Was Chen Lie Really That Great?

Sitting aboard a Sunflare Group airboat, Chen Lie said, "Take us to East River Martial Arts Hall."

The airboat quickly lifted into the air and flew toward East River Martial Arts Hall.

Inside the airboat, Li Xianyu secretly glanced at Chen Lie.

For some reason, she found this senior before her incredibly mysterious. Not only was his aptitude outstanding, but he even knew a major figure like Zhao Jinglan, the Jewel of Eight Provinces.

Hadn't they said that even members of the Provincial Youth Genius Group could not get a meeting with Zhao Jinglan? Did that mean Chen Lie was even more impressive than the group's members?

What kind of immortal brother did Chen Xingyao have?

The airboat landed outside East River Martial Arts Hall, and Chen Lie and Li Xianyu got off together.

After entering the hall, Chen Lie headed straight to the training ground on the second floor.

As he passed the trash can beside the stairs, Chen Lie pulled a card from his pocket, snapped it in half with his fingers, and tossed it into the bin.

"Senior, why did you... throw it away?"

Li Xianyu's eyes widened. Wasn't the card Chen Lie had broken and discarded the one with Zhao Jinglan's contact information?

"What? You want it?"

"No, I mean..."

"Enough."

Just as Li Xianyu was about to explain, Chen Lie cut her off. "Go in and practice Cloud Smoke Step. Mundane affairs are troublesome, so avoid getting involved in them as much as possible. They do nothing for martial arts cultivation."

Li Xianyu could only follow Chen Lie into the training ground, though she began pondering it in secret.

Did martial arts cultivation conflict with social connections?

Her senior was good in every way, but he seemed rather lacking when it came to dealing with people.

Even she could tell that Zhao Jinglan, the president of Sunflare Group, was trying to befriend Chen Lie. Yet Chen Lie remained neither warm nor cold toward her. Compared to herself, he seemed like the one who knew nothing of the world.

Chen Lie naturally saw Li Xianyu's doubts, but he could not be bothered to explain.

If he had been as inexperienced as he was in his previous life, he would probably have already regarded Zhao Jinglan as a trusted older sister and casually revealed some of his secrets to her.

By the next day, he might not even know how he had died.

The martial arts knowledge he possessed was top-secret material. Forget a martial arts-deprived planet like Blue Star—even on a highly developed martial arts civilization planet within the Central Galactic Empire, only the most elite martial arts geniuses would be qualified to cultivate it.

Anyone who controlled a corporation employing hundreds of thousands of people, no matter how merciful they appeared on the surface, would surely have a ruthless side beneath it, one that devoured people whole without leaving even bones behind.

For beings who could decide his life and death with a wave of their hand, Chen Lie only wanted to keep a respectful distance at this stage. Until he was strong enough, he would have no further dealings with them.

Inside the training ground, Chen Lie began guiding Li Xianyu in practicing Cloud Smoke Step.

Li Xianyu once again entered that state where cultivation felt as though she had divine assistance.

She immediately cast aside all thoughts and focused wholeheartedly on practicing Cloud Smoke Step.

Under Chen Lie's guidance, Li Xianyu could visibly feel her footwork improving. She did not feel even the slightest difficulty.

The joy of her footwork improving so rapidly filled Li Xianyu's heart, giving her an endless supply of motivation to continue practicing.

With Chen Lie personally guiding her, Li Xianyu naturally never encountered a bottleneck.

Whenever Li Xianyu misunderstood Cloud Smoke Step or strayed in the wrong direction, Chen Lie would alter Cloud Smoke Step in the direction she had strayed toward.

It was practically the same as custom-tailoring a martial art specifically for Li Xianyu.

By the end, Cloud Smoke Step had been changed beyond recognition by Chen Lie, yet its power far surpassed that of the original Cloud Smoke Step.

It was essentially Chen Lie making a comprehensive series of adjustments to Cloud Smoke Step according to Li Xianyu's understanding and cultivation direction, transforming it from an ordinary C-rank martial art into a top-tier C-rank martial art.

On the training ground, Li Xianyu performed Cloud Smoke Step. Her light footsteps flashed past the entrance, and upon closer inspection, two or three figures had actually split off behind her. However, they only existed for less than two seconds before vanishing behind her.

Before they knew it, the afternoon had passed. During that time, Chen Lie demonstrated the technique seven or eight times for her.

With Chen Lie teaching her again and again, Li Xianyu gained an increasingly deeper understanding of Cloud Smoke Step. Nearly every time she practiced, she could create two or three afterimages.

Li Xianyu used Cloud Smoke Step, her steps light and graceful as she crossed from the other end of the training ground to the entrance. The three afterimages she had split off instantly caught up and merged with her body one after another.

"Senior, how was that attempt?"

Li Xianyu jogged up to Chen Lie.

"Very good." Chen Lie nodded. "You can already use this footwork proficiently. If you want to improve further, you can only practice more. Our instruction ends here."

"It's over?"

Li Xianyu's face was full of astonishment.

"I said before that within three days, I would make you able to use this martial art freely. The goal has now been achieved," Chen Lie said.

"Yes!"

Li Xianyu nodded hurriedly. She understood that although Chen Lie had taught her for only a short time, she had gained an enormous advantage.

Even if an instructor had taught her one-on-one, guiding her hand in hand for a month, it still could not compare to the progress she had made over these two days.

Thinking of this, Li Xianyu gave Chen Lie a deep bow. "Senior, thank you for teaching me so carefully over the past two days and allowing me to master a C-rank martial art in such a short time.

"If you have time, I would like to invite you to dinner at my home. If my parents knew, they would certainly want to thank you as well."

"There's no need. The main reason you were able to master this martial art in two days was because you already had some foundation. Otherwise, no matter how I taught you, I could not have brought you to this level."

Chen Lie waved his hand and declined Li Xianyu's invitation.

Li Xianyu's expression dimmed when she heard the rejection, but on second thought, Chen Lie's refusal was only natural.

Just teaching her Cloud Smoke Step over the past two days had taken time out of Chen Lie's busy schedule. Naturally, he could not have any spare time to go to her home for dinner.

"If it's inconvenient for you, Senior, then forget it. But I still have to thank you."

"Mhm. Practice more on your own after you return."

After giving Li Xianyu a few reminders, Chen Lie turned and left.

When he returned home, the first thing Chen Lie did was take twenty pounds of natural beast meat from his room, bring it to the kitchen, and cook it in the family's pressure cooker.

This twenty pounds of pure, natural beast meat had not undergone any processing, so it was naturally different from the beast meat sold on the market, which was already cooked and ready to eat.

After turning on the pressure cooker, Chen Lie waited outside the kitchen.

When using the pressure cooker to prepare beast meat, it took three hours to ensure that the meat was thoroughly cooked.

During that time, Chen Xingyao returned home from outside.

When she entered the living room, Chen Xingyao suddenly heard noises coming from the kitchen and immediately went to check.

After coming out of the kitchen, Chen Xingyao asked with a puzzled expression, "Chen Lie, what are you cooking in the kitchen?"

"Something to supplement my nutrition," Chen Lie said.

"What kind of random junk are you using to supplement nutrition?" Chen Xingyao could not help saying, "Hey, let me remind you—your so-called pseudo-nutritional saturation physique is something you made up yourself. You may be fooling others, but don't fool yourself too."

Chen Lie nodded without saying anything.

Seeing that Chen Lie remained silent, Chen Xingyao could only shake her head, sigh, and leave.

When the beast meat was nearly done cooking, Chen Lie went into the kitchen, turned off the pressure cooker, took out the thoroughly cooked meat, placed it on the cutting board, and used a knife to cut the large pieces into many smaller chunks.

Then, Chen Lie found a lunch box in the kitchen and placed the pieces of meat into it one by one.

Because the beast meat was so dense, twenty pounds of it looked like only a small pile and fit easily into the lunch box.

Carrying the lunch box full of beast meat, Chen Lie returned to his room.

At dinner, Feng Yuelan brought the dishes to the table, untied her apron, and sat across from Chen Xingyao.

"Yaoyao, your brother didn't come out for dinner again today. Do you know what's going on with him?"

"I don't know!" Chen Xingyao shook her head, then added, "Mom, do you think Brother's vitality and blood value hasn't been able to break through 1 for so long that the mental pressure has made him a little abnormal?"

"Don't talk nonsense!"

Feng Yuelan shot Chen Xingyao a reproachful glare.

"I'm not talking nonsense. When I came back earlier, I saw Brother cooking something in the kitchen's pressure cooker. I asked him what he was cooking, and he said it was to supplement his nutrition.

"His vitality and blood value hasn't even broken through 1. Just like me, he can only use basic nutrient solution and nutrient bread. If he takes all kinds of random supplements, won't he ruin his body?"

"Really?"

Feng Yuelan set her rice bowl down on the table and questioned Chen Xingyao.

"Of course it's true. Why would I lie?"

"Isn't your brother a pseudo-nutritional saturation physique? Perhaps the grandmaster gave him some advice about regulating his nutrition. Besides, he's an adult now. He must have his own considerations," Feng Yuelan said.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Xingyao still chose to tell the truth. "Mom, there was no hall master inspecting students at East River Martial Arts Hall a few days ago. Everything Brother said that day at Starlight Hotel was actually a lie to you.

"I was at the martial arts hall during the vitality and blood sprint class too. Nothing like that happened at all."

Feng Yuelan suddenly shot to her feet. "You little brat, why didn't you tell me something this important earlier?"

"Brother told me not to."

Chen Xingyao lowered her head and muttered softly.

Feng Yuelan sighed and sat back down. "Hurry up and eat. After dinner, go back to your room."

Chen Xingyao gave a quiet acknowledgment, lowered her head, and began eating without speaking further.

In her view, Chen Lie had made up such a clumsy excuse because his vitality and blood progress was too slow and he had lost hope in martial arts cultivation. He wanted to ruin his body first, then make their parents agree to let him give up martial arts.

The purpose was naturally to lessen the burden on the family, but was Chen Lie really that great?

Chen Xingyao did not believe it at all.