Chapter 1

Lu Yuan sat on a black bench, holding a gray water bottle in his hand.

About twenty meters in front of him, a thickly padded ground was laid out, with over thirty black punching bags, each about the height of a person, standing on it.

Each bag was marked with a large "Yuan" character, and in front of each bag stood a student wearing a blue martial arts uniform.

The students were hitting the punching bags with all their might, shouting various phrases to boost their strength.

The shouts rose and fell, making the atmosphere particularly lively.

Lu Yuan gazed steadily at this lively scene, appearing very calm.

Until a voice calling "Class dismissed" pulled him out of his reverie.

He stood up.

He actively greeted a figure that was quickly running towards him through the crowd.

"Lu Yuan!"

The person who came to Lu Yuan was a boy about his age, with slightly tanned skin.

He had very thick eyebrows, wavy hair, and strands of wet hair stuck to his forehead, exuding a sense of heat after intense exercise.

"How about it, isn't the atmosphere in our martial arts school great?"

The boy started to untie the bandages on his palm.

"Practicing martial arts can also protect you, which is much more useful than the badminton, swimming, and other sports you mentioned before."

Lu Yuan hesitated for a moment, then handed him the water bottle and said, "I need to go back and discuss it with my parents."

The boy, seeing Lu Yuan's interest, quickly said, "Don't worry, I'll call your uncle later, and I'm sure he'll agree to let you come here.

In the future, we can come to class together and have a companion.

Look at your skinny frame, you should learn some combat techniques to avoid being bullied."

The boy lightly tapped Lu Yuan's shoulder with his fist, then took the water bottle from him, unscrewed the cap, and drank it in large gulps.

After he finished drinking most of the bottle, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and continued, "And our martial arts school is running a promotion. If you sign up now, you'll get a much better deal than usual."

"Um."

Lu Yuan responded with a nod but didn't say anything more.

The boy didn't say anything else, just said, "I'm going to take a shower, wait for me in the hall," and then hurried off.

Lu Yuan watched the boy leave, then picked up his backpack from the chair and turned to walk towards the entrance of the venue.

The boy's name was Cheng Peng, his classmate and best friend, a passionate fan of combat sports.

He had recently wanted to sign up for an extracurricular interest class to strengthen his body and improve his health, so he dragged Lu Yuan to his usual training martial arts school to "audit."

He tried his best to persuade Lu Yuan, hoping he would sign up immediately.

Lu Yuan arrived at the entrance of the martial arts school and stood on the steps.

Above his head was a huge sign with the ancient character "Yuan."

Yuan Martial Arts School.

On the wall at the entrance was a recruitment poster.

It simply read "Ancient Martial Arts," "Strengthening the Body," "Combat," "Summer Recruitment Promotion," "Special Price Discount," and other words.

Lu Yuan stared at the price information on the poster for a long time, then finally turned away.

During this time, many people passed by him.

Men and women, each one exuding confidence and assertiveness.

Compared to them, the thin and weak Lu Yuan seemed to have no presence at all.

Lu Yuan looked at these people with a hint of envy.

To be honest, he was quite moved by Cheng Peng's suggestion.

After his rebirth, his body was weak and small, lacking in physical exercise.

Describing him as a "skinny dog" would be quite fitting.

This was the reason he was eager to change.

Practicing martial arts and learning combat techniques seemed like a good choice.

But

The high tuition fees made Lu Yuan hesitate.

"Given the current situation at home, it's unlikely that my parents will agree to me signing up for this martial arts interest class.

The price far exceeds their expectations."

Lu Yuan thought to himself.

"Coach, goodbye."

Cheng Peng's voice caught Lu Yuan's attention, and he turned to look.

He saw Cheng Peng, who had just finished his shower and changed clothes, waving goodbye to a man in his thirties with a medium build at the entrance of the martial arts school.

The man seemed to notice Lu Yuan's gaze and glanced in his direction.

Meeting his eyes, Lu Yuan felt a sudden sense of unease.

It was as if he was being stared at by a fierce beast, and the hair on his arms almost stood up.

"Thump, thump, thump, thump."

Lu Yuan felt his heart beating rapidly, struggling to suppress the excitement.

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When he looked again, the man who had given him this unprecedented sense of pressure had already turned and entered the martial arts school.

"Who is he?"

Lu Yuan maintained a calm expression and asked Cheng Peng, who had walked up to him, in a casual tone.

"Who?"

Cheng Peng followed Lu Yuan's gaze and soon had a look of realization.

"You mean him? He's our coach, a very skilled combat expert.

You don't know, our coach can punch a training punching bag and send it flying seven or eight meters away!

No exaggeration, I saw it with my own eyes.

The scene, wow."

As Cheng Peng spoke, his face showed admiration and envy, and Lu Yuan was quite taken aback.

The training punching bags he had seen earlier were probably around a hundred kilograms.

To punch a hundred-kilogram object and send it flying seven or eight meters away?

What kind of punching power would that require?

Even a world champion from his previous life might not be able to do it.

Although he didn't know how much exaggeration there was in Cheng Peng's words, Lu Yuan still felt a stronger impulse.

But this impulse quickly turned into greater frustration.

"Coach Qin is the master's personal disciple, which is why he is so skilled.

It's said that he has won awards in provincial combat competitions."

"Ah, if I could be the master's personal disciple one day, that would be great.

No, even being Coach Qin's formal disciple would be enough.

Then I could dominate at school."

Cheng Peng continued to chatter, but Lu Yuan had no more interest in listening.

He tugged at his backpack and walked towards the bus stop in the distance.

"I'm going home."

"Uh"

Cheng Peng's words came to an abrupt stop, and he looked at Lu Yuan's back with some urgency.

"Aren't you going to play online with me? We agreed to level up together, didn't we?"

"Who said that? I need to go home and eat."

"Damn, you're ditching me again!"

Cheng Peng raised his fist at Lu Yuan's retreating back.

Ten minutes later, Lu Yuan was already on a bus.

"I have 638.5 yuan in my phone wallet.

Including the class scholarship I received for my recent progress, I have less than 2,000 yuan in total.

It's far from enough."

Lu Yuan put down his phone and sighed softly.

His original plan was to—

Tell his parents he was signing up for a regular sports interest class, get the money, and then secretly sign up for the martial arts class, using his savings to make up the difference.

But after a rough calculation, he realized this plan wouldn't work.

The cheapest course package at Yuan Martial Arts School was more than twice the price of a regular sports interest class.

The difference was too large, and the amount he had saved was far from enough.

Although he was very curious about this field he had never touched in his two lifetimes,

The harsh reality left him no choice but to give up.

Lu Yuan never considered asking his parents to pay for the entire martial arts class.

His grandfather had recently suffered a stroke and needed a large sum of money for surgery.

The family's small shop was also facing financial problems.

At such a critical time, he couldn't bring himself to ask.

If it weren't for the requirement of a sports specialty for the unified exam, he wouldn't even want to attend a regular interest class.

For simple physical exercise, he could just run every day.

"The time is 3:27 PM on June 5th. Our country's third extraterrestrial base has been officially established. The first batch of personnel has been determined, and it is understood that the list includes..."

"Clearance sale! Everything must go! Last day, everything must go!"

The news on the bus TV and the sounds from the street vendors outside the window.

Lu Yuan leaned against the hard seat back of the bus, watching the street scenes pass by, and soon heard the announcement that his destination had arrived.

He got off the bus from the rear door.

The scorching heat of the sun at 11 AM in June caught him off guard.

He crossed the road and quickly took shelter under the shadow of a building, walking down the street.

Soon, a small shop with a red background and white letters, "Xinghua Food Store," came into view.