Streams of information flooded into his mind.
Li Xiuwen's gaze shifted from bewilderment to delight, and then to sheer shock!
Now that [Elementary Martial Arts General Knowledge] had attained minor success, the incense burner had unlocked a brand-new function.
Through the incense smoke, he could enter dreams and step into the boundless, profoundly mysterious Illusionary Realm of the Great Void.
Practicing any technique-based "fighting techniques" inside the Illusionary Realm of the Great Void, including movement techniques, would yield twice the results with half the effort.
Supposing his baseline cultivation efficiency was currently 1 point...
...then inside the Illusionary Realm of the Great Void, it would be 2 points.
Once his general knowledge reached major success and perfection, that efficiency would increase even further.
Li Xiuwen murmured to himself, "Isn't this basically boosting my comprehension through another means? Old Chen wasn't lying to me! Reading more really can improve one's comprehension!"
For others, changing one's comprehension was difficult.
Yet Li Xiuwen only needed to steadily advance [Martial Arts General Knowledge], and his comprehension would scale up substantially alongside it.
And this was merely Elementary Martial Arts General Knowledge, corresponding only to an elementary Illusionary Realm of the Great Void.
Following this pattern, there would surely be intermediate and advanced levels later... and the effects would only get better.
Coupled with the incense burner's trait of permanent mastery once attained and total lack of bottlenecks, his martial path looked brighter and brighter.
Snapping back to his senses, he looked toward Old Chen on the bed, his eyes gleaming as if he were beholding an invaluable treasure.
"Brother Li, what is it?" Old Chen asked, lowering his book.
"Nothing. See you tomorrow." Li Xiuwen left the martial arts hall and hurried home.
...
Chen's Noodle Factory.
Li Xiuwen strode inside, shut the door, and wiped away the sweat brought on by his excitement.
"Ah Wen, getting hammered today too?" his aunt asked.
"Not today. I'm taking a day off," Li Xiuwen said with a smile.
He returned to his room, lay down on his bedding, and muttered, "It said entering the Illusionary Realm of the Great Void requires dreaming, so I probably have to sleep."
The moment he fell asleep, Li Xiuwen's consciousness merged with the incense burner, turning into a wisp of blue smoke that drifted through bizarre, kaleidoscopic visions before descending upon a familiar place.
Low-slung buildings densely packed together, crouching like a beast—it was none other than the Walled City.
The blue smoke threaded through streets and alleyways, arriving at Chen's Noodle Factory, where he saw his uncle and aunt;
it sank into the sewers, where he saw Brother Ji, Viper, and Third Master;
drifting out of the sewers, it wandered on toward Night Heron Martial Arts Hall, catching sight of the familiar cross-eyed youth and the blond kid who had mocked him as an old leek.
Finally, the blue smoke drifted into the place where he had spent the most time since taking up martial arts: the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall.
Entering through the doors, he saw Ah Zhen, Cheng Kuiqiang, Liu Chun, and Liu Da standing silently on the training grounds.
Inside the study, Huang Sihai sat in place while Third Auntie kept vigil beside him.
The scene looked just like any ordinary day at the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall, except everyone was frozen motionless in time like wax figures.
Furthermore, as Li Xiuwen examined the details of the buildings, the people, and the sky...
He realized that everything within the illusion seemed composed of countless tiny cubes.
The edges were rough and blocky, carrying a slightly... pixelated style.
In a daze, he almost thought he had stepped into a high-end version of Minecraft.
Peering through the gaps between the buildings, Li Xiuwen looked up at the sky.
A crimson incense stick that pierced heaven and earth was burning rapidly, and a distant, ethereal voice drifted down:
[One opponent may be selected within the Illusionary Realm of the Great Void to temper fighting techniques (movement techniques).]
[The illusion lasts for one shichen.]
[When the incense burns out, the illusion shatters, and the dreamer awakens.]
[After entering a dream, another dream may be entered after an interval of twelve shichen.]
As the information flooded his mind, Li Xiuwen understood instantly.
The Illusionary Realm of the Great Void had not been generated out of thin air.
Currently, his range of movement within the realm was limited to the Walled City—more accurately, a certain perimeter around Longjin Road and the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall, which included the neighboring Night Heron Martial Arts Hall.
Whenever he attempted to step beyond this perimeter, he would run into an "invisible wall."
Li Xiuwen guessed that the realm's boundaries were a reflection of the areas where he spent significant amounts of time in the real world.
A few days ago, he had gone to the grand arena in the Central District and ventured outside the Walled City to attend the fellow-townsman association, yet none of those places were mirrored in the realm.
In short, within these delineated borders, anyone he had shared some degree of contact with could manifest as an opponent in the illusion.
Having grasped the generation principles of the [Illusionary Realm of the Great Void], Li Xiuwen could hardly conceal his delight.
"In other words, I can now practice fighting techniques even in my sleep, and with far better results!"
As for the limit of one shichen, it wasn't really much of a restriction at all.
In ordinary daily life, he only spent a little over two hours practicing fighting techniques anyway; most of his time went into stake training and hard qigong.
Once the functions of the realm were clear, Li Xiuwen wasted no more time.
First, he tried selecting Huang Sihai as his opponent.
As though manipulated like a video game character, Huang Sihai sprang into motion.
In an instant, he blurred into an afterimage.
With a booming crack against his chest, Li Xiuwen felt as though he had been struck by a locomotive, sent flying high into the air until he hung plastered against the ceiling.
Every muscle and sinew in his body was snapped to shreds, his bones shattered to pieces, and his internal organs shaken into a mush.
He hadn't even clearly seen how Huang Sihai struck.
Li Xiuwen's form condensed anew as he muttered, "Too strong. This doesn't help as sparring at all.
"Still, after taking that one palm strike, I finally have an idea of Master's strength. Terrifying is the only word for it.
"Let's try Ah Zhen."
With a thought, Li Xiuwen selected the short-haired girl.
Ah Zhen moved, charging forward in total silence.
Li Xiuwen darted ahead with an arrow stride to clash with her.
After trading more than a dozen palm strikes, his surprise only grew: "The Illusionary Realm of the Great Void completely replicates Ah Zhen's palm technique realm at her current stage."
This "current stage" reflected the last time Li Xiuwen had close contact with Ah Zhen before entering the dream.
Thus, the projections inside the realm required periodic contact in reality—essentially serving as a "data update."
"Fascinating. Through the Illusionary Realm of the Great Void, as long as I have close contact with someone, I can assess an enemy's current strength in advance, giving me far more certainty when making a move."
Li Xiuwen quickly discovered another use for the realm.
Trading a few moves with Ah Zhen, he felt his intangible comprehension of [Flipping Sand Palm] deepen slightly.
"It works, and the effect is immediate.
"Ah Zhen is a bit too weak, though. Let's try Cheng Kuiqiang."
Li Xiuwen selected Cheng Kuiqiang. They fought for a while, evenly matched.
Li Xiuwen possessed superior technique, while Cheng Kuiqiang had the edge in raw power.
The sparring effect was noticeably better as well.
Before long, a prompt emerged from the incense burner:
[Your Flipping Sand Palm proficiency has increased by 1%...]
Li Xiuwen calculated the numbers. Compared to the time it had previously taken him to gain 1%, the rate had indeed doubled.
"By a rough estimate, I can raise it by about 4% in one shichen. In at most a month, Flipping Sand Palm will reach major success."
Li Xiuwen was overjoyed. According to Old Huang, his comprehension was already on par with Liu Chun's.
Wouldn't this make him equivalent to two Liu Chuns?
Thinking of this, he decided to test himself against Liu Chun.
The moment they engaged, Liu Chun's ferocious Great Waves Washing the Sand Palm forced him back step after step.
Instinctively, he tried calling upon his hard qigong, only to find he couldn't use it.
As it turned out, the Armor-Binding Art, just like the Sea Sand Stake, belonged to training methods.
The Illusionary Realm of the Great Void trained fighting techniques; the only things brought inside were one's foundational cultivation and one's realm in fighting techniques and movement techniques.
Chapter 34