Chapter 96: Learn to Take a Beating

A kick from a special forces soldier is no joke. I didn’t have time to speak and could only dodge. But just as I sidestepped his kick, a punch followed immediately. My body couldn’t keep up with my reflexes, and I had to endure the hit. I stumbled back a few steps before steadying myself.  

“Old man, stop messing with me! How could I possibly defeat so many special forces soldiers by myself?” I shouted at Long Qingyang, taking advantage of the brief pause.  

“To learn how to fight, you must first learn to take a beating.” Long Qingyang took a puff from his tobacco pipe, then said to the soldiers, “Keep going. Don’t stop unless I tell you to.”  

Hearing the order, the soldiers resumed their punches and kicks. Dodging was futile, so I could only cover my vital areas and brace for the assault. Before long, I was beaten to the ground.  

“Stop!” Long Qingyang tapped his pipe, and the group finally halted.  

I exhaled in relief—it was over at last. If it were five or six ordinary people, I might have had a fighting chance. But these were special forces soldiers, far beyond my ability to handle, especially since I couldn’t use True Qi. If I used it, the whole purpose of training with Qin Shousheng would be meaningless.  

Long Qingyang crouched before me, looking me in the eyes. “How do you feel?”  

“Not great,” I replied irritably. Although his point about learning to take a beating made sense, it didn’t seem to help much.  

Even though my body had undergone many refinements, the pain from their attacks was intense. I guessed they had held back, or I would’ve ended up in a much worse state.  

Long Qingyang chuckled. “Then let’s continue!” The moment those words left his mouth, the soldiers attacked again.  

Enduring the beatings couldn’t go on. I had to come up with a way to fight back. If I couldn’t handle them all at once, I’d have to focus on one.  

I locked my gaze on the shortest soldier among them, although by ordinary standards, he would still be considered tall.  

After taking a kick to the back, I stumbled forward, directly toward the smaller soldier. I used the momentum to drive my shoulder toward him.  

Before I could hit him, however, I was tripped and fell flat on the ground. The soldiers swarmed me again, beating me mercilessly.  

This back-and-forth continued until lunchtime.  

“How are you holding up, kid?” Long Qingyang asked, taking a bite of rice and glancing at me.  

I forced a smile. “I don’t think taking a beating teaches anything.”  

Long Qingyang didn’t respond, focusing on his meal.  

He may have had a point, but with so many people ganging up on me, there was no way I could learn anything. All I could do was defend myself; there was no chance to attack. How was I supposed to improve like this?  

After finishing my meal, Long Qingyang asked, “Done eating?”  

“Yes!” I snapped, annoyed.  

He didn’t seem bothered by my attitude and smiled. “Then let’s continue!”  

The afternoon was filled with more beatings. I couldn’t imagine what would happen if my body were as fragile as an ordinary person’s. I’d probably already be meeting the King of Hell by now.  

Long Qingyang glanced at my bruised body and said, “Go soak in the medicinal pool.”  

I froze for a moment, puzzled. “Medicinal pool? What’s that?”  

“It’ll help with your injuries. Follow the big guys,” he said, fastening his pipe to his belt before wandering off.  

I followed the soldiers to a place they called the medicinal pool.  

The so-called medicinal pool looked like a bathhouse, except the water was a deep red, with a strong scent of herbal medicine.  

The soldiers stripped down and soaked in the pool. I did the same, settling into the warm water.  

“Not bad, little brother!” the shorter soldier remarked with a grin.  

I scratched my head awkwardly and smiled. “Didn’t even get a hit in. So embarrassing!”  

The soldier chuckled. “Though we’ve retired, we never slacked on training.” He continued, “Have you trained before, little brother?”  

“No,” I replied, shaking my head. My response drew the attention of the others.  

One of them burst out laughing. “Come on, no ordinary person could endure our punches, even with us holding back. You’ve clearly been through some serious training.”  

“Oh, my body just happens to be tough,” I joked, though my thoughts were different. *If I used True Qi, I could knock all of you out in no time.*  

I asked curiously, “Why do you guys listen to that old man, Long Qingyang?”  

The soldiers exchanged glances and smiled awkwardly. One of them spoke up. “At first, we were like you, thinking Master Long wasn’t all that special. So, we didn’t take him seriously. But when he got angry, he knocked us all down without even trying.”  

“No way!” I blurted out. It was hard to believe. While I could take any of them one-on-one, facing all of them together was a different story—unless I found five more fighters as strong as me.  

If Long Qingyang could defeat them all on his own, that meant he could handle six of me.  

“There’s no need to lie to you. The old man is really strong. We even suspect he’s a top-tier Earth-rank master,” one soldier said with admiration.  

“Earth-rank?” I echoed, confused.  

Seeing my puzzled look, the soldier explained, “In modern martial arts, strength is ranked from lowest to highest as Yellow, Profound, Earth, and Heaven. We’re all peak Yellow-rank. The strongest fighters we’ve heard of are Earth-rank masters. As for Heaven-rank, we’ve never seen one.”  

Wang Ziyan once said I was peak Yellow-rank. But after I used True Qi to break the handcuffs, she concluded I was at the Profound-rank. This meant that without True Qi, I was peak Yellow-rank, but with it, I reached the Profound-rank.  

“Hang in there, little brother,” a soldier said, patting my shoulder. “Master Long gave us orders—until you can beat the six of us, you won’t pass.”  

“Damn, how long will that take?” I groaned, making the soldiers laugh.  

On the way back, they blindfolded me and covered my ears with headphones. By the time I got home, it was past seven. Despite soaking in the medicinal pool, my body still ached. I decided to take out some rare herbs from the Storage Ring to relieve the pain.  

Mei’er had already transformed into her human form and looked at me worriedly. “Xia Tian, let’s not go back, okay?”  

“Why?” I asked with a smile, wondering if this little troublemaker felt sorry for me.  

Pouting, Mei’er said, “That old man’s training is effective, but it’s a reckless way to improve quickly.”  

“As long as it works, that’s all that matters,” I replied with a carefree grin. With only a couple of months to become a top fighter, Qin Shousheng had no choice but to push me hard.  

Mei’er seemed like she wanted to say more, but I pulled her into my arms and grinned mischievously. “Come here, let me have a bite!”


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