At the end of the ninth month of martial arts training in the Martial Hall.
Early in the morning, three instructors, Yu Yongnian, appeared simultaneously at the Martial Arts Arena.
All the trainees practicing boxing stopped and looked at the three instructors.
Except in their first month in the Martial Hall, when the three instructors would appear together at the Martial Arts Arena, in the subsequent months, the instructors' appearances became irregular and came one after the other.
Now that the three instructors were appearing at the same time again, was there some important announcement to be made?
Instructor Liu, in the middle, glanced at all the trainees and announced loudly: "The Martial Affairs Office has issued an announcement. To encourage everyone to practice martial arts, any trainee whose strength reaches four hundred jin and can increase by fifty jin in the next month will receive a reward of three taels of silver. If the increase is one hundred jin, the reward will be ten taels of silver."
Instructor Liu's words immediately caused a buzz among the trainees present.
It wasn't excitement, but rather complaints.
"What a joke, increasing strength by a hundred jin in a month?"
"After reaching three hundred jin, I've spent nearly two taels of silver every month and have only managed to increase my strength by less than thirty jin. Keeping a fifty-jin increase at four hundred jin, how much silver would that cost?"
"To increase by fifty jin, one must drink nourishing soups daily and have beef. Without at least ten taels of silver, it wouldn't be possible. As for increasing by one hundred jin, that's just unimaginable."
After more than nine months of martial arts training in the Martial Hall, these trainees deeply understood the cost of trying to achieve quick gains in martial arts.
Before entering the Martial Hall, some trainees had learned from young people of the same village who had trained there before, but understanding is one thing, experiencing it oneself is another, and it's often met with skepticism.
Or more accurately, with a hopeful mindset, thinking they would be different.
Young people have confidence and bold ambitions!
But nine months of training in the Martial Hall allowed them to soberly understand themselves and give up the idea of quick success.
"This reward must be intended for Senior Brother Lu and those like him; only they could possibly get it."
"Even Senior Brother Lu and the others might not get it; they've already surpassed five hundred jin. Maybe someone in the next batch could get it."
The trainees showed little gratitude, and the three instructors weren't surprised. When they saw the notice, the three could already predict the trainees' reactions.
This isn't encouragement; at most, it's like adding flowers to the brocade.
Trainees from average backgrounds find it unusable, and those from well-off backgrounds like Lu Yongfeng don't see it as worthwhile.
...
...
"Which noble person is so wise and brave to tailor this reward just for me?"
In the crowd, Lin Chen's eyes shone. Increasing fifty jin in a month for a reward of three taels of silver was like sending money his way.
His strength just reached four hundred jin yesterday.
"Panel."
Lin Chen whispered in his heart, and the panel appeared.
[Name: Lin Chen]
[Profession: Martial Artist]
[Qi Blood: 2003/3000]
[Life Chart: [Natural Progress]: Martial Arts First Realm, Perseverance, Step by Step, Unstoppable, No Bottleneck Problem.]
Based on his current daily increase of 10 Qi Blood, that's 300 points in a month, which translates to 60 jin of strength. The three taels silver reward is certainly within reach.
Even the ten taels silver reward isn't out of reach for him to aim at.
"Those trainees whose strength has reached four hundred jin can come up for a strength test and registration."
While Lin Chen was pondering, Instructor Liu spoke again.
Instructor Liu didn't concern himself with what the trainees thought; this was a notice from the Martial Affairs Office, and the Martial Hall had to comply.
They first needed to tally those in the Martial Hall with strength reaching four hundred jin, who would then be reported to the Martial Affairs Office.
A few moments later, a trainee stepped out from the queue, walked to a 440 jin stone platform, and lifted the 440 jin stone platform quite easily.
"Yang Lin, 440 jin."
Instructor Chen, next to him, was in charge of recording and wrote down the number in the roster after glancing at Yang Lin's state.
After that, another trainee stepped out and lifted a 420 jin stone platform.
"Li Dong, 420 jin."
"Chu Dong, 410 jin."
"Zheng Kai, 440 jin."
Lin Chen observed the recorded weights announced by Instructor Chen and saw the state of Yang Lin and the others lifting the stones, knowing that the instructors were providing some leeway.
Take Yang Lin, for instance. He lifted the 440 jin stone with relative ease; his strength was undoubtedly more than 440 jin, likely closer to 450 jin, with the instructor just rounding down.
The instructors are kind people indeed.
However, the instructors' leniency only goes so far, merely rounding off numbers.
Earlier, Zheng Kai had clearly tried to hide his strength by lifting a 420 jin stone platform while pretending to struggle, successfully fooling them.
However, Instructor Liu made Zheng Kai switch to another stone platform, and when he finally lifted the 440 jin stone, Lin Chen realized the extent of Zheng Kai's pretense.
So the three instructors might be lenient but not deceitful.
For the three instructors, rounding down the numbers could be justified. The Martial Hall stones are in units of ten, so they registered round numbers, and the Martial Affairs Office wouldn't mind such things.
"Yan Dexing, what are you doing up here? Your strength has already broken five hundred jin. Go down."
Instructor Liu looked at the approaching young man and gave him a stern look.
Yan Dexing turned back uneasily. He wasn't aiming for the reward but just wanted to show off a bit.
"And neither Lu Yongfeng, Cheng Ying, Zhao Jingchuan, nor Xu Botao need to test."
Listening to Instructor Liu's words, all the trainees on-site looked toward those five with eyes full of envy; their strength had all exceeded five hundred jin.
"Are there no other trainees?"
Instructor Liu said this casually, as per procedure. He didn't expect any more trainees to step forward. Those who could reach four hundred jin in the Martial Hall were already second only to Lu Yongfeng and his peers. The instructors were already aware of who could achieve it.
Lin Chen pondered for a moment, then stepped out from the queue.
"Chen, what are you doing?"
Gu Fei was stunned as he saw Lin Chen heading forward, and by the time he reacted and reached out to stop him, Lin Chen had already stepped out of the crowd.
As Lin Chen moved towards the stone platform, all other trainees turned their eyes to him.
"What's he doing?"
"Don't tell me his strength has reached four hundred jin?"
"If Lin Chen's strength is four hundred jin, I might as well have already cultivated Essence Qi."
Amidst the trainees, there were doubts, mocking, but none believed Lin Chen had achieved four hundred jin strength.
The disqualified Lu Yongfeng and others were talking among themselves, initially indifferent to the scene here, but now all turned their eyes over due to the discussion.
"What's Lin Chen doing? Is he suggesting his strength increased by two hundred jin in three months?" Cheng Ying questioned?
"He can't even afford beef, relying on working in the canteen to save on meals. If he could increase his strength by two hundred jin, what would that make us?"
Yan Dexing sneered; it took the five of them over three months to increase from two hundred to four hundred jin, with only Lu Yongfeng achieving a 200 jin increase in three months.
Each of them spent nearly twenty taels within those three months, and Lu Yongfeng definitely exceeded twenty taels.
If Lin Chen could catch up to them, wouldn't that mean the money they spent was wasted?
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