Chapter 90

The afternoon classes were quickly coming to an end, and Cui Qinglang, who had just carried a load of 350 kilograms for eight or nine kilometers, had little energy left to cause any trouble. Li Pu and Yan Xiaoyan freely sparred for a while, concluding his uneventful first day of school.

Strictly speaking, the physical education program at this school was quite good, but for the current Li Pu, it still held little significance. Even the best training bases in China mainly catered to the stage between manifest force and transformational force. Even the strongest instructor, Instructor Lin Jie, had a cultivation level that was roughly at the upper level of transformational force.

A martial artist at the transformational force level was essentially a top figure in a province. Among the millions of Chinese soldiers, there might not be more than ten who had reached the transformational force level, which was why Cui Qinglang, whose cultivation was at the initial stage of transformational force, was so arrogant and self-assured. From the perspective of a regular student, he was one of the top combat geniuses in the country.

Martial Saints who had reached the stage of embracing the core were probably only possessed by the overall commander Lei or the principal Ji. This was the depth of China's strength. In countries like South Korea, Israel, the UK, France, and Germany, a transformational force grandmaster could be considered one of the top figures in the nation.

The only ones that could rival or even surpass China's "Hidden Dragon Force" in this aspect were the elite-gathering "Last Line" of the United States and the global organization "Serpent of Wisdom."

"But... it's still not enough." Li Pu looked at his palm. The school's training methods were too primitive for him. Even running 10,000 meters with a 500-kilogram load at level 10 wouldn't be as effective as delivering over a hundred manifest force punches in a few minutes.

Thanks to the monitoring and maintenance of the Life Blueprint, even a core force martial saint might not be much more proficient in ordinary manifest force strikes than he was. It was this advantage that allowed him to advance so rapidly to the transformational force stage.

As a result, he found himself far surpassing other students, even Cui Qinglang, who was among the best of China's young generation, was clearly left behind.

Instructor Lin Jie was a good person, but his cultivation was slightly inferior to that of the Little Fist Saint. And now, even Swallowing Star was somewhat weaker than him in terms of overall strength.

"If I really need to be taught, I would need a core force martial saint to teach me. Hmm, Ji Haoyang and Lei Dazhuang should both have core force cultivation, but one is the principal, and the other is the overall commander of the Hidden Dragon Force. There's no reason for them to specifically teach me, an unknown freshman. Tsk, if Aunt Xin were still here..."

In the quiet park of the neighborhood, his adoptive mother, with her lazy and gentle demeanor, would carefully correct his boxing stance, massage him tenderly, and every day when he and Xiao Xian returned home, they would see the table set with home-cooked dishes she had prepared. The memories of these little moments of their life together brought Li Pu a sense of happiness every time he thought of them, followed by a feeling of melancholy and, ultimately, anger.

—Anger at his own weakness. Weakness that prevented him from protecting the most precious people in his life.

Thinking of this, Li Pu took a deep breath and walked to a secluded spot behind the dormitory, beginning his usual boxing practice to calm his mind.

Unlike before, his current practice was no longer the swift and fierce, storm-like explosive punches. Instead, it was a slow, meticulous style, as if he were carefully considering how each muscle fiber should exert force.

Entering the transformational force stage was the beginning of the "subtle" technique. Gradually refining the basic force emission techniques, he was approaching the threshold of the profound martial arts realm.

Manifest force trained the tendons and muscles; hidden force trained the superior penetration and force emission; and at the transformational force stage, the focus was on the fine control of force emission and retraction.

Li Pu's boxing was smooth and restrained, his pores fully sensing the airflow around him, his body moving as if it were one with the space. The airflow gently carried a few leaves, which silently drifted past the young man. He casually raised his hand, the movement so gentle it seemed to exert no force at all.

The few leaves, merely touched by the back of his hand, did not scatter but instantly disintegrated into tiny fiber fragments, like a cloud of dust.

"Being able to shatter light, soft leaves in mid-air is the realm of如意 (as you wish). The middle stage of transformational force is already perfectly refined, and I'm just a step away from the upper stage."

Li Pu was quite satisfied as he concluded his practice. This was the best session in months. As long as he used it, the memory mode of the Divine Warrior Armament would record his current state in his Life Blueprint, serving as a basis for future optimization.

For the subtle control of transformational force, if not mastered well, it could externally injure bones and tendons and internally damage the heart and lungs. The energy within a transformational force grandmaster's body far exceeded that of ordinary people, and if the intense and thick blood and qi went astray, even the strongest would be paralyzed.

All martial arts grandmasters practiced with greater caution as their skills advanced, emphasizing the stability of their training. This was why.

Over the years, Li Pu was increasingly grateful for the assistance of the Divine Warrior Armament. With the help of its "memory mode," "limit enhancement program," and "Life Blueprint system," his training methods, no matter how unconventional, would not result in any long-term negative effects.

But it still wasn't strong enough, even reaching the core force stage wouldn't be enough... Li Pu exhaled and concluded his practice, preparing to return to the dormitory. Suddenly, a familiar gentle voice sounded behind him.

The warm voice that made his breath catch, using a nickname he hadn't heard in years, greeted him with a smile: "D-boy, you've made quite a bit of progress. At your age, I might not have been able to shatter leaves so beautifully."

Li Pu's body stiffened. Even though he had been fully focused, he hadn't sensed her presence at all. She was so in harmony with nature that there was no trace of her energy, making her an absolute expert. But for him, this wasn't the most important issue.

The most important thing was—only one person ever called him "D-boy."

"Aunt Xin!" Li Pu turned around sharply. There stood a woman in a hunting outfit, standing gracefully not far away. Her exquisite face radiated a warmth that was both maternal and teacherly, her long, fine eyelashes trembling slightly, her star-like eyes sparkling. Her beautiful face, unadorned, glowed with a youthful luster, her smile a blend of four parts joy, four parts warmth, and two parts apology, radiating complete warmth.

Chen Tianxin tilted her head slightly, playfully touching her cheek with her slender fingers, teasing the stunned boy: "Hi, D-boy. Why are you so surprised? I shouldn't have aged so much that you can't recognize me, right?"

"Aunt Xin... you haven't changed at all." Hearing the long-missed nickname, the boy clenched his fists, trying to suppress his emotions, but a glint of moisture still appeared in his eyes. In that instant, he was transported back to the happy times they had spent together, a period that, though only four years ago, felt like a long, long time to him.

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On a weekend afternoon in 1994, Li Pu met Chen Tianxin for the first time.

After playing with the mysterious girl he had just met all afternoon, he returned home, rummaging through his drawers to find a few of his favorite comic books, secretly stuffing them into his backpack to share with her.

The girl had told him which unit she lived in, and Li Pu came to her building, cupping his hands to his mouth and shouting several times: "Chen Xian! Chen Xian! Come down and play!"

However, the one who opened the window on the third-floor balcony was an adult woman.

"Xian is taking a nap. Why don't you come up?" The woman's elbows rested on the balcony, her voice soft and gentle but clearly heard by the boy below.

When Li Pu climbed up, the one who opened the door was a slender woman in shorts, her sleek, shoulder-length hair as black as ink, contrasting with her fair skin. Her delicate face, with arched eyebrows and star-like eyes, a straight nose, and cherry lips, was, to a child's simple aesthetic, far more beautiful than any movie star.

The little boy blinked, a bit awkwardly saying, "Hello, are you Chen Xian's sister? I have an appointment to play with Chen Xian today..."

"Yes, I know. Xian told me about you."

The big sister bent down, smiling mischievously, "But you're a bit naughty, aren't you? Dragging such a little girl to climb over walls to watch movies on your first meeting..."

The beautiful big sister's words seemed reasonable, and as she approached, a refreshing fragrance wafted from her, making Li Pu a bit embarrassed.

"Sorry..." the boy apologized involuntarily, "But I protected her seriously."

"I saw, so no need to apologize." The beautiful big sister patted his spiky head affectionately, "Xian has always been lonely. Having a lively and compatible friend like you might be a good thing. And compared to the ones I knew before, you're not that wild..." At this, she suddenly laughed, perhaps remembering some past events.

She let the boy in. Li Pu sat on the sofa, curiously looking around. The big sister even brought him a box of imported milk candies, the packaging in a foreign language, which was very novel to Li Pu, who had only ever eaten the highest-grade milk candies.

When she walked into the small room and woke up the drowsy Chen Xian, Li Pu realized she was the girl's biological mother.

The little girl, wearing a strapless dress and hugging a rabbit plushie, wobbled out. Seeing Li Pu, a bright, innocent smile bloomed on her face, and she said in a soft voice, "Hello, you're here..."

She ran to Li Pu, "Where are we going to have an adventure today?"

"Uh, an adventure?" Li Pu glanced at the smiling "big sister" and said, "Today, let's just read comics. I picked out a few special ones for you!"

Amidst the cicada chirps, the lazy summer afternoon. The boy and girl shared comics, swapping them after finishing, and chattering about the characters and plots. At five in the afternoon, the "beautiful big sister" made a small but exquisite home-cooked meal, inviting the boy to stay for dinner.

As the boy waved goodbye to them and ran home under the starlight, the gentle, beautiful, and skilled Chen Xin had already left a deep impression on him, almost as much as Xiao Xian.

As the friendship and bond between the boy and girl grew stronger, Aunt Chen Xin became even more caring towards the boy. To his surprise, Aunt Chen Xin was completely different from other parents. She would watch cartoons with her child, and when her daughter wanted to play video games, she bought all the consoles on the market and even played doubles with her when she had time!

To the young Li Pu, this was the ideal parent.

Later, Li Pu gradually understood that Aunt Chen Xin wanted to give her daughter, who had no father, a carefree childhood.

A happier and more complete childhood than her own. The boy's presence made up for what Chen Xin alone could not achieve.

And in Li Pu's heart, Aunt Xin's appearance perhaps also made up for what he was missing.

A few years later, the disaster of the Starship's fall took away the boy's single father, and she even adopted the orphaned boy. That night, after talking with Li Pu, Chen Xin gently hugged the young boy, and for the first time, Li Pu, from a single-parent family, clearly felt a warmth similar to that of a mother—meeting them was the luckiest thing in his life, even more so than finding the "Divine Warrior Armament," more than anything.

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"Aunt Xin, did you come with Xiao Xian?" Li Pu steadied his emotions and walked quickly to his adoptive mother, feeling a thousand words he wanted to share with her, but the first thing he wanted to know was this.

"Yes, I did." Mentioning her daughter, Chen Tianxin sighed softly, a bitter smile appearing on her face, "But Xiao Xian... she's very upset with her father and is sulking in her room." At this, she suddenly said apologetically, "I'm sorry."

"What happened?" Li Pu was taken aback.

"Your secret has been investigated by Di Tianda. He set up a trap, and Xiao Xian's use of alien script to call you to this school was all part of his plan. So Xiao Xian feels very bad and is too embarrassed to see you."

Chen Tianxin shook her head with a bitter smile, "I thought that by disposing of the notebook that day and minimizing contact with you, I could keep it a secret from him. Unfortunately, Di Tianda is too cunning. Sigh, I and Tianhao have never been able to outsmart him, even as children, and it's the same now..."

The secret of the "Divine Warrior Armament" was known by Di Tianda? Li Pu felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head. With his current strength, he definitely couldn't stand up to the powerful organization, the Serpent of Wisdom.

Fortunately, Aunt Xin affectionately rubbed his cheek, comforting him, "Don't worry, at least he understands that even if he kills you, he won't get the 'Divine Warrior Armament'." At this, she smiled contemptuously, "Hmph, it's not that he has any moral principles, but he has seen autopsy photos of some alien corpses that were salvaged, and they had the same mark on their chests as you. So logically, he understands that this thing won't drop like a game item if you die. He's cunning, but he's also very rational."

"Phew..." Li Pu felt relieved. Previously, he himself wasn't sure if the "Divine Warrior Armament" would drop like a boss in "Diablo II" if he were killed. Apart from Xiao Xian and Aunt Xin, the two people he trusted most, he had never dared to let anyone else know this secret. Even his beloved country, he was worried that if any power knew he had this alien equipment, they might try to kill him to see if it would drop...

Fortunately, the existence of alien corpses with the same equipment provided solid evidence! Knowing this, Li Pu felt the pressure that had been weighing on his heart for so long suddenly lift.