Chapter 35: Might

"What do you mean by 'hidden depth'? I simply prefer not to show off."

"Besides, didn't I say it that day? I possess the grace of a phoenix and the stature of a dragon; the old man was talking about me, you just didn't believe it."

Li Qi splayed his fingers slightly, generating a burst of force from his arm that flicked away the hand Li Zheng had been gripping with lethal intent.

Li Zheng’s grip was not weak—he was nearly at the Entry stage, after all—but at that moment, he felt an irresistible, overwhelming power surge through him. The resulting shock left his palm numb.

True mastery is found in the smallest details; this explosive power, contained within such a tiny space, undoubtedly revealed the depth of Li Qi's physical refinement.

"Furthermore, Brother Zheng, your 'three-to-seven' odds were a bit conservative. I feel 'two-to-eight' would be more accurate."

Li Qi opened his eyes. Without any grand movements, his entire frame began to crackle and pop like a tiger waking from slumber, stretching its limbs. Simultaneously, those nearby were instantly gripped by a sense of panic, as if they had inadvertently trespassed into the territory of a fierce beast.

Even Li Zheng, who was on the verge of the Entry stage, felt immense pressure.

This was the manifestation of the "Tiger’s Might" trait. Traits are never ordinary; one need only look at the effects of the Tiger Form to see how formidable they are. If swordsmanship is the branch and leaf, then the resulting trait is undoubtedly the fruit—the true essence.

Though the description of Tiger’s Might was simple, it was effectively on the same level as the Tiger Form. In sword training, different methods and different fortunes lead to different fruits. The Tiger Form is the orthodox path, while Tiger’s Might is a daring, unorthodox deviation.

But to deviate does not mean to be weak; in some respects, it is even more ferocious. Under normal circumstances, with Li Qi’s swordsmanship only just reaching small success, having a Tiger Form would be the limit. But the System, clearly, did not play by reasonable rules. It had forcibly extracted one possibility from all the potential of his swordsmanship.

Combined with his Tiger Form and the progress of his sword skills, it could be said that although only three days had passed, Li Qi was significantly stronger than when he had tested his striking power and speed three days ago.

He hadn't even drawn his blade yet; simply stretching his body and spirit had produced such an aura. If he were to actually strike, anyone with a weaker will would likely lose their nerve, unable to muster even thirty percent of their fighting capability.

Li Zheng stood stunned for a moment before muttering, "A tiger keeps its eyes closed, but when it opens them, it intends to eat men. You have already grasped the spirit of the form!"

"Ah Qi, if even with this aura the old man says your foundation is thin and your potential poor, then what am I? A piece of trash?"

"Or perhaps, does my very existence lower the baseline for the human species?"

***

Li Zheng had watched the video recordings earlier and only thought Li Qi was fierce. While he was indeed fierce, compared to the spiritual impact of that moment, the recordings were far inferior. In that instant, Li Zheng had profoundly felt the pressure of a top-tier predator.

"My foundation is indeed thin right now. Look at those with deep foundations—they reach the Dao in a hundred days, or even a single day. That is what you call a deep foundation."

Li Qi exhaled a long breath. The scorching air collided with the cold current in the atmosphere, turning into white mist. Although his combat strength and status had undergone a sea change in these few days, he felt no arrogance or conceit.

Because there were too many strong people in this world. If he only looked at Li Family Village, his results were impressive, but that would be like a frog in a well. Born in the information age, he knew how vast the world was.

It was true that he was progressing rapidly, but he was no match for some who were even more "cheated" than he was. For some, improving their swordsmanship by a level a day was standard operation. Some could even glance at secret martial arts of the Daoist sects and achieve small success, then enter the state of divine insight after three days of practice.

Li Qi was progressing, but so were they. Compared to his previous world, the geniuses of this world were even more unreasonable—they were practically a different species from ordinary people. Li Qi had even wondered if some humans possessed the genes of higher life forms, and those geniuses were simply atavistic.

However, scientific research in this world showed that even the offspring of two Saints were merely stronger than ordinary people. Talent was entirely a matter of fate; even Saints could give birth to fools. The uniqueness of those geniuses lay not in their physical structure, but in their spiritual makeup, which was completely different from that of ordinary people.

"Li Qi, have you been possessed by a tiger spirit from the mountains? I heard that the tiger the villagers found earlier was a mutated beast, more than twice the size of an ordinary tiger."

Li Ying leaned in mysteriously. When she sat down, her legs were still trembling. Halfway here, she had happened to run into Li Qi stretching his muscles, and it had scared her until her legs went weak. This had nothing to do with courage; it was a physical instinct.

"Unbelievable. I thought we were all going to be layabouts together, but you were secretly working hard."

Li Ying found it incredible. It felt as if, in a world that had been mundane, a familiar, useless friend had suddenly transformed into a superman.

***

A little further away, Xu Wei watched them. She, too, felt that everything was unreal. When she met Li Qi a few days ago, she thought his talk of being "almost there" meant he was about to begin his training. She never expected he was on the verge of the Entry stage, that he had developed a true form before entering, and that his explosive power far exceeded the benchmark for a veteran.

Crucially, he was only sixteen.

She, meanwhile, was only hoping to reach the Entry stage before graduation, which would give her a huge advantage in her future career.

Their fates had diverged onto a massive fork in the road, with no possibility of ever intersecting again. For the first time, she felt the strangeness of destiny deeply—that on the surface, he was nothing more than a lazy youth.

"Xiao Di, how does it feel?"

In another corner, Chen Di and her mother were whispering.

"It doesn't feel like anything. He’s just relying on his talent. If I had that talent, I could do it too..."

Chen Di reflexively denied it, ignoring the fact that she rarely practiced her sword skills even once every three to five days, and gave up as soon as she broke a sweat.

"Besides, there are so many who burn out like Zhong Yong in this world. Some things can only be seen after a few more years; this is just a moment of transient brilliance."

Chen Di muttered, her pride getting the better of her. Having seen the world outside, she no longer considered herself the village girl she once was. She looked down on her childhood companions from a position of superiority, unwilling to deepen the bonds of their old friendship.

Yet, the sudden display of Li Qi’s strength shattered her haughty self-esteem and left her feeling deeply uncomfortable.

Chen Di’s mother saw this and said no more, merely feeling it was a pity. Her daughter seemed to have been raised poorly, causing her to miss out on a good match. But children have their own fortunes, and she let it go. She had been interested in this match primarily because of the bonds of her own generation.

Time slipped away unnoticed, and in the blink of an eye, it was nine o'clock.

Finally, the military trials began.