Martial Saint!
Chapter 140 - 0128 Copper Buddha Arhat

Chapter 140: 0128 Copper Buddha Arhat

Paying for 14 hours of "Paida" class with 10 units of merit, super value.

For a high-level practitioner like him, time is the most precious resource. Chen Jiu didn’t care much about these units of merit; he was just fulfilling a task set by the school.

Lu Chenzhou displayed a look of gratitude:

"Thank you, Mr. Chen!"

"Don’t get too excited too soon, my ’Paida’ is not going to be easy to endure. If you can’t stand it, you can buy some painkillers to take. Otherwise, don’t blame me if you faint."

"Let’s give it a try first, and I’ll buy some medicine if I can’t handle it."

Lu Chenzhou believed in his own willpower.

He could bear the sufferings of the Heavenly Pile for six hours every day.

Chen Jiu took Lu Chenzhou to his training room, where the walls were covered with posters of tough guys, their style, their flair... it was indeed the Cangtian Dragon King.

"Do you also like the Dragon King, teacher?"

"I started practicing the Dragon Form because of him. You like him too?"

"Yeah, but I practice the Tiger Form."

"Then you don’t like him enough, fake fan."

"..."

Chen Jiu asked Lu Chenzhou to get into position.

He took off his top, revealing a body shimmering with a faint golden luster, which paired with his crew cut, made him truly resemble a Shaolin Temple’s Golden Arhat.

Lu Chenzhou’s pupils reflected a little golden figure.

"Stand properly. If you reach your limit, just shout stop. Don’t push yourself too hard."

"Okay."

Lu Chenzhou stood still, and Chen Jiu extended his palm, smooth as Golden Jade—not that it had no calluses but that the calluses had completely turned into this brilliant golden film.

Papapap!

Chen Jiu’s ’Paida’—whether in terms of strength or precision—was much more formidable than Wang Gang’s. Lu Chenzhou instantly felt many untrained parts of his body stinging painfully, even though he was protected by Hard Qi Gong.

It was only because he had the Iron Buddha Arhat Body that he could withstand this; other Eighth Rank Martial Artists probably wouldn’t last ten minutes and would be shattered like a piece of bluestone.

"Bear the pain and don’t cry out; it’s easy to disrupt your Qi."

Chen Jiu looked at the silent Lu Chenzhou.

The boy’s back was already covered with red handprints.

Half an hour later, Chen Jiu revealed a trace of surprise.

"Good, you have strong willpower!"

Lu Chenzhou stood like a sculpture, clenching his teeth tightly, with cold sweat streaming down. His whole body seemed to be thrown into a furnace, scorched by flaming fire and steam.

An hour later.

Chen Jiu now wore a solemn expression.

"Good boy, you’ve got something."

He hadn’t thought much of it at first, as many came to him to learn Hard Qi Gong over the past decades, but none had really caught his eye. Though Hard Qi Gong was practiced by the lower classes in ancient times, it required talent too.

Lu Chenzhou’s body was drenched in sweat, which flowed onto the training room floor. There were streaks of blood on his body, indicating he had been injured. His physical body was strong; these minor injuries, after applying Golden Jade Ointment, would mostly recover overnight.

"Do you want to stop?"

"Continue, teacher, don’t stop!"

"How much longer can you withstand?"

"One more hour!"

Lu Chenzhou looked towards the Martial Arts Tree.

[Arhat Skill: Small Success (98%) → Small Success (99%)]

He aimed to reach 100% today, and in the next few days, he hoped to make a breakthrough. If not, he would buy a few more days of classes; he had to reach Great Success before the hands-on training.

"Good, you’re resilient and can endure hardship—a good seedling for Hard Qi Gong."

An hour and a half later, Chen Jiu asked:

"Can you still continue?"

Blood had started to show on his hands—Lu Chenzhou’s blood.

"I can!"

"But you can’t keep training."

"Teacher, I can hold on."

"So what? Your will can, but your body can’t... Go home for today, take a bath, and use the ’Purple Jade Ointment’ on your body."

"Wouldn’t Golden Jade Ointment be okay?"

"Yes, but its effects are not as good as the latter. If you want to break through quickly, you need better medicine to speed up the healing and temper your body... For regular ’Paida’ and cross-training, using Golden Jade Ointment is fine. You still have units of merit, right?"

"I do."

"I haven’t given you enough time today; I’ll make it up to you in a few days."

"Thank you, teacher."

Lu Chenzhou got dressed and left under Mrs. Chen’s watchful eye.

"Why are you so harsh on the kid?"

"It’s not me being harsh on him; it’s he being too harsh on himself... Those from ordinary families, who have sudden insights, cling desperately to the opportunity for fear of losing it all. I understand him well, after all, that’s how I started too."

Mrs. Chen embraced Chen Jiu tenderly, saying:

"Fortunately, you’re already a Martial Artist... No one cares anymore that you were just a low-class person with low root bone; they only know you as a master on the Mystic List."

Iron Pine Dragon · Chen Jiu, 77th on the Mystic List.

...

The Medical Room.

"I’d like a box of Purple Jade Ointment."

"4 units of merit."

After swiping his card, Lu Chenzhou was left with only 25 units of Great Merit.

"Hard Qi Gong sure is expensive... No wonder in ancient times those from the lower classes who practiced Hard Qi Gong often died young; they couldn’t afford the restorative medicines. Inner Boxing focuses on health preservation, but Hard Qi Gong is self-destructive, it’s too dangerous to practice."

Fortunately, now with the development of science and Martial Arts Medicine.

As long as one is willing to spend money and undergo regular check-ups, no chronic ailments would be left.

He returned home quietly, not wanting to let his elders see, or they would nag again. After changing out of his blood-stained training clothes and taking a bath, he applied the ointment evenly. The gentle medicinal strength infused into his body, and the wounds weren’t as painful as he’d imagined.

"Indeed, you get what you pay for."

Using Golden Jade Ointment was too painful.

With plenty of time left, Lu Chenzhou practiced the Heavenly Pile for a while before finally going to bed. He dreamt his body was crawling with bugs all night. If recorded with a camera, one would see the injuries on his upper body slowly healing, and his muscles growing, continuously squeezing and colliding with a soft crackling sound, as if electricity was surging throughout his body.