The Energy Room was filled with an aura of modernism.

　　The moment he entered the Energy Room, Fang Ping felt like he had stepped into a space capsule.

　　Although it was called a “room”, the Energy Room was actually an enormous enclosed building. Fang Ping and Lu Fengrou had only entered the common area. There were even plenty of small rooms inside that had been partitioned.

　　Lu Fengrou was in no hurry to enter. She looked for a place to sit down and said, “A Peak Rank-3 ability has been displayed to you by Qin Fengqing. What do you think?”

　　“Able to take more punches!”

　　Lu Fengrou was surprised by his statement and was slightly speechless.

　　What he said about tolerating punches was true. Compared to Rank-1 and 2 martial artists, a Peak Rank-3 martial artist had an extremely strong defense.

　　“That’s one thing.”

　　Lu Fengrou nodded her head slightly and said, “Other than the brain, a Rank-3 martial artists’ bones, meridian, and Vitality flow as one. When you are in Peak Rank-2, it will be extremely difficult if you want to transfer your entire body’s Vitality to focus on one point.

　　“At Rank-3, it becomes very simple.

　　“Besides that, last time the bones in your limbs are segregated. Hence, their strength isn’t so strong. It is the sole manifestation of a stronger component.

　　“When you have achieved Peak Rank-3, you will become more powerful as a whole.

　　“With the same Vitality outburst, you will achieve 200cal Vitality outburst in Rank-2. Do you also think that a Rank-3 must also achieve 200cal Vitality outburst in order to compete with you?”

　　Fang Ping was somewhat lost and said, “What you mean is…”

　　“A very simple principle. A three-year-old child has sufficient Vitality even if he does not have 100cal, he still has at least 90cal or more.

　　“Vitality isn’t about the amount of blood you have. You must understand this point.

　　“If a three-year-old child exerts full force, following the Vitality outburst theory, he might achieve near 5cal Vitality outburst.

　　“Let me ask you then. If you achieve a move that achieves 5cal Vitality outburst and collided with him, what would the result be?”

　　“Minced meat!”

　　Fang Ping gnashed his teeth. This would be the result.

　　“I’m glad you can understand this. The difference between Rank-1 and 2 is not obviously reflected. Do you know why?”

　　“Honing the four limbs independently will not enhance the effect of overall improvement.”

　　“You’re not so dumb after all. Rank-1 and 2 martial artists hone all of their limbs. All of them are segregated. Hence, they are unable to work together in harmony. Actually, the difference between a Rank-1 and a Rank-2 martial artist isn’t too great. It will just be the increase of Vitality upper limit and added attack techniques. Rank-3 is entirely different from Rank-1 and 2. This is a stage to form a link for connection.”

　　Lu Fengrou grinned and said, “Therefore, in Rank-3, your 100cal Vitality outburst can kill Gu Xiong in one punch.”

　　“But…”

　　“Are you trying to tell me about the Rank-3 martial artist that you and Fu Changding’s group have captured?”

　　Lu Fengrou sneered. “The Rank-3 martial artist that you have encountered are just entry-level. One that truly reflects the ability of a Rank-3 must at least finish honing the spine.

　　“In Rank-3, there are 51 bones in the torso. Among them, 26 bones belong to the spine, 1 to the chest, and 24 to the rib cage.

　　“Finish honing the chest bone and rib cage first. Then, you can hone the spine…”

　　Fang Ping interrupted her. “Does that mean that amongst the Rank-3 martial artists, Peak martial artists are the ones who are the true embodiment of actual abilities.”

　　She had said that the spine had to be completely honed. Did it not mean that 51 bones had been honed completely.

　　Lu Fengrou frowned and said, “Let me finish. Who told you that this defines a Peak Rank-3?

　　“Bone-honing isn’t the only thing that you need to do in Rank-3.

　　“Hone your bones first. Once you are done honing, all your muscles, skin, flesh and blood need to be cultivated and nourished. Once they are cultivated, only then one will be considered a Peak Rank-3.

　　“Completing the bone-honing process will only make you an Upper-stage Rank-3 martial artist. That is the case with Xie Lei.”

　　“Is that it?”

　　This was the first time Fang Ping had heard of this. The number of bones honed was not the only determining factor in dividing the phases.

　　Lu Fengrou continued, “In Rank-3, as long as the rib cage has not completed honing, one will be classified as being in the Early-stage.

　　“As long as the spine has not completed honing, one will be classified as being in the Middle-stage.

　　“When all the bones have been completely honed, only then will it be classified as Upper-stage.

　　“Therefore, having the abilities of an Upper-stage Rank-3, only then will one be considered a true elite martial artist. Fighting ten Middle-stage Rank-3 martial artists alone is not impossible.

　　“On the contrary, the difference between a Peak and Upper-stage Rank-3 isn’t as great as you’d think.”

　　Fang Ping understood it this time. Qin Fengqing had fought those Rank-3 martial artists earlier like he was having a lot of fun.

　　However, when he was fighting Xie Lei, he became extra cautious even though he looked relaxed.

　　The abilities between Upper-stage and Peak had nothing to do with the difference in bones, but the difference in muscles, skin, and flesh.

　　“No wonder. I realized Qin Fengqing was really relaxed earlier…”

　　“Of course. In just the outbreak of one move, a Middle-stage Rank-3 martial artist will need to spend thrice as much Vitality to be able to withstand the attack. Do you think the other party can endure one full-power blow from Qin Fengqing? Qin Fengqing was only playing around earlier.”

　　“That means that there are two different stages in Rank-3. Early-stage and Middle-stage Rank-3 are classified as one, while Upper-stage and Peak as another one.”

　　“That’s right.”

　　“But… I met a person last time who is also a Peak Rank-3 martial artist… I can feel that he is not strong.”

　　“Who?”

　　“A researcher in a research institute. Peak Rank-3 ability. His name is Pan Xiaoyang.”

　　Lu Fengrou explained flatly, “It’s either you sensed it wrong, or the other party is just trash and has never learned combat techniques. Otherwise, he can easily murder you.”

　　Her words made Fang Ping really depressed.

　　Pan Xiaoyang must be the latter, right?

　　Or else, he would not have compromised when he met Fang Ping. From Lu Fengrou’s explanation, he could have simply killed him at his leisure.

　　However, it was also possible that he was worried of the many powerhouses in River City. He did not dare to strike for no reason.

　　If that was the case, did he need to thank Pan Xiaoyang for not killing him?

　　Lu Fengrou did not really care about this. After she had said all these things, she continued, “This is Rank-3. Anyone can be a Rank-3, so do not think that you are high and mighty if you have defeated an Early-stage Rank-3 martial artist.

　　“Only Upper-stage Rank-3 martial artists will be truly acknowledged by middle and high-ranked martial artists. Only they will be recognized as one of the cornerstones in martial arts.

　　“If you would like to fight with Zhang Yu, or widen your gap with other students, Upper-stage Rank-3 is your only way.

　　“When that happens, you will finally become a true elite student in MCMAU!

　　“Normal martial arts universities have set Rank-3 as their borderline for one to be considered an elite.

　　“On the other hand, MCMAU and CCMAU have set Upper-stage Rank-3 as the borderline, only then would a person be considered an elite, the pride of the university!

　　“When you have achieved this step, you can graduate whenever you want. If you would like to hold a post outside, you will also be welcomed by a few agencies to join them.

　　“Moreover, only martial artists in this stage are considered the truly privileged in martial arts…”

　　“Feeling (TN: author wrote this exactly) I was only fighting like a kid all these while?”

　　“That’s one way to put it.”

　　Lu Fengrou was an expert in hurting people’s feelings. Fang Ping felt like he had been attacked on a personal level.

　　Very soon, Fang Ping recovered and exhaled. “Instructor, can I already breakthrough now?”

　　“There’s no rush. Relax. 26 minor vessels in the spine. To merge them, you must merge them uninterrupted. It is slightly dangerous.

　　“Prepare all your pills. If your Vitality is low or if there’s trouble, do not panic. I will watch over you.

　　“When you have completely merged the minor vessels of the spine, it will not be difficult to merge the rest of the 25 minor vessels. Do it step by step. You can even do it another day.

　　“Remember, you must never stop hastily. Otherwise, if the nerves near the spine are damaged, you will be paralyzed.

　　“Relatively speaking, the risk to breakthrough Rank-3 is slightly higher. This is one of the reasons why normal martial arts universities view Rank-3 as elites.

　　“Although there is a limit to enhancing your abilities, one will achieve bone-honing one day. It is not entirely impossible to call a Rank-3 an elite.”

　　“I get it now.”

　　Fang Ping did not waste any more time. He sat on the ground and started inspecting his body.

　　Wealth: 21million

　　Vitality: 525cal (525cal)

　　Mentality: 443Hz (443Hz)

　　Bones honed: 126bones (90%), 80 bones (30%)

　　For his Wealth, it was due to Pan Xiaoyang’s 10 Rank-1 Vitality Pills, 2 million cash, and Old Wang’s 5 million that Fang Ping’s Wealth had finally broken through the 20 million mark.

　　In terms of cash, Fang Ping had also reached a new high of 27 million earlier.

　　However, he did not have so much right now. He went to the logistics department this morning to buy a Rank-2 Vitality Pill. A Rank-2 bone-honing pill and a Rank-2 Viscera-shielding Pill.

　　It had a market price of 3.7 million, though Fang Ping had bargained it to 3.5 million.

　　Right now, Fang Ping had 23.5 million cash left.

　　He was in peak condition. He had slightly calmed himself down. Fang Ping marched toward the reception desk.

　　“Open a cultivation chamber.”

　　“For how long?”

　　Fang Ping turned his head to look at Lu Fengrou. Lu Fengrou spoke flatly, “5 hours. Use the remaining time to consolidate.”

　　“50 credits.”

　　The martial artist at the reception desk was strict in his demand. He left no room to bargain.

　　Fang Ping looked at Lu Fengrou once again. Lu Fengrou glared at him. ‘What was the use of looking at me? Did you think I would pay for you?’

　　Fang Ping laughed bitterly. He still remembered that the instructor had claimed, “If you come to me, you can eat all the pills you want.”

　　What about now!

　　’50 credits. You did not help pay for your student, yet you call yourself Unconquerable Wu, don’t you feel ashamed? ‘

　　On his martial arts permit, he had 80 credits left. After Fang Ping had paid the fee, he obtained a key card to the door. He had only 30 credits left.

　　Whilst walking towards the cultivation chamber, Fang Ping complained, “This is too expensive.”

　　50 credits. 1.5 million alright!

　　“You’ll understand once you are inside.”

　　…

　　Very soon, Fang Ping could understand what Lu Fengrou was saying.

　　The moment he stepped into the cultivation chamber, Fang Ping could feel his pores relaxed, his Vitality became extremely active, and even his Mentality which had been rather useless all this while seemed to be jumping for joy.

　　“Is this the effect of energy mining?”

　　“Yes. It feels good, right? Cultivating here helps you to speed up Vitality replenishing. Moreover, an active Vitality is even sharper. Bone-honing becomes a more meticulous process. Merging minor vessels will also become slightly easier.

　　“When you have earned enough credits, you can come here and cultivate often.”

　　Fang Ping did not respond to that. ‘I have so much money that I burn them.’

　　However, cultivating and achieving breakthrough at this place did have its advantages.

　　Without further ado, Fang Ping sat with his legs crossed and got ready to merge his minor vessels and achieve breakthrough to Rank-3.

　　Lu Fengrou sat aside and in a much lower voice, she spoke softly, “Sense the position of the minor vessels carefully. Remember, you must sense it clearly. Do not simply merge the minor vessels on your spine.”

　　“Yes,” Fang Ping answered. He shut his eyes to adjust. After a while, he started cultivating the Methods of Honing, carefully sensing the minor vessels near the torso.

　　…

　　When she saw that Fang Ping had gone quiet, Lu Fengrou did not pay too much attention to it at first.

　　After a while, she raised her eyebrows suddenly.

　　“Mentality…”

　　Lu Fengrou was slightly surprised inside. Fang Ping was using Mentality to sense his minor vessels?

　　He, a lower-ranked martial artist, could feel his own Mentality?

　　Mentality was one of the humans’ innate abilities. However, lower-ranked martial artists have very weak Mentality. It should be entirely impossible to sense it.

　　Even for the three middle ranks, only Rank-6 martial artists could have the opportunity to sense other forms of energy in their own human body.

　　Fang Ping… seemed to be using his Mentality to sense his minor vessels!

　　Mentality was not visible. It does not have a shape nor a matter. However, it has a special form of wave. Only the martial artists who have encountered or felt it before could notice it.

　　It was also because Lu Fengrou was a Peak Rank-6 martial artist. If it was Bai Ruoxi, she would never had noticed it.

　　“This brat… what is going on?”

　　“An innate talent?”

　　Lu Fengrou has lost in her thoughts. She had never encountered something like this before.

　　Did this mean that when Fang Ping had achieved Rank-6, he would stand a higher chance to become a Grandmaster than any other ordinary martial artist?

　　“The successor of a Grandmaster?”

　　This idea had surprised even Lu Fengrou herself.

　　After she had observed Fang Ping deeply for a moment, it was unsure what Lu Fengrou was thinking of. She frowned and shook her head suddenly.

　　…

　　Fang Ping did not know these things. Lu Fengrou thought that he had employed his Mentality.

　　Actually, Fang Ping did not come up with this idea.

　　He was only obeying Lu Fengrou’s orders, carefully sensing the location of his minor vessels.

　　Consequently, as he was in the Energy Room, with the presence of energy mining, Fang Ping’s Mentality became much more active.

　　His had focused his entire attention on sensing the minor vessels. As a result, he could almost see a diagram of the human flesh. This was totally out of his expectation.

　　However, Fang Ping did not think it was out of the ordinary. To him, this was nothing to be proud of.

　　When he was cultivating by himself, he could sometimes sense the internal meridians and hence tell the condition of his Vitality circulation. Nevertheless, it was never as clear as it was now. After he could distinctly sense the position of his minor vessels, the following steps would be easier.

　　Fang Ping started employing his Vitality, pushing against these semi-closed minor vessels.

　　One, two…

　　Very soon, Fang Ping had merged more than 10 minor vessels.

　　“It was easier than I thought. Old Lu had made me so worried…”

　　Fang Ping was slightly losing focus inside. As he lost focus, the blood vessel diagram disappeared all of a sudden.

　　Fang Ping panicked. He quickly shoved aside his messy thoughts and continued to sense carefully.

　　…

　　Lu Fengrou was about to intervene when she saw that Fang Ping’s Vitality went back to normal and she sat back down. She frowned slightly. Would this brat fail?

　　However, after seeing that everything went well with Fang Ping, Lu Fengrou finally relaxed.

　　After an hour, a bloodstained Fang Ping suddenly extended his hands, grabbed the Viscera-shielding Pill and Bone-honing Pills and swallowed them whole. Lu Fengrou nearly cursed out loud!

　　‘The spine’s minor vessels had completed merging, why were you consuming the pills. Were you that scared of dying!

　　‘The merging of the chest bone and rib cage minor vessels were not as risky. It was unlikely to injure the viscera!

　　‘In your case, even if I have all the pills in the world I will never give them to you!’

　　Lu Fengrou cursed in her heart. She was not as stingy as Fang Ping had thought.

　　The reason why she did not give Fang Ping the pills was because this student of hers did not treat pills as medicine. He consumed pills in duels and commonly sold pills. When he brokethrough, he prepared more than enough pills compared to a once-honed martial artist.

　　Why should this kind of person deserve her pills. What a waste!

　　…

　　Two hours later, Fang Ping tried to cover up halfway and swallowed a Rank-2 Vitality Pill.

　　At this moment, he suddenly opened his eyes and cheered joyfully. “It has been merged!”

　　“Yes.”

　　Lu Fengrou did not look surprised at all. After the spine’s 26 minor vessels had been merged, she knew that there was no more risk.

　　“Cultivate by yourself and consolidate. I’m leaving first.”

　　“Instructor, I don’t have any more pills to replenish my Vitality…”

　　Lu Fengrou turned a deaf ear and headed outside immediately. ‘You can direct your whining to a ghost!’