Moving Strength, Challenging the Dojo

Moving Strength, Challenging the Dojo

Three days later.

In Xue Jing's home, in the "gym."

You completed a Breathing Method practice session. Fitness EXP +16

You completed a Breathing Method practice session. Fitness EXP +16

You completed a...

Watching the notifications pop up more than a dozen times in succession, Xue Jing felt the various rhythms generated inside his body as he breathed.

The stretching of his bones, the workings of his internal organs, the contraction and expansion of his muscles...

He stared blankly at his arm. The muscles beneath his skin swelled and shrank with his breathing, like living creatures with minds of their own.

After an unknown amount of time, when he reached a certain threshold, Xue Jing felt streams of heat surge from all over his body, rapidly gathering in his right arm in time with his breathing.

He silently walked over to the freestanding punching bag in the middle of the room, bent his knees slightly, drew his right hand back to his waist, and assumed the stance for a straight punch.

Xue Jing took a deep breath and threw a straight punch.

"Bang!!"

Compared with his previous punches, this one was neither fast nor particularly imposing.

Yet the freestanding punching bag, whose base weighed a full three hundred pounds, seemed as though it had been struck by an oncoming car. Centered on where his fist landed, the entire bag bent like a shrimp and flew sideways into the wall, making the whole room shake.

Conditions met. Skill activated: Moving Strength

Moving Strength Lv1 (0/300)

In an instant, the force he had only produced through a flash of inspiration was rapidly mastered and became instinctive.

Delight flashed in Xue Jing's eyes.

He immediately began circulating the Breathing Method. The organs inside his body moved in accordance with his breathing, producing various rhythms that transformed into kinetic energy and "created" force.

With a thought, Xue Jing directed the force into his right foot, then lifted it and stomped down! Crack—

The tiled floor split apart, and even the reinforced concrete beneath the tiles cracked slightly. The entire floor trembled.

Beating up the floor. Moving Strength EXP +1

Xue Jing's mouth twitched.

He had just gotten himself a hammer and, unable to resist, had treated the floor like a nail.

Hopefully Mom won't notice when she gets back.

Maomao sat squatting nearby, tilting her head at Xue Jing, her little face wearing an almost human expression of disbelief.

"...You said you'd only come into contact with the Breathing Method three days ago?"

"Yes." Xue Jing nodded as he set the freestanding punching bag he had sent flying back upright.

"And you'd never had any prior exposure to martial arts?" Maomao's tail began to sway.

"How many times are you going to ask?" Xue Jing said helplessly.

"I told you, I possess invincible talent and world-shaking wisdom."

He said it without blushing or missing a beat.

Maomao rolled her eyes. "You do have quite a bit of talent, but it's too early to call it invincible. There are geniuses in this world who learn Moving Strength the moment they come into contact with the Breathing Method."

"Some major companies can even use special technology to artificially create this sort of 'genius.'"

"This world is huge. You only have a little talent, so don't get carried away."

Ning Fengwan warned him solemnly.

Xue Jing smiled, walked over to her, and pinched her proud little cheeks. "Got it."

"Keep your hands to yourself. Also, call me Sect Leader," Maomao said flatly.

"Got it, Lady Wan." Xue Jing rubbed her head.

Ning Fengwan was merely refuting him out of habit. Over the past three days, she had already grown accustomed to Xue Jing's impudence.

"Still, since you have this level of talent and have already developed Moving Strength, we'll need to enter the Hidden Dragon Dojo another way..."

Maomao thought for a while before speaking.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Xue Jing asked doubtfully.

Maomao leaped onto Xue Jing's shoulder and sat down. Licking her paw, she said:

"If you enter purely through my connections, then you'll be a genuine nepotism hire. You'll inevitably get sneered at and treated differently."

"Then how are we getting in, Wan Teacher?" Seeing her put on the airs of a little adult, Xue Jing found it rather cute and could not help teasing her.

Apparently quite pleased with the title of teacher, Maomao's tail began swaying, and a trace of humanlike pride appeared on her little face.

"By the rules of the martial world, of course. We challenge the dojo!"

Elsewhere, at the South District docks.

A sturdy old man wearing a short black jacket, with graying hair, a gloomy face, and a body as upright as an ancient pine, walked slowly into a warehouse with his hands behind his back.

Inside the warehouse, Duan Kaiping and a black-clad young man named Yun Ye had been waiting for some time. When the old man entered, Duan Kaiping's expression immediately turned solemn. He dropped to his knees, planted both hands on the ground, and kowtowed respectfully.

"Kaiping greets Master. May Master's blessings be as vast as the sea and his lifespan equal that of heaven!"

Yun Ye, standing nearby, let out a mocking snort, seemingly disdainful.

"..."

The old man, Golden Wind Dojo Master Jiao Hongyuan, showed no change in expression. He merely said to Duan Kaiping, "Mm. Get up."

Only then did he turn to Yun Ye. "Where is it?"

Yun Ye rolled his neck and pointed his thumb behind him toward a three-meter-high shipping container in the warehouse.

"I knew you were coming back today, so I brought it over. It's in there."

"So, our transaction with Kangde Company is now concluded. Transfer the rest of the money to—"

Before he could finish, Jiao Hongyuan turned his gaze on him and interrupted in a completely level tone. "Concluded?"

"You may have forgotten that when Kangde Company placed the order, they made it perfectly clear that this was to be handled confidentially and absolutely must not be leaked."

"How did you do things? You brazenly passed through Edge City and charged straight in?"

"Now the Sixth Agency has stepped in to investigate. Do you have any idea how much trouble that is?"

Yun Ye sneered. "And what do you intend to do about it?"

Jiao Hongyuan smiled.

"I've heard that the Celestial Host Worm Mother can give birth to corresponding special insect breeds based on what it is fed. I am very curious whether that is true."

Yun Ye frowned and, without hesitation, raised his left arm clad in a gauntlet-like glove, aiming it at Jiao Hongyuan and Duan Kaiping.

Yet at the very instant he raised his arm, Jiao Hongyuan's sturdy body vanished from where he stood.

Duan Kaiping did not even have time to react. His vision blurred, and Jiao Hongyuan was already behind Yun Ye, flicking the blood from his right hand.

"Golden Wind... White Rainbow Sword..." Yun Ye rasped out his final words. Then his head and left hand slid off together and fell to the ground.

The headless body remained standing. There was not the slightest raised edge along the cuts at the neck and arm, as though they had been severed by an incomparably sharp divine weapon.

"Master... this..." Duan Kaiping swallowed, somewhat terrified.

"These desperadoes are too crude, both in how they conduct themselves and how they handle matters. He should count himself lucky to die by my hand," Jiao Hongyuan said slowly.

"Master, what about the others?" Duan Kaiping asked worriedly.

"Naturally, they will go down and accompany him. Kangde Company's side has already been dealt with."

With his hands behind his back, Jiao Hongyuan looked at the three-meter-high shipping container before him. Perhaps it was an illusion, but something like the breathing of a ferocious beast seemed to be coming from within.

"Kaiping, where are the things I told you to prepare?"

Duan Kaiping answered respectfully, "They have already been prepared. All the cockroaches were bred ourselves and not purchased from outside. The people are ready as well. All of them are officially recorded as dead or missing..."

Jiao Hongyuan nodded in satisfaction. "Prepare more. After some time, once the higher-ups shift their attention away from Sunny City, we can begin the plan."

"Yes," Duan Kaiping replied.

"By the way, Master, didn't Junior Brother return with you?"

"He's still in Maple City taking part in the selection tournament. He has a few more matches to fight..."

In the East District, before a certain office building.

Dressed in casual clothes suitable for movement, Xue Jing raised a hand to shield his eyes from the glaring midday sun and looked up at the building.

"The Hidden Dragon Dojo is on the seventeenth floor. Go, go, go—get up there!"

Maomao sat on Xue Jing's shoulder, pointed upward with her little paw, and urged him on.

Please keep reading, please keep reading—pretty please.