Novice Specialization: Enhanced Cognition!

Li Pingsheng fished a small porcelain bottle from his robes and poured out a pitch-black medicinal pill.

This was something he had swiped from Master Scar.

The pill had no discernible scent, lacking the rich fragrance of the Bone Strengthening Pill issued by the martial arts hall.

However, anything kept close to the body by an old veteran like Master Scar was certainly no ordinary item.

Li Pingsheng did not overthink it; he tilted his head back and swallowed the pill.

Within seconds, a heat flow far more violent than the Blood Coagulation Paste erupted in his gut.

The heat surged through his meridians, rampaging as if it intended to incinerate his internal organs.

Li Pingsheng let out a muffled groan, the veins on his forehead bulging as beads of sweat the size of peas rolled down his face.

He pushed his Blood Strengthening talent to the limit.

The blood and qi within his body were instantly mobilized, rushing to meet the violent heat.

The moment the two forces collided, his body began to tremble violently.

Beneath his skin, his blood vessels stood out in stark relief.

His body, reinforced by Tiger Bone, managed to withstand the impact.

[Potential: 1.0]

It was full.

Li Pingsheng did not hesitate and selected:

[Divine Sense · Primary Specialty: Enhanced Cognition].

[Potential consumed 1.0, specialty unlocked]

Once Enhanced Cognition was lit up, a dark line connected to another specialty.

[Primary Talent -- Martial Wisdom: Heart like a clear mirror. Upon unlocking this talent, brain comprehension evolves into supreme comprehension.]

His mind cleared instantly, and his speed of thought increased more than tenfold.

Things that used to take him ages to ponder now appeared clearly before his eyes with a single thought, even down to the tone and expression others had used when speaking at the time.

This was the power of photographic memory.

Li Pingsheng's heart ignited with excitement.

Enhanced Cognition had improved his memory, but Martial Wisdom had caused a heaven-shaking transformation in his brain.

He pulled the Thunderbolt Fist manual from his robes.

For the past half-month, no matter how he looked at this manual, he could not understand it.

The words were awkward to read, the diagrams made no sense, and after practicing for ages without finding the entry point, he had become the laughingstock of the training grounds.

But now...

He opened the fist manual again.

The first page, the first form: Thunder on Flat Ground.

The difficult fist technique chants were now perfectly clear to him; every character seemed to explain exactly how the blood and qi should move.

The simple humanoid diagrams were no longer static.

At a single glance, red lines automatically appeared in his mind, clearly marking the starting point of the force, the route the blood and qi should take, and the point where the power should erupt.

How the waist should exert force, how the strength should travel through the spine to the shoulders, and then be delivered from the arms to the fist...

Everything had become simple and clear.

"So that's how it is..."

Li Pingsheng did not need to consciously memorize anything; these details were as if carved into his brain.

He closed his eyes.

The image of Instructor Wu practicing on the training grounds automatically surfaced in his mind.

That shadow performed the first three forms of Thunderbolt Fist with rigid precision, every detail of the movements perfectly clear.

Once... twice...

When the shadow reached the third repetition, Li Pingsheng's brow furrowed slightly.

That's not right.

When executing the second move, "Lightning Flash and Thunder Roll," Instructor Wu's waist exertion was slightly off from the route recorded in the manual.

The force generated by the rotation of the waist and hips leaked a fraction before reaching the fist.

The discrepancy was minute, something an ordinary person would never notice, but it was definitely there.

"So, he hasn't even mastered this Thunderbolt Fist himself."

Li Pingsheng opened his eyes, mimicked the posture in his mind, sank his waist, assumed a horse stance, twisted his body, and threw a punch.

Hoo...

The first time he ran through the movements, they were still stiff and awkward; his mind understood, but his body couldn't keep up. Yet, the force-generating path of every punch was precise to the millimeter. By the second time, the movements were much smoother, and his strikes began to stir a faint whistling of wind. By the time he assumed the opening stance of Thunder on Flat Ground, his entire body's blood and qi were already moving in sync, and his muscles had formed a memory.

He threw a punch, and his knuckles let out a series of crisp pops, as if faint thunder were rolling within his tendons and bones.

The wind of his punch whistled, vastly different from before.

The next morning.

The training grounds were as bustling as ever.

Li Pingsheng remained the same, finding a corner where no one paid him any mind, practicing his punches at a leisurely pace.

"Look, that piece of trash is chasing chickens again."

"Haha, with his skill, he still wants to keep his status as a direct disciple? I bet on the day of the assessment, he'll make Instructor Wu laugh himself to death."

Zhao Ming and his lackeys mocked him without the slightest attempt at concealment.

Zhao Ming himself had already mastered the first three forms of the Thunderbolt Fist to a decent degree; his punches carried wind, drawing envious gazes from many of the new disciples.

He glanced sideways at Li Pingsheng in the corner, his eyes filled with disdain.

A superior bone structure built up by pills—without resources, he was nothing but a piece of trash.

Li Pingsheng turned a deaf ear to the surrounding chatter, continuing to practice his own routine.

Only this time, while his punches looked slow and clumsy, the force behind every single move landed with perfect precision.

He was adapting, controlling.

He was hiding that thunderous power beneath these clumsy-looking forms.

Instructor Wu strolled through the grounds with his hands behind his back, his face wearing that same look of contempt.

He would occasionally nod when he saw diligent disciples, but when his gaze fell upon Li Pingsheng, only undisguised disgust remained.

In his eyes, Li Pingsheng was a disgrace to the martial arts hall.

A waste of resources, slow-witted, and with ruined meridians—he was utterly useless.

He had already made up his mind: on the day of the assessment, he would find any excuse to kick this guy out of the direct disciples.

Just as he was about to shift his gaze away, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse.

In the corner, Li Pingsheng happened to be finishing his form, executing the final move of Thunder on Flat Ground.

The posture of sinking his waist and sitting in a horse stance, the explosive power of twisting his waist and driving his hips, the trajectory of his fist breaking through the air...

Standard.

This move even carried more of the essence described in the manual than when he performed it himself.

Instructor Wu's footsteps came to an abrupt halt, his heart skipping a beat.

He widened his eyes and looked again.

Li Pingsheng had already finished the move and started slowly gesturing through the next one, his movements once again becoming messy and formless.

"Hm?"

Instructor Wu's brows furrowed tightly, his eyes full of suspicion.

Was that just now... a trick of the light?

He shook his head, immediately dismissing the thought.

That piece of rotten wood, Li Pingsheng? How could he possibly throw such a standard punch?

It must have been a coincidence.

Yes, it must have been a blind cat bumping into a dead mouse—a lucky fluke.

With that thought, the slight surprise and suspicion in Instructor Wu's heart vanished instantly, replaced by an even deeper contempt.

So he even has better luck than others?

Too bad, the path of martial arts doesn't rely on luck.

He snorted coldly, turned, and walked toward Zhao Ming, not bothering to look at Li Pingsheng again.

In the corner.

Li Pingsheng slowly retracted his fist, having caught the strange expression on Instructor Wu's face.

He opened his hand, feeling a slight ache in his knuckles from the force that had surged through them.

Hidden within that pain seemed to be a new kind of power.

The day of the assessment, huh...

He was looking forward to it, too.