Stronger Than Imagined

"What?!"

The moment those words were spoken, Wang Peng's expression changed instantly, shifting from smug disdain to disbelief.

"You're bluffing me?" He glared furiously at Su Kuang.

Su Kuang shrugged. "I wish it were fake too, but that kid really is a freak."

Wang Peng's expression clouded and cleared unpredictably, his feelings complicated.

But he quickly calmed down again. "So what? He's still only a Quasi-Martial Warrior. This world has no shortage of geniuses, but those who can truly grow up are few and far between."

Qin Heng said, "Still talking tough."

Qin Heng's punching power was indeed somewhat weaker than Wang Peng's right now.

But he was certain that it would not be long before he overtook Wang Peng and rubbed his face against the floor.

"Heh heh."

Wang Peng sneered. "Naive kid, you don't think having a little talent means you can swagger around like you own the place, do you? Let me tell you, even if a Great Martial Master came right now, they'd have to bow and scrape to serve me. If I weren't taking the assessment soon and unable to stir up trouble, I could beat you to death right now without bearing any responsibility!"

As soon as he said that, the training ground fell silent.

Those words were far too arrogant—he simply had no regard for law or order!

Qin Heng sneered coldly, while the younger trainees around them felt a little afraid.

"Senior Brother Wang, there's no need for that, no need for that." Chen Yuan hurriedly stepped forward to smooth things over.

Su Kuang also realized that things were going wrong and quickly pulled Wang Peng away. "Senior Brother Wang, forget it, forget it. Let's go get your Admission Ticket first. The coach is waiting for you in the office."

"Hmph."

Wang Peng shot Qin Heng a disdainful look, then left with the other two.

"Qin Heng... are you okay?"

Only after the three had gone far away did Zhang Jun dare to approach Qin Heng and speak to him.

Qin Heng said, "It's nothing. Just a petty man drunk on success."

Then he walked toward the training room.

He knew a little about Wang Peng's granduncle.

During the great chaos several decades ago, many people had been separated from their closest relatives amid the turmoil.

Now that society had become relatively stable, those who had found success and fame began searching for their blood relatives from the past.

Wang Peng's granduncle, Wang Jianming, was one such person.

This old man was a renowned martial arts expert in Nansha Base City, the Vice Hall Master of the Nansha branch of the War God Martial Hall, one of the Four Great Martial Halls.

A figure of that stature was indeed someone Qin Heng could not afford to offend.

But Wang Jianming was Wang Jianming, and Wang Peng was Wang Peng.

Would the dignified Vice Hall Master of a War God Martial Hall branch really lower himself to deal with a junior like him?

As for Wang Peng... his strength was not all that much greater than Qin Heng's. After a few more days of training, Qin Heng would be able to contend with him.

Small training room.

Qin Heng first measured his height.

Most children from the Slum District suffered from malnutrition. At seventeen or eighteen, they were usually only around 165 to 170 centimeters tall.

Qin Heng had been lucky enough to have Fang Lingxue supporting him. He got to eat a Nutritious Meal every noon, yet he was still only 172 centimeters tall.

But when he tested himself today, he was somewhat surprised.

After training for a single night, not only had his strength soared, even his height had shot up by an inch, reaching 175 centimeters!

I wonder if I can keep growing taller in the future? Qin Heng thought, somewhat looking forward to becoming tall, handsome, and powerful.

Now, it was time to train.

Before learning the Innate Fetal Breathing Art, he had only trained two things each day: strength and agility.

Strength training was relatively simple. It generally involved using equipment such as barbells and bench presses to stimulate the muscles, or practicing under added weight, running, and so on. It was the most basic part.

Agility training relied on robots.

The trainee stood in the middle, while the surrounding racks could be fitted with Mechanical Arms wearing boxing gloves, continuously launching attacks at the trainee.

Their frequency and number could both be adjusted.

At most, eight Mechanical Arms could be installed at once, and each Mechanical Arm could punch at a maximum frequency of once every 0.5 seconds.

In other words, at maximum difficulty, the trainee had to evade sixteen attacks per second, or they would be beaten black and blue.

Qin Heng entered the training room and immediately got into the zone.

"I'll train strength for a while first, then work on reaction speed."

He found a barbell and set the weight himself.

Yesterday, his punching power had been 544 kilograms, while his right arm could lift 105 kilograms one-handed.

His punching power had increased so much today that adding another 25 kilograms should not be a problem.

He loaded the barbell to 130 kilograms. That weight was already somewhat intimidating.

But when Qin Heng tried it, it only felt a little heavy. It was not yet beyond his ability to lift.

With his left hand, he easily pulled the 130-kilogram barbell off the ground. Raising it over his head was not too difficult either.

After switching to his right hand, the process became even easier, far from his limit.

"Why does it feel like my strength has grown by more than what the testing machine showed?"

Qin Heng muttered to himself.

Perhaps because his improvement overnight had been too great, his utilization and coordination of his own muscular strength had dropped, causing this feeling.

He increased the barbell to 155 kilograms and tried again.

Adding 25 kilograms in one go raised the difficulty considerably, and Qin Heng felt some pressure.

But gritting his teeth, he still successfully lifted the barbell over his head.

"My left arm is close to its limit at 155 kilograms, but my right arm should be able to take another 10 kilograms..."

"Based on my previous exertion technique and a conversion rate of one to five, my right fist's power should reach around 825 kilograms."

"If I train more, I might be able to give the examiner a surprise during the assessment!"

Everyone had different levels of exertion. With the same 100 kilograms of lifting strength, some could convert it into 400 kilograms of punching power, some into 500 kilograms, and some could even strike with over 600 kilograms.

The higher the conversion rate, the better. This was something every martial artist had to temper.

Qin Heng did several sets of strength training, repeatedly tempering himself close to his limit.

Two hours later, he was drenched in sweat. His bones, muscles, and tendons had all been worked loose, and the more he trained, the easier it became.

"Time to train agility."

Checking the time, Qin Heng walked over to another training machine and installed the Mechanical Arms one by one.

Very soon, five Mechanical Arms were in place.

Qin Heng turned on the control computer, set the frequency to one punch every 0.8 seconds with irregular attacks, then walked to the center.

He thought to himself, Yesterday, it was four arms and one punch per second. My strength has risen sharply now, so this frequency shouldn't be a problem.

A mechanical voice sounded. "Testing will begin shortly. Attacks will begin in five seconds."

The countdown began. Five, four, three, two... one.

Begin!

Whoosh, whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Five Mechanical Arms launched a frenzied assault on Qin Heng.

Within the limited space, Qin Heng dodged and blocked, doing everything he could to avoid taking hits.

One second, three seconds, five seconds...

The Mechanical Arms had no emotions. Following their preset data, they threw one punch every 0.8 seconds, each carrying 50 kilograms of force. There was no possibility of going easy on him.

At first, Qin Heng handled them fairly smoothly, but by the fifth second, he began to realize where the problem lay.

Five arms compared to four was not a simple increase of one in difficulty!

The space around the human body was limited. With one extra arm, the range in which he could dodge shrank drastically, and the pressure was at least double that of four arms!

What was more, he had increased the frequency by 0.2 seconds!

By the sixth second, he was beginning to struggle to hold on.

In the eighth second, a fist from directly behind slammed viciously into his lower back.

In the ninth second, a fist from his front side struck his head. Thankfully, he had protective gear on, so the damage was minor.

In the tenth second, Qin Heng had taken two consecutive hits and lost his balance. His rhythm was completely disrupted.

And then...

Bang bang bang bang bang!

Qin Heng fell into a state of getting beaten from all sides.

Fortunately, the training robot had a safety setting. After accumulating twenty hits, it would automatically stop attacking.

Qin Heng took twenty punches. Though the force was not particularly heavy, he still felt rather frustrated.

"I got cocky, I got cocky. Looks like I'm not much stronger than yesterday after all. Four Mechanical Arms are the limit—I can only increase the frequency a little compared to yesterday."

He stepped down from the machine, removed one Mechanical Arm, and kept the frequency at 0.8 seconds.

He started the training again. This time, the pressure was indeed much lower. Though it was still difficult to deal with, he lasted the full sixty seconds without taking a single punch, relying entirely on dodging, blocking, parrying, and resisting.

After one round, he rested for two minutes and continued repeating it.

Once, twice, three times...

Agility training was far more exhausting than strength training. Although it did not require much brute force, his mind had to remain intensely focused and every muscle in his body stayed taut. After sixty continuous seconds, it was no different from having fought a real battle.

Over the course of more than an hour, Qin Heng trained twenty times. Hungry and exhausted, he could no longer muster even a shred of strength.

Checking the time, he saw that it was already past eleven in the morning, almost time for lunch.

"I'll rest a little. After eating, I'll go find Ling Xue and tell her the good news that my strength has increased so much."