Chapter 59 My Heart Remains Unwavering

Just at that moment, a commotion broke out in the open space not far away, instantly capturing the attention of many.

Accompanied by the clashing of weapons and the ringing of metal, a flurry of crisp snaps rang out, followed immediately by a low, muffled groan.

"Mu Qun, your swordsmanship still needs work! With such pathetic tricks, you dare to interrupt me while I’m speaking? Tired of living?!"

Along with a deep, gravelly voice came a heavy thud.

When Li Qi looked over, he saw a heavily built man, towering at about one meter ninety and resembling an iron pagoda, clad in a full set of protective gear. The man was ruthlessly grinding another man's head down into the dirt and gravel, the impact even creating a depression in the hard ground.

At that moment, everyone present could feel the ferocious and violent aura radiating from the tall man, making him look like an enraged black bear.

Faces in the crowd showed a variety of expressions regarding this scene.

"Zhang Kuanglong is starting trouble again. Seems like he pulls this stunt every single year..."

Li Zheng leaned closer to Li Qi and muttered under his breath.

"Still, rumor has it that Zhang Kuanglong is naturally terrible at emotional self-control. They say his body is so insanely strong that it ends up backfiring and affecting his brain. Well, it figures—with a physique built entirely on hard training like that, even without practicing martial arts, he could easily beat down a few strong men. And on top of that, he actually practices martial arts..."

Hearing this, Li Qi chuckled and said, "Poor self-control? I wouldn't be so sure!"

"It's nothing more than putting on a show, deliberately acting wild and unbridled."

"He's playing this out for the old master to see."

"Indulging one's emotions can also be a unique form of mastery."

Observing the unfolding situation, Li Qi saw through it as clearly as if looking into a bright mirror.

In the past, his thoughts would have been much like Li Zheng's. But now, with his intellect unlocked and his spiritual perception awakened, he suddenly understood the underlying truths of the world. That 240% mental boost was truly tyrannical.

A powerful mind perceives worldly affairs in an entirely different light.

As for Zhang Kuanglong, he was roughly around Li Tianxing's age. He began training at fourteen and took a year and a half to enter the threshold, which was slightly slower than Li Tianxing. However, he was born with exceptionally powerful sinews and bones. If a real fight broke out, probably only someone at the peak of the threshold realm could suppress him.

In fact, in his early years, Zhang Kuanglong was actually called Zhang Long. Feeling that the name lacked imposing presence, he had added the character for "madness" (kuang) into it himself.

Ever since his name began to spread in his teens, his persona had always been one of unbridled lawlessness and reckless abandon.

"You don't say..."

Hearing this, Li Zheng was slightly startled, and then sudden understanding dawned on him.

He was a smart person, previously blinded only by conventional thinking. Now, with Li Qi's brief pointer, everything instantly became clear.

"No wonder Zhang Kuanglong loves picking on people from the Mu family. So that's what's really going on..."

Li Zheng muttered to himself.

"That's not all. My guess is that Zhang Kuanglong's next target will be me."

"Presumably, the elders of both the Mu and Zhang families are eager to test my depth."

Li Qi smiled faintly, entirely unconfused by the worldly affairs.

As the saying goes, a man of forty is free from doubts, meaning a normally learned person generally begins to comprehend worldly matters by the age of forty and harbors no perplexities about the myriad things in existence.

Li Qi was not yet forty, but through cultivation and the awakening of his intellect, he already exuded the demeanor of one free from doubt.

"If someone like that openly provokes me, even with the age gap, conventional wisdom dictates that no one can say anything against it."

"Naturally, in broad daylight, he wouldn't dare kill me, but if he could shatter my fighting spirit and plant a shadow in my heart, that would be a victory in itself."

"Since it's just a dispute among youngsters, the elders wouldn't find it appropriate to intervene."

Li Qi spoke to Li Zheng at a leisurely pace, causing Li Zheng to nod repeatedly in agreement.

Then, Li Zheng suddenly snapped out of it, looking at him in shock and suspicion: "Ah-Qi, why have you suddenly become so smart?!"

"It's almost as if you were enlightened by a sage, your mind's aperture instantly blown wide open!"

"Although cultivation past the threshold involves lighting up and developing the brain, aren't the first forty percent of development areas that humans have already activated—just not fully activated? The remaining sixty percent is the real key, which can vastly develop one's intellect..."

Li Zheng was deeply skeptical.

His knowledge regarding cultivation was very solid.

The human brain was already activated; unactivated brains belonged only to the dead.

Before breaking through human limits, the effect of developing the brain in the threshold realm was merely a stronger memory, improved logical thinking, and enhanced computational power. Only by shattering the ultimate limits of the human body would there be a qualitative leap. It was utterly impossible for someone to transform overnight from an ordinary person into an unfathomable monster of wisdom like Li Qi.

"Alas! So this is the power of surviving a demonic tribulation!"

"Damn it, if only I were a genius of supreme potential, cutting down demons to achieve the Dao..."

Li Zheng sighed mournfully.

"Actually, it might not be entirely impossible. I browsed through an overseas database by bypassing the firewall and dug up some interesting things. Decades ago, someone attempted artificial demonic tribulations, allowing ordinary people to undergo tribulations as well. Out of more than seven hundred subjects, over six hundred went mad, and only a single person successfully passed the tribulation, though his personality underwent a drastic transformation."

Li Qi casually brought this up.

Since demonic tribulations existed, it was impossible that no one had ever studied them.

After his intellect was unlocked last night, Li Qi had considered this exact possibility and checked foreign data repositories. Sure enough, he managed to unearth some findings.

And this was merely what he could see; actual research in this field undoubtedly went far beyond this surface information.

Just as Li Zheng heard this and was about to respond, a resonant voice suddenly boomed across the area: "Li Qi, I heard you mastered the tiger form and used your blade to cut down a demonic tribulation! I, Zhang Kuanglong, have never considered myself inferior to anyone in my entire life. I'd like to see just what kind of person you really are!"

Along with the voice, Zhang Kuanglong strode forward with the gait of a dragon and a tiger, kicking up dust in his wake. His advance was charged with a violent, domineering aura, and an invisible pressure caused many of the younger onlookers to instinctively step back.

At first, everyone's gaze had been fixed on Zhang Kuanglong, but as his words rang out, every single pair of eyes shifted toward Li Qi, whom Zhang Kuanglong was currently glaring at with piercing intensity.

Compared to the overwhelmingly domineering Zhang Kuanglong, Li Qi's presence seemed far too modest at the moment. Standing under one meter eighty with loose-fitting clothes that hid any bulging muscles, although he looked spirited and upright, the contrast against Zhang Kuanglong, the human-shaped black bear, was stark.

Before Li Qi could even react, the minds of many young people present went into a flurry of processing.

Li Qi? Used a blade to cut down a demonic tribulation?!

What on earth was Zhang Kuanglong talking about?

Demonic tribulations only ever consistently appeared to supreme geniuses, and even for geniuses, didn't it all come down to luck?

Li Qi? A supreme genius?!

Such were the doubts swirling in the minds of many youths.

The incident where Li Qi slashed through the demonic tribulation had occurred the afternoon before yesterday, after which the old master had immediately issued a gag order. Of course, keeping such a secret from leaking completely was impossible; the old master had merely reacted on instinct—after all, anxiety leads to poor judgment.

Naturally, the gag order remained effective, at least preventing anyone from posting about it in public chat groups. Privately, however, it had already spread among the upper echelons of various families.

It was just that certain younger members, much like Li Qi in the past, occupied peripheral positions within their households despite their close bloodlines, and no one had bothered to inform them, leaving them utterly bewildered.