Practicing Fists

After returning to the dormitory building, Xuan Xiao found the door to Room 107 wide open and glanced inside.

Huo Yuhao was sitting on his bed cultivating, legs crossed, hands forming seals, eyes tightly shut. Fine beads of sweat seeped from his forehead, clearly showing that he was circulating his Soul Power at full force.

Wang Dong, meanwhile, had pulled the blanket over her head and curled herself into a ball, ignoring everyone.

An invisible boundary lay between the two of them, as clearly divided as the Chu River and Han Border.

Xuan Xiao only spared them a glance before withdrawing his gaze and returning to Room 109.

What surprised him, however, was that he had the dormitory all to himself.

The registration period had already ended, and no new roommate had arrived.

That was a good thing. It meant he would not have to worry about anyone seeing him when he bought things.

After all, many of the things he bought could not see the light of day. If some clueless roommate happened to spot them, it would be troublesome.

Xuan Xiao first cleaned the room from top to bottom.

He found a broom and cleared away all the dust on the floor and the cobwebs in the corners, then used a damp cloth to wipe down the desk and bedboards twice.

The formerly dusty room finally looked somewhat fit for someone to live in.

Then he pushed the two bedboards together to form one large bed, laid out the mattress and bedding he had just bought, and pressed down on it with his hand. It was neither too soft nor too hard, reasonably comfortable.

Once everything was in order, Xuan Xiao sat cross-legged on the bed, took a deep breath, and opened the system panel again.

The original 499,900 Deviation Points had now risen to 550,000, and the number was still continuously ticking upward.

Watching the constantly changing number, Xuan Xiao roughly guessed what was happening.

Without the intimate contact from their first meeting in the original story, the script between Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong had already changed considerably.

Mu En's attention toward Huo Yuhao had also shifted to him, continuously affecting the future plot. That was why the Deviation Points kept increasing.

That was an unexpected delight.

Xuan Xiao immediately composed himself, stopped dwelling on random thoughts, and began searching through the system shop.

He remembered catching sight of something called the Virtual Combat Room when he had bought the recommendation letter earlier.

He had only glanced at it then and paid little attention, but now that he thought about it, it should be very helpful in improving his combat ability.

After searching for a while, he finally found the item in a corner of the shop.

[Virtual Combat Room: 10,000 Deviation Points per hour.]

Seeing the price, Xuan Xiao's mouth twitched.

Ten thousand Deviation Points per hour. That was really not cheap.

Just as he was hesitating over whether to buy it, his gaze fell upon the note below.

[Note: Time flows differently from the outside world, at a ratio of 1:700.]

One to seven hundred?

Xuan Xiao froze for a moment, then rapidly calculated in his mind.

Seven hundred hours divided by twenty-four hours came to 29.16 days.

That meant over twenty-nine days, nearly a month. This was practically a divine tool for honing combat techniques.

Xuan Xiao's eyes immediately lit up.

Ten thousand Deviation Points for nearly a month of training time—this deal was absolutely worth it.

Without another word, he directly clicked to pay.

[Virtual Combat Room activated. Five, four, three, two, one.]

A flash of white light passed before his eyes. Xuan Xiao felt his vision blur, and the next instant, he appeared in a completely unfamiliar place.

He stood atop a towering mountain. Churning white mist rolled beneath his feet, while endless ranges of mountains stretched in every direction as far as the eye could see.

The air was filled with the fresh scent of grass and trees, and the breeze brought waves of coolness.

The scenery was so realistic that, if he had not known he had entered the Virtual Combat Room, Xuan Xiao would have thought he had truly been transported to some unknown mountaintop.

Standing opposite him was an old man whose body was as straight as a spear.

The old man wore a fitted gray outfit. His hair was grizzled, his face lean, yet his eyes shone with astonishing brightness, like two cold stars set in their sockets.

He simply stood there in silence, without the slightest fluctuation of Soul Power around him, but his mountainlike presence made Xuan Xiao tense up involuntarily.

Xuan Xiao did not dare be careless and promptly cupped his hands in greeting.

"Hello."

The old man gave a faint nod. His face remained expressionless, and his voice was as placid as a stagnant pool.

"Hello. I will be your personal instructor. What weapon do you usually use in battle?"

Xuan Xiao thought for a moment and answered honestly.

"My fists."

The old man nodded, his sharp eyes sweeping over Xuan Xiao as though assessing his foundation.

"Then I will teach you the Five Elements Fist. Attack me and let me see your basics."

Xuan Xiao took a deep breath, adjusted his breathing, then suddenly moved.

He stomped hard against the ground with his right foot and shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow. His right fist clenched tightly as it drove straight toward the old man's chest.

He put seventy percent of his strength into this punch. The wind of his fist howled, carrying fierce momentum.

Yet the old man merely raised both hands unhurriedly, crossing them before his chest in an X and steadily catching the punch.

Immediately afterward, the old man twisted his arm, his elbow smashing toward Xuan Xiao's temple like a heavy hammer.

Xuan Xiao's pupils contracted, and he instinctively tried to retreat and evade.

But the old man was too fast. That elbow cut through the air with a howl and reached his eyes in an instant.

Just as Xuan Xiao thought he was definitely about to be hit, the old man's arm suddenly turned. His elbow became a palm, which pressed against Xuan Xiao's shoulder and gave a light push.

Xuan Xiao felt a gentle force strike him. His body staggered backward out of control for several steps, and he nearly fell flat on his backside.

The old man withdrew his hand, still wearing that unruffled expression.

"Remember: your punches must be fast! Your turns must be fast! Your footwork must be fast!"

Xuan Xiao steadied himself and rolled his shoulder, which had gone slightly numb from the impact. His gaze grew serious.

He charged forward again.

This time, he changed his approach. Rather than charging headlong with brute force, he coordinated his movements with his footwork, weaving left and right as he tried to find an opening in the old man's defense.

But no matter how he attacked, the old man's defense remained as impenetrable as a wall of bronze and iron.

Every punch was precisely blocked, and every change in technique was anticipated in advance before being effortlessly neutralized.

What frustrated Xuan Xiao even more was that the old man's counterattacks always stopped at exactly the right moment before him.

That fist had clearly reached the tip of his nose, its wind stinging his skin, yet it never actually came down.

Every time, it stopped at the point of contact, then withdrew. The old man would resume his stance and wait for Xuan Xiao to attack again.

It felt like using all his strength to strike a ball of cotton. Every ounce of force went nowhere, leaving his chest tight with frustration.

Seeing him panting heavily, the old man spoke slowly and evenly.

"The highest realm of fast footwork and fast fists is Forget the Move. In other words, forget your own techniques and merge yourself with the environment."

"When you no longer think about what move to use next, your body will naturally make the most correct response."

After hearing this, Xuan Xiao nodded thoughtfully.

He took a deep breath and adjusted his breathing once more, calming his mind.

This time, he did not rush to attack. Instead, he stood where he was, feeling the mountain rocks beneath his feet, the breeze around him, and the Soul Power flowing through his body.

Then he moved.

A Superman Fist carrying the strength of his entire body shot straight toward the old man's face.

The old man shifted slightly to the side, dodging the punch at an extremely small angle. At the same time, he raised his knee and drove it straight into Xuan Xiao's chest.

With a muffled bang, Xuan Xiao was sent flying. He rolled several times across the ground before finally coming to a stop.

He clutched his chest and coughed twice, feeling as though his ribs were about to break.

The old man remained standing where he was, still looking calm and at ease.

"What I teach you here are only techniques. As for the fundamentals, you can only train those yourself."

Xuan Xiao climbed to his feet, brushed the dirt from his body, and his eyes burned with fierce fighting spirit.

"Continue."