Chapter 494: Feeling the Joy of Practicing Martial Arts

No one says Cheng Feng is a grind.

Excellent people always have super-high levels of self-discipline.

Practice a little, recover, and restore one's martial sense.

That evening, after everyone had settled into Lan Yuan, Liu Yu called everyone to the front hall.

He did not know where he had gotten a flat wooden board, used a charcoal pencil to draw a crude tournament schedule on it, and marked the names of several teams he had scouted in advance.

The candlelight flickered, casting the words on the board in dim shadows and exuding an invisible sense of pressure.

"The Martial Arts Tournament is divided into three rounds. The first round is a melee elimination; all participating teams enter the Great Drill Ground at the same time to fight in a designated area. The time limit is one hour, and the last twenty teams remaining on the field advance.

The second round is a military formation competition; the twenty teams draw lots for duels to determine the top five.

The third round is a ring battle; each of the top five teams sends three people to take turns on the stage, fighting until no one is left to compete to determine the winner, ultimately deciding the top three."

Liu Yu used the charcoal pencil to draw three circles on the board in order, "On the surface, the first round is the most chaotic, the second round is the most dangerous, and the third round is the toughest.

But I want to remind you that the most dangerous one is the first round. Anything can happen in a melee; a strong team might be surrounded and killed by several weak teams working together,

and a lone wolf might also take advantage of the chaos to sneak through to the next round. What you need to do is not to slaughter everyone, but to stand alive until the second round."

Huo Luan rubbed his hands and grinned, "A melee, huh? Then we have to protect Wang Ji tightly. At that time, there will be people from all directions, and blades have no eyes; if we don't watch out for even a moment, someone might sneak up on her."

"So, do you remember the points I marked at the Martial Arts Arena this afternoon?" Liu Yu swept his gaze over the three of them.

"There is no fixed formation to speak of in a melee, but the core principle remains unchanged—Wang Ji must be between the three of you, and at least two people must stay by her side at all times.

The remaining person is responsible for patrolling and containing on the periphery; they can occasionally leave the core to disrupt nearby teams, but as soon as they discover someone trying to approach Wang Ji, they must immediately return to defend."

Gu Niangzi twirled a strand of hair with her finger and asked lazily, "Then what if the opponent has an Immortal Seed level expert? Like those freaks who can do Chao Xue or control copper, can we stop them just by relying on the three of us?"

Liu Yu was silent for a moment, then said slowly, "If you can't stop them, drag it out. Immortal Seed level special combat power is indeed strong, but most have obvious limitations; either the consumption is huge, or the range is limited.

As long as you don't act rashly, judge the opponent's ability boundaries immediately, and use the Shrink and support of the formation to buy time, you can drag it out until other teams bump into them first. In a melee, an Immortal Seed is also human and will be afraid of being swarmed."

Wang Ji stepped forward, "If an Immortal Seed of the same level attacks, I will also take action."

Cheng Feng felt his heart sink slightly when he heard the words "Immortal Seed."

Back when he was at Heimu Prefecture, he had heard people mention that those who truly suppressed all Martial Artists in this world were not just those innate old monsters who had cultivated bitterly for decades,

but also those "Immortal Seeds" who possessed special physiques and were regarded as treasures by major powers.

As long as these people did not die young, it was only a matter of time before they cultivated to the innate stage or even higher.

The most important point was that they could fight across ranks.

Wang Ji was one of them,

and Cheng Feng had seen the combat power of that so-called Qingyuan Sword Body with his own eyes.

It had beaten Liehuo Fawang, this True Qi Martial Artist, to the point of almost dying on the spot.

It stemmed from that life-and-death battle across ranks.

The current Wang Ji had also only just broken through to the True Qi Realm.

This was also why people like Liu Yu and Huo Luan were willing to revolve around her.

As for special combat powers like Chao Xue and controlling copper, he had also heard a little about them.

It is said that some people are born with a strange activity in their blood, able to draw blood from others' wounds for their own use;

others have bodies cast like copper and iron; usually, once they activate their True Qi, it turns dark copper-colored, and when blades strike them, it is no different from hacking at a copper pillar; their defensive and offensive power is maxed out.

These are all extremely rare talents, but every time one appears, it sets off a bloody storm at the Martial Arts Tournament.

"Cheng Feng." Wang Ji suddenly spoke, interrupting his thoughts, "You are different from Huo Luan and Gu Niangzi. Your hard-body talent is almost unsolvable among your peers, but your Martial Dao realm is only at the Organ Refining Late Stage. You will be at a disadvantage when encountering opponents in the True Qi Realm. After all, the True Qi of the True Qi Realm can penetrate internal organs; you had better be more careful."

Cheng Feng did not refute and nodded, "I know."

Some things were not worth stating clearly now; it was better to keep them as a trump card.

"It's good that you know." Wang Ji looked at him, her gaze clear and direct, "So this month, your Dragon Snake Nine Transformations must reach the second transformation.

If you can do it, you will have the capital to shake the True Qi Realm head-on. If you can't, after the second round, you will likely become the first gap in the team to be broken through."

She spoke extremely bluntly, but Cheng Feng knew this was not a provocation.

Wang Ji was someone who always said what was on her mind; the fact that she used the word "gap" meant that in her eyes, the current Cheng Feng was indeed not tough enough.

But there was no other way; the Martial Arts Tournament preferred those twenty years old and under.

If the age is too low, the realm is not enough.

If the age is too high, they cannot get on the stage.

Being able to reach the current level could already be considered a genius.

"I will do it." Cheng Feng was neither humble nor arrogant.

The joint training began early the next morning.

Liu Yu maxed out the training intensity at the Martial Arts Arena.

He no longer performed polite offensive and defensive drills as he did at Zhou Fu, but would suddenly launch sneak attacks on Wang Ji every few days, forcing the three of them to maintain the highest level of vigilance at all times.

Huo Luan was tormented enough; he was originally someone who slept very soundly, but now he would even snore.

Gu Niangzi was even more miserable; sometimes when Liu Yu used True Qi, she had to run before she could even release her Gu insects.

At the Organ Refining Late Stage, she still could not fight head-on in group battles.

After the daily joint training ended, Cheng Feng would return to his room on the east side, light an oil lamp, and sit cross-legged to practice the Dragon Snake Nine Transformations.

Perhaps it was the blessing of his bloodline,

or perhaps it was because of the Tongti Flower,

the current Cheng Feng, when circulating his cultivation technique himself, was finally able to get the recognition of the Panmian.

Over the past ten days or so, the proficiency behind the first transformation of the Dragon Snake Nine Transformations had steadily increased by more than twenty points.

It was still a long way from the eight hundred points required for the second transformation,

but Cheng Feng finally experienced the joy of practicing martial arts.

"Who could withstand this!"

One evening, Huo Luan scrambled from the Martial Arts Arena and collapsed under the veranda, threw the Steel Saber onto the ground, and panted heavily.

Gu Niangzi also sat on the steps, her bangs stuck together in strands by sweat, and even the Red Armored Beetle atop her head had its antennae drooping listlessly.

Only Cheng Feng remained standing in the arena, performing his closing movements one by one; although his breathing was rapid, he did not look overly disheveled.

Wang Ji walked out from under the veranda and tossed a waterskin to Huo Luan: "You must withstand it even if you can't. Today we simulated the worst-case scenario in a three-round melee—the team being flanked from three sides with the core position exposed; you must hold the front while buying time for Cheng Feng and Gu Niangzi to fall back and defend."

Huo Luan tilted her head back and gulped down a few mouthfuls of water, which spilled from the corners of her mouth and flowed down her neck into the swelling valley of her collar.

Yet she wiped her mouth without a care and said bitterly: "I can hold, but Lord Liu's blade is like it has eyes, specifically targeting my lower stance; who could stand that!"

Liu Yu walked out from the shadows, still holding that Narrow Saber, expression indifferent: "On the battlefield, no one cares if you can stand it or not."

Huo Luan shrank her neck and fell silent.

In the dead of night, Cheng Feng was practicing in his room as usual.

The True Qi of the Dragon Snake Nine Transformations circulated faster and faster through his meridians, like a snake awakened by spring water, swimming joyfully through his newly formed meridians.

Cheng Feng could feel that the layer of fascia within his body, which had been pressed coarse and heavy by his Horizontal Training, was being gradually moistened, softened, and reshaped by the power of the Dragon Snake Nine Transformations.

This process was very slow, so slow it was almost imperceptible, but after each day's practice, he could feel a trace of new change from deep within his body.

Organ Refining Late Stage. Under the dual tempering of the Flood Dragon Body and the Dragon Snake Nine Transformations, his internal organs were already much tougher than those of an ordinary Martial Artist.

Yet Cheng Feng knew clearly that this bit of capital was truly not enough in a place like Tianqi City.

He needed to be faster.

On the Panmian, Dragon Snake Nine Transformations First Transformation (332/800). There were 468 points left until the breakthrough.

Cheng Feng took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and continued to circulate his cultivation technique.

Outside the window, night insects chirped, and moonlight leaked in through the lattice, illuminating his silhouette as he sat cross-legged, like a silent bronze statue.