Chapter 104: Chapter 65: You’re Using Me as a Whetstone?

He had never seen a Martial Art that could affect a person’s state of mind and the circulation of their Inner Qi from a distance.

No wonder this girl was already an Eighth-level Martial Artist at such a young age, and a prodigious talent who could fight above her Level at that.

This Cultivation Technique of hers must have played a huge role.

Zhao Rui looked up at the girl, his eyes filled with growing delight and satisfaction.

As if sensing something, Miao Miaomiao, in the hilltop pavilion, furrowed her delicate brows. She glanced around, confused.

“I have a strange feeling…”

The girl muttered to herself, then shook her head and focused on her book.

With New Year’s Day approaching and the Provincial University Martial Arts Tournament about to begin, Level 8 had become a particularly sensitive topic.

It wasn’t just the sophomores who were desperately trying to break through to Level 8. Some freshmen who had been stuck at Level 7 for a long time were also keen on making an attempt.

Besides Luo Min, there were four or five other freshmen who had that kind of potential.

In the early stages, Martial Arts Levels were primarily determined by basic attributes like one’s level of Inner Strength and the circulation speed of their True Qi.

This standard classification was a comprehensive, general metric and could only serve as a reference for actual combat.

Many Seventh Level Martial Artists with unusual Cultivation Techniques could still defeat Martial Artists of a higher Level.

But those were special cases, outside the standard scope. Even if their combat prowess was strong, they were still ineligible to participate in the University Martial Arts Tournament.

It couldn’t be helped; there had to be rules for everything.

Zhao Rui wasn’t in any hurry to reach Level 8. He could do it whenever he wanted, but he didn’t need to right now.

The year-end evaluation only required him to be Level 7, a benchmark he had long since surpassed.

As for the Provincial University Martial Arts Tournament, it had nothing to do with him anyway. He was banned from competing for half a year.

Even if he reached Level 8, he still couldn’t participate.

While the freshmen and sophomores were working hard, the juniors weren’t slacking off either, even though their ranking exams didn’t officially start until the second semester of their junior year.

They still had to prepare for the University Martial Arts Tournament.

As for the seniors, it went without saying. This Provincial Martial Arts Tournament would be their last chance to achieve a good result.

Considering everyone involved with the Martial Arts Tournament, aside from the less-skilled freshmen who had just joined the team, Zhao Rui was the only one under no pressure at all.

Nowadays, with nothing better to do, he spent his days crashing the freshmen’s sparring practice sessions.

Under the noble pretext of “mutually improving their competitive skills.”

Zeng Hongyi couldn’t be bothered to manage him. Right now, he was completely focused on helping Li Xinran and the others improve their Inner Power Cultivation.

So, he let him return to the sparring partner group.

In the sparring group, He Zhiyan and the other members were busy preparing for the competition, so all the sparring duties fell to him.

He had basically finished copying all the skills of the sophomores and juniors. Only the skills of the freshmen group remained to be harvested.

Zhao Rui cheerfully made his way over to the freshman team, becoming their diligent and uncomplaining workhorse.

“Brother Rui, I’ve been practicing this set of Martial Arts for five or six years now. How come when I fight you, it feels like I can’t use any of it?”

A freshman named Geng Tao was sitting with Zhao Rui in a corner below the sparring ring, earnestly and politely discussing their recent match.

“It’s because you haven’t fully mastered it. Your mind and intent aren’t one, so your Techniques can’t follow your will.”

Zhao Rui lamely came up with an excuse. ’I can’t just tell him I copied his Martial Arts a moment ago and am now a tiny bit better at it than him, so of course I know what his next move will be.’

“Oh, you have a point. It must be that my own Techniques have flaws…”

Geng Tao trailed off mid-sentence. His expression changed drastically, and he quickly jabbed Zhao Rui with his elbow, muttering in a low voice, “The cat’s coming this way.”

With that, he pulled on Zhao Rui’s arm, stood up, and turned to walk away, intending to get as far away from “the cat” as possible.

After taking a few steps, he realized Zhao Rui hadn’t followed and couldn’t help but look back.

The moment he looked back, his face fell.

He saw that not only was Zhao Rui not running away, he was actually walking right up to her.

“Shit, has he lost his mind?” Geng Tao muttered in confusion.

Zhao Rui hadn’t lost his mind. On the contrary, he was perfectly sane. ’Miao Miaomiao? No, this was clearly a Divine Skill vending machine.’

’And a free one at that.’

“Good afternoon, Junior Sister! Have you eaten?”

This was purely a case of making small talk for the sake of it.

Zhao Rui smiled calmly and stepped forward to greet her.

Miao Miaomiao was taken aback to see him approach, but she smiled and said, “Hello, Senior Brother Zhao!”

“You’re looking well lately, Junior Sister. You must be sleeping and eating well.”

“…”

The surrounding freshmen were all dumbfounded.

’Senior Brother Zhao is incredible!’

“What do you guys think? Will Senior Brother Zhao end up taking off his pants or doing a striptease?”

“Maybe he’ll kneel and kowtow.”

“Kowtowing might be going too far. I bet he’ll just end up slapping himself!”

With expressions of people ready to watch a good show, the crowd waited quietly for things to unfold.

A glint of coldness flashed in Miao Miaomiao’s eyes, but a smile played on her lips as she said nonchalantly, “I’m alright. You’re not busy right now, Senior Brother?”

“Don’t be so formal with the ’Senior Brother’ stuff. I only got here a few days before you guys; we’re all in the same year. Just call me Brother Rui.”

“Brother Rui…”

Miao Miaomiao rolled her eyes. ’So you don’t want to be a “senior brother,” you want to be a “big brother” instead.’

’How shameless.’

She immediately took two graceful steps toward Zhao Rui.

As the distance between them closed, Zhao Rui immediately felt immense pressure. His Inner Breath began to circulate rapidly, and all the opened acupoints in his body started drawing in the Innate Qi hidden in the world around them.

He used the chilling Innate Qi to suppress his turbulent Inner Qi.

“Since you’re so free, could it be that Brother Rui wants to have a little spar with me?”

Miao Miaomiao continued to walk forward.

The Six Yi Charm Immortal Technique she cultivated had already activated automatically to protect her, sending waves of invisible pressure surging toward Zhao Rui.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep