Chapter 88: A Heart in Full Bloom

Evening.

After returning home from work and finishing dinner, Su Jingxing took out a Simulation Card.

At present, Su Jingxing possessed three martial arts techniques that were worth improving and completing.

The Seven Steps Fist, the Giant God Blade, and the Three Origins Blade Technique.

Of these, the Seven Steps Fist had the most severe flaws and posed the greatest danger.

The Giant God Blade required either “controlling the blade with qi” or “controlling the blade with spirit”—making it the most difficult and least likely to succeed.

Completing the “Earth Origin” chapter of the Three Origins Blade Technique, by contrast, had a relatively high chance of success, since he already possessed half of its core methods.

Yet, after some thought, Su Jingxing decided to focus on the Seven Steps Fist.

For no other reason than that, as things stood, he could only use it while holding back his strength. If he unleashed it with full force, the damage to his body would be devastating.

Having made up his mind, Su Jingxing activated the Simulation Card. In an instant, a burst of light erupted from nowhere, enveloping his entire body.

He felt a pleasant warmth flood his body, and his consciousness was transported into a featureless, empty world.

Sensing something, he began to practice the Seven Steps Fist.

Suddenly, figures appeared above, below, in front, behind, and to either side of him, each moving and executing the fist techniques.

The forms and inner methods of the Seven Steps Fist unfolded completely, extending in all directions.

Strangely, even when Su Jingxing exerted all his strength, his body felt no discomfort.

In this blank world, the flaws of the Seven Steps Fist seemed to vanish.

Next, as all the “Su Jingxings” around him practiced the fist, the flow of time in this world accelerated rapidly.

Thousands—no, tens of thousands—of possible evolutions and variations of the Seven Steps Fist manifested in an instant.

The more the changes multiplied, the faster the scenes flickered by.

When the images finally froze, Su Jingxing intuitively received the results of the first simulation.

Failure.

Undeterred, Su Jingxing began the second simulation.

The scenes around him whirled anew at lightning speed.

When they stopped—

“Success?”

A sudden surge of information filled Su Jingxing’s mind. Reflexively, he moved his hands and feet, performing a wholly new set of fist movements.

Hundred-Step King Fist!

Such was the name of this new technique, derived from the Seven Steps Fist.

As he absorbed the information, Su Jingxing realized that not only had the flaws of the Seven Steps Fist vanished, but its power had grown tremendously.

The Seven Steps Fist could at best unleash seven times the force of a normal punch, but the Hundred-Step King Fist could amplify it a hundredfold!

However, while the Seven Steps Fist expended physical strength, the Hundred-Step King Fist drew upon true qi.

As long as his true qi was sufficient, the force of his punches could continue to multiply—tenfold, twentyfold, thirtyfold…

Up to a hundredfold!

The distance at which the force could be projected was also greatly increased—reaching beyond a hundred steps.

A “step” was not a meter. The range of this fist’s force was calculated based on Su Jingxing’s stride.

An average person’s step might be about a meter, but for a martial artist, it could easily be four or five meters, or at least two or three.

This was not because martial artists had unusually long legs, but because their explosive power allowed each step to cover an extraordinary distance—resembling a blend of standing long jump and hurdling, an extreme stride born from the eruption of the body’s strength.

For example, Su Jingxing could now stride three meters in an ordinary step, and five meters at full force.

Thus, when he performed the Hundred-Step King Fist, the projected force could reach as far as five hundred meters!

This was an advanced martial art.

Without question, the Hundred-Step King Fist was two full levels above the Seven Steps Fist.

To derive such a martial art on only the second simulation was an incredibly lucky outcome.

After a brief rest to compose himself, Su Jingxing embarked on a third simulation.

He set out to complete the “Earth Origin” chapter of the Three Origins Blade Technique, building upon the foundation he already possessed.

The result…

Failure.

He felt neither disappointment nor regret; when his consciousness returned to his body, Su Jingxing was already prepared for such an outcome.

To have produced the Hundred-Step King Fist in three attempts—he had gained far more than he expected.

This new technique was an evolution of the Seven Steps Fist; the forms remained the same, but the method of generating power and its source had been fundamentally transformed.

Su Jingxing went out to the courtyard and practiced several times, swiftly mastering the new technique and reaching the threshold of proficiency.

To progress further would now require honing his skill with true qi.

To have reached this level so quickly, Su Jingxing was thoroughly satisfied.

Late into the night.

Su Jingxing continued practicing his new fist technique in the courtyard, over and over, exploring the finer points of true qi manipulation.

He practiced until the pale light of dawn crept into the sky.

Returning to his room, he took a bath, changed into newly bought clothes, and set off for the Azure Cloud Mountains.

Familiar with the route, he climbed over a thousand-meter cliff and arrived at the plateau where he had broken through to the sixth rank.

Rather than enter the valley and disturb the great white goose, he sat cross-legged on the open platform, took out a Martial Practice Card, and began cultivating the Nine Steps to Heaven.

He activated the card, entered the Martial Practice Space, and began circulating the Nine Steps to Heaven’s inner method.

When the Martial Practice Space finally collapsed and his consciousness returned to his body, Su Jingxing stabilized his mind and circulated the Nine Steps to Heaven once more—discovering he had reached the sixth level of mastery.

Nine Steps to Heaven had nine levels; after training day and night for twenty years, he had finally reached the sixth.

At this speed, even Su Jingxing was at a loss for words.

He decided to stop thinking about it and let the matter rest.

The sixth level of the Nine Steps to Heaven was, in any case, quite satisfactory.

He took a deep breath and began circulating the Nine Steps to Heaven with all his might, absorbing the energies of heaven and earth from the valley.

Whoosh—whoosh!

Almost immediately, the air around Su Jingxing was drawn by an invisible force, swirling rapidly about him.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh—

Mountain winds howled, echoing through the heavens and earth.

The currents of air around Su Jingxing spun ever faster, their force ever greater.

Soon, the currents became visible whirlwinds, coiling around Su Jingxing, gradually forming vortexes.

Swish swish swish—

“Shua! Shua! Shua!”

Above the valley, the cyclones grew larger and larger.

Strands of heaven-and-earth energy permeating the valley were forcefully drawn from their resting places, ascending rapidly into the sky and gathering over Su Jingxing’s head.

“Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!”

Fierce winds roared, energies spiraled, resembling a dragon drinking from a river.

In Su Jingxing’s lower dantian, the Heaven-Stepping true qi grew rapidly.

One after another, streams of energy from heaven and earth were refined by the circulation of Nine Steps to Heaven, transforming into Heaven-Stepping true qi, and stored in his dantian.

One year, two years, three years…

The amount of true qi steadily increased.

From morning to afternoon, afternoon to evening.

The energies in the valley gradually diminished, while the Heaven-Stepping true qi in Su Jingxing’s dantian grew denser and denser.

By the time the great white goose, honking noisily, flew down from the sky and landed on the platform—hopping and skipping about, prompting Su Jingxing to stop—the valley’s energies had grown exceedingly thin.

Ceasing his cultivation, Su Jingxing wasted no time in greeting the goose, but checked the true qi in his dantian.

At this, he could not help but beam with delight.

Over fifty years’ worth!

By unleashing the Nine Steps to Heaven with all his might and absorbing wildly, he had gained more than fifty years’ worth of true qi.

Adding to his original nine years, he was now only a sliver away from a full sixty-year cycle.

That final sliver, Su Jingxing instantly converted with an Inner Strength Card.

At last, he had successfully attained sixty years of true qi cultivation!