Hawkeye

That afternoon, the siblings were busy until evening before settling into the martial arts school. The landlord returned their deposit of eight taels of demon silver, slightly improving their financial situation. Chu Yunyun felt ashamed because their rental deposit was originally fifteen taels, and the deducted seven taels were all due to various furniture, doors, windows, and even five floor tiles damaged by her. However, the environment of the courtyard was excellent, surrounded by white walls and black tiles, with green trees shading the area, quiet and serene. Chu Yunyun was very satisfied, and Chu Xisheng was also pleased as it saved him some expenses.

Chu Xisheng had to budget carefully because they had a significant expense coming up in a few days – the payment of "shuxiu" to the martial arts school. Shuxiu, equivalent to ancient tuition fees, was a monthly payment required of all disciples at Zhengyang Martial Arts School. Inner disciples had to pay twelve taels of demon silver each month. Both Chu Xisheng and Chu Yunyun were inner disciples of the martial arts school. Since Chu Yunyun had little hope of recovering her martial skills in the short term, she had to switch to studying magic arts and was currently studying at the Zhengyang Martial Arts School's Academy of Magicians.

Chu Xisheng was prepared to find a solution to the financial problem once he established himself as an inner disciple. As for the top priority, it was, of course, to study his system. When Chu Xisheng was alone at night, he first redeemed another newbie special offer, "Eagle Eye". As his martial arts points dropped to '5', Chu Xisheng felt a warm stream entering his eyes. The feeling was no different from when he exchanged for "Chasing the Wind and Pursuing the Lightning Hand" during the day. In less than a breath, Chu Xisheng found that the world before him was completely different from before. It was like putting on glasses for shortsighted eyes of 600 degrees or switching from 480P video to 8K Ultra HD.

Chu Xisheng had heard that the vision of a falcon could see the movements of prey ten kilometers away. Now he had a similar ability. He could recognize the wing patterns of a mosquito twenty yards away and could gaze into the distance, seeing every detail of the wall of the beautiful water city five hundred yards away. Chu Xisheng was like a child with a new toy, using his Eagle Eye in various ways. He was filled with excitement and wonder.

For a martial practitioner, the value of 'Eagle Eye' is immeasurable, even comparable to 'Chasing the Wind and Pursuing the Lightning Hand'. With powerful dynamic vision, it allows him to discern every detail of an opponent's movement, thus predicting each combat intention.

Nearly half an hour later, Chu Xisheng finally quieted down. He looked at the virtual screen in front of him, pondering over this system. What kind of upgrading mechanism does it have? How can these martial arts points be obtained?

Today, a single sentence from Ye Zhichun on stage transformed his reputation from 'none' to 'ninth-rank lower (virtual)'. And a battle with Longsheng changed his reputation from 'ninth-rank lower (virtual)' to 'ninth-rank lower (real)'. It's obvious that this system is related to his reputation. Does greater reputation mean more benefits from the system?

Chu Xisheng stared at the words 'ninth-rank lower (real)' on the screen, feeling that it wasn't so simple. He had a few ideas that needed testing.

Moreover, the first change in reputation brought him 5 martial arts points, while the second change brought 6. What could be the reason behind this? Or is each subsequent advancement of the system an incremental growth?

Next, Chu Xisheng looked at the 'Martial Arts Treasury' in the bottom right corner, noticing that there were only twelve colored icons left.

Autumn Sky Knife – a seventh-rank precious knife that can evoke knife qi, its blade as sharp as autumn frost, capable of cutting hair and breaking steel. This knife required 5 martial arts points but had minimal explanation.

Divine Power Pill – temporarily doubles strength, sixty percent speed, and sixty percent reaction time, lasting for twelve hours. The advantage of this pill is its lack of side effects, requiring only 1 martial arts point.

Among the twelve items, each had its own usefulness, tempting Chu Xisheng considerably. But what intrigued him the most was the icon at the top of the list.

Virtual Training – practice martial arts in a dream-like virtual scene. The training effect of virtual training is the same as training in a real scenario, without consuming physical or mental energy. One martial arts point can be exchanged for one hundred and twenty hours of training time, which is exactly ten full days.

Chu Xisheng glanced deeply at the icon and continued scrolling down. There were no more product icons below, only a paragraph of text: "The treasury items refresh once every natural month and can also be refreshed with one martial arts point at a cost."

Unbeknownst to Chu Xisheng, just a wall away in another room, Chu Yunyun was flipping through a slightly yellowed document. It was a handwritten court newspaper, and a particular segment caught Chu Yunyun's attention for quite some time.

"On the seventh day of April, General Qin Mugong of Anbei, Marquis of Weiyuan, passed away from a sudden illness at his residence. The Emperor wept and suspended court for three days. On the eighth day, he was posthumously honored as Grand Guardian and titled as Martial King of Ba."

"On the twelfth day of April, Cloud Banner General Qin Sheng succeeded to the title of Marquis of Weiyuan and was appointed as General of Anbei, as well as Commander-in-chief of the armies of Bing, You, Ji, and Jue Four Provinces."

"On the seventeenth day of April, Qin Mugong's sister, Qin Xiyan, was conferred the title of Princess of Iron Mountain."

After a long while, Chu Yunyun expressionlessly crushed the newspaper into fragments and quietly walked out of the room. Through the crack in the window frame, she glanced into Chu Xisheng's room.

Inside, Chu Xisheng was sitting on the bed, gazing ahead with a foolish smile on his face, with drool even trickling from his lips.

Chu Yunyun furrowed her brows. What on earth was he thinking about? Could it be about women? The notorious womanizer Prince Kang, recognized throughout the court, would make this lustful pig-like expression whenever he saw a beauty. Chu Yunyun inexplicably felt a bit uncomfortable.

She then dismissed her thoughts, and her whole being suddenly floated up and over the courtyard wall. Like an incredibly agile spirit cat, Chu Yunyun swiftly moved through the night. Although she couldn't use martial arts true essence, her physical body still possessed the 'Impermeable Golden Body' of a first-grade martial practitioner. As she moved, she made no sound, and her breath was completely restrained.

Although there were martial artists from Zhengyang Martial Arts School patrolling and standing guard along the way, they failed to detect her slightest trace. Even if Chu Yunyun walked right past them, these martial artists remained completely oblivious.

Chu Yunyun walked all the way to the backyard of the martial arts academy, then climbed over a towering four-zhang-high stone wall.

The enclosed courtyard was about twenty zhang wide and long, devoid of any living vegetation. In the center stood two enormous dark iron pillars, each ten zhang high, crossing and inserted into the ground. A hint of strangeness flashed in Chu Yunyun's eyes, and then she floated like a weightless feather, landing between the two iron pillars.

First, she cut her wrist and smeared the blood on the surface of the pillars. Then, she closed her eyes and concentrated to sense. In the next moment, Chu Yunyun heard fierce roars of beasts, and two strange psychic energies simultaneously rushed into her mind. Although these psychic energies were only at the eighth-grade level, they were utterly refined and pure, sharp and domineering to the extreme.

Chu Yunyun faintly sensed that beneath the ground, there were two pure black fierce beasts pinned by blades, unable to move, roaring angrily at her. One had the body of a jackal and the head of a dragon, resembling an "Yazi," while the other had a lion-like shape, engulfed in smoke and flames, resembling a "Suan Ni." However, their bodies were extremely small, slightly smaller than a six-month-old cat. They were not real fierce beasts but the evil spirits condensed in this particular environment. Now that the evil spirits had become spirits, they were lurking and waiting for an opportunity to transform.

A strong desire flickered in Chu Yunyun's eyes. In that moment, she felt a sudden sense of danger. "Who's there?" With this voice, a burly figure swiftly emerged from the night. Chu Yunyun looked into the distance and saw that it was the academy master, Lei Yuan. With a slight unwilling click of her tongue, she quickly wiped off the blood from the iron pillars and vanished into the night's shadows once again.

When Lei Yuan arrived, the place was empty, without any trace of anything unusual. He couldn't help but frown, suspecting whether his earlier sensation was just an illusion.