Chapter 96: Chapter 61: Martial Origin Stone, Part 2

With that, she turned and went into the women’s restroom.

Zhao Rui was stunned, not understanding what she meant by that.

A moment later, Zhao Rui came out of the restroom and waited by the door for a while. When he saw Youyou walk out, he asked, “So, you were looking for me today for a reason!”

“Mhm!”

“Alright, got it!”

Zhao Rui acknowledged her, said no more, and turned to walk back toward their table.

Seeing the two return, Zhang Kui couldn’t help but wink at Qin Rui and the others.

“Hey, Zhao Rui, it’s getting late. Let’s call it a night. We can get together again some other time.”

“Yeah, I’m getting sleepy. Let’s skip karaoke. Next time.”

Li Xinran chimed in.

Zhao Rui knew right away what they were up to, but he didn’t say anything. He just went along with it and said with a smile, “Alright then. We’ll get together another time.”

So everyone packed up their things and went their separate ways.

After parting ways with the group, Zhao Rui led Youyou toward a secluded spot outside the school.

“Alright, spill it. What did you want to see me about? It’s not about being your boyfriend again, is it?”

Zhao Rui slowed his pace slightly and asked, turning his head to the side.

In the flickering light, her face had a hazy quality, giving her an exceptionally serene and ethereal look.

“Martial Origin Stone! Ever heard of it?”

Zhao Rui paused. As a “semi-native,” he’d truly never heard the term before.

“Never heard of it. What is it?”

“It’s the thing that was discovered on Taishan.”

The woman said languidly. The night wind blew past, bringing a chill that swept over the two of them.

“I haven’t heard of it. Is it important?”

“The stone that is the source of the Martial Dao. Understand now?”

Zhao Rui’s pupils dilated slightly. With a name like that, it went without saying how important the thing was.

’This life and my previous one aren’t that different in the grand scheme of things. The geography, history, and even the culture are largely the same.

But the Martial Dao was the one unique difference between the two worlds.

Over a hundred years ago, close-quarters combat Martial Arts, which had been declining due to the rise of firearms, suddenly produced Inner Strength True Qi, a power that surpassed that of ordinary mortals.

This instantly transformed martial artists from desolate lambs waiting for slaughter into individuals with a certain power to protect themselves.

As time went on, Martial Arts flourished. It also happened to be an era of frequent warfare where everyone feared for their own safety, so Martial Arts were naturally brought to the forefront.

Now, over a hundred years later, that period of history has been swallowed by war and the passage of time.

Later generations studied this period, but the results were never made public. It’s rumored that the government ordered these secrets to be hidden.

Could the Martial Origin Stone be related to that period of history?’

Zhao Rui’s sharp brows furrowed slightly. ’Even though these matters aren’t something a college student like me should be thinking about, people are naturally curious. And I’m no exception.’

“You’ve seen it, haven’t you?”

Zhao Rui asked casually.

Youyou shook her head and said, “I only heard about it through the grapevine. Actually, a lot of people know about it, they just don’t talk about it.”

“Uh!”

Zhao Rui paused, then gave a bitter smile. ’Right, what kind of position am I in?

It’s just like my previous life. An ordinary person like me thinks I know everything just because I browse the internet every day, learn a bit about world affairs, and spend my time critiquing the Jianghu and acting like a big shot.

But once I actually entered society, I realized things were far from what I had imagined.

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But every person wants to be one of those who holds the truth.

In this life, I’m just a high school graduate who’s barely started college. How many of the world’s secrets could I possibly know?

Of all the things they let you see online, how much is real and how much is fake?’

“However, I know a place where you can see a photo of this stone. Want to go?”

Youyou’s eyes lit up, their bright gaze reflecting a crystalline light under the streetlamps.

“No. I don’t go to dangerous places!”

“You’re such a coward!”

Youyou was speechless. “You didn’t seem so cowardly back then.”

“That was then, this is now!”

“Alright, it’s not dangerous. It’s in Jeju, at my friend’s house. She has one of these things… a photo of it!”

The corners of Youyou’s mouth curled up slightly, unable to hold back a smile.

“A photo?”

Zhao Rui couldn’t help but roll his eyes. But on second thought, even having a photo was pretty impressive.

After all, ordinary people, and even a Martial Dao major like him, didn’t know this thing existed.

“So, are you going or not?”

“What’s your motive!”

Zhao Rui was indeed tempted. With a heaven-defying cheat like his system panel, he was naturally curious about the strange aspects of this world.

’Could there be someone else who’s had a similarly heaven-defying encounter?

What is the ultimate path of the Martial Dao?

And that old man I met before, the one who could leap dozens of meters into the air—what level of expert was he?

The more I’m exposed to, the more I’ll understand.’

“I don’t really have a clear motive. If I had to name one, it’s that when we go see her, you have to say you’re my Destiny Rebel!”

“Destiny Rebel?”

Zhao Rui froze.

“That’s right. I’ve never told you about my background, and you’ve never asked.”

“Can I choose not to listen!”

As soon as Zhao Rui said that, he took a leap and instantly shot forward several dozen feet, running off into the distance.

Youyou stared in astonishment. She never would have thought that Zhao Rui would make such a choice.

’What a piece of work!’

A minute later, just as he was walking into his residential complex, Zhao Rui received a WeChat message from Youyou.

“My name is Xu Youyou. You can keep calling me Youyou. I’m a Mo Luo Sect Member, a candidate to be a maid to the Saintess. The so-called Destiny Rebel is a follower of a Mola Maid, and also the one who can save them from the backlash of the Daluo Demon Extreme Skill…”

Zhao Rui glanced at the message and couldn’t help but sigh.

’This vixen… can’t we just be simple friends?

Deep down, he was still skeptical about the Demon Sect and the darker side of this world.

After all, everything he saw was bright and normal, so naturally he had nothing to fear.

But people are like that, always curious about the unknown.

In his subconscious, he actually wanted to keep Xu Youyou’s contact information, to learn about the “other world” through her.

Otherwise, he would have just deleted her contact and cut ties completely. That would have been the end of it.’

Zhao Rui’s eyes narrowed slightly as the three words “Martial Origin Stone” surfaced in his mind.

’What on earth is that thing?’

Turning off his phone screen, Zhao Rui quickly returned to his rented apartment.

Meanwhile, after sending the message and waiting a moment without a reply from Zhao Rui, Xu Youyou stamped her delicate foot and pouted, “What a little rascal.”

With that, her feet tapped lightly on the ground, and her figure, like a phantom, flickered and vanished into the shadows by the roadside.

That night, Zhao Rui opened his laptop and scoured the internet, racking his brains.

He read through everything he could find about the three words “Martial Origin Stone,” even content that was only slightly related.

But very few articles were reliable; most of them were just clickbait.

’Maybe the library has something?’

Zhao Rui’s eyes lit up. He was at a university, with the Martial Arts Academy right there. Finding information should be easy, shouldn’t it?

The Martial Arts Academy even had a Martial Dao History department.

’It’s like riding a donkey to look for a donkey—the answer was right under my nose the whole time!’

The night passed without incident. The next morning, after finishing his major-specific classes, Zhao Rui jogged all the way to the Martial Arts Academy.

When he reached the academy’s entrance, he first called Zhang Kui and asked him to bring out his library card.

Zhang Kui came down from the academic building languidly, handed him the library card, and said, “What do you want to know? You could’ve just asked me!”

Zhao Rui ignored him, took the card, and hurried to the Martial Arts Academy’s own large library.

Just from the outside, the library covered over 40,000 square meters. With only two or three thousand people, he had no idea why they needed such a huge place.

Zhao Rui climbed the wide staircase, which was as tall as a two-story building, and headed for the library entrance.

“Zhao Rui, what are you doing here?”

He hadn’t even reached the entrance when he heard someone call out to him from behind.

Zhao Rui turned to see a third-year senior named Peng Yuhui. A while ago, Wang Zhanshan had also transferred the third-year unofficial team members to Zeng Hongyi’s management.

That put them in the same coaching group.

“I came to look up some information. And you, senior?”

“Here to study for the graduate entrance exams. You know how it is with my situation. Let’s go.”

Peng Yuhui said, then led Zhao Rui into the library.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep