Laneside Brawl!

Li Congxin trained with desperate intensity, as always.

The weights on his body had started with sandbags tied to both legs, then progressed to weights covering his entire body—from a few kilograms at first to dozens now. With the special effects of "Calories" boosting him, he constantly squeezed out his potential, causing all his attributes to improve by leaps and bounds once again.

However, compared with the growth of his basic attributes, his progress in martial techniques was far less outstanding.

During the half month since he began practicing martial arts, Li Congxin had only barely mastered the various moves and routines of Twelve-Road Tan Leg. His execution was still extremely stiff. In Nalan Qing's words, he was far too rigid and mechanical. He could not even perform the moves smoothly when practicing against a sandbag, let alone adapt them in actual combat.

After seeing Li Congxin's dramatically uneven performance, Old Master Nalan Long gave him an eight-character assessment.

Excellent physique, mediocre comprehension.

Clearly, the musical boost from "Calories" was not omnipotent.

Tan Leg incorporated the essence of Shaolin martial arts and placed great emphasis on fundamentals. Without the support of a cheat-like ability, it was simply unrealistic to become a fighting expert in a short time.

However, Li Congxin was not discouraged. If his comprehension was lacking, he only needed to practice more.

Practice a technique a hundred times, and its meaning will reveal itself!

Any problem that could be solved through hard work was no problem at all!

Before transmigrating, he had been young and foolish, and had devoted his precious youth to Seria, to Daoxiang Village, and to the Summoner's Rift and the Valley of Kings. By the time he realized he needed to strive for improvement, everything was already too late. His academic qualifications, connections, resources, and other "innate" factors had determined that he had no path to advancement left. What else could he do besides lie flat?

But this life was different!

Not only had he regained a young body, he had also awakened the cheat ability essential to every transmigrator. His future held infinite possibilities.

Under such circumstances, if he did not give it his all, how could he justify transmigrating in the first place?

As he ran with the wind while listening to "Calories," Li Congxin's mind conjured up the words Nalan Long had spoken to him before he left the martial arts gym.

"Martial arts are a form of cultivation from the inside out, an elevation in which the mind and body advance together. You must try to integrate them into every aspect of your daily life. If all you do is fight recklessly and think about how to knock down your opponents, how is that any different from the basic combat techniques taught in ordinary classes?"

As he ran, Li Congxin continuously pondered the meaning behind Nalan Long's words.

Suddenly, he sensed a murderous aura!

His ability to sense it was not because Li Congxin's improvement had been so heaven-defying that he had become sensitive enough to detect murderous intent and predict danger.

Rather...

A row of five men with bizarre, flamboyant hairstyles stood blocking the entire alley. They held vicious weapons such as baseball bats and iron chains, and were staring at him with ill intent.

In a situation like this, as long as someone was not blind, anyone could "sense" the murderous aura, right?

Li Congxin stopped. He suddenly heard a faint series of footsteps behind him. Turning around, he saw another five men with bizarre hairstyles emerge from the shadows, each carrying a weapon and firmly sealing off his escape route.

"Kid!" At the very front of Li Congxin's path, a Black man whose hair was combed into countless tiny braids smiled maliciously and spoke first. "You're unlucky to have run into us today. Hand over everything valuable on you, nice and easy—including your portable music player."

What the hell was he talking about?

Li Congxin had always used the system to play music. When had he ever carried a portable music player?

Li Congxin glanced coldly at these men who had practically written the words "I'm a bad guy" across their faces. Without backing down, he said coldly, "Get lost. I'll pretend I never saw you today."

"Oh, the yellow-skinned monkey's got some backbone." The braided Black man waved his hand. "Brothers, teach him a lesson."

At the braided man's command, the four men beside him and the five men behind Li Congxin all brandished their weapons and closed in on him.

Faced with a bunch of punks who only knew how to fight recklessly, Li Congxin was naturally not afraid in the slightest.

This master had trained before!

A one-versus-nine battle erupted in an instant.

According to Li Congxin's original thinking, after practicing martial arts for half a month, dealing with a dozen street punks should have been a piece of cake.

But the moment they actually started fighting, he realized that things were nothing like that!

During the half month he had practiced martial arts, most of his time had been spent kicking sandbags. Although he had also done some practical sparring, whether it was Nalan Qing or his classmates in the elite class, they had all practiced one-on-one. They had never fought as a group.

Now that he suddenly faced a group battle—and an unfavorable one-versus-nine situation at that—the enemy seemed to surround him from every direction. With his limited combat experience, he simply could not accurately judge each person's attacks!

Li Congxin, thrown into a state of panic, was like a Stubborn Silver player in a game who had been ganked by three people. He immediately unleashed Q, W, E, and R without distinguishing friend from foe, then followed up with all manner of basic attacks.

In his fluster, he had completely forgotten his Shaolin Twelve-Road Tan Leg. He truly managed to forget every move after learning it, using whichever move came to mind. He even broke apart some fixed routines and used the pieces however he pleased, eventually forming an eight-move leg technique unique to Li Congxin.

He named it—Xia Ji Ba Kick!

Although his fighting style had been completely assimilated by the punks before him, Li Congxin's efforts over the past few days had not been in vain. More than a month of hard training with "Calories" had made his physical abilities far exceed those of ordinary people. As Nalan Long had put it, in terms of physical strength and explosive power alone, Li Congxin was already no longer inferior to Nalan Qing, who had practiced martial arts since childhood.

Relying on his absolute advantage in basic attributes, Li Congxin fought the one-versus-nine battle back and forth. With the advantage of high attack power and thick health, he endured several blows from the bats and even kicked three of the punks to the ground, temporarily rendering them incapable of fighting.

The braided man, who had originally been planning to watch the show, finally could not sit still when he saw how fierce Li Congxin was. He drew a dagger from his waist and finally joined the battle.

Li Congxin's situation was not good either. Although his opponents had decreased from nine to six, the pressure he faced had not diminished. Instead, it had increased.

When nine people had surrounded one, the punks had gotten in one another's way and could not fully display their strength. Now that only six remained, they were able to unleash their combat power to the greatest extent.

Under the punks' even fiercer and more frenzied attacks, Li Congxin had no time to spare for anything else. Only when the braided man reached him did he notice the most dangerous opponent.

However, it was already too late!

The braided man's attack was astonishingly swift. After charging in, he thrust the dagger in his hand toward Li Congxin's heart without a word. It was a lethal strike meant to take a life in one move, proving that this man was definitely not killing someone for the first time!

By the time Li Congxin noticed him, the deadly dagger was already inches away. It was clearly too late to dodge. Without time to think, he instinctively raised his right arm to block the dagger. His powerful survival instinct told him that taking a slash to the arm was better than having his heart pierced!

Rip! Li Congxin's clothes were easily cut open by the dagger. The sandbag tied to his arm was sliced open as well, leaving a long gash. The iron sand inside poured out, spilling all over the ground.

Seeing this, Li Congxin secretly wiped away a cold sweat.

Fortunately, he had worn his weights for protection today. Otherwise, his arm would have been in serious danger!

However, the braided man had clearly trained as well. He was different from the other punks, who only knew how to swing bats and iron chains around wildly. When his first strike was blocked by Li Congxin's sandbag, he immediately twisted his wrist, changing the dagger's thrust into a slash and driving it toward Li Congxin's right temple with incredible speed.

Li Congxin hurriedly tucked in his neck and lowered his head while retreating, doing his best to evade the fatal blow. He was still half a beat too slow. Although he avoided the vital spot, the dagger sliced across his forehead, and a large amount of blood flowed out, instantly blurring his vision.

This is bad!

At this critical moment, Li Congxin had a flash of inspiration. He shifted his feet, abruptly spun his body, and used the momentum to unleash a powerful three-hundred-and-sixty-degree backfist with his right arm.

But the punch was not the main point. His real attack was the sandbag that had been cut open on his arm. The iron sand inside had not finished spilling out. With that swing, it scattered in all directions like flowers raining from the heavens.

"Iron Sand Boundary Technique!"

The surrounding punks, including the braided leader, were startled by this sudden hidden attack and hurriedly retreated while shielding their faces.

Li Congxin finally gained a brief chance to catch his breath.

But it was useless!

He had not carried any weapons when he left. Even with a moment to breathe, he had no way to turn the tide or escape alive!

Could it be that after transmigrating, he would die at the hands of these insignificant punks without even encountering a named villain?

He was unwilling to accept it!

Through his vision blurred by blood, he saw the punks he had forced back charging toward him again. Nalan Long's teachings resurfaced in Li Congxin's mind.

"Martial arts are a form of cultivation from the inside out, an elevation in which the mind and body advance together. You must try to integrate them into every aspect of your daily life."

"If all you do is fight recklessly and think about how to knock down your opponents, how is that any different from the basic combat techniques taught in ordinary classes?"