Undefeated

At Chen's Noodle Factory. Li Xiuwen looked at his uncle and smiled. "Close enough." In truth, the Armor-Binding Art was nothing like ordinary wares like the Iron Cloth Shirt. He had asked Cheng Kuiqiang about it before. The Iron Cloth Shirt was merely an art belonging to the Skin and Membrane Gate. Even honed to perfection, it could barely withstand a full-force palm strike from a martial artist freshly entered into the second gate without serious injury. Theoretically, once the Armor-Binding Art reached minor success, it would match the full effects of the Iron Cloth Shirt at perfection. "Ah Wen, come put on the herbal compress. Once we're done, I have to get back to work in the factory." After his uncle left, Li Xiuwen looked toward the incense burner: [Armor-Binding Art: Entry (93%)] "Nearly at minor success. When that happens, I'll have the strongest trump card for looking down on the entire Skin and Membrane Gate!" He glanced over his other arts. [Elementary Martial Arts General Knowledge: Minor Success (36%)] [Sea Sand Stake: Major Success (50%)] [Flipping Sand Palm: Major Success (61%)] [Thousand Waves Floating Light: Entry (70%)] [Three Castings of the Heart Furnace (Incomplete): First Layer (2%)] [Stage: Black Membrane (50%)] "I need to hurry up and push the Flipping Sand Palm to perfection. If I can grasp the lethal finishing move, paired with a minor success Armor-Binding Art, I won't necessarily be helpless against a second-gate expert." "The Sea Sand Stake is stuck for now. The fish balls are growing weaker and weaker—a single one can't even raise progress by two percent anymore. The cost-to-benefit ratio is far too poor. It's better to just train on my own." To reach the Black Membrane stage as quickly as possible, Li Xiuwen had built up quite a bit of medicinal toxins earlier, and it was time to ease off. Now halfway along the path of the Black Membrane, he was already among the finest at this stage. *** That night. Li Xiuwen entered the dream realm of the Illusionary Realm of the Great Void and found Liu Chun inside the martial arts hall. "Let's fight ten rounds first. If I can beat you ten times today, there won't be the slightest suspense left for the contest on the second floor." He beckoned with a hand. Liu Chun moved, turning into a gust of wind as he surged forward. His broad palm swept across like a black blade, slicing diagonally. Li Xiuwen met him head-on, deploying the Flipping Sand Palm as well. The two struck out simultaneously with their palm power. Liu Chun's twin palms crashed squarely into Li Xiuwen's chest, shaking his robes and whipping up ripples of dust. Li Xiuwen took advantage of the momentum to slash diagonally with a single palm, the gust whipping fiercely as his hand slammed onto Liu Chun's shoulder. "Burst!" Both executed the Hard-Soft Palm at the same time—exploding upon contact! Li Xiuwen retreated, utilizing the footwork of Thousand Waves Floating Light to neutralize the force, pulling back ten full paces. He glanced down at his chest. His clothing had been shattered, blown open into a hole. The flesh on his chest was indented an inch deep, bearing a purplish-blue handprint that was recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye. Liu Chun, on the other hand, went flying more than ten feet back, crashing into the weapon rack. Clasping his shoulder blade, his face remained expressionless. White bone had pierced through the flesh, and blood seeped out. The figures inside the Illusionary Realm never pulled their punches; every exchange was a killing blow. Both had delivered a full-force strike, yet Liu Chun had only managed to cave in Li Xiuwen's surface flesh by an inch, completely unable to touch his inner organs or skeleton. Li Xiuwen, meanwhile, had directly fractured his opponent's shoulder blade, bursting the skin and flesh wide open. Inside the illusionary realm, their physical condition was roughly identical, neck and neck. This showed that without realizing it, Li Xiuwen's mastery of the Hard-Soft Palm had already surpassed Liu Chun's by a considerable margin! "Again!" Li Xiuwen showed no sign of fatigue as he charged at Liu Chun once more. The second bout: seven moves, Li Xiuwen won. The third bout: five moves, Li Xiuwen won. The fourth bout: six moves, Li Xiuwen won. In a mere ten minutes, the two fought ten rounds. Liu Chun's body was sent flying again and again—sometimes with broken ribs, sometimes with a limp, dangling hand, sometimes with his abdomen punched straight through... and he lost every single match. Without a doubt, Li Xiuwen's comprehensive strength far outstripped Liu Chun's. Fighting techniques, movement techniques, physical fitness... he matched or surpassed him across the board. As for combat awareness, honed through the Illusionary Realm of the Great Void, he completely overwhelmed Liu Chun. Li Xiuwen let out a breath of relief. "This way, even without relying on hard qigong, there won't be any doubt about taking the second floor." Hard qigong was a life-saving trump card, and Li Xiuwen had no desire to display it where too many eyes might see. So far, only dead men had seen him use it. Wiping away his sweat, Li Xiuwen reflected on how he had gone from an "old scallion" looked down upon by youngsters to a top-tier expert of the Skin and Membrane Gate in just four months. "There's no denying the incense burner's contribution, but my own diligence mattered just as much... Let's call it fifty-fifty." Smiling, Li Xiuwen walked out the door and headed straight for Night Heron Martial Arts Hall. Now that he held an overwhelming advantage over Liu Chun, sparring against him yielded only mediocre gains in proficiency. He needed to seek out those at the peak of the Black Membrane, or martial artists newly stepped into the second gate, to sharpen himself against. "Blondie, come on out!" Li Xiuwen kicked open the front gates of Night Heron Martial Arts Hall and crooked a finger. Gaojiao Qi leaped into the air, spreading both arms like a great bird skimming over water. Before the man even landed, fierce wind rushed ahead! A sharp, vicious strike of the Water Bird Fist shot straight for Li Xiuwen's chest. Li Xiuwen's frame shuddered as his vital energy and blood erupted, channeling his entire body's strength into his palm. His Hard-Soft Palm collided directly with the oncoming fist. Startled Shark Fleeting Shadow—exploding upon contact! Boom! The blast of air churned with dust, forming visible ripples that swept away the puddles by the roadside. Li Xiuwen retreated seven paces to dispel the impact. Once steady, he spat out a mouthful of blood and burst into hearty laughter. "Cough, cough... Hahaha, that felt great!" In theory, a second-gate powerhouse possessed an overwhelming dimensional advantage over the first gate, capable of killing an opponent in an instant. The difference between them was like night and day. Three Purple Membrane practitioners might stand a chance against a Black Membrane. Yet ten Black Membranes could not defeat a single martial artist newly entered into the second gate. And now, he had taken a punch from Gaojiao Qi head-on! "Again!" Seven exchanges later, Li Xiuwen was defeated. His meridians were shattered and his bones disjointed; he lay slumped on the ground like a flat pancake. "If this were reality, with the Armor-Binding Art, I wouldn't end up looking this pathetic." A prompt appeared from the incense burner: [Flipping Sand Palm proficiency increased by 1%...] A grin spread across Li Xiuwen's face. "Fighting Gaojiao Qi really does speed up proficiency. Raising it by two percent a day won't be an issue at all." Once fighting techniques reached the major success realm, people like Cheng Kuiqiang and Ah Zhen couldn't even raise their proficiency by one percent across several days. *** Time slipped by. In the blink of an eye, the day of the contest for the second floor arrived. Xianghai basked in bright sunlight, dappled rays filtering through the narrow gaps between tenement buildings onto the streets. When Li Xiuwen arrived at Four Seas Martial Arts Hall, the training ground had already been cleared out, leaving an open space for an arena. Huang Sihai sat in a grand armchair, sipping tea. Beside him was a handsome youth with short hair—Tianhong Zai. The two sat close together, chatting in low voices, and none of the others dared approach. "Master, have you scouted any candidates for the Fourth Prodigy lately? Does anyone among those on the second floor show promise?" Tianhong Zai asked. Huang Sihai sighed. "Difficult... Finding someone as exceptional as the three of you is as hard as scaling heaven." Catching sight of Li Xiuwen stepping through the door, Tianhong Zai's gaze shifted. He stood up, strode over, and smiled. "Ah Wen, right? I didn't get your name wrong, did I?" Li Xiuwen smiled and cupped his hands in greeting. "Senior Brother still remembers my name? I am truly flattered!" "You rascal, you managed to save some face for our Four Seas Martial Arts Hall the other day. Of course I remember." Tianhong Zai laughed heartily. "I merely made a fool of myself," Li Xiuwen replied. "Given your innate physique and age, achieving such progress in just four months makes you one in a hundred. Don't be too modest." Still smiling, Tianhong Zai held out a small porcelain bottle before everyone's eyes. "Senior Brother... what is this?" Li Xiuwen asked, somewhat puzzled.