Shuttle Hall, inside the secret room.

"call..."

Liu Wentao took the document that had just been received this week, leaned back in the sofa chair, and looked at it carefully for a long time before sighing tiredly.

Zhang Xin, who was sitting next to him, also had a worried look on his face. He asked in a low voice, "What's the response from the Martial Arts Association?"

"What an ambiguous attitude." Liu Wentao shook his head and handed the documents to his wife. "It seems that our martial arts hall is in great danger in this year's ladder tournament."

The Ladder Tournament is a school competition, which is different from the martial arts conference. Although it also uses an elimination system, it is a competition between martial arts schools to determine the ranking ladder. It is a battle between sects.

The higher the ranking of a martial arts school, the higher its rank will be, the more authority and resources it will obtain, and the fewer restrictions it will have. It can step by step move from a city-level martial arts hall to a state-level or even federal-level martial arts hall.

However, the lower the ranking, the more likely a school would fall out of the rank of a regular school, becoming a second-rate martial arts school and being expelled from the association. Even the original martial arts hall would be demolished and reclaimed, and public admission of students would be prohibited. All benefits and resources previously provided by the Federation would also be withdrawn.

Most importantly, if you're expelled, you'll no longer be recognized or protected by the Martial Arts Association, which is incredibly devastating. Martial arts schools are highly competitive, and if small or medium-sized schools didn't have the protection of the association, they would have been crushed to dust by the larger schools long ago. Furthermore, they'll be harassed and targeted by social organizations.

For example, a few months ago, underground organizations like the Inu-menkai, whose overall strength was obviously much higher than that of the Sozokukan, did not dare to take direct action. They even hesitated for a long time before making a covert move, for fear of being tracked down by the Martial Arts Association.

Therefore, the importance of the association to martial arts schools can be imagined.

If a small and insignificant school is lucky enough to emerge from the competition, it can be promoted to an orthodox school recognized by the Martial Arts Association.

The martial arts world has never been a peaceful place. In order to maintain healthy vitality and progress among various schools, the association has established such rules since its inception.

The Shuttle Hall has been at the bottom of the genre competition for three consecutive sessions. If it still fails this time, it is likely to be expelled from the association.

Even though the shuttle fist is ranked at the bottom, there are still a bunch of inferior schools eyeing it and trying to replace it.

Liu Wentao has been troubled by this for many years, so he is not going to give the position of the headmaster to his own daughter, but to pass it on to a more talented new disciple.

He needs a strong successor. No matter who it is, as long as he can lead the martial arts hall out of the predicament and preserve the tradition of shuttle boxing, he is willing to pay any price.

But now...

The time for the ladder competition is too tight, with only less than a few months left. Even the growth of a genius requires time.

"Is there no other way?"

Zhang Xin took the document and after just a few glances at it, an indelible sadness appeared on her pretty face.

As a fifth-level martial artist, she naturally knew the contents of the document and what it meant.

"I've contacted everyone I could, but no one can help us in a competition of this nature." Liu Wentao shook his head and said in a deep voice, "The Fire Fist and Lion Claw schools have been waiting for this day for years. There's no reason for them to give up the hope of advancement."

The Fire Fist School and the Lion Claw School are both second-rate schools that don't have formal martial arts gyms, but the current leaders of the two schools have both reached the level of sixth-level martial artists, which is very close to the Shuttle Fist School.

Even more serious was the emergence of Level 5 martial artists among the new generations of these two small schools. The situation with the Suozi Fist was completely different; even the eldest disciple, Pan Sheng, was only a Level 3 martial artist, a complete lack of talent.

For an orthodox martial arts school, the strength of the sect leader is important, but what is more important is whether there is a new generation of strong people. If there is no one to inherit, after the powerful sect leader dies of old age, the entire sect will also decline and die, and the inheritance will be cut off.

For martial artists, it's not the case that they become stronger as they age; the opposite is true. No matter how powerful a martial artist is, they can only maintain their peak form for thirty years at most. After their fifties or sixties, their muscles, skin, bones, qi, and blood begin to decline, leaving them with only half the strength of their youth.

"Xianxian has only been practicing for a short time, but she's already a fourth-level martial artist." Zhang Xin hesitated for a few seconds, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "If she can break through to fifth level before the ladder tournament, we might be able to turn the situation around."

"Level five...?" Liu Wentao raised his head and glanced at his wife. "Xianxian's cultivation speed is truly astonishing, but she's only been practicing for three months since she started. She's reached level four through accumulated experience, but that's due to her immense talent. However, after level four, you need to accumulate a certain amount of Dan Qi. Only when quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes can this happen. This requires constant effort. Otherwise, even if her Shuttle Fist is at the right level, she still won't be able to advance."

A martial artist can rely on natural talent for the first four levels, but after condensing Dan Qi at level four, advancement requires honing and accumulating Dan Qi to a certain level. This doesn't require any specific techniques; simply cultivating Dan Qi is sufficient. Therefore, any martial artist who can condense Dan Qi can generally reach level five.

But this seemingly simple accumulation process requires a long and steady pace. Some people may spend five or six years, while others may spend more than ten years.

The practice of martial arts, honing a sword for years or even decades, is so boring and tedious, and it consumes a lot of time and energy.

"It's only been two months since the Ladder Tournament started." Liu Wentao took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "In such a short time, Xianxian wants to accumulate a large amount of Dan Qi and break through to become a fifth-level martial artist... The chances of success are too low..."

When he was young, the process of accumulating Dan Qi took him six or seven years. Even if Xu Xianxian, his successor, was incredibly talented, the time was shortened to one-fifth, it would still take more than a year.

Click.

Just as the couple was talking, Xu Xianxian pushed the door open with a chicken chop in her left hand and seven or eight lamb skewers in her right hand.

After jumping down from the dormitory building, Xu Xianxian was looking for food at a stall outside the school. Just then, she received a call from her master Liu Wentao, asking her to come to the martial arts hall.

"Master and Madam, do you have something to talk to me about?" Xu Xianxian took a bite of the lamb skewer. The large amount of chili powder on it made her frown slightly. As she ate, she said a little unclearly: "Why are you still talking in such a secluded place, so mysterious?"

"...Look at this little fairy, how adorable and innocent she is. Is she fit to fight on stage?" Zhang Xin's brows relaxed at the sight of this doll-like girl, but then she turned and gave her husband a wry smile: "I still can't bear to let her compete. She's too young and inexperienced. I'm worried she might get hurt."