Chapter 86: System Change, Just Grind
Chapter 86: Chapter 86: System Change, Just Grind
On the fourth day, after his morning training, Tang Wen first went home.
Four days of training like a fiend, eating only dried meat and drinking plain water, had been far from a pleasant experience.
He soaked in a hot bath at home and had a wonderful, long sleep.
Carrying the birdcage with the Blood Crow inside, he went to the Royal Palace’s kitchens.
This was where meals were prepared for the Forbidden Guard and the Queen.
"Damn it! How are you everywhere?" Needless to say, the speaker was Qian Dong again.
"Here to eat."
"How about I just have someone deliver food to your courtyard every day from now on?" Qian Dong said, exasperated.
"My good brother, it’s a deal then."
Qian Dong was speechless. ’I’m more than ten years older than you, you punk!’
With the matter of his meals settled,
Tang Wen returned to his courtyard and carried the fifth and final Iron Man Target into the secret underground chamber.
BANG, BANG, BANG.
After a round of explosive strikes, his Cannon Fist experience hadn’t changed.
He went another round using his Leg Technique.
The experience still didn’t increase.
Master (3000/3000)
Tang Wen’s heart remained as calm as still water. He had a feeling.
He continued training as before, hammering away with explosive bursts of power.
Sweat dripped onto the ground.
Large wet footprints covered the floor of the secret chamber.
Half a day passed. Tang Wen walked out of the secret underground chamber.
His Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist experience hadn’t increased by a single point.
Master (3000/3000)
His expression was perfectly calm. It wasn’t that he was stopping his training, but that the last Iron Man Target had broken.
After lunch, he went to find Qian Dong.
"What is it? Did they not bring you your food?" Qian Dong frowned.
"No, the Iron Man Target broke."
Qian Dong’s frown relaxed, and he waved a hand dismissively. "Hah! I thought it was something serious! There are so many in the courtyard, just grab another one."
Tang Wen didn’t speak, just stared at him.
"Hm? What do you mean? Don’t you have spares in your courtyard?" As he spoke, his head snapped up as if in sudden realization, his voice shooting up an octave. "No way! Impossible! Five of them—I remember there are five in each courtyard! You broke them all?"
He looked at Tang Wen as if he were looking at a freak.
The Guards exchanged confused glances. Five? Five what? What five things had Commander Tang Wen done something to?
Tang Wen rubbed his nose, a little embarrassed, feeling like he had misunderstood something. "Those Iron Man Targets, aren’t they supposed to be replaced weekly? I thought you forgot, so I came to remind you."
"Replaced weekly?"
Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Qian Dong nearly jumped. "Six months! Six months! The Iron Man Targets are replaced every six months! At most, two or three break at a time—two or three!"
Tang Wen nodded. "Got it. Special circumstances call for special measures. Get me a replacement that can take a beating."
Qian Dong grabbed him and started pulling him outside, muttering, "No, I have to see this for myself. You’d better not have been selling the Iron Man Targets on the side!"
When he saw the five mangled iron-ball targets lined up neatly in the courtyard, he was stunned for a long moment before squeezing two words through gritted teeth: "Not human!"
Who the hell could break a sturdy Iron Man Target in a single day?
He, Qian Dong, couldn’t break one even if he trained for a whole month.
"No! You must have used some kind of weapon. A Wolf Fang Club? A Big Iron Hammer? What was it?"
Tang Wen replied helplessly, "I’m just a little strong."
Qian Dong snorted in disbelief and went down the stairs into the secret underground chamber. The place was clear at a glance; forget heavy weapons like a Big Iron Hammer, there wasn’t even a wooden stick in sight.
"Freak! Not human!" Qian Dong left, cursing under his breath.
He didn’t say another word to Tang Wen before he left.
Tang Wen shrugged, watched the Guards carry away the iron balls, and went straight back to his room to sleep and recover his energy.
When he woke up, there was a black metal dummy in the courtyard.
After taking care of his morning business, Tang Wen went up to drag it into the secret underground chamber.
He grabbed it, but it didn’t budge.
Hm?
’It’s a bit heavy.’
He had to add a bit more strength to his arms just to carry it down.
’Could they only give me one?’
Tang Wen unleashed his Fist Force, landing a tentative punch on the dummy’s face.
BANG!
It didn’t even leave a mark.
Tang Wen was ecstatic. ’Durable! This thing is durable!’
The rhythmic sounds of striking began to echo.
One day passed, then two.
The Blood Crow was almost ready to fly.
Finally, on the morning of the third day with the black dummy...
BOOM!
His fist stirred up a gust of wind, making the very air tremble.
The dummy slammed against the wall for the umpteenth time.
The Experience Panel flashed faintly.
His Cannon Fist had broken through.
Unlike before, he hadn’t used any fancy tricks this time; he had broken through by sheer, brutal grinding.
He’d had a feeling this would happen after the last Panel upgrade—the bottlenecks were gone.
[Visualization Martial Arts: Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist, Master → Mastery (0/3000)]
In an instant, countless images flooded Tang Wen’s mind.
A moment later, he pulled the dummy back to the center of the chamber.
Visualize, sketch the image, erupt with Power.
He shot his knee upward—WHOOSH!
The black dummy, weighing a thousand catties, shot straight up as if it were a puppet strapped to an exploding pressure tank. Its head slammed violently into the ceiling before it bounced back down.
A look of shocked delight filled Tang Wen’s eyes. He followed up with an elbow strike—CRACK!—hitting the black dummy square in the chest and sending it flying.
"My Martial Arts Realm has broken through as well?"
It was a massive, pleasant surprise.
He could now channel the Visualization Power of his Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist into his knees and elbows.
His personal combat strength had skyrocketed once again.
Just a moment ago, a minute before, he could only channel Power through his hands, feet, or a weapon.
According to the evaluation standards for a Martial Artist...
Tang Wen had just taken a huge step toward becoming a First-class Martial Artist!
He looked at the mottled scars on the walls of the secret chamber.
He sighed with emotion. "It feels good when hard work pays off. The only reason I have my current strength is thanks to—the Experience Panel!"
After the Experience Panel’s upgrade,
He no longer needed to figure out how to break through Skill bottlenecks on his own.
As long as he kept grinding!
There would be rewards.
So what if it was Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist?
Visualization Martial Arts—difficult enough, right?
But after just four days of training, he had broken through the bottleneck as a matter of course.
No enlightenment needed whatsoever.
It just meant being stuck for a little longer.
But compared to a lifetime of being unable to break through, what was being stuck for four days?
Hm.
Tang Wen thought about it seriously. ’It can only be described as genius!’
The secret chamber fell silent for a while.
Then, Tang Wen unleashed fists, feet, elbows, and knees, continuing to abuse the black dummy.
His Cannon Fist had just broken through; it needed to be consolidated.
When his training ended, he was in the courtyard playing with the Blood Crow at dusk.
Qian Dong suddenly showed up and told him, "That Elder Ya guy is looking for you. Want to go see him?"
With his Cannon Fist having broken through, he didn’t need to train so hard for the time being.
Tang Wen said, "Alright. I probably won’t be coming around for a while. Keep that black dummy for me; that thing’s incredibly durable."
"Fine, fine, just go! Being around a guy like you is so annoying," Qian Dong said with a grimace.
Tang Wen flipped him the middle finger, then left with the birdcage in hand.
"General, you’re here too?"
He entered Elder Ya’s courtyard and found General Zhao was there as well.
"Yes. I’ve tested these four and a half Potions. There are no problems. Take them and use them." After saying this, General Zhao offered a few words of encouragement to Tang Wen and then left with his men.
Only after he was a good distance away did Elder Ya grumble, "He doesn’t trust me, yet he wants me to concoct Potions?"
"There has to be a process of building trust, right?" Seeing the old man’s displeased expression, Tang Wen changed the subject. "What do you think of my Blood Crow?"
These past few days, it wasn’t just about practicing his fists.
In his rest and spare time, he had been training the Blood Crow.
He gave a slight shrug of his shoulder, and the Blood Crow flapped its wings, glided down to the stone table, and tilted its head to stare at Elder Ya.
Elder Ya was lost in thought. How long had it taken him to get his own Blood Crow to perch on his shoulder?
Three months? Or was it five?
"It’s just so-so," he said with a pout.
"Seems it’s not as good as yours was back in the day."
Tang Wen then asked if he could take the Blood Crow outside to train.
Elder Ya grew even more irritable. "It’s an Exotic Beast, not the little bird in your pants! It was born to be in the wild!"
Tang Wen looked up, speechless.
A black bird, about twenty centimeters long, flew past overhead.
"Old man! Look."
"Look at what? Never seen a cuckoo before?"
Pointing to the sky, Tang Wen smiled sheepishly. "A brief introduction: my bird..."
His words hung in the air as he turned and walked out the door.
It took Elder Ya a long moment to realize what he meant. "Impossible! Impossible! Absolutely impossible! That kid is just full of hot air!"