Infinite Fighting

The Five Elements Sect no longer had any obstacles on Shanli Island.

In theory, this meant the Five Elements Sect reigned supreme.

But Li Long wanted more than just that.

He wanted order. He wanted all districts to speak with a single voice.

Hence the need to plant their flag everywhere.

With no interference, this was an easy task for Zhang Ji.

He didn’t even have to take the field himself. A single Token was enough to mobilize the other leaders to do his bidding.

In fact, it didn’t even take two months.

Aside from the first few days when Zhang Ji personally made an appearance, he directed things remotely for the rest of the time.

Within a month, Shanli Island had fallen completely under the Five Elements Sect’s control.

Kui District.

In front of Zhang Ji stood a humanoid target forged from steel.

The target weighed over eight hundred kilograms.

His fists slammed into it, producing a resonant clang of metal on metal.

"CLANG! BUZZ—CLANG!"

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. But having practiced Iron Shirt to his current level, he could now reduce and absorb the rebound force from his own strikes, then reflect it back out.

With a single punch, he could unleash two bursts of power.

Zhang Ji was becoming more and more proficient at this technique.

After a short while, the target before him was covered in dents and marks.

Zhang Ji calmed the surging Qi and Blood in his body. Standing straight, he looked at a porcelain bottle set to the side and remarked with a sigh, "This stuff is pretty useful."

That’s right, Zhang Ji was talking about the Essence Pill.

Taking just one of these pills caused his Qi and Blood to surge, putting him in a hyper-aware, energized state where his spirit overflowed. Training in this state yielded twice the results with half the effort, and it had no side effects.

Relying on this, Zhang Ji formed an Iron Shirt Skill Crystal in just seventeen days. He ran out of pills for the last seven days; otherwise, he estimated he could have successfully created an Iron Shirt Skill Crystal in just eleven or twelve days.

With a thought, all the Skill Crystals and Essences on his body were extracted and entered the Limited Space.

Within the dark space, the light from four pure white Iron Shirt Skill Crystals was the most dazzling. Next was a Skill Essence for the Raccoon Claw Skill, and finally, two newly formed Skill Essences for Iron Shirt.

Zhang Ji’s current focus was still on Iron Shirt, not the Raccoon Claw Skill.

He needed to form at least ten Iron Shirt crystals first, then forge them all into a single, higher-grade Skill Crystal. That would allow him to directly attain C-rank strength.

Under his current circumstances, this was the fastest way to increase his power.

Mastering a profound martial art could indeed grant an instantaneous and massive boost in power, but the training time would be very long.

But the Raccoon Claw Skill required three times as long as Iron Shirt to produce a single Skill Crystal.

Saving up ten Skill Crystals for it would likely take two or three years.

It just couldn’t compare to Iron Shirt.

Once Skill Crystals were forged into a higher-grade one, they underwent a qualitative transformation. The improvement would be astronomical. Even twenty (Common) Iron Shirt Skill Crystals could never compare to a single (Fine) Skill Crystal forged from ten of them.

...

In Blue City District, Zhang Ji reported the completion of his mission to Li Long.

"Well done," Li Long said with a nod. "Get ready. In a few days, you’ll return with me to the Five Elements Sect to go through the true disciple ceremony."

"We can leave Shanli Island?" Zhang Ji’s eyes lit up.

"We can, but for now, it’s just us," said Li Long. "There are still some loose ends to tie up here, but we don’t need to worry about them. We were only responsible for the initial phase. The rest can be handed over to the authorities."

"The authorities?" Zhang Ji seemed to understand something.

’It seems the authorities and the Five Elements Sect put on this show together.’

The authorities used the Five Elements Sect to establish initial order, eliminating the voices of various unruly factions to make their future governance easier.

’The Xian Mountain Sect’s intervention probably means they represent a different official power.’

’Of course, it’s also possible the authorities were hedging their bets.’

"So after this, Shanli Island will have nothing to do with us?" Zhang Ji asked.

"What, you still want to be the boss here?" Li Long retorted.

"No," Zhang Ji said, shaking his head. "I’m just a little curious."

"It’ll have nothing to do with us," Li Long stated simply.

Zhang Ji understood and nodded.

"Alright, go back and get ready," Li Long said, waving his hand at Zhang Ji.

...

「On the way back.」

Staring out the window at the desolate scenery, Zhang Ji felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of melancholy.

He had only been here for about half a year, but so much had happened that it still felt a bit unreal.

What remained most vividly in his memory was his training.

He had spent the vast majority of his time training.

"Want some?" Kratos offered Zhang Ji a flask filled with alcohol.

"No!" Zhang Ji said, shaking his head.

Alcohol affected the nervous system, and he worried drinking would slow his reaction time.

That would reduce his strength.

’But I remember there was a special fighting style in the game called Drunken Fist, and it was a blue-grade (Excellent) skill.’

’You had to drink to practice that skill. I wonder what the principle behind it was.’

"What do you even live for? You don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t gamble, and you don’t chase women..." Kratos took a swig himself, asking with a bewildered expression.

Zhang Ji didn’t reply.

Instead, his gaze drifted to a point farther away.

A person who appears to have no desires must have a greater desire that suppresses all the immediate ones. It isn’t that they have no desires at all.

...

The roar of the propeller filled the air as Zhang Ji stepped into the helicopter. Inside, apart from the pilot, there were only Wang Quan, Li Long, and two Inner Sect Disciples of the Five Elements Sect.

Zhang Ji sat down next to Li Long and shut the helicopter door.

"SLAM!"

The helicopter quickly flew away. Zhang Ji glanced down at Kratos, who was seeing him off with a cigar, and Wu Chen and the others. They grew smaller and smaller until the entire Kui District had shrunk into the distance, and only then did he look away.

"This place won’t be a prison anymore. They’ll be able to get out," Wang Quan said to Zhang Ji over the communication channel.

"With normal citizenship?" Zhang Ji asked.

"Yes. A new policy set by a councilman," Wang Quan told him.

"Is his name Liu Hetong?" Zhang Ji asked.

"That shouldn’t have been in the news yet," Wang Quan said, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at Zhang Ji.

He was certain Li Long wouldn’t have told Zhang Ji this. ’So where did Zhang Ji get his information?’

’Did someone close to him reveal it?’

’Or is there really a capable person on Shanli Island?’

Zhang Ji also realized he seemed to have said something ahead of its time.

But he immediately fell silent.

Seeing that Zhang Ji wasn’t talking, Wang Quan didn’t press the matter.

Everyone has their own little secrets. As long as they didn’t have a major impact on himself or the Sect, it was harmless.

The helicopter was fast. In just over an hour, the silhouette of a city appeared before his eyes.

Soon after, the helicopter landed in the city.

This was the first time Zhang Ji had left Shanli Island and seen the outside world.

The streets were filled with self-driving vehicles, and many drones flew through the sky, transporting goods along designated routes.

Furthermore, the smart terminals people were using were all incredibly advanced.

Some were like watches, some were glasses, and some looked like small panes of transparent glass that could be folded and unfolded.

They didn’t stay in the city for long before transferring to a plane heading for the city where the Five Elements Sect was located.

The in-flight meal was pretty good. Zhang Ji even had a cup of coffee, something he hadn’t tasted in a long time. Still, he found himself missing the greasy, salty, pre-packaged roasted duck rice.

North Creek City.

When the plane landed, people were already there to pick them up.

They were all from the Five Elements Sect.

The one in the lead was a short-haired young man in black, about 175 centimeters tall and appearing to be around twenty years old. Two other people from the Five Elements Sect followed behind him.

"Senior Brother Li Long, Elder Wang Quan!" Shen Han said, cupping his hands in a formal greeting.

"Junior Brother Shen, it’s been a while," Li Long replied, returning the gesture.

"Senior Brother, while you were on Shanli Island, Senior Sister has been worried sick about you. She blames herself for what happened back then," said Shen Han.

"Let’s not talk about that. Now that I’m back, everything will be alright," Li Long said with a wave of his hand.

Afterward, Li Long introduced Zhang Ji.

"This is the personal disciple I took on in Shanli Island," said Li Long.

A flicker of surprise crossed Shen Han’s eyes. He then cupped his hands toward Zhang Ji and said, "Shen Han."

"Zhang Ji," Zhang Ji replied, also cupping his hands.

According to seniority, Zhang Ji was supposed to address Shen Han as "Martial Uncle," so he held his cupped hands slightly lower.

After the greetings were exchanged, the group got into a Five Elements Sect vehicle and left the airport.

The car drove further and further into remote territory. After more than three hours, when the sky had already begun to dim, they finally arrived at Golden Hook Mountain, the home of the Five Elements Sect.

Golden Hook Mountain was towering and majestic. Its highest peak was slightly bent, resembling a giant golden hook, hence the name.

Numerous buildings, all constructed by the Five Elements Sect, were scattered across the mountain.

There were roads along the way wide enough for two trucks to pass, and one could even see a few signal towers and flying delivery drones. It wasn’t the kind of isolated, ancient sect one might imagine.

Of course, the location was indeed quite remote.

The nearest city was probably a two-hour drive away, with only a small town at the foot of the mountain.

However, the development was quite impressive.

This showed that the Five Elements Sect was truly wealthy.

After the car parked, Zhang Ji was individually shown to his quarters to rest.

The room was large, blending ancient and modern styles.

It had a computer, a television, a shower, and even a tablet for ordering food.

This seemed to be the place where the Five Elements Sect usually hosted guests.

Among the industries the Five Elements Sect operated was tourism.

...

「Meanwhile.」

Li Long met with his master in the main hall and offered incense to the ancestors.

"Ah Long, you’ve suffered!" Yan Ruifeng said with emotion.

"It was no real hardship, just a trip outside. I’m sorry to have made you worry, Master," Li Long said.

"Now that you’re back, just stay in the Sect and focus on your cultivation. Don’t get involved in those outside affairs anymore. I heard from Elder Wang that you’re on the verge of grasping the Five Forms Union. If you can successfully master it, our Five Elements Sect can reclaim its former glory, even in modern society," said Yan Ruifeng.

"This disciple understands," Li Long said with a nod. He paused for a moment before asking, "How is Junior Sister?"

Yan Ruifeng hesitated before answering, "The negative side effects of the Immortal Ascension Pill are still present. She needs large doses of sedatives at regular intervals to suppress the addiction. I’m afraid..."

Li Long’s expression remained unchanged, but his fists clenched slightly tighter. He said, "When I achieve my goals, I will annihilate the Xian Mountain Sect!"