Bronze Rank

Bronze Rank

Creak.

The door opened.

Wang Yiyang walked out, his eyes rimmed with dark circles and his gait weary. He saw his grandfather, Wang Xinlong, already standing in the courtyard and beginning his morning practice.

Wang Xinlong was practicing a martial art called Moon Sky Fist. His footwork and strikes moved in perfect harmony, whistling with power and looking quite formidable.

Wang Yiyang had watched this many times, yet he always felt that during the practice, his grandfather's fists seemed to strike from completely unexpected angles.

No matter how many times he watched, he felt it was impossible to predict or defend against.

After finishing the set, his grandfather exhaled a long, white mist of breath, took a dry towel from the nanny standing by, and wiped away his sweat.

"How about it? Want to try a set and loosen up your muscles and bones?"

"No thanks, I'm not interested in that." Wang Yiyang smiled and shook his head.

"Then it's your loss. Only with vigorous blood and energy can you be full of spirit and handle anything with ease. In critical situations, you can even suppress everyone with your presence and seize the initiative." Wang Xinlong's voice was booming; his speech even caused the entire courtyard to echo faintly.

"Master is right. Essence, energy, and spirit are the foundations of a person. Essence and energy can be used to physically reshape the outside world. As for spirit, it can be used to influence others. Each has its own marvelous uses." Zhong Can appeared on the side of the courtyard at some point, his expression calm as he spoke slowly.

Wang Yiyang glanced at him, feeling a slight chill in his heart.

"Brother Zhong Can is right." He nodded in agreement.

Zhong Can's gaze drifted past Wang Yiyang, seemingly looking toward a distant place, his eyes appearing somewhat vacant.

"Any form of combat ultimately results in a pyrrhic victory. No matter how lopsided the fight, there is always a possibility of sustaining damage oneself. That is why I have always pursued the art of subduing the enemy without fighting."

"Victory without a fight?" Wang Yiyang mused.

"Correct. I do not know how to use the grand momentum of the sun to crush and win as described in military strategy. That is the application of heaven and earth's nature," Zhong Can said calmly. "And that is not my pursuit."

"Then what is your pursuit...?" Wang Yiyang's curiosity was piqued, and he asked accordingly.

"What I pursue is to overcome the enemy with spirit, causing them to fall into fear so their mind shatters from within, and then with—" Zhong Can was interrupted by a low shout from Wang Xinlong.

"Enough!"

Wang Xinlong's reprimand caused the entire courtyard to hum with vibration. The nanny nearby turned pale, trembling all over, and nearly dropped the towel in her hands.

"You still haven't given up on that crooked path??!" Wang Xinlong stared fiercely at Zhong Can, his sturdy frame like a giant bear, radiating a formidable and oppressive aura.

Wang Yiyang realized something was wrong from the sidelines.

Zhong Can's martial path seemed to have created a significant rift with his grandfather.

Zhong Can did not speak again. For the next ten minutes or so, he kept his mouth shut, not uttering a single word.

With him silent, Wang Yiyang chatted with his grandfather, who had recovered his composure, about other matters, though he would glance at Zhong Can from time to time.

What exactly this senior apprentice brother, who had spent so many years with his grandfather Wang Xinlong, was thinking, no one but himself likely knew.

After the morning exercise, other disciples arrived at the martial arts hall one after another.

Among the disciples were both men and women, most of them over thirty. Many of them had opened their own training institutions elsewhere.

They returned here only out of respect for the old master, Wang Xinlong, and out of habit.

Moreover, having so many senior and junior brothers and sisters gathered together was, in itself, a significant networking circle.

With so many people, Wang Yiyang didn't recognize most of them, so he had little opportunity to talk to his grandfather.

Zhong Can also became busy, as many people pulled him aside to discuss combat techniques.

Since he was occupied, he didn't seem to pay much attention to this side anymore, which made Wang Yiyang breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Seeing the crowd, he simply went outside the martial arts hall to take a walk by the small river on the right.

Since he was very young, he had liked to walk by this river alone, picking up stones to skip across the water.

As he grew older, fearing that others would see him and call skipping stones childish, he just walked.

When he grew older still, Wang Yiyang turned to simply watching the ripples reflected on the river surface.

Ripples from different directions were like two countries at war, testing who was strong and who was weak.

He would quietly guess in his heart and then watch the result.

If the side he guessed was defeated, he would feel unconvinced and kick a few stones into the water to stir up larger ripples to join the fray.

"What are you doing here all by yourself?" Suddenly, a voice rang out abruptly behind Wang Yiyang.

His previously relaxed body tensed up instantly, and he turned around slowly.

Standing behind him was none other than his senior apprentice brother, Zhong Can.

Zhong Can carried a faint scent of alcohol, his expression calm, his hands hanging naturally at his sides, looking as if he had just come for a walk as well.

Wang Yiyang's heart raced, but his expression remained unchanged.

"I came for a walk after eating. I've liked coming here alone since I was a child."

"Do you like the quiet?" Zhong Can walked over to Wang Yiyang's side and kicked a stone into the water as well.

"It's alright, I just like to have some peace and quiet every now and then." Wang Yiyang tried his best to keep his expression natural. However, as the other man drew closer, goosebumps inevitably began to rise on his skin.

His gaze was already fixed on the fingers of Zhong Can's right hand, which were slowly stretching out.

"When are you leaving? I'll see you off," Zhong Can said slowly.

"No need, I can manage on my own." Wang Yiyang smiled. "By the way, you mentioned earlier that you were pursuing a victory without fighting—what exactly is that? Grandfather interrupted before you could finish. Is there some sort of issue with it?"

He forced his smile to look completely oblivious and natural.

This was no easy feat, but he was someone who had already died once; in truth, he didn't place much weight on death itself.

What he feared was that even if he died, he still wouldn't be able to save his grandfather. But this was an opportunity—a chance to understand Zhong Can's mind at close range.

Why did he want to strike? Why would he disregard years of friendship and slaughter everyone? What exactly was behind all of this?

Zhong Can exhaled and looked at Wang Yiyang with a strange expression.

"Do you know that living beings have a fear-induced paralysis?"

"Fear-induced paralysis?"

"Yes. In biology, this phenomenon is considered one of our survival instincts.

When a creature faces a predator it absolutely cannot defeat, it may experience total paralysis. In doing so, the predator might see that the creature has abandoned resistance and is standing still without hostility, and thus choose to forgo the kill, allowing the creature to survive."

As Zhong Can spoke, his tone was calm and his voice gentle, as if he were truly just chatting with Wang Yiyang.

"What I am pursuing is the ability to induce such fear in others before a fight even begins, thereby causing them to freeze.

Unfortunately, Master does not approve of my goal. He believes I have strayed onto a crooked path. Yet, in three consecutive international martial arts tournaments, I achieved results far exceeding my previous records. Still, he refuses to acknowledge me."

Wang Yiyang noticed his fingers trembling slightly again.

"Why? Isn't the effect quite good?" he asked.

"Just because I hit a little too hard," Zhong Can said with a strange smile. "But this is the necessary path to forming fear. The essence of combat is to trample upon the flesh and blood of one's own kind and ascend the supreme path of evolution!"

"I don't think so." Wang Yiyang couldn't help but retort. The moment the words left his mouth, he saw Zhong Can's palm tremble, the veins and tendons bulging slightly, and an indescribable pressure suddenly surged from the man's body.

Wang Yiyang's heart skipped a beat, and he forcibly suppressed the sense of threat rising within him.

He knew he could be killed by a single punch from the Zhong Can standing before him at any moment.

But this was the best time to touch upon Zhong Can's true thoughts; for the sake of investigating the truth, he didn't want to give up.

"Pure violence and bloodshed might induce fear, but that only panics a small group of onlookers. On a larger scale, it's useless.

So, your goal is merely a niche path."

Zhong Can had originally intended to strike directly, kill Wang Yiyang, and then go back to finish off that old man to tie up all loose ends.

He was just about to act when he didn't expect Wang Yiyang to come out with such a statement.

He had followed him here to kill him, but now, he suddenly felt a bit of interest and wanted to hear what kind of high-minded insights this kid had.

"Then you tell me, what should I do?" he asked, squinting.

Wang Yiyang's thoughts raced, but his expression remained calm and natural.

He could feel the obvious sense of threat on his body rapidly dissipating. Clearly, the other man had temporarily abandoned his intent to kill.

"It's simple," he said softly. "If you have enough charisma, then do great things that ordinary people cannot achieve. Spread your reputation.

Victory without fighting isn't something that can only be achieved through fear. As long as it is a powerful reputation, it can actually work."

"It's not the same," Zhong Can shook his head. "A powerful reputation can at most bring a sense of oppression."

"You haven't tried it, so how do you know it won't work?" Wang Yiyang countered.

Zhong Can fell silent, seemingly pondering the answer to this question.

"Think about it carefully. I'm going back to rest now." Wang Yiyang felt a bead of sweat on his brow, but he acted as if nothing were wrong and turned toward the martial arts hall.

He lifted his foot—one step, two steps, three steps.

"Why didn't you learn martial arts back then?" Zhong Can's voice suddenly drifted from behind him.

Wang Yiyang stopped.

"Because of the times. The times are different now."

He lifted his foot and walked away as if nothing had happened. This time, Zhong Can did not call him back.

Step by step, Wang Yiyang slowly walked away, but the cold sweat on his back had almost soaked through his undershirt.

When he finally reached the side door of the martial arts hall, he grabbed the doorpost and stepped onto the threshold. The feeling of solid ground beneath his feet finally allowed his heart to settle.

Looking at the side door before him, Wang Yiyang was about to let out a long sigh of relief. He reached out to pull the wooden door open.

Suddenly, his vision felt a bit blurry.

In the bottom right corner of his field of vision, a line of small text had appeared out of nowhere—extremely delicate and orderly small characters.

The script was not any language he recognized, yet inexplicably, he could understand the meaning??

"What the hell??! Did I not sleep well last night and my eyes are playing tricks on me??"

Wang Yiyang pulled the door open as if nothing were amiss, stepped inside, and closed the wooden door behind him before standing in the shade to carefully examine the text in the bottom-right corner of his vision.

This time, he recognized the meaning behind it.

'...Database missing. Searching for repairs. Please wait.'

Wang Yiyang's heart skipped a beat. Could this be another hallucination? A faint sense that he was becoming abnormal stirred within him.

Before he could react, the line of text jumped upward, and like a programmer writing code, a new line appeared beneath it.

'...Random search complete. Spacetime framework established. System core rebooting.'

Immediately after, lines of small text began to pop up in succession.

'Core startup complete.'

'Mark registration in progress...'

'Registration complete.'

'Pixel reconstruction initiated.'

'Your rank is--Bronze Rank. You may randomly generate a Bronze Rank identity.'