I became a martial arts saint while playing games.

Upon hearing the word "paper," Gu Yan instantly felt as if he had returned to his past life as a graduate student, enduring the miserable days of working himself to the bone in the lab, desperately trying to publish a paper.

Am I supposed to have time-traveled and started practicing martial arts, and still have to work on my thesis?

"Of course you can," Chu Yue replied with a smile. "There aren't any strict requirements for undergraduates. As long as you focus on your own cultivation and improvement, you can graduate smoothly if you meet the academic standards."

However, those pursuing postgraduate studies, since their degrees include the word "research," naturally need to contribute to the martial arts world in addition to their own professional development. Without publishing papers and producing results that actually benefit the martial arts community, they will not receive a postgraduate degree.

Gu Yan asked curiously, "What kind of papers do martial arts graduate students publish?"

"Of course, it's about mastering techniques and creating martial arts methods," Chu Yue said.

Gu Yan was greatly surprised. Although martial arts masters were known as the "chosen ones," that only meant they were few in number compared to humanities masters. Yet, there were still tens of thousands of martial arts masters each year. Could it be that all these tens of thousands of students could create new techniques and martial arts and write a thesis to graduate?

Gu Yan asked, "Isn't it only grandmasters who have reached the pinnacle of martial arts who can create their own martial arts?"

In his mind, creating a martial art is like an ancient master establishing a school, which requires extremely broad knowledge and a very high level of understanding. How could a student possibly do that?

Lu Cheng'an laughed: "Many people have this stereotype. But little-known fact is that the first-level martial arts manual 'Zheng Yuan Foundation Technique,' which is now recognized as one of the top ten in terms of overall quality on the Martial Arts Association forum, was created by Xiao Zhiyuan, the number one master in the world, during his undergraduate studies."

Although he was already an unparalleled genius at that time, he was not yet a grandmaster, and the martial arts techniques he created have been passed down to this day, haven't they?

Chu Yue also said, "Creating a cultivation method is difficult, but it's not actually that difficult. And publishing a paper doesn't mean you have to create a completely new cultivation method out of thin air. You can improve on existing methods, save on the medicinal resources needed, speed up cultivation, or streamline and refine existing moves, etc. Any innovative results can be published as a paper."

Hearing this, Gu Yan finally understood completely.

Because it involved martial arts, he instinctively felt it was very high-class, which was actually quite similar to the academic circles he had already grasped in his previous life.

In previous years, each year's graduate students numbered in the millions. The fundamental requirement was that everyone had to have innovative ideas and publish papers in order to graduate.

However, many technologies in various disciplines and fields have been established for many years, so where can there be so many innovative points to propose? Moreover, the authors of the papers are a group of newcomers who have only been in academia for two or three years.

Therefore, the essence of the paper can be summed up in one word: water.

Of course, there are some super-achievers who can publish in top journals like Nature during their master's studies, but they are a minority. At least as far as Gu Yan knows, 90% of master's theses are nominally about proposing new methods and technologies, but in reality, they have little practical value. Even if you asked the thesis authors themselves after graduation to come and look at their own papers, their evaluation would most likely be "relying on the defense."

Gu Yan knew this because that's what he thought too. Although he had indeed proposed an unprecedented new algorithm in his graduation thesis in his previous life—much like martial arts creating a new technique—it didn't change the fact that he now felt his graduation thesis was essentially a defense.

Although martial arts are practiced in this world, the principles are largely similar. Creating new martial arts techniques is not that difficult, nor is publishing papers. As for whether the newly created techniques are useful or whether anyone practices them, that is another matter entirely.

At this moment, Zhong Ding said, "You are undergraduates now, so you should focus on improving your own cultivation. Innovation in cultivation methods is not difficult, but what is the point of just publishing a few papers at third or fourth-tier small conferences and having to pay for the publication yourself?"

Innovative geniuses like your senior sister are few and far between. You should all be grounded, hone your skills first, and only think about establishing a foundation for new techniques when you've reached a higher level and accumulated knowledge.

The students in the training room responded in unison, "Yes."

Gu Yan asked curiously, "Is Senior Sister's innovation really that impressive?"

Lu Chengan said, "Then let's not talk about it. Senior Sister Su happens to be out today. She's the top dog in our research lab... no, in our school."

This year, she published a paper in the top-tier journal *Martial Arts Profound Pivot*, outlining her unique swordsmanship, and received a royalties of 170 million yuan.

Gu Yan's eyes lit up: "You can get paid for publishing papers?"

As a graduate student in his previous life, he found it unbelievable. Aren't academic papers supposed to cost publication fees and subscription fees, with academic platforms profiting from both the readers and authors? How can you actually make money from them?

"Normally, there are none, but what we're talking about is 'Martial Arts Profound Pivot,' which was directly established by the Martial Arts Association and is recognized as a top academic journal in the field of martial arts! Being able to publish a paper in it is a great honor even for deans and professors."

As Lu Cheng'an introduced the book, his eyes were filled with longing, and his expression seemed to say that if he could publish a paper in "Martial Arts Profound Pivot" in his lifetime, he would have no regrets about his martial arts career.

Professor Zhong Ding laughed and said, "It would be impressive to publish a paper in 'Martial Arts Profound Pivot.' But such an opportunity is rare and hard to come by. I've been doing academic work my whole life, and I've only published twice in it."

One time it was a D-grade article, the other a C-grade article... Hahaha, it's all old news, let's not dwell on it. In short, to get published in such a top journal, you not only need to be highly qualified, but also need good connections.

Of course, the innovations you propose must also have genuine practical value for the development of martial arts. Your articles must not only be novel, but also truly useful, unlike some third- or fourth-rate publications where you can just throw together any idea that nobody has mentioned before.

Having had some experience with postgraduate studies in his previous life, Gu Yan now had a general idea of ​​what to expect.

Although Zhong Ding told them not to covet "The Profound Pivot of Martial Arts", Gu Yan's mind was already racing.

In his previous life, he didn't have much academic talent and could only write papers to get a master's degree, which was really out of helplessness.

But in this life, with my own advantages, why can't I be the genius who published in Nature as an undergraduate?

He might not be able to create a new technique using his own brain, but surely he can copy it, right?

Gu Yan had already confirmed that the martial arts system in the game "Slaying Demons and Exorcising Monsters" was quite similar to his reality, and the cultivation methods were even interconnected.

However, he has confirmed through internet searches that the many martial arts techniques in the game are different from the existing techniques in this world.

So if he just randomly copies some top-tier cultivation techniques from the game that correspond to his level, wouldn't his academic papers be as easy as copying answers for summer homework and then just being a joke?