Chapter 254.1: Lu Yuan Challenges a Martial Arts Center! Extreme Martial Dao Shakes Pan City! (I)

Lu Changsheng arrived at the main hall on the second floor of the martial arts center. The moment he stepped inside, dozens of students rose together with a rustle of movement, turning toward him and bowing.

"Senior Brother Lu!" they called in unison.

Lu Yuan blinked, caught off guard for a moment, but looking at the ruddy cheeks and bright eyes around the hall, he realized they must have gained positive results from one month of practicing the Extreme Martial Dao. Even an ordinary person could tell how much stronger and energetic they were compared to a month ago.

"Master, how do you feel?" asked Lu Changsheng.

Fei Qianliu drew a deep breath, stepped up to the large sandbag, and drove his fist into it.

Bang!

The sandbag buckled violently beneath the blow, as if it might split open at any moment.

"I did not use Hidden Force at all," said Fei Qianliu in a deep voice. "In just one month, my strength and physique have already grown beyond anything I expected. I can't even begin to imagine how much my physical condition might improve if I keep practicing for one, three, five, even ten years..."

The Extreme Martial Dao had overturned much of what Fei Qianliu had understood about martial arts. A single month of practice had already left him feeling almost like a different person.

His progress, however, was more dramatic than that of the other students. Lu Changsheng had previously told him that the Extreme Martial Dao worked even better when paired with highly nourishing supplements, so Fei Qianliu had taken them every day without fail throughout the past month. With abundant nourishment supporting his training, his improvement naturally far exceeded that of an ordinary practitioner.

Of course, Senior Sister Xiang, Senior Brother Xia, and the other students had made clear progress too, despite taking no supplements. Their strength had increased, their spirits were better, and they seemed to have energy to spare from morning to night.

The changes in their own bodies were proof enough to make them drop any doubts they had about the Extreme Martial Dao. If anything, their faith in the Extreme Martial Dao was stronger than anyone else's.

Fei Qianliu had spent the past month thinking carefully about what these changes meant. Now, at last, he had reached a decision.

"Starting today, I will stop practicing Force," he declared. "From now on, I will practice the Extreme Martial Dao."

That decision also meant giving up Crane Style martial art, but he felt little reluctance over it. After all, Crane Style did not belong to him alone. It had been passed down through many others before him, and he had learned it at another martial arts center with no vow to carry it forward. Abandoning it now was therefore no betrayal of a tradition.

"Lu Yuan, from today onward, the Crane Martial Arts Center will be renamed to Extreme Martial Dao Center," said Fei Qianliu. "You will be honored as the Founder of the Extreme Martial Dao, and we will stand behind you. Furthermore, as its first group of practitioners, we will spread the Extreme Martial Dao throughout Pan City, then throughout the south, and perhaps one day across the entire Jade Dragon Kingdom."

A sharp gleam appeared in his eyes. It was not merely excitement—it was ambition. He was still in the prime of his life, and he had once dreamed of accomplishing something far greater than running a modest martial arts center in a small city like Pan City. Over the years, those ambitions had gradually faded beneath the weight of reality.

However, the Extreme Martial Dao had just changed everything. Fei Qianliu understood its potential well enough to know that once it began to spread, there might be no stopping it. This was his chance to rise with it.

No matter how extraordinary Lu Yuan became in the future, one fact would never change: he had once studied under Fei Qianliu. If Lu Yuan eventually became known throughout the world as the founding ancestor of the Extreme Martial Dao, people speaking of his early years would inevitably mention that he had studied at the Crane Martial Arts Center under Fei Qianliu. And the greater Lu Yuan's achievements became, the more known Fei Qianliu would be as well.

Truth be told, Fei Qianliu had spent the entire month considering this point, along with everything he had witnessed from the Extreme Martial Dao. Now, he was finally certain of his choice. Rather than cling to the small martial arts center he already had, he would place everything he had behind Lu Yuan.

Lu Changsheng himself was somewhat surprised by how enthusiastic Fei Qianliu was. The Crane Martial Arts Center was Fei Qianliu's life's work, yet he was now willing to hand it over without hesitation and devote it entirely to supporting Lu Yuan.

After giving it some thought, Lu Changsheng realized that the arrangement suited him perfectly. He needed a base from which to develop the Extreme Martial Dao, and the Crane Martial Arts Center already had the space, students, and foundation he required.

So, he set aside any pretense of modesty and simply nodded. "Then I thank you, Master. The Crane Martial Arts Center will take the name Extreme Martial Arts Center, but the center itself stays yours. I am only borrowing the space. From now on, however, we will no longer follow the traditional master-disciple system. Anyone who joins the Extreme Martial Arts Center will simply be a student. There will only be coaches and students here."

In truth, part of him wanted to teach the Extreme Martial Dao for free, but he knew that doing so at this stage would be premature. Neither his reputation nor the influence of the Extreme Martial Dao had grown large enough yet, and if he gave it away too easily at this stage, people might not value it at all.

Only once his fame spread far and wide, once he had broken into transcendence, would those free teachings mean anything. If he then opened the Extreme Martial Dao to everyone for free, countless people would flock to learn it. Its influence could spread across the entire world, and condensing the Martial Dao would become far easier.

For now, though, there was no need to rush. The Extreme Martial Dao had only just begun to establish itself, so it was better to build its foundation one step at a time.

With that decided, Lu Changsheng left the day-to-day affairs of the Extreme Martial Arts Center to Fei Qianliu, Senior Sister Xiang, and the others. As the founder of the Extreme Martial Arts, he had no intention of burdening himself with minor administrative matters. His role was not to manage every detail, but to stand at the heart of the Extreme Martial Dao as its symbol and the figure around whom the entire center would gather.

Lu Changsheng returned to his room and called up the Status Panel to check his progress.

[Status Panel]

Host: Lu Yuan

Extreme Martial Dao: First Growth (23%)

The Extreme Martial Dao had already reached twenty-three percent progress in the First Growth stage. That was remarkably fast, considering it had risen by fifteen percentage points in only a month. Much of that progress, however, came from the highly nourishing supplements he had been taking. Without such an abundant supply, his cultivation would undoubtedly have advanced much more slowly.

Lu Changsheng then calculated how long he had been in this secret world. Roughly three months had passed, which meant his time here had only just begun. He still had more than two years to develop the Extreme Martial Dao.

The biggest thing holding me back right now is the lack of supplements. The one million yuan I had is almost gone. It looks like I need to start making money too...[1]

In theory, if Lu Changsheng wanted to make money, it would not be that difficult. He could just open his own martial arts center, but a center needed students, and students would only come if he could build a reputation strong enough to attract them.

In the martial arts community, accomplishing that was both simple and troublesome. It was simple because martial artists respected strength above all else. If Lu Changsheng challenged the other martial arts centers in Pan City and defeated their experts, everyone would naturally know which center was stronger, and students would begin flocking to him.

The difficulty lay in everything surrounding those fights. Most established martial arts centers had operated in Pan City for years, building deep local roots and connections with people from every walk of life. So, if Lu Changsheng went from one center to the next challenging them all, he would inevitably offend a great many people, and the resulting stress would not come only from the martial arts community.

There was a reason people in the jianghu often said the jianghu was not just about fighting and killing, but also about human relationships and knowing how to deal with people.

However, Lu Changsheng did not have patience or time to build those relationships. He did not have years to cultivate friendships, exchange favors, and slowly establish himself within Pan City's existing circles. He had a little over two years left in this Secret World, and every month mattered.

Twenty-three percent into First Growth already puts my body well past an ordinary person's, more than enough to stand against a Force Transformation martial artist, maybe even a Core Force martial artist.

In any case, I should start with a small goal: become number one in Pan City!

At his current level, that goal was no longer mere ambition—it was something he could actually attempt. And If he wanted the name of the Extreme Martial Dao to spread, then there was no better place to begin.

1. Converted to USD, 1 million yuan is almost 180k. What kind of supplements are these???? ☜