Chapter 8: Testing Authority
After cleaning up the bowl and chopsticks, Li Ye returned to his room. He didn’t go to sleep right away but continued practicing the Guiding Method.
As a second-year high school student practicing martial arts, Li Ye’s breakfast—regardless of whether it was abundant—was definitely large in quantity.
Meat-stuffed flatbread and bread bought from outside, eggs, tofu, milk, and a plate of fruit, plus a large bowl of fried rice.
Under normal circumstances, Li Ye could eat his fill, and he still could now, but he definitely needed to go out and get something else.
He was full, but his Qi and Blood hadn’t increased much.
High-quality ingredients were expensive, but everyday meals weren’t that costly.
Li Ye still had money on him—three hundred yuan in weekly pocket money, and he didn’t usually spend much, so he had saved a bit.
At six-thirty in the morning, Li Ye rode his electric scooter out of the house, passed through a street, and first arrived at a beef noodle shop.
The noodle shop wasn’t big, located next to a crossroad, but there were plenty of people.
The boss always hand-pulled the noodles, ten yuan per bowl, and there were plenty of customers.
“Boss, ten bowls of noodles.”
Li Ye walked into the shop and shouted to the boss behind the counter: “Add fried egg and sausage, medium spicy.”
The boss, busy pulling noodles, looked up at him without much surprise.
People of this age could eat a lot even without practicing martial arts, let alone this amount—it was clearly a martial arts student.
In just a few minutes, the first bowl was served, with thin slices of beef in the noodle soup topped with green onions, and a fried egg on top.
Li Ye picked up his chopsticks and ate. Like a whale sucking in water, he devoured a fried egg in two bites, picked up noodles mixed with beef, and finished the entire bowl in a few mouthfuls. He then lifted the bowl and drained the soup.
His Qi and Blood pulsed, rising slightly. Quantified, Li Ye judged it at 0.002.
One bowl finished, another served. Li Ye didn’t pause and continued eating the next one.
In less than half an hour, he had polished off all ten bowls.
80.023.
Li Ye pulled out his mobile phone, scanned to pay one hundred yuan, and rode his electric scooter to the next place.
This time he bought a hundred buns, eating them while riding, and finished them just as he arrived at school.
80.045.
The increase in Qi and Blood wasn’t much, but a hundred buns cost him one hundred fifty.
After school, he’d experiment more; there must be a most cost-effective way.
At seven-fifteen, Li Ye arrived at the classroom.
“Brother Ye.”
“Morning, Brother Ye.”
Li Ye was quite popular in the preparatory class. Besides excelling in studies and having an ‘Excellent’ martial arts evaluation, he was also good at getting along with people.
As someone reborn, getting along with a bunch of kids naturally wouldn’t cause much conflict.
As soon as Li Ye sat down, the chubby guy Deng Hao nearby called out: “Brother Ye, did a demonic creature appear at your place last night?”
Li Ye looked over and saw Deng Hao grinning: “I saw it on my mobile phone. Someone filmed a video last night, and it was your place, Brother Ye.”
“I saw it too.”
Jia Dong, sitting in front of Deng Hao, turned around and said: “Brother Ye, what kind of demonic creature was that?”
Li Ye said: “A Five Plagues Ghost. Nothing to worry about. Just pay attention to environmental hygiene usually, and don’t let seasoning and chopsticks get moldy.”
“We’re not idiots; how could we not figure it out.” Deng Hao and Jia Dong laughed.
After chatting a bit, Deng Hao suddenly said: “Summer vacation is coming up soon. My family found me a master craftsman who’s said to be very experienced. Do you guys want to try?”
Jia Dong shook his head: “Count me out. My family isn’t as rich as yours; just the martial arts school expenses are barely manageable.”
His last preparatory results were ‘Good,’ giving him the confidence to slack off for another year.
“Brother Ye?”
“No money.” Li Ye answered even more bluntly. “I even quit Jinglei Martial Arts Hall.”
“Huh?”
This news startled the two; they hadn’t heard about it.
Deng Hao asked urgently: “Brother Ye, you’re not really switching to liberal arts track, are you?”
“No, I just don’t think it’s necessary anymore. I’m confident I can step into Dragon Gate over summer vacation.” Li Ye smiled.
Switch to liberal arts track before Authority came? Switch after it arrived?
Wouldn’t that make the Authority come for nothing?
“Brother Ye is awesome, so confident.”
Deng Hao gave a thumbs up, then turned to Jia Dong and said:
“I’ll probably break through in martial arts over summer vacation too. Ah Dong, don’t drop the ball. Practice martial arts, practice martial arts—don’t end up with nothing to show after all that.”
“If it’s not nothing to show, what then? Violate bans with martial arts? You guys know about the fight I had last semester. The opponent used Roaming Body Palm; my Old Ape Hanging Seal move cost me eight thousand in compensation!”
Jia Dong rolled his eyes and continued: “Fight another year next year. If not, repeat and switch to liberal arts track.”
In the entire preparatory class, including Li Ye’s class, about 70% were estimated to switch to liberal arts track after summer vacation. The rest would do one more year of high school, and if that didn’t work, they’d have to give up.
Shenzhou didn’t provide conditions for high school students to repeat for martial arts studies. Liberal arts track had the saying of fighting another year if one year failed, but preparatory had no such thing.
As for martial arts track, that was for those who had stepped into martial arts, no need to repeat.
At seven-twenty, class officially began.
The preparatory class taught a mix of liberal arts and martial arts. Though not as detailed as liberal arts track, it covered the foundation and left half the time for preparatory students to train.
During class, they went to the playground as usual, first practicing the Guiding Method for an hour, then returning for lessons. The morning covered Chinese and math until ten o’clock, followed by laps and climbing.
It wasn’t test-score-style running, just pure laps, then quick climbs up and down at designated spots, then more laps. While draining stamina, it also made breathing more powerful and endurance longer.
What the school taught was an extension based on the Guiding Method, nothing particularly strong.
At eleven-forty, morning classes ended. At this point, Li Ye’s Qi and Blood had reached 80.055.
The influence of the Authority allowed him not only to increase Qi and Blood but also to continue cultivating without the previous stagnation phase.
Not only could eating increase Qi and Blood; he could also use this endless eating to cultivate, achieving twice the result with half the effort.
Preparatory students didn’t go home for lunch; this was the only benefit the school provided them—a dedicated canteen for one lunch meal.
The ingredients were somewhat better than home cooking.
Deng Hao was the first to the canteen. By the time Li Ye arrived, he had already grabbed a spot.
Seeing Li Ye, he waved and called: “Brother Ye, there’s Ironclad Pig today.”
The canteen’s dishes were better than usual and sometimes included higher-quality items.
Like Ironclad Pig, which was also a demonic creature, mutated from wild boar. It liked living in mountains, with a shell hard as iron, and other habits like a wild boar.
Ningjiang City bordered the Yangtze River to the south and a mountain range to the north. Ironclad Pigs often came down to ravage farmland, but the harm wasn’t great. Plus, they were part of the ecosystem and considered a supplement, so they were only culled periodically.
Though the meat was tough and very chewy, like chewing jerky, eating it strengthened the body, supplemented deficiencies, solidified essence, and even cured hemorrhoids—effective immediately.
“Martial arts students are so awesome. I heard it takes bullets to penetrate Ironclad Pig.” Jia Dong showed envy.
Demonic creatures like this were training opportunities for martial arts students. It seemed students from their school had participated this time.
With someone holding the spot, the others naturally went to get food.
Iron plate mixed stew, mostly pig offal with some other meat.
Pig bone soup with meaty pig bones.
Grilled Ironclad Pig meat coated in special sauce—this stuff would taste good even with shoe soles; no matter how tough the meat.
Plus a large bowl of rice, the meal tray piled full like a small mound.
Preparatory students had big appetites, and portions exceeded what they could eat. If not enough, they could get more, but usually they couldn’t finish.
“This meat is so tough, like eating leather shoes.”
Deng Hao boldly tore off a piece with his hands, chewed it for half a day before swallowing. “Not as good as what my family buys.”
“Alright, we get it, your family has money. Eat up; there’s training this afternoon.”
Jia Dong ate slowly and methodically. After finally swallowing a piece of meat and sipping soup, he looked up at Li Ye. “Look at Brother Ye eating without talking. Brother Ye?”
The two looked over, their movements freezing. Their chopsticks holding food stopped mid-air as they stared dumbly at Li Ye devouring like a whirlwind across from them.
The tough Ironclad Pig meat was bitten off by Li Ye with his chopsticks, swallowed down his throat with a gulp—who knew if he even chewed.
The mixed stew poured over rice—less eating, more sucking. Half was gone in an instant.
Then a few more bites of meat, incidentally ‘sucking’ away the rice, lifting the bowl to drain the soup clean. Even the hard bones inside made crunching sounds in his mouth, clearly chewed and swallowed.
“Why are you staring at me? Eat.”
Li Ye picked up his meal tray and walked toward the canteen window. “I’ll get another serving.”
80.1!
This meal’s Qi and Blood gain exceeded downing ten bowls of noodles plus a hundred buns, plus the morning training!
