Early morning.
Residential complex garden.
Li Changqing stood with his eyes tightly shut, the 750-kilogram dummy before him.
His chest expanded continuously with each breath. One long, heavy cycle of inhalation and exhalation lasted a full half minute.
After the Spirit Turtle Breathing Technique had become his norm.
Li Changqing now breathed only twice per minute, and even his heartbeat had slowed to twenty or thirty beats per minute.
His powerful heart muscle was like a high-pressure water pump, effortlessly driving the blood in Li Changqing's body at high speed.
Hoo—
His exhalation stretched long, and with the final inhale.
A sharp crack like an explosion tearing through the air burst from Li Changqing's mouth.
Hiss—
His breathing rhythm changed. Like a machine starting up, at full operation, his mouth actually emitted a shriek like a wind tunnel.
Rapid drumbeats rang out from his chest as his heart rate soared.
40, 70, 120... There was no sign of it stopping.
In the blink of an eye, it surged past 200 beats per minute.
Just imagine it. Ordinarily, his heart only needed to beat twenty times per minute and he only needed to breathe twice to function normally. But when his heart rate surged above 200 beats per minute, and his breathing operated like an exhaust fan.
What kind of qualitative transformation would that produce?
As Li Changqing entered his state, the vitality within him surged majestically, stirring up monstrous waves.
His dormant muscle cells were awakened and completely activated.
He wrapped his arms around the dummy, locking it in place.
Memories in his mind began to sketch themselves out.
First came yellowed paper, followed by bold lines of ink flowing across it.
Finally, there was Hegemon Xiang Yu, looking down upon the world, able to pull up mountains with strength and cover the world with his Aura.
The painting was complete.
The invincible will of Hegemon Xiang Yu, from a thousand years ago, descended once more.
"Up!"
Li Changqing's muscles erupted. As his vitality roared, his body swelled by a full circle, every muscle bulging as he unleashed strength beyond his own limits.
Boom—
The dummy rose in response, its Liquid Metal swaying ceaselessly.
The movement had been too fast. Even Li Changqing, whose Listening to Strength had reached great mastery, could not neutralize every trace of force in time.
But to him in his current state, this little bit of force was no more than a mayfly trying to shake a great tree.
He steadily held the dummy high above his head. The vitality in his body was being consumed madly, yet Li Changqing maintained the posture without wavering.
Under the effect of Artistic Conception, his body continually surpassed its limits, and even his breathing began to grow unstable.
At last, as his legs swayed, Li Changqing suddenly hurled the dummy onto the grass beside him.
And once again, he had broken through his limit.
Physique +2
Bang!
More than half the lawn was smashed flat, and dust rose to obscure the dummy.
His formerly depleted body was filled with vitality again. The suddenly enhanced physique left him slightly unable to control his strength.
Crack.
The professional running shoes on his feet were actually crushed apart beneath his step!
Two clear footprints were left in the concrete.
Li Changqing took a deep breath, feeling the strength within him gradually stabilize and rise.
Under the sunlight, his fair skin gleamed with a jade-like luster.
"I did it!" Excited light flashed in his eyes.
He fiercely threw a punch with his right arm. Memories wove through his mind, and the painting of Overlord Lifts Cauldron rose and fell within his consciousness.
After two days of cultivation, Li Changqing could now completely and steadily sketch out the painting and use Artistic Conception.
He raised his hand and glanced at his timer watch.
"Fifteen seconds?"
That was not a short time. It was enough for two rounds of commercials to play back-to-back.
Even a game protagonist would not dare use an ultimate move with such a long wind-up.
That meant he could not use Artistic Conception in battle yet.
But Li Changqing was still excited.
He had succeeded in stabilizing it. No matter how slow it was, it meant he had crossed the most difficult hurdle.
For the road ahead, he only needed to steadily sketch the painting and use Artistic Conception every day, and he could continue improving.
Today, he had solved the question of whether he could or could not do it. As for increasing the speed, he only needed to continuously improve his proficiency.
From one second to two seconds, then to three.
Li Changqing believed that before long, he would be able to use Artistic Conception freely during combat.
By then, in the lower ranks, he would have no more rivals.
Hegemon Xiang Yu's invincible Aura was enough to crush any enemy head-on like rotten wood.
"First, let's set a small goal." Li Changqing rubbed his clean-shaven chin.
"The Youth Cup. Before I compete, I need to reduce the time to under two seconds—at the very least, enough to use it in actual combat."
At that thought, he examined himself internally once more.
Vitality Concentration: 3%
Vitality like mercury, Embracing the Core and Returning Strength.
By Li Changqing's own estimate, Lower-Rank Martial Artists were divided into nine stars.
Once his Vitality Concentration reached 10%, he should meet the vitality standard for Lower-Rank Two-Star.
"Vitality, Artistic Conception, and my fist technique proficiency—there's still so much I need to improve before the Youth Cup. I have to hurry."
Li Changqing turned and walked toward the apartment building. He did not bother with the dummy. Anyone wanting to steal it could not carry it away, and anyone who could carry it away would not bother stealing it.
After returning to his room and changing his shoes, Li Changqing glanced at the painting hanging above his bedside.
His luck was poor this time. The painting still showed no response.
Li Changqing did not mind. He treated it as a once-a-day lottery draw.
If he got something, it would be a huge win.
After packing his things into his backpack, he ran into the kitchen and put away several small jars of seasoning.
That was right. Li Changqing planned to continue cultivating in the nature reserve.
Not only was Psionic Energy abundant there, but the closer martial cultivation was to nature, the easier it was to approach the legendary realm of Unity of Heaven and Man.
Ring ring—
Li Changqing took out his phone and looked at it.
The caller was none other than Kang Tianchen, the martial arts coach who had taught him his first and most important Old Technique Tai Chi, and paid out of pocket to give him five vials of medicine.
"Hello, Coach Kang."
The moment he answered, Kang Tianchen's hearty laughter quickly came through the phone.
"Changqing, didn't you mention the Youth Cup to me yesterday? I've already arranged it for you. When the time comes, you can go in with the people from our martial arts school and watch from up close."
Li Changqing raised an eyebrow.
"Coach Kang, does our Chengtian Martial Arts School have many people participating in this Youth Cup?"
"Of course. This competition is very important." Kang Tianchen's tone on the other end of the line clearly became much more serious.
"This Youth Cup is different from previous years. The city has really gone all out this time. They actually obtained a Seedling Plan spot from the Psionic Research Institute as the champion's prize."
"Changqing, you might not know this, but the Seedling Plan is an exclusive program the Psionic Research Institute has for young genius Martial Artists from all over. Let me put it this way: any genius who enters the Seedling Plan basically has a one-hundred-percent chance of becoming a Psionic User. They can even gain enormous advantages on the road ahead."
The Seedling Plan. Light flickered in Li Changqing's eyes.
"What, jealous?" Kang Tianchen mocked himself.
"We can't compare to those geniuses. Just listen and forget it. You need to cultivate your fist technique properly. I haven't seen you these past few days, so I don't know how your training is going. Don't forget, you only have one year."
"I know, Coach Kang. Don't worry."
"Mm. You don't seem like the sort of kid who needs someone worrying about you every moment, so I won't say anything else. I'll message you before the Youth Cup begins. Opportunities to enter and observe are rare, so seize it and study the genius Martial Artists in our city carefully."
The two exchanged a few more pleasantries before hanging up.
"The Seedling Plan?"
Light flickered in Li Changqing's eyes as he glanced at his watch.
"I need to pick up the pace. There isn't much time left."
Qingshan Nature Reserve.
The brown bear incident had stayed on the trending lists for several days.
Yet not only had it failed to reduce visitor traffic to Qingshan Nature Reserve.
Because Jiang He, handsome and powerful, had appeared on camera, visitor numbers had instead risen again. Reservations were booked out for who knew how long.
Li Changqing still chose the same place as last time. The top predator in this area had already been scared senseless by him, so no small animals should come disturb him for the time being.
Pushing aside the trees, the familiar waterfall still lay before him.
Li Changqing lightly jumped down from the three-meter-high rock wall and was just about to cultivate.
"Huh, why is a piece missing from the waterfall?" Li Changqing froze, then hurried forward to inspect it.
The original waterfall had widened by a considerable stretch, and the huge stone at the gap had vanished at some unknown point.
And on the ground not far away.
A line of footprints deeply sunk into the earth was especially conspicuous.
Memories surfaced in Li Changqing's mind as he compared the size of the missing stone from the waterfall.
Then he looked at the footprints buried deep in the soil.
He touched the gap in the waterfall, his pupils gradually widening.
"This stone weighed at least a ton. Maybe even more."
There were no rock fragments around it, and the traces were extremely clean.
Judging from the footprints in the soil, Li Changqing's eyelids trembled.
"Someone was carrying a one-ton stone while doing weight training?"
Unimaginable!
Even lifting the 750-kilogram dummy required Artistic Conception to assist him.
Carrying a one-ton stone for weight training, even if it was only walking.
That person's strength absolutely far surpassed his own.
Once the thought arose in his heart, it could no longer be suppressed. Looking in the direction where the footprints disappeared, Li Changqing was eager to move.
Go take a look?
Before you continue