The Summit

Changfeng Martial Hall.

Shanhu had trained too hard yesterday, so she woke up late today and arrived at the martial hall a little later than usual.

As soon as she entered, she found everyone gathered in the training area.

Yang Danqing, Xu Huan, Zhang Le, along with the two coaches who hadn't yet taken leave and a few early-arriving students.

They weren't training.

Instead, they were watching someone warm up, as if preparing for some kind of test.

That person...

"Li Pin is back?"

Shanhu was delighted.

"Boom!"

The next moment, a dull, heavy rumble came from the strength-testing machine, the entire instrument seeming to shudder violently.

The sound startled Shanhu.

Then, as if realizing something, she strode over quickly and soon stood before the machine.

When she saw the "391" displayed on it, her eyelids twitched violently, and her mind was rocked with shock.

"How is that possible!?"

Her face was etched with disbelief.

"Such power..."

"Dan Jin! Dan Jin! This really is Dan Jin!"

"Incredible! Absolutely incredible!"

Yang Danqing, Xu Huan, and Zhang Le weren't much better off.

Among them, Yang Danqing's expression was filled with the awe and lament of "the younger generation is formidable."

"What's going on? Dan Jin!? That hit Li Pin just threw... was really Dan Jin!?"

Shanhu felt as if she were in a dream.

This past month, she hadn't even celebrated the Starfall Festival, seizing every moment to train hard.

Whenever she had time, she'd ask the master about the circulation of force.

Hard work paid off.

She felt she had made great progress, on the verge of breaking through from Ming Jin to An Jin.

She had planned to challenge Li Pin to a spar once he returned from his hometown, but then...

He was already at Dan Jin!?

"Can someone tell me what happened?"

Shanhu was lost.

"This morning, I ran into Li Pin and paid him a compliment... 'Haven't seen you in a month, you must have improved a lot,' I said..."

Xu Huan's expression was complicated: "I swear, I was just being polite, but then... he nodded and said he'd grasped the subtlety of Dan Jin's roundness..."

As he spoke, his face twitched.

His only thought at the time had been: "Are you f***ing kidding me?"

A Level 2 Martial Artist, goes back to his hometown and comes back with Dan Jin.

Even cheating wouldn't be this blatant.

"It's my fault. I dragged him here to test it, and well, you saw the result."

Zhang Le gave a bitter laugh beside him.

He glanced at Li Pin, who was regulating his blood and qi, opened his mouth as if to say something, and finally summed it up in three words.

"A monster."

"So, there really are geniuses in this world."

Yang Danqing said, "Before the Starfall Festival, Master Fang said that a newly opened martial hall would have Li Pin as its resident instructor, offering him a million annual salary. I was a bit unconvinced. Li Pin is talented, sure, but to reach Hua Jin, the level needed to be a resident instructor, even at the fastest, he'd need a few more years, right? At the time, I could only console myself that he was good-looking, and the youngsters liked his face. It made sense that an old geezer like me wouldn't get the same treatment. But now..."

He shook his head with a hint of despondency: "People really can't be judged by the same standard."

"Dan Jin, Dan Jin..."

Shanhu walked over to Li Pin, her body trembling slightly.

After a long moment, she said, "You... really cultivated Dan Jin?"

"Yeah."

Li Pin nodded. "I ran into a Cat Demon back in my hometown."

"A Cat Demon!?"

At these words, Shanhu, Yang Danqing, Xu Huan, and Zhang Le all narrowed their eyes simultaneously.

"Cat Demon?!"

Shanhu even repeated it in a sharp cry.

Clearly, she knew exactly what a Cat Demon meant.

"That's right. In that situation, either I died, or the Cat Demon died."

Li Pin narrated in a calm tone, as if talking about some trivial matter. "At that moment of life and death, my mind went blank, and I threw a punch. When that punch landed, I felt my spirit, will, and blood all boil at once, merging into one. In the end, using the terrain advantage, I drained my blood and killed the Cat Demon. Afterwards, I carefully examined it and realized that force was Dan Jin."

Ordinary martial artists might not have access to news of him killing a Cat Demon, but Fang Lingjue would hear of it sooner or later.

Besides, it wasn't anything shameful.

So he spoke of it openly and frankly.

Yet this calm narration made the others feel just how perilous the situation must have been.

Just as Li Pin said—either the Cat Demon died, or he did.

Between life and death lies great terror.

It was true that many martial artists had grasped higher-level force circulation amid life-or-death struggles and stepped into new realms.

The group had originally thought such things only happened in stories, movies, and novels—never expecting it to unfold right before their eyes.

He had earned his Dan Jin with his life...

They couldn't envy that.

"A genius."

Yang Danqing offered a heartfelt compliment. "Once Dan Jin is achieved, Embrace Qi into Dan is only a matter of time. Martial Master Li has boundless prospects."

"I never thought I'd be lucky enough to witness a genius's rise firsthand."

Xu Huan said, "Martial Master Li, did you sign up for this year's Jiangzhou Martial Arts Tournament? I'm looking forward to seeing how far you'll go."

"I never doubted whether Martial Master Li could master Dan Jin—I just didn't expect it to come so soon."

Zhang Le also sighed.

This young man, who had joined their Changfeng Martial Hall less than three months ago, had brought them too many shocks.

At the same time, it made them realize just how vast the gap was between them and true geniuses.

"Actually, I had already mastered Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound before I even entered university, transitioning my force from Ming to An. During my college years, though I didn't train my body, I still pondered the wonders of Hua Jin from time to time. These past few months, as my physical condition improved, stepping into Hua Jin came naturally. Master Fang probably saw that, which is why he trusted me to hold down a post."

Li Pin explained with a smile.

"A Hua Jin at twenty-two... and a Hua Jin who has grasped Dan Jin at that—that's still astonishing. I suspect only disciples carefully groomed by a Martial Saint to inherit their legacy could reach this level at such an age."

Yang Danqing had also adjusted his mindset by now.

After all, he was older and just wanted to coast to retirement in this line of work, with no ambition to climb higher.

So once he recovered, he even joked, "Martial Master Li, you wouldn't happen to be a secret disciple of some Martial Saint, would you?"

Li Pin smiled but didn't answer, only saying, "Dan Jin doesn't mean Embrace Dan. Besides, I've already exhausted all my past accumulation. From here on, I can only walk the road ahead step by step on my own."

Yang Danqing, Shanhu, and the others assumed that Li Pin's "past accumulation" referred to his high school and college years of martial training—unaware that he was actually talking about over a decade from his previous life.

In his past life, he had reached the peak of Hua Jin and could force out a few bursts of Dan Jin at the cost of draining his blood.

And now...

He had fully caught up to his past life, restored to his peak state.

With no past-life experience left, the road ahead was truly his to walk alone.