Peak

Changfeng Martial Hall.

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

The moment she entered, she found everyone gathered in the training area.

Yang Danqing, Xu Huan, Zhang Le, including the two coaches who had not yet taken leave and several early-arriving trainees.

They were not training.

They were watching someone warm up, as though some kind of test was about to take place.

That person...

"Li Pin is back?"

Shanhu brightened with joy.

"Bang!"

The next moment, a dull boom erupted from the strength-testing machine, and the entire apparatus seemed to shudder violently.

That sound made Shanhu jump.

Then, as if she had thought of something, she strode forward and quickly reached the machine.

When she saw the "391" displayed on it, her eyelids twitched fiercely, and her mind was struck by a powerful shock.

"How is that possible!?"

Her face was full of disbelief.

"That kind of strength..."

"Dan Jin! Dan Jin! That really is Dan Jin!"

"Amazing! Truly amazing!"

Yang Danqing, Xu Huan, and Zhang Le were hardly any better.

Yang Danqing, in particular, wore an expression full of sighing awe at how formidable the younger generation could be.

"What happened? Dan Jin!? What Li Pin just struck out was... really Dan Jin!?"

Shanhu felt as though she had fallen into a dream.

Over the past month, she had not even celebrated the Starfall Festival, instead seizing every moment to train diligently.

Whenever she had time, she asked her master about the circulation of force.

Heaven did not disappoint those who worked hard.

She felt that she had improved tremendously, and the transition from overt force to hidden force was right before her.

She had planned to challenge Li Pin again after he returned from his hometown, but instead...

He had reached Dan Jin already!?

"Can someone tell me what exactly happened?"

Shanhu was bewildered.

"This morning, I ran into Li Pin and paid him a compliment... said that after not seeing him for a month, his strength must have improved greatly..."

Xu Huan's expression was exceedingly complicated. "I swear, I was just being polite. But then... he nodded and said he had comprehended the mystery of Dan Jin's perfect roundness..."

As he spoke, his expression turned awkward.

At that time, he had only had one thought: Are you fucking kidding me?

A Level 2 Martial Artist had gone home for a visit and returned having cultivated Dan Jin.

Even cheats would not dare be this outrageous, would they?

"It was my fault. I insisted on dragging him over for a test, and well, you all saw the result."

Zhang Le gave a bitter smile from the side.

He glanced at Li Pin, who was regulating his qi and blood, opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something, then ultimately condensed it into three words.

"What a monster."

"So this world really does have geniuses."

Yang Danqing said, "Before the Starfall Festival, Master Fang said that Li Pin would oversee a newly opened martial hall and be paid an annual salary of one million. I was somewhat unconvinced. Li Pin's talent was certainly high, but even if he wanted to reach the Hua Jin level needed to run a hall, no matter how fast he was, it should still take a few more years, right? Back then, I could only console myself by saying that he was handsome, and young people liked that sort of face. An old man like me not receiving the same treatment was understandable. But now, it seems..."

He shook his head somewhat desolately. "People really cannot be measured by the same yardstick."

"Dan Jin, Dan Jin..."

Shanhu took several steps to Li Pin's side, her entire body trembling faintly.

Only after a long while did she ask, "You... really cultivated Dan Jin?"

"Mm."

Li Pin nodded. "I encountered a Cat Demon in my hometown."

"A Cat Demon!?"

The instant those words came out, Shanhu, Yang Danqing, Xu Huan, and Zhang Le all had their pupils contract.

"A Cat Demon!?"

Shanhu even cried it out again.

Clearly, she knew exactly what a Cat Demon represented.

"Yes. In that situation, either I died, or the Cat Demon died."

Li Pin recounted it calmly, as if he were speaking of some trivial matter. "At the brink of life and death, all thoughts emptied from my mind. I threw a punch. As that punch went out, I felt my spirit, will, and qi and blood all boil at once, merging into one. In the end, taking advantage of the terrain and exhausting my qi and blood, I killed the Cat Demon. Afterward, when I examined it closely, I realized that force was Dan Jin."

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

Besides, it was not something shameful.

So he spoke of it openly and naturally.

Yet that very calm account made the others feel as though they could guess just how perilous his situation had been.

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

Between life and death lay a great terror.

Indeed, many martial artists had comprehended the circulation of force at a higher realm amid life-and-death struggles, stepping into entirely new territories.

Originally, they had thought such things only happened in stories, films, and novels. They had never expected it to appear so tangibly before their eyes.

The Dan Jin he had fought for with his life...

They could not envy it into existence.

"Genius."

Yang Danqing sincerely praised him. "Now that Dan Jin has been achieved, Embrace Qi into Dan will only be a matter of time. Martial Master Li's future is boundless."

"I never thought I would be fortunate enough to witness the rise of a genius with my own eyes."

Xu Huan said, "Martial Master Li, did you register for this year's Jiangzhou Martial Arts Tournament? I'm waiting to see just how far you can fight your way."

"I never doubted that Martial Master Li would cultivate Dan Jin. I simply never expected the day to come so quickly."

Zhang Le also sighed with emotion.

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

At the same time, he had made them realize just how enormous the gap was between them and true geniuses.

"Actually, even before I entered university, I had already cultivated Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound, and my force had transitioned from overt to hidden. Though I did not temper my body during my university years, I still pondered the mysteries of Hua Jin from time to time. Over these past few months, my physical fitness caught up, so entering Hua Jin naturally became as inevitable as water flowing into a channel. Master Fang likely saw this, which was why he felt at ease letting me oversee a place."

Li Pin explained with a smile.

"Hua Jin at twenty-two... and Hua Jin who has comprehended Dan Jin, at that. That is still astonishing. I'm afraid only disciples personally cultivated by Martial Saints to inherit their mantle could reach such a level at that age."

Yang Danqing had also adjusted his mindset somewhat by then.

After all, he was old and only wanted to muddle through in this profession until retirement. He no longer had any drive to strive upward.

Once he had adjusted, he was even in the mood to joke. "Martial Master Li, could you be the secret disciple of some Martial Saint?"

Li Pin smiled without answering, merely saying, "Dan Jin does not mean Embrace Dan. Besides, I have already exhausted all my past accumulation. From here on, I can only walk the road ahead one step at a time by myself."

Yang Danqing, Shanhu, and the others all assumed that the "past accumulation" Li Pin spoke of referred to those years of martial arts training in high school and university. They did not know he meant the more than ten years of his previous life.

In his previous life, he had reached the peak of Hua Jin and could strike out several threads of Dan Jin at the cost of draining his qi and blood.

And now...

He had completely caught up to his previous life, recovering to the state he had been in at his very peak.

Without the experience of his previous life, he truly could only walk the road ahead by himself.