I will eventually become a divine being through accumulating constantly

This is a concept similar to "metal fatigue"; bending metal a couple of times briefly doesn't do any harm, but continuously doing so will cause metal fatigue, and in severe cases, it could even break.

But now, that's no longer an issue.

No matter how much life force he used up, all he needed to do was sleep, using "[Sleep]+[Nirvana Technique]."

The next day, vitality, energy, life force, blue bar, blood bar, green bar—everything would rapidly refill, and he could even break through a small upper limit.

Thus, Xue Jing had been training almost maniacally for the past few days.

Practicing Coiling Dragon Art, Armor Shaking Skill, and Yellow Grannie Skill under twenty times the normal gravity in the Dragon Thunder, he'd get injured, then ignite his life force to forcibly recover and continue...

For nearly continuous fourteen-hour stretches, he remained in this intense training mode.

The True Martial upgrade he had been short of over twenty thousand Experience Points, but just in these past few days, he nearly filled that gap; Meditation True had even leveled up directly to Lv11 (1261/20000).

And the results were exceedingly pleasing; testing his attributes, his [Physical] and [Mental] values had both increased by over a hundred, changing to:

Physical: 1195

Mental: 1286

His [Mental] value had completely surpassed the eldest senior brother, and his [Physical] value was also not far behind the eldest senior brother.

To have such progress in just two to three days, this growth rate was terrifyingly extreme, and that was even with skills like [Fitness] that directly enhanced the body no longer being able to provide improvements.

Moreover, his values were different from others; others had values that were just that, but not only did he possess True Martial and a special physique that allowed him to exhibit far stronger combat power than ordinary people, he could even multiply it many times over with [Twin Lifes] and [Infinite Spiral]...

If you even consider temporary explosive Ultimate Skills like "Inverse Scale·Anger of the Heavens," it was utterly outrageous.

Turning off the panel, Xue Jing got out of bed and walked to the bathroom.

Miao Miao hadn't slept beside him, not since the incident with the little disciple a few days ago; he didn't dare let anyone close to him share his bed anymore.

Lately, Miao Miao had been sleeping with the little maid Yun Qin. Although Xue Wan had some personal opinions about this, she was overruled by Xue Jing.

Coming to the sink, he turned on the faucet, and listening to the sound of the water, Xue Jing gazed at his reflection in the mirror.

As he practiced the Nirvana Technique, subtle changes seemed to be occurring in his body.

His eyelashes had grown longer and neater than before; his eyes, originally deep brown, were gradually tinged with a shade of dark blue.

He opened his mouth, revealing neatly aligned, fine white teeth and then extended his tongue upwards.

It easily reached a position close to his eyebrows, which was somewhat frightening in terms of length.

"The Thirty-two Buddha Forms..."

Xue Jing murmured softly.

According to Buddhism, as one practices, one gradually grows into a Buddha, and during this process, some "Buddha" characteristics will gradually appear on the body.

These characteristics, altogether, are summarized as "Thirty-two Forms" and "Eighty Beauties."

These characteristics are a symbol of perfection, among which many "Forms," even if not belonging to the Buddhist sect, would appear on the body after the body surpasses the Dragon Gate and achieves breakthroughs, such as the "Forty Teeth Phenomenon," where one's old teeth fell out, and forty evenly spaced, snow-white teeth with a constant fragrance would regrow in the mouth.

Now, with his practice of the Nirvana Technique, it seemed that some of the "Thirty-two Buddha Forms" were gradually appearing on Xue Jing's body.

Long and even eyelashes—this is the "King Bull Eyelashes Form."

Eyes gradually tinted dark blue—this is the "Eye Color Dark Blue Form."

Tongue lengthening—this is the "Tongue Wide and Long Form."

"These are all signs, but none have fully formed yet... It's said that Buddha's 'Tongue Wide and Long Form' can be extended out and completely unfolded to cover his own entire face, thin and wide."

Xue Jing touched his chin, thinking of something somewhat risqué.

"If I tell Ning Maomao about this, she'd probably appear totally indifferent on the surface, but actually..."

Shaking his head, Xue Jing pondered:

"If I genuinely ended up displaying all Thirty-two Forms through practice, that wouldn't be good."

Although most of the Buddha's Thirty-two Forms are meant to enhance one's appearance, some "Forms" are rather absurd.

"Tongue Wide and Long Form" is alright since it's inconsequential if not fully spread out, but the "Top Meat Bun Form" is problematic since it would make one look as if covered by meat buns... like having been feasted on by a family of mosquitoes.

Xue Jing had no desire to become more handsome, but he also didn't want to become ugly.

He was not a person of the Buddhist sect and couldn't appreciate the "meat bun."

"I possess 'Visualization True', so I should be able to partly reject the 'Thirty-two Forms' through subconscious resistance..."

Xue Jing simply washed up without even brushing his teeth, just symbolically rinsed his mouth.

In fact, he didn't need to brush them. His body was so clean that it almost emitted a fragrance if not restrained; even after a night's sleep with his mouth closed, there was no dirtiness at all.

Washing up was just a habitual action, serving to give himself a sense of cleanness.

After finishing the breakfast prepared by Yun Qin, Xue Jing left for Hidden Dragon Dojo to practice martial arts.

By this time, Hidden Dragon Dojo had been open for three days, and the number of students had surged from three digits to nearly three thousand.

The five-story dojo was bustling like a school, filled everywhere with students discussing and practicing martial arts.

Due to this, Li Qi had altered the structure of the dojo members by adding a position called 'Inner Sect Disciple'.

Some of the well-practiced older students were promoted to the inner sect, where they could learn more advanced Hidden Dragon martial arts skills without paying tuition fees and additionally receive a monthly supply of secret medicine for martial arts practice.

The price was that they would be responsible for training new students.

As for Xue Jing and his fellow direct disciples, they basically made no appearances, and it was hard for ordinary student disciples to meet them.

At Hidden Dragon Dojo, he taught the Yellow Grannie Skill to Meng and 'Impeccable' to his little disciple; soon, it was noon.

After Xue Jing finished his chef-made special medicinal lunch in the canteen, he was about to go back to continue his practice when his phone suddenly rang.

He took it out and saw that it was a call from Du Shiwei, the homeroom teacher at Qingcheng Affiliated Middle School.

Xue Jing thought for a moment and roughly guessed the reason for the call. He then pressed the answer button and said,

"Hello, Mr. Du."

Through the earpiece, Du Shiwei's voice came:

"Xue Jing, it's me. How have you been recently?"

Underneath Du Shiwei's tone there wasn't the usual hint of authority a teacher often has over a student, but instead, it was cautious, almost obsequious, although he addressed Xue Jing by name as if speaking to a leader, extremely gentle.

"Thank you for your concern, Mr. Du... What brings you to call?" Xue Jing smiled.

Du Shiwei quickly said, "That's good to hear... Well, it's about last time when I mentioned wanting you to serve as an examiner for the 'Martial Arts Examination'... do you still remember that?"

Xue Jing laughed, "Of course I remember. Please go ahead."

Du Shiwei hmm'd in relief, "… the assignment has already come down, and the examination venue you are responsible for has been assigned."

"— Seventh Metropolitan Circle Inner Ring, Silver City Number Nine Examination Venue!"

Upon hearing this, Xue Jing's eyes sparkled.

Just as Youqing A Dream had predicted, the assigned venue was indeed in the Seventh Metropolitan Circle.

The region where martial arts are most developed in the world, the home of the Extreme Martial King!

A land of innumerable prodigies, according to Wu Xuanzhu, six who could be considered peers of Xue Jing were mostly located in the Seventh Metropolitan Circle.

"... I understand." Xue Jing couldn't help but reveal a slightly excited smile.

Things were getting interesting.

He was curious how the Secret Martial Society and other various enemies would target him... truly something to look forward to.

"The date is in nine days, on the twenty-sixth of February. Make sure not to get it wrong," Du Shiwei reminded.

"Don't worry, Mr. Du, I'm always punctual," Xue Jing breezily said.

Upon hearing this and remembering the time Xue Jing almost arrived late to a school sports event, Du Shiwei gave a dry laugh:

"Uh... that's good."

The two chatted for a bit longer about recent school matters before Xue Jing hung up the phone.

"In nine days... I wonder if the overlap of the two realms in South City can be resolved in this time," he thought to himself.

...