In the martial arts of my previous life, there was a saying: "Striking someone is like hanging a painting."
It meant that when you threw a punch and hit someone, their body would be "hung" firmly on the wall, like a painting.
It was a way of describing someone with exquisite boxing skills.
But now, Zhao Cheng felt that "striking someone is like hanging a painting" was far too low a level of boxing purity.
Truly formidable boxing should be like striking someone and tossing sand.
That meant that when you threw a punch and hit someone, their body would scatter into dust across the sky, just like a pile of sand.
Whether in actual effect or for spectacle, it was absolutely maxed out.
The only drawback was that he wasn't a spectator. He was a prop in the show.
His consciousness returned to reality. It took Zhao Cheng a long while to finally come around.
It wasn't because of the pain of such a brutal death. To be precise, he'd died so quickly that he hadn't even had time to feel much pain.
He was simply stunned!
This kind of strength, this kind of boxing—on some level, it could be called unspeakably beautiful.
In real life, he had watched videos of swordsmanship masters fighting.
Swordsmanship flourished in this world, and there were no shortage of competitions, big and small.
But watching through a video and experiencing it himself were worlds apart.
That sense of oppression, that feeling of power—no amount of words could describe even a fraction of it.
After coming back to himself, Zhao Cheng looked at the panel log.
Log:
During the first hour, you focused on training your swordsmanship. Swordsmanship proficiency +3. 17th Basic Swordsmanship 6th Revised Edition increased to lv8.
During the second hour, you focused on training your swordsmanship. Swordsmanship proficiency +3.
During the third hour, the Blood Moon appeared. You rushed to the Heavenly Phoenix Pavilion and explored it. You encountered Fist Art Master (White) x1. You killed the Fist Art Master. During the process, you began to comprehend, your attributes increased, your swordsmanship improved, your realm advanced, you completed your Self-awakening, and you obtained various spoils.
You headed to Moyun University and explored it. You encountered Fist Technique Master (Blue) x1 and Fist Art Apprentice (White) x15. You locked eyes with the Fist Technique Master and got blown to pieces.
You died. Cause of death: The water was too deep; you were too young to handle it.
Simulation settlement: Your exploration progress in this simulation was extremely low. Simulation Points +1.
"Sure enough, the simulation settlement is connected to my subconscious. The wording is exactly how I talk."
Zhao Cheng thought.
"Also, that Big Muscle Guy was only blue quality..."
The Fist Technique Master had made Zhao Cheng feel an unprecedented sense of oppression.
Just looking at the other's height of over three meters was enough to show how terrifying his strength was.
And yet a giant like that was only blue quality.
Of course, deep down, Zhao Cheng knew the rating made sense. He'd only thought the Fist Technique Master was stronger because he'd just been blown to pieces.
The other guy really was strong, though.
This monster wasn't something Zhao Cheng could challenge at his current level.
Going to see what a boss looked like at level one and getting blown to pieces by it was perfectly reasonable.
And this had given Zhao Cheng a rough idea of the power levels in the simulated world.
The waters in that world really were deep.
Blue quality was already this fierce. Just how fearsome would purple or even gold quality be?
As for red quality, that world probably didn't have any.
Generally speaking, purple was the world's limit. A single gold-quality trait in a simulated world was already an extraordinary anomaly. As for red, shallow waters could never nurture a true dragon.
Even in reality, there were more than a dozen gold traits but only one red one—and that was with the red trait appearing before the gold ones.
For the reverse to happen, there might have to be ten times as many before the soil was fertile enough to give rise to an even higher trait.
As he pondered, Zhao Cheng looked at his panel. Not much time had passed in the real world, but his panel had changed quite a bit.
Panel Source Points: 2.8 Simulation Points: 9 Realm: Quietude +1 (58%) (Heart-to-Heart) (30% converting) Traits: ??? (?): Heaven Rewards Diligence; all effort brings its reward; Panel; ??? Sword Seed (incomplete) 13% (Red): Swordsmanship level cap +3, moderate increase in affinity for swords, moderate reduction in the proficiency required to improve swordsmanship Vitality: 1.5 (1.0) Strength: 6.1 (5) Agility: 6.5 (5) Constitution: 5.5 (5) Spirit: 7.5 (5) Skills: 17th Basic Swordsmanship 6th Revised Edition lv8 (lv8) (26/700) (30% converting) Simulation Count: 0 Shop
His Source Points had dropped from 8.8 to 2.8. Clearing out the Source Point Shop had cost 3 points, and two simulations had cost another 3.
Quietude had been strengthened once, becoming +1, and its progress had increased by 6%. The conversion wasn't complete yet, though; only the transformation on the spiritual level had finished.
Of his five attributes, only Spirit had increased, by 0.3. But later, once his realm finished converting and the benefits from Quietude +1 had been fully converted, his five attributes should surge by a considerable amount.
His biggest improvement was in swordsmanship. Going from lv4 to lv8 had saved Zhao Cheng three to five years of grinding away. More importantly, he still had enormous room to improve.
After two simulations, he'd been reborn!
But what had grown the most was the confidence in Zhao Cheng's heart. Before, with only Heaven Rewards Diligence, he hadn't been sure how far he could go down this path.
After all, a person's lifespan was limited. And martial artists whose realms were too low would see their spirit and vitality start to decline after the age of thirty-two.
He didn't have much time.
But now, Zhao Cheng was certain he could go incredibly far—even reach the summit and surpass it.
For now, that confidence came from the panel. If the panel suddenly disappeared, he might lose his confidence. But one day, after he'd gone far enough and stood high enough, even if the panel vanished, he would still be brimming with confidence.
By then, his confidence would come from his own experiences—from all the trials he'd endured along the road of life and the insights they'd given him.
As for now, his journey had only just begun!
It was already late. Zhao Cheng didn't continue studying the panel. Instead, he regulated his breathing, entered a meditative state, and went to sleep.
Staying up late would affect his morning practice. Earlier, he simply hadn't been able to resist. Now that the novelty had worn off, he could hold back.
At six in the morning, Zhao Cheng got up right on time and began practicing swordsmanship.
He already knew the lv8 swordsmanship in his mind, but his body couldn't keep up.
And in real life, he didn't have extraordinary talent in swordsmanship to support him. So he could only separate his breathing and visualization from the sword techniques. The efficiency was lower, but at least he wouldn't make mistakes.
Zhao Cheng estimated that when his swordsmanship conversion reached 90%, equivalent to lv7, he would be able to practice his swordsmanship and regulate his breathing at the same time.
For now, his mind could do it, but his body couldn't.
After practicing, his swordsmanship conversion increased by 1% and his realm conversion by 7%. Then he ran into Zhao Xiaoxiang, who had just woken up. After greeting her, he headed straight to school. He bought breakfast on the way and ate as he walked. By the time he arrived at school, he'd nearly finished it.
A new day began.
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