Crossing Blows

When Zhang Ping returned to Iron Soul, the only thing he felt was poverty.

The martial arts halls were all far too expensive. Even the small ones charged between 300 and 500 Pearl City Coins. He would need to save for at least several months just to enroll in the most basic program.

"I wonder if I can apply to Liu Sishan for activity funds."

Lying in bed, Zhang Ping suddenly thought before falling asleep that the organization Liu Sishan belonged to was probably quite wealthy.

Over the next week, Zhang Ping's life became very regular.

During the day, he stayed at Iron Soul to study. At night, he went out to continue investigating martial arts halls, while also identifying Heavenly Foxes for Liu Sishan.

The Cleanup Team did not immediately act after he identified a Heavenly Fox. Instead, they cleared out the Heavenly Foxes at irregular intervals. It was only several days later that Zhang Ping noticed a few Heavenly Foxes had disappeared.

The Cleanup Team had clearly made its move.

Zhang Ping knew very well that the Cleanup Team did not trust him. After all, Liu Sishan had never mentioned the name of her organization. The only reason he knew it was the Cleanup Team was because his Appraisal Technique had leveled up again.

The Contract Gem could increase one's potential, and potential had three possible uses.

The first was to slowly unleash potential through training.

This allowed him to continuously break through human limits, granting him physical abilities ordinary people could hardly hope to attain. If he kept training, he felt that one day he would be able to compete with body-enhancement Awakened.

The second was a one percent chance of awakening a new talent.

In a sense, Zhang Ping was rather lucky. After all, he had already awakened three talent abilities.

The third was upgrading existing talents.

From Unstable Appraisal to Stable Appraisal, Appraisal Technique was arguably the skill Zhang Ping used most often, so it leveled up extremely quickly. Two days ago, it had evolved again into Strategic Appraisal.

Strategic Appraisal could identify a target's faction or affiliated organization. If the target belonged to no faction, no faction would be displayed.

After the skill leveled up, he appraised Liu Sishan again and learned that her organization was called the Cleanup Team.

He had also finally swallowed his pride and applied to Liu Sishan for activity funds.

The day after he applied, Liu Sishan gave him 10,000 Pearl City Coins.

With activity funds, Zhang Ping planned to first join a martial arts hall to get a feel for things. Once he understood enough, he would try approaching several trustworthy hall masters and see if he could recruit a few more fighters.

Midnight.

Zhang Ping came to Beast King Fist Hall again.

Beast King Fist Hall was not actually the best choice. The problem was... it was close enough to Iron Soul.

Zhang Ping purchased the course for the first three forms of Beast King Fist and finally entered the inner area of the hall. The hall had five floors in total, two above ground and three underground.

Led by a young waitress, Zhang Ping arrived at a room.

There were already quite a few apprentices inside. Most were between twenty-five and thirty years old, making Zhang Ping look completely out of place among them. Things improved slightly only after a teenager around his age entered.

"Hello."

The teenager came over to Zhang Ping and spoke.

Zhang Ping nodded. "Hello."

"You're here to learn Beast King Fist too?" Wang Jieming asked.

Zhang Ping narrowed his eyes at him and quipped, "It's not like I came here to learn flower arranging."

"Ah, sorry. That was a pointless question. My name is Wang Jieming." Realizing he had asked a stupid question, the teenager scratched the back of his head and spoke awkwardly.

"I'm Zhang Ping," Zhang Ping introduced himself.

Fortunately, their dry conversation ended there because the instructor arrived.

The instructor was a burly man who looked to be between forty and fifty. In fact, most body-enhancement Awakened were tall and muscular, every one of them built like a mountain of muscle.

This instructor had a full beard and wolf-like eyes. When he spoke, his canine teeth were visible.

While the instructor introduced himself, Zhang Ping immediately activated Appraisal Technique. The instructor's information was then identified.

[Appraisal Successful]

[Name: Bai De]

[Race: Human]

[Faction: Beast King Fist Hall]

[Potential: ?]

[Lifespan: 159]

[Rank: High-Level Awakened]

[Level: 25]

[Talent]

[You Are What You Eat: Gradually alters one's physique through food.]

[Advanced Skills]

[Running Wolf Form: Activates the body's latent power, gradually transforming the user into a wolfman form and greatly increasing speed.]

[Berserk Lion Form: Activates the body's latent power, transforming the user into a powerful lionman form and enhancing the body in all aspects.]

...

He was very strong.

Judging from his attributes alone, he was almost a match for Liu Sishan.

However, only a fight could determine whether Liu Sishan or Bai De was stronger. After all, it was difficult to imagine how fast Running Wolf Form was or how powerful Berserk Lion Form was just from their descriptions.

After Bai De finished introducing himself, he did not waste any words and went straight to the point.

"The first three forms of Beast King Fist are Ape King Form, Giant Crocodile Form, and Phoenix Claw Form. Like Pearl Fist, the three forms correspond to three creatures. Ape King Form has ever-changing movements and no fixed shape. Giant Crocodile Form trains finger strength; once mastered, it can tear apart tigers and leopards barehanded. Phoenix Claw Form also places extremely high demands on finger strength. I suggest learning Giant Crocodile Form first and Phoenix Claw Form last."

"Alright, we'll begin the actual lesson now. Everyone, follow my movements."

After speaking, Bai De began teaching Ape King Form.

Ape King Form was not a style that imitated apes. It was a boxing technique with extremely fast attack speed. It was called Ape King Form because of the idea that the mind was as restless as a monkey.

The boxing technique came with matching footwork. As Zhang Ping learned it, he felt that this footwork was the true essence of Ape King Form.

In the first class, everyone learned slowly. They were mainly afraid of making mistakes, preferring slowness over error.

Bai De taught the first movement, then had the apprentices repeat it over and over. He moved among them, constantly correcting each apprentice's mistakes.

When he reached Zhang Ping's side, he watched for quite a while before nodding. "Not bad. Keep going."

When he reached Wang Jieming, however, his brow immediately furrowed. He kept correcting Wang Jieming's movements, but each time he did, Wang Jieming quickly fell out of form again.

"Your feet. Pay attention to your feet."

"No. Your point of force is not at your toes—it's at your heel. Watch carefully."

"Is your pelvis separated from your lower body? Otherwise, how are you managing to move your upper body while your lower body gives no support at all?"

"..."

After teaching him for over ten minutes, Bai De was completely speechless.

After thinking for a moment, he walked over to Zhang Ping. "Try sparring with him."

Sometimes, actual combat was the best teacher.

Some people were naturally gifted. If they were made to learn properly, they might spend years without even getting started. Yet in actual combat, they could improve very quickly.

Bai De was now hoping Wang Jieming was that kind of genius. Otherwise, teaching him the first three forms of Beast King Fist would definitely be a painful job.

The other apprentices stepped aside slightly as Zhang Ping and Wang Jieming faced each other.

"You are not allowed to use any other abilities. Only Ape King Form. Begin," Bai De said.

Zhang Ping moved instantly. He feinted to the left, then charged in from the right and closed in on Wang Jieming. Wang Jieming immediately threw a punch on instinct. Like a monkey climbing a tree, Zhang Ping pressed his body along Wang Jieming's arm as he advanced, then punched Wang Jieming in the face. At the last moment, however, he held back and did not put any force into it.

"..."

Bai De watched the two of them, then finally sighed. Zhang Ping fighting Wang Jieming was like an adult beating up a baby. There had been no suspense at all.

Clearly, Wang Jieming was not a combat-type genius.

The Awakened around them laughed and joked. Anyone with eyes could tell that Zhang Ping had not merely held back—he had held back by an ocean.

Wang Jieming was about the same age as Zhang Ping, but the gap in their strength was far too great.

At the very least, Zhang Ping had already reached the beginner level in Ape King Form, while Wang Jieming had not even grasped the basics.

"Alright, stop," Bai De sighed.

Zhang Ping cupped his fist in his palm. "You let me win."

"..."

Wang Jieming could only give a bitter smile. The onlookers could tell Zhang Ping had held back, and as the one being hit, he understood it even more clearly. Every time Zhang Ping's fist landed on him, Zhang Ping had reined in his strength. Otherwise, he would have been coughing blood long ago.

"You are not suited to practicing boxing. I can refund your tuition," Bai De said as he stepped up to Wang Jieming.

"Instructor Bai, I want to learn. Please believe in me—I can learn it!" Wang Jieming quickly said.

"..."

Bai De was somewhat speechless. He truly did not want to teach Wang Jieming.

Every instructor could only teach so many apprentices. Talented students could graduate quickly, while teaching dead wood required a great deal of time. In the same amount of time, teaching one untalented apprentice was enough for him to teach three or four geniuses.

"Let me learn for a few more days. Please, Instructor Bai," Wang Jieming pleaded miserably.

Bai De said helplessly, "Then five days. If you still haven't reached beginner level in Ape King Form within five days, I'll only refund seventy percent of the tuition."

"Alright. Thank you, Instructor Bai," Wang Jieming immediately agreed.

Zhang Ping was somewhat curious. Since Wang Jieming had no talent for it, why was he so determined to learn boxing? Judging from his physique, he did not seem to be a body-enhancement Awakened either.

Out of curiosity, Zhang Ping simply used Appraisal Technique on Wang Jieming.

[Appraisal Successful]

[Name: Wang Jieming]

[Race: Human]

[Potential: ???????]

[Lifespan: 92]

[Rank: Novice Awakened]

[Level: 5]

[Talent]

[Diligence Makes Up for Lack of Talent: Learning ability reduced by 90%. Any skill can be improved through persistent training. For every consecutive day of training, the growth rate of that type of training increases by 10%, up to a maximum of 1000%.]

So that was it.

After reading Wang Jieming's attributes, Zhang Ping finally understood what was going on.

It had to be said that Wang Jieming was absolutely the kind of powerhouse who would shine later on. Although learning skills was difficult for him in the early stages, once he got started and kept at it, his growth rate would become faster and faster.

Moreover, Wang Jieming had seven-star potential. At worst, he would become a High-Level Awakened, and he might even become a Top-Tier Awakened.

This guy was a real talent.

Mingzhu City might have a large number of Awakened, but most of them were actually Intermediate Awakened. High-Level Awakened and Top-Tier Awakened were extremely rare. And Awakened were ultimately still beings of flesh and blood; illness, old injuries, age, and other factors would slowly weaken their strength.

Take Liu Tiefeng, for example. Though he was an Intermediate Awakened, he could not even defeat Zhang Ping, a Novice Awakened, anymore.

Even ordinary people could injure him if they caught him off guard.

Time spared no one. That was reality.