Chapter 74: Use Your Brain!

'Again with the physique...'

Hearing Liu Qingmeng’s description, Fang Can felt a flicker of irritation.

Since he began training in Wu Gong, countless people had told him he was too short, too thin, too weak...

Everyone without exception told him he was too frail.

His height of one meter eighty and his muscular, sculpted physique were aesthetically perfect—but before those martial artists, all of whom stood over two meters tall, he simply looked inadequate.

Thinking of this, Fang Can looked at Liu Qingmeng’s figure, its curves unmistakable beneath her robe, and said:

'Given your figure and Jiang’s, why don’t you train like those male martial artists instead of keeping your natural form?'

'Me?' Liu Qingmeng’s blue hair swayed slightly as she replied calmly: 'Because I don’t want to. My Dao lies beyond martial arts; I need not sacrifice everything for the martial path. To persist blindly may lead to the opposite of what you seek.'

'But you are different,' Liu Qingmeng fixed her gaze on Fang Can’s eyes and said:

'I see ambition in your eyes. You wish to become the strongest—and you have the talent to do so. Those who pursue perfection must fear no hardship, win every battle, for a single defeat will shatter your Dao-heart.'

Here, I have a secret technique that can compensate for your congenital deficiencies. With your talent, within a month you can grow to two meters twenty—enough to match Xiang Xitao in strength.

As Liu Qingmeng spoke, she watched Fang Can, waiting for his choice—but the boy shook his head firmly: 'No thanks.'

'Certain? This is your best chance,' Liu Qingmeng confirmed. 'Even if you’re beaten until your Dao-heart shatters?'

Fang Can bowed with a smile: 'Thank you, Elder Liu, but I still decline. As for winning the Grand Competition, I’ll rely on my own wit. If it’s strength they want, I already have a little idea.'

'Very well. Since you insist on your path, I won’t dissuade you.'

Liu Qingmeng no longer pressed, but continued: 'Then let’s move to the next matter: your plan to transform your entire body into thinking flesh.'

'I must say, your idea is highly innovative—but forging a new path is always the hardest, especially when it’s mere fantasy.'

'It’s not fantasy,' Fang Can pointed to his head. 'My body already contains neurons and brain cells. If I spread their properties throughout my body like a cellular infection, that’s enough.'

'Enough?' Liu Qingmeng asked abruptly. 'Then tell me—how do you know your body contains a brain?'

Fang Can thought her question absurd.

Brain cells? Biology textbooks and X-rays prove it.

Besides, he’d opened skulls for other martial artists before—he’d seen the color of their brain matter with his own eyes.

Seeing Fang Can’s expression of utter certainty, Liu Qingmeng sighed: 'You’re a blockhead. If you want to turn your whole body into a brain, you must personally experience your own mental activity.'

'Tell me—have you ever seen the color of your own brain? Have you touched its texture? Have you smelled its odor?'

'Uh... so you mean...' Fang Can, baffled, asked instinctively.

Liu Qingmeng softly uttered two words: 'Craniotomy.'

'Feel the weight of your brain. Touch its folds. Observe its color.'

'Craniotomy? Won’t I die?' Fang Can’s expression changed.

'Does a human die without a brain?'

'Of course... wait, I wouldn’t.' Fang Can instinctively scratched his head.

'You’ve already made your heart think,' Liu Qingmeng said, watching him. 'You’re bound by conventional thinking: no brain, no life. But you’re different.'

'You made your heart think precisely so you could fight even if your brain was destroyed. If so, why can’t you be the first to destroy your own brain?'

'That logic...'

Fang Can felt as if struck by lightning. His eyes widened in disbelief. This was the mind of a Fourth Step of Ascending Heaven? Brilliant beyond words!

Seeing Fang Can hesitate, Liu Qingmeng fell silent and acted.

In the next instant, a blue current flashed, piercing his forehead and lifting his entire skull cap clean off.

Fang Can felt his skull grow cold, then searing pain rose from his scalp.

Suppress the urge to heal. I’ve opened your skull. Now, realize it for yourself.

Liu Qingmeng spoke and left without delay, drifting away gracefully—yet with the current, her outward age shrank again by several years.

Listening to Liu Qingmeng’s words, Fang Can instinctively touched his head. His scalp felt cool; his skull was already healing, stopping the bleeding and pain.

Since his head was already open, he forcibly suppressed his body’s urge to absorb sunlight, resisting healing.

The next moment, he clutched his head to keep his brain from spilling out and ran to the mirror.

He saw at once that Liu Qingmeng’s strike had been perfectly controlled—only the skull cap was lifted, with minimal damage to the brain.

'But... so this is what my brain looks like.'

Fang Can stroked his chin, staring at his exposed brain. Since it was his own, he felt no revulsion—only familiarity.

As he observed it, the infection speed of his body’s neurons and cells doubled instantly.

This surge of progress thrilled him. No wonder she was a Fourth Step of Ascending Heaven—just a single word of advice brought him such advancement.

He then recalled her words: feel the weight of your brain, smell its odor, hear its tremors, touch its texture...

To be honest, Fang Can was nervous.

Though he’d trained his heart to think, this was the first time he’d removed his own brain—and he was afraid.

What if he failed? That would be ridiculous.

'But... all my thoughts come from my brain. This feeling is strange—am I thinking this, or is my brain making me think it?'

Fang Can’s lips curled into a strange smile. Slowly, he raised his hands toward his neck.

'Touch... touched it. This tofu-like texture—but firmer.'

Though he touched it, he felt no pain.

The brain has no pain receptors—so even if it rotted, he’d feel nothing.

The next moment, as he gently pulled his arm upward, Fang Can felt like a computer unplugged—his eyes rolled back, about to shut down.

Then, the backup power activated.

With the brain as primary power cut, his heart took over thinking. Fang Can’s vacant eyes instantly regained awareness, fixing on his reflection in the mirror.

(End of Chapter)