The next day, early morning.
As usual, Lin Ye arrived at school early, then headed to the Martial Arts Hall.
As expected, the Martial Arts Hall was empty.
With only 15 proficiency points left before Lost Track Steps broke through, Lin Ye planned to train until he reached Mastery Grade. He then claimed a spacious area of soft mat all to himself and began practicing.
One step, a pause, a turn.
In the empty Martial Arts Hall, only the sound of his footsteps echoed.
[Lost Track Steps proficiency +1] [Lost Track Steps proficiency +1] [Lost Track Steps proficiency +1] ...
When the notification for the final point of proficiency appeared, Lin Ye felt as though a tiny string in his mind had been gently plucked. It then rang clear, and his understanding of Lost Track Steps immediately rose to a new level.
It was a sudden, illuminating understanding of the words "lost track."
If Lost Track Steps at Proficient Grade was about "dodging," then at Mastery Grade it evolved into a subtle form of "deception."
Visual deception.
For example, by varying his pace—alternating between sudden bursts of speed and slowdowns, and combining pauses and explosive movements in unpredictable ways—he could disrupt his opponent's predictions of his rhythm, making it difficult to find the best moment to intercept or attack. Or, during rapid movement or a sudden change of direction, subtle shifts in his footwork and the displacement of his center of gravity could create a fleeting, blurred "afterimage" that caused his opponent to misjudge his position and disrupted the direction of their attack or defense.
More importantly, he felt that his perception of space had advanced to a new level. This was the foundation of visual deception.
Savoring the change, Lin Ye smiled knowingly in the Martial Arts Hall.
That afternoon, at the Virtual Combat Room.
After swiping his card to enter, Lin Ye walked to an empty Virtual Pod. He planned to test the effects of Lost Track Steps' "visual deception" in virtual combat.
He logged into Martial Dao, and his ID appeared.
By now, his rank had reached Bronze Five, with 74 victory points. He was 26 points away from the promotion tournament.
He clicked to begin a ranking match. A moment later, he was matched with an opponent.
The arena was still a circular platform twenty meters in diameter.
In his first ranking match, he faced a young man in black who wielded a pair of short daggers and attacked with the speed of the wind.
As soon as the battle began, the young man in black stuck to Lin Ye like a leech. His twin daggers flashed with cold light as he tried to exploit their short, treacherous reach to gain an advantage.
Lin Ye remained unhurried. When he saw his opponent close in, he was secretly pleased; this was the perfect chance to test Lost Track Steps. He calmly used Mountain-Suppressing Fist to defend against the attacks while moving with Lost Track Steps. His ghostlike footwork let him evade the sharp daggers time and again, much to the young man in black's frustration.
After several exchanges, Lin Ye had adapted to his opponent's attacks and could handle them with ease. He began to use Lost Track Steps' visual deception. In one movement that seemed to dodge left but actually carried him backward, he let his opponent's gaze get drawn to his afterimage. Delighted, the young man in black thrust his dagger swiftly toward the spot where he expected Lin Ye to land on the left—but Lin Ye had already appeared on the right.
Seeing that his opponent had misjudged him, Lin Ye stopped holding back. He clenched his fist and struck toward the young man's chest and abdomen with Mountain-Collapsing Style. The young man in black was stunned, confusion appearing on his blurred face. He had clearly seen Lin Ye stepping to the left—how had he ended up on the right? Before he could figure it out, Lin Ye's iron fist was already upon him. The young man in black grunted and staggered backward, his rhythm thrown into disarray.
Taking advantage of his opponent's disrupted rhythm, Lin Ye seized the opportunity and pressed his attack, quickly knocking him down.
In the second ranking match, Lin Ye faced an opponent who wielded a long staff with such skill that it formed an impenetrable screen, hoping to suppress his enemy with attacks covering a wide area.
Against this kind of wide-area attack, Lin Ye combined the "rhythm deception" and "first glimpse of afterimages" of Lost Track Steps at Mastery Grade. He circled the edge of the staff's reach, his steps darting forward and retreating, speeding up and slowing down. Then, exploiting his opponent's growing impatience, he moved at high speed and changed direction in an instant, creating two blurred afterimages that seemed to appear in two places at almost the same time. His opponent misjudged him, and the staff's momentum faltered when it shouldn't have.
Lin Ye immediately seized the moment when his opponent was a little slow to draw back the staff and closed in, meeting it head-on with Mountain-Suppressing Fist. His surging fist force numbed the opponent's tiger's mouth, nearly knocking the staff from his grasp. Lin Ye followed up with a combination of punches and claimed victory.
In the third match, his opponent favored forceful, powerful punches and an exceptionally steady stance, much like Lin Ye had before, meeting every change with an unchanging defense.
After testing him with a few moves and getting a general sense of his abilities, Lin Ye changed tactics and took "gaze misdirection" to the extreme. He kept circling his opponent, his steps unpredictable, his shoulders shifting subtly from side to side as he made one false move after another. At first, his opponent stayed composed. But as Lin Ye's feints and deceptive gaze piled up, his concentration gradually faltered. He began to make premature moves or, at times, overreact.
Finally, Lin Ye fixed his sharp gaze on the opponent's right shoulder while lowering his left shoulder slightly, drawing him into shifting his defensive focus to the right. Lin Ye seized the opening and erupted with astonishing speed, cutting in from the left.
A Mountain-Suppressing Fist: Mountain Tilt, charged with power for a long time, slammed into the opponent's hastily raised left arm. His center of gravity wavered, and Lin Ye pressed his advantage, ultimately securing victory.
Three battles, three wins!
His rank's victory points reached 98. He was only two points away from the promotion tournament, but Lin Ye gave up on continuing to fight.
There was no other reason: he had come to Virtual Combat merely to test the effects of Lost Track Steps at Mastery Grade, not to hone his skills.
Now that he had a general understanding and achieved his goal, there was no reason to linger in virtual combat.
Lin Ye exited the Virtual Pod, left the Martial Arts Pavilion, and headed home.
With only two days left before the High School Entrance Exam, all his martial arts had reached a "peak" for the time being. Lost Track Steps, in particular, required a full 1,000 proficiency points to reach the next stage, "Great Mastery"—something he couldn't achieve in a short time.
So, he planned to devote the next two days to reviewing his cultural subjects.
After all, cultural subjects accounted for one-seventh of a Martial Arts Student's score, so they were worth reviewing. Even if he couldn't cover much in two days, it was still better than not studying at all.
When he got home, Lin Ye entered the Study Pod and devoted all his attention to reviewing key questions and organizing the material. First on the list were his notes and books of mistakes for Star Alliance General History and Geography, Basic Physics and Energy Application, Mathematics Fundamentals, and Star Alliance Common Language, which he laid out for targeted review.
Time slipped quietly by amid the virtual scratching of pen against page.
Seven in the evening.
As Lin Ye studied in the Study Pod, he heard an alert for an urgent message. It had come from the class group, which was now flooded with messages.
Before you continue