Zhang Ping returned to Iron Soul, and the only thing he felt was poor. The fees at the martial arts gyms were too expensive, even the small ones charged between 300 to 500 coins, and he would need to save up for a few months just to sign up for the most basic courses.

"I wonder if I can apply for activity funding from Liu Sishan," Zhang Ping thought as he lay in bed before sleep. The organization Liu Sishan was part of must be wealthy, right?

For the next week, Zhang Ping's life became very routine. He stayed at Iron Soul during the day to study and spent his nights continuing to investigate martial arts gyms, while also pointing out the Skyborn Foxes to Liu Sishan. The Slaughter Unit didn’t act immediately after he identified the Skyborn Foxes, but began sporadically eliminating them. It wasn't until several days later that Zhang Ping noticed a few Skyborn Foxes had disappeared, clearly due to the Slaughter Unit's actions.

Zhang Ping knew well that the Slaughter Unit didn’t trust him. After all, Liu Sishan hadn’t mentioned the name of her organization, and the only reason he knew they were called the Slaughter Unit was because his Identification Skill had leveled up again.

The Contract Gem could enhance potential, and there were three ways to consume this potential.

The first was through continuous training, slowly releasing potential. This allowed him to surpass human limits, developing physical qualities that ordinary people couldn’t reach. He felt that with enough training, he might one day compete with body-enhancing Awakeners.

The second was to have a 1% chance of awakening a new talent. In a way, Zhang Ping considered himself lucky since he had already awakened three talents.

The third was upgrading his existing talents. His "Unstable Identification Skill" had evolved into the "Stable Identification Skill," and since the Identification Skill was the one he used the most, it leveled up quickly. Two days ago, it had evolved into "Strategic Identification Skill."

With this new skill, he could identify the faction or camp of his target. After upgrading, he used it to identify Liu Sishan again and discovered that her faction was called Slaughter Unit.

And finally, he shamelessly applied for activity funding from Liu Sishan. The next day, she gave him 10,000 Mingzhu Coins.

With the funding, Zhang Ping decided to join a martial arts gym to gather information. Once he understood the situation, he would try to approach a few trustworthy gym owners and see if he could recruit more combat-ready individuals.

Late at night, Zhang Ping returned to Beastlord Punch Gym. In truth, Beastlord Punch Gym wasn’t the best choice, but it was conveniently close to Iron Soul.

Zhang Ping enrolled in the first three moves of Beastlord Punch, finally entering the inner chambers of the martial arts gym. The gym had five floors in total—two above ground and three underground.

Guided by the staff, Zhang Ping entered a room where several apprentices were already practicing. Most of them seemed to be between 25 and 30 years old, making Zhang Ping feel out of place, until a boy about his age walked in, slightly improving the situation.

"Hello," the boy greeted as he approached Zhang Ping.

Zhang Ping nodded and replied, "Hello."

"Are you here to learn Beastlord Punch too?" the boy, Wang Jieming, asked.

Zhang Ping narrowed his eyes, sarcastically responding, "I’m not here to learn flower arranging."

"Ah, sorry for asking such a stupid question. I’m Wang Jieming," the boy said, realizing his mistake and scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

Zhang Ping introduced himself, "Zhang Ping."

Thankfully, their dry conversation ended when the instructor arrived.

The instructor was a muscular man in his 40s or 50s. In fact, most body-enhancing Awakeners were burly and strong, each of them a muscle powerhouse. This instructor had a thick beard and wolf-like eyes, and when he spoke, his canine teeth were clearly visible.

As the instructor introduced himself, Zhang Ping immediately activated his Identification Skill. The instructor's information was quickly revealed.

【Identification Complete】

【Name：Bai De】

【Race：Human】

【Faction：Beastlord Punch Gym】

【Potential：⭐】

【Lifespan：159】

【Level：Advanced Level Awakener】

【Grade：25】

【Talent】

【Food Shape Supplementation: Gradually changes one's physical constitution through food.】

【Upgraded Skills】

【Wolf Charge Form: Unleashes the body's latent power, gradually transforming into a werewolf form, greatly enhancing speed.】

【Rampaging Lion Form: Unleashes the body's latent power, transforming into a powerful lion-like form, strengthening the body in all aspects.】

...

He was very strong.

Looking purely at his attributes, Bai De was almost on par with Liu Sishan.

However, whether Liu Sishan or Bai De was stronger could only be determined through a direct confrontation, as it was hard to imagine the true speed of the Wolf Charge form or the power of the Rampaging Lion Form based only on their names and descriptions.

After introducing himself, Bai De got straight to the point without any small talk.

"The first three forms of Beastlord Punch are the Monkey King Style, Giant Crocodile Style, and Phoenix Claw Style. Like Ming Fist, each form corresponds to an animal. The Monkey King Style is characterized by unpredictable movements, the Giant Crocodile Style builds finger strength and can tear apart tigers and leopards when mastered, and the Phoenix Claw Style also requires high finger strength. I suggest starting with the Giant Crocodile Style, followed by the Phoenix Claw Style."

"Alright, now let's begin with the practice. Follow my movements."

After Bai De finished speaking, he started teaching the Monkey King Style. The Monkey King Style wasn’t about mimicking monkey moves, but rather a punching technique that emphasized incredible attack speed. The name "Monkey King Style" came from the phrase "心猿难定" (xīn yuán nán dìng), meaning "the mind of a monkey is hard to settle," referring to how thoughts can be as restless and unpredictable as a monkey swinging through branches.

It was paired with a set of footwork, and as Zhang Ping practiced, he quickly realized that the true essence of the Monkey King Style lay in its footwork.

During the first class, everyone learned slowly, mostly to avoid making mistakes—they’d rather be slow than wrong.

Bai De taught the First Move and then had the students repeat it constantly, moving around to correct any mistakes. When he reached Zhang Ping, he watched for a while before nodding and saying, "Not bad, continue."

When he reached Wang Jieming, his brow furrowed, and he started correcting Wang Jieming’s movements. But after each correction, Wang Jieming would quickly go back to making mistakes.

"Your footwork, pay attention to your feet."

"That's wrong. The force should be coming from your heel, not your toes. Watch closely."

"Is your pelvis disconnected from your lower body? Otherwise, how could your upper body be moving while your lower body isn't cooperating?"

...

After over ten minutes of correction, Bai De was utterly speechless.

He thought for a moment, then walked up to Zhang Ping and said, "Why don't you spar with him?"

Sometimes, real combat is the best teacher.

Some people are naturally talented—they may struggle with learning skills through regular training, but in real combat, they can improve rapidly.

Bai De was hoping Wang Jieming was one of those types of geniuses, otherwise teaching him the first three forms of Beastlord Punch would be an excruciating task.

The other students moved aside, and Zhang Ping and Wang Jieming took their positions.

"No other abilities allowed, only the Monkey King Style. Start," Bai De instructed.

Zhang Ping moved instantly. He feinted to the left, then quickly rushed to Wang Jieming’s right side. Wang Jieming instinctively threw a punch, but Zhang Ping, like a monkey climbing a tree, stayed close to Wang Jieming’s arm as he advanced, then landed a punch squarely on Wang Jieming’s face. However, he held back, not using full force.

...

Bai De watched the match and sighed. Watching Zhang Ping fight Wang Jieming was like watching an adult effortlessly overpower a baby—there was no suspense.

Clearly, Wang Jieming was not a genius when it came to real combat.

The other Awakener students chuckled, and anyone with sharp eyes could see that Zhang Ping wasn’t just holding back—he was practically letting Wang Jieming off the hook entirely.

Though they were around the same age, the gap in their strength was enormous. At least in the Monkey King Style, Zhang Ping had already reached the beginner level, while Wang Jieming hadn’t even scratched the surface.

"Alright, stop," Bai De sighed.

Zhang Ping cupped his hands and said, "Thanks for the lesson."

...

Wang Jieming could only give a bitter smile. It was obvious to everyone that Zhang Ping had been holding back, but as the one being hit, he was more aware of how much restraint Zhang Ping had shown. Each time Zhang Ping’s fist landed on him, he held back, or he would’ve been spitting blood by now.

"You’re not suited for martial arts. I can refund your tuition," Bai De said as he approached Wang Jieming.

Wang Jieming quickly replied, "Instructor Bai, I want to learn, please believe me, I can learn it!"

...

Bai De was a bit speechless. He didn’t want to teach Wang Jieming.

Each instructor can only teach so many students, and teaching a genius means they’ll quickly graduate, but teaching someone who lacks talent takes a lot of time. The same amount of time spent teaching a talentless student could have been used to teach three or four geniuses.

"Let me learn a few more days, please, Instructor Bai," Wang Jieming said with a pitiful face.

Bai De sighed in resignation. "Fine, five more days. If by the end of those five days, you haven’t mastered the Monkey King Style, I’ll only refund 70% of the tuition."

"Okay, thank you, Instructor Bai," Wang Jieming immediately agreed.

Zhang Ping was curious—if Wang Jieming had no talent, why was he so determined to learn martial arts? From his physique, he didn’t seem like a physical-enhancement Awakener either.

Out of curiosity, Zhang Ping decided to use his Identification Skill on Wang Jieming.

[Identification Complete]

[Name: Wang Jieming]

[Race: Human]

[Potential: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐]

[Lifespan: 92]

[Level: Beginner Level Awakener]

[Grade: 5]

[Talent]

[Hard Work Can Make Up for Lack of Talent: Learning ability decreases by 90%, but any skill can be improved through persistent practice. Every day of practice increases growth speed by 10% for the same type of training, up to a maximum of 1000%.]

'I see.'

After reading Wang Jieming’s attributes, Zhang Ping finally understood.

It turned out that Wang Jieming was a late-blooming genius. While it was difficult for him to learn skills in the early stages, as long as he got the basics down and kept practicing, his growth speed would rapidly accelerate.

Moreover, Wang Jieming had a seven-star potential, meaning at the very least, he’d become an Advanced Level Awakener, and he could even become a Top Level Awakener.

This guy was a real talent.

Although there were many Awakener students in Mingzhu City, most of them were at the Intermediate Level, and Advanced and Top Level Awakener students were incredibly rare. And even for Awakener, they were still mere mortals—illness, injuries, and aging would gradually weaken their strength.

For example, Liu Tiefeng, who was an Intermediate Level Awakener, could no longer beat Zhang Ping, a Beginner Level Awakener.

In fact, even an ordinary person could injure Liu Tiefeng if he wasn’t careful.

Time waits for no one—that’s the reality.