61: Chapter 61 Five Animal Frolics and Killing Techniques

The 'Heaven-Grade' dormitory area truly had something special going for it.

Lin Qi stood in the center of the villa's living room and took a deep breath.

A faint sweetness permeated the air—it was the scent of high-concentration free-floating essence. Taking one breath here was equivalent to ten minutes of meditation outside.

Instructor Su Qing had left immediately after dropping him at the door, saying she needed to handle the aftermath of that unlucky examiner.

Lin Qi wasn't in a hurry to tour the three-story building. Instead, he pulled a palm-sized black device from his bag. It was an anti-surveillance detector he had swiped from Zhang Wei.

Beep, beep, beep.

He walked a circle around the house, focusing his check on the bedroom and bathroom. He confirmed the green light stayed steady, indicating no pinhole cameras or listening devices.

"At least they're following the rules."

Lin Qi tossed the detector back onto the sofa and sat cross-legged on the carpet.

He pulled the box containing the dragon blood grass from his chest pocket, then took out a half-foot-long tiger bone. This was a century-old tiger bone he had scavenged from the black market earlier and had been reluctant to use until now.

"That spatial shockwave was actually quite interesting."

Lin Qi looked at his palm. Although there were no visible injuries, his periosteum was still throbbing with a dull ache.

This was the limit of the Flesh Refining Rank. If Examiner Wang Su had increased the power by another ten percent back then, his internal organs would likely have started hemorrhaging.

"I need to hurry."

Lin Qi's gaze darkened. The look from The Black-Robed Figure had made him very uncomfortable; it was the look of a hunter watching its prey.

In this digitized world, without the protection of a status panel, the Physical Body was the only barrier. To survive, he had to forge this mortal frame into a wall of bronze and iron.

He threw the dragon blood grass and tiger bone into the old-fashioned pressure cooker, added water, and plugged it in.

...

At the same time, in the meeting room on the top floor of the Longya Academy administration building.

The atmosphere was somewhat stiff.

Examiner Wang Su had gauze wrapped around his neck from the shockwave's injuries, but he didn't lack any strength as he slammed his hand on the table.

"I object!"

Examiner Wang Su pointed at Lin Qi's profile on the projection screen, spit flying everywhere as he spoke:

"Opening an independent course for an F-grade blank slate? And even using the special-grade resource vault? This is a complete waste! He's just a barbarian who only knows how to use brute force. He doesn't understand energy circuits or professional coordination at all!"

At the end of the long table, Vice Principal Chen Daoling slowly blew on the floating leaves in his teacup.

"A barbarian?" Chen Daoling looked up. "Then was that thirty-million-dollar machine of yours broken by a barbarian's breath?"

Examiner Wang Su choked, his Face turning beet red. "That... that was an accident! The equipment was aging!"

"Enough."

Chen Daoling set down his teacup, the porcelain base clinking against the tabletop with a crisp sound.

"Data is dead; people are alive. There's something hidden in Lin Qi's body that we don't understand. Since the current teaching system doesn't suit him, we'll try a different path."

He pulled an appointment letter from a file folder and pushed it to the center of the table.

"I have already decided. His mentor will be Elder Mo."

The meeting room fell silent for several seconds.

Examiner Wang Su's eyes widened as if he were hearing a fairy tale. "Elder Mo? That eccentric old man who sweeps the floors in the library? He doesn't even have a professional Rank. You're letting him teach a special-grade target?"

"Whether he has a Rank or not isn't for you to decide." Chen Daoling stood up and straightened his collar. "This matter is settled. Wang Su, remember to submit your self-reflection report. Not a single word less."

...

Early the next morning.

Following the notice, Lin Qi arrived at the top floor of the academy library.

It wasn't as lively as the lower floors; not a single soul was in sight. Several rows of tall mahogany bookshelves reached all the way to the ceiling, and the air was thick with the smell of old, moldy paper.

By the window sat a worn-out rattan chair.

An old man in grey cloth clothes was lying on it asleep, his Face covered by a thread-bound book, snoring like thunder.

Lin Qi walked over and stopped three meters away from the rattan chair.

He didn't wake the man, nor did he look for a place to sit; he simply stood there, straight as a spear.

He stood there for an entire hour.

It wasn't until the sunlight moved from the east to the direct south that the old man's snoring finally stopped.

"Young people these days actually have some patience."

The old man didn't remove the book from his Face, his voice drifting out lazily.

Lin Qi remained expressionless. "After all, I was introduced by the Vice Principal. I have to give him that much Face."

Elder Mo took the book off his Face, revealing a wrinkled countenance, and sized Lin Qi up with sleepy eyes.

"I've seen your assessment video."

Elder Mo sat up and stretched, his joints popping. "Your fists are hard enough, and your Killing Intent is heavy. But you're just a killing machine; you're missing something."

Lin Qi raised an eyebrow. "Missing what?"

"Missing 'Intent'."

Elder Mo pointed to his own head. "Your Moves are too full, too absolute. Like a bow drawn to its limit, always tense. Things that are too rigid break easily. Do you understand?"

Lin Qi didn't speak. He had killed tens of thousands in the martial arts era, and no one had ever said such a thing to him.

Elder Mo pulled a tattered booklet from his robes and tossed it over casually.

Lin Qi caught it and looked.

Five large traditional characters were written on the cover: Detailed Explanation of the Five Animal Frolics.

Below that was a line of small text: Middle-aged and Elderly Fitness Qigong Promotion Edition.

Lin Qi's mouth twitched. "Are you joking, old man? You want me to practice radio calisthenics?"

"You look down on it?"

Elder Mo scoffed, stood up, and walked to a bookshelf.

He extended a single finger and lightly tapped the spine of a thick, hardcover book.

There was no visible exertion, and his muscles didn't even tense up.

Pfft.

A soft sound echoed.

That five-centimeter-thick hardcover book was pierced as if by a bullet, leaving a clean finger hole through the front and back.

The bookshelf didn't budge, and the surrounding books were completely unaffected.

The power was highly concentrated, with not a shred of it leaking out.

Lin Qi's pupils constricted slightly.

This old man was a master.

"The Great Dao is simple," Elder Mo said, patting the dust off his hands. "That Inch Power of yours makes too much noise; you're wasting at least thirty percent of your strength."

"When you can cultivate the 'Spiritual Intent' from this book, you won't even need to touch that alloy target to shatter it."

Lin Qi lowered his head and reopened the booklet in his hand.

Only then did he notice that the margins were densely packed with tiny, elegant script. They were all annotations regarding power exertion, breathing, and mental guidance.

This wasn't an ordinary Five Animal Frolics; this was a modified Internal Martial Arts technique.

"I'll practice this," Lin Qi said, closing the book and tucking it into his chest pocket.

"Just practicing isn't enough; you need practical application."

Elder Mo pointed out the window toward a distant, abandoned factory building. "That's an old training ground, filled with scrapped mechanical Puppets. Your task is simple: go and dismantle them."

Lin Qi nodded. "Dismantle them into scrap metal?"

"No."

Elder Mo wagged his finger, revealing a mouthful of crooked yellow teeth.

"Dismantle them like a surgical operation. No brute force allowed, no damaging the parts themselves—you can only dislocate the joints. If I see a single deformed part, you can get lost and retake the course."

Lin Qi frowned.

No damaging parts, only dislocating joints?

The joints of those mechanical Puppets were interlocked with high-strength alloys, fitting perfectly. How could they be dismantled without violence?

"Go on."