Clap! Clap! Clap!
Don't overthink it. Those were just Xu Ai and Xu Xin practicing their punches...
On Earth in Swallowed Star, before reaching the standards for cultivation, there were two essential training methods: stance training and punching!
The body-tempering boxing routine created by Hong, Thor, and the other martial arts masters could greatly loosen the muscles and bones and promote blood circulation. After completing the whole routine, doing exercises like push-ups and sit-ups would make the workout twice as effective!
This body-tempering boxing routine was the most widely practiced boxing style on Earth. It had a very down-to-earth name: Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist.
The routine Xu Ai and Xu Xin were practicing now was a revised version of Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist. Empress Ruthless had modified it to make it far more efficient.
Xu Ai and Xu Xin practiced three times a day: once after getting up, once before bathing, and once before working out.
Smack!
"That's it for the punching. Next up is the usual workout."
Xu Ai finished the routine and took two deep breaths before heading off to continue training.
Nearly a month had passed since Xu Ai and Xu Xin had taken Empress Ruthless as their master, and both had made considerable progress.
Xu Xin aside, Xu Ai's physical fitness had improved until her punch strength reached 637 kilograms and her speed hit 18.4 meters per second. She was closing in on the advanced-level student benchmarks.
Huh? Why hadn't I mentioned Xu Ai's Neural Response Tester results?
Well, first of all, you had to understand that whatever Empress Ruthless could do, Xu Ai could do too.
So Xu Ai could also perform Empress Ruthless's movement technique, which had surpassed Artistic Conception Level!
If she really used it, the Neural Response Tester wouldn't stand a chance of hitting her!
The same applied if she used Force Amplitude on the Punch Strength Tester or the speed tester.
Although Empress Ruthless devoted most of her energy to cultivation and hadn't spent much effort on stacking domains or increasing her Force Amplitude, she had still reached twelve times.
If Xu Ai used Force Amplitude, her punch strength would instantly reach 8,832 kilograms. That was already Low-level War General territory...
As for the speed test, if Xu Ai gathered twelve times the force and jumped, she'd probably reach the finish line in one leap. How could they even measure her speed?
...All right, she probably couldn't use twelve times her Force Amplitude. Her physical fitness was far too poor. If she recklessly used such a high Force Amplitude, the parts of her body generating the force would probably explode on the spot...
But two or three times should be manageable.
Empress Ruthless sat cross-legged on the floor not far from Xu Ai and Xu Xin. After a long while, she finally opened her eyes.
"Five Hearts Towards Heaven uses the centers of both palms, both soles, and the space between the eyebrows to sense the energy of the universe, then draws it into the body and converts it into Genetic Origin Energy.
"My cultivation method uses the five viscera and six bowels to sense and absorb the energy of the universe directly. That skips the process of the energy flowing from the 'five hearts' to the rest of the body. Since it saves time, I might as well call it the Five Qi Towards Origin cultivation method."
The Five Qi Towards Origin cultivation method was Empress Ruthless's deeper development of Five Hearts Towards Heaven. It increased cultivation efficiency and reduced the time needed, but it was also considerably more difficult. In Empress Ruthless's estimation, the War General Level was better suited to practicing Five Qi Towards Origin.
For a genius, the time spent accumulating energy was truly wasted.
If Empress Ruthless could skip the process of cultivating from Planetary Level first rank to ninth rank, she estimated that she could have already fully stacked her Nine-Fold Domain and crossed the threshold into the Law of Water...
If she had a suitable Space Secret Technique, she estimated that she could cross the threshold of the Law of Space Origin as well...
But there was no helping it. Earth was simply too barren. It lacked the resources Empress Ruthless needed to cultivate in peace.
So she could only rely on her astonishing comprehension and try to improve or create methods that would save her a great deal of effort.
"Next is the Guidance Technique. The Daoist ideas of Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown and Five Qi Towards Origin... I think I have a direction now..."
The wisdom of the ancients was truly worth learning from.
Then she would keep going!
With that thought, Empress Ruthless closed her eyes again.
Time flew by, and before anyone knew it, it was already May 2056...
When the school bell rang, students streamed out of the school.
A short-haired girl wearing a face mask and old-fashioned black-rimmed glasses yawned. Rubbing her bleary eyes, she slowly walked out of the school.
At the school gate, a girl with a ponytail was leaning against the wall. The moment she saw the short-haired girl, she came over and gave her a smack.
"Xiao Ai, I'm over here!"
Xu Ai looked helplessly at her older sister, Xu Xin, then down at the hand still resting on her upturned backside.
Sure, you're not strong enough to hurt me, but that doesn't mean you can smack my butt for no reason...
Since they were still at the school gate, Xu Ai decided she'd get her revenge once they got home!
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Let's head home."
"Okay."
Xu Xin smiled and linked arms with Xu Ai. They were just about to leave.
Just then, a voice—not particularly loud—rang out.
"Hey? A-Feng, look. It's the girl you have a crush on! And her little sister."
Hearing that somewhat familiar voice, Xu Ai's bright eyes sharpened. She glared fiercely in the direction it had come from.
Two young men were looking their way. When she glared at them, they pretended not to care and looked away.
They were feeling guilty!
"Hmph!"
Xu Ai turned away in annoyance, but when she saw that Xu Xin's ears had turned faintly red, she grew even more displeased!
Was the little cabbage she'd raised all these years really about to be snatched away?!
No! Big Sis, you're still too young—you're only seventeen! You're not old enough to get married!
If you wanted to get married, you'd have to wait through a few dozen, or even a few hundred, Reincarnation Eras!
Xu Ai quickly wrapped an arm around Xu Xin's waist, gave Luo Feng another fierce glare, and hurried off.
She couldn't let Luo Feng and Xu Xin spend any more time together. Something could happen!
Luo Feng's road to winning her heart seemed destined to be a little bumpy...
"By the way, Xiao Ai, the Quasi-Warrior Assessment is starting again on June 1. Your physical fitness should meet the requirements by now, right?"
As they walked home, Xu Xin suddenly asked.
"I'm still a little short, but I'm almost there."
Xu Ai had let go of Xu Xin's arm as soon as they left school. She answered as they walked along.
Her speed could now reach 25.3 meters per second. As for her neural response speed, she kept it controlled so she was hit about twenty-three times.
The only problem was her punch strength. It was only around 890 kilograms, still a little short.
But there was nearly a week left before the Quasi-Warrior Assessment. That was plenty of time for her to meet the standard!
She couldn't help it. The diluted Vegetation Spirit solution Empress Ruthless had traded for from Hong and Thor made improvement so quick!
"Then... what about Luo Feng?"
Xu Xin looked down the road and asked as if it were just a casual thought.
Xu Ai's steady stride faltered. She gave her older sister, who was trying to push her little cabbage into someone else's pigpen, a helpless look.
She wasn't pleased that Xu Xin was beating around the bush, but she still answered her question.
"He... should be about there too..."
How could Xu Ai know how strong Luo Feng was now? She could only go by the general outline of the original story and give Xu Xin a vague answer.
She'd thought Xu Xin was asking about her, but it turned out she was worried about her future husband.
And she was pretending it was just a casual question. Did she think Xu Ai couldn't tell? Hmph! She'd seen through their little romance ages ago!
(T^T#)
Her little cabbage was completely obsessed with getting together with a pig!
What? Luo Feng wasn't a pig?
She didn't care. Anyone who wanted to flirt with her little cabbage was a pig! Even if that pig could eat a tiger!
"What about Liu Ting? Is she almost there too?"
Huh!? Big Sis, were you trying to change the subject? Heh, Xu Ai had seen right through her!
"Mm-hm. She's almost there too."
After answering, Xu Ai turned and stared intently at Xu Xin. She wanted to see whether Xu Xin dared to ask about the last person from their school, Zhang Haobai.
"What is it?"
Under Xu Ai's gaze, Xu Xin blinked in confusion. She felt a little uncomfortable, as if Xu Ai could see right through her.
"Is there something on my face?"
"No. Never mind, let's go."
Xu Ai shook her head and led the way home.
But after only a few steps, Xu Ai suddenly seemed to remember something. She looked up and saw a huge shadow gliding slowly across the sky.
"What is it?"
Xu Xin looked at Xu Ai, who had suddenly stopped, puzzled.
Realizing what was about to happen, Xu Ai hurriedly pulled Xu Xin to the side of the road, where there was plenty of open space, and covered her ears.
"Cawww!"
A piercing cry suddenly rang out, shaking the entire area. The whole residential complex reverberated with the shrill sound.
Many windows rattled under the screech. In the end, some of the glass couldn't take it and cracked twice before shattering.
Xu Ai had been prepared, so her eardrums only felt a little uncomfortable; she wasn't injured. Xu Xin, whose ears Xu Ai had covered in advance, wasn't bothered much either.
They were also far from the high-rises, so the shattered glass couldn't reach them. They were safe.
A barely visible black blade flashed across the sky. The giant shadow stiffened, then fell straight down...
The piercing cry continued for a while before gradually fading.
"Was that a Black Crowned Golden Eagle? Why did it fall?"
Xu Xin looked toward the Black Crowned Golden Eagle, which had fallen out of sight, then glanced at Xu Ai in confusion.
Xu Ai let go and rubbed her itchy ears.
"Probably some councilman killed it. Maybe it was Master. That Black Crowned Golden Eagle was way too brazen."
"True. Even if it was Lord Level, it was only natural for it to be killed for causing trouble on human territory."
A Lord Level Black Crowned Golden Eagle could fly at 3.9 times the speed of sound. At 340 meters per second, that came to 1,326 meters per second. An ordinary councilman's flight speed was only 1,200 meters per second, so they couldn't catch up at all.
Under the agreements, humans couldn't use Laser Cannons freely. So in Yangzhou City, Empress Ruthless was the only one who could take down a Black Crowned Golden Eagle flying that fast.
Although the Black Crowned Golden Eagle had caused quite a disturbance, humans had long since gotten used to such incidents. Order was restored before long.
"Come on, let's go home."
Xu Ai took Xu Xin by the hand and continued toward home.
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