Chapter 109: The Girl About to Leave

[Your voice is calm, but your words are exceptionally sharp, like a keen blade piercing deep into the naive girl.]

[The facade of hypocrisy falls away layer by layer, revealing the real world—a cruel reality, ugly and bloody, that the girl has never seen before.]

[Man and Demon]

[Man and Man]

[Enemies, companions, trust, betrayal]

[Various concepts, like a chaotic, multicolored whirlpool, crush one's thoughts and take root in Wu Yingxue's heart, leaving her confused and at a loss.]

[At only 16 years old, Wu Yingxue cannot bear this collapse of her worldview, yet she is strong and can continue forward with her spear alone.]

[She deeply realizes how extravagant her act of spitting out the meat was.]

[In Qingniu Town, and in countless similar towns, there are many ordinary people worrying about having enough to eat.]

[Even though they are strangers, and she does not know them, the kind-hearted girl still feels ashamed of her wastefulness and swallows the meat she spat out again; this is the standard she sets for herself.]

[Your evaluation of the girl has increased.]

[The relationship between the Great Qian Imperial Court and the Hundred Thousand Mountains makes you vigilant.]

[You speculate whether there is a deeper connection between the two sides, and what else might be hidden in this world.]

[You think.]

[You investigate.]

[You reach a reliable conclusion: the Great Qian Imperial Court may not be powerful, at least not nearly as powerful as the demons in the Hundred Thousand Mountains.]

[Only in this way can one explain why the Great Qian, which possesses armies of slaughter, would silently indulge the slaughtering behavior of the demons, or even actively assist them.]

[Such a bizarre situation makes a sense of urgency rise in your heart.]

[You silently increase the intensity of your training, insisting on throwing punches every day and polishing your Qi and blood every day; your Blood-Qi Overlord Fist has become even more refined.]

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The wind from your punches roars, and the sea of trees thunders.

Renewed blood flows through the internal organs, scouring the limbs and bones, causing the surface of the skin to take on a faint, healthy red glow.

With Xu Xi's punching movements, the blood surges like a tide, moving back and forth through the body's organs again and again, causing the entire body to be reborn and enter a profound and mysterious Transcendent Realm.

This is the Blood Exchange Realm.

The final barrier for the Acquired to return to the Innate.

So-called Dao of Martial Arts has never referred simply to muscular strength, but rather to a comprehensive transformation of the tendons, bones, skin, and membranes, and even deeper aspects.

Flesh and blood Ascend, the Physical Body achieves the Dao, transforming oneself into the Heaven and Earth.

Force! Fierceness! Dominance!

Bang—

With another ordinary punch, Xu Xi releases power like a drawn bow; one punch causes the wind to rise and vanish, vibrating with a massive, echoing boom.

At this moment, the watching Wu Yingxue is already completely bewildered.

[Your strength improves very slowly, but it increases every single day.]

[In the understanding of a normal Martial Artist, this goes against the common logic of martial arts; most Martial Artists can only rely on occasional flashes of inspiration to achieve progress in their Martial Skill.]

[But you are different.]

[Wu Yingxue thinks you are an incredible martial arts genius; not only is your natural Qi and blood thick, but you also possess a rate of progress in Martial Skill that transcends worldly understanding—though slow, it is very stable.]

[Days pass by, and the girl, who was once severely injured and in a miserable state, has finally fully recovered.]

[Before leaving, she chooses to stay for a while longer to learn the true meaning of the Dao of Martial Arts from you.]

[Even though you emphasize repeatedly that what you possess is only Persistence, and that you have no profound martial arts techniques.]

[Wu Yingxue hands you two bottles of true qi pill.]

[Your instruction to Wu Yingxue becomes more detailed.]

Xu Xi's current Dao of Martial Arts Realm is the fifth Realm of Body Tempering: Blood Exchange.

Wu Yingxue is at the same Realm and does not need guidance regarding it.

Therefore.

Since they use different weapons and he cannot teach sword techniques, all that is left for Xu Xi to teach is fist techniques and footwork.

Some days ago, Xu Xi had given some preliminary instruction, but at that time the girl's injuries had not healed, and the learning she could do was very limited.

Now, Xu Xi intends to teach some techniques in greater depth.

"Relax your mind and eliminate distracting thoughts."

"When throwing a punch, do not think about how your fist should move, but rather perceive the flow of blood and the resonance of your tendons and bones."

…

"Your right hand is not precise!"

"Your backhand is weak!"

"Your footwork is loose!"

"Not a single movement is decent!"

"Do it again. With the speed of your punches, who do you think you can hit?"

In the courtyard where only the two of them live.

Wu Yingxue, wearing martial arts training gear, pants heavily and grits her teeth, listening earnestly to Xu Xi's instructions, mobilizing her Qi and blood over and over to throw straight punches.

Xu Xi's attitude is very strict.

This is what the girl herself requested.

Returning to the capital to investigate the truth is a very dangerous action; she wants to improve her strength as much as possible to ensure the mission is foolproof.

"Yes, I will work hard!"

The girl wipes the sweat from her forehead, repeats the actions mimicking Xu Xi, and begins to throw punches mechanically, one after another.

Is doing this really useful?

Although she has witnessed the power of Xu Xi's punches more than once, after experiencing this numbness personally, the girl still subconsciously feels doubt in her heart.

[After teaching the fist techniques, you quickly begin specialized training on footwork.]

[Your footwork has no technique at all; it is pure speed, relying purely on force to surge forward.]

[It has no special features and is crude and unbearable.]

[Others shake their heads when they see it, but they dare not underestimate it.]

[Because your speed is so fast that it is impossible to see clearly.]

Just like Xu Xi's fist techniques, which rely entirely on day after day of punching.

Likewise, Xu Xi's footwork actually relies entirely on day after day of running.

That is not running in the simple sense, but the squeezing of the entire body's Qi and blood, a high-intensity resonance of the internal organs, tendons, bones, skin, membranes, and flesh.

Such an amazing way of running.

The consumption of Qi and blood is obviously also incomparably exaggerated.

On the first day of training, Wu Yingxue fell to the ground due to excessive consumption of Qi and blood, her whole body stained with dust.

"I always feel like this scene is familiar?"

Xu Xi recalls the past when he taught the witch Water Magic.

At that time, Klisa, because her magic power was exhausted, caused the water ball to lose control and, with a splash, soaked her entire body.

"Could there be a problem with my teaching method? … Strange, why does my body shiver inexplicably whenever I think of Klisa?"

Xu Xi helps the fallen Wu Yingxue up, lets her rest on the spot for a moment, and waits for her Qi and blood to recover before starting training again.

Time passes day by day.

The training intensifies little by little.

Silent time always brings real growth.

At the very beginning, Wu Yingxue could not bear Xu Xi's training at all, not just because of the difficulty, but also because she found it boring.

But without realizing it, she can, like Xu Xi, train for a whole day without stopping.

Where is the specific change?

Wu Yingxue does not understand; she only knows that she is much stronger than before—from the mastery of Martial Skill to the control of Qi and blood, she is stronger in every aspect and every sense.

Now, she decides to bid farewell to Xu Xi and leave Qingniu Town to search for the truth about why she is being wanted.