Practical Training

A month slipped by quietly. While training his Five Senses, Lin Beiya never neglected his Soul Power cultivation. With the cultivation-speed boost from the Gold Cloth at night, his Soul Power had smoothly reached level 13.

At the same time, Lin Beiya had made significant progress in training his Five Senses.

By now, he could walk all through Douluo Hall with his eyes tightly shut without letting a single blade of grass or stone block his path. He could even hear mosquitoes beating their wings hundreds of meters away.

As for his sense of smell, he could catch the unique fragrance of Little Angel from hundreds of meters away.

This left Qian Renxue marveling. For the past month, she had often snuck up behind Lin Beiya to startle him for fun, but as his Five Senses grew sharper, she seemed unable to surprise him anymore.

Lin Beiya could always detect her approach from any direction.

The bandages that had once blocked his vision had long since disappeared without a trace. At first, he'd used them as an aid because he wasn't used to walking with his eyes closed and would sometimes open them without thinking. Now he could go about his daily life with his eyes shut, just like Shaka.

It wasn't because he thought it looked cool. He was purely training his Five Senses.

Lin Beiya had trained his hearing, smell, taste, and touch well. It was his vision, the sense people used most often, that had progressed slowly.

That was partly because he'd spent nearly a month living with his eyes closed, but Lin Beiya wasn't too worried. He could train his vision after he'd brought the other four senses to their limits.

Aside from the boost from his Sacred Cloth, Lin Beiya's physique had also improved significantly. In the Saint Seiya anime, there wasn't a single person with a weak physique, with or without a Sacred Cloth. Throwing punches that surpassed the speed of sound, or even the speed of light, was no joke.

Frog jumps, running laps, push-ups... Over the past month, he'd tried every training method he knew from his previous life, then picked out the ones suited to someone his age.

The training was grueling, and his appetite had grown along with it. Now, whenever they had dinner together, Little Angel would look at him as if he were a bottomless pit.

But Lin Beiya wasn't ashamed in the slightest. He could clearly feel his body growing stronger. Whether he wanted to awaken his Cosmo or absorb higher-year Soul Rings later on, a strong physique was essential.

During this time, Qian Renxue, a level-25 Soul Grandmaster, had challenged Lin Beiya several times while he wore the Aries Gold Cloth. The result was obvious: this small improvement wasn't nearly enough for her to break through the Crystal Wall's defense.

What discouraged this heaven-blessed prodigy even more was that, after all this time, she still couldn't use those techniques without the Sacred Cloth.

"Bei Ya, am I really that stupid? I still can't even get my foot in the door with the Crystal Wall. I'm starting to feel like I'm not cut out to be a Soul Master."

Hearing Qian Renxue's dejected words, Lin Beiya's heart gave a thump. This is bad.

If Qian Daoliu found out that he'd discouraged his granddaughter so much she no longer wanted to be a Soul Master, wouldn't he pull out that fifty-meter Angel Sacred Sword and make Lin Beiya run forty-nine meters first?

This wouldn't do. He had to restore Qian Renxue's confidence.

"You're thinking about it all wrong. Forget you, even I, the Cloth's owner, can't use those Gold Battle Techniques without the Sacred Cloth's boost. Does that mean I'm not cut out to be a Soul Master either?"

"Uh..."

Lin Beiya putting himself down really did make Qian Renxue feel better. Seeing that, he hurried to press his advantage.

"Maybe those techniques just can't be used without the Sacred Cloth's boost in the first place?"

"Is that so? But I still can't beat you, a Soul Master!"

Ever since she'd lost to him the first time, the little girl had been nursing a grudge. She'd worked hard at both Soul Power and Soul Skills, and for a moment Lin Beiya didn't know whether to be happy or feel helpless.

"Isn't it only because of the Sacred Cloth's special properties that I can hold my own against you? That doesn't count."

At that, Qian Renxue immediately shed her dejection and gave him a sly smile.

"Is that so? Then let's have a match. You can't use those techniques!"

"..."

So that was it—she wanted to beat him up? Why go around in circles? She could've just said so. Without his techniques, he had no way to fight back. He might as well stand there and let her hit him!

Even so, Lin Beiya had no intention of refusing. Training his Five Senses by himself wasn't enough; he needed real combat to put everything together.

"Fine, I'll fight you without using my techniques. But let's agree to keep it friendly. No hitting me in the face, or I won't lend you the Sacred Cloth for a month."

"Ah!"

Little Angel seemed surprised that Lin Beiya had agreed so readily. But when she heard she couldn't hit that handsome face of his, she felt as if half the fun had vanished.

Watching Qian Renxue's disappointed little expression, Lin Beiya's mouth twitched. Good thing he'd set the rules in advance. That brat really had been planning to go for his face!

"Are you coming or not? If not, forget it. I'm going back to training."

"I'm coming. Why wouldn't I?"

If she couldn't hit his face, then kicking Lin Beiya in the butt would do just fine, Qian Renxue thought. She hurriedly agreed.

The two little ones faced off once more at the Training Ground. Since obtaining his Soul Ring, this was the first time Lin Beiya had worn his Sacred Cloth to Soul Fight without using his techniques. He had to put the results of the past month's training to use.

As Lin Beiya, clad in the Aries Gold Cloth, closed his eyes, Little Angel's expression immediately darkened.

Just how much did you look down on me, to fight me with your eyes closed?

"Hmph! Let's see you keep acting so cocky. I'll kick your butt!"

She threw all thoughts of going easy on him out the window, entered Martial Soul Possession, and darted behind Lin Beiya in a flash, aiming a kick at his backside.

But the scene she'd imagined—Lin Beiya clutching his butt and crying out in pain—never happened. The man before her seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He leaned slightly to one side and dodged her flying kick.

Her strike missed. Qian Renxue turned to stare at Lin Beiya, who still had his eyes tightly shut, as if she'd seen a ghost.

"You..."

"Shh. No need to be surprised. I told you already: those with all Five Senses clear can stand on an invincible footing."

Qian Renxue's forehead immediately bulged with veins. Lin Beiya's brazen words had set the flames of fury blazing in her heart.

"An invincible footing, is it? I'll show you what happens when you get cocky!"

"Heh. How ignorant!"

Facing Qian Renxue as she unleashed her Soul Skill, Lin Beiya smiled with confidence. His senses had already mapped every angle of her attacks in his mind. In other words, Little Angel's attacks had nowhere to hide.

Several dozen minutes later, Lin Beiya clutched his black-and-blue eye socket and glared angrily at Little Angel, who was doubled over with laughter.

"Didn't we agree you wouldn't hit me in the face?"

"Bleh! You were so cocky. I've had professional training. I usually don't hit people in the face—unless I can't help myself!"

"Tch. The prettier the woman, the better she is at lying. Jin Yong wasn't wrong."

He muttered under his breath, cursing himself for being too overconfident.

It was the same as what he'd said when fighting Feng De: having sharp senses that let you detect an enemy's attacks didn't mean you could dodge every one of them. His physique still needed work.

In other words, his physique just couldn't keep up with his exceptional senses.