Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
At the center of the arena, Yu Wangyuan shuddered. A few lingering sparks that were stuck to him flew off. He forced a smile.
“From the start, you had been driving your Scorch Punch with Emperor Yan Force instead of alternating to Ice Spirit Force like before. When I noticed that, I should have realized that you have already mastered the Flying Moth...”
Sigh, I got careless. After all, it hasn’t even been a week since Lou Cheng joined the club, and I have not yet formed the connection that he can use more secret arts from the Flame Sect. That got me good.
Beside them, Tu Zheng nodded. “He didn’t use Ice Force as a form of control by lowering the heat and delaying his speed. From the beginning, he had been accumulating heat. Even if you didn’t expect Flying Moth, you should have been more careful. If something is out of the ordinary, you should always suspect that someone is plotting something!”
When he saw them starting on the post-mortem, Lou Cheng hesitated, before adding, “There was also a mistake in my approach of dealing with Jet Spray. I shouldn’t have focused on dodging and evading. It might have been better if I chose to be offensive instead of defensive and launch a forceful counterattack at that moment.”
“Right. That would force him to defend himself, and change the direction of Jet Spray on his own. It’s paramount to have the rhythm of the battle in your control,” commented Tu Zheng. They couldn’t agree more to his words.
Lu Shaofei, Sun Jianlin and Jia Lu joined in the discussion, breaking down every aspect of the battle. Their viewpoints were fresh to Lou Cheng, giving him a chance to take away even more experience.
There’s a popular adage among cultivators—the road to successful cultivating is dependent on four factors: wealth, companions, method, and environment. Looks like they were right after all! Lou Cheng thought to himself.
Wealthless? If you are wealthless, just forget about martial arts! You wouldn’t even be able to afford good nutrition! At the first phase of body refining, you have to at least ensure that you are eating properly every day, with sufficient intake of meat, rice, and vegetables. If not, your body will eventually crumble and you’ll be pissing blood before you know it. Modern society is rich in resources, and that is precisely why so many people can afford to learn martial arts. In ancient times, things were hardly as easy. One could only hope for someone to discover their talents and sponsor them.
No cultivating companions? No worthy opponents? If that’s the case, you would never be able to see beyond your horizons! The further you advance, the more you would be stuck in a bottleneck. Eventually, your progress would be at a standstill. Though he wasn’t good friends with Tu Zheng, Yu Wangyuan and the others, he could still feel the benefits of the brainstorming session during the sparring lesson with martial artists of the same stage.
Of course, the method of training was also a matter of absolute importance. It would be foolish for anyone to believe that they could single-handedly create a new system that would rival the old one which has been painstakingly refined for generations. Even the disgustingly powerful Warrior Sage didn’t attempt that before mastering the Thunder Sect’s kungfu. It would be easier to see higher and further were you to stand on a giant’s shoulders!
In modern society, the environment is inseparable from wealth. A Volcano Experimental Lab... A simulated environment of the Ice Sect... as if those are affordable to an ordinary organization!
The sparring lesson was over as his thoughts raced, so he returned to the Dan Stage training room and resumed his effort of studying and training the secret arts.
Watching him disappear at the doorway, Yu Wangyuan sighed. He was slightly envious.
“Encountering Gods In The Void, Self Reflection. How remarkable. Until now, I could only use Flying Moth during practice. Once I am in actual combat, there’s no way for me to multitask.”
“In less than a week, he has mastered both Scorch and Flying Moth. Such speed, tsk...” Sun Jianlin shook his head.
Lu Shaofei’s tone was full of self-derision. “A few days ago, I was saying that I wouldn’t let Lou Cheng catch up to me in less than a year. The words are still fresh in my mind, but he’s already showing a standard worthy of a bonafide fourth Pin.
“It’s normal. For Heavenly Sons of China like him, advancing a Pin a year before reaching Physical Invulnerability is the norm. Compared to the speed of Lou Cheng’s improvements from before, this is hardly anything to be surprised about. All we can do is learn to accept the reality,” said Yu Wangyuan, teetering between a laugh and a sigh. “On the bright side, his next phase is reaching the Physical Invulnerability threshold, so it wouldn’t be that fast. There will definitely be a bottleneck.”
Tu Zheng hadn’t spoken a word. At that moment, he asked thoughtfully, “Has Lou Cheng been cooped up in the training room all day recently?”
“Yeah. He only takes a break from 11 to 12:30 pm. At other times, he’s always in the training room. When you see it that way, it’s reasonable that he managed to master Scorch and Flying Moth in less than a week...” Yu Wangyuan said sentimentally.
Knowing that there’s someone out there that’s more talented, more disciplined, and as hardworking than you is devastating.
In the beginning, he thought Lou Cheng relied solely on his talents and neglected training!
Yu Wangyuan paused and glanced at Tu Zheng, then put on a smile. “Leader Tu, you don’t have to worry. You are nearing Physical Invulnerability and have already attained the stage of Encountering God in the Void. The next step is to make the great leap and become a true Mighty One. When that time comes, no matter how fast Lou Cheng progresses, he wouldn’t be a bother to you.”
For a moment, Tu Zheng did not speak. He then laughed, saying, “It’s actually pretty good for me to have a strong competitor chasing after me. That will speed up my advancement. I have less than two years before I turn 30. By then, if I have yet to make the great leap, the hopes of doing it in the future would be slim. I have to give it my all during this period of time. This is my last stand!”
Currently, though there were examples of martial artists becoming a Physical Invulnerability Master over thirty, like Liang Yifan. However, such examples were limited. Thirty was still the threshold for Physical Invulnerability.
If you want to make a name for yourself as a Physical Invulnerability Master, you have to do it while you are young!
...
In the Assistant Team’s office, Sun Tingting sashayed back to her seat. She wore sunglasses and looked pretty in her makeup. She opened her chat group and tagged the deputy director of the Technical Support Team: “Please compile the footage of the Reserve Team’s sparring session as soon as possible... They were asking me for it...
“But it only just ended... [wipes at sweat]” replied the deputy director.
At that moment, a girl from the External Affairs Team asked zealously,
“The sparring ended? Who did Lou Cheng fight against? How did it go?”
Though it was a chat group for work, they were all keen on such topics and often gossiped.
“He fought Yu Wangyuan and won,” messaged Sun Ting Ting, pursing her lips.
“Yu Wangyuan? The senior fourth Pin retired military personnel?
“I’m impressed by Lou Cheng...”
“And he’s not even 22 yet! He has an entire eight years to conquer the Physical Invulnerability Stage.”
“As expected from the current Heavenly Son of China!”
“His potential is limitless!”
Auman and Huang Bin read the discussion with excitement and tension. They couldn’t help but scan the office, noting the thoughtful expressions on the faces of their colleagues. In the end, their eyes met each others’, producing imaginary sparks in the air.
However, in the days that followed, Lou Cheng spent every day on a rigid schedule, missing no meals and making no requests for rides to be arranged. Denied the opportunity to impress, Huang Bin and Auman could only deliver a few well-timed greetings, trying to gain a favorable impression through voicing their concerns.
On Monday afternoon, Lou Cheng did not head down to the training room, but instead followed Tu Zheng, Lu Shaofei and the rest into the large conference room in the Southwest region of the compound.
The room was arranged like a classroom, with enough space to conduct demonstrations. The time had come for their once a week Physical Invulnerability guidance lesson.
The Coach Lü Yan and “Martial Arts Fanatic” Guo Jie weren’t present at the moment. “Dragon King” Chen Qitao, “Empress Luo” Ning Zitong, and “Optimus Prime” Long Zhen were all there. They sat in a line at the upper seats.
Lou Cheng was a newcomer and had only practiced the Fire Sect Dan Stage chapters for a week. Plus, he had the notes of his predacessors as reference material. Therefore, he only accumulated one or two questions and wasn’t in a hurry to raise them. He listened quietly on the side, to the conversation between Tu Zheng, Yu Yuanwang and the Physical Invulnerability Mighty Ones. Indirectly, he managed to learn many things and broadened his own horizons.
No wonder Sister Ning told me to try not to miss it... This is a privilege to only those in a major organization... Realizing that the lesson was nearing its end, Lou Cheng didn’t hold back any longer. He raised his hand and stood up, starting his question with a polite greeting.
“...The 36th Style in the Fire Sect, Devour, is an advanced application of Emperor Yan Force. According to the notes of the seniors, the key lies in condensing and adding density. At a certain stage, sparks and bursting flames should occur spontaneously, but I can’t seem to grasp the critical point. Does the problem lie in my technique, or elsewhere?”
Chen Qitao, tense in the face, stood up slowly after hearing his question. He walked to the center of the arena and punched out with his clenched fist. There was a loud snap.
Just as his right fist went out, the air current around it sparked into flames. Every stream and strand of flame was so distinctively vivid. It was like a reenactment of how Emperor Yan Force flows in the body. Wisps of flame gathered and condensed at the surface of Dragon King’s fist, constantly compressing into a dense and exaggerated mass.
With a boom, the searing white light burst apart, clouding the eyes of the viewers. Lou Cheng, Yu Wangyuan and the others were unable to see or feel anything else as though they had been engulfed by the flame. If that was a directed towards anyone, they would not only be exposed to the blinding light, but also suffer strong impact and spraying flames.
Retracting his fist, Dragon King looked at Lou Cheng and asked in a low voice, “Do you get it now?”
“Got it...” Lou Cheng replied stupidly. The memory of the scene was still fresh in his mind.
Wait, that didn’t differ much from him reading kungfu descriptions and the explanations on the notes! What Dragon King meant was most likely: you can’t grasp the critical point because you are too weak!
Then I guess I get I get it... Lou Cheng thought to himself, mortified.
When he was answering, Chen Qitao had already walked with his hands crossed at his back, out of the large conference room. That announced the end of the guiding lesson.
In the following days, Lou Cheng tried using his own Balanced Dan Concentration to forcefully guide the contraction of Devour. After achieving decent results, he hungrily began practicing a new secret art.
On Friday afternoon, he came to the Reserve Team training grounds in high spirits. It was time for sparring again!
Also, Little Fairy was returning from America that day. She was going to stay with the elders from both sides for a few days before flying straight to Huacheng! As the saying goes: happy occasions lift one’s spirits! Lou Cheng drew a paper ball at random and saw the word ‘two’ etched onto it.
“Who’s in group two?” he inquired with a smile.
“I am,” Tu Zheng chuckled, opening his fist to reveal a strip of paper with the word “two” written on it.