Chapter 47: Martial Arts Association
Chapter 47: Chapter 47: Martial Arts Association
At noon the next day, Fang Chen wolfed down a quick meal at the school cafeteria and headed straight to the Jinchuan City Martial Arts Association.
He had been here once before and had a rough impression of the layout.
The Association occupied a vast area, roughly the size of a standard soccer field, with four buildings standing within its grounds. One was the Administrative Hall, which he had visited last time. It exclusively handled external affairs, including task postings, reward redemptions, and personnel registration.
Another was the Martial Arts Hall, dedicated to the daily cultivation and sparring sessions of registered Association members. The third was Lingyun Pavilion; rumor had it that this was the office and resting area for the Association’s upper management, and ordinary people were forbidden from approaching.
The final building was the Divine Skill Hall. The "Finger-Tapping Divine Techniques" secret manual he had obtained previously was retrieved from here.
Fang Chen’s goal was clear: the Divine Skill Hall!
Standing outside the imposing main gates of the Martial Arts Association, his gaze swept over the guards at the entrance as he willed it in his mind.
"Time Stop!"
The familiar sense of stagnation instantly enveloped a massive area centered around him. Sinking his consciousness into his body, his status panel clearly displayed: [Uses Remaining: 3]. He had just consumed one use and still had three left, which was more than enough.
Fang Chen’s figure blurred as he walked straight through the main gates, heading directly for the Divine Skill Hall!
It was currently high noon. Most of the personnel in the Association seemed to be resting or eating, and the main doors of the Divine Skill Hall were unlocked. Many of the interior room doors were also left wide open.
This was the advantage of choosing to come during the day. With the doors wide open, it was incredibly convenient for him to search. The lighting was excellent, and since no one could perceive his existence anyway, there was no need to sneak around like a thief in the night.
As he moved swiftly, his gaze swept across the open rooms on both sides of the corridor. He found that most of them were offices, reading rooms, or ordinary archives. Aside from daily paperwork and regular books, there was nothing of much value.
"It seems the truly good stuff is definitely locked up," he thought.
After taking a quick lap around the first floor and finding nothing, he immediately initiated a violent door-smashing protocol!
"BAM!"
"CRASH!"
For any door that was closed, regardless of its size or material, he simply delivered a springing kick!
With the sheer power of his Leg Technique in the Transcendence Realm, ordinary iron doors took no more than a single kick to break. Unless it was a specially reinforced security door, it couldn’t stop him! Locks went flying, and door panels shattered!
Soon, the first and second floors were completely cleared. He found nothing of note, save for a few mandarins on an office desk, which he peeled and ate as a snack.
He continued upward to the third floor.
Fang Chen kept kicking doors open one by one until he finally discovered a room that seemed promising, as its door looked significantly sturdier than the others.
"This is most likely the place!"
"BAM!" He launched a kick!
The door let out a heavy, muffled boom and trembled slightly. It didn’t burst open, but his foot had kicked a hole straight through the panel.
"Oh? Pretty sturdy."
Instead of being surprised, Fang Chen was delighted. The tighter the security, the more valuable the contents! He stepped back and channeled True Qi into his right leg!
"Armor-Piercing Drill!"
"BOOM!!!"
Accompanied by a deafening crash, the heavy metal door finally gave way. The structural integrity around the lock completely twisted and cracked, and the entire door blasted inward!
However, behind the door was not the expected vault, but rather an electronic password-protected door blinking with a faint red light!
"I don’t care what kind of lock you are!"
Losing his patience, Fang Chen repeated the process and delivered another vicious kick!
"CLANG!"
The metal panel of the electronic door caved in, exposing circuit boards that sparked wildly! At the same time—
"WOOP! WOOP! WOOP!"
A sharp, ear-piercing alarm instantly echoed throughout the entire third floor of the Divine Skill Hall! Red warning lights flashed frantically!
This sudden commotion startled Fang Chen, making him subconsciously look for cover or prepare to break out. But as he took a step out of the ruined room, he found the corridor remained dead silent. At the distant stairwell, there were no signs of any guards rushing over to investigate.
He immediately realized that this was how the Time Stop Domain worked. Any object he directly touched or influenced with his strength would regain its basic physical properties and state of motion. The alarm system was clearly triggered because he destroyed the electronic door, which also counted as a physical motion.
"Thank goodness," Fang Chen breathed a sigh of relief before quickly becoming alert. "This is a good reminder! If I run into traps—like pitfalls or spikes—touching them within the time stop will also trigger them. That means... I could still get hurt, or even die!"
He felt incredibly fortunate that there were no mechanical traps this time; it was a close call without actual danger.
He ripped out several of the main wires, but the alarm in the adjacent room continued to blare. Fang Chen couldn’t be bothered to deal with it anymore. No one else could hear it anyway. His gaze was already captivated by the sight inside the room beyond the broken electronic door.
Inside were rows of specialized metal shelves, neatly displaying books made of various materials. The scent of aged ink lingered heavily in the air.
"Found it!" Fang Chen’s eyes burst with a brilliant light. "This is indeed the core vault where the true Cultivation Technique Secret Manuals are stored!"
He quickly yet carefully flipped through the manuals on the shelves one by one.
He discovered that although the collection was massive, a rough estimate showed that sixty percent were ordinary Cultivation Techniques and Basic Martial Skills widely circulated in the market, holding little value to him. Another thirty percent consisted of the cultivation insights and notes of Martial Dao predecessors, detoxification methods, and dossiers recording the illustrations, habits, and weaknesses of various Fierce Beasts. These informational texts were quite valuable, so he made a point to memorize them.
What truly excited him was the remaining ten percent of the collection. These were all True Martial Realm Combat Skills! They spanned a vast variety of categories, covering fists, kicks, palms, fingers, Body Techniques, Swordsmanship, and more.
His greatest haul, however, was stored separately inside a tin filing cabinet. Fang Chen forcibly broke open the cabinet door and found three distinct secret manuals!
He picked up one of them—a High Martial Realm Palm Technique named the "Fierce Sun Palm"—and attempted to cultivate it. However, the moment he circulated his True Qi according to its instructions, he felt bursts of piercing pain in his meridians. His Qi and Blood churned relentlessly, making it impossible to guide the flow smoothly.
The same happened with the other two manuals, the "Thunderous Waves Sword Technique" and the "Wind-controlling Step".
"As expected, it won’t work." Fang Chen set the manuals down, frowning slightly. "High Martial Realm Martial Skills require a quality and total volume of True Qi, as well as physical Qi and Blood, that far exceed the True Martial Realm. I am essentially still at the True Martial Realm, and my Blood Qi Value hasn’t broken past that critical threshold. Forcing myself to cultivate them will only damage my body."
Looking around the vault, everything became clear to him.
"Even the Martial Arts Association’s Scripture Pavilion only has a meager three High Martial Realm Martial Skills and zero Cultivation Techniques. It seems the nation’s control over powers at the High Martial Realm and above is on a completely different level of strictness."
However, Fang Chen wasn’t anxious.
He could faintly sense that after practicing the "Righteous Qi Technique" to the realm of Perfection, the seemingly indestructible bottleneck had recently begun to loosen ever so slightly. This feeling wasn’t exactly a breakthrough. Instead, it felt more like... that mystical state he experienced right before cultivating the "Rock-Breaking Fist" and "Twelve-Step Leg Springing Technique" to the Realm of Transcendence!
"Cultivating a Martial Skill to Transcendence is a comprehensive sublimation of technique, force generation, and intent, resulting in a fundamental leap in combat power," he pondered. "Then... what about fundamental Cultivation Techniques for a cultivation base? If the ’Righteous Qi Technique’ can also break past Perfection and reach the Realm of Transcendence, what kind of changes would it bring?"
This thought filled Fang Chen’s heart with a burning excitement. He took out the foundational manuals and noticed a box tucked beneath the safe.
Opening it, his eyes widened.
"This... so many Qi Blood Needles? And Realm-Breaking Pills too."