A fighter at the black membrane stage had three times an ordinary person's qi and blood.
Inside the Grand Void Illusory Realm, Li Xiuwen experienced Liu Chun's strength firsthand for the first time.
No wonder Old Huang had said that even with Fish Ball, he probably couldn't beat Liu Chun, and told him to wait until next year to enter the Second Floor.
After training with Liu Chun, Li Xiuwen left the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall in the Grand Void Illusory Realm and headed straight for the Night Heron Martial Arts Hall.
With the Hall Challenge approaching, he wanted to seize this opportunity to spar with Longlegs Seven, Tian Er, Black Dog, and Wen Wu.
Know yourself and your enemy, and you need never fear defeat.
At the Night Heron Martial Arts Hall.
Li Xiuwen pushed open the door and chose Longlegs Seven as his first opponent.
Longlegs Seven sprang forward, covering more than ten feet in a single bound. His fist whipped through the air straight toward Li Xiuwen's face.
For an instant, Li Xiuwen saw a gray water bird blotting out the sky as it swooped down to strike, while he was a fish stranded on the shallows.
He barely dodged the first punch. Longlegs Seven's second fist became a slender beak, stabbing through his chest from a vicious angle.
White shock waves rolled back through a mist of blood as Li Xiuwen was sent flying.
Steady, precise, ruthless, vicious!
In just two moves, he had been utterly defeated!
Green moss covered the wall opposite the Night Heron Martial Arts Hall.
Li Xiuwen was left "hanging" there like a flattened pancake before sliding limply to the ground.
His bones and tendons screamed in agony, and he couldn't muster any strength. Most of them were probably broken.
Then his body dissolved into wisps of smoke and re-formed amid the mist.
Li Xiuwen looked astonished. "That little blond brat really does have something to be arrogant about... He's leagues stronger than Liu Chun."
In fact, given how the Grand Void Illusory Realm worked, Longlegs Seven's strength was still frozen at the level he'd been when they first met.
With his superior physique, he could only be stronger now.
Li Xiuwen had only just reached the early purple membrane stage. There was simply no comparison.
He gave up on Longlegs Seven and devoted himself to sparring with Tian Er, Black Dog, and Wen Wu instead. The pressure immediately eased considerably.
Those three were only at the Purple Membrane Realm, so they weren't much stronger than him.
Fighting them ahead of time in the Grand Void Illusory Realm and learning their routines was like getting the questions before a major exam. It was practically cheating.
And so Li Xiuwen fought tirelessly against Pine Hall's Three Talents.
At first, his odds were still fifty-fifty.
Later, once he grew familiar with their fighting methods and routines, they became sixty-forty.
Two hours later, the incense stretching between heaven and earth burned out, and the illusory world shattered.
His odds of winning had risen to seventy percent. Li Xiuwen now held a clear advantage over all three.
"That's the benefit of actual combat!"
"Who else gets to spar with their opponents over and over before a match?"
Still eager for more, Li Xiuwen looked toward the [Incense Burner].
[Sand-Turning Palm: minor mastery (10%)]
"The Grand Void Illusory Realm isn't just useful for practicing fighting methods. I can also use it to scout other martial artists' strength. Used well, it could work wonders."
"When I have time, I should visit the Nine Dragons Grand Arena, too. If I can unlock a map of the betting arena, I might have another way to get rich."
Li Xiuwen closed the Incense Burner and sank into a deep sleep.
At five the following morning.
After waking, Li Xiuwen rubbed his sleepy eyes.
His eyelids kept drooping, and he couldn't force them open. It felt as miserable as sleep paralysis.
"Could intense exercise in my dreams drain my mental energy, too?"
Li Xiuwen lay back down and slept a little longer, not getting up until seven.
When he woke again, he felt refreshed, no different from usual.
He understood something. "Spending two hours in the Grand Void Illusory Realm doesn't consume physical stamina, but it drains mental energy-or my brain's computing power. Just like computers mining cryptocurrency in my previous life."
Essentially, the Incense Burner consumed some kind of mental energy to simulate an illusory battlefield in his dreams.
Human endurance had limits. Once something was depleted, he had to find a way to replenish it.
Otherwise, over time, it would wear down his body and definitely affect his martial potential.
"There's no helping it. I'll have to make up the sleep during the day. From now on, I'll get up at seven."
Until now, Li Xiuwen had always risen at five in the morning to practice martial arts. He had been overly diligent.
"Tomorrow, I'll go to the pharmacy for some spirit-replenishing herbal prescriptions."
After eating, Li Xiuwen hurried to the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall.
Today, the Night Heron Martial Arts Hall was coming for a challenge.
Whether they could take another step forward would depend on whether Old Huang could gain useful insights from their opponents' techniques.
At the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall.
The cramped training ground was packed that day.
Li Xiuwen arrived early and stood behind the other disciples, watching the main entrance.
"Ye Xiangtian of the Night Heron Martial Arts Hall, here to issue a Hall Challenge!"
A tall old man approached with the graceful gait of an old crane stepping through water. He stopped outside the entrance to the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall without crossing the threshold.
That was the rule of the martial world. Challengers had to stop at the door rather than enter directly.
Entering without the host's permission was an attack on the hall!
A sultry blonde woman swayed her hips as she followed Master Ye, wearing high heels, white silk gloves, and a formal hat.
Behind them came the Night Heron Martial Arts Hall's eight challenging disciples: four from Pine Hall and four from Heron Hall.
Other disciples from the Night Heron Martial Arts Hall, along with nearby residents who had heard about the event, crowded the street in a dark mass, waiting for the show to begin.
Huang Sihai stood there and smiled. "All within the four seas are brothers. Welcome!"
With permission granted, Master Ye gave a faint smile and beckoned the eight challengers to follow him. Everyone else waited outside.
He took up incense, bowed three times, then placed it in the incense burner before the ancestral tablet.
"Your junior, Ye Xiangtian, begs the ancestral master's pardon!"
Longlegs Seven, Pine Hall's senior disciple, declared loudly, "Everyone, kowtow to Ancestral Master Nine Dragons!"
The eight Night Heron disciples immediately knelt and paid their respects to the ancestral master of the Sea Sand Style.
This, too, was a rule of Hall Challenges: before issuing a challenge, one first honored the opposing school's ancestral master.
In a corner, three smartly dressed young men and women recorded everything with cameras. They were reporters from the Ming Daily.
Once the elaborate formalities of the Hall Challenge were complete, Master Ye and Huang Sihai sat beside the square table in the center.
Huang Sihai smiled. "Master Ye, would you prefer a verbal contest this time, or a physical one?"
In a verbal contest, both sides discussed moves and counters rather than actually fighting.
As far as Huang Sihai was concerned, if they could settle things verbally, there was no need to fight.
"Naturally, a physical contest!" Master Ye replied with a smile. "How could mere words demonstrate the Sea Sand Style's true skill?"
Huang Sihai asked, "How shall we do it? Draw lots to determine the pairings, or will you, as our guest,
choose them yourself?"
Master Ye smiled. "You're the host. You decide."
That was a confident answer. Drawing lots introduced considerable uncertainty.
If the Night Heron Martial Arts Hall's strongest fighter happened to face the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall's weakest, they could fall victim to a sacrificial pairing strategy.
If he chose the matches himself, he would naturally pit Longlegs Seven against their strongest fighter, Liu Chun, rather than waste him on some nobody.
Clearly, Master Ye had come fully assured of victory. The format didn't matter to him; he was confident Pine Hall's Four Talents could crush Huang Sihai's motley assortment of disciples.
Huang Sihai smiled. "Then let's draw lots for the pairings. It'll make things more interesting."
He claimed it would make things more interesting, but in truth, he wanted to avoid losing too badly.
From the presence Pine Hall's Four Talents displayed that day, he could tell that everyone except Liu Chun would probably struggle to win.
Longlegs Seven stood out in particular. His arms and legs were long, yet his stance was as steady as a mountain. In the dim room, the skin membranes on his arms glowed a faint red.
At its peak, the black membrane took on a reddish sheen.
One step further, and he could attempt the second gate and enter the flood dragon muscle stage.
The sight of Longlegs Seven extinguished Old Huang's last faint hope of victory.
There was no helping it. This was what a superior physique meant.
Someone like him might even secure a place at next year's River Crossing Assembly.
Whoever faced him on the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall's side would lose.
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