World’s Best Martial Artist

Cultivation chamber.

Fang Ping removed his shirt and got into the Horse-riding Stance. His body trembled slightly, and Vitality blazed from his entire body.

Wealth: 30 million

Vitality: 869cal (869cal)

Mentality: 499Hz (499Hz)

Bone-honing: 151 bones (90%), 26 bones (35% – 70%), 29 bones (30%)

His limbs, rib cage, and sternum had all been completely honed. The progress rate of all 26 of his spinal vertebrae was uneven, and not a single one of them had been completely honed.

Very few people would do it like Fang Ping; instead, they would focus on one bone to hone and break the honing process up into a few stages.

Fang Ping had already previously decided to completely hone his spine in one go.

As his body trembled, the Methods of Honing began to go into effect. On Fang Ping’s upper body, meridian lines started to stand out, swelling rapidly.

“It’s started!” Fang Ping murmured under his breath. He began to draw Vitality into his spine, which started swelling up enough that it could be seen with the naked eye.

…

Outside the door.

Old Man Li folded his arms. Scratching his greying hair, he furrowed his brows and commented, “This kid is quite interesting. He’s not honing the vertebra one by one, he’s treating his entire spine as a single bone to hone!”

Lu Fengrou knitted her brows, saying rather frigidly, “Bastard, what nonsense is this!”

There was not much danger when one focused on honing bones one by one.

When honing the entire spine as a single entity though, if the flow of Vitality were to stop any time while the honing was in process, the entire spine would be vulnerable to serious injury.

The crux of the matter was not the injury however; it was that the burden was far too great.

To hone all 26 bones as a single unit, Fang Ping’s Vitality would drastically be depleted with every minute.

“If he goes about it like this, his own Vitality would only be enough to sustain him for about an hour.”

Wu Kuishan said coolly, “What are you worried about? Just keep watching and we’ll find out. In Nanjiang, this kid had a Vitality outburst of more than ten thousand. He’s probably only doing this because he’s absolutely sure of himself.”

Lu Fengrou said rather uncertainly, “Did Lion Tang clearly see what happened? The boy didn’t use any pills in between? Just now when I saw him, he didn’t have any pills with him and he didn’t give me the impression that he was hoarding Vitality in his body…”

Lu Fengrou’s casual mention of Fang Ping was actually also to test the waters.

She realized although Fang Ping’s Vitality was not weak, it was not comparable to that of a Peak Rank-3 martial artist.

Without pills, was he really going to rely on his body to produce Vitality?

Right at this moment, Wu Kuishan suddenly said, “He’s using Mentality to catch energy particles!”

“Huh?”

Huang Jing quickly turned to look. Lu Fengrou perked up as well.

As for Old Man Li and Song Yingji, the two of them exchanged expressions of helplessness. They could not see what was happening!

…

At this point, Fang Ping was indeed using his Mentality to trap scattered energy particles.

In the cultivation chamber, the energy stones released energy particles which were much easier for people to feel.

Fang Ping used his Mentality to meditate and catch these particles while using his Vitality to hone his bones.

People who could not sense their own Mentality or release it externally could not feel the existence of these particles. Only those with Mentality were able to do so.

Fang Ping’s Mentality could only fluctuate very slightly. Even so, he could still feel the energy particles flooding the room.

Fang Ping also knew that right now, he was in a lot of trouble.

Even though people like Lu Fengrou had treated him very magnanimously and did not mind that he might be concealing certain things, the fact that he was forced to reveal his secrets right under everyone’s noses still gave Fang Ping heart palpitations and indigestion.

Currently, his attempt to use Mentality to catch these energy particles was also to prove to the outside world that he could indeed do these things.

With the contact between his Mentality and the invisible energy particles, Fang Ping’s Mentality plummeted from 499Hz down to 450Hz. Fang Ping gritted his teeth and quickly restored it.

However, his Mentality was being continuously depleted, yet he still could not shift the existence of these particles.

“My Mentality is too weak!” Fang Ping lamented. Suddenly he steeled his nerves and forcibly repeated “Increase Mentality” to himself!

Ever since the system imposed limits on stats, Fang Ping no longer used methods of force like this to raise his Vitality and Mentality.

This was because he was aware that the existence of such limits meant that he too had his limits.

If he exceeded these limits, Fang Ping was constantly worried that he would self-destruct.

However, this time, Fang Ping steeled his nerves and forcibly raised his Mentality!

As long as his Mentality could move the energy particles, he had an excuse to explain away the problem of his Vitality replenishment.

Blindly depending on his instructors’ continued concealment, faux ignorance and silence about his issues made Fang Ping extremely uncomfortable. He did not want to act as if he was a fool. It was obvious that everybody knew there was some wrong with him but they made no mention of it, and he himself acted as if he were none the wiser. This made Fang Ping feel like a clown.

Everybody knew and deliberately played along whereas he himself had to pretend that everybody did not know…

This feeling made Fang Ping feel indescribably depressed.

As Fang Ping quietly repeated his mantra about increasing his Mentality, his original 499Hz Mentality limit in the systems panel suddenly changed…

It blurred, then cleared. Very quickly, 499Hz became 500Hz.

The moment his Mentality hit 500Hz, Fang Ping suddenly felt as if his brain was exploding!

Boom!

Loud explosions echoed in his brain. Fang Ping’s consciousness slowly faded along with the sounds of these explosions…

…

Outside the door.

Wu Kuishan’s expression changed suddenly, and he yelled, “Open the door!”

Song Yingji hurriedly opened the main door to the cultivation chamber.

In a flash, Wu Kuishan darted into the cultivation chamber, Huang Jing following closely behind him. The two of them stared at Fang Ping, whose expression was ferocious. Wu Kuishan did not move but cast his Mentality outwards to sense the situation. Very seriously he growled, “What a farce! What exactly happened here?”

Huang Jing also knitted his brows tight, shaking his head and saying, “I’m not sure. How did this happen?”

As the two made known their uncertainties, Lu Fengrou also used her Mentality to sense things out. Only after a moment did she ask, expression livid, “Have any of you come across a situation like this before?”

Old Man Li asked frantically, “What happened exactly?”

Wu Kuishan took a deep breath and said slowly, “We’re not very sure. His Mentality had originally barely reached the stage where he could sense things. Under these circumstances, there was no way he could have caught energy particles.

“However, just now, his Mentality seems to have broken through a checkpoint and increased a by a great deal…you could say it’s a last-minute breakthrough.

“However, he still hasn’t reached the point where he can handle this sort of Mentality. His sudden breakthrough caused his Mentality to spill over and possibly attack his consciousness…”

Huang Jing’s head hurt; he explained, “To put it simply, his consciousness was dispersed by his own Mentality. If he can’t recover…then he’s brain-dead!”

Lu Fengrou gritted her teeth and snarled angrily, “That little bastard!”

She smacked the wall furiously as she spoke, causing the entire cultivation chamber to vibrate.

Taking a deep breath, Lu Fengrou looked at the two Grandmasters and said, “Now what?”

Wu Kuishan muttered quietly to himself for a while, before saying aloud after some thought, “Let me do some guiding. Even if there’s not much effect, logically, Mentality won’t exceed what a person’s body can handle. If that does happen, it’s not a breakthrough, it’s a loss of control.

“This little brat…what exactly is going on!”

Currently, Wu Kuishan was also a little confused. By normal rules, if Fang Ping could not reach this step, it would have been impossible for his Mentality to achieve breakthrough.

But he had achieved breakthrough nonetheless!

This was a major contradiction!

The situation was that of someone who clearly could not lift a heavy rock that weighed a thousand catty, but they still managed it somehow—and the rock flattened them to death. It was an utterly a preposterous situation.

Currently, such a preposterous thing had happened to Fang Ping.

His own Mentality had broken through, but it had also attacked his consciousness and knocked him out. This was simply unheard of. Losing control did not make Mentality stronger.

Wu Kuishan did not just talk but started to move his Mentality to guide Fang Ping’s overflowing Mentality.

Under his guidance, Fang Ping’s Mentality slowly began to achieve cohesiveness.

Wu Kuishan released a small breath. Beside him, Huang Jing explained for everybody’s benefit, “His consciousness hasn’t been completely dispersed. Fang Ping still has some consciousness left in him that’s complying with Old Wu helping him to restrain his Mentality.”

Old Man Li immediately asked, “Does that mean there’s no issue now?”

“I don’t know. Hold your horses. It all depends on Fang Ping now…”

Old Man Li wrinkled his brow. “Are you saying it depends on how obsessive he is, or whether his will power is strong enough?”

“Yes.”

Old Man Li went silent for a bit, then suddenly said loudly, “Fang Ping, I’ll give you ten thousand credits as a gift. Do you want them?”

Lu Fengrou’s cheeks twitched; the others did the same. Would that help?

The corners of Fang Ping’s closed eyes twitched very slightly.

“I’ll give you 500 Vitality Pills. Do you want them?

“1000?

“Fang Ping, someone stole Distance Ltd’s platform and divided up your credits!

“You don’t want your instructor’s 1000 credits?

“The school is ready to present you with 100 thousand credits…”

Old Man Li did not know if any of this was of any help, but he still felt it was at least slightly effective.

Seeing that Fang Ping was not waking up, Old Man Li thought a little before calling out once again, “If you don’t wake up now, we’ll cut your brain open to see whether you’re brain-dead or not…”

Wu Kuishan suddenly said, “He’s about to wake up. Out!”

Hearing this, everyone exchanged glances and immediately left the cultivation chamber one by one. Song Yingji closed the door on the way out.

The moment they left, Fang Ping’s eyes suddenly flew open inside the cultivation chamber. Shaking his head slightly, he gasped, “What happened?”

Earlier when he forcibly boosted his Mentality, he had suddenly felt his brain exploding and then everything went blank.

It was all very blurry, but he seemed to have heard people talking.

‘Who’s talking?

‘Am I imagining it?

‘That’s not right. It seems they’re saying they want to cut my brain open…’

All these thoughts started to whisper in Fang Ping’s heart. His expression turned green, then turned pale. Was this a situation where thinking about it all the time led to dreaming about it at night?

In his own auditory hallucinations, he actually heard someone say they were going to cut his brain open. Old Man Li was committing a sin!

‘These people can’t really want to cut open my brain, right…’ Fang Ping felt rather uneasy. He exhaled and started to try and sense his own Mentality.

This time, sensing was a lot easier.

The energy particles in the area seemed to be more obvious too.

Fang Ping once again used his Mentality to try and move the energy particles. This time, it went very smoothly. In no time at all, one of the particles he had sensed had been moved within his body.

The moment this particle entered his body, Fang Ping’s expression was overjoyed!

‘One energy particle actually replenishes at least 5cal of Vitality!

‘This is an amazing effect!’

…

Outside the door.

Lu Fengrou said wryly, “Is he afraid of dying or is he just money-hungry?”

Old Man Li had talked about giving Fang Ping money, taking his money, and had threatened to dissect his brain. In the end, Fang Ping regained consciousness very rapidly, exceeding ever’one’s expectations.

Wu Kuishan felt this was rather amusing but shook his head, saying, “It’s possible it was just a coincidence that he woke up, but it’s also possible he was triggered.”

The few of them looked at each other, not sure whether to laugh or cry.

Huang Jing chuckled for a bit, then said suddenly, “It seems he really can move energy particles now.”

Wu Kuishan nodded, and commented, “High-ranking martial artists can do it easily. To us, Vitality isn’t a big problem and our Mentality won’t run out. As long as there are energy particles in the air, our Vitality almost never runs out.

“However, a Rank-3 martial artist like him actually being able to forcibly move energy particles has indeed exceeded my expectations.”

Huang Jing thought for a while before saying, “He couldn’t do it before this, so his previous Vitality replenishment issue…”

Lu Fengrou said lazily, “Lion Tang must have misread the situation. It’s possible he took pills.”

Huang Jing was speechless for a second, then said impatiently, “You really have some nerve, saying this—not to mention his Mentality now is rather weak. Even if he forces himself to move a few energy particles, that would only replenish 30 or 50cal of Vitality…”

Just as Huang Jing finished saying this, Wu Kuishan gave a sudden, light cough and said, “Come and take a look.”

Huang Jing was stunned for a moment and resumed observing Fang Ping. Suddenly he exclaimed in astonishment, “What is going on?”

In the cultivation chamber, Fang Ping kept moving energy particles non-stop. When his Mentality was depleted, he restored his Mentality and continued moving particles.

Using this method was actually the same. The Wealth points needed to replenish Vitality consumed more than if he replenished his Vitality on his own.

Rather than absorbing energy particles, he might as well use his Wealth points to replenish his Vitality straight away

However, everybody would be able sense it if he replenished his Vitality.

Fang Ping had changed the way he thought now. He was attempting to replenish Mentality that could not be seen with the naked eye, and use that Mentality to move energy particles to replenish his Vitality.

Sensing this, Huang Jing was dumbstruck.

What on earth was going on?

Fang Ping’s Mentality was very weak, to Huang Jing at least. It was definitely not at the level of a Grandmaster.

However, weak as it might be, Fang Ping’s Mentality could last continuously and move energy particles non-stop.

It was not like Vitality, which everybody could sense.

Huang Jing and the others could not sense Mentality being replenished, but they could sense that Fang Ping’s Mentality was similar to a clear spring of water—it was not large, but it seemed to be connected to a never-ending sea. How much he used up was how much he restored.

Huang Jing’s head felt fit to burst; things were getting very strange now!

Wu Kuishan’s eyes kept twinkling non-stop. He said after a pause, “We’ve done too little research on Mentality. We have no way of detecting it in detail unless we let a Rank-9 High Grandmaster detect it for us, but even then, there might be no way of investigating everything fully.

“Forget it, let’s just leave it as it is. One Fang Ping is not worth a High Grandmaster’s appearance.”

Old Man Li and the others exchanged glances. The situation had now become even more confusing.

Everybody knew Fang Ping had achieved a breakthrough in his Mentality.

In other words, his previous Vitality replenishments probably had nothing to do with this.

However, only the few of them had witnessed this. The martial artists who did not know that his Mentality had only just achieved breakthrough were probably going to think Fang Ping’s Vitality replenishment was connected to his strong Mentality if they met him again.

Lu Fengrou had already developed a headache from the situation, commenting only, “I don’t care anymore. What say you people, could his bone marrow really be like mercury later on?”

The excuse she had previously given Fang Ping was that if his Mentality was strong enough to move energy particles, his bone marrow would be like mercury, which would increase his ability to produce blood.

Using both these things, Fang Ping’s Vitality outburst of 10000cal could be explained.

Now that Fang Ping had really managed to move energy particles, what about his bone marrow being like mercury?

Old Man Li suddenly laughed, saying meaningfully, “Perhaps next time we meet, he really will have bone marrow like mercury.”

That made them all laugh. In the midst of that, however, Lu Fengrou suddenly looked at Wu Kuishan and said coldly, “Don’t interfere with my students. If you dare to have designs on them, I won’t hold back!”

Wu Kuishan stared at her with furrowed brows.

Lu Fengrou said coolly, “Don’t think I don’t know you. Who knows what you’re plotting?”

“Lu Fengrou, don’t go overboard!” Wu Kuishan looked resentful.

“You’re used to treachery now. You were even willing to let your own daughter act as a decoy. Who knows what you’ll do…”

“Bullsh*t!”

Wu Kuishan was incensed and said furiously, “She was my only bloodline. I let my own daughter be a decoy? No matter how cold-blooded I am, I still wouldn’t be capable of doing something like that!

“Lu Fengrou, Xiao Duo’s death will always be my biggest sorrow and regret!

“Yes, I take responsibility, but it absolutely did not happen like you’re saying it did, that I purposely sent my own daughter to her death!”

Lu Fengrou said coldly, “Then why is it only my daughter is dead and not the rest of you?”

Wu Kuishan was so angry, his face turned red. Of everyone present back then, his own daughter was the weakest. It was an accident, but Lu Fengrou had to be mad to think everybody purposely made her daughter a decoy.

Seeing this, Huang Jing cautioned, “Fengrou, nobody wanted this to happen. Xiao Duo…”

Lu Fengrou said icily, “Sooner or later, I’ll investigate till the whole thing comes to light. I’m warning all of you, don’t try any schemes on my students. I suspect the deaths of my other students might have been caused by all of you as well!”

Wu Kuishan dusted his sleeves off and left. This woman was unreasonable!

Huang Jing smiled bitterly too. “Fengrou, they were also our students. Nobody wanted those things to happen. You, now…really…”

There really was nothing left to say!

It was not as if only one or two martial artists died in the Catacombs every year.

Old Man Li also cautioned, “Fengrou, it’s been so many years. Nobody wants their loved ones to die in the Catacombs or for their students to fall, but there’s nothing we can do about this matter…”

“Shut up! You were there that year too, Mr. Li. Don’t think that I’ll forget just because you hide yourself away!”

Old Man Li’s expression was one of helplessness; he said nothing more.

Song Yingji had run off way earlier. If he had remained and been provoked to anger, he would certainly be no match for Lu Fengrou.

Nobody said anything more; they merely continued distractedly watching Fang Ping hone his bones.