First Battle

"This thing, could it actually be some profound martial art?!"

In front of the Heavenly Phoenix Pavilion, Zhao Cheng scrutinized the stone tablet before him. By all logic, the inscriptions carved into stone should not be so easily eroded.

Yet in this world, the rate of decay for all things seemed to far exceed the ordinary.

The stone tablet before him was not made of cheap material; one could tell from the Heavenly Phoenix Pavilion behind it that this place was far from common.

The facade of such a place could hardly be cheap.

And yet, the characters on the stone had blurred away.

Of the entire tablet, only a simple "Heaven" character remained barely recognizable, while the two characters following it were reduced to a few incoherent, jagged remnants.

Zhao Cheng's attention was currently focused mostly on the patterns along the edge of the tablet. When he passed by here last time, he had assumed they were merely decorative.

Now, however, he knew that this was actually some form of profound martial art.

The only problem was that this martial art was even more severely damaged than the three large characters.

Never mind Zhao Cheng; even if the person who had carved this martial art onto the tablet were to appear right now, they likely wouldn't be able to recognize what was depicted on it.

However, the scene before him corroborated Zhao Cheng's guess: the "perspective" of this body he inhabited within the instance dungeon was far superior to that of a human, capable of receiving information from angles beyond the five human senses.

That was why Zhao Cheng could "see" that some profound martial art had once been recorded here.

As for the present, he could only say that he was merely looking at a curiosity.

Given what was before him, let alone him, even if one were to invite those experts who restored artifacts at the Forbidden City in his past life, they would likely be at a loss.

Seeing nothing after a few glances, Zhao Cheng didn't dwell on it and stepped directly into the Heavenly Phoenix Pavilion.

The wooden doors had weathered down to nothing but a shell. Zhao Cheng didn't use much force, and the immensely thick doors crumbled into countless fragments.

Judging by the layout of the Heavenly Phoenix Pavilion, it must have been quite illustrious in its day.

Alas, all glory is eventually swept away by the wind and rain.

The once-grand mansion was now buried in dust and ash; only the outline remained, stripped of its former grandeur.

Upon entering, one was met with a massive stone partition wall, its carvings also blurred.

Rounding the stone wall, a wide courtyard came into view.

Zhao Cheng looked around, seeing nothing unusual; there were no signs of activity in the dust on the ground.

However, Zhao Cheng did not let his guard down. He was searching for the "slight ripples" mentioned by the Panel.

There was definitely something in here!

Thus, Zhao Cheng's breathing technique was already in motion, and his focus was at its peak.

Amidst the absolute silence, Zhao Cheng listened intently and actually perceived a faint movement.

The sound was mingled with the wind, so similar that one would subconsciously ignore it if not listening carefully.

But Zhao Cheng managed to distinguish it; it wasn't the wind, but the sound of fists breaking through the air.

From this sound, Zhao Cheng could determine that the fist technique of the person behind it was definitely not low-level.

Without hesitation, Zhao Cheng steadied his mind and stepped forward, moving toward the source of the sound.

Passing through archway after archway, Zhao Cheng finally arrived at an open space deep within the Heavenly Phoenix Pavilion.

From the architectural layout, Zhao Cheng could roughly guess that there had once been a building here, but it had likely rotted away due to its wooden structure.

As for this large open space before him, it might have once been a wide, bright martial arts arena.

As for now, only a few ruined walls and dust-covered ground remained.

At the center of the clearing, a gray figure was swinging its fists in a rigid, methodical manner.

Zhao Cheng stood at the entrance to watch. Although he did not practice fist techniques, by drawing parallels, he could see that this style was far from simple.

As for the gray figure, it was a gray man, roughly 1.9 meters tall, with muscles bulging like small hills, brimming with power.

Yet its joints appeared "stiff," much like a corpse.

Of course, this stiffness was relative; to an ordinary person, it was already quite agile, but it did not match the fist technique the figure was executing.

Zhao Cheng did not act rashly, choosing instead to observe from where he stood.

The gray man seemed not to have noticed Zhao Cheng, continuing to repeat the fist technique, move by move.

In this bizarre world, the gray man before him only possessed a human shape. Zhao Cheng could be certain that this was no human, but some kind of monster that had grown into the likeness of one.

This grunt is a bit too strong!

Zhao Cheng thought to himself.

He did not rush to engage, continuing to watch, familiarizing himself with the opponent's fist path, and contemplating how he should draw his sword.

This maneuver of his was exactly what was famously known in the gaming world as "memorizing the patterns"!

Given the combat power displayed by this "grunt," Zhao Cheng did not have absolute confidence.

Combat is ever-changing; one only knows if they can win after fighting. There is no such thing as digitized combat power where "my power is 20 and yours is 19, so I am guaranteed to win."

Unless it was 200 versus 19, then that would be a different story.

The fist technique used by the Gray Man consisted of only eight moves in total, yet each move contained a multitude of variations.

Zhao Cheng counted them carefully and discovered there were eight moves and forty-nine variations.

If the "mook" before him didn't have stiff joints, Zhao Cheng would have turned and left without hesitation to grind his swordsmanship level up before returning.

As for now, however, he had an opportunity, and a significant one at that.

Although the "mook" before him possessed great strength, its movements were not very agile, and most crucially, it gave Zhao Cheng the chance to "memorize the patterns."

Therefore, Zhao Cheng did not hesitate. After watching a few more times, he followed the monster's fist path, swinging his sword through the air as if sparring in the void.

Just like that, after practicing for a full ten minutes, Zhao Cheng felt his confidence grow, and he decided to make his move.

Exhale! Inhale!

Simultaneously, within his heart-lake, the sword-shape emerged!

The breathing technique stimulated the body's potential, while the visualization technique stimulated the spirit's potential!

Only when both methods were used in tandem was Zhao Cheng's combat power at its peak.

In Zhao Cheng's perception, time seemed to slow down!

It wasn't that time had slowed, but that his reaction speed had quickened.

At the same time, his body was sharper than ever before; he could clearly sense the trajectory of the wind and could swing his sword to sever it, while also perceiving the most minute flow of force within his body.

With his breathing, his muscles and bones vibrated in unison, instinctively integrating his scattered strength.

This was the root of how the breathing technique enhanced explosive power.

His perception even extended to the Void Kalpa Sword in his hand.

The sword breathed as he breathed, and its "heart" beat with his own heartbeat!

Zhao Cheng approached slowly, adjusting his state to gradually bring his essence, energy, and spirit to their absolute peak.

The moment Zhao Cheng came within five meters of the Gray Man, he seemed to cross a line, and like a thunderbolt being detonated, the Gray Man was startled. Without a second's delay, it immediately lunged at Zhao Cheng to kill.

And as the Gray Man moved, Zhao Cheng also erupted like a thunderclap, stepping forward and swinging his sword; amidst the flickering sword light, the longsword tore through the air!