Qin Fen returned back to the room after eating lunch. He sat cross-legged and stirred the Dragon Elephant Prajna Art within him to circulate.
Qin Fen had to constantly remind himself not to help the middle-aged woman every time he saw how difficult her life was. It would just be a waste of energy even if he did help her plow the fields, for everything will disappear when the time comes.
The stars spun overhead with the passage of time. The sun fell and the moon rose as a dozen hours passed in the blink of an eye. Qin Fen continued to circulate the Dragon Elephant Prajna Art nonstop. Even though he was stuck in this scenario, there was something more important he had to do; beat the figure of light! He would feel quite uncomfortable if he didn't land a hit in before finishing the scenario and getting kicked back to reality.
The noisy clattering of horseshoes suddenly broke the peace of the village's quiet night sky.
Qin Fen abruptly opened his eyes, only to see the middle-aged woman burst into the room in a hurry, pulling the two boys along as well. "Quick. Come with me."
The middle-aged woman didn't wait for Qin Fen to speak. She pulled him to quickly walk out of the room. Arriving in front of a pile of wood, she swiftly moved all the firewood away, revealing a narrow space. "Quick! Hide inside!"
The middle-aged woman didn't give Qin Fen a moment to speak. She pushed the three into that narrow space. Then she quickly moved the firewood back in place and said, "You must not make a sound."
Qin Fen's heart shivered as he asked, "Then what about you?"
"I have a place to hide," the woman smiled. "You must not make a sound. Bandits really will kill people nowadays."
The gate of the yard was rammed open before the middle-aged woman could finish speaking. Several villagers ran into the yard in a panic, and following behind them eight or so people wielding torches and steel blades. They were bandits, and their faces were filled with malevolence.
"Failure of the mission will lead to brain death by default. The physical body will die as well," The figure of light's voice rang within Qin Fen's mind once more.
A scream. A villager who had fled into the yard had his arm cut off by a steel blade, the arm still twitching by reflex on the ground. Fresh blood sprayed out from the villager's wound like a fountain.
"Fake! It's all fake!" Qin Fen shut his eyes tight. He hadn't been able to break apart the seal on his body even with all his efforts during the day. The Dragon Elephant Prajna Art remained at the one-star strength. Judging from the clattering of hoofs just now, there should be at least a hundred bandits outside. Even if Qin Fen broke through to two-star strength, it still wasn't guaranteed for him to win against a hundred bandits. No wonder the figure of light said that surviving for twenty-four hours also counted as a win. This was because it wouldn't be possible to win through combat once the battle began.
Martial artists must learn to be patient, like a cheetah waiting to catch its prey. They need to calmly endure. This was something important that martial artists needed to cultivate. Qin Fen began to understand what the figure of light wanted him to train.
Another shriek. Qin Fen felt sweat burst out from the two kids beneath his arms. He instinctively helled the two children tight. He knew everything was fake, but he wasn't willing to send two kids to their deaths.
A third scream....
Qin Fen always believed his ability to control himself to be top-notch. He knew that this scene was fake, so he absolutely wouldn't do something stupid. However, the third scream he heard had come from the middle-aged woman. In that instant, battle-intent suddenly ignited within his chest.
ROAR!
The pile of firewood was blasted apart. Qin Fen burst out from the middle of the pile like a leopard, covering seven meters in one leap. In the blink of an eye, he broke into the middle of the bandits, and he used his moment to turn and whip out with a strike of the Shaolin Arhat Fist.
The high-speed movement of his body brought the wind to let out a scream akin to the gale generated from a speeding train, causing everyone's clothes to flap.
"DIE!"
His arm was like an ancient steel whip, explosively ringing out in the air nonstop. The ferocious power instantly broke through the limits of one-star strength.
A martial artist had to endure, yet they also must have guts! If he were to cower today, his ability to endure might have increased quite a bit, but Qin Fen was scared that he would forever become someone who hides his head beneath the sand for future events.
Although the Shaolin Arhat Fist was a basic fist technique, it was a fist technique that possessed a steel-like firmness and ferocity. A normal person wielding a sniper rifle wasn't guaranteed to kill a person located a thousand meters away. Fist techniques were the same. The important this was the user and the what's the level of the user's internal strength.
Qin Fen instantly reached the peak of two-star strength that he never possessed before. He was confident of being able to break an arm thick as a tree, let alone a mere head.
Bam! The bandit's head exploded like a watermellon. The red and white flesh all flew out without discrimination.
Before the other bandits could react, Qin Fen stomped down into the earth, leaving a footprint half an inch deep. He dashed ahead, his spread palms whistling through the air. His palms connected with the chests of two more bandits, shattering their hearts through the vibrations.
A dashing step, striking with his palms left and right! Two more were killed, leaving behind four bandits who finally recovered from their shock. They roared one after another, rushing toward Qin Fen.
"Whirlwind Kick!"
With a stomping step, Qin Fen's body suddenly soared into the air. His legs were truly akin to a whirlwind. His course pants let out a sound that pierced the air akin to the shots from a gun. Before the four bandits could react, the bones of their chest were already shattered into pieces, leaving them to fall to the ground.
"The action of killing the enemy has begun, nullifying the condition of surviving for twenty-four hours. The condition for victory is as follows: Destroy all enemies." The figure of light's voice rang out once more.
Qin Fen drew in a deep breath, feeling the power surge within his body. He hadn't been able to break the barrier of two-star strength all this time, yet he just instantly broke through it in this moment of explosive anger.
Three-star! Qin Fen's eyes shone like lightning. The true energy within his body surged endlessly like a galloping war horse, and an image appeared within the sea of his mind.
It was a scene featuring the figure of light. It sat down cross-legged, the execution channels different from the two in the past.
"The diagram for the third stage of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Art...."
Qin Fen picked up two combat knives from the ground before striding out the yard. Though he didn't know blade techniques, he could at least use them as throwing knives.
"Three-star?"
Lin Liqiang and the other two's eyes lit up at the same time. The sleeping Qin Fen didn't cover his explosive increase in strength at all. Perhaps normal people were unable to instantly determine his strength, but the three people in the room were genius level existences. It was possible for them to determine the level of strength coming out of a defenseless person.
"He was able to reach three-star strength while sleeping?" Lin Liqiang stared at Qin Fen's rosy face. He saw that his bro hadn't atrophied from all this sleep these past few days and a smile naturally appeared on his face.
Song Jia's eyebrows were furrowed tight. It was all so strange....
"DIE!"
Manager Zhang's Shaolin Tiger Claw Hand, Throat Locker! This move appeared once more, wielded by Qin Fen. The leader of the bandits already had his arms broken by a Flowing Whipstrike from earlier. He watched helplessly as the palms, which were far more ferocious than that of a tiger, easily crushed his throat to pieces.
The village burned beneath the night sky. Qin Fen silently watched everything before his eyes. He had around seven wounds that had been hacked into his body, yet he was unable to feel an iota of pain thanks to the fierce battle.
The surrounding scene suddenly shook, and the village faded away before Qin Fen could have the chance to say goodbye to the villagers. In the village's place was a vast darkness of space all around him.
"Congratulations. You have completed the entirety of the first part of cultivation." The figure of light spoke in that mechanical voice, "I await our next meeting...."
"Wait a minute!" Qin Fen waved his fists, legs, and neck, "There is something I need to do before you send me away."
"What does the cultivator wish to do?" This was the first time the figure of light sounded puzzled.
"Beat you!" Qin Fen's movements seemed to be in sync with his voice. His fist approached his opponent at high-speeds.
Qin Fen was akin to a fierce beast exploding in anger in this moment, something he learned not too long ago when he fought against wild beasts. There were no hints to his surprise attack at all. Only when he truly moved to struck did he appear as powerful as a raging storm of lightning.
Advancing the Seven Stars! Striding to Ride the Tiger!Shifting Step Into Cleaving Chop! Second Rise Into Mountain Stance!
The figure of light was stroke over and over, its body turning into points of light. Its voice rang inside Qin Fen's ears, "Congratulations, you win."
"The dark space suddenly trembled, and Qin Fen immediately felt the weak breaths of three people beside him.