Chapter 36: Water Flows, Channel Forms

“Aaaahhhhh!”

In the training ground, violent screams and roars erupted from every disciple’s mouth.

In their sensory perception, the earth had been utterly split apart by Fang Can, and fierce fist winds raged into sandstorms.

All of them had been swept into the yellow storm, plunged into a torture-like agony.

The perspective peeled away from the disciples and returned to reality.

Here, the scenery remained unchanged; a gentle breeze still blew, the sun shone warmly—there was no storm at all.

Only Yang Lie, standing slightly farther away, could resist Fang Can’s large-scale mental projection attack with his fifth-layer Xuanguan strength.

In his view, the hundreds of warriors who had charged toward Fang Can all froze mid-motion as his fist descended.

Because with this mental projection punch, everyone had fallen into a hallucination of their bodies already dead, kneeling on their knees, truly believing they were being flayed alive.

As if kneeling were contagious, one senior after another collapsed to the ground like they’d dropped dead, bowing as if before a god, their minds frozen by that single punch.

“Huh…” Fang Can exhaled a slow, heavy breath.

That single punch had consumed over ninety percent of his mental projection power.

The flesh is the foundation of the mind; the mind is the continuation of the flesh.

At this moment, he hadn’t even reached first-layer Xuanguan, and could barely manage to unleash it once.

Yet the effect of such intense consumption was striking: under his hard control, the hundreds present had been plunged into complete mental stagnation for over ten seconds.

Such a long duration was enough for Fang Can to take a knife and chop off every one of their heads—easier than slaughtering a few hundred running pigs.

The power of mental projection was terrifying like this; those with eighth-layer Xuanguan or higher who unleashed mental projections would be even more terrifying.

Before his mental projection was exhausted, ordinary warriors came in any number—he killed them all.

That was precisely why only mental projection could counter mental projection.

Silence. Dead silence…

These people remained in the grip of death for nearly half a minute before gradually regaining awareness, then staring at Fang Can with horrified eyes.

“This… is mental projection,” Yang Lie now felt an overwhelming surge of envy.

To awaken mental projection before first-layer Xuanguan was unheard of; this talent was devastating to someone like him, who at forty or fifty still lingered at fifth-layer Xuanguan.

When everyone in the arena recovered from the shadow of near-death, they all stared at Fang Can with complex expressions—they knew they had been utterly defeated.

A zero-layer Xuanguan warrior who had awakened mental projection—no word like “genius” could describe it.

They felt their recent spiritual cultivation had been shattered; they would need long rest to recover.

Then, someone suddenly laughed: “Hahaha, the world’s gone mad—son beats father. Fine, I’ll let you win this once.”

That voice immediately made the training ground disciples realize: ‘Roleplay technique—it’s the roleplay technique! Wonderful, our minds are saved!’

The next moment, these disciples seemed to descend into madness, hundreds collectively afflicted with hysteria, babbling wildly.

“Hysteria! Ugh! It wasn’t Fang Can who defeated me—I defeated Fang Can, hahaha!”

“Exactly! Easy fight—I crushed him into mental stagnation, made him unable to think!”

“Hahaha, I’m the one in the training ground who fights a hundred alone! Who’s Fang Can? I don’t know him, I don’t know him!”

…

Hysteria. Absolute hysteria. Yang Lie helplessly watched this scene like a mental rehabilitation center, speechless.

What roleplay technique? Before a mental projection master, pretending to be insane served no purpose—your mind would honestly respond to this fear.

Indeed, without a word, Fang Can cast a sidelong glance across the entire crowd and released his remaining mental projection power.

The next instant, the scene repeated exactly as when Gu Shuqi, the former manager, had given his speech.

Fear—extreme fear—spread from everyone’s heart; those who had just been reveling in mental victory lost their sanity once more, sinking into terror.

With his last vestiges of mental projection spent, Fang Can felt hollow inside; though his physical strength remained, a weariness rose from within.

Indeed, forcing mental projection at such a low level was too forced; when his body improves later, it will be better.

Fang Can pondered and opened his panel, but the description field made him freeze.

Flesh Transformation: 10.2%

‘Did I just break through first-layer Xuanguan?’

Fang Can stared, dumbfounded, confused by the transformation percentage.

He clearly remembered Jiang Ningan saying that before breaking through first-layer Xuanguan, there would be a clear barrier—you needed to rest two or three days, regulate your spirit, then push through in one go.

But he hadn’t felt anything just now—how had his progress surged past the 10% threshold so effortlessly?

Though he’d guessed his body would strengthen during battle, since he felt no barrier, he’d assumed he hadn’t met the requirement for first-layer Xuanguan.

‘Is Jiang the elder lying to me, or is my talent just that extraordinary?’ Fang Can thought, ultimately accepting the latter possibility.

After all, compared to the former, the latter made him seem even more impressive.

“Fang Can.” At this moment, Yang Lie, seeing the battle ended, hurried forward: “You’ve only trained for a few days—how do you have this level of Wu Gong and mental projection…?”

“Master Yang, didn’t Tangzhu Li already tell you I’m an unparalleled genius?” Fang Can replied sternly.

“Geniuses don’t follow logic. If you can’t believe what you’ve seen with your own eyes, why bother training Wu Gong or seeking the Dao?”

Yang Lie was left speechless—Fang Can’s words echoed his own teachings from just days ago, except now the roles had reversed: he was the one shaken.

“Regardless, your potential is terrifyingly immense. I must report this to the sect master.”

“For now, don’t wander around. Return to your room and wait for me. Someone will come to fetch you.”

Fang Can nodded slightly—he had expected this decision from Yang Lie.

He wasn’t following the ordinary path; there was no need to hide his strength and then suddenly explode in a flashy, humiliating display.

True geniuses must always be first at every step of their growth, climbing steadily to the peak of martial cultivation.

As for claims the sect master would persecute him—what idiot sect master would try to kill an unparalleled genius within his own ranks? Why even form a sect if he didn’t want talent?

Emperors envy talent because they’ve already reached the top—great merit threatens their position.

But the Tiger Fury Sect can’t even rank in the top ten of Dayan—why would it strangle its own genius?

If the sect master is wise enough, he’ll bow and become his disciple.

When Fang Can one day becomes invincible, he can lift the Tiger Fury Sect to unprecedented heights.

Far better than its current status, confined to a hundred li radius.

So, having just shown off before the entire new generation of the Tiger Fury Sect, Fang Can returned to his small room without any pressure, settling down to rest and restore his mental power.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the Tiger Fury Sect master’s mindset was entirely different after receiving Yang Lie’s report.

(End of Chapter)