Infinite Fighting

"The Five Elements Sect will send someone else, and they might not be willing to negotiate with you."

After saying this, Hong Kang left with his men.

Zhang Ji, Kratos, and the others left as well.

Back inside.

Zhang Ji and Kratos were both tending to their wounds.

Zhang Ji had taken more hits than Kratos, but the injuries on his arms only looked horrifying; they weren’t actually that deep.

Kratos, on the other hand, had several gashes that were deep enough to show bone.

The difference in their skill levels was obvious.

"Is the Five Elements Sect that strong?" Zhang Ji couldn’t help but ask, seeing the expression on Kratos’s face.

"Strong. Ten of you combined wouldn’t be enough to make a difference," Kratos said.

"What about their specific strength?" Zhang Ji asked.

"They’re the overlords of a whole region, and they have some of the few remaining Grandmaster Level figures. Even in the current environment, those Grandmasters are not to be underestimated," Kratos said.

Zhang Ji didn’t quite understand how strong the Grandmaster level was.

After all, the fighter ranks in this "version" of the world hadn’t been completely standardized yet.

"Could a squad with rifles shoot one to death?" Zhang Ji asked.

"The kinds of firearms we use are no different from toys in the eyes of a Grandmaster," Kratos said. "You could say a Grandmaster is like a small, man-sized mecha."

Hearing this, Zhang Ji had a better picture.

A C-level fighter.

The kind of existence that could almost completely ignore ordinary gunfire, who might only get injured by a direct hit from a large-caliber anti-materiel sniper rifle.

With that level of self-preservation, their offensive capabilities were naturally just as terrifying.

Fighters of the True Self Stream, which relied on the physical body, could cross several hundred meters in an instant. The power of their attacks was terrifying; they could easily punch through and destroy metal plates a dozen centimeters thick.

Within the Profound Heart Stream, it depended on the faction—different factions had different methods—but their combat power was generally about the same.

Of course, to deal with two fighters like Zhang Ji and Kratos, who were merely D-level, they definitely wouldn’t need to send a Grandmaster.

According to current societal classifications, Zhang Ji and Kratos were only professional First or Second Rank fighters. Anyone Third Rank or above could easily handle them both.

They wouldn’t even need to play by the martial world’s rules. Just getting their hands on a few powerful weapons would be enough to give Kui District a new master.

This wasn’t the ancient era of cold weapons. With an infrared scan, a few drones with sniper rifles in the sky, or a couple of homing grenades, their lives could easily be taken.

For the martial world of today, this was a sad state of affairs.

That was why Kratos had fallen silent.

"Do you have any more medicine here?" Zhang Ji asked.

Kratos was puzzled. "What medicine?" he asked.

"The medicine for training! For the Iron Shirt technique!" Zhang Ji replied.

"I have another batch," Wu Chen said. "But that stuff shouldn’t have any effect on you anymore, right?"

"It’s useful," Zhang Ji said. "My body is special. I don’t seem to build up a resistance to those medicines."

’It was an excuse he’d come up with. Whether others believed it or not wasn’t important.’

"I’ll go get it for you later then," Wu Chen said.

Zhang Ji nodded. "Good."

After their wounds were treated, Zhang Ji was led to a bedroom.

The soft mattress, the quilt scented with a hint of incense—he felt a little out of place as he lay down.

"Need a ’kitten’? They’re clean, don’t worry!" Wu Chen said.

"Kitten" was the local term for women who engaged in sex work.

"No need, but I want two roast duck rice meals," Zhang Ji said.

Wu Chen nodded in understanding, then turned to take care of it.

Although Zhang Ji’s strength wouldn’t rank him high in the outside world, here, he was the strongest besides Kratos. In fact, Zhang Ji had already subtly obtained some of Kratos’s authority.

Respect for the strong was the core rule in any world.

And in this world, it was even more apparent.

And that was just for now.

If things progressed to the "game version" Zhang Ji once played, after the Sage King War, the status of fighters would continue to rise. One of the prerequisites for gaining social status would be to have sufficient combat strength. Fighting would even become one of the basic academic subjects, occupying a large portion of educational resources.

Soon, Zhang Ji was eating his roast duck rice.

It wasn’t just two servings. Worried that it wouldn’t be enough, Wu Chen had brought a total of ten, but he only heated up two and placed them before Zhang Ji. Delivered at the same time was Wu Chen’s stash of training medicine. There was a large quantity; Zhang Ji figured that once prepared, it would be enough for him to train for over a month.

After sending Wu Chen away, Zhang Ji sat alone on the bed, eating the roast duck rice from the large bowl.

His gaze fell upon the scene outside the window, where Kratos’s men were cleaning up the bodies.

Among them were Kratos’s people, as well as the men Hong Kang had brought.

There was no good or evil between the two sides, only a pure struggle for interests.

’If I don’t want to become one of the corpses, I have to get stronger.’

’Stronger than everyone else!’

’Strong enough to ignore all the rules and live as I please!!’

After finishing his meal, Zhang Ji went to the bathroom.

It even had a bathtub.

’To be honest, he’d never even enjoyed something like this before he transmigrated.’

Soaking in the hot water, his mood improved considerably.

.....

The next morning, Zhang Ji unwrapped the bandages on his arms.

They had long since scabbed over. Some parts even crumbled and fell away with a light tap.

Without needing a second application of medicine, he could already move normally.

He wasn’t surprised by this recovery ability.

He had already witnessed it once before when he was shot.

Opening the door, Zhang Ji found someone and had them heat up two servings of roast duck rice for him. After eating, he returned to his quarters and began to train.

He also knew how to prepare the medicine; Kratos had taught him before.

Before long, he had beaten his entire body until it was bright red.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

A knock sounded at the door.

Zhang Ji stopped his training and opened the door to see Kratos and Wu Chen.

"Training?" Kratos asked, sizing up Zhang Ji.

"Yeah." Zhang Ji nodded. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing major. Go ahead, keep training. Have Xiaowu prepare the medicinal bath for you," Kratos said.

Zhang Ji said nothing, simply picking up a wooden stick and starting to strike his body with it.

Kratos watched, his eyes fixed on him, feeling that something was very strange.

Zhang Ji had clearly mastered the Iron Shirt technique, yet his body still turned red so easily.

Logically, after mastering the technique, training should become more and more difficult.

Even having someone strike you with a small iron hammer would take considerable effort to make the skin turn red.

Yet Zhang Ji had managed to do it to himself with a wooden stick in such a short time. It was something Kratos simply couldn’t comprehend.

In the end, he could only attribute it to Zhang Ji’s special constitution.

’It was his first time seeing a genius of this caliber, so it was normal that he couldn’t figure out the specific details.’

After beating his entire body red, Zhang Ji submerged himself in the medicinal bath that Wu Chen had prepared.

The medicinal bath was a deep brown color. Compared to the previous paste, the stinging sensation was milder, but its effects were much stronger.

Zhang Ji dunked his head for a moment as well, then suddenly pulled it out of the water. Leaning back in the tub, he said to Kratos, "Alright, spit it out. What is it?"

"The Five Elements Sect sent word. They’ll be here in person in three days," Kratos said.

"Are you asking me what I plan to do?" Zhang Ji said.

"I suppose so," said Kratos.

Zhang Ji was now considered one of the leaders of Kui District, so of course, Kratos had to respect his opinion.

"We can’t win, right?" Zhang Ji said.

"No chance," Kratos nodded.

"Then we’ll just raise our hands and surrender. Let’s survive first," Zhang Ji said. "We can talk about everything else later."

"You see things more clearly than I do." Kratos chuckled. "I thought you’d be defiant, that you’d want to test their strength first!"

"I know my own limits." Zhang Ji clenched his fist slightly. "I have a hard time just fighting you. If you think there’s no chance, then of course I’m not going to go get myself killed."

Zhang Ji understood that you could only negotiate from a position of strength. If you had no strength, compromise and forbearance were the best choices.

"Then it’s settled. I won’t disturb you any longer," Kratos said.

With that, Kratos and Wu Chen got up and left.

For the next two days, Kui District seemed to return to its usual routine.

Zhang Ji trained desperately.

At the same time, he also found time to ask Kratos for pointers on technique.

Kratos’s injuries hadn’t fully healed, so he could only have Wu Chen spar with Zhang Ji while he coached from the side.

It was only then that Wu Chen personally felt just how powerful Zhang Ji was.

During their exchanges, Wu Chen was completely powerless to fight back. He would often push his techniques to their absolute limit, but still couldn’t affect Zhang Ji.

’To move a thousand pounds with four ounces, you first need to have those four ounces.’

"When you throw a punch, you must not just drop your other hand. If your defensive speed is too slow, you’ll easily reveal an opening..."

"When facing an attack, you can’t just meet force with force. You have to learn to neutralize and dissipate the power. Avoid vital points as much as possible. Having Iron Shirt doesn’t mean you have to tank every hit; on the contrary, you need to rely on your muscles and skin to dissipate and neutralize even more force."

"Watch your footing. Don’t spread your stance too wide; you’ll lose your center of gravity more easily when attacked..."

The things Kratos taught were very useful, and Zhang Ji learned quickly.

Unfortunately, these techniques were not yet enough to form a Skill Essence.

Still, technique alone provided a strong combat advantage.

In the True Self Stream, a faction specializing in technique was called the Spiritual Intent Sect.

Its core was centered on skills of the Spirit and technique.

One part strength could produce ten parts effect.

The peak experts of the Spiritual Intent Sect could achieve Spiritualization, where their Spirit and physical body reached a state of absolute balance, naturally unifying all the power in their body.

This was a state similar to superconductivity in the human body. The transmission of physical power had almost no loss and placed no burden on the body.

In this state, even someone with the physical attributes of an ordinary person could unleash a casual blow with the force of dozens of tons.

Of course, while the techniques Kratos taught couldn’t form a Skill Essence, they were still enough to give Zhang Ji’s strength a significant boost.

At least he no longer had to fight without any rhyme or reason.

Looking back now, he felt that when he faced Hong Kang, he had missed at least five opportunities.

Any one of them would have been enough to take Hong Kang’s life.

The day the people from the Five Elements Sect were to arrive came.

Zhang Ji, Kratos, and the others arrived at the outskirts of Kui District, watching from afar as three cars sped toward them down the road.

After the vehicles reached Kui District, a dozen or so figures emerged.

These people all bore the marks of martial arts training. Zhang Ji had the absurd feeling that they were all professional-level fighters.

The door of the middle car was opened by a driver, and a gray-haired old man in a white formal suit stepped out.

Leaning on a cane, he walked up to Zhang Ji and Kratos with his escort and said, "Who was it that beat Hong Kang?"

"Me," Zhang Ji said, looking the man in the eye.

"Good," the old man said.

The single word left his lips, and in the next instant, his cane shot out. Before Zhang Ji could even see clearly, a sharp pain flared in his shoulder, and he was forced to one knee.

He tried to get up, but it was no use no matter how much strength he used. He tried to pull away, but he couldn’t escape.

The old man’s cane pressed down, and Zhang Ji’s face flushed red as he still couldn’t straighten up.

Zhang Ji’s face was pressed to the ground. The smell of dust and dirt filled his nostrils, and with it, he felt a sense of powerlessness.

The feeling that no matter how much he struggled, it was all in vain.

Kratos stepped forward to help, but the old man simply lifted his cane slightly and jabbed it forward.

BANG!

Kratos was sent flying backward, landing hard on the ground and rolling several times.

"Kratos!" Wu Chen and the others hurried forward to help him up.

Zhang Ji scrambled to his feet and retreated to Kratos’s side. The look in his eyes as he watched the old man was now extremely grave.

He had expected there to be a gap between them, but to be pinned to the ground so casually by a single cane strike, unable to resist at all, was truly hard for him to accept.

This show of force—the opponent had undoubtedly executed it perfectly.

"You beat Hong Kang. From now on, you will take Hong Kang’s place and work for our Five Elements Sect! This is an order, not a negotiation. Do it well, and you’ll be rewarded. Fail, and you die!" The old man looked at Zhang Ji, tapping his cane on the ground. "My name is Wang Quan, an elder of the Five Elements Sect. Of course, according to the rules around here, you can also call me—Master Quan!"