Infinite Fighting

What flew at Zhang Ji was a fruit pit.

But this fruit pit shone with a crimson light.

It shot forward faster than a normal bullet, its power unimaginable.

Of all the people present, only one reacted in time.

And that was Li Long.

Li Long flicked his finger, and a transparent bolt of force shot out. It overtook the fruit pit and intercepted it mid-flight.

PFFT! BANG!

The fruit pit exploded on the spot. The two streams of Primordial Qi collided, triggering a blast that sent a shockwave slamming into Zhang Ji. He staggered forward and collapsed.

"So you’re just going to throw the rules out the window? It seems the Xian Mountain Sect is ready to quit," Li Long said coolly.

His voice wasn’t loud, but amplified by the vibration of his Primordial Qi, it carried across the entire arena.

"This old man is getting on in years. My hand just slipped, that’s all. Surely my dear nephew won’t blame me for that?" Pang Yanyang replied, his voice also carrying.

"’My hand just slipped,’ my ass," Li Long said coldly. "You old bastard. If you want to test my mettle, then get down here and try me."

The moment he finished speaking, Li Long leaped. His body moved like a crane as he landed lightly beside Zhang Ji. With a grasping motion, a suction force pulled Zhang Ji up by the shoulder and into his hand. Then, with a casual toss, Li Long threw Zhang Ji up onto the spectator stands, more than seven meters high.

When Zhang Ji landed, Kratos immediately caught and steadied him. There was no residual momentum whatsoever, a testament to Li Long’s incredible control over his strength.

"Still as hot-headed as ever, nephew."

Pang Yanyang rose to his feet and leaped down into the arena as well.

As the two faced off, Zhang Ji could faintly feel an imposing aura spreading from them.

’It wasn’t just a turn of phrase; the damn thing was real.’

Where the two of them stood, dust and gravel began to stir, colliding rapidly and scattering outwards.

Zhang Ji recalled how Li Long had inexplicably grabbed him with some unseen force and thrown him, and he had a good idea of what it was.

’True Self Style... the Primordial Qi Sect.’

’Within the True Self Style, besides the most esoteric school focused on pure spiritual enhancement, the [Concentration Sect], there were three main branches.’

’The [Solid Body Sect], which emphasized strength and focused on honing the physical body.’

’The [Spiritual Intent Sect], which emphasized technique, pursuing the power of the spirit and looking inward for strength.’

’And the third, the [Primordial Qi Sect].’

’This was the only martial arts style within the True Self Style that could store and directly use energy for attacks.’

’The so-called Primordial Qi was a form of human bio-energy extracted through specific techniques.’

’One would develop their spirit, condense the essence and qi of their physical body, and extract Primordial Qi to store within themselves. They would use it to temper and strengthen their body, protect themselves, and even unleash various Primordial Qi combat skills.’

’The Primordial Qi Sect even had techniques like the energy wave attacks from video games.’

’According to the game’s lore, the [Primordial Qi Sect] had extremely high requirements for innate talent.’

’Ordinary martial artists would only begin to learn how to refine Primordial Qi after reaching the professional level.’

’They wouldn’t touch the stuff in the early stages.’

’After all, refining Primordial Qi was incredibly draining on one’s essence, qi, and spirit.’

’Without significant tonics and nourishment, a martial artist simply couldn’t sustain the drain from refining Primordial Qi.’

’So basically, anyone who could fight using Primordial Qi was guaranteed to be an expert.’

In the arena, the clash of auras between Li Long and Pang Yanyang quickly reached its zenith. In the next instant, both of their figures vanished almost simultaneously.

Zhang Ji couldn’t follow their movements either. He only heard a sudden, explosive crack, like a clap of thunder.

BOOM!

The next second, a huge crater, at least a meter in diameter, appeared in the center of the arena. The concrete floor had been effortlessly destroyed.

And that was likely just from the aftershock of their exchange.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Rubble flew everywhere as thunderous booms echoed throughout the arena, even reaching the spectator stands.

Zhang Ji’s ears were ringing, and the Qi and Blood in his body churned violently.

Beside him, Kratos’s face was flushed red. Unable to bear it, he covered his ears and retreated far away.

The others fared even worse. Two lackeys brought by some of the other guests were knocked unconscious by the shockwaves and collapsed to the floor.

Only Wang Quan remained composed, though his expression had grown much more solemn.

’If you’re not strong enough, you don’t even have the right to watch.’

WHOOSH! CRACK!

A stray piece of stone shot out, shattering a distant glass window.

Zhang Ji focused his full attention, trying to follow the movements of the two fighters below. But all he could see were two blurs colliding at high speed; he couldn’t discern any of their techniques.

’These are the real masters,’ Zhang Ji thought. ’In their eyes, my fights must have looked like child’s play.’

’Even a casually tossed fruit pit from one of them was enough to kill me.’

Just then, the two clashed again, this time near the side where Zhang Ji was watching.

BANG! KABOOM!

The sound was like a bomb detonating. Zhang Ji, already seriously injured, felt a wave of nausea.

The shockwave lashed against his face, making it sting.

Zhang Ji couldn’t help but frown and take half a step back.

In the game, he had only seen their stats and watched them smash 3D models. He had no real concept of what these masters were truly like.

Now, experiencing it firsthand, he finally understood the true meaning behind those stats.

This was a Grandmaster Level expert!

"You old bastard, you’re tougher than you look!"

After trading a hundred blows, Li Long stood in the center of the arena, his long hair flowing. The dust around him was pushed away by an aura that was now visible to the naked eye.

Across from him, Pang Yanyang was panting heavily, shock evident in his eyes. He was clearly losing ground.

"Nephew, let’s stop here," Pang Yanyang said. "We will no longer interfere in the affairs of Shanli Island."

Although he was in his seventies or eighties, Grandmaster Level experts could often live to be over 120.

He still had decades of a good life left to enjoy and had no desire to fight Li Long to the death.

"Stop?" Li Long laughed coldly. "In the world of martial arts, the rules say that once you step into the ring, life and death are no longer your own!"

"Nephew, don’t take things too far! The Xian Mountain Sect has more than one Grandmaster! What happened back then was just a misunderstanding..."

Although it was a threat, his words were laced with the tone of surrender.

In response, however, Li Long’s aura flared up once more. He drew his palms back to his chest, and a violent suction force gathered between them, pulling in all the surrounding dust and sand.

A faint, light blue glimmer gathered between Li Long’s palms before he thrust them forward.

ROAR!

Accompanied by a faint, ethereal dragon’s roar, a translucent, draconic phantom shot out, hurtling toward Pang Yanyang over a hundred meters away.

Pang Yanyang’s expression changed dramatically. He thrust his arms forward, and a faint crimson glow materialized around them.

But his defensive measures were clearly useless.

PFFT! RUMBLE!

The draconic phantom blasted right through Pang Yanyang, shattering him. Without losing any momentum, it crashed into the arena wall, blasting a hole several meters deep.

Zhang Ji’s mouth fell open, his expression a mixture of shock and awe.

Li Long retracted his palms, calming the fluctuations of Primordial Qi in his body. His breathing had also become a little ragged.

Pang Yanyang was a veteran Grandmaster, after all. Though Li Long was stronger, he never could have achieved such a devastating effect without using this ultimate technique—the unity of the five forms—of which he had only just scratched the surface.

’If we had fought normally, it would have taken at least a thousand moves to wear the old bastard down and kill him.’

With a light push of his toes, Li Long’s figure floated up and landed back in the spectator stands. He then said to Zhang Ji, "Not a bad fight. Go home and rest up. Come find me once you’ve fully recovered. If you need anything, go to Elder Wang Quan. As long as your request isn’t too outrageous, he’ll grant it."

With that, he turned and left without another word.

...

...

With the conflict between the Xian Mountain Sect and the Five Elements Sect temporarily resolved, there were no longer any obstacles to unifying Shanli Island.

「Kui District.」

Zhang Ji’s body was slathered in high-quality medicinal ointment. In his mouth was a sonic device said to stimulate secondary tooth growth. Apparently, with this thing, you could lose a tooth ten times and it would still grow back.

"You really went all out. I honestly thought you were a goner," Kratos remarked, sitting at a distance and smoking a cigar.

Zhang Ji took a spoonful of roast duck with rice. Unable to chew properly, he swallowed it mostly whole. "But it worked out in the end," he said. "Does this mean my gamble to get rich paid off?"

"Rich?" Kratos chuckled. "You didn’t just get rich, my friend, you’ve attained status! A Daoist True Disciple of the Five Elements Sect, and most likely the head disciple at that. I’ve never heard of Li Long taking any other True Disciples. You’ll be able to choose any Grandmaster-level martial art from the Five Elements Sect to study. And don’t even get me started on the money. You could probably ask them for a hundred million and they’d just hand it over. But I’d advise against taking cash. Ask for cultivation resources instead. That’s the stuff money can’t buy. You have incredible martial talent. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll become a Grandmaster yourself. By then, a few hundred million will be chump change."

Zhang Ji paused mid-bite. He recalled the image of Li Long unleashing that energy wave, and his heart burned with ambition.

’But even with my cheat,’ he thought, ’building strength still takes practice, step by step. There are no real shortcuts.’

’To become a Grandmaster without some heaven-sent treasure would take at least a year of hard training.’

’And to be able to unleash energy waves like Li Long would probably take even longer than that.’

’The combat skills of the Primordial Qi Sect were the hardest to master. He hadn’t even figured out the *Raccoon Claw Skill* yet. For now, techniques like that were just something to dream about.’

Zhang Ji’s injuries healed with surprising speed.

Even knowing he had a special constitution, he hadn’t expected to recover this fast.

It seemed the process of training and breaking through his physical limits was also enhancing all of his other abilities.

In just half a month, aside from the teeth he’d lost—which had only grown back halfway—the rest of his body had fully recovered. He felt no pain at all.

The first thing he did was find Li Long.

"You recovered quickly."

Li Long remarked upon seeing him, then tossed him a token.

The token was metal. On the back, surrounding the edges, were images of four animals—a snake, a crane, a leopard, and a tiger. In the center was a coiled, magnificent Divine Dragon. The front bore two words in an ancient script: "True Disciple."

"This is your True Disciple Token. Even though your information is already in the system, we still have to observe the formalities. The official initiation ceremony will have to wait until we leave Shanli Island, but you have your rights already."

"What rights?" Zhang Ji asked.

"A monthly stipend, and access to certain resources. It’s a bit complicated, so you can ask Elder Wang Quan for the details." Li Long shook his head, then handed Zhang Ji a porcelain vial. "Essence Pills. Ten a month. They’ll help with your training. Your current strength is still very weak. To hold onto your position as a True Disciple, you need to at least reach the peak of the second-rate level... hmm, that’s roughly equivalent to a professional Sixth Rank."

"Understood," Zhang Ji nodded. "Is there anything else?"

Li Long looked at Zhang Ji. "Yes. I’m giving you two months. Plant the flag of the Five Elements Sect in every district here, big or small."