Lam Minh looked at the white bubbles dropping from the three cultivators, and his heart could not find peace.
He really wanted to pick them up.
But this was a new place, after all, and all three of them were in deep meditative cultivation. If he disturbed them and it led to qi deviation, it would be truly dangerous.
Well, I can study them slowly, Lam Minh thought to himself.
Following Mr. Quoc down a path, they finally arrived at a large room filled with modern training equipment.
Looking at the neatly arranged machines, Lam Minh was speechless. What a powerhouse; his house lacks nothing.
That being said, Lam Minh didn't actually know the function of each machine.
"Let me introduce myself. I am Dam Chan Quoc, one of the six top Nascent Soul powerhouses in the country," Mr. Quoc, now standing opposite Lam Minh, spoke, interrupting his train of thought.
Lam Minh wasn't particularly surprised by this information, as he had already learned it from his friend.
Mr. Quoc continued, "This place may look like a dojo, kid, but it's not like other dojos. Those who can stay here are people who will be with me for the long haul, and they must meet three criteria."
"Martial Arts, Willpower, and Virtue. These are the three things you must meet to become a member of the Bach Hoang Dojo. From now on, you will have three days to be tested on these three categories. If you don't pass, you go back to where you came from. If you become a member of my house, you will not starve. Is that clear?" Mr. Quoc's eyes were stern, his powerful voice shouting at Lam Minh.
Each word he spoke seemed to have a magical power that went straight into his head. Even if he were distracted, he would remember every word he said.
"Clear!" Lam Minh replied with an extremely serious expression.
"Alright, today you will be tested on Martial Arts. What is Martial Arts? Not your current cultivation level; that's too simple and can be checked with a machine. What I'm testing is your aptitude and your cultivation potential." Mr. Quoc paused for a moment and then continued, "Now, you will first check your stats with the machine, then follow me to train and rest. After that, we will check your stats again to see your progress."
"Yes, Uncle Quoc," Lam Minh replied.
Uncle Quoc immediately walked over to a machine larger than a human body. He performed a series of operations, pressing buttons continuously. "This is the body index testing machine. Step inside."
As he operated the machine, he spoke to Lam Minh. The door of the machine swung open, revealing a space just big enough for one person to stand with support.
Lam Minh stepped into the machine, and the door gradually closed.
At his eye level, there was only a small glass window just big enough to look out.
In his past life, he had stepped into this machine once before to check his body index during the Combat University entrance exam.
And now, he was stepping into it once again, but in a different place and for a different purpose.
The machine started running, the continuous whirring sound creating an indescribable sense of nervousness in Lam Minh.
A blue light beam from the top of the machine began to scan downwards, moving very slowly.
When it passed over the top of his head, he felt his brain being stimulated. Suddenly, in that instant, his mind began to think of many things he had no intention of thinking about.
The light beam slowly moved past his head and scanned downwards. Wherever the light went, his muscles and meridians were stimulated.
Each muscle fiber became taut, and his veins bulged as if he were training very hard.
When it reached his dantian area, a blue light flashed and then disappeared.
A moment later, the scan was complete.
The door of the scanning chamber slowly opened.
Lam Minh stepped out and saw his uncle holding a stack of papers and looking at them.
"Mmm, Blood Essence 386, Hoang-Grade Spiritual Root. There's only one special index, which is your mental strength index," he folded the paper and looked straight at Lam Minh.
Normally, humans have a mental strength index that is statistically tied to their age.
From 16-20 years old, the average mental strength index is 150.
From 21-30 years old, the average index is 280.
But Lam Minh's scanned mental strength index was as high as 400, a number that no one at the age of 16 had ever reached. This number usually appeared in people aged 40-50.
Or one would need to practice a technique to increase their mental strength value to be higher than their age.
He looked at Lam Minh with suspicion. He didn't believe that a kid from a poor family could cultivate his mental strength index.
He folded the paper and said no more. Everyone has a secret, and a high mental strength index for one's age wasn't a bad thing, so he didn't investigate further.
And why did Lam Minh's blood essence go from 382 to 386? This morning, he had breakfast and went for a run, which gave him +4 blood essence.
"You are very lucky that among the countless humans who cannot cultivate, you have a complete spiritual root. Though not high, it is enough for you to step onto the path of cultivation. Now, follow me for training," Mr. Quoc said a simple sentence to Lam Minh and then gestured for him to follow.
Lam Minh was very obedient at this moment. Facing a powerhouse like this made him afraid to even breathe heavily, let alone voice an opinion.
They entered a training ground with all sorts of training machines.
He was led to a room with the words "Hyper Train 0016" written above it.
"This is a combat simulation machine. When you step inside, the machine will create countless opponents with the same stats as you. Your job is to fight and defeat them. Defeat as many as you can. The world record at the Body Tempering level is 19 defeats. My requirement is not too high; achieving 7 is enough. Drink this and step into this machine." With that, he threw Lam Minh a small pouch with three words on it: "Nutrient Solution."
Lam Minh knew this type of solution. A packet of 100% pure protein solution, often used by Body Tempering level cultivators for training, and it was very expensive.
A pouch like this cost up to 500,000 VND (~$20 USD).
Not everyone could afford to use it for cultivation.
Lam Minh was overjoyed. He tore open the pouch and drank the entire nutrient solution in one gulp.
He didn't want to talk much; he wanted to use his ability to prove himself.
His eyes were now filled with fighting spirit as he stepped into the dark room in front of him.
Outside, Mr. Quoc silently inserted Lam Minh's index file into a narrow slot in the room.
A light began to scan the entire stack of papers and collect the data.
After Lam Minh stepped inside, the door slowly closed.
Immediately after, from a dark room, a red light began to glow.
In front of him stood a person, with no face.
But in terms of body shape, it was identical to him.
Without a word, this guy immediately rushed forward, throwing a kick towards Lam Minh's hip.
Having been mentally prepared, Lam Minh immediately activated his Wind Walking, dodging to the side.
The kick grazed past him, missing by a hair's breadth.
Before he could process it, the opponent's other leg hooked upwards with the intention of striking Lam Minh's temple. Without much thought, Lam Minh raised his hand to block.
He took a few steps back, his arm numb.
Hmm, this guy fights with pure martial arts, pure combat techniques.
Lam Minh had a rough idea of how this simulation machine worked.
It could simulate all of the player's stats, but it couldn't simulate techniques.
It only had blood essence strength and pure martial arts.
Lam Minh changed his strategy. This was a machine and not him; it was only similar in terms of body stats.
Lam Minh activated Wind Walking, and his body became as light as a feather.
He took one step and leaped forward.
The simulation immediately recognized Lam Minh's action and also stepped back.
But how could its speed compare to Lam Minh using Wind Walking?
He moved at an extremely fast speed and immediately closed in on the opponent in front of him.
Before it could even react in surprise.
Lam Minh's hand channeled the Crippling Wind Fist.
He immediately unleashed a punch with the maximum of his current 386 blood essence points.
The muscles in his arm bulged, and combined with the skill's attribute, it created a whistling sound as it cut through the wind.
Boom! A fist landed squarely on the simulation's dantian area.
It immediately rolled over a few times and lay motionless.
[Ding! The host has gained +10 blood essence attribute points from the nutrient solution.]
Ah!
Lam Minh smiled.
This was great. The nutrient solution provided a continuous supply of protein.
One packet, when consumed, could sustain three hours of continuous energy for training.
This meant that Lam Minh had three hours to both fight and increase his blood essence.
Thinking of this, Lam Minh couldn't help but feel happy.
"My blood essence is already 396," Lam Minh thought to himself. Then he shouted loudly, "Next one!"
The simulation slowly stood up.
The screen on its chest displayed the number 1, meaning it had been defeated once.
Just as Lam Minh was feeling smug.
The simulation immediately closed in on Lam Minh at an extremely fast speed.
Lam Minh immediately realized the problem. This was his Wind Walking.
After failing once, it had automatically simulated Lam Minh's technique.
This thought terrified Lam Minh.
He had thought he could use the superiority of his techniques to defeat them.
This meant that it had also simulated the Crippling Wind Fist.
He had even thought that if it only simulated like this, he could fight up to 50 of them until the nutrient solution ran out.
How naive.
Just as he had grasped the problem, the simulation was already in front of him.
Just as he had guessed, on the simulation's arm, he could faintly feel a whirlwind moving along it.
As soon as he was closed in on, Lam Minh could only raise his hands to block in front of his chest, while simultaneously activating Wind Walking to retreat.
But he couldn't dodge 100% of it.
A punch landed squarely on Lam Minh's arms in front of his chest.
Boom!
Lam Minh took a few steps back immediately after receiving the punch.
"You're unreasonable!" Lam Minh blurted out after receiving the punch from the simulation.
A bruise could be seen on Lam Minh's arm now.
Alright, you little brat! Lam Minh felt that this guy's blood essence index was still the same, 386.
At least that was the case. If it could update its blood essence index according to the player's, then winning would be a matter of faith.
But in reality, only Lam Minh was this heaven-defying.
Other people in the world who used this machine with nutrient solution also had an increase in blood essence, but it was very slow.
Normally, if a person drank a nutrient solution and won five matches, and their blood essence increased by 2-3 points when measured again, it was already considered very fast. And it also depended on each person's spiritual root level, so the increase in blood essence while fighting the simulation machine was negligible.
As for Lam Minh, +10 after just one win.
Lam Minh didn't know this, and neither did Mr. Quoc, who was observing from the outside through the display screen.