Chapter 21: The Significance of the Temple of War

  In the room, Hu Gao's face was tense as he stood in what he thought was a standard horse stance. His left hand was clenched into a fist and placed on his waist, while his right hand was stretched out with his palm facing upwards before transforming into a fist that was placed against his chest. He took a deep breath, exerted all his strength, and threw a straight punch.

  Pong!

  The fist hit the air, and suddenly there was a loud explosion of air, with a very clear whistling sound.

  "I didn't think a casual punch could have such power! This otherworldly path is indeed not easy to walk!" Hu Gao looked at his own fist, his heart still reeling in shock. Having just finished his training, he was bored and imitated the punching posture of a master from his previous life, casually throwing out a punch, never expecting its power to be so enormous!

  Hú Gāo turned his head, the previous punch was just a casual swing, before that he had seen Bái Xiǎo infuse the cyan yuan force into the sword and emit a sword aura, so he thought, if he also infused the yuan force into his fist, what kind of change would occur?

  Just do it! Hu Gao concentrated his spiritual power, and in a bold attempt to reverse the flow of the "Returning to One Qi Flow", he managed to transport the original yuan force gathered in the qi sea to his fist. Through introspection, he found that the veins on his hand were indeed gathering a large amount of yuan force!

  This caused Hu Gao's entire right fist to turn crimson, unexpectedly, the manifestation of the Variant Totem's Yuan energy was exactly the same as that of a First-Order Totem. However, this was also good, making it easier for Hu Gao to disguise and hide his trump card in the future.

  Pong!

  One punch was thrown out, also hitting the void. This time, a deafening explosion sounded, extremely piercing to the ear. At the same time, the vibration caused by the sound made the entire room seem to shake.

  "Wo cao! If this punch were to hit a person, I'm afraid it would be a bloody mess!" Just thinking about the terrifying scene made Hu Gao shudder.

  But he soon woke up again, in this cruel world, to survive, must become stronger! After more than 20 years of modern education, his three views have matured, and he will not change his heart to be ruthless and hurt innocent lives. However, for self-protection, it is necessary to take action when necessary, without leaving any emotions!

  As for the maiden fist he inadvertently created, Hu Gao thought about it and felt that it needed a name that would make the harem look up to him. Why not call it 【North Dipper Divine Fist】? Not only is it cool, but in the future, if he needs to disguise himself, he can also call himself Sword Fourth Young Master, which would be a win-win situation.

  Just as Hu Gao was fantasizing about using the "Northern Dipper God Fist" to conquer the world, leaving only a giant sword mark on his enemies' backs, an untimely voice suddenly interrupted him, "Hu Gao? Are you okay?"

  "Sister, what could I possibly be doing at home by myself? By the way, do you always barge into a guy's place without knocking?" Hu Gao stared at Hua Yin Snow, who had burst in and shattered his beautiful dream, with a huge question mark on her forehead, and was about to go ballistic.

  "I thought someone was coming to bother you again, but unexpectedly, in just one day, you've already advanced to the middle stage of the Condensed Shadow Realm. I really don't know what kind of luck you've encountered." Hu Yin Xue's shock in her heart far exceeded the expression on her face. Earlier, with such a big commotion at Hu Gao's place, she thought someone had come to assassinate him again.

  Who would have thought that Hu Gao, the original waste material, actually rose three levels in one night? What concept is this? She had never heard of any genius who could break through to the middle stage of Condensation Shadow in just one night. Wasn't Hu Gao only a first-class Totem? How can he be so strong?

  "What's this, I'm a successor! Without such strength, how can you mix in the war academy?" Hu Gao was speechless, this female ninja really didn't know how to chat. At this time, shouldn't she be praising herself as the most talented genius on the continent?

  "Are you going to the War Institute? Alright, then tell me what you think the War Institute is like?" Hu Yin Xue said in an unusually serious tone.

  Hu Gao was startled by her expression, and immediately retracted his strange smile. After serious consideration, he said: "The War Academy should be a place where warriors can learn and cultivate knowledge to quickly improve their realm."

  "Heh heh, learning knowledge? Alright, then who do you think is more powerful, the Dean of the War Academy or our Hu family's High Priest?"

  "Hmm... how am I supposed to know?" Hu Gao's face was covered in black lines.

  "You guess." The female ninja said with a serious face and a cold smile.

  "Alright, I think it should be Priest-sama." Hu Gao thought for a moment before responding.

  "Alright, considering our Hu family's powerful strength, do you think it's necessary to send the disciples from our clan to the War Institute to learn and improve their strength?"

  Uh, Hu Gao patted his forehead and finally came to his senses. Yes, the Hu family was powerful, with over a dozen elders and various secret methods to support them. It wasn't necessary to go to the War Institute at all. So why did they do it? He looked at the female ninja's serious expression and said slowly, "The War Institute, the key is in the word 'war'! The purpose of the Hu family sending their elite children to the War Institute was for battle! To improve the willpower and real combat experience of warriors through actual combat!"

  "Alright, not too stupid after all. Now you know how big a mistake it was to have that kind of thinking, right? If you really thought that way, by the time I see you next, you'll already be a stinking skeleton, White Xiao, you know?"

  "Ah, isn't it that handsome scoundrel who tried to assassinate me?" Hu Ge deliberately added a nasal tone to the word "man", showing his skepticism about this point.

  "It was this person, who ten years ago slaughtered 108 elite warriors of the War Institute, and as a result, his family lost several territories due to his actions. However, why did the clan not take any action against him? Instead, the Grand Elder decided before his death to leave his last drop of vital energy to him and even used the clan's secret method to enhance his cultivation?"

  And after assassinating you, why did the elder council only send Huang Quan to his ancestral land, but no one said anything about what to do with Bai Xiao? Do you know what all these reasons are?

  The female ninja's rapid-fire questioning left Hu Gao a bit stunned, the amount of information in her words was simply too great. It turned out that Bai Xiao was so fierce, it wasn't easy for him to survive at all. The most important thing was that Hu Gao heard the most critical keyword from her words, which was "blood nature".

  All along, the Hu family had given Hu Gao the impression of a large aristocratic family on the verge of decline in the Red Mansion. Now he realized that he had been too superficial and shallow in his views, for the Hu family was not so simple after all!

  "As long as life exists, the fight will never end! This is the way of the war temple! It's also the way of the Hu family!" Hu Gao said fiercely, "Am I right in understanding this?"

  "Alright, you're a promising kid, remember what you said yourself. Now, let's go to the War Institute together. Once we get there, everything will be up to you. Don't think I'll always be following you around, or else you'd be useless!" Hu Yin Xue didn't pay any attention to Hu Gao Mu's stunned expression and walked out of the door that had transformed into a human-shaped entrance with big strides.

  Hú Gāo was furious, thinking that the female ninja had changed her ways, but it turned out she was still so ruthless! "Destroying private property is a serious crime, hey, are you even listening?!" He chased after her in a rolling and crawling manner, but could only follow behind her butt and eat dust.

  ……

  The Martial Arts Academy is located directly north of the Hu Family Ancestral Temple, not too far from Hu Gao's current residence. Along the winding road paved with bluestones surrounding the Hu Family Ancestral Temple, after turning two corners, you will arrive.

  It covers a vast area, almost the entire northern city is included, and even the origin of Wenhua Road is because the first president of the Military Academy was named Su Wendao. This central inner ring road in Ningcheng was named after him to commemorate his contributions at that time.

  Even from a distance, before reaching the main gate, one can see through the high walls along the roadside that there is a circle of tall trees with an unrecognizable name planted along the wall corners inside the temple. From the gaps between the big trees, looking slightly further away, you can see various wooden buildings with a strong classical flavor, some are guard towers, and others are basic facilities in the temple such as libraries, teaching institutes, etc.

  The gate of the Martial Institute faces south and sits north, with only eight guards standing outside. The eight people all have a strong aura emanating from their bodies, which Hu Gao can sense. The aura on each of these eight people is stronger than his own, clearly they are all Transcendent Realm martial artists, showing just how deep the Martial Institute's foundation is.

  With a simple greeting to the gatekeeper, Hu Yinxue led Hu Gao into the war academy with ease.

  Hehe, unexpectedly after a lap, I seemed to have returned to the campus again. Hu Gao inadvertently caught a familiar scent and thought of those years' classmates and teachers. He couldn't help but pause for a moment at the gate, wanting to grasp some nostalgic emotions, but they slipped away in an instant.

  This is not a school, it's a place where battles will unfold in the future, are you really ready?

  Hui Xue tilted her head to look at Hu Gao, who seemed to be deep in thought. She didn't interrupt him, but instead wondered to herself: the original Qing Hao had never been to the War Academy because he hadn't condensed his Totem, so why did Hu Gao's expression seem like he had found some memories here?

  "Let's go." Looking at the empty road, Hu Gao said with a daze.

  "Wait, one more thing to tell you, the Martial Institute is divided into three halls: Ordinary Hall, Inner Chamber Hall, and Elite Hall. The Ordinary Hall is where early and mid-stage warriors of the Condensed Shadow Realm cultivate, while the Inner Chamber Hall gathers late-stage students of the Condensed Shadow Realm. As for the warriors in the Elite Hall, their cultivation has at least reached the Transcendent Body Realm."

  There were over 500 students in the Martial Arts Institute, with around 300 of them being ordinary disciples. As a result, they were divided into ten sub-halls, each with approximately thirty people.

  After finishing all this in one breath, Hu Yinxue paused for a moment, took out a wooden token and handed it to Hu Gao, saying: "Alright, I'll send you off here. This is your identity token, take it to the front hall of the ordinary hall, find the tenth branch hall, and go straight in."

  This time, Hu Yin Xue did not instantly disappear in front of Hu Gao, but instead walked slowly out of the war hall's entrance with a hint of desolation under Hu Gao's gaze.

  Yes, the War Institute is a place where elite warriors fight, so has she also fought here? Did Hu Yin Xue, this female ninja who actually cared about herself, leave behind stories like Bai Xiao's here too?

  These stories are waiting for Hu Gao himself to uncover, and everything in the future started from the day he stepped into the war academy, undergoing irreversible changes.