He came to a clean stone wall, sat cross-legged, and washed the root of the ziwu grass with clean water before putting it into his mouth. He chewed it carefully and slowly, absorbing every drop of the black juice.

This ziwu grass is an extremely potent yang-nourishing herb for cultivating qi and blood.

After Charles Bennett consumed it, he quickly felt a surge of fiery energy arise in his abdomen. This energy flowed along countless meridians, spreading throughout his entire skeleton. After a short while, every bone in his body was continuously generating new qi and blood.

For a martial artist in the mid-stage of body refinement, the most important thing is the intensity of qi and blood. The stronger the martial artist, the higher the intensity of their qi and blood.

When a martial artist reaches the sixth level of the body refinement stage, their qi and blood fill the entire body, and the intensity of qi and blood in all the meridians reaches its peak. At this point, it can no longer be increased.

Charles Bennett spent two hours absorbing the medicinal power and felt this intense sensation: the qi and blood in every bone of his body had reached a saturated bottleneck.

The intense qi and blood seemed as if they were about to ignite within his body.

Charles Bennett felt his whole body burning, a wild power wanting to burst out.

"Ha!"

He suddenly threw a heavy punch, lightning-fast, smashing it onto a protruding hard rock on the nearby cliff.

"Bang!"

A deep fist mark appeared on the hard rock, with cracks spreading outward. The center of the rock, about a foot in diameter, was shattered into countless fragments. Without at least six hundred jin of force, such power would be impossible.

With such strength, breaking stones is now effortless.

"Three months—finally, from about the fifth and a half level of body refinement, I've cultivated to the sixth level!"

Charles Bennett glanced at his scraped knuckles, his heart surging with excitement.

After three long months of arduous cultivation deep in the mountains, he finally managed to reach the sixth level of body refinement before the academy's assessment.

"I remember half a year ago, the lower academy's chief instructor Gavin Stone used the 'Shadowless Kick' to shatter a stone pile a foot thick and a zhang high with a single kick. My current strength, though not as profound as Instructor Stone's, is already no less than his!"

"Among the two hundred upper academy students of North Slope Academy, probably no more than forty or fifty have reached the sixth level of body refinement!"

"It's time to go back and participate in the academy's assessment!"

Charles Bennett picked up his blunt steel blade and strode out of the North Slope Mountains, heading toward North Slope Academy a hundred li away.

Chapter 10: Strength Assessment

Charles Bennett walked back to North Slope Academy from the mountains on foot. He rested for several days, washing away the fatigue of three months of hard training in the deep mountains, eating and drinking his fill, and fully restoring his qi, blood, and spirit.

In mid-June, the day of the academy's assessment arrived.

"Today is the North Slope Academy's mid-year assessment. Whether I pass or not depends on this!"

Charles Bennett changed into a brand-new blue training outfit, new cloth shoes, tied his cloth belt, fastened his leg guards, and methodically put on a pair of coarse cloth wrist guards. Now that he was at the sixth level of body refinement, his strength was sufficient, and he had a seventy percent chance of passing, so he felt no anxiety.

"This coarse cloth training outfit is the same as what I wore when I was in the lower academy. Unfortunately, all my money has gone into cultivation, and I have no spare funds to buy better mid-stage martial attire. For this important occasion, I can only wear my best training clothes."

Charles Bennett gave a wry smile.

After tidying up his clothes, he left his small room and headed to the lively martial training grounds of the academy.

The upper academy students varied greatly in age, ranging from twelve or thirteen to twenty years old.

If a student failed to pass the assessment by the age of twenty, they would be kicked out of the academy. Many students entered the upper academy at the fourth level of body refinement and never managed to reach the sixth level, leaving in disappointment at twenty.

Charles Bennett was fifteen this year, making him about average in age among the upper academy disciples. However, he had entered the upper academy relatively late, so most people here were his seniors.

The students of North Slope Academy naturally formed groups: the children of powerful families stuck together, those from noble clans grouped up, the offspring of wealthy merchants gathered, and the children of ordinary families banded together.

Students of different social status had natural barriers and generally did not mingle.

Of course, there were some who stood out, such as Henry Grant, who was almost always alone, his strength formidable and his demeanor cold, so no one wanted to stand within several meters of him to feel that chill.

Charles Bennett was a commoner, and only greeted other commoner students with a polite word or two. He had no interest in awkwardly approaching the children of noble families.

As the first rays of sunlight shone on the training ground, more than two hundred upper academy students had assembled.

The chief instructor presiding over the assessment, "Tiger Subduing Fist" Caleb Thompson, and more than ten other instructors, slowly arrived at the grounds.

In the upper academy of North Slope Academy, there were just over two hundred young male and female students. When the chief instructor Caleb Thompson appeared, they quickly lined up in a large, orderly formation, silent and staring straight ahead.

Caleb Thompson stood before the students with his hands behind his back, his cold gaze sweeping over them.

"North Slope Academy holds two assessments each year, one in the middle of the year and one at the end. First is the strength assessment: only those who reach 'sixth level of body refinement and intermediate martial skill proficiency' are considered qualified."