Chapter 121
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Li Fufeng and Liu Ningshuang’s serious demeanor was quite intimidating. Under their watchful gaze, Xue Hao and the others honestly recounted everything they knew.
In fact, the details about Shi Cheng’s personal situation were simple. The Special Case Investigation Team could easily access his records from childhood to adulthood.
He came from a decent family background. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree, he found a job at a company with little work and plenty of free time. His monthly salary was enough to satisfy his material desires. His greatest interest was browsing antique markets, collecting Taoist scriptures and ancient texts. During holidays, he would travel to various places to explore and learn about local folklore, or engage in discussions with netizens on fantasy forums. He had even written a few web novels in the xianxia and wuxia genres, though they all flopped due to weak plotlines and an excessive focus on cultivation fantasies, with the protagonist constantly training without any interesting developments… In short, all the collected information indicated that he was a quintessential older chuunibyou youth.
After the revival of spiritual energy and the descent of the extraordinary into reality, it seemed that his fantasies had come true overnight, and this guy became even more obsessed than before.
Initially, he actively participated in martial arts training classes, but was told that his innate talent was too poor, and he had no hope on the path of martial arts—
The first step to entering the world of martial arts was to absorb spiritual energy into the body, generate the first thread of internal energy, circulate it throughout the body, and refine one’s flesh and blood. The most talented geniuses only needed a quarter of an hour, those with excellent aptitude could do it within three days, and those with average talent could manage it in at most half a month. Those who couldn’t accomplish this within a month were basically useless in martial arts and had no need to pursue this path, as ten years of hard work might not even match half a month’s progress for others. It was better for them to casually practice some external martial techniques that didn’t require internal energy and become simple martial arts enthusiasts.
—This was also the choice of many people.
After all, practicing martial arts was a discipline that required accumulated effort over time. While most people in this era enjoyed more abundant material lives than in the past, they had also lost the perseverance to endure hardships.