Chapter 125 – The Plan, Crane Power lv①

“There’s always room if we squeeze a bit.”

Wang Xu, who had a silver earring in his left ear, said half-jokingly.

The girl with an egg-shaped face glanced at Wang Xu, “Then you call him over.”

“Why should I? Why don’t you?”

Wang Xu leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and rolled his eyes.

“Whoever proposes, agrees. Naturally, it’s their job to do it.”

The girl with an egg-shaped face sneered and glanced at the young man with a short beard.

The young man’s eyes flickered for a moment, just as he was about to speak, a muscular man with a crew cut next to him said, “Alright, someone who got in by paying, not recommended by a direct disciple. As for strength… from the data, he’s just average. Whether we bring him in or not doesn’t really affect our plan.”

“Yeah, no need to ruin the harmony over something so small. Let’s have some tea.”

Someone chimed in.

It was a short guy with a round face, looking quite friendly with a smiling face.

He reached for the teapot on the table and poured tea for everyone.

The atmosphere at the table eased a bit.

“Ahem…”

The young man with a short beard, who spoke first, cleared his throat and spoke again, “To get on the candidate list and make it this far, we are all Fellow Disciples. But there’s only one spot for a direct disciple…”

“Why do you talk so much nonsense!”

The girl with an egg-shaped face interrupted impatiently, “Just tell us how we deal with Xiao Mubai.”

The young man with a short beard was cut off, and the muscular man with a crew cut took over.

“Yes, the main thing is to work together against Xiao Mubai.”

The muscular man with a crew cut spoke in a deep voice, naturally drawing everyone’s attention.

“You should all have seen Xiao Mubai’s profile. Organ Training, mastering the ultimate true skill of our crane style boxing techniques, and he has even developed inner strength… One-on-one, none of us stand a chance against him.”

The table fell into a brief silence until someone spoke in a muffled voice, “Being the strongest doesn’t mean he can laugh till the end. Even if we take him on one by one, how many can he beat?”

“That’s the idea.”

The muscular man with a crew cut nodded and continued, “But for a round-robin battle, someone has to go first to wear him down. I don’t think anyone here wants to be the first, right?”

“That’s obvious.”

“So the problem is quite simple now.”

The muscular man with a crew cut scanned everyone at the table with a deep, cold gaze and said expressionlessly, “We first work together to eliminate Xiao Mubai. After that… the position of direct disciple will be up for grabs.”

“Agreed.”

“Couldn’t be better.”

“This is how it should be.”

No one objected. This was the purpose of their gathering.

Seeing that the initial cooperation was agreed upon, the muscular man with a crew cut smiled, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the table. He continued, “This assessment will be a free-for-all. The last person standing in the assessment room becomes the direct disciple. I believe the sect leader arranged it this way to encourage us to work together. Now, let’s discuss how to take down Xiao Mubai.”

“I have a detailed dossier on Xiao Mubai, more detailed than what you all have.”

The young man with a short beard, who had been interrupted twice, quickly spoke up, “Xiao Mubai injured his left shoulder last month; it might not be fully healed. We can target his left shoulder.

Moreover, I’ve studied videos of over a dozen of his fights and noticed that whenever he plans to kick, he has a habitual elbow movement. Keep an eye on that…”

“You’ve studied us just as thoroughly, haven’t you?”

The girl with an egg-shaped face sneered at the young man with a short beard, who smirked noncommittally.

Ignoring the subtle tension between them, the muscular man with a crew cut smiled and said, “Junior Brother Hua’s intelligence is excellent. Xiao Mubai specializes in boxing techniques. I’ll go first and try to pin him down, and then you all can attack his lower body…”

“We could also use poison.”

The round-faced boy, who had been quiet, spoke up with a smile, “When the fight starts, I’ll seize the opportunity to throw some poison powder at Xiao Mubai’s face. It’ll make him itchy, cause diarrhea, and weaken him… The longer the fight goes on, the lower his chances of winning.”

“Won’t using such underhanded methods get us disqualified?”

Everyone was startled and couldn’t help but ask.

The round-faced boy shook his head with a smile, “The assessment rules don’t mention it, so it’s allowed. You might not know this, but the sect leader was a master of toxicology back in the day. His poison skills terrified many in the martial arts world. Using poison might even win us the sect leader’s favor…”

Upon hearing this, everyone was intrigued, their faces showing interest.

Someone asked, “Then why don’t we poison him now, make him sick for two or three days so he can’t even get out of bed on the day of the assessment?”

“It could work, but poisoning before the assessment has a high chance of being considered a violation. I’m not willing to take that risk. If any of you are, I can provide the poison for free…”

“Forget it…”

“Junior Brother Mao’s idea is excellent. Poisoning on the spot is a good plan.”

The muscular man with a crew cut praised, habitually picking up his teacup to take a sip. Suddenly, he remembered that the round-faced boy had poured the tea earlier and discreetly put the cup down.

“Does anyone else have any ideas?”

Wang Xu, who had been listening silently, glanced around and spoke up, “Since we can use poison, why not target his family or friends before the assessment? We could leak some information to Xiao Mubai to unsettle him.”

“In the martial arts world, there’s a rule against involving family. But pretending to target someone close to him could work. From what I know, Xiao Mubai has a younger sister he cares deeply about. I could arrange for someone to mimic her voice and speech, and call him a minute before the assessment starts…”

“Great idea!”

“Let’s decide which part of Xiao Mubai’s body to attack first when the fight begins.

It’s better to break one finger than to hurt ten.

Let’s cripple a leg or an arm first and see if he can still act tough.”

“That’s a great suggestion.

Didn’t Junior Brother Hua mention that his left shoulder is newly injured? Let’s break his left arm then!”

“If we can use poison, can we take some drugs ourselves?

I know of a drug that significantly boosts potential for half an hour, though it leaves you weak for three days afterward…”

“Can you get it? If so, get me some too. If I can’t use it this time, it might come in handy later.”

“Let’s bring out the assessment rules and study them together. I just got a lot of ideas, but I’m not sure if they’ll be useful!”

“Same here.”

The five people at the small table got more excited as they talked, quickly finding the place too conspicuous and cramped. They got up and moved to find a better spot to continue their discussion.

…

“Burp”

Lu Yuan let out a small burp, feeling quite satisfied as he wiped his mouth and stood up.

Looking around, he realized that Wang Xu and his group had already left.

He had been too focused on the food to notice what they were doing. It seemed they didn’t eat in the dining room after all. Maybe they didn’t like the food and decided to go out to a restaurant instead?

“Lin Zhiqin mentioned that this assessment would be quite freeform, testing one’s overall abilities, and that a chaotic melee wasn’t out of the question…

Judging by their behavior, they might team up during the fight and try to eliminate me and that loner Xiao Mubai first…”

Lu Yuan recalled what Lin Zhiqin had told him the day before, pondering it.

But he soon relaxed.

“Even if those five, along with the strongest one, Xiao Mubai, team up, their combined fighting power is still average.”

“Beasts always walk alone, while cattle and sheep flock together. Anyway, I’ll have to crush them one by one, so it doesn’t matter if they team up or not…”

Lu Yuan was more concerned about his understanding of the mysterious qi energy, the hallmark of the crane style’s direct disciples.

In the past few days, besides meeting the other candidates, he had also met almost all of the crane style’s direct disciples.

The [imaginary enemy] database received a strong influx of new material.

Lu Yuan sparred with several direct disciples in turn, feeling the mysterious qi energy surge within them during combat. He felt that he was just a thin layer away from reaching a certain realm.

Just one more push.

And he could break through completely.

After dinner, Lu Yuan walked straight back to his residence.

He wandered around the courtyard at the entrance for a while before returning to his room.

The room that Liu Si arranged for Lu Yuan was actually quite large, giving him enough space for martial arts training.

Lu Yuan first practiced the Spirit Crane Body to help digest his meal.

Since achieving a minor success in Muscle Training, both his constitution and agility had improved significantly, leading to a leap in his progress with the Spirit Crane Body.

Previously, he could only perform up to the seventieth move before reaching his limit. Now, he could go straight to the hundredth move in one go.

During practice, his skin and muscles seemed to be pulled by some invisible force.

This force moved his bones, producing a series of collision sounds that only Lu Yuan could hear.

The further he went, the deeper this pulling sensation penetrated.

It even gradually involved his internal organs.

Lu Yuan was well aware that while he was training his bones, flesh, and skin, he was also touching upon Organ Training.

With the muscle control ability provided by lv2 [special exertion], the body training effect of the Spirit Crane Body became more evident.

Lu Yuan’s muscles flowed and undulated like mercury, his bones collided beneath his skin, and his internal organs emitted faint sounds.

It felt as if a fire was burning inside his chest, growing hotter and more intense.

“Whoosh—”

For some reason, it seemed like the sound of the tide surged in Lu Yuan’s ears.

In an instant, a switch flipped in his mind, and countless inspirational images burst forth.

Lu Yuan instinctively flexed his fingers and spread his arms.

Mysterious qi energy gathered at his fingertips, and a few strands of visible white qi flashed in the air before him.

“Swoosh—”

Lu Yuan stopped his movements, a curious light in his eyes.

He stepped forward and found a few faint but very clear scratch marks on the wall more than three meters away.

“Is this the power of mysterious qi energy?”

From a distance of three meters, a casual claw swipe tore the wallpaper.

Even though the addition of the Spirit Crane Technique, which mimics the crane style’s killer move with finger claws, played a part, the power was still impressive enough to astonish anyone.

“[A Moment of Inspiration]… At the critical moment, you lent me a hand once again…”

Lu Yuan looked down at his right hand, now clearly feeling the qi energy accumulating and flowing at his fingertips.

Though faint and invisible to the naked eye, it truly existed.

This qi energy usually hid within his flesh and bones, only emerging when he used special techniques to force his skin, muscles, and bones to compress and collide.

It was quite miraculous, a manifestation of the martial artist’s “extraordinary power.”

“Constitution is also an important prerequisite.

If the constitution isn’t strong enough, the flesh and bones can’t produce this qi energy at all.”

Lu Yuan summarized, then pulled up his professional panel.

As expected, a notification had already appeared on the panel.

[You have comprehended a new skill.[Crane Power lv1]]

And on the [Martial Artist] panel, a new skill had been added.

[Advanced Professional Skill: Crane Power lv1 (1/100)]

“Crane Power…”

Lu Yuan looked at the name of this skill, his face glowing with excitement, feeling an indescribable sense of exhilaration.