Chapter 354: Helping Lu Chong Improve Strength

Less than a day after leaving Zheng Yang and the others, Zhao Ya was injured. Now, less than two hours after leaving Mu Xueqing and the others, this girl is also injured?

What terrible luck!

"Yes!" Meng Tao's face flushed.

"Take me to see her!"

Shaking his head, Zhang Xuan followed him into the classroom.

Upon entering, he indeed saw Mu Xueqing leaning against her seat, her face pale.

He walked over and took a careful look...

Zhang Xuan felt a wave of frustration.

As expected...

He couldn't discern anything!

Zhao Ya practiced the cultivation method he taught, which belonged to the Heaven's Path category, sharing the same origin. Furthermore, due to their long acquaintance, he could easily treat her even without knowing the specific ailment.

Mu Xueqing was only accepted as a student today, and he didn't know her well, so it was naturally impossible to immediately diagnose the root cause and treat her quickly, as he could with Zhao Ya.

But if he couldn't discern the ailment, how could he treat it?

"Punch me!"

After a moment of hesitation, he resorted to the most rudimentary method he had used before.

"Yes!"

Although she wondered why her teacher asked her to do this, out of trust, Mu Xueqing nodded, clenched her delicate fist, and threw a punch.

As the opponent attacked, a book about Mu Xueqing appeared in his mind, as he had wished. He glanced at it and breathed a sigh of relief.

This girl had merely injured her meridians by forcefully using a martial art technique beyond her physical capacity; it wasn't a major issue.

With a flick of his finger, several silver needles appeared and flew towards her.

A moment later, Mu Xueqing felt a wave of comfort. The injuries sustained from forcefully performing the martial art disappeared, and she completely recovered.

Feeling the change in her body, the girl's eyes widened in disbelief.

Her father was an alchemist who often treated people's hidden injuries, so she knew how difficult it was to heal injuries caused by forcefully employing martial arts. If not handled properly, such injuries could cause a cultivator to lose all their cultivation.

How could it be so simple in Teacher Liu's hands?

"I'm sorry for troubling you, Teacher..."

Filled with shock, Mu Xueqing knew that this Teacher Liu had unfathomable methods and admired him even more.

"It's nothing. How did you suddenly get injured?"

Zhang Xuan looked over, puzzled.

Meng Tao opened his mouth to explain, "Senior Sister is..." but Mu Xueqing waved her hand, cutting him off.

"It was because I forcefully used a martial art technique just now, and my cultivation wasn't enough... Thank you for your concern, Teacher!"

Zhang Xuan knew she wasn't speaking truthfully, but since she didn't want to elaborate, he didn't press the matter. He immediately said, "That's good! If there's nothing else, Lu Chong, stay here. Everyone else can go back for now!"

"Teacher..."

Mu Xueqing hesitated.

"Something wrong?" Zhang Xuan looked over.

"Teacher, could you please teach me a martial art technique..." Mu Xueqing's face flushed.

She had previously not trusted this Teacher Liu, yet he hadn't held it against her. Now, asking him to teach her a martial art technique made her feel a bit embarrassed.

However, she also knew that without learning a new martial art technique, it would be impossible to defeat that girl.

Her father's martial art techniques were too profound. If not executed properly, she might end up seriously injured again, just like earlier.

The most crucial thing was...

Mastering a martial art technique typically required years of hard work, and with only three days until her next duel with that person, she probably wouldn't catch up no matter who she learned from. She could only place her hopes on this Teacher Liu, who repeatedly created miracles.

"Martial art technique?"

Zhang Xuan looked over, puzzled. "What do you want to learn?"

"Student excels at using a saber. I wonder if Teacher could teach me a saber technique..." Mu Xueqing said.

"Saber technique?"

Zhang Xuan was a little surprised.

Girls usually preferred swords because swords were agile, elegant, and suited their temperament. It was quite unexpected that this girl liked using a saber.

"Go back for today. I'll consider the saber technique and teach it to you tomorrow!"

Zhang Xuan waved his hand.

"Yes!"

Mu Xueqing nodded and then withdrew with Meng Tao and the others.

"Senior Sister, why didn't you let me tell him?"

After leaving the classroom, Meng Tao couldn't hold back and asked.

She was clearly injured while trying to uphold the teacher's reputation, so why did Senior Sister insist on not mentioning it?

"Tell him? How could I tell him? Say that I was injured while competing with Master Zhang's student? If I really said that, I'm afraid Teacher Liu would drag us to apologize tonight!"

Mu Xueqing scoffed.

"This..."

Meng Tao was stunned.

The status and influence of a Master Teacher were simply too immense, especially a super genius like Master Zhang. Teacher Liu, as an ordinary teacher, simply couldn't contend with him.

If Teacher Liu really knew there was a conflict with Master Zhang's student, it might indeed turn out as Senior Sister said, and he would take them to apologize.

"Apologizing is nothing. I genuinely feel that Teacher Liu is in no way inferior to that Master Zhang... perhaps even superior! But why is there such a huge difference in their fame? I must defeat that guy and make a name for Teacher Liu!"

A resolute look appeared in Mu Xueqing's eyes.

Teacher Liu, with such excellent abilities, had always remained obscure, clearly lacking a platform. This time, a duel with Master Zhang's student was the perfect opportunity. If she won, he could instantly become famous throughout the capital.

It would let everyone know that while Teacher Liu wasn't a Master Teacher, his guidance level was in no way weaker than that of one!

"That's right!"

Meng Tao nodded.

Indeed.

If they really told Teacher Liu, this competition would definitely not happen. How could they then vindicate him? How could they let everyone know he was an incredibly powerful teacher?

Of course, he also knew that what Senior Sister said was merely to make the competition seem honorable, not her primary goal.

This Senior Sister Mu was the academy's little tyrant. She had consecutively driven away several teachers. Now that she had been injured by someone, if she didn't get revenge and simply apologized, she would definitely be unable to swallow her pride.

"Alright, you absolutely must not let Teacher Liu know about this. Whoever speaks about it, see how I'll punish them!"

Looking at the junior students, Mu Xueqing coldly threatened.

"Yes!"

Everyone responded.

"We won't say anything, but what if Lu Chong..."

Meng Tao paused, pointing towards the classroom.

They had all left, but Lu Chong was still with Teacher Liu. What if they kept quiet, but he spoke up?

"Lu Chong? That mute, he doesn't even speak about his own affairs. Do you think he'd talk about ours?" Mu Xueqing rolled her eyes.

"That's true..." Meng Tao scratched his head awkwardly.

Lu Chong hadn't spoken more than three sentences in over two years, so how could he possibly blurt out such things?

As they had guessed, Lu Chong indeed said nothing.

At this moment, he was looking over nervously, as Teacher Liu's... request made him feel a bit awkward.

"Strip naked..." the teacher's voice echoed.

"Take off my clothes..."

Scratching his head, Lu Chong didn't know what to do.

"Cultivating the Poison Body is extremely difficult, and you must cultivate the body refining technique I taught you to mastery. You're still lacking some refinement, so I'll have to help you!"

Zhang Xuan said with a serious expression.

Cultivating the Poison Body was harder than imagined, otherwise, countless poison masters wouldn't have died attempting it.

"Yes!"

Hearing that his teacher wanted him to take off his clothes for cultivation, Lu Chong finally breathed a sigh of relief.

If Zhang Xuan knew his thoughts, he would definitely be infuriated to death.

Are students nowadays... so precocious?

What kind of thoughts are these...

Not long after, Lu Chong stripped naked and lay flat on the resting bench in the classroom.

Zhang Xuan frowned, flicked his finger, and several silver needles appeared in his palm. He lightly shook his hand.

The silver needles immediately pierced into Lu Chong's acupoints, and pure Heaven's Path True Qi immediately flowed through his body.

Lu Chong's talent was indeed very ordinary. At his current cultivation speed, it would probably take him one or two days to cultivate the simplified version of the Heaven's Path Golden Body to mastery. If consolidation was added, it would take at least three to four days.

Zhang Xuan had already boasted that he would help Lu Chong get revenge within ten days. If the Heaven's Path Divine Art alone took so long, then cultivating the Poison Body would naturally be very difficult to complete.

Therefore, to speed things up, he intended to forcefully circulate True Qi to help the other party improve his strength.

If he helped Zhao Ya and the others improve, they might develop a reliance and leave hidden dangers for their future cultivation. But Lu Chong was different.

He could kneel outside the door for seven days and seven nights just to become a student, and he pretended to be mute for two years to prevent himself from speaking out of turn. This level of mental fortitude far surpassed theirs.

With such strong mental fortitude, how could his future progress be slow, leading to a loss of confidence?

Most importantly, this forced improvement of strength would entail great pain. Zhao Ya and the others, even Yuan Tao, probably wouldn't be able to bear it.

*Bang, bang, bang, bang!*

With light flicks of his five fingers, silver needles danced.

Streams of True Qi entered Lu Chong's body along his meridians, instantly tearing open the previously narrow meridians.

The intense pain was like death by a thousand cuts, tearing his entire body's muscles apart piece by piece. Fortunately, Lu Chong's will was firm; otherwise, he would have cried out long ago.

"Hold on!"

Without further ado, Zhang Xuan's True Qi surged within him, and he shot all the silver needles in his hand out.

He was very familiar with the operation method of the Heaven's Path Golden Body and knew how to cultivate it for rapid improvement. The golden needles seemed to follow a specific path, continuously moving forward, and quickly reached his head.

*Boom!*

The True Qi in Lu Chong's body, guided by Zhang Xuan's True Qi, surged forward. Lu Chong felt a loud bang in his mind, as if a barrier had been broken.

"Aperture Opening realm... I've actually reached the Aperture Opening realm?"

In an instant, he knew that he had broken through the peak of the Dingli realm and reached the Aperture Opening realm.

"Don't move, it's not over yet!"

Seeing Lu Chong's body trembling slightly with excitement, Zhang Xuan raised an eyebrow, grabbed with a large hand, and the medicinal ingredients he had obtained from the Physician Guild and Jiang Shu appeared before him. With True Qi surging in his hands, he forcefully struck them, pulverizing them into powder.

*Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!*

These medicinal powders fused together and immediately reacted, seemingly changing their form and becoming a highly toxic substance.

With a sweep of his palm, the silver needles on Lu Chong's body flew up, and upon contact with the medicinal powder, they immediately turned black.

With continuous flicks of his ten fingers, the poisoned needles flew back again, re-piercing into Lu Chong's body.

"Ah..."

The potent poison entered his body along the silver needles, and a pain several times stronger than before tore through him. Lu Chong's face instantly turned pale, and he could no longer hold back, crying out in agony.

"Phew!"

After inserting all the silver needles into Lu Chong's body, Zhang Xuan finally breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and carefully packed the remaining medicinal powder into his storage ring.

The first stage of tempering was complete. Whether Lu Chong could endure it now depended on his willpower.

If he couldn't endure it, he would die!

If he could endure it, he would be like a carp leaping over the dragon gate, emerging from a cocoon transformed into a butterfly, soaring sky-high!

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