Three days later.
In Xue Jing's home, within the 'gym'.
[You have performed a set of breathing skills practice, Fitness Experience Points +16]
[You have performed a set of breathing skills practice, Fitness Experience Points +16]
[You have performed a set of...]
As he watched the panel pop up with the same message over a dozen times, Xue Jing felt the various rhythms in his body as he breathed.
The stretching of bones, the functioning of organs, the flexing of muscles…
He stared blankly at his arm, the muscles under the skin expanding and contracting with his breath, as if they were living entities with their own consciousness.
Not knowing how much time had passed, until a certain critical point, Xue Jing felt streams of heat surge from all over his body and rapidly converge to his right arm in rhythm with his breath.
He silently moved to stand in front of the punching bag in the center of the room, bent his knees slightly and placed his right hand towards his lower back, assuming a posture as if readying for a Straight Punch.
Xue Jing took a deep breath and threw out a Straight Punch.
"Bang!!"
This punch was not fast in comparison to the ones he had thrown before, nor did it seem very powerful.
But the punching bag, which weighed a good three hundred pounds, was sent flying as if hit by an oncoming car. With the point of impact as the center, the entire bag arched like a shrimp and flew into the wall, shaking the whole room.
[Conditions met, activating skill: Channeling Energy]
[Channeling Energy Lv1 (0/300)]
In an instant, what had been a sporadic burst of energy that he had mustered by chance, quickly became something he mastered, turning it into his instinct.
Xue Jing's eyes shone with delight.
He immediately began to circulate his breathing skills as the internal organs of his body complied with his breath, generating various rhythms, transforming it into kinetic energy, 'producing' the Power.
Xue Jing thought, and the Power flowed to his right leg, then with a lift of his foot, he stomped down!
Crack—
The tiled floor cracked, and even the steel-reinforced concrete beneath the tiles split a bit, sending a tremor through the floor.
[Punching the floor, Channeling Energy Experience Points +1]
Xue Jing's mouth twitched.
Now that he had a hammer in his hand, he couldn't help but treat the floor like a nail.
He hoped his mother wouldn't notice when she got back.
Miao Miao sat crouched beside him, tilting her head as she looked at Xue Jing, her face bearing an anthropomorphic expression of utter bewilderment.
"...You said you just encountered breathing skills three days ago?"
"Yes," Xue Jing nodded as he straightened the punching bag he had sent flying with a punch.
"Have you never been involved in martial arts before?" Miao Miao's tail began to wag.
"How many times are you going to ask," Xue Jing replied somewhat helplessly.
"I've told you, I possess invincible aptitude and astounding wisdom."
He said this with all seriousness, without blushing or skipping a beat.
Miao Miao rolled her eyes, "You're quite talented, but to claim you have invincible aptitude is premature. In this world, there are geniuses who master the Power immediately upon encountering breathing skills."
"Some big corporations can even use special technological means to create these 'geniuses'."
"The world is vast, and you just have a bit of talent, so don't get ahead of yourself."
Ning Fengwan earnestly advised.
Xue Jing smiled, walked over to her, and pinched her arrogantly cute little face, "I got it."
"Don't be handsy, and remember to call me Sect Leader," Miao Miao stated demurely.
"Of course, Wan," Xue Jing rubbed her cat head as he spoke.
Ning Fengwan just issued a habitual rebuttal; she had gotten used to Xue Jing's impudence over these three days.
"However, since you have such a level of talent, and you've already developed your Power, we're going to have to use a different approach to enter the Hidden Dragon Dojo,"
Miao Miao pondered for a moment before speaking.
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Xue Jing asked, puzzled.
Miao Miao leaped gracefully onto Xue Jing's shoulder, where she sat down, began licking her paw, and explained:
"If you enter purely on my recommendation, you'll be a bona fide 'connection entry', inevitably looked down upon and treated differently."
"So how do we get in, Teacher Wan?" Xue Jing saw its adult-like demeanor, which was somewhat cute, and teased her.
Seemingly quite pleased with being addressed as teacher, Miao Miao's tail couldn't help but wag, and a touch of anthropomorphic pride appeared on its small face.
"Of course, we follow the rules of the Rivers and Lakes, challenge the dojo!"
Meanwhile, at the South City District Wharf.
A sturdy old man with short, graying hair, a gloomy face, and a straight posture like a thousand-year-old pine, dressed in a black short jacket, walked slowly into a warehouse with his hands clasped behind his back.
In the warehouse, Duan Kaiping and a young man in black named Yun Ye had been waiting for some time.
Seeing the old man walk in, Duan Kaiping immediately took on a solemn expression, knelt down before him, prostrated with his hands on the ground, and respectfully knocked his forehead to the floor, saying, "Kaiping pays respect to his teacher, may the teacher's fortune be as vast as the ocean and his life as long as the heavens!"
Yun Ye, standing beside, scoffed at this display, his disdain apparent.
The old man, who was none other than Arena Master Jiao Hongyuan of Golden Wind Dojo, showed no change in expression and simply said to Duan Kaiping, "Mhm, rise."
He then turned to Yun Ye and said, "The goods?"
Yun Ye stretched his neck and gestured behind him with his thumb toward a three-meter-tall shipping container placed within the warehouse.
"Knowing you'd be back today, I brought it along. It's right inside there."
"And with that, our transaction with Kangde Corporation is concluded. Transfer the remainder of the money to..."
He hadn't finished speaking when Jiao Hongyuan turned his gaze on him, cutting him off without any fluctuation in tone.
"Concluded?"
"You might have forgotten. When the order was placed, Kangde Corporation made it crystal clear that the transaction was to be kept confidential, with absolutely no leaks."
"What kind of operation are you running, swaggering your way through Border City and barging right in?"
"Now that The Sixth Agency is involved in the investigation, do you realize how much trouble this is?"
Yun Ye sneered, "What's it to you?"
Jiao Hongyuan smiled.
"I've heard that the 'Heavenly Lodge Insect Mother' can birth special insect species corresponding to the different things it's fed. I'm curious to know if that's really true."
Yun Ye frowned and, without hesitation, raised his left hand, protected by a gauntlet-style glove, aiming it at Jiao Hongyuan.
However, at the same instant he lifted his arm, Jiao Hongyuan's sturdy body had vanished from its spot.
Duan Kaiping didn't even have time to realize what happened when Jiao Hongyuan suddenly appeared behind Yun Ye, flicked his right hand to shake off the fresh blood.
"Golden Wind... White Rainbow Sword..." Yun Ye managed to utter his last words in a gravelly voice before his head and left hand slid off, falling to the ground together.
The headless body remained standing, the cuts on its neck and arm so smooth there wasn't a single rough edge, as if made by an exceptionally sharp divine weapon.
"Teacher... this..." Duan Kaiping swallowed, unsettled.
"This lot of desperadoes, whether in their personal conduct or their methods, are far too crude. He's lucky to have died by my hand," Jiao Hongyuan said slowly.
"Teacher, what about the others?" Duan Kaiping asked worriedly.
"Naturally, they'll accompany him. Kangde Corporation has already been dealt with."
Jiao Hongyuan, with his hands clasped behind him, gazed at the three-meter-tall shipping container in front of him, and it might have been an illusion, but it seemed like a fierce, beast-like breathing could be heard coming from within.
"Kaiping, where are the things I asked you to prepare?"
Duan Kaiping replied respectfully, "They are all ready. All the roaches have been cultivated by us, not purchased from outside, and the people are also ready—all officially recorded as deceased or missing..."
Jiao Hongyuan nodded in satisfaction, "Prepare some more; after some time, when the attention from above shifts away from Qingcheng, we can commence the plan."
"Yes," Duan Kaiping responded.
"By the way, Teacher, didn't little brother accompany you back?"
"He's still in Maple City participating in the selection competition. He has to fight a few more bouts..."
In the East City District, in front of a tall building.
Dressed in casual attire suitable for activity, Xue Jing shielded his eyes from the glaring noon sunlight and looked up at the upper floors of the building.
"Hidden Dragon Dojo is on the seventeenth floor; GOGOGO, let's go up!"
Miao Miao, perched on Xue Jing's shoulder, pointed upward with her paw, urging him on.