Chapter 43 Is This a Martial Arts Academy?

Hearing Zhang Kui’s words, Zhao Rui suddenly understood. Unbeknownst to him, he had actually become the very first freshman in this cohort to enter the Martial Arts Team.

He figured that Counselor Liu Jie’s tireless efforts behind the scenes must have played a huge role, alongside the official endorsement of President Hao.

"The core members of the Martial Arts Team are mostly seniors from the third and fourth years. Us sophomores are basically just here to do the odd jobs..."

Zhang Kui explained as they walked. Before long, the two of them arrived in front of a two-story building near the back. While it looked like a traditional ancient structure on the outside, its entire framework was cast in cement, resembling a fortress.

"You need facial recognition and iris scanning to get in and out of here!"

After scanning his face at the entrance security device, Zhang Kui led Zhao Rui into the small building.

The interior construction of the building was quite modern. A long corridor was flanked by numerous independent rooms, some of which featured heavy-duty protective steel doors.

"Follow me to measure your baseline data first, and then we'll get your information registered!"

Zhang Kui scanned his face in front of a thick iron door, and it automatically slid open to both sides.

Zhao Rui stepped inside, only to see rows of cool blue-and-white lights flowing across the walls like liquid mercury, dazzling and brilliant.

Several holographic screens floated from the hexagonal honeycomb-textured ceiling, with data streams expanding and reorganizing in the air like ink dropped into water.

"..."

Zhao Rui felt a deep shock in his heart. Was this really a martial arts academy? If he hadn't experienced it firsthand, he would have thought it was a technology institute.

In the corner of the room stood three transparent cylindrical pod-like structures. Optical fibers covering their surfaces pulsed with a breathing-like rhythm, as if sealing away the profound nebulae from the deepest parts of the galaxy.

The light-guiding fibers hidden beneath the floor wove together into a flowing star map, sending ripples of energy waves outward with every step Zhao Rui and Zhang Kui took.

"Senior Brother, what is this place?"

Zhao Rui stared in astonishment, feeling as though he were living inside a sci-fi movie from his past life. Damn it, this was way too awesome.

"The Tenglong No. 3 Martial Arts Analysis Chamber developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Cool, right? I was completely stunned when I came here for the first time, haha!"

Zhang Kui laughed happily, seemingly recalling his own awkwardness during his first visit.

"Yeah, it's definitely quite impressive."

Zhao Rui nodded.

Zhang Kui walked up to an operation console, tapped away rapidly for a moment, and then gestured for Zhao Rui to take off his shoes and step barefoot into one of the pod-like instruments.

Hearing this, Zhao Rui followed his instructions and stepped inside. He placed a helmet-like device over his head, grabbed two handles with both hands, and stood upright in a star-shaped posture.

"Circulate your internal energy. Use the method of internal energy output you are most familiar with. Don't worry about crushing anything; everything is made of high-strength alloy."

Zhang Kui's voice echoed inside the sealed chamber.

Zhao Rui followed his instructions and secretly circulated his internal energy, feeling an inexplicable current pass through his entire body, stimulating the opened meridians within him bit by bit.

This feeling?
It was strangely comfortable!

Zhao Rui gathered his thoughts, attentively sensing the flow of this stimulation and the path of the energy circulation.

Outside the chamber, in front of the data display instrument, Zhang Kui frowned slightly. Looking at the jumping data charts and multi-dimensional stereoscopic human figures, he muttered involuntarily: "My junior brother's talent is pretty average!"

"Meridian permeability rate fifty percent, Dantian expansion speed lower-middle, internal energy viscosity seventy percent..."

"Though, there is one acupuncture point that has actually bridged the connection between heaven and earth. Heh, interesting!"

This lasted for about five or six minutes before Zhang Kui turned off the testing instrument and called Zhao Rui out.

"Senior Brother, how is my talent?"

Zhao Rui was still quite curious about this awesome instrument, so he couldn't help asking.

"Not bad, pretty good. Let's go to the registration room to input your biometric information!"

Zhang Kui said casually, his tone clearly perfunctory.

"Uh, Senior Brother, your perfunctoriness is way too obvious. Is it really that bad?"

"It's not that bad. Among the current team members, you still hold the number one spot."

"..."

This senior brother, who looked so broad-shouldered and imposing, turned out to be quite a joker when he spoke.

Zhao Rui sighed. In fact, he was mentally prepared; if his talent were truly exceptional, he would have directly tested into the martial arts academy straight out of high school.

If not for the blessing of the system panel, he estimated that at this very moment, he would at most be at the level of a tier-three martial artist.

"Don't worry, at least you've unblocked one acupuncture point, which already puts you ahead of many third-year seniors."

Zhang Kui offered a word of comfort, and the two of them left the testing room and headed to another chamber.

"Old Deng, we have a new member. I brought him here to register."

Entering the room, Zhang Kui hunched over and took a peek inside. Seeing an old man lying on a recliner, he immediately put on a flattering smile and spoke.

The old man had a stubbly beard, graying hair, and a face full of wrinkles. His eyes were half-open and half-closed, as if he could never get enough sleep.

"Oh, the machine by the door—turn it on yourself. The password is..."

Without even turning his head or glancing in their direction, the old man waved his hand dismissively.

Zhang Kui tugged at the corners of his eyes at Zhao Rui, signaling him to keep the noise down. The two of them then stealthily walked over to a desk and turned on the computer along with the connected equipment in the back.

Registering the name, identity information, capturing facial data, iris data, fingerprint data...

After a series of operations, Zhang Kui said to the old man's back, "Old Deng, we're heading out now. I'll shut down the computer for you!"

"Go on, go on!"

The old man was too lazy to even lift his arm. He muttered a few words under his breath and said no more.

Seeing this, Zhang Kui hurriedly signaled Zhao Rui to close the door and quickly left the registration room.

"Senior Brother, who was that..."

"I don't know!"

"..."

You don't know him, yet you acted like he was some worldly master and completely fooled me.

Zhao Rui couldn't help rolling his eyes. It would probably be best to keep his distance from this senior brother in the future.

"The senior brother who received me the last time I came was just like that. Next year when the freshmen arrive, you can handle the reception!"

"Â... Senior Brother, I'm a freshman too!"

"Oh, I forgot! No worries, practice makes perfect. You surely wouldn't want me, your senior brother, to do it again, right?"

Zhang Kui cheerfully passed the future registration duties onto Zhao Rui.

After completing the registration, the two returned the way they came and stepped back into the main hall.

Seeing them return, Instructor Wang casually tossed over a USB flash drive. As Zhao Rui reached out and caught it, the instructor said, "Inside is the *Mind-Clearing Formula*, suitable for martial arts cultivation above tier seven and below the Grandmaster realm. Go back, memorize it thoroughly, and practice diligently!"

With that, he waved his hand, signaling Zhao Rui to leave on his own.

Knowing better, Zhao Rui bid farewell to Instructor Wang and Zhang Kui, then walked out along the bluestone path.

When he reached the entrance, before he even got close, the large gate creaked and automatically swung open to both sides.

Zhao Rui's facial muscles twitched slightly. What high-level internal energy was this? Wasn't this just an automatic sensor door!

Inside the main hall!

Instructor Wang looked at the data table displayed on the computer monitor, hesitated slightly, and then asked Zhang Kui, "What was your meridian permeability rate when you first arrived?"

"Teacher, eighty-six percent!"

Zhang Kui replied concisely and clearly.

"Alright, that's enough. Go back to whatever you were doing."

With a wave of his hand, he dismissed Zhang Kui.

...

The evening glow slowly descended over the skies of Dongqi University, enveloping the brightly lit campus buildings in twilight.

At this moment, Zhao Rui was in his dorm room playing a mobile game with his roommates. They had attended two classes in the afternoon and had just returned after finishing dinner.

As they were deeply engrossed in the game, someone knocked on the dorm door. Le Bin was sitting closest to the door, so he pulled it open with one hand while keeping his eyes glued to his phone.

"Excuse me, is Zhao Rui here?"

Two unfamiliar male students walked in.

Hearing this, Zhao Rui raised his head slightly and replied, "I am Zhao Rui. Who are you guys?"

"Oh, we're from the Student Union. My name is Luo Zhengwen, and I'm the vice president of the Student Union. I'd like to talk to you about something. Is this a convenient time?"

The leading young man wore square-framed glasses and looked refined and scholarly.

"The Student Union?"

Zhao Rui frowned. He didn't have any interactions with them.

However, since they were the "administrative" organization of the student body, Zhao Rui smiled, put down his game, and nodded. "It's convenient. Should we talk in here, or go outside?"

Seeing that Zhao Rui agreed, the visitor let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "Let's talk outside the dorm building!"

Zhao Rui nodded and accompanied the two out of the dormitory building.

Arriving at the small plaza near the entrance, Luo Zhengwen cut straight to the point: "Here's the thing: we came to invite you to join the Student Union. The moment you join, you'll be appointed as a vice president."

"Uh!"

Zhao Rui was momentarily stunned, but he quickly figured out their intentions and smiled. "I'm just an ordinary student. I won't cause any trouble for you guys."

During military training, Zhao Rui had practically become the representative of the freshman cohort, and on top of that, his personal combat power rivaled that of the students in the Martial Arts Academy.

How could the people in the Student Union not pay attention to someone like that?

Even though they didn't know whether Zhao Rui would turn out to be a thorn in their side, they wanted to take preventive measures and pull him into their organization beforehand.

By making everyone part of a community of shared interests, wouldn't most potential problems be resolved?

"Our president has already communicated with the counselor, and the teacher also recognizes your abilities."

"No thanks. I'm usually quite busy and don't want to join the Student Union."

"This..."

"It's fine, I'll head back first."

Zhao Rui smiled, turned around, and walked back toward his dorm.

"This..."

After Zhao Rui left, the staff member following behind Luo Zhengwen asked in confusion.

"It's fine. We've said what we needed to say. Let's go! I'll report back to the president."

Luo Zhengwen said, then turned and left the small plaza.

Back in the dorm room, Jian Chongsheng asked out of curiosity, "What did the Student Union want with you?"

"It's nothing much! Just some matters concerning the Martial Arts Academy."

Zhao Rui smiled without elaborating.

"Oh!"

Jian Chongsheng didn't understand martial arts matters, and seeing that Zhao Rui didn't want to talk about it much, he closed his mouth.

In fact, he understood in his heart that Zhao Rui was not walking the same path as them. Although they shared a dorm room, their daily lives were completely different.

Even their future lives would follow different trajectories. Even if Zhao Rui made no further progress in martial arts, given his current level, he would certainly venture out into society and do very well for himself.

Still, since fate brought them together in the same dorm room, maintaining a good relationship was naturally the right choice.

Students were far more realistic than adults imagined.

The night passed peacefully.

The next morning, after finishing his professional classes, Zhao Rui grabbed his course schedule and rushed over to the Martial Arts Academy.

Though it was already his second time there, Zhao Rui still marveled at the antique-style Zen courtyard.

Without a doubt, a tremendous amount of money must have been spent on it!