I must break through the Star Cup and step on that ancient celestial path.
"Only by standing shoulder to shoulder with the First Rank Ten Elites and leaving a name can one hope to touch the end of the path."
Yu Li chewed on the bitter tea leaves, thinking to himself:
"The wave of the grand era is nurtured by countless tiny ripples. Without challengers, my journey to the championship would seem dull.
Mr. Qin, who has also inherited the mantle of the Ten Elites, how far can you go, I am very much looking forward to it."
"The dining standards at the National Guest House are indeed high."
Qin Shi sat in the spacious garden restaurant, surrounded by hanging vines, resembling a tropical rainforest.
The head chef introduced and cooked, using rare ingredients he had never heard of.
He could barely catch keywords like "high nutritional content" and "rich in life force."
"This treatment is too blissful!"
Xia Ying, sitting at the same table, looked satisfied, continuously taking pictures with her mobile terminal, racking her brain for captions, and then uploading them to her social media account.
"Brother Qin, I just heard that the Ying family wants to meet you?"
Xia Ying asked unclearly with her cheeks bulging.
"Little Xia, your information is very up-to-date, where did you get that?"
Qin Shi was a little surprised; Holvren had just mentioned it to him.
"I was browsing a forum and saw someone saying that the spaceship landing at Central City’s airport was sent by the Ying family."
Xia Ying handed over her mobile terminal and said:
"This is a forum I often visit, called ’Watchers.’ There’s a section called ’Heng Province Rumor Mill,’ and you can get a lot of scoops every day."
Qin Shi took the mobile terminal and casually scrolled through a few posts.
[The first-place winner of the Top Hundred Tournament, Qin Shi, has already arrived in Central City. My friend caught the reception team at the airport...]
[A spaceship landed at the newly blocked airport area today, bearing the emblem of Ying’s ’Three-legged Bird’...]
[According to reliable information, the Ying family is about to invite Qin Shi to a meeting. If you ask me, there’s no need to antagonize such a promising supernova...]
[Are you kidding? Does a giant like the Ying family need to care about the Top Hundred Tournament’s champion? Their ancestral heritage is unfathomable...]
[Even the lower classes in the outer suburbs of the fifth ring of Central City, who eat twenty-yuan duck leg meals every day, will proudly puff out their chests when they think of the astonishing wealth of Dongxia’s Nine Surnames...]
Qin Shi clicked on several posts and found that many people were discussing him, with four or five photos taken at the airport.
He was a bit surprised, realizing that Central City’s environment was quite different from the Tai’an Metropolitan Area; the online atmosphere here was more intense, and information exchange faster.
Back then, when he assisted the Inspection Department in capturing wanted criminals, causing quite a stir, few people knew about it.
"Central City has Iron Curtain defenses, and the Tai Monarch can mobilize vast resources to build a complete information domain. Brother Qin, you don’t know; when I was in the mountains, my mobile terminal was useless, but now I can use it every day, which is so interesting!"
Xia Ying enthusiastically shared:
"Brother Qin, look, not only can you chat on forums, but you can also watch live streams. This is a specialized-level martial artist I follow; check out her figure, her outfit, and those black stockings..."
Qin Shi glanced at Xia Ying’s mobile terminal screen, where a voluptuous female host was explaining boxing techniques, claiming to be at a specialized level with several competition certificates.
"Around Amateur Level Second Rank. Judging by her coordination, muscle, and joint flexibility, her life force development is quite low, belonging to a relatively lower tier."
He couldn’t help but sigh; Central City was indeed competitive.
Reaching Amateur Level Second Rank, even without proper martial training, a person with such physical attributes would excel far beyond ordinary people.
Yet she’s reduced to being a racy streamer?
"Brother, who cares about that! Look at her outfit; the slit on her cheongsam goes all the way up... Ouch, ouch, sis, gentle!"
Xia Ying felt a pain in his ear and turned to see Xia Hong with a killer look.
She pulled him by the ear and scolded:
"Worthless! Always watching these seductive women, neglecting your training. If this continues, I’ll confiscate your phone!"
Xia Ying pleaded repeatedly, narrowly escaping.
Xia Hong turned to Qin Shi and said:
"Mr. Qin, don’t pay much attention to Ah Ying. He messes around all day and might lead you astray. Central City’s entertainment atmosphere is heavy, with various online platforms spreading chaos."
Clearly, Xia Hong, a traditionalist from the Old Martial Sect, wasn’t quite used to this environment.
"What’s with these female hosts?"
Qin Shi asked curiously.
Reaching Amateur Level Second Rank, even with the best educational resources in Tai’an Metropolitan Area, required a lot of sweat and effort.
He estimated that the female host he just saw, who seemed to be teaching but was actually provocative, was around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. Achieving Amateur Level Second Rank’s life force meant she had quite a talent.
"Mr. Qin didn’t know? This is the ’fast-track stream’ that emerged from the New Martial Sect in recent years. Through high-priced custom training plans, they intentionally train certain muscle groups to awaken vital life force."
"This fast-track stream is basically not combat-capable. They mostly rely on regular medication and injections to maintain life force strength. Once they stop or run out of medicine, they regress to their original level within months."
Qin Shi was slightly stunned and couldn’t help but ask: ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ NoveI-Fire.ɴet
"What’s the point of doing this?"
"To serve as eye candy. Fast-track practitioners, regardless of gender, have training plans focused on shaping their bodies. As long as they maintain a standard life force level for a while, they can get certificates and make money by attracting attention through live streaming.
The Martial Arts Path was originally a journey of self-transformation and self-pursuit, but they’ve turned it into a mess!"
As a traditionalist from the Old Martial Sect, Xia Hong naturally disdained this situation.
Qin Shi could understand it to some extent; achieving something in martial arts inevitably involves hardships, regardless of talent.
Life always seeks shortcuts; this is instinct.
The emergence of the fast-track stream from the New Martial Sect fits well with the developed network platforms in Central City.
Qin Shi said, shaking his head.
He buried his head and finished the unlimited food on his plate, then returned to his room.
The separate villa at the National Guest House ensured ample space and privacy.
Besides the carefully designed décor and finely crafted furniture, it even had dedicated training areas.
With facilities like a meditation room for spiritual cultivation, a gravity room for physical training, and a deep diving pool for enhancing internal organs, it had everything one could wish for.
"Extravagant beyond measure. I bet even Qiguang Heng University would find it hard to gather such a complete set."
Qin Shi held the room card and stepped into the meditation room.
He sat cross-legged on a mat and began to adjust his mind and body, allowing his spirit to reside in the Inner World.
Within less than half a minute, his spirit roamed freely, entering an excellent state of emptiness.
His mind was unusually active, allowing Qin Shi to sink deeper into consideration of many issues.
"Ying Huang, the first heir of the Ying family, wants a private meeting with me. It means the Ying family is considering sidelining Ying Lin."
Qin Shi frowned. If not for the factor of Nanhuang Daoist School, reconciling with the Ying family would be a good choice.
The Ying family is a giant power, emerging from the founding of New Dongxia, as the Nine Marshals, whose terrifying influence radiated wide.
Honestly, even if Qin Shi became a significant figure, akin to He Lanchan, nearly qualifying as a Martial God, it would be challenging to topple the Ying family.
"Reconciliation, huh."
Qin Shi lowered his eyelids, as if in serious contemplation.
"But I’m now the executive deputy head of the Nanhuang Daoist School, and the debt with Senior Brother Shen is not settled. How can it all be written off? And old Zhang, at his advanced age, how can he rest in peace without avenging himself? "
Under the shade, Little Super He silently watched the self-muttering Qin Shi.
The Inner Realm, woven by spirit, where deeply hidden emotions could manifest, indifferent to the naked eye.
Presently, the teenage boy, head lowered, muttering endlessly.
His inner being stirred with a resolute intent, thick as ocean tides.
"The more I look, the more familiar it seems."
Little Super He frowned tightly.
"It feels like I’ve seen this before."