Extraordinary Realm from Persuasion System

After eating, he returned to the dormitory, took a bath, did laundry, and dozed off for an hour.

At 5 p.m., Zhang Beixing, feeling fully restored, climbed out of bed. He checked the time and realized it was time for his daily teaching session, so he got dressed and left the dorm.

He jogged all the way to the small woods.

Just as he entered, Zhang Beixing noticed something was odd about the small woods today. Five or six couples had appeared, embracing and kissing, incredibly affectionate.

This was quite strange. Previously, due to the school's newly implemented rules, the small woods had been quite deserted; basically, only Zhang Beixing and Lin Siqi would come here. Even just an hour earlier, when Zhang Beixing had returned to the dorm after practicing on the wooden stakes, there had been no one in these woods. But now, it was suddenly crowded.

This...

Could it be that the school has reopened the small woods?

Zhang Beixing muttered, feeling this was the only possibility. Otherwise, with so many people gathered here, if the security department didn't want to get fired, they would have already come to chase people away.

Having figured this out, Zhang Beixing paid it no more mind. After all, regardless of whether the school opened the small woods or not, until he found a more suitable place for martial arts training, Zhang Beixing wouldn't give up on this spot.

As for the concern that with more people, someone might accidentally find him and interrupt his martial arts training? Zhang Beixing thought it was possible, but not very likely. People with that kind of idle curiosity to explore probably wouldn't come to their Shi University's small woods anyway. If people had that kind of leisure time, wouldn't climbing the Five Great Mountains or visiting Daocheng Adam be more appealing?

And for those without such exploratory curiosity, was there any need to guess their purpose for coming to the small woods? They'd get their thrill and leave; who would linger around here?

…

Ignoring the chirping couples, Zhang Beixing walked deeper into the small woods. Before long, by the artificial lake, he saw Chen Rourou and Liu Yi diligently practicing the Eight Pieces of Brocade.

As usual, Zhang Beixing stood aside for a moment, confirming that they were practicing the Northern Sect Eight Pieces of Brocade correctly. Then, he stepped aside, assumed the starting stance of the Northern Sect Eight Pieces of Brocade, and, following the line of thought he'd developed while practicing stake striking in the water that afternoon, began to mobilize the Hidden Force within his body.

A moment later.

HUFF—!

His breath escaped him. From start to finish, Zhang Beixing had executed less than two forms. Not only had he failed to mobilize the Hidden Force, but his lapse in concentration had also thrown his internal 'qi' into disarray, forcing him to expel it and halt his training.

His first attempt ended in failure. This didn't discourage Zhang Beixing much. On the contrary, it ignited his fighting spirit, making him find the matter rather interesting. So, he began to train once again.

Then...

Failure!

Failure!

Still failure!

By 8 p.m., Chen Rourou and Liu Yi had already left, but Zhang Beixing still hadn't succeeded. During this time, he continuously experimented with various methods, but all ended in failure. And the reason for each failure was essentially the same: during his practice of the Northern Sect Eight Pieces of Brocade, no matter what he did, he simply couldn't mobilize the Hidden Force within his body.

Even on the rare occasions he succeeded, that Hidden Force would quickly clash with the 'qi' in his body, causing all his efforts to be for naught!

Why is this happening? Leaning against a large tree to regulate his breath, Zhang Beixing murmured to himself.

Logically speaking, regardless of whether it was Internal Boxing or external styles, as long as it was a martial art of Great Xia, even if the forms differed, they ultimately used the same set of underlying principles. This much was evident from how he had previously mobilized the Hidden Force and made it resonate with the Northern Sect Eight Pieces of Brocade.

But the current problem is, resonance was achieved, but then what? If there was no way to perfectly fuse the two, then even achieving resonance was completely useless. It was like an unparalleled beauty standing naked before you, yet you remained completely unresponsive. This feeling of being able to look but not touch was agonizing to the extreme!

Is it because I haven't mastered the Hidden Force fully yet? Zhang Beixing's brows furrowed deeply. Staring at the shimmering surface of the lake, he deliberated for a long time and finally decided to do an additional training session. Although this extra training wouldn't necessarily make him vastly stronger, he at least needed to make some progress. I need to master it as soon as possible and then apply it to the Northern Sect Eight Pieces of Brocade!

…

True to his word, after settling on this course of action, Zhang Beixing walked into the water and began his underwater stake striking.

The water at night was still quite cold. Even with Zhang Beixing's physique, he couldn't help but shudder after submerging himself in the water. He took several deep breaths. Once his body had acclimated to the lake's temperature, Zhang Beixing walked to the wooden stakes and began striking them—THUD! THUD! THUD!

Immersed in his training, Zhang Beixing was completely unaware that, at that moment, not far away, a tall girl in sportswear with wheat-colored skin was leisurely strolling over.

Student Beixing is so hardworking, still not back at the dorm this late.

Too bad they don't know where he is. So frustrating.

After finishing her training for the day, a physically and mentally exhausted Sophia Zhou strolled around the Shi University campus to unwind, as she usually did. The intensive training was a very restrictive affair. Everyone was confined to this small patch of land at Shi University, forbidden to go out.