Lost-Trace Steps Mastery!

The next morning, at dawn.

The first light of morning glimmered at the horizon. In the quiet bedroom, Li Qingshan slowly opened his eyes.

"Feels great!"

He rolled over and sat up, stretching lazily as a sense of comfort filled his entire body.

He got out of bed and walked to the bathroom.

Li Qingshan scooped up a handful of cold water and splashed it onto his face, then looked up at the mirror.

In the mirror,

The dark circles beneath his eyes had long vanished. He looked full of energy, droplets of water sliding down his chiseled face.

"I definitely set the price too low last time. With this face alone, I should've asked for at least ten million!"

Li Qingshan smiled in satisfaction and turned toward the living room.

Looking at the empty living room, he felt momentarily lost.

Lately, he had never gotten up this early. He simply did not have a training plan for this time of day.

His gaze swept toward the wall on the left, where the machete leaned at an angle.

"Blade techniques!"

Li Qingshan recalled yesterday's plan. He raised his wrist, opened his communicator, and found the separately saved compressed files.

Wind Shadow Blade!

The materials for Wind Shadow Blade were similar to those for Lost-Trace Steps, likewise consisting of illustrated explanations and video instruction.

However, compared to the inhuman footwork required to get started with Lost-Trace Steps, Wind Shadow Blade was much simpler.

The set of blade moves was not complicated. Its only defining trait was speed!

In the video, the middle-aged instructor briefly demonstrated the entire set of blade moves before suddenly accelerating.

"When your blade technique becomes proficient, your blade moves like the wind!"

As his words fell, cold flashes flickered like howling gales, unceasing and endless.

"When your blade technique reaches mastery, your long blade cleaves the wind!"

The sound of air splitting rang out as the long blade tore through the gale with unparalleled sharpness.

"Blade light becomes shadows!"

The blade light grew faster and faster, leaving afterimages in its wake.

Li Qingshan's eyes blurred. He could not catch sight of the long blade at all, and he could not help exclaiming in amazement.

"So this is Wind Shadow Blade at the mastery realm?"

The middle-aged instructor's demonstration had yet to stop, and his movements only continued to accelerate.

"Wind and shadow follow together; the blade technique reaches perfection!"

Whoosh!

The blade light stirred up a gale that circled his body, while one afterimage after another solidified within the wind.

In the blink of an eye, three blade lights, seemingly tangible, extended from different angles.

It was as though three people were drawing their blades at the same time amid the gale.

Li Qingshan blinked and watched carefully.

Yet no matter how closely he looked, he could not distinguish the real from the false.

"Or rather, are all three blade lights real?"

Just as Li Qingshan began to grasp something,

The blade light gradually slowed, the wind shadows scattered, and the middle-aged instructor sheathed his blade.

"Whew!"

Li Qingshan let out a long breath.

Blade moves like the wind, long blade cleaving the wind, blade light becoming shadows, wind and shadow following together—

Those were the distinct traits of Wind Shadow Blade's four realms: proficient, mastery, great mastery, and perfection.

"I'll focus on getting started first."

Li Qingshan calmed his surging emotions and reopened the video, repeatedly watching the opening demonstration of the blade moves while comparing it with the illustrated explanations to understand and memorize them.

Half an hour later,

Li Qingshan picked up the machete by the wall and headed outside.

It was still early. Only a few elderly people were exercising downstairs in the residential complex. Li Qingshan casually found a patch of grass and drew his blade.

After taking several deep breaths, he began to move the long blade.

Wind Shadow Blade was defined by speed, yet Li Qingshan's movements were exceptionally slow, looking no different from those elderly people doing their morning exercises.

Chop, slash, sweep, lift, intercept...

Li Qingshan's expression was focused as he recalled the details of every blade move in his mind, then reproduced them with the machete in his hand.

Ten minutes later, he had finished practicing the entire set of blade techniques.

Li Qingshan paused, then drew his blade once more.

The same moves, the same blade technique,

But this time, the blade's momentum was no longer sluggish. It was sharp and swift.

In less than a minute, he had completed the whole set.

"The panel really is reliable!"

A smile touched Li Qingshan's lips. He sheathed his blade and looked over the panel.

[Li Qingshan]

[Realm: Body Tempering 12/100]

[Technique:

The Thirty-Sixth Set of Radio Calisthenics—The Stars Are Calling 22/1000 (Mastery)]

[Martial Skills: Lost-Trace Steps 2/1000 (Mastery), Wind Shadow Blade 2/100 (Beginner)]

[Function: Martial Arts Space Lv1 (1/100)]

[Available Time: 356 days]

[Time Flow Rate: 1:10]

School, martial arts hall.

After Wan Keshan entered through the front doors, he swept his gaze around as usual before finally settling it on Li Qingshan.

After examining him for a moment,

Wan Keshan revealed a satisfied smile and waved for the students to spread out and begin training.

That evening, he returned home.

"The break is over. Time to keep working hard."

Li Qingshan smiled, took out a bottle of nutrient solution, drank it, and continued his Body Tempering.

Every session of Body Tempering left a person utterly exhausted.

Yet Li Qingshan gladly endured it, carefully feeling his body grow stronger bit by bit.

By late night, he had finally completed four Body Tempering sessions.

Li Qingshan quickly washed up, drew out his machete, and returned to bed.

"Wolf Venom... I won't just offer up my neck today."

Li Qingshan looked invigorated as he closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he had returned to the Martial Arts Space.

Li Qingshan gripped the hilt tightly, twisted his right foot, and instantly turned to face Wolf Venom head-on.

Roar!

Wolf Venom let out a low growl, pushed off with its hind legs, and pounced.

Wolf Venom needed two seconds to cross a hundred meters.

Once, those two seconds had been Li Qingshan's "lifeline," allowing him to evade Wolf Venom's first pounce.

But now, Li Qingshan realized that perhaps dodging was not his only option!

Rather than retreating, he charged straight at Wolf Venom.

Man and beast crossed the hundred meters, about to collide in an instant.

Li Qingshan suddenly shifted his steps. Lost-Trace Steps had become instinctive as his body eerily veered past Wolf Venom's right side. He raised the machete in his right hand and slashed in an instant.

Splat!

Wolf Venom landed, a blade wound carved across its back.

Li Qingshan did not relax in the slightest, staring intently at Wolf Venom ten meters away.

Ten meters was only a single leap for Wolf Venom. Before this, he had never evaded Wolf Venom's second pounce.

Roar!

Wolf Venom gave a savage howl and pounced again.

Li Qingshan had no time to react. He could only take a step on instinct.

Their bodies crossed, and the massive form swept past his eyes.

"I dodged it!"

The thought had barely flashed through his mind when a sharp claw swiped at him from behind...

In the bedroom,

Li Qingshan opened his eyes. After briefly recalling the exchange, he began trying again.

Over the course of the night, faced with the absolute gap in speed, Li Qingshan could only rely on bodily instinct to step and dodge.

When luck was on his side, he could evade Wolf Venom's attacks three to five times.

When luck was against him, he could not even avoid the second pounce.

Still, it was already far better than before, when he had died in Wolf Venom's jaws thousands of times in a single night.

The increased survival time also caused Lost-Trace Steps and Wind Shadow Blade to improve more quickly.

Time passed, day after day.

Li Qingshan traveled only between home and school each day.

His daily Body Tempering never stopped: twice at school and four times at home.

His body steadily grew stronger, while his Body Tempering progress and proficiency in The Stars Are Calling rose little by little.

However, Lost-Trace Steps and Wind Shadow Blade improved even faster.

Almost every night, Li Qingshan trained for over twenty hours in the Martial Arts Space.

It was worth mentioning that

Perhaps because he was dying less often,

Li Qingshan was somewhat tired when he got up the next day, but his mental state was clearly better than before.

In the blink of an eye, twenty days passed.

Within the pitch-black bedroom,

Li Qingshan suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze blazing.

Lost-Trace Steps had reached great mastery!