Translator: Kazeyuki_ Editor: Jimmy_
Time passed by, unnoticed. It had already been two years since Qin Wushuang had returned to Eastwood Town. In this world, he had turned fifteen years old. The Martial Arts Student Exam would come in a year and a half. Then, the “Family Class Evaluation” along with other exams would also follow.
To the current Qin Wushuang, he no longer cared about the martial arts student exam. Right now, he was thinking more about the “Family Class Evaluation” that was only held every twenty years.
Because the current Qin family was small in numbers and because they were weak, a lot of the other powerhouses wanted to take their Humble Class seat.
Unfortunately, the Qin family was once a part of the Wealthy Class in the past and still retained a huge fortune. Thus, with such huge a chunk of fat meat (Fat Meat was indicated as precious assets), even the current Wealthy Classes became envious and had always desired to take it.
Thus, he decided to give himself more training objectives. Time was urgent because there were only a year and a half left.
After today’s lunch, Qin Wushuang headed to the backyard at his home. He brought out a giant iron pot and set alight a stack of dry firewood underneath. Then, he took out two large barrels of oil that he’d requisitioned from his family’s oil mill and put them beside the pot.
In one hand, he pinched a copper coin that had a hole in the middle. In his other hand, he held a scoop to ladle the oil through the coin’s hole into the giant pot.
“Wushuang, what are you doing?” Qin Lianshan could not understand.
“Training,” Qin Wushuang replied unconsciously, remaining undistracted from his task.
For a moment, Qin Lianshan was dumbfounded, but then he understood. Initially, he thought it seemed stupid as he watched as his son scooped the oil and held the coin at the same time. However, after careful observation, he understood the trick to it.
You had to scoop the oil through the coin’s hole without letting a single drop spill onto the coin itself. It was a tough test designed to train the strength in the eyes, hands, and one’s endurance.
If you were to only pour the oil for one or two minutes, all martial arts practitioners would have no problem! However, there were two giant barrels of oil. If you wanted to fill the entire pot by pouring the oil through that tiny hole, it would take several hours!
Most importantly, the firewood continued to burn underneath the pot. It would be a tough test to endure the high temperatures since you had to stand so close to the heat.
This kind of training method helped you to train multiple body functions at the same time. Not only had Qin Lianshan never seen such a thing before, but he’d never heard of it as well!
One minute, two minutes, fifteen minutes…
Soon, thirty minutes had passed. Qin Lianshan felt contentment and smiled.
He had observed everything and saw that his son had not even blinked his eyes after having persisted for so long. Moreover, his hands never once trembled. One scoop of oil after another was meticulously poured through the coin’s hole and into the pot.
Qin Lianshan, as a Stage One Warrior in the Genuine Force felt that even he would not have this kind of concentration to see this task to completion.
In this moment, Qin Wushuang’s hand that held the copper coin slightly trembled. Thus, the hole became misaligned and oil spilled onto the copper coin.
“Ah!” With some regret, Qin Wushuang sighed. He threw the copper coin into the boiling pot, “It was only thirty minutes, right?”
In his former world, before Qin Wushuang had turned twenty years old, this method had been part of his mandatory training every day. During his peak, he could do it for—six hours!
“Good boy, who taught you this?” Qin Lianshan walked over happily.
Qin Wushuang poured the rest of the oil into the pot. He continued to add firewood and said: “An old man taught me when I was dreaming at night. Haha.”
Qin Lianshan was used to his son’s jokes. So, he did not mind and asked again: “Why are you adding more firewood?”
“Training!” As Qin Wushuang spoke, the oil had already become boiling-hot and bubbling. He took out a few other copper coins that were the same type as the ones before. Only, one of the copper coins had a slightly darker color.
He stretched out his arm and tossed all the coins into the pot.
“Haha, Father, I will give you twenty seconds. Can you fish up that darker colored copper coin?” Qin Wushuang asked with a smile.
“This is not hard!” Qin Lianshan rolled up his sleeves and walked over to see the location of the dark colored copper coin. However, how could he see the place through the hot and bubbling oil?
“Remember, you only have one chance!” Qin Wushuang smiled.
Left without a choice, Qin Lianshan shook his head: “I don’t think I can do it.”
“It seems that father is not as focused as I am.” Qin Wushuang sighed, “When the copper coin landed in the pot, you did not listen to where they fell in the pot. You did not pay attention to the direction they are floating too. Of course, you are not able to judge its location. Watch me!”
Single-handed and with his two fingers pressed together, he brought out a copper coin from the boiling-hot pot. It was that dark colored copper coin.
Stunned, Qin Lianshan could not help but clap his hands and praised him: “Nice! Wushuang, you have trained very hard in these two years. It seems that you have achieved an outstanding result. What goals do you have for the Martial Arts Student Exam in the year after?”
“What expectation does Father have?” Qin Wushuang laughed and asked.
“Haha, I am expecting you to guarantee your spot for level six and to aim for level seven. I want you to work hard and be on the top. If you can reach the upper class in the martial arts student exam, then you will surpass me in the future for sure.” Qin Lianshan was only a Stage One Warrior in the Genuine Force. Thus, he hoped that his son would surpass him.
“Upper-class martial art student?” Qin Wushuang smiled because his father only expected him to be in the middle or upper range.
To the current Qin Wushuang, this goal was easy for him to achieve. Of course, he did not want to expose his true strength before the true battles. If he did, it would be an unwise move and would bring him trouble.
It definitely would not be right for a child of the Humble Class to be in the spotlight. Especially since, at the moment, a lot of eyes were closely monitoring the Qin family due to their enormous fortunes.
Good steel should be used to create knife blades. Qin Wushuang understood this principle very well.
This so-called “Martial Arts Student Exam” was a final exam for all martial arts students before reaching their adulthood at the age of sixteen. To martial arts practitioners, this would be the first and the most important exam in their life. Because this exam tested a lot of difficult subjects, it would be very significant to everyone.
The grade you achieved in the martial arts exam would almost always determine a martial arts practitioners’ training outlook in the future.
Martial arts students were also separated into nine levels. The first to the third level would be the lower class and fourth to the sixth level would be the middle class. And the upper class ranged from level seven to level nine.
Once you reached the upper class, you would flow naturally into the Power Force. Eventually, almost all upper-class martial art students could enter Stage Four of the Genuine Force.
In fact, when Qin Lianshan had asked his son to aim for the “upper class,” he had considered the significant change his son had exhibited recently.
Or else, it would be nonsense if a child of the Humble Class wanted to achieve the realm of “Upper-Class Martial Art Student.”
Typical upper-class martial art students belonged to those ancient and powerful families. Since they were born, they were supplemented by a variety of medications. And they could only achieve that stage when grandmasters showed them the way.
However, with the Qin family’s current circumstance, there was no way for them to study under a famous master. Additionally, it would also be impossible to acquire those supplemental medications.
The Qin family also had some of their own martial arts technique books. After all, they were once part of the Wealthy Class and still had some high-level martial arts books that had been passed down. However, most of these martial arts books had been lost under an unusual circumstance. Those few books that were passed down were not useful because Qin Lianshan could not use them due to a lack of talent. Thus, he had hoped that his son would be able to use those books one day.
Since his father gave him his support for the oil training method, Qin Wushuang had the permission to continue. Thus, one day after another, it became a part of Qin Wushuang’s mandatory training regimen after lunch.
However, his crazy actions had made the oil mill manager, Uncle Shui, very mad. He was a loyal subject to the Qin family, and he felt that it was all an act of sabotage by someone to steal the oil. After it had happened a few times, Uncle Shui went to find Qin Lianshan and swore an oath that he hadn’t filched the oil for himself. Each month, the oil mill continued to see a decrease in its oil production because the Young Master had taken it.
Of course, Qin Lianshan would not dispute this matter with his workers. He smiled: “Uncle Shui, you have worked for the Qin family for several decades. There was no need for you to come yourself. How could I not trust in your loyalty? Just focus on your work, and I will increase your salary by three times. I know that your grandson is not young anymore, it’s almost time to invest in him, right?”
Uncle Shui was profoundly grateful. He could not thank Qin Lianshan enough and left. Along the way, he muttered to himself that he was lucky to work for this kind of boss. He prayed to the gods that the Qin family would continue on for generations after generations.
The people at home had not said much when Qin Wushuang had begun training in such an odd method. However, the matter had changed when it spread to the outside world. Unavoidably, some people mocked the fact that the Qin family had a wastrel that wasted dozens of kilos of oil each day.
The news quickly passed from mouth to mouth and in less than a half month of time, the news had traveled to River County.
Qin Wushuang only laughed at the rumors in the outside world. He did not even put the matter in his heart. Each day, without stopping, he continued to complete his mandatory training.
As he grew even more accustomed to this world and progressed further along on his training, his anticipation for the “Family Class Evaluation” grew day by day.
This battle would be his first one on his journey to reach the peak of martial arts. He would not allow any failures.
