Half a Month Later

As time passed, Li Wen's breathing grew heavy. An unnatural flush seeped through his skin, and sweat the size of beans rolled down in torrents, spreading dark wet stains across the mat.

The blood qi within him was like a pool of boiling water constantly being stirred, endlessly evaporating and depleting. This time, he held on for a full half hour!

"Haah... ha..." When the last trace of strength was drained away along with his exhausted blood qi, Li Wen finally ended his stance training. His body swayed, and he nearly fell.

He hunched over and gasped for air. Heat steamed from his entire body, condensing in the cold air into clouds of white mist above his head and shoulders, like a freshly opened steamer basket.

A crushing sense of fatigue drowned him.

After standing still for several minutes and barely calming his ragged breathing, he dragged his nearly shattered body to the table, grabbed a bottle of ordinary energy drink, and gulped it down in one go.

"Pssh—ha!" The icy drink, mixed with the flavor of cheap artificial essence, rushed down his throat, bringing a brief burst of relief and release.

He accurately tossed the empty bottle into the trash can in the corner. Then Li Wen sat cross-legged on the floor, closed his eyes, and regulated his breathing, doing all he could to recover his strength.

More than ten minutes slowly passed. His numb limbs finally regained some sensation, and a faint thread of blood qi began to regenerate on its own from within his utterly depleted body.

Though it was far from full, the crushing fatigue had finally receded by nearly half.

Li Wen opened his eyes, his gaze calm. He stood once more and stepped barefoot onto the mat. This time, he did not hesitate in the slightest, merely focusing his mind.

Absolute Focus, LV5, activated!

Whoosh!

In an instant, the slightly tired and vacant darkness of his eyes was replaced by ultimate concentration and brilliance.

He assumed the opening stance of the Fracture Edge Gold Sha Method again. His movements were more than a level faster than before, as though the angle of every joint had been instantly corrected by the most precise instrument.

Under this terrifying fifty-percent boost to his comprehension, the blood qi within his body seemed to have been fitted with a turbocharger, its circulation speed abruptly increasing by several degrees.

The thin cosmic spiritual energy particles from the outside world, ordinarily difficult to grasp, were greedily tugged in and absorbed, pouring into his meridians like a dried-up riverbed.

Washed by blood qi and stimulated by spiritual energy, his muscle fibers were like iron blanks tempered a thousand times. Their strength increased bit by bit amid the pain.

Time ticked through the preset twenty-minute "safe period."

Yet the familiar warning before total exhaustion had not risen from deep within his body. He could clearly sense that, under the control of that extraordinary consciousness, his blood qi was being consumed violently but had still not run dry.

"Keep going! The limit lies ahead!" The "free will" serving as a buffer between his primary consciousness and overclocked instinct let out a silent cry.

His will was as steadfast as a boulder, and the blue light of [Absolute Focus] continued to burn on the spiritual plane.

Twenty-three minutes... twenty-five minutes... twenty-eight minutes...

Finally, the familiar stabbing pain deep within his brain struck like a red-hot needle. Almost at the same instant, the river of blood qi endlessly surging through his body declared itself dry.

The blue light went out, and his consciousness returned.

Bang! As if an invisible force had yanked every tendon from the back of his neck, Li Wen's knees gave way, and he crashed heavily onto the mat.

His face was as pale as if he had just been dragged from an ice cellar. Cold sweat the size of beans instantly soaked through his clothes, while the violent mental backlash brought waves of ringing in his ears and dizziness.

Yet beneath the agony and weakness, a trace of satisfied laughter quietly climbed onto his lips.

In his field of vision, the pale blue panel visible only to him silently updated:

[You practiced the basic method for half an hour. Fracture Edge Gold Sha Method +1]

[You practiced the basic method with focus for half an hour. Fracture Edge Gold Sha Method +5]

[Method: Fracture Edge Gold Sha Method (Minor Accomplishment 76→82/100)]

"Fortunately... the time squeezed out at the limit... was barely enough." Li Wen panted as he evaluated the results with difficulty.

"If I split up the two time periods I estimated this afternoon, I really can squeeze out... another ten to twenty minutes... Too bad there's no time to rest during the day..."

The lingering tearing pain in his mind reminded him of the price of this overtime challenge.

But as he looked at the panel's leap of a full 6 points, every sacrifice seemed more than worth it.

"Tonight... I'll still need this to save my life." Struggling, Li Wen crawled toward the desk on his hands and knees.

He picked up the Level 1 Blood Qi Potion he had prepared long ago, brought it to his mouth, and without hesitation bit off the rubber stopper at the top.

Pop!

Then he tipped back his head and poured the faintly warm medicinal liquid, carrying a slight rusty tang, deep down his throat in one breath.

A weak yet warm current swiftly flooded into his stomach and began spreading through all four limbs and every bone.

The seed of returning strength had quietly been planted in the exhausted soil.

The lights of countless homes outside the window seemed to illuminate his lone figure pressing onward through the cold night.

The morning sunlight of Lunar New Year's Eve streamed through the window, carrying winter's characteristic crisp chill.

Li Wen woke on the familiar hard bed. Almost the instant his consciousness returned, he habitually summoned the personal panel only he could see.

[Name: Li Wen]

[Age: 18]

[Realm: Unranked (6.3→6.8 level)]

[Profession: Scholar lv5 (740/1600)]

[Skill: Blade Art: Peak (Minor Accomplishment 30/100)]

[Method: Fracture Edge Gold Sha Method (Greater Accomplishment 44/100)]

The cold data was like blazing charcoal, scorching his heart.

Half a month—an entire half month of ascetic cultivation!

Fifteen precious Level 1 Blood Qi Potions had turned into the seemingly cold, rigid figure now displayed on the panel—6.8 level!

At last, at last, he was nearing the minimum physical threshold for applying to Martial Arts University.

His gaze moved lower, and the line [Rainbow Light Blade Art (Minor Accomplishment 30/100)] made his heart surge even more.

Minor Accomplishment! No longer merely Initiation!

Every day of sweat pouring like rain, every thousandth slash repeated in Xinhuo Hall's cold training rooms, even the suffocating sensation of having his mind drained dry countless times whenever [Absolute Focus LV5] was activated—it had all been for this qualitative transformation.

He could clearly feel that the cold iron shard in his hand had now truly become an extension of his limbs and will. The sharpness and fluid completeness contained in every swing were far beyond what they had been half a month ago.

The progress bar for [Fracture Edge Gold Sha Method (Greater Accomplishment 44/100)] likewise gratified him.

With this foundational method for tempering the body and circulating blood qi, even without relying on the precious [Absolute Focus], he could now grit his teeth and persist for nearly fifty minutes.

Only one final sprint remained before reaching the ultimate realm of "Perfection."

Once the method reached Perfection, his control over blood qi and absorption efficiency would soar by leaps and bounds. The [Absolute Focus] time saved could then all be poured into the supreme realm of blade arts... that day was just around the corner.

"Mmm~" He let out a long breath of stale air, as if trying to disperse all the exhaustion of the past half month. Rubbing his slightly messy hair from waking early, he rolled over and got out of bed.