His telekinesis spread outward.
It covered dozens of meters around him.
At the same time, he immersed his mind in heaven and earth.
The Samsara Spear in Teng Qingshan's hands swept through the air.
From a distance,
the spearhead of the Samsara Spear seemed to be enveloped in a dense mass of earth-aspected Cosmic Energy.
As the spear danced, its ocher-yellow afterimages seemed both incredibly slow and incredibly fast.
It was the Primordial Chaos Spear Technique, the strongest defensive technique.
After finishing the Primordial Chaos Spear Technique, he moved on to the Crimson Tiger Roar Spear Art.
A dense, fiery-red energy flickered.
With every thrust,
it seemed to pierce through the space ahead!
This was currently Teng Qingshan's most powerful close-combat spear technique.
Its power had already reached the limit for anyone below the Planetary Level.
He was simply limited by the fact that his Source Energy and telekinesis had yet to reach the Planetary Level, so his domain could only extend this far.
But for an Apprentice to wield a spear technique to this extent
was already enough to astonish anyone.
Once he broke through, his domain could easily expand to a radius of dozens of meters.
Within that range, Teng Qingshan would be invincible!
After finishing his spear practice, Teng Qingshan continued training his fists.
After a long while,
as the sky darkened,
Teng Qingshan ended his training for the day.
He walked home.
The streets had already regained some of their former bustle.
The small shops had reopened, too.
But things were different from before.
There were noticeably more people jogging and exercising in the evenings now.
Seeing society regain its vitality, Teng Qingshan couldn't help feeling happy.
But that happiness didn't last long.
Teng Qingshan's keen senses soon picked up something unusual.
In hidden corners of the streets and down in the sewers,
the rats and cockroaches that had once lurked in the gutters
were now all considerably larger than before.
They had grown bolder, too.
Teng Qingshan even saw a rat more than ten centimeters long in the corner of a small shop, brazenly stealing food right in front of people.
When someone noticed and grabbed a stick to chase it away, the rat bared its teeth and squeaked at him. Its cold, sharp teeth reflected the light, making it look even more sinister.
The man holding the stick was startled by the sight. By the time he recovered and tried to strike, the rat had somehow already slipped back into the sewer.
"That's strange. These days, even rats aren't afraid of people anymore."
The shop owner scratched his head. After putting the stick away, he didn't give it much thought and went back to playing his game.
But Teng Qingshan, who had witnessed it all, knew the truth.
The animals had begun to mutate, quietly and without anyone noticing.
There was nothing he could do about it, though.
Even if he called on everyone to beware of animals,
who would listen to him?
People would only think he was making a fuss and seeking attention.
That was what it meant to have no influence.
After all, humanity had grown accustomed to ruling this planet.
Even if people knew that animals were mutating, and that they were mutating faster and more extensively than humans, they wouldn't care.
Why was humanity strong?
It wasn't because of their bodies.
It was because of technology! Weapons!
In people's ingrained understanding,
no matter how strong a flesh-and-blood body was, could it withstand a cannon shell?
And even if it could withstand a shell, what about a missile?
An atomic bomb? A hydrogen bomb?
No matter how strong an animal was, it would still be nothing but a target in front of those weapons.
Human arrogance—
Teng Qingshan understood it all too well.
So he kept quiet and focused on training, silently growing stronger.
Only when monsters capable of withstanding missiles and atomic bombs appeared would humanity recognize its own arrogance.
Only then would people truly change.
But by that point,
the price they paid would far exceed the cost of defeating the Virus.
"Ah..."
After letting out a silent sigh, Teng Qingshan stopped lingering and hurried home.
In this world,
the people Teng Qingshan truly cared about were Elder Teng and his disciple, Hong.
As for everyone else,
he would save them if he could.
But if they were beyond his abilities, or if he didn't like them, he couldn't be bothered to help.
Everyone had their own fate.
There was no need to forcefully interfere.
The seemingly peaceful days passed for another two days.
On the third day,
Hong finally arrived in Yangzhou.
So he could study boxing and spear techniques under Teng Qingshan regularly,
Hong had specially bought a villa in the suburbs.
When he returned this time, he had submitted the mysterious Map Fragment, and the Dark Hand had rewarded him with a substantial sum of money.
After the organization discovered how much Hong's strength had improved, they also raised the payment for his future missions by several tiers.
Naturally, Hong was no longer short of money.
Buying a villa in the suburbs was easy for him.
After Hong arrived,
Teng Qingshan added another item to his daily training routine.
That was teaching Hong.
Hong was eighteen years old.
He was still very young.
He was not yet the seasoned killer from the original story, hardened by countless bloody battles.
For now, he was still a fairly sunny young man. He just happened to like wearing black and wielding spears, too.
Half a month later,
in the spacious lawn behind the villa,
Hong, dressed in black, held a spear and practiced the Five Elements Spear Technique Teng Qingshan had taught him.
Although Teng Qingshan had only entered the Domain Realm in the earth and fire elements,
his memories of a past life's spear techniques, honed to near perfection,
were more than enough to teach Hong.
Besides, everyone had different areas of aptitude.
Teng Qingshan couldn't be sure which of the five elements Hong was best suited to—or whether he was suited to any of them at all.
After all, the Swallowed Star World wasn't limited to the five laws on the space side. There were also light, wind, and lightning on the time side.
Which element Hong's body was suited to, and which direction he excelled in—
for now, these were all unknown.
Teng Qingshan had asked him about it, too.
Hong didn't suffer from any strange headaches, nor were there any signs that he had awakened telekinesis.
Naturally,
Teng Qingshan could only teach Hong all the spear and boxing techniques he excelled at, letting him figure out which direction suited him best.
That was what Hong was doing now.
Watching the young man on the lawn swing his spear,
Teng Qingshan smiled.
Hong's comprehension was truly the best Teng Qingshan had ever seen.
No matter how difficult or complex the boxing or spear technique, Teng Qingshan only needed to demonstrate it once and explain it once before Hong could grasp most of it.
Before, with the two of them separated by a network, Teng Qingshan hadn't been able to guide him very well.
Now, face-to-face,
Teng Qingshan could clearly see the problems Hong encountered while practicing his spear and boxing techniques, then correct them accordingly.
Hong's rate of improvement immediately increased again.
Under such intense training,
Hong's physical fitness continued to improve, bringing him ever closer to the 900-kilogram punch-force threshold.
To make it easier to test his strength,
Hong had specially ordered a Punch Strength Tester to measure his progress every day.
However, the Punch Strength Testers manufactured at the time could only measure up to a maximum of 10,000 kilograms.
Even an ordinary punch from Teng Qingshan far exceeded that figure, so it was no use to him. But Teng Qingshan had such precise control over his physical strength that even without a Punch Strength Tester, he could clearly gauge his daily progress—and measure the increase down to the kilogram.
Roar, roar, roar~~
On the lawn,
after finishing his spear practice, Hong began practicing his boxing.
But this time,
as Hong practiced the Tiger Cannon Fist, his muscles and bones resonated throughout his body, producing a faint tiger's roar!
Teng Qingshan's eyes lit up. He knew that, after all this time under his guidance, Hong had finally broken through to the Internal Martial Arts Grandmaster level!
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