Hard Training and a Challenge to the School

Old Man Zhou was at the trading company, dealing with the increasingly complicated relationships that had come with his promotion.

Meanwhile, Zhou You had returned to the martial arts school and continued throwing himself into training.

The fundamental reason for the changes in his life was the rise in strength brought by martial arts. Everything else was not worth worrying about.

So he kept the root firmly in mind and did not dare slack off for even a moment.

"Wild Goose Formation Fist."

The two great tendons in Zhou You's calves tightened, and a rebounding force burst from the soles of his feet. Like a great bird soaring into the sky, he shot upward.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—the gale he tore apart swept past his shoulders.

The piercing sound of air tearing even passed through the stone wall, startling Li Hao on the other side into stopping his movements.

His shadow fell to the ground as Zhou You leaped high into the air, about to rise above the stone wall.

He had gathered his momentum to its peak. He exerted force downward, and the howl suddenly sharpened.

Boom!

His fist struck one corner of the stone wall, sending hard rock fragments spraying in every direction.

The five fingers of Zhou You's hand sank deep into the stone, clawing out five deep holes.

The rock was incredibly hard. A hammer striking it would send sparks flying; it was harder than a human skull.

If Zhou You's punch landed on a person, it would at the very least shatter their skull and spill their brains.

The killing move of Wild Goose Formation Fist was drawn from the posture of a raptor hunting: gliding down from the air in a pouncing strike. It either hooked out the spine and back tendons, or pierced the back of the skull with a claw and sucked out the brain marrow.

Compared to the domineering brutality of Tiger Subduing Fist, Wild Goose Formation Fist possessed the meticulous precision of a hunter's kill.

Name: Zhou You.
Strength: 24.
Speed: 24.
Defense: 24.
Experience Points: 523.
Profession: Martial Arts Apprentice.
Level: Initial Martial Force.
Skills: Imperial Strike Hand lv10 (Complete), Tiger Subduing Fist lv11, Basic Lightness Skill lv2/lv?, Wild Goose Formation Fist lv9.
Trial Project One (Two-Star): Break through the Blood Qi Gate and become an Inner Court disciple of Jianxiong Martial Arts School.
Trial Project Two (One-Star): Kill Tu Laosan and eliminate all future trouble.
Trial Project Three (Four-Star): Perfect Basic Lightness Skill.

After days of bitter training, he had finally cultivated Wild Goose Formation Fist to Lv9, just one step away from the Martial Force threshold at Lv10.

Standing at the Martial Force level, retraining in a second fist art was as natural as water flowing into a channel.

The only difficulty lay in strengthening his physical attributes in a targeted manner when switching between different fist arts.

For instance, Wild Goose Formation Fist placed greater emphasis on strength and speed.

That was also why, once Lu Zhigang could no longer widen the gap with his speed, Zhou You had torn him open the moment he closed in.

After Zhou You's Basic Lightness Skill incorporated Square Step and Pecking Ground Vertical Step, its power when used with Wild Goose Formation Fist increased by another thirty percent. Even if Lu Zhigang were reborn at his peak, he might not be Zhou You's match now.

"Just one more step. Once Wild Goose Formation Fist runs through Martial Force, I'll be able to crush rock into powder with one hand."

Rock was harder than century-old hardwood, but it was slightly less resilient and easily shattered when struck by tremendous force.

That was why the bluestone in the martial arts school was all consumable material for strength training.

Tiger Subduing Fist infused with Martial Force could smash rock into four pieces and eight fragments, but Wild Goose Formation Fist could hollow out a large hole from the rock's surface.

That was the difference between the characteristics of different fist arts, and why their destructive power varied.

"System Panel, strengthen."

"Experience Points -10. Strength +1."

"Experience Points -10. Defense +1."

"Strength 25, Speed 24, Defense 25. Conditions met for Tiger Subduing Fist upgrade."

"Experience Points -110, Experience Points -120. Tiger Subduing Fist lv11 → lv12, lv12 → lv13."

"Experience Points -90. Wild Goose Formation Fist lv9 → lv10."

Name: Zhou You.
Strength: 25.
Speed: 24.
Defense: 25.
Experience Points: 183.
Profession: Martial Arts Apprentice.
Level: Initial Martial Force.
Skills: Imperial Strike Hand lv10 (Complete), Tiger Subduing Fist lv13, Basic Lightness Skill lv2/lv?, Wild Goose Formation Fist lv10.

The great tendons in Zhou You's arms and legs suddenly twitched, and he heard the faint creaking of his spinal joints.

The increase in his physical attributes and the upgrade of his fist arts flooded his body with a vast amount of muscle memory.

Zhou You raised his hand and punched, shattering the rock beneath his feet with Tiger Subduing Fist.

The most immediate effect of raising his signature skill to lv13 was that the fragments left after the rock shattered were smaller.

The thumb-sized stones were covered in cracks. Their once-hard texture had become loose, and they crumbled at a pinch.

Though he had yet to reach the Lv20 threshold of the Blood Qi Gate, the power of Tiger Subduing Fist had risen with the tide.

Then there was Wild Goose Formation Fist, which had run through Martial Force...

Zhou You leaped into the air and dived downward. As his shoulders and elbows swung, the air slowed until it almost became flowing liquid.

This was the environmental change caused by Martial Force.

He even had the illusion that, if his strength rose further, his legs would be able to push against the air for leverage, allowing him to move freely through the sky as if walking on level ground.

That was precisely the advantage of Wild Goose Formation Fist: striking from above by borrowing this force.

Whether Tiger Subduing Fist or Wild Goose Formation Fist, once they rose beyond lv10, each additional level required five attribute points.

For example, Tiger Subduing Fist required all three attributes to reach 10 points to upgrade to lv10. But upgrading to lv11 required 15 points, and so on. To reach lv13, Strength and Defense had to be at 25, while Speed had to be at 20.

The same principle applied to Wild Goose Formation Fist, except that it focused on Strength and Speed, while its Defense requirement was appropriately relaxed.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

Zhou You dived straight down through the air, brushing past the stone wall and shaving off a fist-sized chunk of bluestone as though with a blade.

He clenched his five fingers, and amid a crackling sound, kneaded the stone into a handful of powder.

The killing move of Wild Goose Formation Fist lay in the five fingers of the palm. Whether drilling through skulls or piercing flesh, nothing could stand in its way.

When he had fought Lu Zhigang earlier, the clothes grazed by his opponent had split open one after another, as though cut by sharp scissors.

Having trained Wild Goose Formation Fist to the Martial Force level, Zhou You could directly feel the might of this fist art, and he felt even more confident about his plans.

"Tu Laosan, I won't let you live to see the New Year."

Shen Sijing had pounded his chest in guarantee, promising to seek justice for him and ensure that not a single tael of the five hundred taels in compensation was missing.

But Zhou You considered more than that. He would not risk his parents and family by gambling on the honesty and morality of gang members.

When dealing with enemies, one had to cut the grass by the roots and eliminate all future trouble forever.

As Zhou You pondered his concerns and wiped the dust from his hands, plans formed in his mind step by step.

"Li Hao, Zhou You, hurry to the front courtyard."

A formal apprentice shouted from outside the Eighth Training Ground.

On opposite sides of the stone wall, Li Hao and Zhou You both looked toward the door. What had happened?

Footsteps sounded from every corner of the martial arts school. The doors leading to the Inner Court opened, and even Old Master Wang, the school master, had come out.

Had something truly serious happened?

Zhou You could not help thinking, Could another phantom fiend have slipped in? A second Fang Guiqi?

The moment the two of them stepped out of the training ground, they heard someone shout loudly, "A challenge to the school! A challenge to the school!"

A challenge... to the school?

This was an internal term used by martial arts schools, generally referring to someone coming to challenge them at their door.

What kind of person was Old Master Wang? In Gongliang City, he was known as the "Sitting Tiger."

A tiger would surely eat people. How could anyone dare come and challenge his school? Did they not want to live?

"They're outsiders. Martial artists from Su City, here to steal our rice bowls."

So that was it. Su City also had martial arts schools and martial artists. Now they had left their homes and come to Gongliang City, intending to make a name for themselves through challenging a school.

Jianxiong Martial Arts School had received its first challenge in ten years.