"Ahhhhh!"
Screams and howls erupted from every disciple in the Martial Arts Arena.
From their perspective, Fang Can had split the earth wide open, while fierce gusts of his punches whipped up a sandstorm.
They were all swept into the yellow storm, plunged into pain like a thousand cuts.
The viewpoint peeled away from the disciples and returned to reality.
The scenery remained unchanged, the breeze still gentle and the sunlight warm. There was no storm to be seen.
But Yang Lie, standing a little farther away, was able to resist Fang Can's wide-ranging Heart Manifestation attack with the powerful spirit of a fifth-level Mysterious Pass martial artist.
From his perspective, the hundreds of martial artists who had been charging at Fang Can all stopped as Fang Can's fist came down.
That punch of Heart Manifestation had plunged them all into an illusion in which their bodies were dead. They fell to their knees, genuinely believing they were being tortured by a thousand cuts.
As if kneeling were contagious, one senior disciple after another dropped to the ground as though struck dead, seeming to worship a god. That punch had left them all dazed and unresponsive.
"Phew..." Fang Can let out a soft breath.
That punch had consumed more than ninety percent of his Heart Manifestation energy.
The body was the foundation of the mind, and the mind was the continuation of the flesh.
He hadn't even reached the first level of the Mysterious Pass yet. He could only barely manage one strike.
Still, the effect of such a massive expenditure was impressive. Under his complete control, the hundreds of people present had been left mentally blank for more than ten seconds.
That was plenty of time for Fang Can to pick up a knife and chop off all their heads. It would have been even easier than killing hundreds of pigs that could run.
The power of Heart Manifestation was terrifying. Those experts above the eighth level of the Mysterious Pass would be even more frightening when they used theirs.
Until his Heart Manifestation ran out, he could kill as many ordinary martial artists as came at him.
That was why only Heart Manifestation could counter Heart Manifestation.
Silence. Utter silence...
They remained trapped in their deathly visions for nearly half a minute before gradually coming to their senses. Then they stared at Fang Can in horror.
"So this is Heart Manifestation." Yang Lie was filled with intense envy.
Awakening Heart Manifestation before even reaching the first level was unheard of. For someone like him, who was still stuck at the fifth level of the Mysterious Pass in his forties, Fang Can's talent was simply too devastating.
Once everyone had recovered from the shadow of near-death, they all looked at Fang Can with complicated expressions. They knew they had been utterly defeated.
A martial artist who had awakened Heart Manifestation at the zero level of the Mysterious Pass was beyond the word genius.
They felt that their cultivation of the mind over the past few days had been shattered. They would probably need a long time to recover.
Then someone suddenly laughed. "Hahaha, the world's gone mad! A son beating up his father. Sigh, I'll let you win this time."
His words immediately made the surrounding disciples of the Martial Arts Hall realize what was going on. "The Role-Playing Method? It's the Role-Playing Method? Great! Our minds are saved!"
The next moment, the disciples seemed to go mad. Hundreds of them fell into a collective delirium, babbling nonsense.
"Ugh! No! Fang Can didn't beat me. I beat Fang Can, hahaha!"
"Exactly! What a great fight. I beat him so badly he was left dazed and couldn't think!"
"Hahaha, I'm the one who fought a hundred people in the Martial Arts Arena! What Fang Can? I don't know him. I don't know him!"
It was sheer delirium. Yang Lie watched the scene, which looked like a mental rehabilitation center, and helplessly shook his head.
What Role-Playing Method? It was completely useless to pretend to be crazy in front of a Heart Manifestation Expert. Your heart would honestly respond to that fear.
Sure enough, without another word, Fang Can swept his eyes across the arena and released the Heart Manifestation energy he had left.
The next moment, the scene from when Manager Gu had come to give a speech was repeated.
Fear—utter fear—spread from the depths of everyone's hearts. The people who had just been reassuring themselves that they'd won mentally lost their senses again and fell into terror.
After using up the last of his Heart Manifestation energy, Fang Can felt hollow inside. His body wasn't tired, but a weariness welled up within him.
As expected, using Heart Manifestation at such a low level was too much of a strain. It would be fine once his body grew stronger.
Fang Can opened his panel, thinking it over, but the Description Bar made him pause.
Flesh Alienation: 10.2%
"Did I break through the First Mysterious Barrier?"
Fang Can froze, staring at the alienation percentage in confusion.
He clearly remembered Senior Jiang saying that there would be an obvious obstacle before breaking through the first Mysterious Pass. He would need to rest for two or three days to regulate his mind, then make a push to break through.
But he hadn't felt anything just now. How had he crossed the ten-percent threshold so smoothly?
He'd guessed that his body would keep growing stronger during battle, but since he hadn't encountered any resistance, he'd assumed he hadn't yet met the requirements for the first level of the Mysterious Pass.
"Was Senior Jiang lying to me, or am I just too talented?" Fang Can wondered. In the end, he decided that his talent was peerless.
After all, compared with the first possibility, the second made him seem a lot more impressive.
"Fang Can." Seeing that the fight was over, Yang Lie hurried over. "Haven't you only been training for a few days? And yet you have all this martial skill and Heart Manifestation..."
"Instructor Yang, didn't Hall Master Li already tell you that I'm peerlessly talented?" Fang Can retorted solemnly.
"Geniuses don't follow the rules. If you can't believe what you've seen with your own eyes, why practice martial arts or seek enlightenment?"
For a moment, Yang Lie was at a loss for words. Fang Can's speech was no different from what he himself had taught a few days ago. The only difference was that now the tables had turned, and Yang Lie was the one being shaken.
"Regardless, your potential is terrifying. I need to report this to the Sect Master," Yang Lie said.
"For now, don't wander around. Go back to your room and wait for me. Someone will bring you over when the time comes."
Fang Can nodded lightly. He had expected Yang Lie to make that decision.
He wasn't following the path of an ordinary mortal. There was no need to hide his abilities, then suddenly reveal them later just to show off and slap people in the face.
A true genius should come first at every step of the journey, then climb all the way to the peak of martial arts.
As for the Sect Master persecuting him or whatever, what kind of fool would try to kill the peerless genius of his own sect? Why build up a faction if you didn't want talent?
Emperors were jealous of the capable because they had already reached the top, and someone whose achievements surpassed theirs could threaten their position.
But the Tiger Fiend Sect wasn't even among the top ten powers in the Great Yan Kingdom. How could it possibly stifle its own genius?
If the Sect Master had any sense, he'd be willing to take Fang Can as his master.
Once Fang Can became invincible, he could easily lead the Tiger Fiend Sect to greatness.
That would be far better than remaining a power that controlled only a hundred li in every direction.
So, after showing off in front of the entire younger generation of the Tiger Fiend Sect, Fang Can returned to his little room without a care in the world and took a nap to restore his mental strength.
Meanwhile, the Tiger Fiend Sect's Sect Master reacted very differently when he received Yang Lie's report.
Before you continue