Ding! Ding! Ding!
A bell rang three times, bringing with it a sense of excitement.
The moment the last bell rang, noise erupted all around.
Observing from the sky, it was possible to see a larger group of students in blue uniforms rushing out of the classes. The commotion was confined to the school premises, with some students even running towards the school gate.
"Is that Meng Chao! Brother Meng!" A shout came from afar, attracting little to no attention.
A chubby figure rushed forward, pushing those in his way aside.
At the forefront of the students, a teenager, dressed in a simple uniform, turned to look back.
He wasn't unique among the crowd, as his appearance was just ordinary, but his eyes had a strange determination that those without courage would retreat just by staring into them.
He looked in the direction of the voice, his face expressionless. But upon seeing the chubby guy pushing through other students to make way for him, Meng Chao sighed.
His expressionless face finally showed a slight ripple.
"Fatty Liu! Why are you here to find me again?" Meng Chao complained as he put his arm around Liu Yan's shoulder.
Liu Yan felt as though he had won when he saw this and laughed unrestrainedly.
Liu Yan looked at Meng Chao and asked, "Brother! What are your plans? The Martial arts present in the federation can't help you at all to reach the entry of the Xiantian realm."
From the lessons they had, Martial arts were divided into realms, and the commonly distributed method of foundation building was the work of the founding pioneers of the federation.
The federation was responsible for managing the entire world. All students had the chance to practice the foundation technique.
With it, one could connect with talent hidden deep within their bloodline.
Once the talent was activated, paired with the proper technique, taking the first step into the first heaven of the Xiantian stage was to be expected.
It was just that without the proper technique to match the talent, achieving entry into the path of martial arts was impossible.
It was because the right martial art was the only way to mobilize the potential of the talent fully.
In the federation, several talents have emerged over the years, but physical talents are considered a challenge, as no suitable technique exists to effectively utilize them.
Meng Chao is a legendary figure in high school for several reasons.
One of them was that he took two years to develop his talent, and when this happened, it turned out to be a useless talent.
This was no different from having wasted his two years for nothing, but he knew it was not so.
In typical cases, those who take this long are considered to have poor talents.
The school, however, doesn't force anyone to decide their future.
Only those who take more than two years without opening their talents are discouraged from continuing to waste their time.
If one persists, then that is their business.
"I don't know yet! One step at a time!" Meng Chao replied, not in the manner of an ordinary 14-year-old child.
Walking further and further from the crowds, Liu Yan pondered over what Meng Chao had just said before asking, "Brother! Aren't you anxious?"
Based on the regulations of the federation, if one reached the age of fifteen before entering the path of martial arts, it was impossible to receive the federation's support and utilize its resources.
Resources involved the secret realms and training. Liu Yan wasn't wrong in his concerns.
Without the support of the federation, even those with the best talents could amount to nothing.
When Liu Yan spoke these words, Meng Chao's mind drifted back to his memories.
*About a year and seven months ago, Meng Chao had just started to practice the foundation technique and was making rapid progress. It was just that something unexpected happened.
Back at his family's farm, on the cliff where he used to practice, an object descended from the sky, resembling a golden flame.
With his childish curiosity taking over, he rushed to chase after it.
Who knows, this was the start of his evil fate.
The object turned out to be a stem from an unknown tree. It was covered in flame due to descent from a higher altitude.
Other than the nine colored strips on its surface, he couldn't tell anything else.
As if sensing his presence, it turned into a stream of light and disappeared between his brow.
Over the past two years, it has devoured his Qi and blood, causing his Cultivation to move at a snail's pace.
Every time he made some progress in the foundation technique and his Qi and blood improved, he would wake up and discover that his efforts had yielded no results.
He was just about to give up and confess but realized something strange.
His physique was changing, becoming stronger.
He persisted, and in just a year, although he didn't stand out as a genius, his physical strength had already undergone a transformation.
Without even reaching the entry stage of martial arts, he could easily unleash the power of about 800kg in just a year.
Feeling this change, he persisted, and without knowing it, another year had flown by, and his physique seemed to have reached some limit.
He was capable of unleashing a power of about 1500 kg. This is far from rivaling those at this first heaven of the Xiantian realm, but it is stronger than the Foundation stage.
In a way, he was far off from the Xiantian stage but beyond the Foundation stage—an anomaly.
All this was something he had not told anyone during that period.
Although he seemed young, he had been raised on a farm and was not naive.
The benefits were not only limited to this, but rather, his spirit and senses had all been magnified.
Now, standing within the crowds, he couldn't be bothered with what they had to say.
It was just that the question Liu Yan had asked him about his future path was indeed something he had to consider.
He had reached his limit and could no longer improve his physical strength. He had even awakened a physical talent just a few days ago.
The gossip flowing around was only natural, as he appeared to have wanted his life.
Even though his gossip was interesting, it was far from matching the most famous figure in the school.
It was rumored that the guy had the best talent, but for some reason, his cultivation has never been able to surpass the (entry stage) first heaven of the Xiantian realm.
Every time this person attempts to break through, they always fail. What is even more outrageous is that his cultivation will always revert to the foundation stage.
Even though Meng Chao has never met this guy, he has always heard about him for the past year or so.
He admired him more for his perseverance. He also suspected him of having some secret.
Regardless of what secret the other party had, Meng Chao had no interest.
The chubby man following him pretended not to hear these words. It was because he could see that Meng Chao was also uninterested.
"Brother Meng! Please come out and see the world of geniuses with me on the weekend!" Liu Yan finally mentioned what he had been thinking about the whole time.
It turned out that he had been invited to a gathering, but he didn't have anyone to accompany him.
Having Meng Chao appear with him was just right, as he was considered his friend. As for who invited him, it was just a group of students who had already achieved entry into the martial path.
They clearly wanted to show off, and this was understandable.
Being able to enter the first heaven, they would no longer be seen as ordinary people.
According to the lessons they had learned, once someone took a step into the First heaven, they experienced a complete transformation.
Upon hearing about this gathering, Meng Chao was also interested in attending, as he wanted to see the difference between him and actual martial artists at the entry stage.
"Okay!" He agreed without even a second thought.
Hearing his agreement, Liu Yan looked over with a slightly shocked expression. It was because initially, Meng Chao would not accept participating in such events.
But Meng Chao couldn't help it in the past. He preferred to avoid wasting time attending such events that didn't offer him any benefits and instead practice to access the talent hidden within his bloodline.
Now that he had accomplished this, it was best to get in contact with actual martial artists and see if he could acquire any information that might be beneficial to his breakthrough into the entry level.
He knew it might be useless, but still, he wanted to go.
Liu Yan, on the other hand, just assumed he was finally willing to see the world of geniuses.
"Okay! Let's meet tomorrow at 10 am. Don't change your mind halfway; keep your promise." Liu Yan was afraid that Meng Chao would turn back on his promise.
He thought Meng Chao was trying to avoid embarrassing him by declining, as agreed.
Little did he know that Meng Chao was indeed interested in going to this meet. Even though his sister was a martial artist, she was so busy that he couldn't even meet her.
He could only gauge the level of a real martial artist at that meet.
"Okay, let's meet tomorrow at 10 am." Meng Chao waved as he took a familiar route without even looking back.