High Martial Arts: Grinding for the Supreme Talent

Chapter 252: Chapter 252: Forty Million

Celestial Sea City. Red Dome Martial Arts Dojo.

WHOOSH~

It was almost December, and even in Celestial Sea City, a southern city in Xia Country, the temperature was beginning to drop as a cold wind howled.

In the Vice Hall Master’s office on the top floor of the Martial Arts Dojo,

at seven o’clock at night, Yue Feng—a well-built man with rugged, well-defined features, dressed in a black suit—was still handling business.

He leaned back in his smart chair, gazing at the neon nightscape outside his window, when he suddenly thought of Lin Qi.

’It’s already December before I know it.’

’Lin Qi enrolled at Azure Sky Martial Arts Academy in July. It’s been almost five months since then. With his Talent, he must have progressed even further.’

’The National Freshman Competition should be happening now. Back in my day, I even made it to the top 68.’

He sat up, projected a screen, and logged into the Red Dome House forum to check on the National Freshman Competition.

’Lin Qi placed tenth in the country on the entrance exams. Making it to the top nine in the National Freshman Competition should be no problem for him.’

’The top five is also possible. With his Talent, that would make sense.’

’If he gets a bit lucky, it’s not impossible for him to reach the semifinals. Then who would dare question my eye for talent?’

’Hm? Champion?’

He instantly sat bolt upright. Making sure he wasn’t mistaken, he widened his eyes and leaned in toward the screen.

There, on a trending post on the forum’s homepage, it was clearly written: Lin Qi had made history by winning the championship.

"Champion! And he won it by defeating a genius who’d Awakened a Special Ability!"

Yue Feng’s jaw dropped. ’It’s only been five months! What the hell has he been doing? What in the world is going on?’

’The genius I signed actually became the strongest in his entire class?’

’He even defeated a genius with an Awakened Special Ability... Those words just look so foreign to me.’

At the same time, his heart began to pound wildly in his chest.

...

「Martial Arts Calendar, Year 2046. November 30th, the last day of the month.」

The day after the National Freshman Competition concluded, the freshmen returned to their normal routines.

RUMBLE!

That afternoon, Lin Qi stepped out of his black electric car.

BEEP!

After a facial recognition scan at the entrance, the door opened automatically, and he stepped into his private villa.

In the spacious living room, a white meal container sat on the jet-black table.

Lin Qi sat on the sofa and opened it. A rich aroma wafted out from the container, which was filled with a balanced mix of meat and vegetables. The portion was generous, equivalent to three ordinary boxed meals.

This was the Level 4 Nutritional Meal he had ordered from the cafeteria.

Its ingredients included meat from a Fourth-Level Calamity Beast and specially cultivated vegetables, all packed with rich nutrients.

’Ever since I broke through to the Third Realm of Skin Refining, my Qi and Blood Value has been steadily increasing, and my appetite has grown along with it.’

’Level 3 Nutritional Meals are no longer enough to meet my daily needs. I need Level 4 Nutritional Meals now.’

Lin Qi began to eat heartily. At 15,000 Xia Country Coins per serving, a Level 4 Nutritional Meal wasn’t expensive for him at all anymore.

After all, the Qi and Blood Pills he took cost 250,000 Xia Country Coins, and a single jar of Skin Tempering Ointment was a whopping 1,000,000 Xia Country Coins.

"Master, you have messages!" Little Chan projected several text notifications that popped up and floated in front of Lin Qi.

Lin Qi’s interest was piqued. ’Looks like my rewards have come in.’ He immediately began to check them.

[To Lin Qi: A new month is approaching... For your excellent performance in the Disaster Beast Trial Tower, and for ranking first in the Azure Sky Sixth Institute, you will be awarded a bonus of 2,000,000 Xia Country Coins.]

[For ranking first among all freshmen, you will be awarded a bonus of 4,000,000 Xia Country Coins.]

[As the first freshman to clear the third floor of the Trial Tower, you will receive a bonus of 3,000,000 Xia Country Coins.]

...

Lin Qi’s eyes lit up as he read. The Disaster Beast Trial Tower rewards were always calculated at the end of the month, and this time was no exception.

The three bonuses added up to 9,000,000 Xia Country Coins, nearly ten million.

At this rate, in another two or three months, his monthly bonus could exceed ten million.

That was even more money than what the Three Great Martial Arts Dojos offered.

But the messages weren’t finished. He continued reading.

[To Lin Qi: In the National Freshman Competition, your Azure Sky Sixth Institute’s Points ranked first among the Nine Great Academies. Your status will remain unchanged.]

[To Lin Qi: Congratulations on winning the championship in the National Freshman Competition and bringing honor to our Azure Sky Martial Arts Academy. You will be awarded a bonus of 30,000,000 Xia Country Coins!]

[Furthermore, to commend you for winning the championship, Azure Sky Martial Arts Academy is increasing your allotted Cultivation Time in each of the three main facilities by 6 hours. This change is effective today.]

[Refining God Tower: 30 hours/month. Remaining: 6 hours.]

[Gravity Room: 27 hours/month. Remaining: 6 hours.]

[Disaster Beast Trial Tower: 27 hours/month. Remaining: 6 hours.]

...

A smile spread across Lin Qi’s face after he finished reading the messages.

The rewards for the national championship were even more generous than he had imagined.

He remembered that the prize for reaching the semifinals was only 10,000,000 Xia Country Coins, but the champion received a full 30,000,000.

’My last batch of rewards from the academy all added up to just under 30,000,000 Xia Country Coins.’

’This time, the championship prize alone is thirty million. Adding the rewards from the Disaster Beast Trial Tower, that’s 39,000,000 Xia Country Coins—even more than last time.’

Lin Qi exhaled. Although the rewards were generous, he was still a long way from being able to afford the Water of Rebirth.

Saving up 50,000,000 while not compromising his Cultivation was proving to be incredibly difficult.

Over the past three months, he had used Qi and Blood Pills and Skin Tempering Ointment for his Cultivation, on top of purchasing Stimulant Potions, nutritional meals, and other Cultivation Resources. He was spending money like water.

Right now, he had less than ten million Xia Country Coins to his name.

He had only two paths forward. The first was to save slowly, setting aside two or three million each month from his Disaster Beast Trial Tower bonus. After a little over a year, he could probably scrape together enough.

The second path was to hope for a competition with an astonishingly large prize, one that would allow him to gather the 50,000,000 Xia Country Coins quickly.

For now, he was taking the first path. Saving up slowly at least gave him a tangible goal to work toward.

"Master, it’s a call from Dean Liu!" Little Blue-robed Xiaochan once again projected a large, green screen.

Dean Liu, a man with large earlobes, appeared on the video call. He was smiling cheerfully as he said:

"Lin Qi, I haven’t had a chance to congratulate you yet on winning the national championship! You’ve brought great honor to our Azure Sky Martial Arts Academy."

"Anyway, come by my office in two days. The Dean wants to meet you. There might even be another reward in it for you!"

Lin Qi was startled. ’The Dean?’

’Liu Jing is only a Vice Dean. The person he’s referring to as ’the Dean’ can only be the Head Dean of the Azure Sky Sixth Institute, the Eighth Realm master—Xue Zhou.’

’So far, the only Eighth Realm Martial Artist I’ve met in person is Vice Principal Xu Wenji.’

’The Dean wants to see me?’

Lin Qi’s curiosity was piqued.

...

「Meanwhile, in the Martial Arts Room of a villa within the Azure Sky Sixth Institute.」

The rather handsome Yu Jing stared at a projected screen before him.

On the screen was an extremely burly man shrouded in an overcoat. A black mask and a black baseball cap concealed his features completely.

His gaze was ferocious; Yu Jing felt as if he were being stared down by a terrifying wild beast.

"You asked me to monitor Lin Qi’s situation... He just won the National Freshman Competition."

"Not only that, but he has also mastered a Little Divine Power. Even an S-class genius with an Awakened Special Ability was no match for him."

Yu Jing quickly relayed the information to the person on the screen.

...

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!