Full-Time Martial Saint

The next morning, Chen, who was used to waking up early, quietly got out of bed at six o'clock.

When his mother, Zhao Qian, and father, Chen Changhe, got up and washed, he had already cooked millet porridge and was skillfully frying meat pies.

Zhao Qian rushed into the kitchen, her voice tinged with concern and reproach, "You can leave these things to Mom. You finally got a break and came back home; you should get some more sleep..."

Chen took the last pie out of the oven, smiled, and took off his apron, saying, "I get up even earlier at school, I'm used to it, I wake up on time."

"You and Dad eat first, I'll go check if Xiaolin is up yet."

Zhao Qian nodded with satisfaction and helped carry out the millet porridge and meat pies that had been served. She then ate with Chen Changhe, who had finished washing up.

After the two finished their meal and left, Chen Cong and Chen Lin also had a simple breakfast before getting ready to go out.

The Xiangcheng City Library is not far from Xiangcheng No.1 Middle School. The two brothers took the No.128 unmanned bus and got off at the Xiangcheng No.1 Middle School stop.

In late October, the sidewalks on both sides of the road were covered with fallen leaves, creating a desolate autumn atmosphere, but the weather was very pleasant.

Chen Cong pushed Chen Lin in his wheelchair, and the two brothers chatted as they walked.

"Brother, wouldn't martial artists be even more powerful if they possessed star-grade weapons?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Cong couldn't help but laugh and said, "That's for sure, but ordinary martial artists aren't qualified to use star weapons."

"After all, that thing can only be obtained by those in the ruins of the fusion realm and by some powerful alien creatures. It is said that in the entire Great Xia, only the Martial Saints in the Martial Temple can each have a Star Artifact. Other forces may have some, but there are definitely not many."

Chen Lin listened attentively, tilted his head and thought for a moment before saying, "Doesn't that mean that in the future, whoever can research a method for forging star artifacts, or replicate something similar to a star artifact, can quickly become the richest person on the entire planet?"

Chen Cong paused for a moment, then smiled and shook his head: "That's how it seems on the surface, but you've read so many books, you should understand one thing."

"A common man is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime."

"If anyone is ever able to achieve this in the future, they'd better have a powerful organization behind them that no one dares to provoke easily, otherwise..."

At this point, Chen Cong couldn't help but think of himself again.

He was forced to reveal the Spirit Ape Step technique during the martial arts assessment test, so he had to go to great lengths to fabricate lies to cover it up and forcibly disguise himself as an ordinary martial arts student.

This is something that others might find hard to understand.

Showing talent, being recognized as a genius, receiving a first-class contract from the Green Mountain Martial Academy or the Martial Extreme Hall, or even attracting the attention of the Great Xia government and receiving special training—wouldn't that be great?

This will save him from having to worry about raising his overall physical fitness to the admission threshold of the martial arts university.

Chen Cong, however, dared not gamble.

This is a world with extraordinary powers, and the unknown forces and methods that exist are far more complex than he imagined. He has no idea whether revealing his superhuman talent will bring him fortune or misfortune.

Perhaps it's his personality, but he prefers to live a quiet, ordinary life and steadily improve himself – a way of life he's learned from his two lifetimes.

"That makes sense. If I happen to figure out some tricks in the future, I can just hand them over to the country." Chen Lin tilted his head and looked at the clouds in the sky with longing. "With the strength of our Great Xia on Blue Star, I don't believe anyone will be so foolish as to do anything to me..."

Behind him, Chen Lin looked at him with a smile, but didn't say anything more.

At this moment, he suddenly understood why the authorities and higher-ups always habitually blocked ordinary people from all news related to the fusion of realms.

This is likely done to avoid causing unnecessary panic, and also to prevent showing ordinary people a more cruel side of the world, lest they feel despair.

The two brothers walked for more than ten minutes and soon arrived at Xiangcheng City Library.

By consulting the front desk and knowing Chen's identity as a martial arts student, the two arrived at the left side of the third floor of the library and found many books related to star artifacts.

After some careful selection, it was noon before the two brothers took the books they needed to the service desk and registered them.

After leaving the library, the two had lunch outside before taking a driverless bus home.

"Xiao Lin, I'm going back to school. Take good care of yourself and get some rest." Chen Cong said softly as he moved the materials Ning Shuang had given him and the books he had borrowed from the library into Chen Lin's room.

"Brother, don't worry, I'll take good care of myself."

Chen Lin smiled and agreed, then slowly turned his wheelchair to escort Chen Cong to the door.

……

Xiangcheng No.1 Middle School.

Chen returned to his dormitory at 2 PM.

After a short rest, he couldn't wait to pick up the Crystal Helmet next to him, activate the virtual terminal, and log into the virtual world.

In the lobby of the Divine Arena, Karapti Hey was not there, and he had nothing else to do, so he immediately started free matchmaking.

When he left the virtual world the night before last, his rank had reached Rookie 4-Star with 128 win points. This time, he stayed from 2 pm to 4:30 pm until he clearly felt that his mental energy was somewhat depleted before reluctantly leaving.

In nearly two and a half hours, he was matched with seven opponents and won seven consecutive games, earning a total of 180 points.

After removing the Crystal Helmet, Chen Cong breathed a sigh of relief and gently rubbed his throbbing and aching head.

"My mental strength seems to have increased again..."

Previously, he could only stay in the virtual realm for two hours at most before feeling uncomfortable, but this time he lasted for two and a half hours before feeling anything similar, which clearly showed that his mental strength had improved to a certain extent.

"Looking at it this way, the time to reach Rookie 10 Stars may be a little earlier than I previously estimated..." After carefully calculating and finding the original timetable on the bookshelf in front of him, Chen estimated that, based on the current situation, the time to reach Rookie 10 Stars would be at least four to six days earlier than the original estimate of 42 days.

This is a good thing!

Both Zhang Kui and Ma Xinhua have stated that the key to obtaining the title of "Blackstone Trialer" is the "Blackstone Trial".

The sooner you reach Rookie 10 Stars and qualify to participate in the "Blackstone Trial," the higher your margin for error will be.

Chen Cong couldn't guarantee that he had the strength to pass the "Black Stone Trial" on his first try; a few more days meant one more chance to try.

After sitting at his desk for a long time, feeling the discomfort caused by the depletion of his mental energy subside, he left the dormitory and headed straight for the cafeteria.

On Sunday evening, the students who had gone home also returned early.

After finishing his meal, Chen Cong went to the small playground behind the cafeteria as usual. Not long after, Ning Yuhang and the others also arrived one after another.

"From Brother Cong."

As soon as everyone met, Ning Yuhang called Chen Cong "Brother Cong" in front of them.

The name immediately caught the attention of the group, who all cast puzzled glances at it.

Under everyone's gaze, Ning Yuhang grinned and put his arm around Chen Cong's shoulder, saying, "Chen Cong and I officially became sworn brothers yesterday. He's older than me, so naturally he's my older brother."

Sworn brotherhood!?

The group exchanged bewildered glances, their expressions strange.

Only Huang Changhu seemed to have figured something out, and looked at the two of them with a smile.

After chatting for a while, the group began training under Chen Cong's urging.

As the 90-minute private lesson drew to a close, Chen arranged for a brief one-on-one sparring session among the participants. When Lin Xiao faced off against Huang Changhu, he realized that things had indeed unfolded as he had predicted.

Normally, as the student with the highest martial arts skills score in the class, only Ning Yuhang in the entire Class 2 of the third year of high school was qualified to fight Lin Xiao.

But now, not only has Ning Yuhang surpassed her, but even Huang Changhu can fight her on equal footing, almost without losing ground.

After carefully observing Lin Xiao's moves, Chen Cong shook his head helplessly.

He had thought that his words to the girl last time would make her realize her mistakes, but to his surprise, she hadn't changed much.

What people fear most is making mistakes without realizing them, or knowing them but stubbornly refusing to change.

Lin Xiao is in this state now. She has accepted some of his views, but not all of them, which has put her in an awkward position of being caught between a rock and a hard place.

Having been paid to do a service, Chen Cong didn't want to see the other party trapped in this limbo and suffering. After thinking it over, he felt that perhaps only Zhang Kui could help.