Chapter 235: Xue Jing's Promise to Little Cat, A Hundred Threads of Progress, and a Frightening Rate

Chapter 235: Xue Jing's Promise to Little Cat, A Hundred Threads of Progress, and a Frightening Rate of Improvement (4K)



In the Ceasefire Base, an SUV slowly came to a halt outside the villa where Xue Jing resided.

"Thank you for your help today, Yuan Tai," Xue Jing said with a smile as he stepped out of the car, addressing Ning Yuan Tai.

Ning Yuan Tai waved his hand dismissively, a self-satisfied smile on his face. "Don't mention it. I'm glad to be of assistance to you. There are plenty of people who would jump at the chance to help but never get the opportunity."

Xue Jing patted him on the shoulder. "Don't sell yourself short. I've seen the efforts you've made these past few days, and I truly appreciate it. Consider us even. If you ever need my help in the future, you know I'll be there for you."

Ning Yuan Tai was deeply touched, and his tough-guy facade almost crumbled as tears threatened to fall. "Xue bro, with those words, you've made my life complete!"

Xue Jing: "..."

...

Ning Yuan Tai soon drove off cheerfully, his head bobbing up and down as he swayed the car from side to side on the way to the laboratory building. He was so elated that he drove in a way that would give any traffic cop high blood pressure. His mission was to deliver the snake man's corpse that Xue Jing had entrusted to him to the researchers for examination.

Back at the villa, Xue Jing retrieved a two-liter bottle of Coke from the fridge, twisted off the cap, and chugged the entire bottle in one go without so much as a change in his expression, as if he had just drank a glass of water.

"It's a shame we didn't capture any of them alive. Otherwise, we could have questioned them about Yun Qin's whereabouts," Xue Jing said as he tossed the empty bottle into the trash can and sat down on the sofa.

Little Cat jumped onto his lap and perched there, her fluffy tail swaying back and forth, occasionally brushing against Xue Jing's chin softly.

After a moment of silence, she sighed and said, "She hasn't contacted me at all this whole time. Either she's being held captive, or..." Her voice trailed off, not wanting to voice the worst-case scenario.

"I'm prepared for the worst," Xue Jing said, stroking her head comfortingly. "But if she's still alive, I will do everything in my power to rescue her. And if she's no longer with us, I will make the entire Dragon Sect pay for what they've done."

A soft platinum light blossomed, and Xue Jing's embrace grew heavier as Little Cat transformed into her human form—Ning Fengwan.

Ning Fengwan blinked her slender, usually fierce and assertive phoenix eyes, which now held a hint of vulnerability. Sitting on Xue Jing's lap, she gently buried her head in his embrace.

A soft, youthful voice, slightly muffled by the embrace, spoke up. "If Yun Qin is gone, then you're all I have left..."

Xue Jing smiled and gently caressed her smooth, creamy back. "I'm not going anywhere. You'll never be alone."

Ning Fengwan buried her head even deeper into his embrace, seemingly displeased. "Don't say things that sound like you're setting up a flag for tragedy."

She wrapped her arms around him tightly. "And..."

"Make sure you keep your promises."

Xue Jing paused, considering his words carefully. "Er... is this my ninja way?" he asked, reluctantly playing along with the joke.

Ning Fengwan's expression turned stoic. "Could you not ruin the mood? You're such an otaku."

...

In the simulated consciousness space, within the Super Arena's grand stage, Xue Jing stood facing Zhou Yinglin, his hand gripping the Forgotten Giant Sword.

He held the giant sword with one hand, his posture resembling that of someone wielding a nine-foot-long spear. With a focused gaze, he lunged at his opponent, spear-like sword leading the way.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

The sound of rushing air filled the arena as Xue Jing's body was pierced and torn apart by the onslaught of spear shadows.

He restored his body and reappeared in the arena, deep in thought.

"Hmm, it doesn't feel quite right. I can't seem to recapture the feeling I had last night."

Early that morning, upon waking up, he had immediately entered the consciousness space, eager to further explore the insights he had gained the previous night about the 'Soldier Strike.'

However, despite numerous attempts, he couldn't replicate what he had achieved the night before—using the Forgotten Giant Sword as a conduit to successfully execute 'Flawless' or 'Sakura Full Moon.'

It was as if that moment of brilliance had been a fleeting flash of inspiration, a stroke of genius that couldn't be summoned at will.

"Oh well, if I can't do it, then it's not the right time yet," Xue Jing mused, shaking his head. With a thought, the giant sword in his hand disintegrated into countless pixel-like fragments, only to reassemble into a nine-foot-long alloy spear.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Xue Jing took a step forward, his right hand wielding the spear as he moved like a blur toward Zhou Yinglin.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

An incredibly complex series of maneuvers and energy channeling techniques were employed as Xue Jing executed a perfect six-strike spear assault... only to hesitate for a split second during the seventh strike, creating a momentary opening.

This brief lapse was instantly seized upon by 'Zhou Yinglin,' who counterattacked with a furious barrage of spear shadows, overwhelming Xue Jing once more.

The 'Flawless' technique required an incredibly intricate and delicate control over one's physical body, as well as an immense amount of mental calculation and processing power.

This was purely a high-difficulty technique with no shortcuts; one could only repeatedly practice and drill it, forcibly imprinting the innumerable variations into their bodily instincts and the depths of their consciousness.

"Again."

Reappearing in the arena, Xue Jing continued to advance toward Zhou Yinglin.

He spent the entire morning tirelessly practicing the Flawless technique.

When his mental strength became depleted, he would take a break, and when he was rested, he would continue.

The intensity of his training was off the charts, and as a result, his efficiency was terrifying. By noon, when he felt that his mental strength was exhausted and he could no longer continue practicing, he had already made significant progress.

The Flawless technique had five levels: 'One Needle, Ten Threads' was the entry point, and stabbing with a spear that could have more than ten variations was equivalent to the killer moves of ordinary martial arts sects.

This first level was not difficult, at least not for Xue Jing. The first time he had 'tested the waters' and was stabbed to death by Zhou Yinglin, he had already achieved it.

By his estimation, even with average talent, as long as a martial artist worked hard at it for a month or two, they should be able to master the 'One Needle, Ten Threads'.

However, wanting to immediately follow up with a second spear strike, the difficulty would increase geometrically.

Each spear strike had to seamlessly flow from the previous variation, evolving and blending perfectly without the slightest gap or opening.

Thus, with each additional spear strike, the Flawless technique became exceedingly more formidable, and each strike was harder than the last.

With average talent, even if a martial artist practiced for their entire life, they might not be able to reach the 'Hundred Needles, Thousand Threads' level of a hundred spear strikes.

This was a pure talent bottleneck; if one didn't have the capacity, then no amount of hard work would make a difference. Their bodies wouldn't be able to execute the minute, precise movements, and their mental and consciousness calculation abilities wouldn't be able to keep up either.

This was one of the martial arts sects that was most dependent on talent in the entire old martial arts world.

After the 'Hundred Needles, Thousand Threads', there were still the 'Thousand Needles, Ten Thousand Threads', and ultimately, the final and most difficult level—a realm that, to date, only one person in the entire old martial arts world had attained: Flawless.

The difficulty of attaining each level was exponentially greater than the last; it wasn't just a hundred or a thousand times harder. This was also why Zhou Yinglin, at the young age of sixteen or seventeen, had already reached the 'Ten Needles, Hundred Threads' level and was so highly regarded.

The old martial arts world unanimously agreed that within ten years, he would likely attain the 'Thousand Needles, Ten Thousand Threads' level, and in twenty or thirty years, he might be able to recreate the glory of the Spear Saint, becoming the second martial artist to attain the Flawless realm.

And as for Xue Jing...

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

The nine-foot-long spear glinted with a cold light, its strike as swift as a dragon, wildly dancing as it instantly pierced the alloy punching bag dummy in front of him ten times, each strike hitting a fatal point on the human body.

"Reaching the 'Ten Needles, Hundred Threads' level on the second day... progress is as expected, within my calculations."

Xue Jing retracted the long spear in his hand, twirled it, and murmured to himself.

"But it still feels a bit slow. At this rate, to achieve 'Hundred Needles, Thousand Threads', it would take at least ten days or half a month, huh?"

Today and tomorrow were rest days after the competition, and the day after tomorrow would be the start of the round of 16. Following that would be three more days of rest before the quarterfinals.

And it was very likely that he would meet Zhou Yinglin in the first round of the quarterfinals.

In other words, at the earliest, he would be facing off against Zhou Yinglin in five days.

"Five days isn't quite enough... I'm afraid I won't be able to crush him with a higher realm in the Flawless technique yet..."

Xue Jing stroked his chin.

"Oh well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, let's keep practicing."

"Maybe... there's no need to crush him with a higher realm. There's an even more showy way to do it."

Xue Jing held the nine-foot-long spear in his hand and continued to stab at the air, the swirling airflow like wild snakes dancing.

As he absorbed the intricacies and knowledge of the Flawless technique like a sponge, his understanding of martial arts and his Battle Strike realm also rose in tandem, and his overall martial arts prowess continued to increase.

Even though many of his Panel skills were stuck at the sublimation level, his rate of improvement still far surpassed that of other martial artists.

...

At noon, Xue Jing was having lunch with Ning Fengwan.

Today, for a rare change, he didn't go to the cafeteria at the Ceasefire Base but instead cooked a meal himself in the villa's kitchen using a lot of ingredients.

Ning Fengwan was delighted to be able to eat Xue Jing's cooking again, which seemed to be laced with drugs, and happily dug in, too busy to say a word.

But just as they started eating, the doorbell rang.

The moment she heard the doorbell ring, Ning Fengwan's heart sank as she realized something was amiss.

Platinum light flickered, and she instantly transformed into her cat form.

As she turned, Ning Yuan Tai, as expected, walked in, rubbing the back of his head and saying, "Sorry about this," as he made his way into the kitchen to get a pair of chopsticks and a bowl.

The cat's mouth twitched as the Snake-Slaying Spear shot out uncontrollably.

Looking at the table filled with dishes piled up like a small mountain, she felt not a shred of relief.

She knew all too well the appetite of a martial artist...

"Now, isn't this bad timing? It just so happens that I arrived right at mealtime."

Ning Yuan Tai sat down at the table, quickly picked up a large chunk of fried meatball with his chopsticks, swallowed it after a couple of chews, and immediately reached for another dish with lightning-fast movements. If one didn't know any better, they would think someone had pressed a speed-up button on him.

The cat gritted her teeth, calming herself and silently chanting, 'This man is useful to Arjon... This man is useful to Arjon...'

It was a close call, but the Stop-War Base Cat Cat murder incident was narrowly averted.

She could only speed up her eating, but with a cat's body, it was inconvenient, and she couldn't compete.

All she could do was watch as most of the food disappeared into Ning Yuan Tai's stomach.

After the meal, Ning Yuan Tai sat on the sofa, using a toothpick to contentedly pick his teeth. Suddenly, he shuddered and asked, "Xue Bro, is the air conditioning on in this room?"

He felt a bit chilly.

Xue Jing smiled and casually replied, "No, the weather has started to turn cooler lately, so it's normal to feel a bit cold."

He sat on the dining table behind Ning Yuan Tai, assuming a cat-like hunting posture as he held the cat in his arms and gently stroked her fur, soothing her restless killing intent.

As an Iron Blood iJing, Ning Yuan Tai always trusted Xue Jing's words implicitly. Hearing this, he immediately nodded in agreement and said, "I think you're right. I should get an extra layer of clothing when I head back."

"By the way, Xue Bro, we've made some progress on the snake man's body from yesterday."

Ning Yuan Tai continued.

This was his reason for visiting Xue Jing at this time.

The freeloading meal was just a convenient side benefit... probably.

"Oh? What did you find out?"

Xue Jing asked curiously as he sat on the sofa, holding the cat.

Ning Yuan Tai noticed that the cat in Xue Bro's arms kept staring at him. Its expressionless cat face had a strangely human-like blankness, giving him a creepy, chilly feeling.

Shaking his head, he pushed the odd sensation to the back of his mind and said, "Most of the poison's components are similar to ordinary snake venom—toxic proteins. But about 5% of it is made up of 'unknown substances' with no reference points at all."

"Currently, the lab is conducting urgent experiments to determine the chemical properties of these components... trying to create a corresponding antidote, but I doubt it will be easy."

"The capabilities of the Divine Bestowal recipients from the Heteroclite Sect are somewhat divine and inconceivable by contemporary science. The toxicity of this poison is extraordinarily potent, mainly because of that 5% of peculiar elements."

"I don't think an antidote can be created."

Xue Jing nodded and said, "I see."

He didn't mind either way, as it was a nice-to-have option.

Going forward, he would just be extra cautious around members of the Dragon Sect to avoid being poisoned.

With Shadowflame Entangling Armor covering his entire body for protection and the cheat-like 'Elementalization' ability to ensure his survival, it would be difficult for him to be poisoned.

The antidote was mainly for the sake of those around him, so they wouldn't accidentally fall victim to such a deadly poison.

"By the way, Xue Bro, are you free today?"

Ning Yuan Tai suddenly asked Xue Jing with a sly expression.

Xue Jing nodded, "Yes, what's up?"

"Then let me drive you around as your tour guide. It's about time I showed you around the inner ring road. It wouldn't do to have you staying here and not enjoying the sights properly."

Ning Yuan Tai stood up excitedly.

"There's a place you might find interesting."

Xue Jing looked at the cat in his arms.

"Meow~"

The cat lazily meowed, shook her body to fluff her fur, stretched, and jumped off Xue Jing's lap onto the sofa, where she lay down.

This was her way of indicating that she didn't want to go.

Xue Jing thought for a moment. His spiritual power was already depleted from the day's training and couldn't be further drained through consciousness simulation. Some relaxation might be a good idea.

So he stood up and smiled, "Alright, let's go."

Ning Yuan Tai happily replied, "Let's go!"

...

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end