Vitality surged as Li Changqing carried a massive boulder and raced through the mountain forest. As his physique continuously grew stronger, breaking through his limits became increasingly difficult. But likewise, the gains from successfully shattering those limits kept multiplying.
The Vitality Concentration of Embracing the Core and Returning Strength was on an entirely different level from his previously meager vitality.
He kept running alongside the flowing water. Gradually, the river channel narrowed, and the familiar roar of the waterfall drifted over from afar.
Following Sun Sheng, Li Changqing made a circuit with the boulder on his back and returned to the place where he had trained before.
"Your physique is even better than I imagined. I originally thought you might need to rest midway, but I didn't expect you to finish the entire route in one go."
Sun Sheng's voice suddenly sounded beside Li Changqing's ear, and he whipped his head around.
Five meters behind him, Sun Sheng was carrying a boulder as he strolled along leisurely. The boulder on Sun Sheng's back was even heavier than Li Changqing's, yet it seemed as light as nothing.
On the muddy ground, only the faintest outlines of Sun Sheng's footprints could be seen.
Now look at Li Changqing.
Even though he had kept Tai Chi Soft Strength circulating the entire way, the marks on the ground were beyond mere footprints. If someone said this patch of land had just been bombarded by a mortar position, plenty of people would probably believe it.
Sun Sheng took a step forward and effortlessly overtook Li Changqing. Before the waterfall, he gently set the stone on his back down.
Thud!
Dust rose everywhere as Li Changqing released his hands, and the enormous boulder sank into the mud.
His current Tai Chi Soft Strength was still nowhere near enough to dispel the force of a half-ton object.
So he simply did not bother unloading the force.
"How does it feel?"
Li Changqing did not answer immediately. He slowly adjusted his breathing, forcing his rhythm to slow down as he once more entered the normal rhythm of the Spirit Turtle Breathing Technique.
A full minute passed before Li Changqing finally brought his breathing and heartbeat under control.
He looked inward, and sure enough, the proficiency of the Spirit Turtle Breathing Technique had increased again.
Training methods that squeezed his body to its limits truly suited his cultivation rhythm best.
Spirit Turtle Breathing Technique, Proficiency: 32%
"I'm somewhat at my limit." Li Changqing looked at Sun Sheng, who seemed completely unaffected.
"Is this level of training just a warm-up to you?" Seeing that the other man did not answer at once, Li Changqing asked again.
"Or does it not even count as a warm-up, just a little something?"
Sun Sheng lowered his head in thought, then lifted his chin and weighed his words slightly.
"Not a little something. More like a medium something."
Sun Sheng's load was far more terrifying than Li Changqing's. Even after handing Li Changqing 500 kilograms, the boulder Sun Sheng carried still weighed nearly a ton.
Carrying a ton and sprinting three kilometers through rugged mountain paths without shedding a single drop of sweat.
The gap between their strengths was even greater than Li Changqing had estimated.
"Do you know about the Youth Cup?"
"I do." Li Changqing leaned against the boulder.
"It starts in a month. I'm training for the Youth Cup, aren't I?"
"You must seize this opportunity well and strive to enter the finals. Only then can you gain enough attention."
"How old are you this year?"
"Twenty-two."
"Twenty-two? Just graduated from university?"
"Yes, I just graduated."
Sun Sheng paused. "You're stronger than Jiang He. He has only just reached the Transformation Stage and is no match for you."
"But why haven't I heard of you before? No news of you has ever spread through Rong City."
On Blue Star, students only gradually began Martial Arts cultivation after coming of age and entering university. And anyone who could cultivate Old Technique was at least a university graduate.
A twenty-two-year-old Lower-Rank Martial Artist was unquestionably an absolute genius.
"Won't everyone know after the Youth Cup?"
"That's true."
Sun Sheng nodded, agreeing with Li Changqing's words.
"I look forward to your performance in the Youth Cup. If I get the chance, I'll go watch your matches."
He walked toward the waterfall and took his luggage down from a poplar tree.
"I'm leaving. I have a class at the city's Youth Palace this afternoon. I need to go back and teach my students."
"Youth Palace?"
Li Changqing froze.
Youth Palace was the collective name for welfare Martial Arts halls across the country. They served young students with average talent whose families could not afford the fees of official Martial Arts halls.
However, because they were free institutions, the teachers at Youth Palaces were generally not official Martial Artists, but older Martial Arts Apprentices.
Puzzled, he asked, "With your strength, any Martial Arts hall would want you. Why go to a Youth Palace?"
Sun Sheng shook his head. "Official Martial Arts halls have good coaches, but Youth Palaces don't."
He did not continue that topic and instead asked, "Do you have any other questions about cultivation?"
"I don't have any questions. You taught me quite a lot today." Li Changqing shook his head.
"But can you let me see your true strength?"
Li Changqing looked straight into Sun Sheng's eyes.
"The martial path is long. If there is a benchmark, it gives you more motivation to keep walking."
"You're not afraid of being crushed beyond recovery?"
"Not afraid." Li Changqing's gaze was calm.
"I have more confidence in myself than I do that the sun will rise as usual tomorrow."
Sun Sheng's eyes were tranquil, and an almost imperceptible curve rose at the corner of his mouth.
He turned and walked to the riverbank, watching the babbling stream before him.
"Have you heard Li Bai's poem?"
"There is one verse I like: Drawing a knife to cut water only makes it flow more; raising a cup to drown sorrow only makes sorrow grow."
Sun Sheng raised his right arm and, for the first time before Li Changqing, erupted with his vitality at full force.
The pressure was almost tangible, making Li Changqing's muscles stiffen. His instincts as a living creature seemed to tell him that what stood before him was not a human, but some savage beast from ancient legend.
"But that was a helpless sigh from many years ago. For me, however."
Boom!
Sun Sheng's right arm became a hand blade. Under Vitality Condensation, it actually formed an illusory blade radiance, and its sharp aura directly split the stream apart.
Water had no fixed momentum, nor did it have any fixed form.
Yet today, the flowing water that could not be severed was split by Sun Sheng's slash into two distinct, separate streams.
His formidable vitality, even after leaving his body, could remain over the riverbed for a short while.
During that time, the water could not cross even the slightest bit.
It could not flow back together.
"For me, raising a cup can dispel sorrow, and Drawing a Knife to Cut Water can indeed cut water."
The plainest tone spoke the most arrogant words.
Sun Sheng slowly turned around and looked at Li Changqing, whose pupils had constricted.
"I hope that the next time I meet you, you can bring me a new surprise."
As his words fell, the stream closed back together.
Sun Sheng leaped onto the treetops and vanished into the depths of the forest after several bounds.
Looking at the flowing stream before him, Li Changqing's mouth split into a grin.
"This guy..."
He finally saw it clearly. Sun Sheng, who had no unnecessary expressions and never spoke a single wasted word, was no gentleman as elegant as a chrysanthemum.
He was a madman arrogant to the extreme.
His unwillingness to speak much and lack of rich expressions were simply because he did not want to waste his time on irrelevant matters.
And the reason the other man had taught him cultivation techniques was simply that Li Changqing had earned Sun Sheng's recognition.
However, it was not recognition as an opponent.
It was recognition as a "student."
That guy merely felt Li Changqing was qualified to spend a tiny bit of his time on, indulging his fondness for teaching.
That was all.
"Drawing a Knife to Cut Water?" He took a deep breath, and the immense pressure finally settled onto his shoulders.
"This Youth Cup really has crouching tigers and hidden dragons." Li Changqing had originally thought that with one month, combined with his cultivation speed—
If he could also grasp Artistic Conception, winning the championship would not be empty talk.
But after witnessing Sun Sheng's strength today, Li Changqing realized that his current goal should first be to surpass Sun Sheng.
From what the latter had said just now, perhaps the opponents in the Youth Cup finals were all at Sun Sheng's level.
"If I can't even beat Sun Sheng, what right do I have to compete for the championship? Perhaps I won't even qualify for the finals."
"And that Jixing Martial Hall with branches throughout the country—the championship comes with a Seedling Plan slot. They will definitely fight for it. They might even transfer powerful fighters from branches in other regions."
"There are surely quite a few among them stronger than Sun Sheng. As a lone wolf, he certainly cannot compare to the foundations of those large Martial Arts halls."
In Li Changqing's view, since Sun Sheng was going to teach at a Youth Palace, he must not have joined any major Martial Arts hall in Rong City.
"One month!"
Watching the waterfall flowing before him, Li Changqing set a small goal for himself.
Before the Youth Cup, he had to at least gain the ability to clash head-on with Sun Sheng.
Rather than being like today, unable even to make the other man fight him.
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