Bang!
After activating his superpower, Su Mu no longer suppressed himself. His entire body began to emanate a faint white glow, and the Qi and Blood inside him churned, faintly roaring like surging waves.
Su Mu's natural talent was mediocre, not even better than his wife's. He had reached this point through sheer stubborn determination, practicing relentlessly as if his life depended on it.
Ten years of hesitation, one morning enlightenment.
In an instant, clarity filled his mind as the lingering fog disappeared, like the clouds parting to reveal the sunny skies!
The door to Third Level Martial Artist opened wide for Su Mu.
Martial Artist Ninth Level, First Level to Third Level Martial Artists are considered Low Tier Martial Artists, each level subdivided into Initial Stage, Middle Stage, High Stage, and Peak.
A Second Level Martial Artist has completed the refining of 64 bones in the upper limbs and 62 bones in the lower limbs, while a Third Level Martial Artist needs to go further and refine 51 bones in the torso.
This includes 24 ribs, 26 vertebrae, and one sternum, thus fully connecting the Martial Artist's limbs and torso, greatly enhancing their control over their body, thus reaching Third Level High Stage.
Once the Martial Artist has slightly refined the remaining 29 cranial bones, they have initially completed the full refinement of all bones in their body, their skeleton is as hard as iron, becoming a Third Level Peak Martial Artist.
The flesh of a Martial Artist is like a container that holds Qi and Blood; to break through requires shattering the limitations of the old container and then expanding it, which is the bottleneck between realms.
With the long-term preparation taking effect, the decade-old bottleneck dissolved in an instant, Qi and Blood roared and swept towards his ribs.
The first rib under the tempering of Qi and Blood showed a jade-like luster, at this moment Su Mu's whole body trembled with joy.
The bottleneck that had trapped him for ten years finally collapsed, the Third Level Initial Stage was achieved!
Then, one after another, the ribs underwent refinement.
Su Mu felt extremely secure because he could clearly sense his own power surging, each second his Qi and Blood grew more vigorous, his strength becoming more formidable!
Soon, all 24 ribs were fully refined, successfully stepping into Third Level Middle Stage!
After that, it was the spine like a coiled dragon, and the stout sternum.
The struggles of ten years transformed in this moment into ferocious Qi and Blood, as if roaring for Su Mu.
The Third Level High Stage was achieved!
Su Mu's entire body felt feverish and burning, sweat soaked through his clothes and then dried them, repeatedly as time ticked away.
Until Qi and Blood converged at his head, causing his whole body to resonate.
Buzz, buzz, buzz.
Su Mu's entire skeletal system completed its preliminary refinement, the Third Level Peak was achieved!
Phew.
He exhaled deeply and slowly opened his eyes, excitement, emotion, and joy mixed in his gaze. Unnoticed by the outside world, it was already dawn, an entire night for Su Mu seemed to have passed in brief moments.
Looking out the window, the horizon revealed a touch of pale light, it was the moment of sunrise.
"Unexpectedly, I achieved the Third Level Peak in one stroke!"
The ten years of depression were swept away in this instant, replaced by vigor and enthusiasm, like the newborn sun outside the window.
To be honest, this result far exceeded Su Mu's personal expectations.
Originally, he thought reaching Third Level Middle Stage would be already quite good, in fact, he had greatly underestimated the long-term preparation of the decade-old bottleneck, this time it broke through like a hot knife through butter, directly reaching the Third Level Peak.
In this moment, he suddenly had an odd thought, perhaps ten years wasn't too long, perhaps it wasn't so unbearable.
"Hahaha, but I don't want to go through it again, ten years is enough, reaching Third Level Peak is well worth it!"
Inside the room, Su Mu was extremely excited, it took a long time before he managed to calm his mood, he immediately continued cultivation, after a breakthrough is the best time to solidify one's cultivation.
But soon he furrowed his brows and ceased cultivation, his realm was stable, but strangely he felt a wave of fatigue, as if his Qi and Blood was floating, this shouldn't be.
Grumble.
As his stomach growled, Su Mu's brows relaxed.
"Qi and Blood don't appear out of thin air, now my realm has increased, but my Qi and Blood haven't kept up, so during this period, I need to supplement my Qi and Blood!"
Martial artists have strong appetites, able to replenish Qi and Blood through food.
At this time, the school's dining hall wasn't open yet, Su Mu went to a breakfast stall outside the school run by a middle-aged couple selling buns, eggs, and soy milk.
"Do you have buns now?"
"Yes, we do."
"Then give me three drawers, and three cups of soy milk."
Su Mu at this moment felt like he hadn't eaten for three days, unprecedented hunger, devouring a bun in two bites, swallowing soy milk to moisten his throat, then continuing, in a short while three drawers of buns were inside his stomach, only feeling half full.
"Another three drawers of buns, only meat buns, five eggs, I'll take the soy milk myself."
Su Mu ate a total of six drawers of buns, five eggs, six cups of soy milk, directly taking all the breakfast the couple had prepared, leaving them grinning from ear to ear.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Once Su Mu left, the wife couldn't help but sigh.
"People from Martial Arts University are really impressive, look at a security guard who can eat this much."
"He shouldn't be an ordinary person, I've encountered several university teachers before and none could eat like him."
"Then he must be quite impressive."
The couple's curiosity was unknown to Su Mu, who was on his way to the Martial Artist Association, planning to certify his status as a Third Level Martial Artist.
On the way, there was a new message on his phone, he opened it to find it was the security group.
Sun Jianren in the group demanded that the third team gather at eight-thirty for a meeting, individually mentioning Su Mu, requesting him not to be absent like last time and to arrive at least half an hour early.
This was clearly targeting Su Mu.
"Cursed, first thing in the morning there's a dog barking."
After swearing, Su Mu paused, and after a moment he suddenly laughed. Since starting a family and having a daughter, his temper had almost been worn down by life, now he found his anger surprisingly strong, even he was surprised.
On second thought he understood, it must be the result of the breakthrough, the surge in Qi and Blood.
Young and vigorous, with Qi and Blood flourishing, as long as the path is open naturally vigor rises, with realm breakthrough, root bone improvement, his mentality seemed to become younger, more spirited.
"It's nice to feel young again."
Su Mu lamented, but then he chose not to argue directly with Sun Jianren in the group, choosing to ignore him, as the matter with the university counselor was yet to be determined, he hadn't secured a backup plan, there was no need to stoop to the level of a dog captain.
There was no need for conflict with a dog leader; afterwards, he would use the excuse of not seeing the message over the weekend, at most being scolded a few times, after all, arranging work on weekends is unreasonable.
Thus, the matter wouldn't blow up, or cause him to lose his job.
On the other side, Sun Jianren sent a message, but after waiting a while without seeing Su Mu respond, he sneered, someone like this hopes to apply for a university teacher position, sheer wishful thinking.
Not long after, he arrived at the Martial Artist Association, the time was still early, plus it was Sunday, there was no need to queue.
"Hello, I'd like to re-certify my Martial Artist Level."
"Alright, sir, please follow me."
The Martial Artist Association is an official body; every base would at least have one, but the association conditions are linked to the local economic infrastructure.
It's said that at large base Martial Artist Associations, multiple steps are involved in certifying Martial Artist Level, including detailed checks of the refinement of various bones, while smaller associations often conduct a simple and direct Qi and Blood test.
As long as the Qi Blood Value meets the standard, the Association directly grants the corresponding level certification.
The Qi Blood standard for a Third Level Martial Artist is 1000-1500 large calories, with the Initial Stage limit at 1150, Middle Stage limit at 1300, High Stage limit at 1450, exceeding 1450 signifies reaching Third Level Peak.
Su Mu entered the detection room and lay down on an instrument resembling a massage chair. After the staff changed to a new Blood Collection Needle and pressed the detection switch, the needle began drawing blood from Su Mu's limbs.
Several seconds later, the Qi Blood Value appeared on the instrument screen.
Qi Blood Value: 1255 large calories.
The association rated him as Third Level Middle Stage, and seeing this result, the staff at his side showed shock. She recognized Su Mu's security uniform from Shenjiang Martial Arts University, the most ordinary kind.
An ordinary security guard turned out to be Third Level Middle Stage, was Shenjiang Martial Arts University now really this impressive?
Su Mu was unaware of the thoughts of the association's staff, but himself felt somewhat depressed.
He underestimated the situation and was impulsive, only achieving Third Level Middle Stage!
He should have waited a bit longer before undergoing certification.
...