If I Say It, I'm Afraid People Will Laugh

A slightly spacious office.

The lights were bright.

A young man stood as straight as a sturdy pine.

He was practicing a fist technique, unhurried and steady.

From time to time, sonic booms rang out in the air, mixed with faint rumbling sounds.

Meng Tian heard the rumbling, like the most beautiful music.

"That handsome guy over there has reached the fourth level of Wind Thunder Fist."

After the female clerk finished speaking, she smiled at Xu Zhiming and turned to leave.

Xu Zhiming withdrew his fist and reached up to wipe away his sweat.

He sized up the young man who had walked in from the door.

Setting aside the scar on his face, his features could be considered quite delicate.

He wore the training uniform of Wind Thunder Martial Hall, and his body exuded an extremely powerful blood energy.

As he stepped into the office, it was like a furnace entering the room, bringing a wave of heat.

Blood energy like fire, unafraid of the winter cold.

A Level Ten Martial Artist?

Xu Zhiming didn't think so.

A Level Ten Martial Artist wouldn't be fixated on Wind Thunder Fist.

Wind Thunder Fist could only raise blood energy to twenty points.

Perhaps he was a Level Nine Martial Artist with blood energy close to twenty points?

Blood energy able to approach twenty points—that was a genius.

Meng Tian was also sizing up Xu Zhiming.

Dressed plainly, but his gaze dared to meet his own. Interesting.

"If you can get my Wind Thunder Fist to break through to the fourth level, Thunderclap, within a month, I'll give you one million."

"The shorter the breakthrough time, for every day earlier, I'll add another ten thousand on top of that."

Xu Zhiming raised an eyebrow.

Bold. Rich people sure had confidence when they talked.

Over a million—he'd gladly accept it.

All his insights into Wind Thunder Fist had been painstakingly cultivated through his system, bit by bit.

Naturally, he could explain them.

But before that, he needed to ask about this person's aptitude.

"What's your aptitude? What's your blood energy?"

"A-grade aptitude, blood energy eighteen points."

Xu Zhiming sighed inwardly. He really was a genius—Level Nine with eighteen points of blood energy.

"Show me your fist technique once."

"If you really are just a hair's breadth away from breaking through to the fourth level, I can see why you haven't."

Meng Tian liked talking to straightforward people like this.

But he was a bit skeptical of Xu Zhiming's claim that he could spot the problem just by watching him once.

"Are you sure you can see the problem?"

Meng Tian didn't believe it.

The Level Seventeen Martial Artist in Cloud Water City who was most proficient in Wind Thunder Fist—

Even he had reached the fourth level of Wind Thunder Fist and had immersed himself in it for over a decade. When Meng Tian went to consult him, it took three demonstrations before he saw the issue. Could Xu Zhiming, at the same age, really see it?

Meng Tian reconsidered.

He'd just do it once. If Xu Zhiming couldn't see the problem, he could haggle down the price.

He wasn't short on this small amount of money.

But who would complain about having too much?

"Then I'll do it once for you to see!"

Xu Zhiming sat down at the desk nearby, arms crossed.

"Please, go ahead."

Meng Tian didn't restrain his blood energy and directly began practicing Wind Thunder Fist.

He didn't believe Xu Zhiming could spot anything wrong.

But his body was honest.

He didn't strike the Wind Thunder Fist quickly; he deliberately let Xu Zhiming see his movements clearly.

He wanted to see just what Xu Zhiming would say.

That Level Seventeen Martial Artist had praised his fist technique as smooth, saying it should logically have reached the fourth layer.

Yet for various reasons, it couldn't achieve perfection.

He finished.

Meng Tian looked at Xu Zhiming and heard him frown.

"You weren't focused while punching. How do you expect me to see the problem?"

Meng Tian was stunned. He really hadn't been focused just now.

Too many stray thoughts. It had an effect—his fist speed was a bit too fast.

"Calm your mind, clear away distractions, and do it again."

Meng Tian raised an eyebrow.

Xu Zhiming had some skill. Probably not much, though.

But being able to tell he had many stray thoughts wasn't bad.

If the answer later didn't satisfy him, Xu Zhiming would find out why Hua'er was so popular.

He settled his mind. After two or three minutes, Meng Haotian began the Wind Thunder Fist again.

Xu Zhiming watched with a frown, confident.

He saw the problem.

It wasn't the movements. It was the mindset.

The Wind Thunder Fist wasn't a quick-cultivation technique. The more you wanted speed, the harder it was to succeed.

This youth's fist technique revealed urgency.

The fist could read the heart.

Haste makes waste.

Meng Tian stared at Xu Zhiming, waiting for his answer.

"Go on. Why can't I break through to the fourth layer?"

"Is it a problem with my movements, or something else?"

Xu Zhiming lightly jumped down from the table.

"You're too impatient."

"The Wind Thunder Fist values having thunder in your heart while your face is calm as a still lake. Your movements reveal eagerness."

"As if you have to break through to the fourth layer in a short time."

Meng Tian fell silent.

This wasn't just some skill. It was a lot of skill.

He was indeed very anxious.

Only by breaking through to the fourth layer of the Wind Thunder Fist could he solve it.

He had started practicing the Wind Thunder Fist four months ago, thinking it wouldn't be difficult.

But he got stuck at the breakthrough from the third to the fourth layer for a very, very long time.

He remembered now.

Before, when he asked that person, they hesitated to speak, finally shaking their head and saying they couldn't see it.

To break through the Wind Thunder Fist in a month—others couldn't do it either.

"You're right."

"What's your name?"

"Xu Zhiming."

Xu Zhiming finished speaking, spread his feet slightly to shoulder width, and took the starting stance of the Wind Thunder Fist.

"I'll show you. See what you can spot."

An impossible thought surfaced in Meng Tian's mind—maybe Xu Zhiming could really help him break through to the fourth layer?

Xu Zhiming's movements were neither rushed nor slow.

[You diligently practiced the Wind Thunder Fist once, triggering a 20x Critical Hit]

[You diligently practiced the Wind Thunder Fist once, triggering a 10x Critical Hit]

[...]

As the fight went on, Xu Zhiming noticed that the frequency of triggering the 20x Critical Hit was increasing.

It was noticeably higher than yesterday.

The more effort you put in, the more critical hits you get—it really wasn't false.

Watching him, Meng Tian seemed to grasp something.

From the fist technique, he could see that Xu Zhiming was like a bamboo shoot pressed under a stone, silently accumulating strength all along.

Waiting for the day when he would pierce through the boulder above his head, shatter it!

And burst skyward.

Meng Tian took a deep breath.

Zzzzz...

The sound of electric current arose.

Meng Tian seemed to have an epiphany.

He too began slowly practicing the Wind Thunder Fist.

Inside the not-too-spacious office, two youths practiced the same fist technique.

From time to time, the sound of thunderclaps rang out.

Meng Tian would practice for a while, then stop and ask Xu Zhiming questions.

Xu Zhiming answered everything he knew without holding back.

Meng Tian's heart gradually calmed, and the intervals between his questions grew longer.

About two hours later.

Meng Tian, as if enlightened, started practicing from the beginning again.

Boom boom...

"Haha... I've got it, I've got it!"

Xu Zhiming withdrew his fists, reached for a few tissues, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

His painstaking efforts hadn't been wasted.

While watching Meng Tian practice, he had been thinking about how to change his state of mind.

An A-grade aptitude was indeed formidable—following his lead in the fist technique, Meng Tian was gradually influenced, quickly syncing with his rhythm and grasping his intent.

He felt that Meng Tian's aptitude might be even higher than A-grade.

Meng Tian's forehead only had fine beads of sweat.

Practicing the fist technique for over two hours wasn't all that tiring for him.

He withdrew his fists and looked at Xu Zhiming with great admiration.

He clasped his fists toward Xu Zhiming in a standard salute.

Among martial artists, this was already a very solemn way of expressing gratitude.

"Xu Zhiming, thank you!"

Xu Zhiming waved his hand.

"Each takes what they need."

"Pay up—one million three hundred thousand."

Hearing this, Meng Tian couldn't help but laugh.

Interesting, truly interesting.

He looked Xu Zhiming up and down.

The clothes and shoes he wore added up to no more than two hundred bucks.

Meng Tian closed his eyes, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.

His qi and blood, which had been stagnant, had improved by a very subtle amount.

The Wind Thunder Fist had broken through to the Fourth Level—was the Fifth Level far off?

Even the Sixth Level wasn't impossible.

What he wanted wasn't the Fourth Level of the Wind Thunder Fist, but the Sixth Level.

"One million three hundred thousand is too little—if word got out, people would laugh at me."

"You've done me a huge favor; I can't repay that kindness with just a bit of money."

"Which high school are you from? Add me as a contact, and once I've confirmed things, I'll come find you."

Xu Zhiming nodded. The more benefits, the better.

"Yunshui First High School."

"Alright, wait for me. I'm going to find my sister and give you an answer tomorrow."

With that, Meng Tian rushed out the door in a hurry.

Leaving Xu Zhiming standing alone in the empty office.

Xu Zhiming froze. He really wanted to ask—who was going to pay?