For Lower-Rank Martial Artists, every single-star advancement was an enormous leap.
This breakthrough directly raised Li Changqing's Vitality Concentration from 9% to 15%.
Within his dantian, his vitality clumped together and condensed into a pellet. As Li Changqing's physique grew at a furious pace, it became increasingly compact. Liquid vitality flowed within it, and once gathered together, its surface actually gave off a metallic sheen.
After looking inward, Li Changqing gazed at the massive boulder before him, the one he had punched a hole through.
He raised his arm again, his vitality surging as it wrapped around his arm.
The bones of his five fingers clenched into a fist, his forearm muscles contracting as the flow of vitality gathered the strength of his entire body into a single rope.
Boom!
Li Changqing naturally spread his feet apart. The rushing current battered his lower body, yet rather than hindering his exertion, it was borrowed by him, transmitted all the way along the great dragon of his spine and into his right fist.
Flowing Water Strength, Tai Chi Block Parry Punch!
Flesh and blood shattered stubborn stone.
Li Changqing's eyes shone brightly as he hammered the giant rock with punch after punch. The force within him flowed without end, like running water.
Seven punches in a row.
The giant boulder was already beyond recognition, seven holes the size of footballs branded across its surface.
Li Changqing hooked with his left foot and bent down, channeling the strength of his entire body through his legs and into the interior of the boulder.
"Up."
With both hands raised beneath it, he effortlessly lifted the rock high above his head.
He did not even need to erupt with the vitality in his dantian. Flowing muscles paired with the Flowing Water True Meaning made the motion effortless.
Li Changqing's strongest technique was not boxing.
Tai Chi Soft Strength, Throw!
Boom!
The boulder collided with the riverbed. Under the immense force Li Changqing poured into it, combined with Blue Star's own gravity—
The rock, already covered in cracks, could no longer hold together. It exploded into chunks of debris, washed by the river and sent tumbling over the cliff.
"Half a ton is far too light for me."
Boulders like this were no longer enough for him to judge his own limits.
Li Changqing needed a sufficient benchmark to measure just how far his body, after this breakthrough, still was from Sun Sheng.
The trip back was swift.
His body had broken through, and without a giant rock weighing him down, the mere five kilometers were nothing more than a short sprint that did not even make Li Changqing sweat.
He returned to the small waterfall once more.
The giant boulder Sun Sheng had left behind still lay silently on the ground.
Li Changqing slowly stepped forward and reached out with his right hand to touch it.
"The density of granite is generally around three tons per cubic meter."
His Listening to Strength, now at great mastery, grasped the rock's center of gravity while mapping the contours of the entire boulder into his mind.
Every hair on Li Changqing's arm was comparable to the sensory organs on a spider's legs.
"If we count the one I had before, this rock actually weighs over two tons?"
Li Changqing once again felt Sun Sheng's strength. Carrying a boulder of over two tons for weight training—such a physique was at least Lower-Rank Five-Star!
He wrapped both arms around the boulder before him. Although half a ton had already been shaved off it, the remaining weight was nearly equal to that of a small family car.
His five fingers tightened, embedding themselves into the stone under the infusion of vitality. The moment Li Changqing tried to exert force, both his feet sank directly into the mud.
Vitality circulated, and his crystalline skin glimmered faintly.
The nearly two-ton boulder began to tremble, yet it never left the ground.
Still a little short.
Huff—
Seeing this, Li Changqing immediately expanded his chest and swallowed a great volume of air into his abdomen.
Only now did the wonders of the Spirit Turtle Breathing Technique gradually reveal themselves.
This was an Old Technique he had comprehended himself, one that stood shoulder to shoulder with Tai Chi Fist, which could break through the Martial Artist realm.
The greatest use of this breathing technique was that it could provide powerful support in both cultivation and battle.
The stronger Li Changqing's vitality and physique became, the greater the wonders of this breathing technique.
Rumble—
Sure enough, as Li Changqing operated the breathing technique with all his strength, his physical abilities instantly soared. The boulder that had stubbornly refused to leave the ground was lifted up in his embrace.
Nearly two tons of weight.
Before the breakthrough, even lifting a 750-kilogram mannequin had required the support of Artistic Conception.
Yet now, Li Changqing could completely rely on his own physique to hoist an object weighing nearly two tons.
His physical abilities had almost doubled.
He set down the boulder.
Li Changqing then shifted his gaze to the stream beside him and imitated Sun Sheng's gesture, holding his fingers together like a blade.
After some thought, he chose the narrower section of the stream near the pool.
As he slowly mobilized his vital energy and blood.
The next second, Drawing a Knife to Cut Water!
Smack!
The stream was severed by immense force. Under arm strength of more than a ton, the water was split in two, and even the narrow riverbed bore a long, slender scar carved by Li Changqing.
Yet the severed stream did not last even half a second before swiftly closing back together.
"To do this, I need to release vitality outside my body." Li Changqing did not continue.
The key to Sun Sheng severing the current was the vitality he released externally, something Li Changqing could not yet achieve.
"I still need to train!" Li Changqing was not discouraged.
A month was very short to others, but he was different.
As long as Li Changqing was willing to train, he would never be troubled by progress.
Every day, every hour, every minute, even every second.
He was improving.
He looked inward at himself.
Tai Chi Soft Strength, Proficiency: 50% Spirit Turtle Breathing Technique, Proficiency: 40% Old Technique Tai Chi (Flowing Water True Meaning): 35% Vitality Concentration: 15%
Tai Chi Soft Strength was Li Changqing's only combat method, making it crucial. Both throwing techniques and the Tai Chi Seven Hammers originated from it.
Meanwhile, the Spirit Turtle Breathing Technique was both a cultivation method and a fighting method, making it even more important than Tai Chi Soft Strength.
It ranked first alongside Old Technique Tai Chi, which likewise enhanced vitality and physique.
Ding—
Just then.
The phone in his waterproof backpack rang.
Li Changqing picked it up and saw that the caller was Kang Tianchen.
"Hello, Coach. Is something wrong?"
"Changqing, hurry back to the martial arts school. There's something good here!"
"Something good?" Li Changqing froze. Had the Psionic Supply Store received another shipment?
Ever since using the medicine last time, Li Changqing had not gone to buy more. The price was not the most important factor.
The main reason was that he had learned online that using too many medicines would likewise hinder Psionic Ascension. As long as he broke through his own limits, he could improve, so he did not need medicinal assistance.
Li Changqing was just about to politely decline when Kang Tianchen's excited voice came through the phone.
"Isn't the Youth Cup starting next month? The school master specially brought back a Psionic item from the capital today. Whether they're High-Rank, Mid-Rank, or Lower-Rank Martial Artists, even apprentices like you are said to gain something from looking at it. It's incredibly miraculous!"
"Hurry to the martial arts school. Otherwise, once more people arrive, you might not even be able to get a place in line!"
No matter what it was, anything connected to Psionic Energy was far from simple.
The master of Chengtian Martial Arts School was a powerful High-Rank Martial Artist. He had just turned forty this year, and it was not entirely impossible for him to become a Psionic User.
Most importantly, this master's senior brother—the direct disciple of the previous school master—was the only Psionic User to emerge from Chengtian Martial Arts School.
With this master's strength and status, the Psionic item he had specifically acquired was surely filled with hidden mysteries.
Without the slightest hesitation, Li Changqing packed up his things. The next instant, he erupted with all his strength.
He sprinted wildly toward Rong City.
Psionic items were something only High-Rank Martial Artists had begun to come into contact with.
Miss this village, and there would be no such shop ahead!
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