Chapter 74: Use Your Brain!

'It's about the body again...'

Hearing Liu Qingmeng's description, a trace of irritation rose in Fang Can's heart.

Since he began practicing martial arts, countless people had told him he was too short, too thin, and too weak...

Anyone he met would say to him, 'You are too frail.'

Clearly, his height of one meter eighty and his sculpted, muscular physique conformed to aesthetics, but in front of those bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts, martial artists all starting at two meters tall, it truly wasn't enough to look at.

Thinking of this, Fang Can looked at Liu Qingmeng's figure, wrapped in her skirt yet unable to hide her curves, and said:

'Then, with Senior Liu and Senior Jiang's figures, why do you not learn to train like those male martial artists, but instead maintain your original form?'

'Me?' Liu Qingmeng's blue hair swayed gently, and she said calmly, 'Because I am unwilling. My Dao does not lie in martial arts; I need not dedicate everything to the martial path. If I persist blindly, it may lead to the opposite of what is intended.'

'But you are different.' Liu Qingmeng gazed into Fang Can's eyes and said:

'I see ambition in your eyes. You wish to become the strongest, and you happen to possess such talent. Those who pursue perfection must fear no hardships and win every battle, for once defeated, it will only shatter your Dao heart.'

'And I have a secret technique here that can allow you to compensate for innate deficiencies with acquired means. With your talent, within a month it will be enough to grow your body to two meters twenty, barely reaching a level of strength where you can contend with Xiang Xitao.'

As Liu Qingmeng spoke, her gaze fixed on Fang Can, waiting for his choice, but she saw the youth before her shake his head firmly and say, 'No need.'

'Are you sure? This is the most likely solution.' Liu Qingmeng confirmed, 'Even if your Dao heart might be shattered by being beaten in the battles to come?'

Fang Can smiled and cupped his hands, saying, 'Thank you, Senior Liu, but I still do not need it. As for that first place in the grand tournament, I will rely on my own wisdom. If it comes to comparing strength, I already have a few ideas.'

'Very well. Since you are set on your own path, I will not persuade you.'

Liu Qingmeng no longer pressed, but continued, 'Then let us begin the next item, regarding your plan to completely transform your entire body into thinking flesh.'

'I must say, your idea is very pioneering, but opening a path is always the hardest, especially when it is mere empty speculation.'

'It is not mere speculation.' Fang Can pointed to his head and said, 'My body already contains neurons and brain cells. As long as I spread their characteristics throughout my entire body like cell replication and infection, that will be sufficient.'

'Sufficient? If so, let me ask you, how do you confirm the existence of a brain within your body?' Liu Qingmeng asked abruptly.

Fang Can felt what the other person said was nonsensical.

How to confirm brain cells? Whether it is a biology textbook or an X-ray, both can prove it.

Moreover, he had not failed to open the skulls of other martial artists before; he had seen the color of their brain matter with his own eyes.

Seeing Fang Can's self-evident expression, Liu Qingmeng helplessly shook her head and said, 'A blockhead. If you intend to dye your entire body to look like a brain, then naturally you must personally experience the activity of your own mind.'

'Then let me ask you, have you ever seen the color of your own brain with your own eyes? Have you ever reached out to touch the texture of your own brain matter, or smelled the scent emitted by your own brain with your own nose?'

'Uh, so your meaning is...' Fang Can was somewhat at a loss and asked subconsciously.

Liu Qingmeng gently spat out two words, 'Open the skull.'

'Personally feel the weight of the brain, touch the folds of your own brain, and observe the color of the brain.'

'Open the skull? Won't I die then?' Fang Can's expression changed somewhat.

'Does a person die without a brain?'

'Of course they would... uh, it seems I would not.' Fang Can subconsciously scratched his own head.

'Have you not already made your heart capable of thinking?' Liu Qingmeng looked at Fang Can and said, 'You have been restricted by conventional thinking. A person dies without a brain, but you are different.'

'The very reason you made your heart think was to allow yourself to continue fighting even after your brain was destroyed. If so, why can't you be the first person to destroy your own brain?'

'This train of thought...'

Fang Can felt as if lightning had struck his brain; his eyes widened in disbelief. Was this the train of thought of someone ascending the Heavenly Path Fourth Level? It was simply too brilliant!

Seeing Fang Can hesitating and dawdling, Liu Qingmeng no longer spoke, but acted directly.

In the next moment, a flash of blue lightning flickered, piercing straight through Fang Can's forehead and lifting his entire crown of the skull.

Fang Can felt a chill in his skull, followed by intense pain rising from his scalp.

'Suppress the urge to heal. I have already opened your skull; the rest is for you to realize on your own.'

After Liu Qingmeng finished speaking, she did not linger, but turned and floated away gracefully. Yet, with that current of lightning, her apparent age shrank by a few years once more.

Hearing Liu Qingmeng's words, Fang Can subconsciously touched his head, feeling only a coolness on his scalp. His forehead had already begun to stop bleeding and relieve pain under self-healing, starting to recover.

Thinking that since the head was already opened, Fang Can forcibly suppressed his body's urge to absorb sunlight, and his heart began to resist healing.

In the next moment, he covered his head, trying his best not to let his brain spill out, and ran all the way to a mirror.

Upon looking, he immediately discovered that Liu Qingmeng's force just now had been controlled perfectly; she had only lifted the crown of the skull without causing too much damage to the brain.

'However... so my brain looks like this.'

Fang Can stroked his chin, looking at the brain exposed to the air. Since it was his own brain, he did not find it particularly disgusting; on the contrary, he felt a sense of intimacy.

As he observed, seeing his own brain with his own eyes, the infection speed of the neurons within his body's cells suddenly doubled.

This rate of progress left him both surprised and delighted. No wonder he was a talent who had ascended the Heavenly Path Fourth Level; a casual word of guidance from her gave him such great progress.

Immediately, he recalled her words just now: personally feel the weight of the brain, smell the scent of the brain, listen to the tremors of the brain, touch the texture of the brain...

To be honest, Fang Can was somewhat panicked.

After all, although he had practiced to the point where his heart could think, taking his brain out of the skull for the first time, and doing it with his own hands, was somewhat frightening.

What if he failed? Then he would be a real clown.

'However... all my current thinking is brought to me by the brain. This feeling is truly strange. Is it that I think this way, or does the brain make me think this way?'

Fang Can's lips couldn't help but curl into a strange smile, and then his hands slowly reached up towards his neck.

'Clunk... I touched it. This texture is like tofu pudding, but a bit harder.'

Although he had touched it, Fang Can did not feel any pain.

Because there are no nerve endings transmitting pain within the brain, so even if the head rotted away, there would be no sensation.

In the next moment, as his arm applied gentle force, Fang Can felt as if he were a computer with its power cord pulled; his eyes rolled back and he was about to shut down.

Then, the backup power kicked in.

After the brain, acting as the main power source, was pulled out, the heart began to replace the brain in thinking. Fang Can's originally lifeless eyes immediately regained consciousness, and he stared at himself in the mirror.

(End of Chapter)