I can gain insights into martial arts.

At 7:20, a middle-aged man walked into the training ground. He was Lin Hong, the stance training teacher for the elite class, who was known for his strictness.

Upon seeing him, the students immediately took their places.

Every morning from 7:30 to 9:00 is the fixed practice of stance training, but Lin Hong often starts the class earlier.

Lin Hong, standing on the podium, surveyed the entire room. Seeing that all seventy students were in place, he announced loudly, "Class begins! First move of the Foundation Strengthening Stance!"

Then, he stepped down from the podium with a pointer in his hand and began to patrol.

The Foundation Strengthening Stance and the Vitality Cultivation Fist are basic exercises developed and integrated by countless martial arts masters in China. They are highly versatile and have outstanding body-strengthening effects, and have been listed as compulsory subjects in the martial arts section of the college entrance examination.

The Foundation Strengthening Stance consists of eighteen forms, with increasing difficulty. The students are practicing according to Lin Hong's commands.

The first few steps weren't difficult for the students in the top class, and after more than half an hour, no one had yet received Lin Hong's "special attention."

On the tenth move, Lin Hong finally opened his pointer and slapped a boy on the back of the knee with a "snap".

"Lower your waist by three-tenths, lower your hips! You're already having problems with the tenth move. How did you even train your basic skills?"

The boy stumbled, immediately blushing as he adjusted the stakes. Lin Hong watched for a moment, gave him a couple of pointers, and then walked away.

Next, as the difficulty of the first set of foundation-strengthening stances increased, the cracking of the pointer and Lin Hong's reprimands became more and more frequent.

"Are you still half asleep? You're standing so slouching!"

"The fundamental stance is the foundation of martial arts. What's the point of learning martial arts if you're standing like that? You might as well switch to humanities!"

"After two years of stance training, you still have an unstable lower body?!"

The twelfth method involved "taking care" of nearly half of the students.

The thirteenth method: fewer than twenty people have escaped reprimand.

In the fourteenth stance, only five students in the entire elite class could still stand firmly. Among them, Chen Mochuan's stance was the most standard, but the beads of sweat sliding down his forehead showed that he was not relaxed.

"Those who can't hold on should revert to the thirteenth move," Lin Hong said.

Most students, feeling as if they had been granted a pardon, quickly changed their stance, leaving only a handful still persisting.

Chen Mochuan's arches were slightly bent, his ankles were tightly clenched, his spine was stretched out segment by segment, and beads of sweat slid down the side of his neck, but his body did not sway.

He didn't know how long he had persevered, but suddenly he felt a faint warmth in his body, and the pain that had accumulated before seemed to lessen.

"Ring ring..."

When the bell rang, he snapped out of his daze and realized that his clothes were completely soaked with sweat.

At the same time, several messages appeared on the light screen panel.

[Your practice of the Foundation Strengthening Stance has made progress, your Qi and blood have been stimulated, and your physical condition has improved.]

[Strengthening Foundation Stance: Proficient (96%) → Proficient (97%)]

[Qi and Blood Value: 2.92 → 2.93]

After three days of no improvement, the foundation-strengthening stance made a slight progress, and Chen Mochuan felt his fatigue dissipate somewhat.

He had just put away the stakes when he heard a voice.

"You've practiced well."

Lin Hong was already standing beside him without him noticing.

"Teacher, is there anything I need to adjust in this stance?" Chen Mochuan asked, seizing the opportunity.

Lin Hong smiled and shook his head, "The stance is very standard, and it has remained in place for nearly an hour without any deviation. In seven to ten days, your Foundation Strengthening Stance should be able to break through to the Great Perfection. At that time, you can focus on the Fifteenth Form."

Martial arts techniques on Earth are classified according to the level of mastery as: beginner, proficient, master, advanced, and perfect.

Among the current senior martial arts students, Chen Mochuan is the best at solidifying the foundation stance, and Lin Hong greatly admires this hardworking student.

……

"Whoosh—"

After turning off the shower, Chen Mochuan changed into a dry spare school uniform and walked out of the school's public shower room.

The break between training sessions is as long as half an hour, giving the sweaty students ample time to clean up.

As soon as Chen Mochuan entered the classroom, his tall best friend Li Biao grabbed him and pulled him away from the other students to a corner of the classroom.

The two had been classmates since junior high school and got along extremely well.

"What's wrong, Ah Biao?"

"Brother Chuan, I've really awakened my spiritual talent!" Li Biao said in a low voice, still unable to hide his excitement.

Chen Mochuan was taken aback at first, then excitedly punched the other man on the shoulder, "Good lad, I knew you could do it!"

Li Biao grinned broadly. "Brother Chuan, you were right about eating ferocious beast meat! Last night my dad got some high-level ferocious beast meat, and I awakened my powers not long after eating it!"

The two were longtime dining partners. Half a month ago, Chen Mochuan noticed that Li Biao's appetite had increased dramatically, a situation similar to his own at the time, and guessed that the other party might also be awakening his spiritual talent.

In the previous year or so, he had eaten the flesh of ferocious beasts twice, and his spiritual awakening progressed significantly on both occasions.

Although the meat of ferocious beasts is expensive, Li Biao's family is one of the wealthiest families in Antu City, so getting some high-grade ferocious beast meat is naturally not a problem for them.

So a few days ago he suggested that Li Biao eat more ferocious beast meat to trigger his awakening, and unexpectedly it worked immediately.

Seeing his best friend's overjoyed expression, Chen Mochuan was genuinely happy: "That's because you have this talent; otherwise, eating any amount of ferocious beast meat would be in vain."

"Hehe, let me tell you, my spiritual talent is like eating food..."

Seeing that Li Biao was about to explain his spiritual talent in detail, Chen Mochuan immediately interrupted, "Keep the specific abilities of your spiritual talent to yourself. At most, tell your family, but don't tell outsiders."

"You're not an outsider..." Li Biao muttered unhappily, but still obediently stopped talking. "Fine, I'll listen to you. I'll also learn from those two and keep something secret, and give them a 'surprise' later."

Of the more than 2,000 senior students at the Eighth High School, only four had previously awakened their spiritual talents.

The two students in the humanities stream: one has a photographic memory and consistently ranks first in the grade, making him a top contender for the top score; the other possesses perfect pitch and secured a place in China's top music academy through direct admission in his second year of high school.

The two martial arts students, both gifted with spiritual abilities, have never revealed their skills and have been taking turns holding the top spot in their grade since they enrolled. Now, Li Biao has also earned the right to compete with them.

"Oh right, Brother Chuan, I almost forgot, I have something for you." Li Biao took out a black card from his pocket and quickly stuffed it into Chen Mochuan's backpack.

"What is it?"

"A one-year gold membership card for Mingxin Martial Arts Hall."

Mingxin is one of the best martial arts gyms in Antu City, but the cost of a regular membership is already very expensive for Chen Mochuan, let alone a gold membership.

"This is too valuable, I can't accept it." He frowned, and immediately reached into his backpack to take the card and return it.

Li Biao grabbed his arm and said urgently, "Brother Chuan, my dad heard that I was able to awaken because of your suggestion. He specifically asked me to bring this card to thank you..."

"If you don't accept it, I'll suffer terribly when I get home. You can't bear to see your brother suffer, can you?" He looked aggrieved.

Now that things had come to this, Chen Mochuan couldn't refuse any longer. "Then please thank your uncle for me."

Li Biao's face immediately lit up with a smile, "Don't worry, it will definitely get through! Now I'll finally have someone to keep me company when I go to Mingxin to practice martial arts."

As they were talking, the math teacher walked into the classroom, and the two of them, not wanting to continue their conversation, returned to their seats.

……

At 9:30 p.m., Chen Mochuan returned from his evening practice and immediately activated the light screen as soon as he entered his home.

On the light screen, the words "[Awakening in progress - 99%]" have remained unchanged for ten days.

The slowest progress in the past, with a 1% increase, took only five days.

Furthermore, Li Biao's example of awakening using the flesh of ferocious beasts constantly reminded him that he had to take the initiative to do something in order to break through this final hurdle as soon as possible.

His gaze fell on the unopened box of blood and qi tonics on the table.

Given his current physical condition, he can only tolerate one dose of Qi and Blood Tonic per day. While taking too much may temporarily stimulate Qi and Blood, it will put a heavy burden on his body and is not advisable in the long run.

However, he couldn't care less about the side effects now; awakening his spiritual talent was the most important thing at the moment.

After only a moment's hesitation, he decisively pulled out a supplement, tilted his head back, and drank it all.

Soon, the effects of overdosing on the supplements came: a noticeable burning sensation in the body, and the previously balanced Qi and blood became disordered.

He immediately calmed himself down and quickly assumed the stance for the fourteenth form, the Foundation Strengthening Stance.

At this moment, the stance training used to strengthen muscles and tendons and regulate blood circulation became his reliance for controlling the turmoil within his body.

Time passed slowly in agony. He gritted his teeth, sweat pouring down his face, and with his near-mastery of stance training, he forcibly regulated his out-of-control blood and qi.

Just as he was nearing his limit, the message on the screen, which he had been waiting for for a year, finally popped up and updated:

[You have awakened the Spiritual Talent: Soul Devourer]