Chapter 31: 5% Synchronization Rate

In the private martial arts training room:

"Beep!"

"A transfer of 50,000 Xia currency has been received via WeChat!"

Lin Qi looked at the 50,000 Xia currency transferred to him by Yang Lei on his phone, feeling a sense of satisfaction.

"Yang Lei really lost face this time; he couldn't even bring himself to meet us, resorting to a WeChat transfer," Jiang Tao chuckled from the side. "Still, Qi-ge, you’ve finally avenged the grudge from when Yang Lei provoked you last time."

Lin Qi agilely changed into his martial arts uniform and consumed a blood-energy capsule, saying, "I always settle my grudges. No one is an exception. Yang Lei is only ranked 49th in the grade; defeating him is nothing to be proud of. I need to get back to training—there isn't much time left before the monthly exams."

"You got it, Qi-ge!" Jiang Tao quickly followed suit.

"Hoo~"

After speaking, Lin Qi stood in the corner, adjusted his breathing, and began practicing the Tiger Form Fist.

His body stood firm as a rock. He assumed the "Three-Body Posture" (San Ti Shi), and an intangible aura radiated from him. The Tiger Form’s striking power originated from the hips and tailbone. When the punch was aligned, clear energy would rise; if misaligned, murky energy would fail to descend, blocking the Governing Vessel...

Ever since he had broken through to the Great Success stage in the Tiger Form Fist, Lin Qi could feel the flow of his movements. His muscles were engaged in intense activity under the guidance of the technique. Every strike and stance had become second nature—at times like a fierce tiger descending a mountain, at others like an enraged tiger emerging from the woods, or a hungry tiger seizing its prey...

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Cracking sounds echoed from his body. Lin Qi felt his entire frame burning and tingling. The blood-energy capsule he had consumed was rapidly converting into vital energy, surging from his lower Dantian to his arms and elbows, then channeled to his fingertips, infusing his very tendons.

It was scorching!

Lin Qi continued to practice, round after round, his mastery of the art steadily increasing. The blood energy was furiously tempering his muscles, and his overall blood-energy value was rising rapidly.

[Training in progress: Proficiency in "Tiger Form Fist" has increased significantly. Fist Technique +2%]
[Tiger Form Fist breakthrough: Your blood-energy value has broken through. Blood-energy value +0.1]
...
[Blood-energy value: 6.9 → 7.0]
[Fist Technique: First Rank 98% → Second Rank 1%]
...

Watching Lin Qi, Jiang Tao felt a momentary trance, as if he saw Lin Qi transforming into a real, ferocious tiger. It approached from afar, growing larger and larger, its tiger eyes becoming increasingly clear until it opened its blood-stained maw to let out a roar.

"Roar~"

Jiang Tao shook his head, and when he looked again, everything was gone. It had all been an illusion.

"Qi-ge, did your fist technique just break through to the second rank?" Jiang Tao asked in surprise.

Lin Qi withdrew his fists, his body radiating heat, sweat pouring off him like rain. He nodded. "It broke through."

"It really did. I only reached the second rank a short while ago; your fist technique is catching up to me fast."

Jiang Tao was stunned.

Lin Qi shook his head. "Though my fist technique is catching up, my blood-energy value and weapon skills are still a long way behind."

His blood-energy value had only just hit 7.0, whereas Jiang Tao had already surpassed 8.0 during the mock test.

Jiang Tao sighed, "Qi-ge, your progress lately is becoming more and more exaggerated. I’m feeling the pressure. I have to work harder, too." With that, he threw himself into his training.

Lin Qi clenched his fists. Reaching the second rank meant his control over his body was entirely different. If the first rank was the foundation, the second was mastery—it required the full utilization of large muscle groups. He took his training spear from the wall and began practicing his spear technique.

"Swish, swish~"

The long spear whipped through the air, rotating and thrusting with lightning speed. It pierced the void, tearing through the air with a series of whistles.

"With the Tiger Form Fist at the second rank, my body control has improved significantly, making it much easier to execute the 'Mountain-Crushing Spear Technique'."

Lin Qi felt a surge of pleasure. As he moved, his muscles connected and exerted force in perfect harmony, as if some barrier had been removed. It was like adding lubricant to a machine, making it run far more smoothly.

"Swish, swish~"

As his spear technique became more fluid, moving like flowing water, his footwork also became more agile.

[Your body control has improved. Proficiency in "Mountain-Crushing Spear Technique" has increased significantly. Spear Technique +2%]
[Your body control has improved. Proficiency in footwork has increased significantly. Footwork +2%]
[Spear Technique: First Rank 82% → 84%]
[Footwork: First Rank 73% → 75%]
...

Half an hour later, Lin Qi stopped, his gaze fixed on the panel, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

"The teacher was right. The higher the level of one’s fist technique, the better the control over one’s muscles, which in turn helps improve weapon mastery. But..."

The joy lasted only a moment before intense fatigue washed over him. Lin Qi sat down and grabbed a towel to wipe away his sweat. His arms were weary, his muscles ached, and a profound exhaustion clung to every part of his body.

"Gulp, gulp~"

He grabbed a bottle of functional sports drink and downed it in one go, the bottle empty in seconds.

"Hoo~"

Lin Qi breathed heavily, recovering his strength while falling into deep thought. "The training time is still too short."

Entering his senior year of high school, Lin Qi felt more and more that his time for martial arts training was insufficient. He wanted to train longer, but his body couldn't take it; once he reached a state of extreme fatigue, his efficiency plummeted. The muscle soreness, in particular, was impossible to fully eliminate.

Wealthy families had recovery pods to relax the body and soothe muscles, or they could hire masseurs to loosen their tendons. Poor people like him couldn't afford that; he had to rely on self-massage or a fascia knife to relax his muscles.

He looked at the panel:

[Name: Lin Qi]
[Template: Erlang Shen (Yang Jian)]
[Fusion Rate: 4.9%]

"Almost there. If the fusion rate exceeds 5%, my body might be able to relax during the process of physical transformation."

Every time, Lin Qi relied on increasing his fusion rate to recover from physical fatigue. The only regret was that he hadn't yet gained an ability like the "stomach enhancement"—every increase in the fusion rate so far had only purely improved his physical constitution and comprehension.

"I wonder if anything will change once I hit 5%?"

"If I have better stamina and recovery, my martial arts will improve even faster."

A sharp glint flashed in Lin Qi's eyes at the thought.

...

11:00 PM.

Lin Qi returned home to a quiet house. He walked lightly to his bedroom and propped a white wooden board against the door. He had bought these soundproofing boards to block out noise. His mother, Fang Huiyi, suffered from neurasthenia and couldn't handle loud disturbances, so he had bought a few for her room and kept one for his own. At 1,000 Xia currency per board, it wasn't cheap, but he felt it was worth it. In the future, he would cure his mother’s illness and move the whole family into a big villa.

"Hoo~"

He dropped his backpack, stretched his tired body, and began his standing meditation, his feet settling into the familiar footprints. He adjusted his breathing and quickly entered the zone.

Head straight, eyes focused, spirit calm, breath steady, body aligned, shoulders relaxed, elbows tucked—everything in perfect form.

After a short while, his body began to tremble involuntarily. His spine, the "dragon bone," straightened, and blood energy surged from his spine, flowing through his major muscle groups. His body heated up, and waves of tingling numbness washed over him.

"Inhale~"
"Exhale~"

He didn't know how much time had passed when the panel began to change.

[You have completed a grueling training session. Panel fusion rate +0.1%]
[Template: Erlang Shen (Yang Jian)]
[Fusion Rate: 4.9% → 5.0%]
...

"It reached 5%!!"

Lin Qi snapped his eyes open and stood up from the floor. The next second, he felt a mysterious power surge from an unknown place into his body.

A new transformation had begun!