The Fighter's Past Life (Part Four)

A figure wearing an Iron Mask appeared on the screen directly facing Su Wu.

The man clasped his hands together and performed a "clasped-hand arm shake."

After the figure on the screen repeated the movement three times, the image instantly went black, displaying a countdown: "3."

Without the slightest hesitation, Su Wu immediately imitated what he had just seen, repeating the "clasped-hand arm shake" three times as well.

As soon as he began the movement, the countdown on the screen stopped.

After he completed three repetitions, the image returned. The same figure wearing the Iron Mask performed "shoulder circles," "side shoulder stretches," and "reverse shoulder stretches" three times each, in that order.

Such simple movements were effortless to copy.

The countdown had barely appeared before Su Wu began moving.

And so, as the movements on the screen kept changing, he followed along with absolute concentration.

The figure's movements progressed from simple to difficult, and the countdowns grew correspondingly longer. This sequence repeated three times.

On the fourth round, the figure on the screen still began with the "clasped-hand arm shake," but this time, the countdown did not stop when Su Wu followed along.

Did he have to repeat the movement three times before the countdown ended?

Having worked it out, Su Wu sped up and finished before the countdown ended. Sure enough, no announcement sounded.

Next came another movement-ten lunging leg stretches.

The countdown was three seconds.

Completing ten lunging leg stretches in three seconds was difficult, and Su Wu ran over time.

The announcement sounded: "You failed to complete the required movement within the allotted time. Five minutes will be added to your training time.

"Please note: after three failures to finish within the allotted time, you will be punished."

Adding training time didn't count as punishment?

Su Wu's heart tightened, and he focused even harder.

He had originally thought "coordination training" was nothing more than a little appetizer compared to "beating endurance training," hardly worth mentioning.

But now, with only a slight increase in difficulty, he began to realize there was something unusual about this training.

After the first three rounds of performing established movements in a fixed order had developed his responsiveness, the fourth round would scramble their order while raising the requirements for each movement.

Would there be new changes in the fifth and sixth rounds, then?

Su Wu dared not dwell on it. He concentrated on completing every movement shown on the screen, while the time allotted for each grew shorter and shorter.

At first, he performed the movements like an elderly person practicing tai chi in a park.

But as the countdowns shortened, his movements grew faster and faster, advancing from routine training that "he could easily complete" to movements that "he could complete with total concentration."

Then came movements that "he could complete by giving his all," and finally, high-intensity training where "he could grit his teeth and push past that last hurdle."

Inside the space enclosed by steel plates, Su Wu moved faster and faster, almost becoming a blur.

He could raise the intensity of his exercise to this level in such a short time without his body suffering from the abrupt increase, naturally because of the physique strengthened by the medicinal bath.

And because some of the medicinal potency still lingered in his body after the bath.

Finally, after repeating the sequence more than a dozen times and making several mistakes along the way-

Once again, Su Wu failed to complete "twenty under-the-leg claps" within five seconds, and the announcement judged it his fourth failure to finish a movement in time.

"You have failed to complete a movement within the allotted time for the fourth time. You will be punished."

The announcement ended.

A countdown appeared on the screen: "3."

Three seconds?

Su Wu stared at the number, the thought barely flashing through his mind.

The next instant, the number jumped straight to "1"!

Alarm surged through him!

Whoosh!

A sharp arrow tore through the air, shooting through a hole in the steel plate to his left and heading straight for his temple!

At that critical moment, he dropped low, deftly crouching to dodge the feathered arrow!

Had the extended training not greatly improved his coordination and responsiveness, he could never have ducked out of the way so smoothly!

"Punishment complete.

"Please note: you have lost your exemption from punishment.

"For the next seven days, whenever you undergo this training, every failure to complete a movement within the allotted time will result in punishment.

"The severity of the punishment will also increase cumulatively.

"The count will reset after seven days."

Good grief!

The severity of the punishment would keep increasing over the next seven days, and would only reset once those seven days had passed!

The first punishment had been a single arrow.

Would the second, harsher punishment mean two arrows, or three?

Looking at the countless holes in the surrounding steel plates, Su Wu felt a chill rise within him!

On the screen, the countdown reached zero.

The black-clad figure wearing the Iron Mask began the "clasped-hand arm shake" again.

After the figure finished, the countdown reappeared.

"3."

By reflex, Su Wu completed three repetitions of the "clasped-hand arm shake" in an extremely short time.

As soon as he began moving, the timer on the screen stopped.

It was exactly the same as when Su Wu had first begun the movements.

Was this another cycle?

He frowned, a glint flashing in his eyes.

After a moment's thought, a sound like flesh tearing came from beneath Su Wu's clothes, and the Corpse Buddha Ghost Hand emerged from his loose sleeve!

As the Fiend Hand emerged, the simulator's notification sounded: "To prevent the underlying logic of the past simulation from collapsing, your Corpse Buddha Ghost Hand has automatically been disguised, ensuring that your identity as the dagger's owner remains undiscovered."

The instant the notification sounded, Su Wu breathed a sigh of relief.

It really worked!

Anything that was inconsistent with the dagger's owner would automatically be concealed by the simulator.

This meant that not only could he train himself within this past life-

The Fiend Hand could train, too!

Su Wu looked up at the screen and began trying to coordinate his body with the Fiend Hand to complete the movements displayed.

His movements slowed.

He was more than three times slower.

Fortunately, since he had just restarted the second training cycle, the intensity was still low, and Su Wu could just barely finish before each countdown ended.

His coordination with the Fiend Hand gradually improved.

Every time Su Wu used the Fiend Hand's power in the "beyond-normal" range, he added a little to the risk of the Vicious Ghost awakening.

Thus, for now, he only used the Fiend Hand's power within its normal range to assist his own movements.

In other words, he used the Fiend Hand as an ordinary arm.

However, this arm could not be severed by blades or pierced by bullets. It was impervious to water and fire, and could be as hard as steel or as supple as rubber.

Simply mastering its power within the normal range could make Su Wu more than ten times stronger!

Outside the enclosed steel chamber, in the monitoring room.

A thin middle-aged man stood before the monitor. His hair was arranged in an ancient-style topknot, secured with a wooden hairpin, and a tuft of goatee hung beneath his chin.

Watching Su Wu's stiff movements on the monitor, the middle-aged man said impassively, "This man's physical condition is indeed excellent, far better than the average modern person's.

"The current training intensity has only just touched his upper limit.

"Increase it tomorrow."

"Yes, Master."

The ordinary-looking "Pharmacist" slipped in through the doorway and answered respectfully, waiting for his "Master's" further instructions.

"His medicinal bath formula needs to be adjusted accordingly. Add a few more ingredients.

"Triple the amounts of Solomon's seal, lingzhi, and eucommia.

"We must draw out this body's full potential..." The middle-aged man with the goatee stared at Su Wu on the monitor as though admiring an exquisite antique porcelain vessel.

Antique porcelain-precious, and possessed of depths no layman could understand.