Flaw Insight

"Flaw Insight: Detects flaws in a target's actions, transforming 'invisible loopholes' into 'visual signals.'"

Li Yuan looked at the Talent Point he had just acquired.

Compared with the Talent Martial Recruitment Accelerator, Flaw Insight was clearly better suited to actual combat.

Of course, Li Yuan was not saying that this Talent was better than Martial Recruitment Accelerator.

The situations where the two Talents applied were different.

One focused on improving actual combat ability, while the other was used directly against opponents.

Having obtained his fourth Talent, he had nowhere to test or verify it at the moment.

It was already past eleven.

Li Yuan stopped dwelling on it, counted numbers in his head, and forced himself to fall asleep.

Li Yuan woke before seven the next morning.

He went to the restaurant for breakfast, then sat there and waited for a while.

He thought he should still tell Xia Zhao so they could say goodbye.

Just after seven, Xia Zhao actually arrived.

Her gaze swept around the room before she spotted Li Yuan.

She picked up some food and sat across from him.

"Are you heading back later?" Xia Zhao asked, trying to sound casual.

Li Yuan nodded and replied with a smile, "I've been out for quite a while. The intensity of this training trip has already gone beyond expectations."

Indeed, what young martial artist came to Qijia Town to train expecting to face a crisis on this level?

"What about you? Are you staying in Qijia Town for a few more days?"

Xia Zhao shook her head. "I called home, and my family has arranged a convoy to pick me up.

"When are you leaving?

"Is your car parked at the parking lot south of town?"

Her instinctive question left Li Yuan unsure how to answer for a moment.

"I... I'm taking the high-speed rail back. It leaves at eight twenty..."

After hesitating, Li Yuan still told her.

Their living circumstances were simply too far apart.

Xia Zhao rarely chose high-speed rail when traveling.

If the distance was a little farther, she would travel by air.

Unlike Li Yuan, who generally bought second-class seats when taking the high-speed rail.

"Oh... high-speed rail is pretty good too. It's quite fast..."

Xia Zhao seemed to realize she had said the wrong thing and hurriedly tried to smooth it over.

"Oh, right. Give me a way to contact you, so it'll be easier to stay in touch."

After taking a bite of food, Xia Zhao finally got to the point.

She had come looking for Li Yuan that morning specifically to get his contact information.

Li Yuan hesitated for a moment. "Why don't you give me a number? I'll contact you after I get back."

Hearing that, Xia Zhao got up and borrowed pen and paper from the hotel front desk.

She then handed Li Yuan a sticky note with a string of numbers written on it.

The string was different from the phone numbers Li Yuan knew. It was two digits shorter.

"Yes, that's the number."

Perhaps noticing Li Yuan's confusion, Xia Zhao quietly added an explanation.

Li Yuan nodded to show that he understood.

Soon, it was eight o'clock.

There were still twenty minutes before departure, so he had to head to the high-speed rail station.

The two said their goodbyes, and Li Yuan left the hotel first.

As he walked, he unconsciously unfolded the note and looked at the number written on it.

"Train hard. Maybe you'll amount to something someday."

Li Yuan muttered softly, half comforting himself and half reminding himself.

By the time he reached the high-speed rail station, ticket checks had already begun.

He boarded the train and headed back to Lingshan City.

Watching the scenery rush backward outside the window, Li Yuan summarized this training trip for himself.

First was the desensitization. He had completed that part far beyond the intended target.

Among the martial artists who came to Qijia Town to train, whose experience had been more dangerous than Li Yuan's this time?

Not only had he seen ordinary Fierce Beasts, he had even encountered the Mutant Beast that had destroyed a town decades ago.

After surviving such a perilous crisis, the nervousness and fear he felt upon seeing Fierce Beasts would surely never return.

The second point was verifying the experience he had learned from books.

The results showed that the methods taught in those books, as well as the lessons and experience they offered, were highly valuable.

That experience would also be of great help to him in the Youth Martial Tournament.

Beyond those two planned objectives, Li Yuan had gained quite a few additional benefits.

Especially from his discussions with Xia Zhao about Martial Dao cultivation.

Regarding the advancement of Martial Dao realms, she had given him plenty of guidance.

She had laid out every difficulty and obstacle she had encountered along that path.

By comparison, her help with his understanding of martial techniques had been rather limited.

It was not that Xia Zhao's understanding of many martial techniques was poor.

It was simply somewhat shallow compared to his own.

For the deeper meaning contained within many martial techniques, she could only perceive the first layer.

Of course, being able to reach that level already put Xia Zhao far above most people.

With such a solid Martial Dao foundation and a sufficiently deep understanding of martial techniques, how could she be weak?

Thinking of this, he took out the flash drive.

The flash drive Xia Zhao had given him also contained a basic cultivation method.

Compared to martial techniques, his current need for a basic cultivation method was much greater.

But according to her, it was still uncertain whether this Heavenly Refining Body basic cultivation method contained errors.

Many powerful experts who had read it believed it contained quite a few mistakes.

Some experts even felt that the entire cultivation method was nothing but incoherent nonsense.

Even Grandmasters had failed to understand this cultivation method. It really might be complete nonsense.

After thinking for a long while, Li Yuan lay back down to rest.

It was still early before they reached Lingshan City. He would not arrive until the following morning.

High-speed trains had now been slowed down, making them only a little faster than cars.

There were many mountainous and wilderness stretches along the route, not all of it passing through cities.

These places were not beyond the border, so there were far fewer Fierce Beasts there—one could even say they were scarce.

Yet there had still been incidents of Fierce Beasts crashing into high-speed trains.

Martial artists might be able to withstand such traffic accidents, but among so many citizens, not everyone had a strong physique.

Though slowing down reduced efficiency, it did indeed improve safety.

Twelve noon.

A convoy stopped outside the hotel where Li Yuan had been staying.

Xia Zhao left the hotel, looked once more at Qijia Town, then got into the car.

For this kind of executive sedan, comfort was its foremost requirement.

Once the doors and windows were shut, all outside noise vanished.

To Xia Zhao's left sat an elderly noblewoman.

Money truly preserved a person. Though she was over seventy, she looked about fifty.

"Let me look at my darling granddaughter. It seems you really suffered a little on this trip.

"But that's good. It'll stop you from saying every training trip is boring."

There was a teasing note in the noblewoman's words.

She had only heard that Xia Zhao had run into some trouble during this trip and had even lost her communication device.

She did not know that Xia Zhao had faced a life-threatening crisis.

"Tell me, then. What Fierce Beast did you encounter this time?

"There are quite a few spider-type Fierce Beasts around Qijia Town. Did their webs affect you?"

Hearing her grandmother's words, Xia Zhao did not refute her.

Her expression turned solemn as she began recounting what had happened.

"Deep in the old district of Qijia Town, I encountered a Mutant Beast..."

Before Xia Zhao could finish, the noblewoman beside her widened her eyes in shock.

"A Mutant Beast?

"The kind of Mutant Beast that massacred Qijia Town forty years ago?!"