Chapter 49: Seok-woo’s Commanding Presence
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Shi Yu felt inexplicably moved.
Li Luoke reminded him of the azure boy from his original world, the one who had tirelessly poured out the sweat of his youth.
One day, a lotus would surely bloom.
“I remember that you’re being raised by your grandparents, right?”
After finishing their sword practice, the two sat on a bench in the training hall while Shi Yu asked about Li Luoke’s family.
“Yes. My parents died when I was five.”
“Five... Just like me.” Shi Yu sighed.
Li Luoke lowered his head and slowly said, “Both of my parents were martial artists. During that invasion by the Darkworld, they saved many people before being surrounded by the Darkworld tribe. They never made it out.”
“All these years, my only goal has been to become a martial artist, strengthen myself, and avenge my parents!”
His gaze was resolute as he clenched his fists tightly.
Shi Yu listened in silence.
After a moment, he made a decision.
“Would you like to cultivate faster?” Shi Yu asked.
Li Luoke was startled. “Who wouldn’t want to progress faster?”
“Unfortunately, I’ve already reached my limit at my current pace. No matter how much I want to hurry, I can’t.”
Shi Yu rose to his feet and said slowly, “You know that there are several independent training rooms in our school’s martial arts hall, right?”
“Of course.” Li Luoke blinked, unsure what Shi Yu meant.
“There’s one training room that I’m currently using.”
Shi Yu explained, “During this period, I’m attending the city’s training camp at Central South University.”
“So I’m not in the training room during the day.”
“I thought that since it would be empty anyway, leaving it unused would simply be a waste of resources.”
“When I’m not there, you can use my private training room. Your cultivation will progress faster there!”
“It’s a full ten percent faster than cultivating in the main hall!”
Li Luoke listened with his mouth hanging open, frozen for quite some time.
When he came to his senses, he hurriedly shook his head. “How can I do that? The school assigned it to you. How could I use it?”
Shi Yu smiled. “If it were anyone else, I naturally wouldn’t do this.”
“I’m doing it because you’re worth the trouble.”
“Those who help themselves will always find others willing to help them!”
Li Luoke raised his head and gazed at Shi Yu. The tall figure stood bathed in the training hall’s lights, radiating a faint glow.
“But... But I’m not entitled to use it...”
“If I use it, what will the others say when they see me?”
Although Li Luoke was deeply grateful to Shi Yu, reason told him that he could not use the training room.
What right did he have to use it?
It would be one thing if people talked about him. But if Shi Yu became the subject of gossip as well, Li Luoke could never accept it.
“You’re not entitled to it?”
Shi Yu turned around abruptly and looked down at Li Luoke.
“With spiritual aptitude below level eight, you surpassed the elite students from the city training camp and advanced ahead of them.”
“That is your qualification!”
“You are the first to arrive at this training hall and the last to leave. Your determination and the effort you have given—”
“That is your qualification!”
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“More importantly...”
Shi Yu strode forward and placed a hand on Li Luoke’s shoulder.
“Luoke, you’re a brother I acknowledge!”
“That is your qualification!”
Li Luoke stared blankly at the handsome, imposing young man before him. His lips trembled faintly. He wanted to say something, yet had no idea what.
Shi Yu was brimming with forceful confidence. He suddenly waved his hand.
“If anyone dares make irresponsible remarks, come tell me.”
“Have them come straight to me. I’ll have a good talk with them!”
Shi Yu felt utterly at ease.
Who would dare gossip?
What a joke. The vice principal of Yali High School was his sister!
From the principal on down, which dean or grade supervisor would not stand behind him?
At that moment, Shi Yu had the air of an overbearing young master.
“Brother Yu...”
Looking at Shi Yu’s tall figure, Li Luoke was overwhelmed with emotion. Somehow, his eyes began to grow moist.
He knew that if he refused now, it would truly be too affected.
“Brother Yu, thank you! Thank you!”
Li Luoke repeated those words again and again, unable to express the gratitude in his heart.
...
After sending the diligent young man away, Shi Yu returned to the training room.
To him, helping Li Luoke was no different from the way Sister Song and the others had helped him.
Those who help others will also be helped in turn.
The path of martial cultivation was long and arduous. Walking it alone was simply too difficult.
Especially on the battlefield of another world—without reliable comrades at one’s back, how could anyone advance fearlessly into battle?
“Li Luoke, I’ll be watching. Let’s see just how far you can go!”
Shi Yu murmured, then closed his eyes and began cultivating the Five Peaks Essence-Gathering Art.
The vital energy of heaven and earth gradually surged toward him.
Cultivate. Improve!
When it came to diligence and hard work, he was no inferior to anyone!
...
The clock struck midnight.
Shi Yu slowly opened his eyes, sensing the abundant power constantly surging through his body.
His cultivation had finally advanced to the fifth level of the Essence-Absorbing Realm!
Excluding the time spent in Journey to the West and counting only the time on Blue Star, it had been merely one week since he had officially begun cultivating.
One week, and he was already at the fifth level of the Essence-Absorbing Realm!
If word got out, it would truly be astonishing beyond belief!
Even the word “breakneck” was insufficient to describe such a frightening rate of progress.
Yet Shi Yu’s expression remained as calm as ever, as if this were nothing worth mentioning.
The road of martial cultivation still stretched before him like a hundred thousand mountains.
He had merely crossed a small hill.
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At this rate, by the time he returned from Journey to the West next time, his cultivation would rise to the seventh level of the Essence-Absorbing Realm.
Looking farther ahead, even at a slower pace, he would absolutely be able to advance to the tenth level of the Essence-Absorbing Realm by the end of July.
In other words, in one month he would complete a journey that took others an entire year.
And by “others,” he meant students with outstanding aptitude.
At that moment, Shi Yu suddenly realized that Foundation Establishment was not far away from him...
Once August arrived, as long as his spiritual soul and physical constitution remained balanced, he could begin attempting Foundation Establishment!
“This...”
Being able to establish his foundation was certainly a good thing. But he was supposed to take the national college entrance examination next year!
The prodigious young man suddenly felt that Great Xia’s cultivation requirements for the college entrance examination were highly unreasonable.
It seemed that his appearance had created a bug in Great Xia’s examination system.
Had they never considered the possibility of someone with exceptional aptitude who was also extraordinarily diligent?
This was a waste of both talent and time!
Shi Yu continued grumbling to himself.
After pondering for a long while, he decided that only one solution could satisfy both sides.
After establishing his foundation, he would use the Void Spirit Sealing Art to suppress his cultivation back down to the Essence-Absorbing Realm.
Then he would unseal it during the examination and astonish the world with a single feat!
Well... That left only one question: where could he find a suitable Foundation Establishment technique?
Sister Song had said earlier that she was searching for the best and most suitable technique, but he had no idea how far she had gotten.
After thinking for a while, Shi Yu decided to advance his cultivation to perfection in the Essence-Absorbing Realm first.
When one reached the foot of the mountain, a path would surely appear.
He looked inward toward his sea of consciousness.
The Divine Demon System’s current interface was as follows:
[Divine Demon Contract System]
[Level: 1]
[Host: Shi Yu]
[Contracted Divine Demon: Spiritual Illumination Stone Monkey, the Handsome Monkey King]
[Divine Ability: Celestial-Fallen Bedrock Spirit Body]
[Skills: Honor of Kings, Void Spirit Sealing Art, Celestial Dipper Cosmic Staff Art, Second Form, 23%; Star-Stepping Voidbody Technique, First Stage, 12%]
[Treasures: Balance Ring-Ruler, Enlightenment Jade Slip]
[Martial Cultivation: Essence-Absorbing Realm, Fifth Level]
[Host’s Spiritual Soul: Level 15.7]
[Host’s Physical Constitution: Level 18.7]
[Host’s Evolution Value: 22/100]
At that moment, his punching power had reached 5,922 kilograms, and his arm strength 1,974 kilograms.
His speed was 74.8 meters per second!
For such figures to belong to a high school student, there was only one way to describe them:
Inconceivable!