The Strength of a Second-Tier Martial Artist!

The Testing Hall was as bright as day.

Lin Yuan stood shirtless in front of the testing machine.

Old Li, along with several researchers, hid behind the bulletproof glass.

Everyone craned their necks as far as they could go.

"Lin Yuan."

"You can begin!"

Old Li shouted into the microphone.

Lin Yuan rotated his wrists, and his joints emitted a series of crisp cracks.

He did not assume any complex opening stance, simply kicking off the ground violently with his right leg.

The special plastic flooring instantly blasted open into a shallow crater.

Utilizing this recoil force, Lin Yuan's right fist smashed out like a cannonball.

A piercing sonic boom erupted in the air.

"Boom!"

The heavy punch slammed fiercely against the alloy target surface.

The entire testing machine, weighing several tons, shook violently.

The bolts fixed to the ground even emitted a teeth-grinding sound of distortion.

On the screen in front of Old Li, red numbers jumped wildly.

They finally stabilized.

"18,421 KG!"

Old Li's voice completely cracked.

He rubbed his eyes hard, almost pressing his face against the screen.

"Quick!"

"Hundred-meter test!"

Old Li turned his head and roared at his assistant.

Lin Yuan turned around and walked toward the adjacent Long Test Channel.

The instant the red light turned green.

Lin Yuan's figure vanished directly from where he stood.

The sensor at the finish line emitted a sharp beep.

"1.9 seconds!"

The tablet computer in the recorder's hand dropped straight to the ground.

The entire Testing Hall was also dead silent.

Running a hundred meters in under two seconds—was this still a speed that carbon-based organisms could achieve?

Nie Dingguo stood in the second-floor Surveillance Room, his hands pressing hard against the console.

Blue veins bulged on the old general's hands.

He stared intently at Lin Yuan on the screen, his eyes filled with fanatical devotion and hope.

This was Dragon Country's trump card!

Su Qingxue stood by Nie Dingguo's side, her fingers unconsciously clutching the hem of her clothes.

She looked at that young back below, her emotions extremely complicated.

Peak First-Order Stage!

Perfect Skin Tempering!

As someone who had been reborn and returned from eighty years in the future.

She carried the experience of countless life-or-death battles from her past life, and had even planned out the most perfect cultivation route in advance.

Yet, even so.

The current Su Qingxue was stuck at the limit of the Mid First Rank.

She was only missing that final kick to break through to the Late First-Order Stage.

And what about Lin Yuan?

From an ordinary delivery driver to the non-human he was now.

Altogether, it had only been a few months.

Anyone would feel defeated facing such a suffocating gap in talent.

"Having thoughts?"

Nie Dingguo did not look back.

The old general had crawled out of piles of corpses, so his ability to read people and situations was unimaginably sharp.

"You're overthinking it, Chief."

Su Qingxue immediately relaxed her clenched hem.

She exhaled a breath of stale air, and her expression quickly returned to calm.

In the past life of Blue Star, humanity's highest combat power was the Seventh-Tier Stage, and it was ultimately destroyed by that Eighth-Tier Ferocious Beast.

Under such circumstances.

Su Qingxue knew very well in her heart.

Relying on her alone could never save Blue Star.

She was merely a pathfinder, a person passing on the spark of fire.

True hope had to lie with those monsters endowed with supreme talent.

For example, Lin Yuan.

The stronger Lin Yuan's strength grew.

The greater humanity's chances of winning in the future would be.

"I only fear that his progress isn't fast enough."

Su Qingxue looked down at Lin Yuan below.

Hearing this.

Nie Dingguo gave a light chuckle.

"Your demands are far too harsh."

"Among the fine saplings sent from the military regions nationwide, the fastest ones right now are only at the First-Tier Early Stage."

"He is already a towering mountain that no one can climb over."

In the blink of an eye.

Another two months passed.

Only the final thirty days remained until the full recovery of spiritual Qi.

During these two months, the atmosphere in the Northwest Underground Base grew increasingly tense.

Every day, people were carried into the medical room on stretchers, only to return to the training grounds a few days later.

The entire underground base was like a giant smelting furnace, frantically tempering this group of Dragon Country's sharpest blades.

And the results were likewise extremely astonishing.

Over a hundred First-Tier Early-Stage Martial Artists were born in this underground base.

They were like plump seeds scattered across the military regions in every part of the country.

Following the return of these martial artists.

The military regions everywhere also began to cultivate martial artists on their own.

Deep in the night.

Lin Yuan's Exclusive Cultivation Room.

Lin Yuan sat cross-legged on the specially made floor tiles.

The skin all over his body was no longer a dark cyan, but instead shimmered with a faint, jade-like luster.

This was the sign of Perfect Skin Tempering.

Yet Lin Yuan felt it was still not enough.

He could feel the True Qi within his body expanding wildly within the Qi Vortex.

First-Tier Martial Artists practiced Skin Tempering!

Second-Tier Martial Artists practiced Flesh Tempering!

Tonight.

Lin Yuan was going to break through the barrier of the Second-Tier Stage.

Pain!

Bone-piercing, heart-rending pain!

That was the True Qi tearing apart his original muscle tissue and then reorganizing it.

Lin Yuan abruptly clenched his teeth.

Sweat poured continuously from his forehead.

But as soon as the sweat appeared, the high temperature on the surface of his body evaporated it into white mist.

Break for me!

Two hours later.

Lin Yuan let out a silent roar in his heart.

His True Qi acted like a heavy hammer, fiercely smashing against that invisible barrier.

Boom!

Lin Yuan felt as if a thunderclap had exploded in his mind.

Immediately after.

That tearing pain receded.

Replaced by an unprecedented sense of comfort.

Most importantly.

The Qi Vortex inside Lin Yuan's body had expanded by a full factor of two.

The originally gaseous True Qi faintly displayed a hint of a viscous texture.

After a long while.

Lin Yuan slowly opened his eyes.

With a movement of his mind.

A transparent system panel floated before Lin Yuan's eyes.

[Host: Lin Yuan]
[Strength: Early Second-Tier Martial Artist]
[Cultivation Technique: Heavenly Dipper Qi Refining Formula Second Layer (Entry Realm 1%)]
[Martial Arts: Broken Rock Fist (Minor Mastery Realm 58%), Wandering Dragon Step (Minor Mastery Realm 64%), Overlord Spear (Minor Mastery Realm 51%)]
[Treasures: None]

Looking at the data on the panel.

The corners of Lin Yuan's mouth curled up, revealing an expression of excitement.

He reached the Second-Tier!

He had finally stepped into the ranks of Second-Tier Martial Artists!

True Qi Projection to kill enemies from a distance.

This was the true beginning of the Transcendent Realm.

The next moment.

Lin Yuan stood up, his bones emitting a continuous series of popping sounds.

He casually threw a punch forward.

There was no martial art enhancement, nor did he mobilize True Qi; it was purely physical strength.

Snap!

A crisp sonic boom was struck into the air.

A flash of excitement crossed the depths of Lin Yuan's eyes.

He could already hardly wait to test where his limits were now.

Early the next morning.

Testing Hall.

Old Li sported two dark circles under his eyes, holding a cup of strong coffee in his hand.

When he saw Lin Yuan walk in, the coffee in his hand almost spilled out.

"You..."

"How is the aura on your body..."

Old Li stammered as he pointed at Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan's current aura was too terrifying.

If the previous Lin Yuan was a fierce tiger ready to pounce.

Then the current Lin Yuan was like an active volcano about to erupt at any moment.

Just standing there made people feel a sense of chest tightness and shortness of breath.

Su Qingxue also arrived at the scene.

She stared fixedly at Lin Yuan, her heartbeat skipping a beat against her will.

Second-Tier!

He actually managed to successfully break through to the Second-Tier Stage before the Spiritual Energy Revival!

Su Qingxue knew very well what this meant.

This meant that the moment the doomsday arrived, Dragon Country would possess a true god of slaughter.

"Let's begin the test."

Nie Dingguo strode in, his voice suppressing excitement.

Lin Yuan nodded and walked over to the specially made punch-force target.

This target had just been replaced a few days ago and theoretically could withstand an impact of thirty tons.

Lin Yuan took a deep breath.

A straight punch smashed out without any fancy movements.

Boom!

A loud explosion echoed throughout the entire hall.

Fine cracks even appeared on the bulletproof glass.

Old Li looked in terror at the testing machine built at great expense.

The alloy target surface had completely sunken in, forming a clear fist print.

A wisp of black smoke even drifted from inside the machine.

"It's ruined..."

Old Li swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"A thirty-ton force tester was smashed to ruin with a single punch?"

Several researchers looked at each other in dismay.

Nie Dingguo fiercely slapped his thigh and laughed uninhibitedly.

"Good!"

"Good lad!"

Lin Yuan withdrew his fist and also looked at his hand in some surprise.

He knew he had become stronger.

Yet he did not expect that he had actually grown strong to this extent.

"One-hundred-meter test!"

Old Li snapped back to his senses and roared frantically into the microphone.

Lin Yuan walked to the starting line.

The instant the green signal light lit up.

Only a blurred afterimage remained on everyone's retinas.

The next second.

Lin Yuan was already standing at the finish line.

"How much?"

Nie Dingguo stared fixedly at Old Li.

Old Li looked at the instrument in his hand, his lips trembling.

"0.8 seconds..."

The hall fell into dead silence once more.

One hundred meters in 0.8 seconds, what kind of concept was this?

This meant that on the battlefield.

The nerve reaction speed of the enemy could no longer keep up with Lin Yuan's movement.

Conventional firearms were simply out of the question for even aiming at him.