Chapter 45: Chapter 42: Fired at the Wrong Place...
[You underwent a real combat training session, Aiming Experience Value +109]
[You underwent a real combat training session, fighting Experience Points +267]
[You underwent a real combat training session, Channeling Energy Experience Value +219]
[Aiming advanced to Lv3 (8/800)]
Xue Jing lay on the ground, finding it extremely difficult to breathe, his body devoid of any muscle strength to even squeeze out a bit of energy.
Exhausted.
From his birth to now, even adding his past life, he had never felt such exhaustion.
Yet, alongside the fatigue, a strange sense of satisfaction and pleasure emerged.
This was the brain secreting endorphins, rewarding himself for his excessive effort.
Li Qi looked with relief at Xue Jing, who lay motionless on the ground.
With his keen eye, he could tell that this was not a lazy type of fatigue from avoidance but a genuine state of having used all his strength, reaching his limit.
Talent, temperament, will.
As a Martial Artist, the disciple before him lacked none of the qualities, each beyond his expectations.
Meng Qingjiao looked at Xue Jing lying on the ground, and after confirming that he likely wouldn't stand up again, she tiptoed over, crouched down, and touched the sweat-soaked back of Xue Jing's head.
It seemed to be both comforting and praising.
"…"
Li Qi smiled at her, "Let's call it a day today, Qingjiao. Go ahead and have your meal."
Meng Qingjiao nodded, patted Xue Jing's head again, stood up, and left the practice room.
"How do you feel?" Li Qi asked, smiling.
Xue Jing squeezed a bit of strength into his throat and said in a muffled voice, "I feel great."
Li Qi burst into hearty laughter.
...
At 5 a.m. the next day, Xue Jing woke up on time, exactly, to the second.
[Early to bed, early to rise, Health Cultivation Experience Value +38]
[Health Cultivation advanced to Lv3 (3/800)]
Instantly, Xue Jing felt revitalized, a warm current flowing through his body, filled with an unleashing energy, hardly feeling like he had just woken up.
Upon closer examination, although he had been nearly comatose from exhaustion the previous night, he could not feel it at all now; it was as if last night's combat training had never happened.
Already fully recovered.
What is Health Cultivation?
Xue Jing smiled, delightedly reaching out to pet Miao Miao.
"Hmm?"
He reached out and grasped at air, lifting the blankets to see, Miao Miao was not on the bed.
Lately, he was used to petting Miao Miao as soon as he woke up and felt off without doing so.
Xue Jing got up and walked to the living room, turned on the light, and found Miao Miao just coming in from the balcony.
"Hmm? Teacher Wan, did you just go out?"
Xue Jing asked, puzzled.
Miao Miao shook her body, raised her butt, stretched, yawned, and said sleepily:
"Went out to handle some stuff… so sleepy, I'm going to sleep."
Without waiting for Xue Jing's response, she dashed into the room, burrowed into Xue Jing's blankets, cuddling the remaining warmth, and fell deeply asleep.
Xue Jing was curious, but since he had promised Ning Fengwan not to inquire into her matters, it wasn't right to ask further.
After washing up in the bathroom, Xue Jing changed into a sports outfit and went out for a run.
One hour later.
The alarm on his watch vibrated, and Xue Jing paused, panting lightly.
[You completed a long run, Running Experience +258]
[Running elevated to Lv5 (57/2000)]
This skill, one of his earliest activated, had finally been elevated to Lv5.
Xue Jing quickly crouched down, swung his arms back, lifted his heels, and with a sudden leap, he shot forward a considerable distance.
He looked back and roughly estimated that he must have jumped close to four and a half meters.
"Previous world record for the standing long jump on Earth… Weren't they a bit over three meters?"
Xue Jing thought uncertainly.
Now, the explosive power of his legs had completely exceeded the limit of ordinary people.
And that was without using any Channeling Energy.
Shaking his head, Xue Jing walked back home, took a bath, made breakfast, left some for Miao Miao, and then headed out to the Hidden Dragon Dojo.
After arriving by bus, he entered the office building, took the elevator to the seventeenth floor, and without any delay, went straight to the training room.
To his surprise, as soon as he pushed open the door, there was already someone sitting in the training room.
A short-haired beauty sat neatly on the hardwood floor, holding a giant triple-layered beef burger, silently nibbling away.
There were a few burger wrappers balled up on the floor, indicating she had already eaten quite a few.
"..."
Seeing Xue Jing enter, Meng Qingjiao nodded at him, then started eating faster, constantly chewing, her thin lips coated with grease, looking as if they were painted vermilion, and a bit of yellow cheese sauce even stuck on her perky nose.
"Meng, are you here to help me train?"
Xue Jing sat down cross-legged in front of her and smiled.
Meng Qingjiao, still eating her burger, nodded her head, making a vague mmhmm sound.
Seeing how much she enjoyed eating, Xue Jing considered for a moment and then said, "Sister Meng, next time I'll cook something for you, I'm quite good at cooking."
According to Chen Fuguang, Meng Qingjiao must be very busy, but she still made time to come and help him train in fighting skills. He couldn't just not reciprocate.
Xue Jing opened the panel and glanced at his Cooking skill.
[Cooking Lv3 (501/800)]
Although he hadn't deliberately practiced this skill, his daily cooking had been steadily adding one to two hundred Cooking Experience Points every day.
Now he wouldn't dare say he was on par with a great chef, but at least within the domain of home-cooked meals, he was proficient enough to ensure the flavors were top-notch.
Meng Qingjiao, hearing this, lifted her brows slightly, her eyes lighting up a bit, and nodded.
She put the last bite of the burger in her mouth, then rolled up the wrapper into a ball, threw it to the floor, and reached out to pat Xue Jing's head.
This seemed to be her way of expressing closeness.
After patting his head, the short-haired beauty stood up, took a few steps back, one hand behind her, the other gesturing a 'please'.
"Sister Meng, you just finished eating, don't you want to rest a bit?"
Xue Jing expressed his concern.
Meng Qingjiao shook her head, rubbed her belly, as if to say it was fine.
Since she had no issues, Xue Jing was agreeable. He stood up, said, "Be careful, Sister Meng," and charged towards Meng Qingjiao.
In the training room, a new round of fighting skills training began.
...
Three days later.
In the training room, Xue Jing and Meng Qingjiao were exchanging blows with fists and feet flying, fiercely engrossed in the fight.
Differently from before, after three solid days of intense fighting skills training, Xue Jing had acquired a significant level of real combat experience. With his skills enhanced, his fighting style had shape and substance, his punches and kicks whistling through the air, sharp sounds echoing as they continually targeted Meng Qingjiao.
The latter, with her usual calm and chilly demeanor, parried Xue Jing's attacks accurately, each block perfect in timing, neither too much nor too little.
Those knowledgeable in martial arts could see she was feeding moves to her opponent with absolute superiority, not truly engaged in a hard-fought battle.
Xue Jing sent a Straight Punch towards Meng Qingjiao's exposed chest, but it was quickly parried as she swiftly defended herself, grabbing his wrist, halting him just an inch from her chest.
A flash of insight sparked in Xue Jing's eyes as he finally identified a genuine flaw.
Using his breathing skills, he channeled his energy, focusing it at the tips of his fingers, and the fist only an inch away from the chest, his thumb and index finger pinched together, followed by a swift flick!
"Pop!"
A sound burst through the air, Power Through Fingertips, the Finger Flicking Strike.
A soft sensation transmitted back, and Xue Jing's expression changed.
...