Since even Duan Kun didn't know, Wang Zhan could only temporarily stop thinking about this matter. However, he always felt that the hidden truth behind this matter was probably even greater than he imagined.
I'm still too weak. I don't even have the qualifications to know many secrets. Wang Zhan thought to himself while flipping open the martial arts manual in his hands.
Duan Kun introduced, "This martial art is called Wind and Cloud Break, just like the Wind Breaking Palm you saw Xu Junyuan use. It's a type of martial art that enhances power by connecting your Essence Energy with Heaven and Earth! Moreover, compared to Wind Breaking Palm, Wind and Cloud Break is significantly more powerful and difficult."
"Communicate with Heaven and Earth?" This was the first time Wang Zhan had heard this term.
"The Essence Energy inside a martial artist's body, also known as internal breath, all comes from the energy of nature. If you rely purely on your own Dantian, the amount of Essence Energy you can control is actually not that much. So, the purpose of martial arts is to allow martial artists to communicate with Heaven and Earth, using themselves to influence their surroundings and greatly increasing their power when they attack," Duan Kun explained.
"For example, when Vice President Liu was Walking in the Sky at the beginning of school, he did it by communicating with Heaven and Earth through his Essence Energy," Duan Kun said. "However, only those at the Grandmaster Realm can control their Essence Energy so skillfully. What is a Grandmaster? It means simplifying complexity; without needing martial arts, their every move can cause fluctuations in the energy of Heaven and Earth."
"I've digressed. In short, martial arts serve as a bridge for martial artists to communicate with Heaven and Earth."
After saying this, Duan Kun saw that Wang Zhan was immersed in the manual, so he stopped speaking and waited silently.
About ten minutes later, Wang Zhan finally lifted his head, looking intently at Duan Kun.
"Old Duan, isn't it a bit too early to give me this martial art?" Wang Zhan's way of addressing Duan Kun had unconsciously become "Old Duan." This was also because Duan Kun had always been too lazy to correct him, allowing him to get used to it.
"It seems your Wisdom is not bad; you saw the fundamentals of Wind and Cloud Break after just one read," Duan Kun said. "Indeed, the entry requirements for Wind and Cloud Break are extremely high, requiring at least the Essence Energy level of a level 3 Martial Artist. So, what you need to do now is not to practice martial arts, but to break through as soon as possible."
After saying this, Duan Kun suddenly made a move, punching at Wang Zhan.
"Old Duan!" Wang Zhan was startled, but soon realized that Duan Kun had suppressed his own strength to the level of a level 3 Martial Artist.
"Hey, since it's like this, I won't show any mercy!" Wang Zhan laughed challengingly. Where else could you find such a good opportunity to fight your teacher openly?
In the blink of an eye, Wang Zhan and Duan Kun were engaged in battle. They fought to a standstill, though Duan Kun always maintained a suppressive state.
After only a few exchanges, Wang Zhan realized his idea of beating his mentor had failed. No matter how hard he tried, Duan Kun would always increase his strength just enough to thoroughly suppress him.
"Concentrate, give it your all! Use your Dantian to summon all your Essence Energy; don't hold anything back!" Duan Kun noticed Wang Zhan's distraction and reminded him, "Pay attention to the circulation of Essence Energy. While ensuring you can freely control its release and retraction, try to increase both the speed and quantity of your output."
Hearing this, Wang Zhan quickly snapped back to reality, concentrating fully. Following Duan Kun's instructions, he began to push his Dantian to its limits.
A huge amount of Essence Energy gathered around Wang Zhan before diffusing again, nearly stirring up a fierce gust of wind.
This kind of unrestrained attack consumed a lot of energy. In just a few minutes, Wang Zhan was already panting heavily from exhaustion.
Yet even so, Duan Kun not only didn't go easy on him, but his attacks even increased in intensity by several degrees.
Finally, Wang Zhan had exhausted his energy. He watched as the sole of Duan Kun's shoe got closer and closer to his nose, but he was powerless to dodge.
Hit by a powerful force, Wang Zhan was sent flying seven or eight meters. Yet, aside from the large shoe print on his face, there was also a hint of pleasant surprise.
'Strength +6'
The Limit has increased! Hearing the long-lost prompt, Wang Zhan quickly calmed himself after landing. He immediately noticed that his Dantian had expanded once more; this was the sign of having broken the shackles of his Dantian for the third time.
"You broke through?" Duan Kun noticed Wang Zhan's changes.
"Yes, I broke through." Wang Zhan nodded, ready to express his thanks.
But Duan Kun waved his hand, saying, "Don't be so sentimental. Recover well, then study the martial art on your own. Ask me if you don't understand anything."
As he finished speaking, Duan Kun left without looking back. Wang Zhan had to swallow the words of gratitude that were on the tip of his tongue. He then eagerly opened his attribute panel.
Host: Wang Zhan
Strength: 406
Agility: 400
Physique: 400
Charm: 31
Wisdom: 18
Indeed, all attributes are at the full 400 points of a level 2 Martial Artist, except Strength, which just broke through. So now the upper limit of my main attributes has become 500. And Charm has increased by one point, Wisdom by two points. Wang Zhan thought.
Just then, the long-absent System provided a prompt.
[Since the host broke the Limit by 50 points in the Martial Student Realm, you can add an extra 50 points to your attribute limit at each level during the Martial Artist Stage.]
Wang Zhan was stunned for a moment, then quickly regained his senses. During this busy period, he had completely forgotten about this! He was so focused on filling up his attribute points to break through quickly that he had overlooked his greatest advantage!
That's right! The System said when I first broke through to Martial Artist that my attribute growth potential for each Martial Artist level should be 150 points, but I broke through when I had only gained 100 points at Level 1!
So, to get these additional fifty attribute points to my cap at each level, I still need to break my apparent Limit separately, just like when I was a level 9 Martial Student.
In an instant, Wang Zhan finally realized that although there hadn't been any major slip-ups in his two months of cultivation, he had been too hasty in seeking results.
At the same time, Wang Zhan also discovered something about the System that wasn't very intelligent. The System's attribute upper limit calculation was based on a normal Martial Artist and didn't incorporate data from breaking the Limit!
For example, when he broke through to become a Martial Artist, his attribute limit was 250 points. But when he reached 300 points as a level 1 Martial Artist, he could no longer increase his attribute points. After that, the System-displayed upper limit of a level 2 Martial Artist being 400 points, and a level 3 Martial Artist being 500 points, were all based on the standard Martial Artist progression, calculated assuming a Martial Student Stage limit of only 200 points.
Therefore, the fifty points he gained by breaking the Limit in the Martial Student Stage—that feat needed to be repeated at the level 1 Martial Artist stage to unlock the extra cap. This was in addition to the 150 main attribute points representing his full growth potential for the level 1 Martial Artist stage.
So, my attribute upper limit as a level 1 Martial Artist should actually have been 250 starting points + 150 growth potential = 400 points! But I chose to break through when I was only at 300 points!
Realizing this, Wang Zhan broke out in a cold sweat, and the joy of his recent breakthrough vanished completely. Looking at his attribute panel showing 400 points for his Agility and Physique, and thinking of his current strength as a level 3 Martial Artist...
So, at the level 3 Martial Artist stage, my absolute maximum for main attributes should be the standard 500 points, plus the 50 points from breaking the Limit in the Martial Student Stage (which applies to this level's cap), plus an additional 150 points from three Martial Artist levels of enhanced growth potential (3 levels * 50 extra points per level), totaling 700 points! But I currently only have about half of that!
Fortunately, the System couldn't bear to see this and reminded me. I discovered it relatively early. Wang Zhan thought.
Wang Zhan clearly remembered the difficulty of breaking the Limit during his Martial Student days. Luckily, he was now only 200 points behind in terms of his limit attributes. If he had advanced a few more realms before realizing this, he might not even have a place to cry.
I'll take it slow at the level 3 Martial Artist stage. The cultivation of the Body Refining Technique needs to be accelerated, and I need Essence Pills...
Wang Zhan thought of the forty bottles of Grade-1 Essence Pills he had asked Cheng Shu, the little fatty, to sell on the Black Market.
It wasn't that he regretted selling them; Grade-1 Essence Pills weren't very useful to him anymore. What Wang Zhan was thinking about was the massive consumption his future cultivation would require. No other Martial Artist at the level 3 Martial Artist stage would need to reach 700 in their main attributes—the strength limit of a level 5 Martial Artist.
After the ranking competition, I'll have to take another trip to the wilderness. Wang Zhan thought.
「...」
In the following days, Wang Zhan would spar with Duan Kun every night. His attribute points quickly rose to 500, the theoretical standard limit for a level 3 Martial Artist.
However, progress beyond this point became extremely difficult. After an entire night of combat, Wang Zhan only managed to add about ten more points, reaching around 510 for all his attributes.
The efficiency has noticeably dropped. Going forward, I must rely on high-level Essence Pills and the Body Refining Technique.
However, although he knew what to do next, Wang Zhan was completely broke. His academic credits account was even in the negatives. Forget Essence Pills; he was lucky the school hadn't come to collect his debt yet.
It wasn't until the day before the ranking competition began that Wang Zhan saw Cheng Shu in class.
"Brother Zhan, the items have been sold," Cheng Shu said, handing over a bank card. "This is an unregistered bank card; the password is six zeros."
"Okay, thanks." Wang Zhan nodded.
On the podium, the Teacher was explaining the rules for tomorrow's ranking competition.
"In the two months since school started, the school has ranked your individual performances and potential. You can see your ranks on your personal terminals. There's a tier for every 100 places. For three days, you can freely challenge others. In each attempt, you can challenge opponents at most two tiers higher than yourself, but each failure will deduct academic credits."
The Teacher, seeing the students weren't taking it seriously, sneered, "Don't think that just because you're new students with 0 academic credits, you can challenge anyone you want. Academic credits can go into the negatives. You'd best be careful."
Upon hearing this, the students' expressions turned a bit unnatural, and they began whispering among themselves.
"Academic credits can be negative?" Cheng Shu looked troubled.
Wang Zhan nodded seriously, "Yes, they can." He had personal experience with this matter—he still owed 4,000 points.
At this moment, a student suddenly asked, "Teacher, why can't I see Student Wang Zhan's name on the ranking list?"
The first thing most first-year students did when they opened the rankings was to check if Wang Zhan was in first place. It couldn't be helped; although Wang Zhan didn't interact much with his classmates, he was already recognized as the most powerful among the first-years. Unconvinced? Try taking on a top-ten sophomore head-on yourself.
The Teacher glanced at Wang Zhan, who was tucked away in a corner of the classroom. "He's different from all of you. He isn't participating in the first-year ranking competition; his rank is on the second-year leaderboard."