This High Martial World is Too Crazy!!!

Chapter 36: Chapter 36: As a Matter of Course

”AHHHHHHH!”

On the training grounds, piercing screams and roars erupted from the mouths of every Disciple.

In their sensory experience, the ground was completely sundered by Fang Can, and the violent force of his fist whipped up a sandstorm.

Everyone’s body was swept into the yellow tempest, submerged in a pain like death by a thousand cuts.

The perspective shifted from the Disciples and returned to reality.

Here, the scenery was as serene as ever. The gentle breeze still blew, and the sun was warm. There was no storm to be seen.

Only Yang Lie, standing at a slight distance, could rely on the powerful spirit of his Profound Gate Fifth Layer to resist Fang Can’s wide-area Heart Image attack.

From his perspective, the hundreds of Martial Artists who had been charging toward Fang Can all froze as the latter’s fist descended.

With that single Heart Image punch, they had all been plunged into an illusion where their bodies were dead, forcing them to their knees as they truly believed they were being dismembered piece by piece.

As if kneeling was contagious, one senior brother after another dropped to the ground as if struck dead. They seemed to be prostrating before a god, their consciousness stunned into a stupor by that single punch.

”Huu...” Fang Can gently exhaled a breath of turbid air.

That one punch had just consumed over ninety percent of his Heart Image’s power.

The body is the foundation of the mind; the mind is the extension of the flesh.

He had not yet even reached the Profound Gate First Layer, so he could barely manage to use it once.

But the effect of such a massive expenditure was significant. Under his hard crowd control, the several hundred people at the scene were left in a complete mental stupor for a full ten-odd seconds.

In that long stretch of time, Fang Can could have taken a knife and chopped off all their heads, and it would have been even easier than slaughtering several hundred pigs that could actually run away.

The power of a Heart Image was just that terrifying. Experts at the Profound Gate Eighth Layer or higher would only be more horrifying when they unleashed their own.

Before his Heart Image power was depleted, he could kill as many ordinary Martial Artists as came at him.

This was why only a Heart Image could fight a Heart Image.

Silence. A dead silence...

It took nearly half a minute for these people to gradually recover from their experience of death, after which they stared at Fang Can with horrified eyes.

”It’s actually a Heart Image.” At this moment, Yang Lie felt an overwhelming sense of jealousy.

Awakening a Heart Image before even reaching the First Layer was simply unheard of. For someone like him, who was still stuck spinning his wheels at the Profound Gate Fifth Layer in his forties and fifties, this kind of talent dealt a devastating blow.

When everyone had recovered from the shadow of their near-death experience, they all gazed at Fang Can with complicated expressions, knowing they had been thoroughly and utterly defeated.

A Profound Gate Martial Artist below the First Layer who had awakened a Heart Image... even the word ’genius’ was insufficient to describe him.

They felt that the mental state they had cultivated over the past few days had been completely shattered, and they would probably need a long time to recover.

Then, someone suddenly laughed. ”Hahaha, the world is truly in chaos! The son beats Laozi. Sigh, I’ll let you have this one.”

This voice immediately made the surrounding training hall Disciples realize something. ’The acting method! Is it the acting method? Wonderful! Our minds are saved!’

The next moment, the Disciples seemed to descend into a frenzy. The several hundred of them collectively fell into a state of hysteria and began to rave.

”Hah! Ugh! It wasn’t Fang Can who beat me! I’m the one who beat Fang Can! Hahahaha!”

”Exactly, exactly! What a good fight! I’m the one who beat him into a stupor, unable to even think! Yeah!”

”Hahaha, I’m the one who fought a hundred men on the training grounds! What Fang Can? I don’t know him! I don’t know him at all!”

...

Hysteria. Absolute hysteria. Yang Lie watched this scene, which resembled something out of a mental rehabilitation center, feeling utterly speechless.

’What acting method? In front of a Heart Image master, a trick like playing dumb is completely useless. Your heart will always respond honestly to that kind of fear.’

Sure enough, without any nonsense, Fang Can swept his gaze across the entire field, unleashing the last of his Heart Image power.

The next moment, the scene from when Steward Gu Shuqi came to give a speech was replicated perfectly.

Fear, extreme fear, spread from the bottom of everyone’s hearts. The crowd, which had just been indulging in a mental victory, once again lost their sanity and plunged back into terror.

After exhausting the last dregs of his Heart Image power, Fang Can felt an emptiness inside. Although he hadn’t used any physical stamina, a deep exhaustion rose up from within his heart.

’Looks like using my Heart Image at a low Realm is a bit too strenuous. It should get better once my body improves.’

Fang Can thought for a moment and opened his panel, but the information displayed there made him pause.

Flesh Corruption: 10.2%

’Did I just break through to the Profound Gate First Layer?’

Fang Can was stunned, staring at the corruption percentage in confusion.

He clearly remembered Jiang Ning’an once saying that there would be a distinct bottleneck before breaking through to the Profound Gate First Layer. One needed to rest for two or three days to regulate their spirit before making a concerted push.

But he hadn’t felt a thing. How had his progress just naturally broken through the 10% mark?

Although he had guessed that his body would continue to strengthen during battle, he hadn’t felt any bottleneck, so he assumed his Realm hadn’t yet met the requirements for the Profound Gate First Layer.

’Was Elder Jiang lying to me, or is my talent just that high?’ Fang Can pondered, ultimately settling on the possibility of his own unparalleled talent.

After all, compared to the former, the latter conclusion made him sound a bit more awesome.

”Fang Can.” At this point, Yang Lie saw the battle was over and strode forward. ”Haven’t you only been training for a few days? This level of martial skill, and your Heart Image...”

”Instructor Yang, didn’t Hall Master Li already tell you my talent is unparalleled?” Fang Can retorted seriously.

”Geniuses don’t follow common sense. If you can’t even believe the facts you’ve seen with your own eyes, what’s the point of practicing martial arts or comprehending the Dao?”

Yang Lie was rendered speechless. Fang Can’s words were no different from the lesson he himself had given a few days ago. The only difference was that their roles were now reversed, and he was the one whose conviction was shaken.

”In any case, the potential you’ve displayed is too terrifying. I must go and report this to the Sect Leader,” Yang Lie informed him.

”Don’t wander off for now. Go back to your room and wait for me. Someone will come to get you later.”

Fang Can nodded lightly, having already anticipated Yang Lie’s decision.

He wasn’t following the path of some commoner-stream protagonist; there was no need to hide his strength only to have a sudden outburst for a cheap face-slapping moment.

A true genius should be number one every step of the way, climbing all the way to the peak of the Martial Dao.

As for the Sect Leader persecuting him or whatever, what kind of Sect Leader would have a hole in his head big enough to want to kill a peerless genius within his own sect? If you don’t want talented people, why even bother building a faction?

Emperors get jealous of capable subordinates because they’ve already reached the summit; an official whose achievements outshine the ruler’s becomes a threat to their position.

But the Tiger Slaughter Sect wasn’t even in the top ten of the Great Yan Country. How could it possibly strangle a genius in its own cradle?

If the Sect Leader were truly discerning, he might even be willing to take Fang Can as his master.

When Fang Can becomes invincible one day, he could easily lead the Tiger Slaughter Sect to soar to the heavens.

It would be far better than their current state of merely occupying a hundred-li radius.

And so, having just finished showing off in front of the entire new generation of the Tiger Slaughter Sect, Fang Can returned to his small cabin without a shred of pressure, preparing to take a nap and recover his mental energy.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the Tiger Slaughter Sect Leader who received Yang Lie’s report was in a completely different state of mind.