Chapter 36

Su Wangchuan normally had no time to browse short videos.

However, since he had not checked his account activity in a long while, he casually opened Douyin while eating dinner that evening. Unexpectedly, a horrifying piece of local news appeared.

The victim in the short video was covered with mosaic censorship.

Su Wangchuan had seen far bloodier scenes in the game, so it did not affect his appetite. Instead, he felt curious. With robots patrolling everywhere, how could beasts possibly enter a city park?

He opened the comments, only to find that commenting had been disabled.

Immediately afterward, a notice popped up:

“This content has been reported and removed due to excessive bloodiness and horror.”

The video had been censored.

“…”

Su Wangchuan immediately searched for other related local videos.

Sure enough, he found several fragmented clips.

Some people had posted videos of personal belongings left behind by the victim in the park, apparently torn off while fleeing from a beast.

Others uploaded footage from surveillance cameras and added their own commentary:

“It’s very strange.”

“There are no beasts visible in the footage at all, yet the victim is clearly running in panic…”

“At first, we thought it was a prank.”

“But afterward, the footage glitched.”

“When we went to check, the victim’s internal organs had been completely removed. It looked like multiple beasts had fed on him in a very short time. There were missing parts all over the body.”

“That scene… we never want to remember it again in our lives. I feel like it’ll become my lifelong nightmare.”

“…”

A look of surprise crossed Su Wangchuan’s eyes.

“For an adult’s internal organs to be eaten clean in such a short time, it absolutely couldn’t have been done by a single beast… That makes it even stranger. How could multiple beasts appear inside the city?”

Unfortunately, he did not have time to investigate further.

When the time came, he tossed his phone aside, put on his gaming helmet, and logged into the game. While forging iron arrowheads, he pushed the matter to the back of his mind.

…

That night, Zhao Heiniu took the initiative to find Su Wangchuan.

“The number of Hundredfold Steel arrowheads is sufficient now, and your spear-thrusting foundation is already quite solid. From this moment on, you’ll begin the third stage of training.”

“Yes.”

Su Wangchuan felt a flicker of excitement.

Zhao Heiniu picked up an iron ingot, bound it tightly with rope, and tied it to the tip of Su Wangchuan’s spear.

“Horse stance.”

“Hold a single-handed thrusting posture.”

“If you can maintain it for one quarter of an hour without moving at all, you pass.”

“Understood!”

After giving the instructions, Zhao Heiniu left.

At the beginning, Su Wangchuan felt fairly relaxed.

After all, he had 11 points of Strength.

The iron ingot weighed only five or six jin at most.

But as the seconds ticked by, Su Wangchuan began to feel as if a thousand-jin weight were hanging from the spear, relentlessly prying at his muscles.

The spear slowly tilted downward.

Five minutes passed…

Su Wangchuan was drenched in sweat.

All the strength in his body was concentrated at a single point, solely to maintain the balance at the spear’s tip and keep the motion arc from deforming.

Out of curiosity, Hong Kaibao and Bai Yuhui tried imitating him.

Less than a minute later, their arm muscles trembled violently. Soon, their spear tips dropped, and the iron ingots crashed to the ground.

The two exchanged glances.

“The third stage is this hard?”

“How are you supposed to train like this?”

“Even Senior Brother Wangchuan can’t hold on…”

“There’s no way we can endure it.”

The two were deeply discouraged.

Su Wangchuan did not speak. He focused completely, mobilizing all the strength in his body and gathering his core power.

Time passed bit by bit…

After holding on for ten minutes, the iron ingot finally fell.

He did not feel discouraged.

Switching to his left hand, he continued training with the iron ingot attached.

Miraculously, his left hand held out for eleven minutes.

However, after rotating between both hands for an entire day, he still could not break past eleven minutes.

The second day was the same.

After persisting for two days, Zhao Heiniu took the initiative to offer guidance.

“Wangchuan, you need to imagine that what you’re holding isn’t a spear, but a dragon… What is a dragon? It’s alive. It shouldn’t be rigid and unmoving… Yet at the same time, you must control this dragon. Only then can you strike with the spear like a dragon when you attack.”

Su Wangchuan listened in a daze.

Holding the spear, he pondered Captain Zhao’s words.

What he held was not a spear…

It was a dragon.

So abstract.

Still, influenced by Zhao Heiniu, he decided to change his training method.

Since it was alive…

Then he would no longer rigidly lock his movements.

Under his right hand, the spear began to sway slightly, tracing small circles.

As the spear grew increasingly unstable, drifting erratically, he seemed to gradually grasp something…

Continue.

Hong Kaibao and Bai Yuhui were completely baffled.

“Did Senior Brother lose his mind?”

“Why did his training suddenly become so chaotic?”

“This can’t be the legendary cultivation deviation, right?”

Su Wangchuan ignored them.

His gaze fixed on the spear, following that single point of cold gleam at its tip toward the straw dummy stake ahead.

The spear was like a dragon.

A dragon was alive.

But…

A dragon still had to be kept under control.

Su Wangchuan was gradually beginning to understand.

His horse stance rose and fell in subtle oscillations.

Guided by this rhythm, the amplitude of movement at the spear’s tip noticeably decreased.

Su Wangchuan narrowed his eyes slightly.

Within the rhythm of his stance, his strength no longer felt rigid. Instead, it flowed and contracted flexibly, controlling the spear, controlling its edge, locking onto the straw dummy stake with a sense of choosing its prey.

As time passed…

He soon held on beyond fifteen minutes.

However, the spear still could not remain perfectly still and balanced.

Its oscillation amplitude was still somewhat large.

One day later.

The spear’s shaking clearly diminished.

Two days later…

In the eyes of Hong Kaibao and Bai Yuhui, the spear tip was steadily aimed at the straw dummy stake. The iron ingot trembled only slightly, vibrating at a level almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

Senior Brother Wangchuan’s horse stance also swayed forward, back, left, and right in extremely small movements. At a glance, it looked motionless—yet also seemed to be moving.

“Damn.”

“Senior Brother is amazing!”

“He’s already held it for over fifteen minutes. It’s been eighteen minutes!”

Hong Kaibao hurried off to call Captain Zhao Heiniu over.

After observing for a while, Zhao Heiniu smiled.

“Wangchuan, you truly have talent in martial training. Next, as long as you pass the fourth stage, you’ll officially grasp spear techniques.”

Su Wangchuan reluctantly withdrew the spear and nodded.

“It’s all thanks to Captain Zhao’s guidance.”

“…”

Hong Kaibao and Bai Yuhui were left speechless, feeling strangely offended yet daring not to protest.

“The fourth stage is ten thousand single-handed thrusts.”

Zhao Heiniu planted another wooden stake upright.

“If you can pierce one cun into the wood, that represents three cun into flesh. Anything less than one cun doesn’t count. Complete ten thousand thrusts, and you’ll be considered officially initiated.”

Su Wangchuan’s eyes burned with fervor.

Once he cleared this stage, he would officially master Entry-Level Spear Technique.

After Zhao Heiniu left, Su Wangchuan immediately began.

THUD!

At this moment, his 11 points of Strength proved crucial.

Almost every thrust easily pierced one cun into the wooden stake.

But he soon realized it was not that simple.

Every strike required full exertion, and pulling the spear back out also took considerable effort.

After several hundred thrusts, his arms grew sore and numb, strength beginning to fade.

Su Wangchuan ate two pieces of wolf meat jerky, then switched to his left hand and continued.

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