The low-key prince summons trainees from the Imperial Household Department at the start of the game.

Chunlan recently noticed that the Ninth Prince has been acting strangely lately.

Saying something is wrong might not be accurate. His Highness is still the same His Highness. He eats and sleeps on time every day, and when he sees people, he still lowers his head timidly and speaks in a voice as soft as a mosquito's hum.

But as Zhou Xing's personal maid who had raised him from childhood, Chunlan keenly noticed some subtle changes.

His Highness has recently stopped sleeping in. He lies in bed with his eyes open before dawn and asks her what time it is.

She's no longer picky about food. She used to refuse vegetables, but now she chews them and swallows them as if she's completing some kind of task.

What's even stranger is that His Highness has recently taken to jumping around in the courtyard and asking her some strange questions.

"Sister Chunlan, at what age do the princes in the palace start practicing martial arts?"

"Sister Chunlan, do you think practicing martial arts hurts?"

Chunlan simply assumed it was just a child reaching an active age and didn't think much of it.

Unbeknownst to her, every night after she left, Zhou Xing would pull out a thin booklet from under his pillow and flip through it page by page by the moonlight.

That booklet was a "Basic Martial Arts Introduction" given as a bonus by the system when it summoned the super team. The content was very basic, consisting of nothing more than introductory knowledge about breathing techniques and meridian recognition.

Zhou Xing had looked at it over and over again no less than a hundred times. The location of every acupoint, the direction of every meridian, and the rhythm of every breath were all engraved in his mind.

In his previous life, he was a programmer, whose greatest strength lay in dissecting underlying logic. In his view, martial arts cultivation was not fundamentally different from writing code; both were processes of input, processing, and output.

Qi and blood are data, meridians are channels, and the dantian is a server. What he needs to do is optimize the algorithm, clear the channels, and improve the operating efficiency.

The problem is that the server is not powered on yet.

Foundation building is like the moment of powering on.

Zhou Xing had been waiting for this day for a whole year.

He needed to establish his foundation to gain martial arts cultivation, but he had been waiting for the right opportunity, waiting for Xu Chu and others to make a name for themselves in the Imperial Guard competition, waiting for Zhao Gao to gain a foothold in the Imperial Household Department, and waiting for his plan to at least have a preliminary framework.

Now that all these conditions are met, he can focus his energy on cultivation with peace of mind.

After all, he is already seven years old this year. According to the rules of the palace, a prince must establish his foundation at the age of seven. If it is delayed any longer, it will attract attention.

It was another day for paying respects to the Empress, and Zhou Xing, as usual, went to Fengyi Palace to kowtow to her.

He knelt properly on the prayer mat, his forehead touching the ground, his movements precise and flawless.

The Empress leaned back on her phoenix chair, holding a glass of rose dew in her hands. She routinely asked a few questions such as "What books have you been reading lately?" and "How are you feeling?" Zhou Xing answered them one by one, her voice soft and sweet, like a well-behaved porcelain doll.

Just when he thought that today's greetings would be over as usual, the Empress suddenly put down her porcelain cup and glanced at him again.

Zhou Xing's heart skipped a beat at that glance. The Empress's gaze was usually indifferent, as if she were looking at a dusty ornament in a corner. But today, her gaze carried a hint of scrutiny.

"Is Xiao Jiu seven years old this year?" The Empress turned her head and asked the head maid beside her.

The head maid bowed and replied, "Your Majesty, the Ninth Prince was born in the thirteenth year of Yonghe, and he is seven years old this year."

The Empress nodded slightly, her gaze returning to Zhou Xing, and she looked him up and down.

She sized up Zhou Xing's thin, small frame, her brows furrowing almost imperceptibly, as if assessing the condition of a newly arrived item.

This gaze was not one of affection, but rather one of the detached scrutiny of a mistress of the house over her illegitimate son. It was not concern, but a matter of routine.

"Seven years old, it's time to establish your foundation." The Empress said this in a calm tone, without any discernible emotional fluctuation.

She paused for a moment, then added, "His Majesty mentioned this matter to me a few days ago, saying that you should start learning martial arts as soon as possible, so as not to delay your physical development. Now that His Majesty has spoken, this matter cannot be delayed any longer."

"By imperial decree, the Imperial Household Department shall arrange the foundation-building matters for the Ninth Prince, and provide him with the required elixirs, medicinal herbs, and training equipment according to the rites for princes, without any omissions."

Zhou Xing's heart skipped a beat.

Did Father Emperor mention it himself?

He remained outwardly calm, but respectfully kowtowed again, his voice carrying just the right amount of flattery: "Your subject thanks Your Majesty for your grace, and thanks Your Majesty for your concern."

He lowered his eyes, his mind racing. Why was his father suddenly interested in his martial arts training?

Was it because he was in a good mood after the Imperial Guard competition, and then he remembered that his seven-year-old son was due to reach the Foundation Establishment stage?

Or is there some other reason?

Back in the side hall, Chunlan was as happy as if it were New Year's Day. While tidying Zhou Xing's clothes, she kept chattering, "Your Highness is finally going to establish your foundation. I'll sew you a new pair of training shoes later. Make sure the soles are thick so they won't hurt your feet..."

Qiuju smiled and said a few more words, which was unusual for her: "I heard that when a prince establishes his foundation, the Imperial Household Department will provide him with a lot of pills, such as Meridian Opening Pills and Qi Cultivation Powder, which are all top-quality products."

Zhou Xing sat on a low stool by the window, his legs dangling in mid-air, a naive smile on his face, but he was thinking about something else.

The person in charge of purchasing the elixirs from the Imperial Household Department is most likely one of Zhao Gao's men.

This means that Zhao Gao could secretly control the entire process of his Foundation Establishment Pills, from procurement to storage to delivery to him.

The quality is guaranteed, the quantity is sufficient, and they might even be able to send a few extra portions without anyone noticing.

That afternoon, Imperial Physician Li from the Imperial Hospital came to examine Zhou Xing's pulse as ordered by imperial decree.

Physician Li was in his early sixties, lean and wiry, with a neatly trimmed goatee. He had served as a royal physician in the Imperial Hospital for thirty years, specifically responsible for the daily medical records of the princes and princesses.

He entered the side hall, first bowing respectfully, then had Zhou Xing extend his wrist, placing three fingers on his radial artery pulse, and closed his eyes to concentrate.

After a while, Physician Li opened his eyes, stroked his goatee, his brows furrowed slightly, and then slowly relaxed.

He pondered for a moment and said to Chunlan, who was serving beside him, "The Ninth Prince's body is much stronger than last year. His heart and blood are abundant, his spleen and stomach are in harmony. Although his innate foundation is not particularly strong, his meridians are clear and his qi and blood circulate without any obstruction. He is a good candidate for martial arts training."

He paused, then added, "However, Your Highness is still young, and the foundation-building process should not be rushed. It should be mainly nurtured and supplemented with tonifying pills, proceeding step by step, so that you can accumulate strength and achieve great things later."

Chunlan nodded repeatedly and quickly took out a piece of paper to write it down.

Zhou Xing sat obediently on the stool, his heels gently tapping the stool legs, but in his heart he was thinking that the evaluation of "unobstructed meridians and unimpeded blood and qi" was exactly the same as when Zhao Gao's talent was discovered by Chen Ju.

It seems the physical foundation given by the system is indeed quite good. Although not as monstrous as Zhao Gao, it can definitely be called excellent talent.