Chapter 105: Just Grind It Out
Chapter 105: Chapter 105: Just Grind It Out
The only things that reliably rewarded every ounce of effort were schoolwork as a kid, working out, and video games.
But video games were nowhere near as satisfying as the Experience Panel.
Every drop of sweat, every minute spent, yielded a visible return.
It was just too damn addicting!
Tang Wen had once been an ordinary person with weak willpower, the kind who’d scroll through TikTok every night, unable to even control his own bedtime.
Yet now, he could actually resist the temptations of beauties like Liu Niang, Peach Blossoms, and Cui Lian.
He was focused on his Martial Arts Training day in and day out.
If someone had told him before that he’d be able to resist such temptations, he wouldn’t have believed it himself.
Inside the Royal Palace Kitchen.
He dumped a huge bowl of braised pork into his rice basin, gave it a stir with his spoon, and began to wolf it down.
Qian Dong frowned deeply. "How many days has it been since you last ate?"
Tang Wen had no time to answer. ’Braised pork gravy over maize rice... once you start, you can’t stop!’
He had been woken up by his own hunger.
[Body: 8.75→8.77; Essence: 9.4→9.49]
His Constitution had increased by 0.02, which was better than nothing.
His Spiritual Power had increased by 0.09. ’Looks like I’m building up a tolerance.’
It was like when an ordinary person starts working out; the first time is always the most exhausting, but the body slowly adapts.
But Tang Wen wished that tolerance would build up much more slowly.
That way, his Attributes could get a few more big boosts.
At the same time, the Experience Points he gained this time were fewer than the first.
[Visualization Martial Arts: Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist, Mastery (3901/6000)]
It was over two hundred.
"Look how famished you are," Qian Dong called out. "Hey, get this guy another basin of noodles! And add extra minced meat!"
After shouting the order, Qian Dong sighed. "I wonder when this drought will end. It feels like we’re back in our childhoods... can’t even enjoy a good meal of meat."
The surrounding Guards nodded in agreement.
Whether they were teenagers or in their twenties and thirties, every one of them had lived through hard times.
...
On the eastern side of the camp, the first row of Water Wheels had been installed.
The first Water Wheel scooped water from the lake and poured it into a specially dug basin behind it.
The second Water Wheel scooped water from that basin and poured it into a second one... and so on. Only by repeating this process could water be drawn up from the great lake.
The lake water flowed down, gushing along channels to fill lotus ponds and irrigate tilled fields.
The largest of these ponds belonged to the Silver Wolf pack.
The Silver Wolf pack would come here to drink, bringing with them the wild beasts and Exotic Beasts they herded to drink as well.
And the fields irrigated by the lake water would likely yield a bountiful harvest of maize by midsummer.
However, the people from Black Mountain Camp, Scavengers, and Exotic Beasts alike could all pose a threat to these fields and the people working them.
To ensure food security, the camp had no choice but to continuously strengthen patrols and defenses in the area.
They were even preparing to mobilize a workforce to build a perimeter wall to enclose the farmland.
But none of this had anything to do with Tang Wen, who was engrossed in his intense training.
His outstanding performance in Five Families City had been passed from mouth to mouth among the camp’s Guards.
Everyone now knew that the additional Water Wheels and craftsmen outside the camp were almost entirely to Commander Tang Wen’s credit.
His colleagues were now quite accepting of the fact that Tang Wen wasn’t doing regular work and was instead hiding away to focus on his Martial Arts Training.
In fact, they felt it was exactly what he should be doing.
「In the blink of an eye, another seven days passed.」
Tang Wen once again experienced the state of "Selflessness".
...
The Fifth Form: Dragon Emerges from the Water, Undersea Shock.
He threw a punch, stopping just shy of ten centimeters from the black, human-shaped training dummy.
VMMM!
It was as if his fist had projected an invisible force, causing the thousand-jin black dummy to shudder.
’This feeling?’
’Is the Fifth Form about to break through?’
Tang Wen’s heart leaped with joy as he recalled the martial arts competition in Five Families City not long ago.
When his Experience Points for Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist broke through three thousand, he had instantly comprehended its Seventh Form, Eight-Armed Divine Fist.
Now, with his experience about to break four thousand, was he about to comprehend the Fifth Form?
"Ngh," his Spiritual Power was depleted.
He let out a muffled groan, pressing his temples as he staggered over to the bed board he had prepared earlier. His body went limp, and he collapsed onto the soft fur mat, instantly falling into a deep slumber.
[Body: 8.77→8.78; Essence: 9.49→9.54]
[Visualization Martial Arts: Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist, Mastery (3901→4119/6000)]
After completely exhausting his physical and spiritual energy for the third time.
In the early hours of the morning, he woke up feeling refreshed and saw that his Basic Attributes had increased.
His Constitution had only risen by 0.01, and his Spiritual Power by just 0.05.
But that wasn’t important.
What mattered was that his current experience for Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist had broken the four-thousand mark. ’There should be a new insight into the Fist Technique, right?’
This was a magical effect that only occurred after his Experience Panel had been upgraded.
As he mulled this over, he opened the Kraft Paper package he’d brought and stuffed a few pieces of dried meat into his mouth.
He then grabbed the metal canteen from against the wall and GULP, GULP, GULP, chugged down a long draught of cold tea.
Sated, he rose from the simple wooden plank bed, stood before the black metal dummy, and began his Visualization to channel his power!
Tang Wen’s fist stopped three inches from the black metal dummy.
The force generated by the punch slammed into the metal dummy.
CLANG!
The sound of striking metal rang out.
The metal dummy fell to the ground with the impact.
Knocking down a thousand-jin metal dummy was certainly something.
But clearly, this wasn’t the proper expression of "Dragon Emerges from the Water, Undersea Shock."
The subtlety and difficulty of this move surpassed even that of the Seventh Form, "Eight-Armed Divine Fist."
And with greater difficulty should come greater power.
Tang Wen focused on the sensation. He had gained some insight, but not much.
Not enough to let him fully unleash the power of this form!
Frustrated, he practiced "Dragon Emerges from the Water, Undersea Shock" hundreds of times in a row, but he still couldn’t grasp the essence of it.
This move was so difficult that the only people in the camp who had likely mastered it were a few of the Generals and Her Majesty the Queen.
But the very nature of Visualization Martial Arts meant that it couldn’t be taught step-by-step.
After all, it involved the Visualization of Spiritual Power.
That was something that simply couldn’t be taught.
BAM!
He sent the black dummy flying with another punch.
Tang Wen exhaled a long breath and stopped.
He thought back to his breakthrough with the Seventh Form, "Eight-Armed Divine Fist." Besides leveling up his experience, he realized it was also because he had witnessed the Night Divine Fist’s "Night Battle Eight Directions."
’It seems I haven’t accumulated enough insight. I can’t force it.’
But as long as he kept stacking up Experience Points, he would learn this move sooner or later.
It was only a matter of time.
Just gotta grind it out!
With his mind at ease, Tang Wen continued his training.
Day after day passed.
The temperature grew hotter and hotter.
One day, on his way back to the Training Hall from the Royal Palace Kitchen.
He noticed a scratch mark still visible on the wooden door of the main hall.
It was a mark he had made to measure his height the last time he was here in seclusion.
He stood against the door, his back flat, and reached up to press down on his hair. Then, he used his fingernail to lightly etch a new scratch on the wood.
’Hmm, I’ve grown about three centimeters since last time.’
Tang Wen frowned. He was still a good ways off from his target height.
It wasn’t that he was obsessed with his height, but that his Beauty Zhou was just too tall.
It wasn’t just Zhou Bing, either. The Queen, Miss Zheng... all the women he’d met who were accomplished in Martial Arts seemed to be quite tall.
’My body isn’t even sixteen yet. I’m not done growing, am I?’
’Definitely not, right?’
"CAW! CAW! CAW!"
After he had been training for several hours, the sound of a Blood Crow came from the entrance.
Tang Wen opened the door. The Blood Crow hopped inside, then up onto his shoulder, and let out a series of caws.
"You’re saying Elder Ya is looking for me?"
"CAW!" The Blood Crow nodded its little head in a very human-like way.
"Alright! Right now?"
"CAW! CAW!"
Tang Wen left the underground meditation room, went to the main hall of the courtyard to take a quick bath, and changed his clothes.
With his hair still half-damp, he left the Royal Palace and headed toward Elder Ya’s courtyard in the Inner City.
Watching his retreating figure, a few of the Guards at the Royal Palace gate couldn’t help but comment. "Has it been two months already? I mean, since Commander Tang Wen entered the Royal Palace for secluded training."
"Yeah, but he seems to be training all day long!"
"I swear, every time I pass by on patrol, I can hear him practicing his Martial Arts Training in that courtyard."
"Me too!"
"But how is that possible?"
Their voices were thick with confusion.
Everyone knew that you couldn’t overdo your training, or it would only have the opposite of the intended effect.
Long-term physical fatigue leads to weakness, and the spirit will become depleted.
For an ordinary Martial Artist, or even a higher-level Martial Artist, four or five hours of training was more than enough.
Any more would be counterproductive.
No one could answer their question.
As Tang Wen approached Elder Ya’s courtyard, he caught a strong, foul stench from a distance!
It was the stench of some kind of Exotic Beast.
And it was a smell that Tang "Wilderness-Exotic-Beast-Slayer" Wen had never encountered before.