.

After a moment of thought, Gao Yunxiang asked,

"Have you thought about which one you want to attend?"

Yu Fei put a hand to his forehead, speechless.

"Mr. Gao, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Besides, I just passed the Flesh Gate. Who knows what will happen down the line?"

"What do you mean, ’who knows’?"

In Gao Yunxiang’s eyes, Yu Fei getting into one of the Seven Greats was a sure thing!

"Let me tell you, son. The Seven Greats of our Yu Kingdom are all top-tier Martial Arts Universities, but they have different specializations. I remember someone from our county got into one of them, Shenhan University, six years ago. What was his name again?"

Gao Yunxiang looked down, his brow furrowed in thought.

"Shenhan University?"

Yu Fei’s curiosity was piqued upon hearing the name again.

"My homeroom teacher mentioned that too! Mr. Gao, why is it called Shenhan?"

Gao Yunxiang threw up his hands, giving up on trying to remember.

"How should I know? I never went there."

The name Shenhan struck a chord with Yu Fei. He had been thinking about it ever since Mr. Kun mentioned it last time, but it hadn’t been the right time to ask.

’Is it *that* Han?’

A sense of longing filled Yu Fei.

...

On his way home, Yu Fei bought a lot of groceries. Since receiving financial support from the patriarch of the Du family last year, he had been spending nearly every day after school and every weekend at the Aurora Martial Arts Hall. When he got hungry, he would just have a meal of the medicinal cuisine there. Although the food at the Aurora Martial Arts Hall was high quality, and perfect in color, aroma, and taste, it still had that "restaurant" flavor.

Having broken through the Flesh Gate and officially entered the Tendon Refining stage today, Yu Fei planned to cook a celebratory meal for the whole family himself.

The reason people never tire of home-cooked meals isn’t that they’re prepared perfectly, but that they’re made with care. And it’s only when you’re with family that you can truly let down all your guards and enjoy a meal.

Mr. Yu got home first. Ever since his promotion, he had become a "noble salaried drone," which meant he no longer had to work overtime.

Mr. Yu had been in a great mood lately. Whenever he talked to someone, he would inevitably steer the conversation toward his precious son after just a few sentences.

The first people in this world to love you unconditionally are your parents, and they are very likely to be the last.

"Dad, welcome home!"

"Feifei, you’re home early today! Did you break through the Flesh Refining stage?"

Although he had already read the message Yu Fei sent him countless times, he couldn’t resist asking again.

"I did! The transformation period ended at noon today, and I went to spar with Mr. Gao this afternoon."

"You have to properly thank your Mr. Gao in the future. When you passed the Skin Gate, he gave you that energy liquid. Then he started taking you to the martial arts hall to train and teach you. We owe him a huge favor. I was thinking we should find some time to treat him to a meal!"

Yu Fei said with a smile,

"Sure, Dad. You pick the time, and we can all get together with Mr. Gao and his family!"

He didn’t mention that he had just defeated Gao Yunxiang today. In his father’s eyes, Gao Yunxiang was a Martial Artist who had passed four gates. With his many years of training, he was bound to be experienced and a great help to Yu Fei.

At dinnertime, the happiest person was Yu Wei. Because Mr. Yu was a terrible cook, the meals she had been eating lately were indescribably bad, and now she was starving for something good.

The family was full of warmth and laughter. They shared interesting stories from work and school and talked excitedly about the future. A simple life filled with love—this was what it meant to be alive.

Yu Fei had a premonition that scenes like this might become rarer in the future.

...

During his martial arts class, Yu Fei practiced the Ox Subduing Pile Skill again. He could feel the Qi Blood circulating deeper within his body.

After the Skin Gate, the Tendon Gate was the easiest stage to pass. The greatest difficulty in refining the tendons was willpower.

Because refining the tendons was incredibly painful!

Yu Fei’s limbs trembled slightly. Sweat dripped from the young man under the sun, not from physical exertion, but purely from the torment of excruciating pain.

He gritted his teeth and endured it without a sound.

The process of refining the tendons was like taking a small file and repeatedly scraping it against the major tendons inside his body. After the refinement, the damaged tendons would absorb the essence of his supplements and grow stronger. It was an endless cycle of destruction and rebirth.

The Tendon Gate training process was the ultimate test of willpower. For those who couldn’t endure the pain, this stage would be prolonged even further.

An ordinary person usually took three to four months to complete the Tendon Gate. Someone with stronger willpower could shorten this process to two months.

But Yu Fei had set a goal for himself: one month!

’It’s only pain.’ He didn’t lack Vitality Elixirs now, so he had even more reason to face the difficulty head-on.

From what he understood, students admitted to the Seven Greats would undergo a potential assessment before matriculation. This would determine the resource allocation and treatment they received after enrolling.

Of course, this potential assessment would be conducted again after enrollment. It was a system of survival of the fittest; one evaluation wouldn’t seal a person’s fate forever.

Nevertheless, Yu Fei still wanted to raise his rating as much as possible. While he was confident he could catch up and surpass others later, resources didn’t just appear out of thin air.