Rise from a Low-class Family to Martial Artist

Chapter 195: Chapter 54: Merging Technique Within the Thousand-Step Mist

Only when the body is invaded by the chill can a real gap be opened.

Every ten steps, add one point.

The man on the other side was also staring intently at Lin Chen at this moment, pen poised on paper, ready to record at any time.

Ten steps, twenty steps...

By the time he reached forty steps, Lin Chen began to slow down, each step taken with exhaustion, as if mired in a swamp, with countless threads of mud pulling him back as he tried to lift his feet.

Fifty steps, sixty steps, seventy steps...

When Lin Chen reached eighty steps, he could no longer maintain his previous calm demeanor, pursing his lips tightly, each step taken as if carrying a thousand pounds.

The chill felt like countless tiny needles, piercing deep into his marrow.

Fortunately, he could endure this pain.

Having endured so many strikes in the small dark room from the Thousand Hammer Map, he had experienced this pain many times over.

In fact, the pain from the Thousand Hammer Map was far beyond this.

Eighty steps...

Ninety steps...

A hundred steps...

When Lin Chen took his hundredth step, the recording man glanced at Jiang Kui on the other side. The two exchanged looks, both seeing the surprise in each other’s eyes.

Although Lin Chen did not walk fast in those hundred steps, he walked very steadily.

In this state, he was far from reaching his limit.

”Keep going!”

Jiang Kui felt a sense of anticipation; among the trainees he had instructed, the one who walked a hundred steps did so by gritting his teeth, and in the last thirty steps had relied on a burst of energy to push through the last ten steps.

However, after completing those ten steps, that person was completely exhausted and stopped at a hundred steps.

[After a hundred steps, his speed remains steady.]

The recording man once again wrote a note on the paper.

Lin Chen had slowed his pace at forty steps, but from forty to a hundred steps, his pace hadn’t changed.

A hundred and fifty steps!

At this point, Lin Chen felt pain equivalent to being hammered by the Thousand Hammer Map, his leg trembled with each lift and fall.

Coldness to the extreme equates to pressure.

Lin Chen could no longer feel the coldness of his own body; all that was left was one sensation: pain.

”Is a hundred and sixty steps the limit?”

Jiang Kui whispered to himself; given Lin Chen’s current state, he could likely manage another ten steps, which would already be quite impressive.

The only pity was that Lin Chen wasn’t taking big strides, so he didn’t gain much advantage in distance.

”If he keeps walking like this, he might only hold out for thirty more steps at most.”

Although his whole body was numb with pain, Lin Chen’s mind remained sharp, a significant gain from enduring multiple hammerings by the Thousand Hammer Map, beyond the enhancement of Iron Bone Skill and increasing resilience.

Pain and pressure can make one’s mind start to blur.

But he didn’t have this issue; even with the intense pain from the Thousand Hammer Map’s direct assault on his body, he remained clear-headed, so gradually increasing pain was even less daunting.

Lin Chen lifted his foot, not landing it directly but trying to shift his toes slightly, delaying the landing by a breath.

As his foot landed, Lin Chen’s eyes lit up; the pressure and pain had weakened slightly.

He could reduce pressure through foot positioning, allowing him to endure longer.

With this discovery, Lin Chen continued walking, and upon feeling the pain deepen again, he shifted his toes’ direction once more, each time quietly memorizing the angle in his mind.

The man next to him paused with the pen: ”A hundred and fifty-seven steps, deviation.”

”It’s a shame, he shouldn’t have deviated.”

Jiang Kui’s face showed regret; Lin Chen had walked straight for so many steps before, but now the direction had shifted, which would affect the final result.

However, there were few trainees who could avoid deviation.

Thinking this, Jiang Kui felt it was acceptable; when a person’s mind blurs under extreme conditions, they tend to misjudge direction; Lin Chen’s slight deviation wasn’t much; Jiang Kui had seen some trainees walk back instead.

But soon, Jiang Kui’s regret vanished, replaced by a rather shocked expression.

He saw Lin Chen begin to deviate, but after twenty steps, Lin Chen corrected his direction, returning to the correct path.

And just as Jiang Kui was glad Lin Chen found the right path, Lin Chen deviated again after a few steps, but after thirty more steps, he adjusted his direction once more...

Back and forth, Jiang Kui forgot to count how many steps Lin Chen took.

The recording man’s paper was already filled.

Every time Lin Chen deviated, he had to note it down, and when Lin Chen found the right path, he noted that as well.

[Deviate for a hundred and ninety steps.]

[Deviated for thirty steps, corrected.]

[Corrected for six steps, deviated.]

[Deviated for forty steps, corrected.]

...

...

You are performing a dance here.

The man’s lips twitched as he looked at Lin Chen with a bit of exasperation; by now it was clear that although Lin Chen’s body was under pressure and every step was immensely difficult, his mind remained clear.

So Lin Chen wasn’t straying due to a blurred mind but rather doing it intentionally.

”Old Ji, how should we calculate the score for this situation?”