Chapter 44: It’s You?
Chapter 44: Chapter 44: It’s You?
Time Stop Domain!
Fang Chen entered right at mealtime. All things froze in place; only he could move. His main goal this time was to devote himself to honing the newly acquired Iron Wall Strike.
Finding a spacious, empty area, he spread open the secret manual. Following the unique Heart Method recorded within, he began circulating his True Qi.
Unlike ordinary Cultivation Techniques that pursued the boundless volume and circulation speed of True Qi, Iron Wall Strike focused more on "condensation" and "solidity." It required one to vibrate True Qi at a high, specific frequency. Like an invisible forging hammer, the energy had to repeatedly strike and penetrate the microscopic meridians, muscles, and even bones of the palms, causing a fundamental metamorphosis in their structure.
The initial stage was incredibly difficult. The True Qi lacked sufficient condensation, rendering the hammering effect weak. Instead, the loss of control over the vibration frequency often caused stinging pain in his palms, resulting in slow progress.
A month later, he finally figured out some of the tricks. His control over his True Qi became much finer, and the hammering process stabilized. As his cultivation deepened, Fang Chen keenly realized that certain essential principles of channeling Qi and exerting power in Iron Wall Strike were remarkably similar to the Rock-Breaking Fist, which he had already cultivated to Perfection!
Both pursued instantaneous explosive force and the ultimate condensation of power.
"As expected, mastering one Martial Skill makes it easier to understand all others," he thought, thrilled by the discovery. He consciously began to integrate his understanding of power transmission and layering from Rock-Breaking Fist into his cultivation of Iron Wall Strike.
His efficiency instantly skyrocketed!
Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
"Ha!" Fang Chen shouted softly, circulating the Iron Wall Strike Heart Method with all his might.
From his fingertips to his wrists, the skin on both palms turned dark gray at a visible rate, eventually stabilizing into a deep, heavy black. The surface had a subdued luster and felt cold to the touch. Its texture truly resembled rock that had been tempered a thousand times over!
He casually slapped the surrounding iron shelves. It didn’t hurt!
Iron Wall Strike—Minor Achievement!
He trained bitterly for another two years without stopping. That dark color was no longer confined to his palms. Instead, it spread all the way up his forearms until it covered his entire arms!
As he swung his arms, they carried immense momentum and weight, as if they were not made of flesh and blood, but were two humanoid weapons! If an ordinary sword were to hack at them, it would probably only leave faint white marks.
Iron Wall Strike—Great Success!
Another four and a half years of tempering passed.
Fang Chen stood in the center of the area, the muscles in his limbs bulging. When the Heart Method was circulated to its absolute limit, the skin on his limbs did not display any abnormal color. Instead, it looked perfectly normal, presenting a state of returning to natural simplicity. Only at the very moment of exerting force would a tough texture, like cast metal containing terrifying power, faintly reveal itself beneath his skin.
After retracting his power, everything returned to normal, but with his every movement, his limbs were already as solid as boulders!
Iron Wall Strike—Perfection!
Fang Chen pulled back his stance and let out a long breath of stale air. He practiced a few moves of Rock-Breaking Fist and discovered that he had developed some new understandings and application techniques for this Fist Technique, which had already reached Perfection long ago.
"Working behind closed doors definitely has its limits," he mused. "I need to dabble in new Martial Arts and broaden my horizons so that I can feed that knowledge back into what I already know and reach the next level."
Next, he began to study Rock-Breaking Fist and Twelve-Step Leg Springing Technique, attempting to integrate the insights he gained after bringing Iron Wall Strike to Perfection. However, not long after he started, a pang of hunger came from his stomach.
He looked around; the surrounding food supplies had long since been depleted.
"Forget it. I still have plenty of Time Stop uses anyway," he thought. A thought flashed through Fang Chen’s mind, and he ended this Time Stop.
With the World Revert, he activated his Superpower again, entering for a second time! Everything within the domain had been reset, and food was once again abundant.
This time, carrying his insights from the Perfection realm of Iron Wall Strike, he re-examined Rock-Breaking Fist and Twelve-Step Leg Springing Technique. Many bottlenecks that were previously stagnant and difficult to understand began to loosen up one after another, and his comprehension began to skyrocket!
Five years slipped away. The aura around Fang Chen abruptly shifted!
Rock-Breaking Fist and Twelve-Step Leg Springing Technique finally broke through the limits of Perfection and reached a brand new level—Transcendence!
Feeling the surging power within his body, Fang Chen was filled with emotion.
"I’m afraid there’s hardly anyone in the world who could train an ordinary Martial Skill to the realm of Transcendence," he pondered. "It’s not a matter of lacking talent, but rather, who has this much time to waste on a basic Martial Skill that can be bought in any bookstore?"
He tried executing the Transcendence Realm Rock-Breaking Fist. He threw a punch!
BOOM!!!
It was no longer the ten consecutive echoes of the previous Perfection realm. Instead, after being compressed to the absolute extreme, it resulted in a single, terrifying sonic boom like a sudden clap of thunder!
Hitting a block of granite, there was a violent tremor first, followed by dense cracking sounds from within. Finally, with a loud BANG, it completely disintegrated into countless fragments!
This was no longer just cracking something open; it was directly shattering it!
"Now this is what you call breaking rock!" Fang Chen said, naming the move. "I’ll call this punch the Mountain-Shattering Sound."
Immediately after, he executed the Transcendence Realm Twelve-Step Leg Springing Technique. Empowered by the concepts of Iron Wall Strike, his leg muscles possessed terrifying explosive power and toughness.
He kicked out—as fast as lightning, with all the force concentrated at a single point!
SWISH!
The Leg Wind acted like a sharp blade, directly piercing through a thick wooden pillar in the distance that was as wide as a person’s embrace! It left behind a perfectly smooth, round hole. The destructive power was incredibly concentrated!
"The piercing might of this kick shall be called the Armor-Piercing Drill!"
"Not bad at all," he mumbled.
Fang Chen was extremely satisfied with this closed-door cultivation. Not only had he increased the strike resistance of his limbs, but his destructive and penetrative capabilities had also been greatly enhanced.
"If an ordinary Martial Skill is this terrifying at the Transcendence level, I wonder what Finger-Tapping Divine Techniques will be like when it reaches Transcendence."
Fang Chen slept in the Time Stop Domain, and once he was fully rested and energized, he returned to reality.
The school bell rang. Fang Chen hopped onto his bicycle, preparing to head home.
A thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
"Next time I use Time Stop, I could totally go to the Martial Arts Association!" he thought. "There might be more True Martial Realm Cultivation Techniques and some practical Combat Skills stored there. I can browse through and practice a few of them. Drawing analogies from different techniques will definitely help with the subsequent improvement of Iron Wall Strike, Finger-Tapping Divine Techniques, Gale Step Technique, and Lingxi Swordsmanship."
Fang Chen was just pondering the most suitable time to go when a sudden wave of alertness spiked within him!
He clearly perceived several malicious gazes directed at him from behind the abandoned low walls and bushes on both sides of the road, locking firmly onto him!
Fang Chen’s eyes turned cold. He let go of the handlebars, leaped backward and to the side, and landed lightly on the ground.
Almost at the exact moment he touched the ground—
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
Several fist-sized rocks hurled out from the shadows, aiming straight for the spot where he had just been riding!
"Hmph!" Fang Chen scoffed inwardly.
He did not choose to forcefully block them with his newly perfected Iron Wall Strike.
"Blocking projectiles like this with Hard Skills is certainly easy, but the shattering rocks would inevitably create a cloud of dust that would instantly obscure my vision," he calculated. "If the opponent follows up by splashing gasoline or firing Hidden Weapons from a crossbow, I’ll immediately fall into a passive position and take a beating."
The Gale Step Technique naturally flowed beneath his feet, accurately dodging the trajectories of all the rocks.
However, the anticipated follow-up attack never came. It seemed the other party... just wanted to force him off his bicycle?
His gaze swept toward the direction the rocks had flown from, just about to see who it was. Then, he heard a voice ring out from behind the abandoned low wall.
"Tianlang! That’s him!"
"That voice... is that Cao Xu?" Fang Chen recognized it immediately. "Did he... call for backup? Tianlang?"
Fang Chen instantly understood the situation; Cao Xu had brought reinforcements.
Almost the moment Cao Xu’s voice faded, Fang Chen acutely sensed a cold gaze sizing him up from behind. He slowly turned around. A man stood behind him, staring at him viciously.
This person’s face...
Fang Chen frowned slightly. "Huh? This guy... I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before."
Just as Fang Chen was rapidly searching through his memories, the man called Tianlang across from him got a clear look at his face. Pointing at Fang Chen, Tianlang slowly uttered:
"You...?!"