The Power of a Martial Artist!

The sound of running water in the changing room stopped.

Lin Yuan put on the black military training uniform prepared for him.

He raised a hand and pushed open the door.

The glaring fluorescent lights instantly filled his vision.

At the center of the underground training ground,

Nie Dingguo and more than a dozen military bigwigs wearing general's stars stood there like statues.

Dozens of eyes turned in perfect unison toward Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan's scalp went numb.

Just a few hours ago,

he had been weaving through the streets and alleys of Shu Capital, desperately arguing with customers over bad reviews.

But now,

some of the most powerful figures in Dragon Country's military were staring at him as if they wanted to dissect him alive.

The head of scientific research looked the most fanatical.

He clutched a tablet in his hand, trembling as though he had Parkinson's.

"Mr. Lin, please come this way!"

"We must immediately conduct a basic physical retest!"

They gave Lin Yuan no chance to refuse.

Several researchers in white coats rushed over and led Lin Yuan to a massive testing machine.

This was a heavy-duty device specifically used to test punching power.

"Throw a punch with everything you've got!"

The research director's voice was sharp with excitement.

Lin Yuan's Adam's apple bobbed.

He looked uncertainly at his fist.

What exactly had those two hours of meditation changed?

Lin Yuan was desperate to find out too.

He pulled his right leg back half a step and violently twisted at the waist.

An unprecedentedly violent force surged from his spine into his right arm like floodwaters bursting through a dam.

Bang—

A dull boom echoed through the empty training ground.

The sturdy metal target pad caved in.

The entire room fell silent.

Everyone stared at the wildly fluctuating numbers on the display.

The number finally stopped.

1400 KG!

"Rip..."

The recording pen in the research director's hand scraped a white streak across the tablet screen.

"One thousand four hundred kilograms!"

"The most elite heavyweight boxing champions on Blue Star can only unleash around eight hundred kilograms at their absolute limit!"

"He has no force-generation technique at all. That was entirely pure physical strength!"

The researchers went mad.

Some even grabbed fistfuls of their own hair.

These were not numbers a human could produce.

Even the striking force of an adult brown bear was probably no greater than this.

"Continue!"

"The hundred-meter sprint!"

The research director pointed at the specialized track nearby.

Lin Yuan shook his slightly heated fist and obediently stepped onto the starting line.

Bang!

The instant the starting gun fired,

two shallow craters exploded beneath Lin Yuan's feet in the polymer running track.

He became a black blur and shot toward the finish line.

The sensor at the finish line flashed a glaring red light.

7.9 seconds!

"It's broken..."

"The physical laws governing Blue Star's hundred-meter limit have been broken!"

An elderly expert's legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the ground.

Nie Dingguo's callused hand clenched tightly into a fist, veins bulging across his arm.

Without receiving any systematic training,

after merely meditating for two hours,

this young man named Lin Yuan had directly crossed the limits of thousands of years of human evolution.

"Is this... the power of spiritual energy?"

Nie Dingguo murmured, unable to contain the shock in his eyes.

Every military bigwig present was reassessing everything they had just witnessed.

If an army were composed entirely of monsters like this, how terrifying would its combat power be?

"Is that very impressive?"

A cold voice suddenly rang out.

Su Qingxue walked over.

Everyone's gaze instantly focused on her.

Lin Yuan especially.

He desperately needed an explanation.

"This level of physical fitness..."

"Compared to the strongest soldier in your military, he is indeed far stronger."

"But his current condition is still within the limits of an ordinary mortal body."

"Strictly speaking, he does not yet count as a true martial artist."

Su Qingxue's gaze swept over the figures on the display.

The moment those words were spoken,

a suppressed commotion immediately rose from the crowd.

A punch of fourteen hundred kilograms and a hundred meters in under eight seconds.

And that did not even count as a martial artist?

Then what kind of monsters were true martial artists?

"May I ask..."

"What exactly is going on?"

Lin Yuan pointed at the machine, his eyes full of confusion.

He only understood one thing.

He seemed to have been dragged into the center of an unimaginably terrifying vortex.

Su Qingxue glanced at Nie Dingguo.

Nie Dingguo gave an almost imperceptible nod, granting permission.

At this point,

since they had already chosen Lin Yuan as the key to breaking the deadlock, there was no need to hide anything further.

"Didn't you want to know..."

"Why the military sought out a delivery driver like you?"

"Because I came from the future, eighty years from now."

"I am someone who was reborn."

Su Qingxue stared directly into Lin Yuan's eyes.

Lin Yuan's pupils suddenly contracted, and his mind instantly went blank.

He even looked around instinctively, trying to find a hidden camera.

A prank?

A reality show?

But when he saw the serious expressions on Nie Dingguo and the others,

that absurd thought instantly shattered.

Dragon Country's military would never put on such a pointless act.

"A few months ago,"

"I broke into the military district and made five predictions."

"Until one week ago, all five predictions came true."

Su Qingxue's voice remained utterly flat, as though she were recounting something trivial.

"Half a year from now,"

"Blue Star's spiritual energy will fully revive."

"Plants and animals will mutate wildly, becoming bloodthirsty Ferocious Beasts."

"Human technological weapons will lose their dominance in a short period of time."

"And martial arts will be humanity's only hope for survival."

Hearing Su Qingxue's words,

Lin Yuan felt a heavy pressure in his chest.

The end of the world?

Would the kind of plot found in novels truly play out on Blue Star?

"Just now!"

"The energy you felt was spiritual energy."

"The changes in your body are merely the most basic cleansing after spiritual energy enters the body."

"True martial artists are divided into First Order through Seventh-Tier Stage."

"Every stage is a leap in the level of life itself."

Without giving Lin Yuan much time to process it,

Su Qingxue continued, explaining seriously.

Everyone pricked up their ears, including Nie Dingguo.

Back in the interrogation room,

Su Qingxue had only briefly mentioned it and had not explained in detail.

Now,

martial arts concerned the military's future strategic deployments, and every word was crucial.

"First Order is called Skin Tempering."

"One condenses the first true Qi Vortex within the body, and the skin becomes as tough as cowhide."

"After reaching the Peak First-Order Stage,"

"a martial artist's neural reaction speed will reach an extremely terrifying level."

"They can even see the trajectory of a bullet at close range and evade it."

The researchers frantically tapped away at their keyboards, recording this information that overturned everything they knew.

Evading bullets with the body alone!

That was an ability exclusive to superheroes in movies.

"Second-Tier Stage is Flesh Tempering."

"Muscle density increases drastically, and the body can withstand fire from ordinary light weapons."

"Most importantly, upon reaching the Second-Tier Stage, true Qi can leave the body."

"Plucking leaves and tossing petals to kill from afar will no longer be a fantasy from martial arts novels."

"..."

"Third-Tier Stage is Bone Tempering."

"True Qi tempers the bones throughout the body until they are like white jade, indestructible."

"At this stage,"

"a martial artist's recovery ability will greatly increase."

"As long as their head has not been cut off or their heart pierced through,"

"even ordinary severed hands and feet can be reattached and restored in a short time using true Qi."

Hearing this,

several battle-hardened generals began breathing noticeably harder.

What was most feared on the battlefield?

Casualties and disabled personnel.

If soldiers possessed such monstrous recovery abilities, they would practically be an undying army that could not be killed.

"As for the Fourth Tier, Organ Tempering."

"The gaseous true qi within the body will be compressed and liquefied."

"True qi will become inexhaustible, and one can even hover in the air for short periods."

"More importantly..."

Su Qingxue paused.

Her gaze swept over the group of white-haired old generals.

"Upon breaking through to the Fourth Tier, a martial artist's cells will age more slowly."

"And their lifespan can be extended to two hundred years."

Boom!

The entire venue fell deathly silent.

If the earlier display of combat power had merely shocked the military's upper ranks,

then the words "extended lifespan" were like a nuclear bomb detonating directly in their minds.

Nie Dingguo suddenly stepped forward.

The old general, who would not change expression even if Mount Tai collapsed before him, was flushed bright red now.

Extended lifespan.

Since ancient times, it had been an irresistible temptation to all humanity.

Even with modern medicine developed to this point, the limits of human lifespan were only a little over a hundred years.

Yet by cultivating the martial path, one only needed to reach the Fourth Tier to easily live to two hundred!

"What about the Fifth Tier?"

Nie Dingguo took a deep breath and asked the question solemnly.

"The Fifth Tier: Blood Exchange."

"The blood throughout the entire body transforms into Lead-Mercury Blood, immune to all evils."

"The lifespan extends to three hundred years."

"Before my rebirth, I struggled through eighty years in the apocalypse, yet ultimately only reached the Late Stage of the Fifth Tier."

Su Qingxue was not lying.

Resources in her previous life had been extremely scarce, and humanity had nearly suffered defeat after defeat.

For her to cultivate to the Fifth Tier, she had already stepped over the corpses of countless comrades and endured countless brushes with death.

"The Sixth-Tier Stage: Marrow Cleansing. One may be called a master."

"The lifespan extends to five hundred years."

"The Seventh-Tier Stage: Divine Transformation. Figures at the grandmaster level can live for a thousand years."

"I can only speak vaguely about the specific marvels of the Sixth-Tier and Seventh-Tier Stages."

"Because I never reached those realms."

"But I can guarantee that the power they possess is already nearly divine."

"..."