As Expected, a Masochist

Xu Zhiming's whole body went numb, lightning racing through him as if even his soul trembled.

At the same time, he heard a crackling sound.

[You have endured the tempering of lightning, triggering a 10x Critical Hit. Vitality +0.01]

Xu Zhiming was stunned for a moment, then touched his head.

Good stuff—it could even boost his Vitality.

His gaze fell on the light figure; there was still plenty of lightning power inside, enough to electrocute him a few hundred times.

Through the past two days of hard training, his Vitality had already risen to twenty-seven points, and then it could no longer increase.

It had clearly reached the limit of the incomplete seventh level of Wind Thunder Fist.

Let's see if he could push his Vitality to thirty points.

Next.

Xu Zhiming continuously used Wind Thunder Fist to draw out the lightning power within the light figure.

Fortunately, he already had a crew cut, so his hair didn't stand on end.

"Sss..."

Xu Zhiming understood why Meng Tian would shout while enjoying the electric shocks.

So this was how it felt—Vitality rising bit by bit after being zapped. It was wonderful.

Xu Zhiming didn't keep drawing on the humanoid light figure's power to cultivate Rolling Heavenly Thunder the whole time.

He vaguely sensed that after cultivating Rolling Heavenly Thunder, drawing on the lightning power to temper his Vitality was more effective.

[You have diligently cultivated one cycle of C-grade Rolling Heavenly Thunder, triggering a 20x Critical Hit]

Bit by bit, he accumulated.

Three hours later.

Xu Zhiming felt mentally fatigued, his focus starting to waver.

He didn't choose to stop but pressed on.

Because he felt that the first level of Rolling Heavenly Thunder was almost complete.

[You have cultivated one cycle of C-grade Rolling Heavenly Thunder, triggering a 50x Critical Hit]

Another hour passed.

Xu Zhiming's eyes blazed with light—he had finally broken through.

With the help of the 50x Critical Hit, C-grade Rolling Heavenly Thunder had finally broken through to the first level.

C-grade Rolling Heavenly Thunder was divided into four levels total.

The first level could enhance Vitality Quality by thirty percent, the second by fifty percent, the third by double, and the fourth by double again.

This tempering could stack with the six-and-a-half-level Vitality boost.

He pulled up his panel.

[Host: Xu Zhi'an]

[Level: Nine]

[Vitality: 27.13 (1.3)]

[Mental Power: 1.08]

[Martial Skills: D-grade Wind Thunder Fist (Seventh Level) D-grade Coiling Dragon Surging Waves]

[Martial Path Visualization Diagram: C-grade Rolling Heavenly Thunder (First Level)]

Xu Zhiming nodded in satisfaction. The panel had changed.

He rubbed his heavy head.

He noticed two new columns on the panel.

The Martial Path Visualization Diagram column didn't surprise him, but how had Mental Power suddenly appeared?

Could it be that Rolling Heavenly Thunder also had the effect of tempering the mind?

Or was it the effect of the humanoid light figure?

Either way, an increase in Mental Power was only beneficial—it would let him train a bit longer each day.

Xu Zhiming rubbed his head. He'd come earlier tomorrow morning.

As for the 1.3x Vitality Quality, if he looked at his Vitality alone now, he was already no weaker than an eleventh-level martial artist.

Most eleventh-level martial artists had Vitality just over thirty points.

Add in the two-plus times combat power multiplier from Wind Thunder Fist, and Chen Ge estimated that even some thirteenth- or fourteenth-level martial artists might not be his match.

Xu Zhiming searched the wall of the Training Room.

There was a switch, with the word "Switch" written on it.

He pulled out his phone, ready to check his messages.

Today, Teacher Zhang Wei and the others were reporting to Yunshui Second High School.

He pulled out his phone.

The phone screen didn't light up.

Xu Zhiming pressed the power button, but there was still no response.

Suddenly, he thought of something.

The first time he was electrocuted, he'd vaguely heard a sound.

His phone had retired with honor.

Xu Zhiming glanced at it.

The transparent plastic case that came with the phone had already turned a murky yellow.

Two and a half years.

It was time to change phones anyway.

He finally understood why there was nothing inside the training room—it all got fried by the electricity.

Xu Zhiming rubbed his nose.

Just as he opened the door.

Meng Tian saw Xu Zhiming staring at his phone, the corners of his mouth lifting.

"Hahaha... Brother Xu, you didn't forget to take your phone out, did you?"

Xu Zhiming's eyes sharpened, and a flash of lightning flickered.

Zzz...

Meng Tian's mouth twitched, his pupils rolling white.

He sensed something was off.

Wasn't this electric current a bit fiercer than this afternoon's?

Could Xu Zhiming have already trained to the first layer of Rolling Heavenly Thunder?

He knew Xu Zhiming's Vitality Quality was about the same as his.

Martial technique power wasn't just about mastery level; it also depended on Vitality Quality.

Xu Zhiming's Wind Thunder Fist had already reached the sixth layer—there was no way he could go higher.

There was no other explanation besides his Vitality Quality getting stronger.

Meng Tian felt even more admiration for Xu Zhiming in his heart.

This comprehension was far beyond his own.

But he was even more excited.

The stronger Xu Zhiming got, the faster his own Vitality would break through to twenty points.

The stronger, the better—he even wished Xu Zhiming would jump to level twenty right now and whip him hard.

"One more time."

Xu Zhiming raised an eyebrow.

He thought to himself, just as he suspected—Meng Tian was a masochist, thoroughly enjoying being electrocuted.

Back home.

Xu Zhiming held the latest model Meng Tian had given him, the Huawei M1080.

He turned on the phone and inserted the SIM card.

After a series of operations, he saw quite a few messages.

Zhang Wei: Xu Zhiming, you'd better not come for a while. Principal Zhao Deyun said he'll transfer the money to your card.

Zeng Hao: Xu Zhiming, someone's trying to take your training room by relying on their higher Vitality. You'd better stay away for now.

Xu Zhiming's eyes flickered.

Steal his training room?

He remembered that Zhao Deyun's promise to him included an exclusive training room.

He'd said it would take some time to coordinate and secure it.

It seemed he'd stepped on some people's interests.

He'd go check out Yunshui Second High School in a few days.

But before that, he needed to ask Meng Tian.

"Meng Tian, what's the Vitality of the top ten at Second High?"

Meng Tian sent Xu Zhiming a file.

"This is our school's opening reward list. It includes each student's martial skill cultivation progress and their blood energy."

Xu Zhiming opened the file and looked it over.

"First place: Feng Li, blood energy fifty points, Level Ten Martial Artist. Two D-grade martial skills at maximum mastery."

"Second place: Wang Ma, blood energy forty-three points, Level Twelve Martial Artist. One D-grade martial skill at maximum mastery."

"Third place: Qiu Zhenghua, blood energy fifty-two points, Level Twelve Martial Artist. Cultivating one C-grade martial skill and one C-Class Martial Dao Visualization Chart."

"..."

After reading, Xu Zhiming was inwardly astonished.

Cloud Water No. 2 High School was indeed very strong. The first place was a Level Ten Martial Artist with fifty points of blood energy.

When breaking through from Level Nine to Level Ten, if blood energy exceeded twenty points, it would double.

This situation only occurred once, specifically at the whole-number level breakthroughs.

If one broke through using pills like Blood Energy Pills, blood energy would only be a little over the ordinary twenty points.

The first place at Cloud Water No. 2 High School, a Level Ten Martial Artist, truly had fifty points of blood energy—lower than the third place's blood energy, yet his strength was far greater.

Moreover, he had two D-grade martial skills at maximum mastery, making his combat power considerably higher than Xu Zhiming's.

His gaze fell on the third place.

Fifty-two points of blood energy, yet he was no match for the second place's forty-seven points.

A C-grade martial skill.

In Cloud Water City, not many people possessed C-grade martial skills.

Generally speaking, C-grade martial skills wouldn't be written down so casually; they were all students' trump cards.

Then the answer was clear—this person was from the Qiu Family of Cloud Water City.

Most likely, this wasn't due to the Training Room.

Xu Zhiming thought it over and felt this guess was very likely correct.

For now, he had no intention of going to Cloud Water No. 2 High School.

Once he had exhausted the power within the humanoid light orb and raised his blood energy, he would go check out Cloud Water No. 2 High School.

He felt that, based on his current strength, his combat power still had a certain gap compared to Qiu Zhenghua—or perhaps the gap was very small.

If he got injured in a fight, he didn't want an injury to affect his martial arts progress.

Unless necessary, he preferred battles that were overwhelmingly decisive.