Chapter 5: I, Wang Teng, am very diligent!

11:00 PM, the night was deep.

Wang Teng left the Jixing Martial Arts Hall, his face showing a sense of lingering satisfaction.

While others had spent the night training, he had spent it "messing around."

Messing around?

Pah, pah... How could a martial artist's business be called messing around!

The other martial arts apprentices left one after another; Wang Teng was in the last group.

It wasn't that he was particularly hardworking, but rather that he didn't want to miss a single attribute bubble. Well... that was a form of hard work, too.

Wang Teng drove through the deserted streets.

【Understanding】: 19.3

【Constitution】: 47

【Strength】: 135

【Speed】: 86

【Combat Techniques】: Basic Fist Technique (Novice), Basic Movement Technique (Novice)

He glanced at his attribute panel, feeling content.

From the single digits at the start to the double and triple-digit attributes now, the change was undoubtedly massive.

Strength and speed had increased the most, while understanding and constitution had increased relatively less.

It wasn't hard to see that there was a certain variance in the drop probability of different attributes.

What surprised him was that he had also obtained Basic Fist Technique and Basic Movement Technique tonight. For a martial artist, having a strong body alone wasn't enough; one had to learn combat techniques to unleash their proper strength.

"I'll come back to the martial arts hall tomorrow to test myself and see what level I've reached," Wang Teng thought.

Back home, Li Xiumei had prepared a late-night snack.

Wang Shengguo was eating when he saw Wang Teng return. He frowned and asked, "It's so late, where have you been?"

"I went to the Jixing Martial Arts Hall," Wang Teng replied casually.

He then said to Li Xiumei, "Mom, you made egg noodles? Did you save some for me? I'm hungry."

"Yes! I saved some for you."

Seeing her son enjoy her cooking, Li Xiumei was very happy.

*Slurp, slurp~*

Wang Teng took the bowl, sat next to Wang Shengguo, and began to eat heartily, finding it exceptionally delicious.

Wang Shengguo didn't smell any alcohol on Wang Teng, so his brow relaxed slightly. He asked in surprise, "What did you go to the martial arts hall for?"

"I went to practice martial arts!" Wang Teng said without looking up.

"Practice martial arts!"

"Practice martial arts!"

Wang Shengguo and Li Xiumei were both startled. The two couldn't help but exchange glances, then looked at Wang Teng in unison.

They had tried to persuade Wang Teng before, but he had been pampered since childhood and was idle and incompetent, never taking their words to heart.

Now, he was actually taking the initiative to learn martial arts?

"Son, you want to practice martial arts?" Li Xiumei asked, somewhat disbelieving.

"Yeah!" Wang Teng nodded.

"Son, are you in a relationship?" Li Xiumei asked suspiciously.

"Huh?" Wang Teng was stunned.

When did I get into a relationship? How come I don't know about it?

"Didn't you hate practicing martial arts before?" Wang Shengguo asked.

"What's the big deal? I've just figured things out now, so naturally, I went to practice," Wang Teng said, acting nonchalant.

Just like that?

Wang Shengguo and Li Xiumei looked at each other again.

"Good, since you want to practice martial arts, I'll hire a good teacher to teach you!" Seeing that Wang Teng didn't seem to be joking, Wang Shengguo clapped his hands happily and said.

"Dad, let's hold off on hiring a teacher. Martial arts requires talent; I want to try practicing on my own first."

Wang Teng immediately refused. What teacher could compare to his own golden finger?

His father would at most hire a high-level martial arts apprentice to be his teacher; with his family's wealth, they certainly couldn't afford a real martial artist.

Learning from a high-level apprentice was not as good as spending more time picking up attributes.

Hiring a teacher would just be a waste of money.

In this era of martial artists, even hiring a high-level apprentice was not cheap.

Wang Shengguo didn't force the issue. He nodded and said, "That's fine too. There are instructors at the martial arts hall. As one of the big three in China, Jixing Martial Arts Hall's instructors won't be bad."

"Study hard. I don't expect you to become a martial artist, but as long as you can reach the level of a high-level apprentice, your physical fitness will improve significantly, and your lifespan will increase quite a bit."

"The body is your capital. With a good body, everything you do will be twice as effective with half the effort."

In truth, he was also afraid that Wang Teng was just having a three-minute burst of enthusiasm and wouldn't be able to endure the hardship after a couple of days.

It was better to let Wang Teng practice on his own for a while. If he could really stick with it, it wouldn't be too late to make other plans then.

"Got it, Dad." Wang Teng chuckled inwardly. His father loved to lecture; if it were before, he wouldn't have listened at all.

However.

High-level apprentice?

With his golden finger, let alone a formal martial artist, even a War General-level martial artist wasn't impossible.

He was just afraid that saying it out loud would scare him.

Wang Shengguo felt a sense of relief, thinking that Wang Teng had matured quite a bit... Could he really be in a relationship?

"Son, you're seventeen now. If you really are in a relationship, we don't object. Is your pocket money still enough?"

Wang Teng was confused.

Are we really unable to get past this hurdle?

"Mom, Dad, I'm really not in a relationship. If I were, I'd definitely bring her home for you to see right away," he said helplessly.

"What a pity!" Li Xiumei was a bit disappointed.

Wang Shengguo nodded in agreement.

"..." Wang Teng was speechless. "Mom, I'm only seventeen. We're nowhere near that stage yet!"

"It's not too early. Nowadays, you can get a marriage certificate at eighteen. If you start dating now and cultivate your feelings, getting married in a year would be just right," Li Xiumei said.

"You can get married at eighteen!" Wang Teng was shocked.

Is the martial arts era this blissful?

"Mom, I'm done eating. I'm going upstairs to shower and sleep."

He ran upstairs as if fleeing. If he kept talking to his mother, he feared even a son might be "produced" on the spot. That was just the kind of person his mother was.

"This child! Husband, I think that girl from the Tang family is quite good. Should we go to their house and ask about it another day..."

Downstairs, Li Xiumei was still chattering away to Wang Shengguo.

Fortunately, Wang Teng didn't hear it, otherwise, he might have been scared to death—the Tang family's girl weighed at least two hundred pounds, oh my god!

...

The next day.

Early in the morning, Wang Shengguo was eating breakfast—steamed buns, fried dough sticks, soy milk... simple, but a favorite of the Chinese people.

Wang Teng came down from upstairs.

Since it was Saturday and there were no classes, his time was free to arrange.

After breakfast, Wang Teng greeted his parents and hurried out the door.

Wang Shengguo felt another wave of relief and said to Li Xiumei, "Have the servant buy some Star Beast meat today. Xiao Teng is practicing martial arts; eating Star Beast meat helps improve physical fitness."

Jixing Martial Arts Hall.

Wang Teng arrived very early. There were only two or three students in the training hall, and these people were very diligent.

They were a bit surprised to see that Wang Teng was a new face.

However, Wang Teng's "diligence" won their approval. A few students nodded in a friendly manner, thinking that Wang Teng must be the same kind of person as them.

Wang Teng also felt he was very diligent, but since few people had arrived, there were very few attribute bubbles.

He went up to greet the students one by one, picking up the attributes along the way.

Right, just along the way!

I, Wang Teng, am a polite person; greeting them was the real purpose.

【Basic Fist Technique*6】

【Strength*4】

【Speed*3】

【Basic Sword Technique*4】

...

Wow, the attributes were so rich, and there was even Basic Sword Technique—he had learned another basic combat technique!

Sure enough, the early bird gets the worm.

The students at the martial arts hall were all talented, spoke well, and dropped many attributes; he really liked them a lot.

——I am a newbie separator line——

I, Mo Ru Jianghu, am very diligent!

(End of chapter)