Lu Qing chuckled, not really taking Zhao Yuan's words to heart.
'The twelve lost forms of the Jade Ring Step and Mandarin Duck Leg? How could they be so easy to restore? Our Lu Family has been trying to do just that for generations, but no one has ever succeeded. In the end, all we could do was tweak the power-generating techniques of a few moves and forcibly cobble the remaining twenty into a single set.'
"So, is there anything you're still unclear about?" Lu Qing asked.
Zhao Yuan replied, "Your explanation was very detailed. I've committed it all to memory."
Lu Qing nodded. "Alright, then. You can start practicing. If you run into any problems, just give me a call."
"Okay," Zhao Yuan readily agreed.
It was getting late, so Lu Qing didn't stay long and took her leave. After escorting her off campus to her car, Zhao Yuan returned to the secluded spot where they had been practicing. He lit a stick of Soul-Stabilizing Incense, activated his Concentration Technique, and began to train with his full, undivided attention, following the complete versions of the Jade Ring Step and Mandarin Duck Leg recorded on the Information Leaf.
He practiced for the entire night, only returning to his dorm a little after five in the morning.
Thanks to the Soul-Stabilizing Incense, he didn't need much sleep. Just over an hour was enough to relieve all his fatigue!
At seven o'clock, Zhao Yuan opened his eyes, feeling clear-headed and bursting with energy. One would never guess he had been practicing martial arts all night.
His first class of the morning was Ma Hanqing's *Medical Ancient Texts*.
Before the class bell rang, Ma Hanqing arrived in the classroom. He found Zhao Yuan and, with a broad smile, announced, "Zhao Yuan, I have some great news for you. Your new punctuation and translation of the *Treasure of Life and Form Theory* has been published in the latest issue of the *Chinese Medicine* journal."
As he spoke, he took out a brand-new medical journal, still smelling of fresh ink, and handed it to Zhao Yuan.
Before Zhao Yuan even had a chance to get excited, his classmates from the Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Class 3 swarmed around him. One by one, they stared at the journal in his hands as if it were a priceless treasure, their eyes filled with envy and admiration. The previously quiet classroom instantly erupted in a furor.
"Whoa, he really got published in *Chinese Medicine*?"
"That's incredible! Quick, see what page it's on!"
"It doesn't matter what page it's on. The real question is how much of the article actually made it in! From what I hear, they cut huge chunks from most articles, only publishing the most essential and valuable parts!"
"Exactly! That's why everyone says that when it comes to *Chinese Medicine*, the more pages you get, and the more of your article they print, the more important and valuable your work is!"
Hearing the chatter from the surrounding students, Liu Zhu grew excited and urged, "Third Bro, hurry and flip it open! See how many pages your article got." Even though he wasn't the one being published in *Chinese Medicine*, Zhao Yuan was his brother, and he shared in the glory.
Zhao Yuan felt a thrill of excitement himself. This was his first time being published in a professional journal, and it was *Chinese Medicine*āa top-tier domestic publication renowned throughout the entire Asian Region! He, too, was eager to know just how much of his article had been printed and how many pages it occupied.
Ma Hanqing chuckled and offered a tip, "Your article is on page eighteen." Clearly, he had already read this issue.
Zhao Yuan nodded, quickly flipped to page eighteen, and scanned the pages to see where his article ended.
The onlooking students all craned their necks to see.
"Whoa! It's six pages! A full six pages!" Liu Zhu cried out in excitement.
A student beside him immediately gasped, "What? Zhao Yuan's article took up six whole pages? Holy crap, that's insane! I've read *Chinese Medicine* beforeāany article that gets over five pages is considered top-tier!"
At this moment, Ma Hanqing spoke up again, his voice filled with pride. "Zhao Yuan's article was given six pages... because the article is only six pages long!"
The statement was a bit of a riddle, but after a moment of confusion, the meaning dawned on all the students.
Wang Rongfeng's jaw dropped. He voiced the question on everyone's mind: "Teacher Ma, are you saying Zhao Yuan's article was published in full? That not a single thing was cut?"
"Exactly!" Ma Hanqing nodded. "Not a single word, not a single punctuation mark was touched!"
"My god!"
"But... how is that possible?"
"*Chinese Medicine* is notorious for gutting articles! If you get sixty percent of your original work published, that's considered a massive success!"
"So Zhao Yuan's article got a 100% pass-through, not a single word cut? Has that ever happened before in the entire history of *Chinese Medicine*?"
The students were all completely dumbfounded by what Ma Hanqing had said.
Ma Hanqing couldn't help but laugh at his students' reactions. When his colleagues in the Medical Ancient Texts department had seen the journal, their reactions hadn't been much different.
Clearing his throat, Ma Hanqing continued to drop the bombshells. "Also, while Zhao Yuan's article is only six pages long, if you keep flipping, you'll see that several subsequent articles are all related to his!"
The students grew excited all over again, urging, "Keep flipping, keep flipping!"
Zhao Yuan continued to flip through the pages.
One article, two, three...
Following his piece, there were a full five other articles, all related to his. They were either critiquing his new punctuation and translation, or debating the differences between the old and new interpretations and which was superior.
Together, these five articles took up a full fourteen pages. Combined with the six pages of Zhao Yuan's original piece, that was twenty pages in total!
Before the students could even process this, someone else shrieked, "Look at the authors' names on these articles!"
Everyone froze, their gazes falling in unison on the author's byline for the very last article.
After a brief silence, a tidal wave of gasps and shouts erupted, nearly blowing the roof off the classroom.
"Holy shit! Th-this article is by Elder Tan Wanchu?"
"It's always other people writing papers to analyze Elder Tan's work! I can't believe he actually wrote a paper to analyze Zhao Yuan's article! Am I dreaming?"
"Getting Elder Tan to write an analysis of your work... Zhao Yuan, you're about to become a legend!"
The reason for their shock was Tan Wanchu's status.
This elder was not only the former dean of the Capital City University of Chinese Medicine but also one of the nation's foremost experts in Medical Ancient Texts and a master of Traditional Chinese Medicine. His status and standing were even higher than West Hua Medical University's own revered pillars, figures like Xiao Xianlin and Liu Mingzhang!
"Quick, check the authors of the other four articles!"
Anyone published alongside Tan Wanchu couldn't possibly be a nobody!
Four names quickly came into view. Without exception, all were top national experts in Medical Ancient Texts and masters of Traditional Chinese Medicine. While their stances on Zhao Yuan's article variedāsome supportive, some criticalāthe fact remained. For his work to be taken so seriously by them, enough to compel them to personally write articles in praise or criticism, was utterly unprecedented!
The dumbfounded students stared at Zhao Yuan as if he were an alien.
Holy shit. Talk about taking awesome to a whole new level.