Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age-Chapter 76: Five Years, Intermediate Martial Dao Talent

Chapter 76: Chapter 76: Five Years, Intermediate Martial Dao Talent

Lu Chang’sheng’s mindset was exceptionally calm, just like that lake turned to ice.

He swung the spear in his hand, his movements slow but powerful.

"That’s not how you practice the Hundred Battles Spear Technique!" At this moment, Dean Hong Yuan walked over.

He had just finished teaching some other noble students the Hundred Battles Spear Technique and was planning to return to his training room when he saw Lu Chang’sheng methodically practicing the technique.

"For the Hundred Battles Spear Technique, controlling your strength is key. Before you practice the technique itself, try using the spear to strike water!"

He pointed towards a nearby training ground, where more than a dozen water vats were set up.

There, a young man was repeatedly striking the water in a vat with a heavy spear. Sometimes, water would splash everywhere—if he used too much strength, he could even shatter the vat itself.

"Thank you for the guidance, Dean!"

Lu Chang’sheng cupped his hands and bowed.

"Scholar Lu, it seems you haven’t really visited those professors much over the past six months?" Dean Hong Yuan asked with a frown before Lu Chang’sheng could walk away.

He had met with the Mountain Master the last few days. The other man brought it up, suggesting he talk to Lu Chang’sheng more and not let him be distracted from his scholarly pursuits and the important matter of the imperial exams.

As long as Lu Chang’sheng refused to pick a side, neither of the two factions were willing to give up on him easily.

For the Mountain Master and professors of Black Mountain Prefecture’s Jixia Academy, producing a Presented Scholar, or even a Top Scorer, was an incredibly tempting achievement.

That was why Dean Hong Yuan had come here.

"That’s true enough," Lu Chang’sheng replied.

"Scholar Lu, you really ought to spend more time focusing on your studies. For martial arts, practicing a pile skill for health is enough!"

What Hong Yuan meant was, there was really no need for Lu Chang’sheng to keep practicing the Hundred Battles Spear Technique.

Lu Chang’sheng murmured agreement, but as soon as Hong Yuan left, he walked over to a vat and continued practicing the Hundred Battles Spear Technique.

"Lu Chang’sheng, greetings, Scholar Lu!" At that moment, the young man came over and greeted him.

"No need for formality, just call me Chang’sheng!"

Lu Chang’sheng smiled. Seeing Zhou Yu turn and return to his own practice, Lu was moved and asked, "Zhou, do you know if there’s any special trick to using the spear to strike water?"

He’d originally planned to ask Dean Hong Yuan, but the latter clearly had no intent to explain, so he could only ask Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu didn’t hesitate and said, "There are three kinds of spears over there: a wooden one, an iron one, and a Hundred Layered Spear! They all weigh differently. The lightest is the wooden spear, then the iron spear, and finally the Hundred Layered Spear. You can start with the wooden one to practice controlling your strength. When you can strike the water without making any ripples in the vat, you’ve passed this stage!"

"After that, do the same with the other two spears!"

"How long have you been training here at the Martial Artist Institute, Zhou?"

Zhou Yu looked awkward and said, "My root bone isn’t the best, so it’s taken me longer. The others who started around the same time as me have already passed these three stages and moved on to formation practice!"

"Miss Xu Zhuqing is the best among us. They say she’s just half a step away from mastering the Divine Power Stake!"

Zhou Yu looked obviously discouraged.

During their conversation, Lu Chang’sheng also came to understand why Zhou Yu trained his spear skills alone here.

Because his root bone talent wasn’t good, and he didn’t have any siblings to help out back at home, he was the one sent to the Martial Artist Institute.

There was some arrangement between the Martial Artist Institute and the nobles. Many of the supportive medicinal meals for training were supplied by the noble families; in return, they were allowed to send people to the Institute for a limited time to train.

Of his generation, Zhou Yu had the strongest root bone in the Zhou family, so even if he didn’t want to come, he had no choice.

Lu Chang’sheng could only offer some words of consolation.

But the moment he finished, things got slightly awkward—turns out Zhou Yu was a full-fledged student at the Martial Artist Institute, which meant his root bone was actually quite a bit better than Lu Chang’sheng’s.

Once Zhou Yu realized this, he visibly perked up. While Lu Chang’sheng practiced nearby, he started coming over every so often to offer pointers, which helped Lu make some progress.

"So it’s true—even a small change in training methods can shift the outcome a little!"

Lu Chang’sheng glanced at the light curtain panel, feeling content inside.

The time until he mastered the Hundred Battles Spear Technique had gotten shorter again.

By evening, he gathered his books and went to Instructor Qu’s place. Shortly after the lesson began, several professors and the Mountain Master arrived outside the courtyard.

When they heard Lu Chang’sheng had brought books for study, they rushed over in a hurry.

As soon as they saw Lu Chang’sheng, they scolded him nonstop: "Practicing martial arts isn’t bad, but you have to know your priorities! With your root bone, even practicing for decades, you might not master even a single pile skill—so why throw yourself into it so hard?"

Lu Chang’sheng agreed over and over, but the very next day, he was back at his routine, leaving the Mountain Master and the other teachers at their wits’ end.

Half a month later, Lu Chang’sheng was nearly at his limit with the wooden spear and the water practice.

By then, Zhou Yu put away his spear and walked over with a small smile on his face.

Striking water with the spear was a required lesson for the Hundred Battles Spear Technique. Zhou Yu himself had spent nearly a year perfecting all three stages, so feeling pretty good, he came over to say goodbye to Lu Chang’sheng.

But when he saw Lu Chang’sheng’s progress, he was stunned.

Because right then, Lu Chang’sheng was no longer using the wooden spear, but the iron one!

"Chang’sheng, are you planning to test yourself with the iron spear today?"

Zhou Yu quickly calmed himself back down.

Lu Chang’sheng looked rather stiff as he used the iron spear, often splashing large amounts of water all over the place.

"Yeah, just giving it a try." Lu Chang’sheng didn’t explain more.

In truth, he’d already mastered the wooden spear yesterday. Today was his first day with the iron spear, and he needed time to get used to it.

Zhou Yu finally breathed easy and said, "I won’t be coming by here anymore. Miss Xu Zhuqing already fully mastered the Divine Power Stake a couple of days ago, so I need to work harder too. I heard things are tough in Guangnan County, Sishui, and Red Water—so the sooner I finish pile skills, the sooner I can get myself a name out there!"

"Forgot that you’re a scholar, Lu—even if you don’t need that." Zhou Yu suddenly remembered, disappointment flickering in his eyes.

The students at the Martial Artist Institute were almost all nobles with complex connections. The Zhou family was rather weak among the nobility, so Zhou Yu had hoped to befriend more people here.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t much of a talker. After more than two years at the Institute, he’d only made friends with a few people—of all of them, he got along best with Lu Chang’sheng.

Lu Chang’sheng just smiled and said, "You should work hard, but remember—success is good, but don’t drink yourself into a stupor chasing it!"

Zhou Yu turned and left, and Lu Chang’sheng didn’t know if his words had sunk in.

He didn’t dwell on it, instead turning back to training, slowly adjusting to the weight of the iron spear in his hands.

He paid no mind at all to the crowd of noble trainees working hard on the drill ground nearby.

In the blink of an eye, five years passed.

The excitement from the last year’s top scholar gradually faded, and only occasionally did people still talk about it.

The grand house gained from passing as a scholar, with the tending of Li Nangua, Niu Dazhuang, Mr. Lu, Mrs. Lu, and the rest, had taken on a peaceful and quiet air.

The entire Lu family was rural born. After arriving in Black Mountain Prefecture, they didn’t have much say in things, so the decorating of the mansion was left to Li Nangua, Niu Dazhuang, and the others.

The Martial Artist Council was on break by year’s end, so no one was busy—especially Li Nangua, who didn’t serve on the council and spent almost every day in the mansion, either training or shopping for decorations at the Xiao Market with Heitu and Mrs. Lu.

Mr. Lu had originally planned to give the place an imposing look, but halfway through the process, he realized something was off.

The style just wasn’t right!

He thought about buying a pair of stone lions to set out front for the year’s end, but after seeing the scenery in the courtyard, he changed his mind.

Tomorrow was the last day of the year. Li Nangua went to bed early, but soon after drifting off, he dreamt a mountain wolf was standing in front of the door.

Two extremely beautiful maids pushed open the door from outside and gave a small curtsy.

Suddenly, a mist came out of nowhere, shrouding the wolf and, along with the two maids, slowly erased their figures.

When Li Nangua got up, he realized what he’d seen had just been a dream.

Pushing open the door, he saw faint snowflakes falling.

Winter had arrived on schedule. Thinking back to when they all struggled outside Prefecture City, he couldn’t help but sigh with emotion.

He walked a few steps and saw, in the courtyard, a young man training with a spear, snowflakes drifting onto his body only to be swept away again by his moving figure, falling to the ground.

Li Nangua’s eyes flashed with concern. Turning to the kitchen, he soon came back with a brazier in his hands.

"Chang’sheng, don’t forget to warm up by the fire later!" she called out.

Lu Chang’sheng didn’t stop; his spear kept moving faster and faster, until it became a blur.

"Bang!"

The hard spear slammed down into the ground, sending snow flying.

In that instant, it seemed as though a surge of heat rushed out along the spear and melted all the snow around it.

"No doubt, this is truly the Hundred Battles Spear Technique!"

Lu Chang’sheng glanced at his light curtain panel. The spear technique was now mastered!

Not only that, a few months ago, his root bone had increased by one point.

His other innate talents and root bone hadn’t changed much—still genius level.

But his Martial Arts Root Bone was now at the intermediate stage!