From Igniting Talents to Becoming a Demon God Section 13

Beneath his feet was a slightly bent metal rod, laid across neatly stacked bricks on either side. Sweat the size of soybeans slid down his cheeks like beads from a snapped string and splattered onto the floor.

Crack, crack, crack, crack!

The bricks shook. The crossbar trembled.

Around him, several other disciples of the combat school could be seen dressed the same way and making similar movements, though the iron balls they held differed in weight and size.

"This is the core essence of the fourth movement, Iron Cross Stake, also known as Sitting Mountain Embracing the Sun. It is the true advanced method for those who have just entered the door."

"Its purpose is to temper the flesh and forge the tendons, strengthening one's vigor..."

The school master, Luo Qianshan, was still wearing that white ancient martial robe. With his hands clasped behind his back, he stood before Lu Chao and the others.

At times, he reached out to help correct their postures. At others, he occasionally pointed a finger, striking acupoints in their lower abdomens.

"Hiss..."

Amid the sounds of people sucking in cold breaths, Lu Chao felt a sharp pain lance through his ribs. He nearly let his arms drop and lost hold of the iron ball.

But very soon, as the pain faded, he sensed a faint current of air flowing through the sinews and channels inside his body.

"So-called vitality, in the words of extraterrestrial civilization, is a comprehensive measure of an individual organism's life magnetic field—that is, indicators such as strength, speed, stamina, and so on."

"And among all these factors, vigor is especially crucial. It reflects the strength or weakness of vitality to the greatest extent."

"When vigor is abundant, it can stimulate the cells to erupt, amplifying strength and increasing speed. When vigor is enduring, it can circulate through the acupoints throughout the body, prolonging stamina and repairing injuries..."

Luo Qianshan's aged voice continued to ring out. This was guidance that only formal disciples of the combat school could enjoy, detailed and thorough. "Of course, vigor is merely the martial path's term for it. Other paths naturally have other names, such as life energy, genetic source... but in the end, they all amount to the same principle."

"The foundation of Gold-Stone Combat Arts is to strengthen vigor and temper the physique. Your current strength is insufficient, so you cannot appreciate its mysteries. What I can do is give you a preliminary impression."

As he spoke, Luo Qianshan raised his hand again and flicked out several fingers, going straight for the abdominal acupoints of several disciples.

Amid grimacing expressions, Lu Chao and the others more or less understood, gaining a basic awareness of vigor.

To put it in detail, it was somewhat similar to true qi or force from ancient-era storybooks.

Then, after they finished practicing this fourth form and rested briefly, they soon entered a new round of training.

"The fifth form, Hard Stone Combo, is a special art that incorporates fist techniques."

"It combines striking and training. You must strike solid objects with fist force, using the power of vibration to temper the sinews, channels, skin, and flesh..."

More than a dozen heavy red leather sandbags were suspended by iron chains, hanging in midair.

Under Luo Qianshan's guidance, Lu Chao followed the other senior disciples in taking their stances, clenching his five fingers into a fist and pounding the sandbags.

Straight punches, whip punches, swinging punches...

After dozens, even hundreds of strikes, the shock left his fists swollen and his arms aching.

Even so, not a single person made a sound or gave up.

Those who could stand here and persist in martial cultivation were all people of outstanding endurance and firm will. Compared with the mire of a lifetime of mediocrity, what did this pain count for?

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!!

The muffled sounds of fists striking sandbags continued. Lu Chao was drenched in sweat, his arms trembling, no longer knowing how many punches he had thrown.

Only at the very end, when blood seeped from the pores on his fists and his muscles were so sore that he could barely lift his arms, did the practice of Hard Stone Combo barely come to an end.

"The sixth form, Flying Sand and Moving Stones, focuses on leg technique training."

"The key lies in coordinating your breathing with your leg techniques. Your body's center of gravity and core explosiveness can also be tempered to a certain extent through this."

"I'll give you ten minutes to rest. Once you've applied the injury medicine, continue training!"

Luo Qianshan's aged voice entered his ears. As Lu Chao applied medicine, he looked up.

On the eastern side of the room was another fairly large training area. Half-meter-tall hard stakes, seemingly made of metal, were embedded into the concrete floor.

They looked extremely sturdy. There were several dozen of them, with only fifty centimeters between each one.

That was the training area for the sixth form, Flying Sand and Moving Stones. One had to run and shift across the hard stakes while practicing leg techniques.

Over the past two days, he had already lost count of how many times he had fallen there.

In fact, compared with the current training intensity, the three days of adaptive practice when he had first entered the combat school were practically no different from resting.

Tap, tap, tap!

Very soon, footsteps rang out. Disciples with higher vitality leaped onto the stakes and began practicing without resting for long.

Time flowed on, and Lu Chao gradually became one of them.

Seeing this scene, Luo Qianshan, who was in charge of giving guidance, nodded lightly and quietly left.

Only when noon arrived and all seven training methods of the first level of the combat art had been completed did everyone finally begin to rest properly.

Huff! Huff! Huff!

Panting in great gulps, Lu Chao's training clothes were completely soaked through, clinging tightly to his chest, abdomen, shoulders, and back, unbearably sticky and uncomfortable.

Seeing the nutritious lunch being delivered, he did not hurry to eat. Instead, he first walked to the rest area, picked up his sports water bottle, tilted his head back, and took a fierce gulp.

Gulp!

Gulp!!

The plain water hit his stomach, barely easing his thirst, and Lu Chao rarely felt a trace of satisfaction.

"Junior Brother Lu, I didn't expect you to be able to hold on this far."

"I still remember the first couple of days after I joined. When I trained to the fourth form, Sitting Mountain Embracing the Sun, I was so exhausted I couldn't keep going. Felt like I was falling apart..."

Someone at his side came over carrying a nutritious meal, sweat steaming off him. He took the initiative to speak, his tone carrying a hint of admiration.

Lu Chao looked over. It was not Zheng Wu, but a senior brother who had joined a month before him.

His skin was a little dark, he had a crew cut, thick brows, and large eyes, and he looked around twenty. His name was Zhang Hong.

Because they had been training together these past few days, they had gradually gotten to know each other.

"You flatter me, Senior Brother Zhang."

Hearing this, Lu Chao set down his cup and smiled as he returned the compliment. "Your vitality is a full 11 points, and your strength has broken a hundred kilograms. You're much stronger than me."

Once vitality exceeded 10 points, though one still did not count as combat-class, one's physical quality was already a notch stronger than an ordinary person's.

Punching force steadily surpassed one hundred kilograms, and reaction speed, explosiveness, stamina, and so on were all strengthened, comparable to some elite athletes from his previous life.

In the practical combat training over the past few days, he had personally seen the other man knock down several ordinary trainees by himself. He was quite formidable.

"Bah, what does mine count for?"

Waving his hand, the senior brother named Zhang Hong gave a helpless smile, then gestured into the distance.

"Only by breaking through Rock Skin and developing your vitality to twenty points do you have the right to call yourself a fighter."

"Look, Senior Brother Xu and the others are all experts who reached combat-class very early on."

There was yearning in his tone, and Lu Chao looked over accordingly.

The twenty-plus boxing gym disciples were gathered in twos and threes. They seemed equal, but in private, they were actually divided into several circles.

Ordinary disciples like them, who had yet to break through the twenty-point threshold, made up the majority, occupying well over half. Basically, they all came from ordinary families in the Iron Ring District, with average foundations, most of them middling-low or lower grade.

After that came the core circles led by combat-class experts.

The Senior Brother Xu Zhang Hong mentioned was one of them. His vitality exceeded twenty points, and there were seven disciples like him in total. They were respected, but they did not spend much time at the boxing gym each day.

That was because they all had jobs, either responsible for security at certain companies or serving as boxing coaches at certain clubs.

Their treatment and status might not compare to official patrol officers, but they had a decent salary every month, as well as a certain quota of resources. To most people in the Iron Ring District, this was already an excellent way out.

"If I don't pass the internal assessment in the future, this is another path."

Lu Chao nodded lightly, some thoughts forming in his mind.

Finally, his gaze shifted toward the area near the back door of the Training Building, where there were still several figures.

"I heard Senior Brother Zheng Wu and the other two are all the gym master's true disciples?" Thinking of the rumors he had heard over the past two days, Lu Chao felt somewhat curious.

So-called true disciples were completely different from them. That was a relationship much closer to the gym master.

They did not need to pay any tuition to be taught martial arts, and they could also hold positions in the martial arts gym, teaching disciples like them.

"That's right."

Zhang Hong nodded enviously. Holding his lunchbox, he looked over as well. As he opened the lid and took out his chopsticks, he lowered his voice and said, "Senior Brother Luo, Senior Brother Zheng, and Senior Sister Lin all exceeded forty points in vitality very early on and reached the professional level."

"But I wouldn't dare dream of that level. If I can enter combat-class, I'll already be thanking the heavens."

Clicking his tongue, Zhang Hong's eyes nearly overflowed with envy.

Lu Chao did not find it strange. He knew what professional level represented. Even in the Patrol Bureau, only a small number of elites could reach this level.

As the thought flashed through his mind, Zheng Wu in the distance seemed to sense something and looked over.

Lu Chao and Zhang Hong did not dare say more. Both tactfully stopped the topic.

He lowered his head and looked at the nutritious lunch in his hands. The aroma hit him head-on.

In the blink of an eye, he wolfed it down, chunks of Black Horned Ox meat mixed with rice vanishing into his stomach.