Origin Points Surge; Under the Name Li Hansha, He Sets Out to Test His Martial Arts Against the World

Gu Chen opened the comments section of the novel Dragon Snake and quickly found it in an uproar. Countless readers and netizens were discussing the video below.

"Holy shit! That video trending online today was insane! That National Martial Arts Master was unbelievable! He might be even stronger than Wang Chao in the book! He walked across sheer cliffs like flat ground, jumped down from a cliff over twenty meters high, ran across water, and saved a drowning child without breaking a sweat. Can National Martial Arts really do all that?!"

"Author! Come out and explain that video! Is National Martial Arts real? If we train the way the book says, can we actually become Pillaring Grandmasters?!"

"I told you! The author of Dragon Snake is definitely a National Martial Arts Master in real life! Now we have proof!!"

"Guys, I've decided! I'm starting National Martial Arts today! I'm going to become a Pillaring Grandmaster too!"

"To the person above: dream on! Even Wang Chao in the book has only just glimpsed Pill Embracement. You think you're some one-in-a-million martial arts prodigy?!"

"I bet there's more to the author than meets the eye! I wonder what level of National Martial Arts he's reached by now?!"

"..."

Gu Chen smiled at the lively discussion. He had already used the Refine Illusion into Reality System to anonymize his book. No one could trace it back to its real author—him!

In just one day, the combined attention from the video and Dragon Snake had earned him 150,000 Origin Points. He had recouped a good chunk of his investment. Together with what he had left, he now had 200,000 Origin Points—enough for his next plan.

While the video was still drawing attention, Gu Chen spent another 50,000 Origin Points to bring several Transforming Strength practitioners into reality. He scattered them through cities near Cloud Hidden Mountain and gave them identities: an elderly janitor at a Martial Arts Gym, a beggar, and a hidden figure in a prison, among others. Their corresponding memories took shape along with them.

With that done, Gu Chen used the system to reconnect his mind to the Pillaring Vigorous Strength Grandmaster Clone he had brought into reality. He used the system's power to change into coarse linen clothes and layered cloth shoes, picked a direction, and hurried toward nearby Fuzhou.

Fuzhou was only a little over two hundred kilometers from Cloud Hidden Mountain. For a Pillaring Vigorous Strength Grandmaster who had broken the limits of the human body, that was nothing. Late in the book, Pill Embracement practitioners like Wang Chao and Li Hansha could move faster than cheetahs and sustain that speed for a long time.

After running only a few dozen kilometers, the Pillaring Vigorous Strength Grandmaster Clone suddenly sensed two familiar gazes. He stopped in his tracks. Gu Chen, whose mind was linked to his, felt them too. He turned and spotted two familiar faces: Sun Na, the livestreamer he had met on Cloud Hidden Mountain that afternoon, and Pan Xiaoli.

At that moment, Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli were staring, dumbfounded, at the mysterious master keeping pace with their car on the road. Sun Na's grip slipped on the wheel, and the car swerved sideways out of control. Both women screamed.

"Aaah..."

Gu Chen's eye twitched through his link with the Pillaring Vigorous Strength Grandmaster Clone. That's all it took for her to lose control of the car?

The avatar drove one foot into the ground and vanished from where he stood. Reappearing over twenty meters away, he pressed a hand against the front of the runaway car. At the instant of contact, his muscles tightened and trembled, then relaxed and tightened again like a python swallowing its prey. In a heartbeat, he channeled the force of a car traveling nearly seventy kilometers an hour down through his feet. Spiderweb cracks spread across the concrete.

Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli, still screaming in the front seats, froze as though someone had pressed pause. Their mouths hung wide enough to fit duck eggs.

Someone caught a speeding car with his bare hands? Wasn't that something you only saw in movies? Could a normal human really do that?!

The avatar released the car. Even Gu Chen, linked to him, marveled at the power of this body. Catching a speeding car barehanded was the sort of thing that happened only in movies, yet he had really done it.

"M-master, thank you so much for saving us! Where are you headed? We could give you a ride if it's on our way..."

Sun Na came back to her senses, swallowed, and gathered the courage to speak.

Gu Chen's eyes lit up through the avatar. She was a livestreamer with quite a few followers. If he took her along, her stream might spread word of National Martial Arts further and convince more people it existed. That would earn him another batch of Origin Points. He could kill two birds with one stone.

With that in mind, Gu Chen quickly came up with a name and said calmly, "You can call me Li Hansha. There's no need to call me 'master.' I'm just an unremarkable seeker of the Way. If we're going the same direction, I don't mind..."

Li Hansha?!

Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli grew excited. They were the first people online to learn his name! With all the attention he was getting, they might become famous overnight if they played this right.

So Gu Chen had the Pillaring Vigorous Strength Grandmaster Clone, now going by Li Hansha, get into the car. He named a destination in Fuzhou, and the three of them set off together.

Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli were thrilled. This mysterious Pillaring Vigorous Strength Grandmaster of National Martial Arts did not seem as hard to talk to as they had imagined. Growing bolder, they began testing the waters with Li Hansha.

"Master—no, Master Li Hansha, what are you going to Fuzhou for?"

Gu Chen was happy to answer. He wanted the livestreamer to post more videos and spread word of National Martial Arts even further.

"A Heaven and Earth Upheaval is coming. Those of us who walk this path must strive to keep pace. I have trained in seclusion for eighteen years. I have come down from the mountain to test my martial arts against the world and seek the road ahead, so that I may face the Great Era Struggle..."

His firm words filled Sun Na and Pan Xiaoli with curiosity. This "Heaven and Earth Upheaval" and "Great Era Struggle" sounded so mysterious. They felt as though they had stumbled onto an incredible secret.

"You're already so strong, Master, and you still want to go further? Wouldn't that make you an Immortal?!"

Pan Xiaoli drew a sharp breath and stole a glance at Li Hansha in the back seat, her eyes brimming with curiosity.

Li Hansha answered earnestly, "Who can say for certain that Immortals don't exist? The Heaven and Earth Upheaval and the Great Era Struggle are approaching. By then, beings like Immortals who can move mountains and overturn oceans may well appear..."

The implications made Sun Na's and Pan Xiaoli's hearts race. Could legendary Immortals really exist? It sounded insane. Could people truly become something so incredible?!

Before they could ask anything else, Li Hansha closed his eyes in the back seat. His breathing grew almost imperceptible, as though he had fallen asleep. Neither woman dared disturb him.