Water Continent Demon City

Zhou Leng looked at Feng Wenhao and slowly said, "I've sparred with Feng Wenhao. He's decent in all aspects with no obvious shortcomings, but nothing is quite solid enough. Plus, his mindset isn't... how should I put it, it isn't tough enough. It's normal, really; after all, he hasn't been through the grinder. I was pretty much the same half a year ago."

Li Linhan nodded and said, "True, which is why I always say you have the potential to become an expert. Your offense is swift and decisive, pressing forward with unstoppable momentum; as for him, he looks before and leaps behind, scared of losing face, scared of lacking experience, thinking way too much. Not to mention his fundamentals—next up, he has to defend, which will be even harder."

Feng Wenhao launched thirty offensive moves, and Guo Xiaohao took merely a single step back.

"My turn."

Guo Xiaohao reached out a hand, grabbed Feng Wenhao's wrist with a capturing hold, and with a shake and a flick, Feng Wenhao lost his balance and staggered back at an angle.

Guo Xiaohao stepped forward, casually slapping Feng Wenhao on the shoulder. Feng Wenhao's momentum had yet to halt, and he stumbled backward again.

Guo Xiaohao advanced step by step, executing simple, ordinary techniques like pushes, slaps, vibrations, and flicks without even mobilizing his true qi. Feng Wenhao couldn't block a single move.

After seven moves, Guo Xiaohao withdrew his hand, shook his head slightly, and walked behind Xue Tongming without a word.

Looking like a drunkard with shaky footsteps and a blushing face, Feng Wenhao cupped his fists toward Xue Tongming and said, "I'm sorry, I've made a fool of myself in front of you."

Xue Tongming said, "Talk about your own strengths and weaknesses."

Feng Wenhao pondered for a moment and said, "My fundamentals are insufficient. Compared to Zhou Leng, I finally realize the gap is truly huge. He didn't use any fancy, showy changes at all; everything was by the book, balancing offense and defense, meeting force with force. It might look very ordinary, but Senior Guo Xiaohao simply didn't have an easy time of it. My mindset is no good either; the moment an attack or defense fails to take effect, I panic. Lastly..."

Feng Wenhao listed many of his own shortcomings and concluded, "But I still have one advantage: just like Zhou Leng, I refuse to admit defeat. I figure that once I cultivate bit by bit, I can become just as formidable as Senior Little Guo."

Xue Tongming laughed heartily and said, "Good. To calmly accept one's shortcomings and then refuse to yield—kids like this are good timber. Both of you can stay."

"Thank you, Uncle Xue." Zhou Leng and Feng Wenhao thanked him together.

"Let's go, we'll head over there to sign the contract. But... your name is Feng Wenhao, right?"

"Yes." Feng Wenhao nodded.

"Your compensation will be lower."

"You set it as you see fit." Feng Wenhao knew he had no qualification to haggle; what he valued were those two bodyguards.

The two signed the contract and left under Li Linhan's guidance.

Xue Tongming watched the three people's car depart and said, "Little Guo, what do you think of that Zhou Leng?"

Guo Xiaohao recalled the course of the battle and analyzed slowly.

"He's much stronger than I was back then. Whether through a blessing in disguise or whatever, reaching the Innate realm is in sight. That feeling is hard to describe. You saw when the two kids came in—both were a bit reserved, clearly children from ordinary families who haven't seen the big world and can't compare to your nephews and nieces."

"Yet when they fought, this brat wasn't afraid of me at all, striking fiercely and directly. The crucial thing is that this brat's fundamentals are simply too solid. It's not that I didn't want to defend; it's that using only single-handed inner qi at the Great Accomplishment tier wasn't enough to block him, forcing me to step back bit by bit."

"The feeling he gave me was somewhat like that of an expert who has just given birth to a fledgling Martial Will. There are plenty of people with good fundamentals, and plenty with abundant true qi, but young people with this kind of shadow of Martial Will are far too rare."

Xue Tongming nodded and said, "This fellow named Zhou Leng might not compare to those four elite-class students from various high schools right now, but if he goes to the Demon City a few times, he's bound to surpass them. Have Little Song interact with him more; that's better than those friends of his who only know how to eat, drink, and make merry."

Leaving the Pioneer Corporation, Zhou Leng headed to the Martial Dao Mall and exchanged for one Origin-Replenishing Pill and four Qi-Nourishing Pills.

He strolled around the Martial Dao Mall for another ten-odd minutes, bought nothing, and left.

Carrying the medicinal pills and Big Yellow, Zhou Leng headed straight for the Frost Giant Tree.

Sitting cross-legged beneath the tree, Zhou Leng slowly opened the medicine box of the Origin-Replenishing Pill.

A rich medicinal fragrance welled up.

To recuperate from illness, he had eaten one before.

The Origin-Replenishing Pill was one of the most important medicinal pills for martial cultivators.

At the end of the Technological Civilization, humanity suffered all kinds of pollution and poisons, and subsequently encountered the ravages of demons. They suffered numerous injuries and illnesses, leading to generally weaker newborns in later generations.

"Fragile young people" became a generational internet meme.

Even after entering the Martial Civilization, young people cultivating true qi from a young age still could not make up for their physical flaws.

Related medicinal pills arose in response to the times.

Compared to the million-credit Body-Replenishing Pill, the one-hundred-thousand-credit Origin-Replenishing Pill was already the cheapest of this series of pills.

Research showed that as long as a person took three Origin-Replenishing Pills, they could basically eliminate ordinary physical damage and become a truly healthy person.

The previous Origin-Replenishing Pill was used for treatment; this one was equivalent to the first one for Zhou Leng.

Strive to replenish all three pills as early as possible and recover my health.

Zhou Leng swallowed the Origin-Replenishing Pill in one gulp and circulated the Mystic Tide Art.

Driven by the Mystic Tide Art, the power of the Origin-Replenishing Pill gradually spread throughout his body.

Currents of heat flowed, merging into his body to make up for the damage.

After a long while, Zhou Leng opened his eyes, picked up a prepared roll of paper, and headed straight into the forest.

Big Yellow hurried along behind him.

After a burst of artillery gunfire coupled with machine-gun strafing, peace was restored.

Zhou Leng used tree leaves to bury the remains properly, and said to Big Yellow, "Remember this place. You're not allowed to go digging around or eating randomly."

Big Yellow crooked its mouth and shot a sidelong glance at Zhou Leng.

Zhou Leng walked while stretching his body's joints.

An unspeakable sense of comfort spread throughout his body, as if he had slept an unprecedentedly deep sleep, or as if he had gone to relax for a whole day at his favorite beach or forest.

From body to soul, he felt thoroughly refreshed and at ease.

Zhou Leng stood beside the Frost Giant Tree, and began to practice the Wave-Stacking Palm.

At first, there was no difference, practicing it over and over again.

Gradually, Zhou Leng discovered mistakes in his palm techniques that he could not feel before.

Shoulders shrugged too high, retrieving force too fast, arms drifting upward, true qi too full, posture too rigid, stances deviating...

Zhou Leng corrected them one by one, and the more he practiced, the smoother it became.

It felt as though he had switched to a new body.

Like a ruler measuring a form, not a single bit off.

After finishing the external martial arts, Zhou Leng began to cultivate the Mystic Tide Art.

The circulation of true qi was a fraction faster than before.

The flow of true qi was much more condensed, whereas it used to be overly scattered.

Zhou Leng swallowed a Qi-Nourishing Pill, and continued to cultivate...

Ru City was closely adjacent to the northern bank of the Yangtze River.

Crossing the Yangtze River, in a large area close to Taihu Lake, overlapping worlds with the Demon Prison World and several others had formed a Water Continent Demon City.

To prevent the demonic beasts from spreading, the Dragon Nation had built the Water Continent Pioneer Base where the spatial barriers of the Water Continent Demon City were fragile.

The Zhenhai Army Seventh Division garrisoned here.

The pioneer base resembled a small county town, fully equipped with all necessities.

Soldiers, pioneers, laborers, and students on field studies came and went.

A fleet of green military vehicles drove past the avenue in front of the main entrance of the Pioneer Hall, and a team of seven slowly walked down the steps of the Pioneer Hall.

Two women and five men.

The fair-faced teenage boy leading the group wore camouflage and carried a large black backpack.

The boy wore a lazy smile, lazily sizing up the Shuizhou Base.

Zhou Leng, Feng Wenhao, and the other five all wore camouflage and carried black backpacks, standing behind the lazy boy.

More than a dozen meters away from the seven people, two adult men wore the same attire, the only difference being that one carried a bow and the other a crossbow.

The surfaces of both bow and crossbow were covered with blue light patterns.

Enchanted Weapons.

"Captain, should we get our gear ready, or go straight into the Demon City?" Feng Wenhao looked toward the lazy boy.

The lazy boy was none other than the captain of this Martial Arts Field Study Team, Xue Chengsong, the only son of Xue Tongming.

According to the signed contract, the six of them were to protect Xue Chengsong's safety to the greatest possible extent and obey Xue Chengsong's orders.

"Store the Merit Badges first. When I first entered the Demon City, the pioneer captain said this is the most important thing." Xue Chengsong turned to look at the others.

"Some of you are coming to the Demon City for the first time, so I'll say a few more words..." Xue Chengsong lifted his Merit Badge.

The size of a spectacle lens, a silver regular octagon, its surface densely covered with blue patterns.

"Put it in the inner chest pocket of your camouflage jacket. If an enemy attacks your heart, this thing might save your life. Of course, its main function is to calculate military merit by detecting the aura of demonic beasts upon their death."

Zhou Leng and the others followed suit one after another.

"We didn't feel it deeply before while at school. Once we walk the path of martial arts from now on, whether we attend martial university, go to martial arts gyms, become pioneers, or enter the military and police, military merit is the most important thing, without exception. Remember, without exception."

"I once saw with my own eyes an elder who was clearly on the verge of death and wouldn't last three days, yet he used his military merit to exchange for a pill. Not only was he full of vigor and vitality, but his strength also made a breakthrough."

"I have also seen a big shot who was usually full of authority and didn't even put my dad in his eyes, exhaust his military merit to save his child, and beg in front of my dad to borrow military merit to exchange for a pill. On Blue Star, as long as you have enough military merit, you can even lock horns with the martial arts magnates—or rather, you are the martial arts magnate!"

The six members of the squad listened carefully.

Then, Xue Chengsong gave a self-deprecating smile and said, "Unfortunately, my talent is truly poor, coupled with a lack of hard work, so I'm just like this... However, if I can't get into West Sea Martial University through supplementary admissions, I'll be even more miserable. Therefore..."

Xue Chengsong swept his gaze across everyone and said, "As long as you pull together to help me, after I enter West Sea Martial University, each of you will get ten thousand as a reward. For the one who helps me the most, I will cover all four years of tuition. At the same time, when you graduate and look for a way out, I can also help introduce you."

The hearts of everyone accelerated in unison.

With this money, they would never need to look at anyone else's face again, and could cultivate with peace of mind for the next four years.

The Xue family's connections also far surpassed those of ordinary families.

Zhou Leng secretly observed everyone; everyone was moved, including Feng Wenhao, who had originally just come to pad his field study resume.

He himself was no different.

That was four years of tuition.

"But... everything is built upon everyone working together with one heart to complete this martial arts field study. Therefore, I hope that regardless of any selfish motives or thoughts you all may have, you will wait until the field study is over before acting on them. However, the Demon City is perilous, and human hearts are even more treacherous."

Xue Chengsong revealed a faint smile and said, "A person like me is actually very soft-hearted, since after all I haven't experienced great storms and waves, but my dad is the most ruthless person I've ever seen. If any of you do something you shouldn't do, he will do something even more that you shouldn't do. Besides, the contract is written in plain black and white: if I die, not a single penny of yours will you get."

The six people fell silent, seemingly struck dumb by Xue Chengsong's words.