Wind Rises Beneath the Fist

The three sat down in a private dining room at the cafeteria. Since Lu Tengfei was treating them, Meng Xuanxuan did not hold back and ordered a whole tableful of dishes without caring whether she could finish them. Tang Yu could not help curling his lip. He wanted to say something, but it would be awkward to embarrass Meng Xuanxuan in front of Lu Tengfei.

Seemingly noticing Tang Yu's thoughts, Lu Tengfei said with a smile, "It's fine. I have a big appetite. I could finish even more than this!"

But as soon as Lu Tengfei finished speaking, Meng Xuanxuan opened her mouth, and both he and Tang Yu were left speechless.

"Really? Then should I order some more?"

Looking at Meng Xuanxuan's innocent expression, Lu Tengfei and Tang Yu wore identical looks. They wanted to say something, but had no idea what to say.

"Alright, alright! I was just joking with you two. You're so stingy!" Meng Xuanxuan said, waving her hand.

"What did you want with my Tang Yu?" Meng Xuanxuan was curious. Lu Tengfei and Tang Yu did not know each other, so why had he come looking for Tang Yu?

Hearing Meng Xuanxuan's question, Lu Tengfei's lips curled into a faint smile, but he did not answer her.

"Brother Tang Yu is quite impressive. On his first day here, he dealt with Zhou Kang of the Zhou Family and Luo Shan, that dog of a master and servant. The Zhou Family was unlucky, though. They lost two descendants all at once!"

Tang Yu's heart jolted at Lu Tengfei's words, but nothing showed on his face. He gave an awkward smile and did not respond. Meng Xuanxuan, however, looked pleased to hear it.

"They deserved to die. They actually dared set their sights on me! I'm already taken!" As she spoke, Meng Xuanxuan hooked her arm through Tang Yu's, her face full of sweetness. Lu Tengfei inwardly despised this lovey-dovey pair.

"Tengfei, what did you need from me?" Tang Yu finally got to the point. Hearing this, Lu Tengfei's smile faded, and he said seriously, "I want to make a trip to Jupiter during winter break at the end of the semester!"

Tang Yu's heart stirred at Lu Tengfei's words. He had wanted to go as well. The last place his father had appeared back then was Jupiter, and he wanted to see what was so extraordinary about it.

Jupiter had undergone enormous changes near the end of the Great Cataclysm era. Signs of life had appeared—plants, water, and lower lifeforms. The environment had gradually become suitable for human habitation, but even three hundred years later, no one had a definite answer as to why.

One Jupiter was equivalent to several hundred Earths. Although Jupiter was now a military planet, the number of Federation residents there had already reached a terrifying several billion, matching Earth's current population. Even Mars had only surpassed one hundred million residents a few years ago.

"What are we going there for?" Meng Xuanxuan asked in confusion. As far as she knew, there was nothing particularly fun on Jupiter. Only the legendary Great Red Spot was somewhat interesting, but it was incredibly dangerous. Even humanity's top experts did not dare approach it casually.

"It's nothing much, just to broaden our horizons. To be honest, I've grown up this long and never ridden one of the teleporters on the Moon. Of course, I'll cover all the expenses."

Calling it a teleporter, a teleportation array might have been more accurate. It was a type of formation humans had discovered while extensively developing the Moon. Calculations showed that the formations within could teleport people as far as half the Milky Way.

However, scientists still had not figured out the principles behind many of those formations.

"Broaden our horizons? Are we going to see the Great Red Spot?" Meng Xuanxuan could think of nothing else worth seeing on Jupiter besides the Great Red Spot. Were they supposed to go look at those steel monsters and steel fortresses instead?

"That's only secondary. The main reason is to help a friend fulfill a wish," Lu Tengfei said with a sigh.

Seeing Lu Tengfei's tone suddenly change, Tang Yu signaled for him to continue.

"I have a friend who once formed a small exploration team. They went to Venus and Jupiter, but when they approached Jupiter's Great Red Spot, they encountered a violent sandstorm that wiped out the entire team. He has always felt guilty about it, so he wants to go again, partly to pay his respects."

"An exploration team?" Tang Yu was puzzled. These interstellar exploration teams were generally just for fun. If someone truly wanted to make big money, they would establish a legitimate interstellar exploration company, travel to more distant planets such as Demon Cloud Star or Emerald Green Star where resources could be mined, then transport them back aboard large interstellar cargo ships to sell.

"Actually, Tang Yu, you should know this person," Lu Tengfei continued when he saw Tang Yu's confusion.

That only made Tang Yu more puzzled. He had only a few friends in total, and he had never heard of any of them forming an interstellar exploration team. Besides, someone who had been to Venus had to be quite strong. At the very least, they needed a Class B mech pilot license to survive Venus's harsh environment. Among the people he knew... Zhang Shuai?

"My mentor?"

Lu Tengfei nodded at Tang Yu's words. "Mentor Zhang. That accident directly caused his gene count to fall from nearly five hundred to just over three hundred!"

Tang Yu was confused by this news. That should not have been possible. What kind of situation could cause a person's gene count to regress? Unless all the Force in their body had been exhausted and they had still forcibly stimulated their body's potential, reducing themselves to such a state. For an expert with a gene count of five hundred to be driven that far, what kind of danger had he faced?

Meng Xuanxuan immediately objected. "Tang Yu, we'd better not go. Even Zhang Shuai, with a gene count of five hundred, ended up like this. If we go, we'll probably end up like his former teammates and stay on Jupiter forever!"

Lu Tengfei hurriedly explained, "No, no. We won't get too close to the Great Red Spot. We're only going to pay our respects and admire Jupiter's miracle while we're there."

"Then why did you have to come to me?" He could have asked anyone for something like this. There was no need to specifically ask Tang Yu.

At Tang Yu's words, embarrassment appeared on Lu Tengfei's face. He said somewhat sheepishly, "It's to make it up to you, Tang Yu. Before, I took the Mechanical Clan corpse that originally belonged to you and played with it without your permission. I ended up breaking it. Even though I paid you for it, I still feel bad about it."

Tang Yu was speechless. He had thought Lu Tengfei bought it because he had some use for it. Judging by what he said, he had simply played with it until it broke. Tang Yu had no idea how he had done it, but that corpse was so hard, and he had actually managed to break it!

"Then I'm going too!" Meng Xuanxuan hurriedly said. How could she be left out of something this fun?

Tang Yu looked toward Lu Tengfei. After all, he was the organizer.

"Of course it's no problem if Miss Meng wants to come. Actually, we haven't decided exactly how many people will be going yet. If the two of you have friends who want to come, feel free to invite them. The more people there are, the more fun it'll be!"

After lunch, they went their separate ways. That afternoon, Tang Yu had one of his major courses, a Martial Arts Department class. This was the most important part and had to be listened to carefully. It was said that the instructor was an intermediate instructor from the Asian Military Academy, an expert whose gene count had surpassed five hundred. In Suhang City, he could have been mentioned in the same breath as Jin Taian, the director of the Force Martial Arts Gym.

"After warriors awaken, you should all understand how your Force is consumed and replenished, so I won't say much about it. The Force Guidance Art explains it in detail. Let's talk about Cell Strengthening Theory instead. This is a required theory for all warriors. Otherwise, your punches will be limp and weak, and people who don't know better will think you're fluffing cotton!"

"Hahaha..."

"Haha... fluffing cotton..."

Bursts of hearty laughter erupted throughout the lecture hall. Even Tang Yu could not help laughing. Although this instructor looked tall, burly, and stern, he was quite funny when teaching. He often managed to get the atmosphere going.

"There are ten ranks of awakened warriors. The first nine ranks all have clear standards. It's not as if your strength automatically reaches a certain level once your gene count does. A first-rank Force-awakened warrior has only barely broken through the limitations of their genes and can begin cultivating on their own. Once your gene count reaches two hundred and both your strength and speed rise, a single punch can produce a gust of fist wind. The fiercer the fist wind, the faster and stronger you are!"

As he spoke, the instructor suddenly threw a punch. A series of whooshing sounds echoed through the lecture hall as a powerful current of air swept outward. Even Tang Yu, seven or eight meters away, had the fringe over his forehead blown up, while the students in front could not even open their eyes against the wind.

Tang Yu's pupils contracted at the sight. This instructor was truly powerful. Although he had suppressed his combat power to around two thousand, his fist wind was genuinely fierce. That was because his control over strength and speed had reached the pinnacle, allowing him to achieve such an effect. Tang Yu's full-power punch might have carried more force than that punch, but he could not produce such a powerful result. In the end, it was because his control and command of his own strength were still insufficient.

"Warriors with gene counts above three hundred are different again. They are no longer merely producing fist wind and air vortices. The speed of their instantaneous punches exceeds the speed of sound. Blowing apart the air with a single punch while standing still is no difficult feat for them!"

As he spoke, the instructor punched again. The speed of this punch was so fast that Tang Yu could barely see him throw it.