Seven Stars Calendar, September 2042, Xia Country, Jiangbei Province, Jiang City.
A city known as the furnace, where most of the year is winter or summer, and early September is the hot season.
Guan Mountain District's Number One High School.
In each classroom of the senior high building, similar banners hung behind the blackboard: "No fight, no survival in third year," "Struggle for one year, have no regrets for life," "No toughness in third year, how can you stand firm?"...
And one classroom on the first floor to the east was exceptionally large, nearly a thousand square meters. Unlike ordinary classrooms, there were no desks or chairs; one side was lined with swords, spears, sabers, staffs, and many other cold weapons, while the other side was fitted with various special instruments, as well as a track paved with dark red metal.
This is the Martial Arts classroom.
At this moment, over a hundred students are practicing standing postures, each performing different movements.
Some resemble monkeys, others are like flying birds, some appear tiger-like... their vitality and spirit are exceptionally strong.
"It originates from the feet, activated through the legs, governed by the waist, uniting the force of the hundred skeletons into the fingertips..." a burly middle-aged man in a black Martial Path uniform walked among the students.
His face was stern, nearly two meters tall, with a voice like a bell and eyes like a fierce tiger, scrutinizing every student.
What drew the most attention was his right arm, which was actually a silver metallic limb that could move as naturally as a real arm, perfectly integrated with the severed limb.
"In theory, these are the key points of the Basic Cultivation Method that you should've mastered in your second year, but what do I see?
Your postures are still sloppy in the third year," the burly man scolded angrily as he walked, and a casual slap from his metal arm would knock a sweat-drenched student to the ground: "If the stance is stable, the center of gravity will be difficult to shift, and the Basic Cultivation Method is the foundation of Martial Path!"
"One day's practice for one day's worth of skill, miss a day of practice and you're a hundred days behind; I bet you all completely relaxed during the half-month summer vacation and didn't practice at home."
"You're in third year and still thinking about relaxing? You're ordinary class students without awakened Spiritual Nature; if you don't work hard, how will you be admitted to Martial Arts University?"
"Even if you're not aiming for the Martial Arts University, taking the cultural route, martial arts scores still account for 30%..." the burly man kept berating.
Yet the group of students didn't dare to breathe heavily, practicing with even more dedication.
"Report." A series of similar voices suddenly echoed at the classroom door as a group of students in Martial Path uniforms appeared at the entrance.
"Group Two back from the Spiritual Aptitude Test?" the burly man glanced toward the doorway.
Immediately, the burly man's sharp gaze fell on one of the students.
This student was nearly one meter eighty tall with a buzz cut. At first glance, he didn't seem too extraordinary, but upon closer inspection, one could see he stood straight, with a spine that was almost perfectly aligned, exuding an unshakable presence with a casual stance.
Clearly, this student had integrated the 'carry the head suspended from above, sink the tailbone' principle of the Basic Cultivation Method into his everyday movements.
He truly achieved the state where intention leads and spirit conveys.
This level of understanding of the Martial Arts Realm surpassed all other students practicing postures in the classroom.
"Li Yuan, how did it go?" the burly man looked at him.
The nearly hundred students practicing posture couldn't help but sneak glances at the student named Li Yuan.
"Teacher Xu, I didn't awaken," Li Yuan replied calmly, shaking his head without showing disappointment.
The burly man frowned upon hearing this.
Li Yuan was the most promising student in his class to awaken Martial Spirit.
"Li Yuan couldn't succeed?"
"At the end of the second year's exams, his martial arts score was in the top thirty of his grade. His Physical Quality had already reached level 6 at that time, and now must be even stronger, yet he still hasn't awakened Martial Spirit?"
"Awakening Martial Spirit, it's really difficult!" The nearly hundred practicing students couldn't help feeling privately shocked.
Nowadays, across the whole Xia Country and even the entire Blue Star, talent is selected in two ways—academic courses and Martial Arts Cultivation.
And all students have been taught Basic Cultivation Methods by the state and practice martial arts from middle school onwards.
At Guan Mountain District Number One High School, there are over two thousand students in the third-year grade, spread out across twenty classes.
But there's only one Martial Arts Elite Class; all the others are ordinary classes.
The Martial Arts Elite Class has more than sixty students, all of whom have awakened Martial Spirit, and often the top fifty martial arts scores in the grade are held by them.
For Li Yuan to make it into the top thirty in martial arts in an ordinary class was indeed surprising.
"What about the others? Did anyone awaken their Spiritual Nature?" the burly man swept his gaze over the rest.
"Come on in," the burly man said, unfazed.
In truth, most who would awaken their Martial Spirit often did so in their first year of high school, if not earlier, in middle school.
Awakening in the third year? The chances were very slim!
The burly man had only held hopes for Li Yuan, and with a wave of his hand he instructed: "Group Three, go to the Martial Arts Building for the Spiritual Aptitude Test."
One row of students practicing posture, their legs already sore and feet in pain, quickly got up at these words and rushed out of the classroom.
Meanwhile, Li Yuan and his group had returned to their spots to continue their practice.
"Brother Yuan, Teacher Xu seems a bit disappointed," muttered Li Yuan's classmate with a short goatee, looking quite mature: "But you, Brother Yuan, you don't seem saddened at all by the results of the Spiritual Aptitude Test."
"Let's continue training; practicing the basic method for four hours a day is a fundamental requirement." Li Yuan said indifferently, foreseeing the outcome and feeling no disappointment.
"Four hours?" The mature-looking classmate mumbled, "No wonder you're the second-record-holder in our class."
Hearing this, Li Yuan smiled and no longer engaged with his classmate, closed his eyes gently, stood in his place, knees slightly bent, and his presence changed immediately, resembling a boulder, and the unshakable air about him grew stronger.