Flesh Alienation

At dusk, the moon hung above the treetops.

A cool breeze swept through the dormitory compound as Fang Can's figure danced continuously beneath the moonlight.

At that moment, he was unhurriedly practicing the Thirty-Six Tiger Devouring Fists according to the progress bar on the panel.

If the talent Extreme Misfortune Brings Prosperity had given him aptitude that surpassed the world—

Then the existence of the panel had pointed Fang Can toward a broad road leading to the ultimate peak.

For some reason, Fang Can had discovered that his stamina recovered abnormally quickly after transmigrating.

Muscles that had been pushed to their limit and left aching from martial arts practice recovered seventy to eighty percent within two hours.

But this was followed by a huge increase in his appetite. At the cafeteria just now, he had eaten two large bowls of rice and three plates of stir-fried pork with flat beans all by himself.

Fortunately, the Tiger Fiend Sect provided meals. Otherwise, his remaining two taels of silver might not even have covered a month's expenses.

As for why his stamina recovered so quickly, he could only assume that Talent 2, [Unwavering Resolve], which restored Health Points faster the lower they fell, was taking effect.

Inside the dormitory, with the progress bar visible, Fang Can resumed practicing his punches.

Based on the Description Bar's explanation of Visualization Manifestation, Fang Can guessed that this was the foundation of this world's Idealism.

Using a living being's body as a Workbench, with mental strength and physical stamina as consumable materials, one carried out Human Body Transmutation.

The purer and more advanced one's mental strength was, the less time and effort it required. If you weren't crazy or extreme, you simply had no chance to rise above the rest.

But unlike before, after leaving the Overclocking State, Fang Can's progress bar increased no faster than a cloud drive download.

Damn it. Even though Fang Can had racked his brains to visualize and practice martial arts—

After two hours, the progress had only barely increased by 0.5%.

To Fang Can now, the Tiger Fiend Eighty-Eight Grotto-Heavens technique in the Description Bar was like a gold-digging goddess fishing for suckers.

When he was a peerless genius, his spirit and dreams were more precious than gold, and he could nearly move her with just one hour.

But after leaving the Overclocking State, with merely average aptitude, his will and dreams were worth less than the mud at the bottom of a river.

As an ordinary person, you wanted to touch even the goddess's little finger without spending a month devotedly licking her boots?

As for dating and getting to home base? That came at a different price.

"Even martial arts training has become this realistic now?" Fang Can looked helplessly at the 89.7% progress bar.

At this rate, filling that remaining 10% would take at least two or three days of hard work.

"Looks like I need to show this goddess something fierce. Superpower, put on a show for her!"

With that thought, Fang Can's right fist struck the wall without warning.

"Thud."

With a dull echo, Fang Can felt that the flesh on his knuckles had probably already turned dark purple.

Then, as though he had just farmed some coins, Fang Can turned his gaze to the panel while his body was in the negative state of being injured.

—Estimated time required: 18 hours 32 minutes—

"Sure enough, it works. One punch shortened the time by nearly two hours."

Looking at the result, Fang Can smiled in satisfaction. "Then surge forth, my peerless aptitude! Extreme Misfortune Brings Prosperity, level up for me!!!"

With that thought, Fang Can's fists began smashing heavily into the cold stone wall one after another.

As he continued throwing punches, he felt his astonishing wisdom rising step by step, while the time on the panel shortened even further.

Estimated manifestation time: 18 hours 32 minutes → 17 hours 35 minutes → 16 hours 13 minutes → 15 hou...

"Let's stop here for now. This is just the right chance to test how effective Talent 2's healing is."

Fang Can stopped punching. By then, his fists were already dripping with blood from the repeated collisions.

The time on the panel had shortened to 3 hours 32 minutes.

Compared with the danger of swallowing Arsenic, wounds to the skin and flesh like these were still far too insignificant.

"But three hours will be enough." Fang Can narrowed his eyes, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly as he faced the moon rising ever higher and began punching again and again.

In this state, the progress bar steadily and slowly advanced toward 100.

90% → 91% → 92%...

As time passed, four hours later, amid complete darkness, Fang Can saw his progress bar finally roll over to 100%.

Description Bar:

You have successfully manifested the technique Tiger Fiend Eighty-Eight Grotto-Heavens

In an instant, Fang Can felt an unmistakable current of heat, utterly beyond anything imagined, surge forth from an acupoint in his chest.

Feeling this extraordinary state, he kept up the movements of the Tiger Devour Fist and began practicing again from the first form.

Sure enough, as his movements changed, that current of heat flowed into one acupoint after another under the guidance of his mind.

Wherever it went, the current gradually spread out, strengthening the muscles and bones near those acupoints.

Fang Can could only feel his body temperature rising wherever the heat flowed. Though he was outside on a cold late-night, it was as if a bonfire had been lit within him.

By the time he finished one full set, the current of heat had been exhausted, while Fang Can was drenched in sweat from head to toe, as though he had been pulled out of water.

"So this is the sensation of qi?"

Fang Can's eyes shone brightly, as though he had discovered a new continent.

Less than a day had passed since he first sensed qi and circulated it through one full cycle.

The Description Bar on the panel changed accordingly.

Description Bar:

You have completed one full practice of Tiger Fiend Eighty-Eight Grotto-Heavens. Experience +3

Tiger Fiend Eighty-Eight Paths Grotto-Heavens, Level 1: (3/1000)

Flesh Alienation: 0.0002%

"Flesh Alienation? Could this be the first realm of martial arts Yang Lie mentioned, the Mortal-Shedding Body?"

Fang Can wiped the fine sweat from his forehead. If completing one full set of Tiger Devour Fist only gave this much progress, he would need to practice it five hundred thousand times to fill it.

"At three minutes per set, even if I practiced for a full eight hours every day, it would still take ten years to max out."

Fang Can shook his head. This efficiency was far too slow. There had to be other ways to speed it up—for example, raising the technique to a higher level could also accelerate cultivation.

Fang Can lightly pressed a hand to his stomach. Several consecutive hours of punching had already consumed a huge amount of stamina, even though he had taken it slowly throughout. After truly completing the first full set of the technique, that feeling became even more obvious.

"I've really become a bottomless pit. How many meals am I supposed to eat in a day?" Fang Can muttered, then turned and went inside to take out several flatbreads he had pocketed from the cafeteria.

Squatting on the threshold, Fang Can slowly gnawed at the flatbreads in his hands beneath the moonlight.

After simply filling his stomach, he rose again and continued circulating the technique, savoring the sensation of qi flowing little by little through his entire body from the acupoints, never tiring of it.

After practicing another dozen or so times, Fang Can checked the time and returned inside to sleep.

After all, he still had to attend the Martial Arts Hall's morning class tomorrow. There would be plenty of time to practice in the future. There was no need to fuss over temporary gains and losses; he needed to prepare for a long war.

Tiger Fiend Eighty-Eight Paths Grotto-Heavens, Level 1: (74/1000)

Flesh Alienation: 0.0045%