I became a martial arts saint while playing games.

Gu Yan took a deep breath and felt the changes within his body.

He had perfected the Demon-Suppressing and Yuan-Nourishing Technique. At this moment, his internal energy was abundant, and his realm had risen to the peak of the Solidifying Yuan Realm, only one step away from the "Qi Controlling Realm".

The so-called Solidifying Yuan Realm is when a martial artist absorbs the Qi of heaven and earth, refines it into their own internal Qi, cleanses their flesh and blood, nourishes their Dantian, and accumulates it over time into warm and gentle internal Qi, which is then stored in the Qi Sea acupoints.

Martial artists in this realm possess extraordinary strength, agility, resilience, and endurance. Their five senses are clear and sharp, making them impervious to heat and cold, and unaffected by fatigue.

Upon reaching the Qi Control Realm, martial artists no longer confine themselves to internal cultivation. They can inhale and exhale, circulate their true energy, and unleash their powerful internal energy from their bodies, condensing it in their palms and fingers. With a flick of the finger, they can attack with their internal energy, and with a wave of their sleeve, they can injure their enemies with their powerful energy. This is why it is called the "Qi Control Realm".

From the initial stage of Qi Refining to the peak of Qi Consolidation, it only took one or two hours. This is probably unprecedented in the history of the world, truly a feat that has been unparalleled throughout the ages.

With his cultivation level greatly improved, Gu Yan raised his eyes and swept across the hall, his gaze falling on a table with a candle still burning.

A thought suddenly struck him, and he decided to test it.

He walked up to the candle, deliberately memorizing its length, and then, on a whim, quit the game.

He opened his eyes and found himself still sitting cross-legged on the bed, with his bedroom in front of him.

Back in reality, Gu Yan tried to secretly circulate his qi throughout his body again, and he felt that his muscles and bones were much stronger than before, his blood and qi were surging like a tide, and his internal energy was full and smooth in his meridians. It was as if he had been reborn.

He could not hide his joy, and his brows furrowed with excitement.

It worked!

He learned the Demon-Suppressing and Yuan-Nourishing Technique in the game and reached the peak of the Solidifying Yuan Realm. His cultivation level in reality also increased accordingly.

This means his previous guess was correct. As long as he keeps playing games, his cultivation will advance by leaps and bounds, and his inferior physique and poor comprehension will no longer be obstacles on his martial arts path.

In his excitement, Gu Yan didn't forget about his test.

He waited a moment, and when he felt the time was about right, he closed his eyes again and returned to the game.

The screen lit up again. Back in the game, the scene before me was dark, and the world seemed to have turned into only black and white.

Everything came to a standstill, even the candlelight before him stopped flickering, as if time itself had been stopped, and the burning candle was frozen at the same length it had been when he left the game.

In the center of your field of vision, there is a large line of text that reads "Start Game".

Gu Yan was overjoyed.

Clearly, time in the entire game world was frozen during the time he exited the game. Just like an autosave, it was preserved at the very moment he left the game.

Does this mean the game is really just a game world, and the characters in it are just NPCs?

Or perhaps I belong to a higher dimension, while the dimension in which this game takes place belongs to a lower dimension?

Gu Yan didn't know, and had no way of confirming it.

Therefore, he simply stopped thinking about it. The important thing was that this game was his most important cheat code; he could use it to improve his cultivation, and that was enough.

Gu Yan's strength surged, and suddenly his internal energy was full and surging. His whole body seemed to have inexhaustible strength, surging and surging, almost unable to be suppressed.

The bedroom was too small. He jumped off the bed, went to an open space in the living room, stretched his body, and casually threw a punch. The wind from the punch cut through the air with a low hum, and with each punch, his internal energy flowed throughout his body, his muscles and bones stretched and felt exhilarating. He felt more comfortable than he had ever felt in his life.

Indeed, practicing martial arts can be addictive.

This feeling of transformation and explosive power is something you can never give up once you've experienced it.

Only now did Gu Yan realize that the meager skills he had practiced before could only be called physical fitness. Now, his body was so strong and free, so intoxicating and captivating, that it was hard to resist. He could only hope to improve every day and climb higher step by step. This was what martial arts was all about.

However, through the school curriculum, Gu Yan also learned that there was no such thing as "internal energy" in this life he was reborn into. The initial stage of martial arts was not called "Solid Foundation Realm".

In this world's general education, formal martial artists are required to absorb an energy called "Elemental Energy" to strengthen themselves. This energy is ubiquitous in the universe and is considered the foundation of a martial artist.

Those who can freely absorb and store elemental energy within their bodies, enhancing their physical abilities and surpassing their limits, can be called "entering the ranks," also known as first-rank martial artists.

Upon reaching the second tier, martial artists can release their elemental energy to injure others from a distance.

Gu Yan now sees the so-called Yuan Energy as being very similar to the Qi of Heaven and Earth in the game. The so-called first-tier martial artist is similar to the "Solid Yuan Realm" in the game. The second-tier martial artist is similar to the "Qi Control Realm" in the game.

According to the current assessment system, I have already entered the ranks and can be called a "martial artist" in this era.

It seems that the systems in reality and in the game are similar, but it is unclear whether there is any connection between them.

After throwing a few punches, Gu Yan felt much better. He turned around and saw that his father, Gu Mingshan, had come out of the bedroom at some point. Looking at Gu Yan's punching posture, Gu Mingshan's eyes widened in shock.

"Son, when...did you reach this level!?"

Gu Mingshan also practiced martial arts when he was young. His path in martial arts was not smooth. He eventually entered a martial arts college and was assigned to the Environmental Protection Bureau after graduation, which was considered a permanent position.

But that was a thing of the past. Back then, junior college graduates were guaranteed job placement with official positions, but that's no longer the case.

Therefore, Gu Mingshan had some martial arts training and was not completely ignorant of martial arts. When he saw Gu Yan make his move, the wind from his fist was fierce and his Yuan energy was surging. He could sense that his son's Yuan energy had improved, which surprised him greatly.

Although he hadn't seen his son for some time after he went to university, Gu Mingshan clearly remembered that his son was still green and inexperienced before entering university, with only a mediocre foundation.

How could someone have quietly improved to such a level in such a short time?

Gu Yan's university, Linjiang University, is a first-tier institution, but it's not considered top-tier. In his school, there are many martial arts students who are still stuck at the first level by their senior year, and those who can advance to the first level in their freshman year are definitely elite students.

Gu Yan has only been enrolled for a short time this first semester, but now his every move seems to indicate that he has already reached the entry level of Yuan Neng, and he doesn't seem to be weak even in the first level.

Let alone Gu Yan being just a liberal arts student, even among the freshmen of martial arts, he is already a genius student who needs to be given special attention. How could he not be surprised?

Thinking of this, he couldn't contain himself and said to Gu Yan, "Come here for a moment."

Gu Yan stepped forward as instructed.

Gu Mingshan reached out to take Gu Yan's pulse and felt that Gu Yan's body was full of vital energy. After confirming it again and again, he realized that it was not his imagination.

Gu Mingshan was deeply moved, feeling as if a huge stone had been thrown into his heart, and he could no longer calm down.

He had heard before that a very small number of martial artists in history were late bloomers, only revealing their talents at a certain age. But he had never taken it seriously before, after all, the probability of such a thing was low, and ordinary people wouldn't even dare to dream of it.

Could it be that my son is one in a million geniuses?

Gu Mingshan had long known that his son's martial arts talent was mediocre, so he had given up on the idea many years ago. But now, this old wish was rekindled, and a broad road opened up before him once again.

Perhaps my son can walk the path of martial arts that I couldn't walk back then?