After resolving this last concern, Hao Qi welcomed his third sparring match. His opponent was an Inner Force Realm powerhouse from a major martial sect within the Lanying Republic, serving as the sect's grand elder. Though much older than Li Ming, he treated Hao Qi with great politeness. Eventually, in a quiet chamber, the Inner Force Realm master used his advanced age and declining physical strength as an excuse, proposing that the two merely exchange martial arts knowledge. The bout ultimately ended in a draw.
Just like that, Hao Qi had only one trial remaining: an Inner Force Realm master among the rogue martial artists. Rumored to be the leader of a martial group stationed permanently in the Lanying Republic, he was a renowned and veteran figure within the country's Inner Force community. This time, he had accepted a Lanying Republic martial group mission to fight Hao Qi. Oddly enough, it was said this person had originally gone to the small town where Hao Qi was recovering from his injuries, yet had never met him. Upon hearing of Li Ming's defeat, he had returned to the Capital Circle, and even after Hao Qi came back to the Capital Circle, the man still had not shown his face. There was no telling what he was really up to.
Still, Hao Qi did not concern himself with this final person. He continued planning his next steps according to his own schedule. First, he withdrew one hundred thousand Blue Shadow Coins from the Lanying Republic bank and kept them on his person. Next, he purchased a vast quantity of herbal medicines. He tasted each herb with his mouth first, and after swallowing it into his stomach, he used his inner force to monitor how the herb affected his body in various ways. He then selected the ones that were beneficial, capable of effectively repairing hidden injuries, and able to enhance physical fitness. He bought them in massive quantities and boiled them into medicine to drink daily. Although this could not compare to the refined efficacy of professionally compounded medicines, he possessed no medical skills; this was the only method he could find to help repair his hidden injuries and boost his physical conditioning.
Beyond that, he purchased the most suitable long-distance expedition gear, including one set of clothing to wear and one spare, two pairs of expedition boots, a sturdy backpack, a fire-starting kit, a compass, a map, mosquito and insect repellents, and so on. If he had merely bought standard off-the-shelf items, these things wouldn't have cost much. However, Hao Qi now had money, and he didn't want any equipment malfunctions once he reached the wilderness. Even though he was in the Inner Force Realm, he had never survived alone in the wild, nor was he Bear Grylls at the top of the food chain. If a malfunction really occurred, he figured he would have a miserable time surviving out there. Therefore, he directly consulted government personnel to find the relevant manufacturers, spending a large sum of money to purchase custom-made versions for his personal use. He personally verified the sturdiness of every single item until he was completely satisfied. By the end, these supplies alone had cost over two million Blue Shadow Coins.
Yet Hao Qi didn't care about spending this money at all. His purpose was to see the world, to travel across the globe, to eat his way through every corner of the planet. As long as he could achieve this dream, money was truly not something he considered. The very reason he wanted to establish a martial group was simply to provide logistics for this objective. In fact, even his ten years of practicing fist techniques and attaining inner force were merely meant to protect himself while wandering freely across the world.
He had lived for over thirty years on Earth and another ten years in this world. Between his past life and the decade in this one, he had been pressed so hard by life, reality, and society that he was nearly brought to his knees. No, he had already fallen. In his past life, when he was young, he had wanted to be a scientist; a bit older, an athlete; older still, an adventurer. But in the end, he had merely become a nine-to-five wage earner. Every day consisted of going to work, coming home, eating, sleeping, and on his days off, staying holed up at home surfing the internet, playing games, and chatting...
Such days, such a society, such a reality, such a life...
Once upon a time, he too had possessed dreams...
Now was the time to begin his dream!
"My equipment should be ready in half a month. After that comes establishing the martial group, saying goodbye to a few acquaintances, and then I can truly begin my dream: to see the world!"
Hao Qi walked along the road back to his hotel. Today he had been busy the entire day, finally settling the arrangements for his last piece of equipment—a multi-purpose tool that combined a blade, a drill bit, a fire starter, a bottle opener, simple pliers, and more into one. For durability, Hao Qi had specifically chosen a special alloy steel plate. This was the highest-tech steel of the era, typically used to manufacture the main naval guns on the era's largest battleships. An Ordinary Person could never obtain even a tiny scrap, not even the manufacturer. However, because Hao Qi requested it, the government had specifically allocated a batch of this steel and handed it to the manufacturer. The manufacturer had been frightened out of their wits, immediately offering endless guarantees, calling upon their best and most experienced workers and designers to test and re-test Hao Qi's specifications, and finally promising delivery within half a month. That was how the matter had unfolded.
Walking down the street, Hao Qi was still carefully pondering whether he had forgotten any important tools, but after thinking for a long time, nothing came to mind, so he set his mind at ease. Besides, even if he had forgotten something, he didn't plan on staying in the wilderness indefinitely. If he truly needed any tools, he could simply manufacture them once he reached a bustling city in the next country. After all, the civilization level of this world had reached the standard of the early twentieth century; it wasn't backward enough to be full of primitive tribes everywhere, so he let the matter rest.
"Goodbyes, and then the first stop of my journey... Boya Bay, the Lanying Republic's largest port city. It's been a long time since I've had seafood. I'll go there and feast on seafood for a few meals, take in the magnificent expanse of the ocean, and then head directly north from there, taking the national railway to another country: the Linsen Federation. That place seems to be the nation with the highest forest coverage among the neighboring countries, with tons of wildlife and all kinds of game... The future is truly wonderful. Actually, this world is quite suited for dreams after all."
It had to be said that as a traveler hailing from a nation of food lovers, Hao Qi's primary consideration for travel was definitely food, followed by local customs and practices, and various miraculous ancient ruins and civilizations. You could truly say his soul was born in a land of gourmets!
No matter what, as Hao Qi thought about all the things he would encounter, see, and of course, eat in the future—all those experiences he had never faced before—a fire seemed to burn within his heart. The future, the future... He was going to walk through this world in spectacular fashion!
Hao Qi's emotions surged. As he carefully mapped out his future and imagined the magnificent scenery of the world, a sudden, icy sensation pierced straight to his heart. Hao Qi instantly halted his steps and began scanning his surroundings with heightened vigilance. The surrounding scene showed nothing out of the ordinary—it was still the peaceful street in the capital of the Lanying Republic. The time was already past six in the evening. In this world, or rather in this country's season, the daily timekeeping and the transition between day and night were very similar to Earth's. Each day strangely lasted twenty-four hours, complete with spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The present moment marked the end of dusk and the arrival of night. This street looked very tranquil, and the few pedestrians around seemed completely unremarkable.
(What is going on? This feeling... It's as if a snake's ice-cold gaze is sweeping across my skin, brimming with pure malice. Is this a premonition...?)
Through his conversations these past few days with Li Ming and the martial sect's Inner Force Realm master, Hao Qi knew that with the eruption of inner force, the enhancement of physical fitness, and the condensation of essence, Qi, and spirit with external energy to form inner force, a human's spirit would undergo a wondrous transformation. This greatly enhanced a person's sixth sense, and as one's strength grew, this enhancement would continue to strengthen. In fact, even some very powerful Quasi-Inner Force Realm individuals possessed this heightened spiritual perception. There was a specific term for this kind of heightened spiritual awareness: *the cicada senses the autumn wind before it stirs*. This was actually one of the reasons why Inner Force Realm powerhouses were so difficult to kill. When they sensed mortal danger, they would avoid walking into pre-arranged death traps, thereby escaping the fate of death. Unless the opponent's strength vastly, overwhelmingly surpassed theirs, Inner Force Realm powerhouses were exceedingly difficult to assassinate.
(Is someone laying a trap for me? Who could it be? The government? The Li Family? The Xu Family? Or that martial sect's Inner Force Realm master, or... that final rogue Inner Force Realm master?)
Hao Qi looked at the street ahead, calm and peaceful. He remained silent for a moment, finally offering a cold smile before strolling into the street...
(As expected, I was overthinking things. What suitability, what peace, what quiet? It seems that lately, the concessions made by the Li and Xu families, the goodwill of the government, and the modesty of that martial sect's Inner Force Realm master have made me far too complacent. This world is a realistic world as well. Reality is cold and cruel; there is no such thing as getting something for nothing. To gain something, you inevitably have to lose something. If I want to travel all over the world, this dream—my dream—truly requires...)
(It requires me to fight for it and defend it with my fists, my martial arts, and my very life!)
***
"Target confirmed, no guard up."
Through the latest long-range communication system, the personnel stationed at several sniping points along this block were communicating with each other. The person reporting was a brown-skinned, long-haired man who was chewing on something as he spoke.
"Be careful, don't get careless. The target is an Inner Force Realm master, and everyone knows what that weight means!"
On the other end, the signal was received by a stern middle-aged man wearing khaki military uniform. He was also lying in ambush on the top floor of a tall building along this street, holding a long rifle nearly two meters in length. At this moment, he was giving the weapon one final inspection.
"Haha, it's only fun *because* he's an Inner Force Realm master! Our Long Spear Mercenary Group has never hunted down an Inner Force Realm powerhouse before. Honestly, I really don't understand why people always say that non-Inner Force masters can't fight Inner Force masters. I simply don't believe that flesh and blood can contend with the kind of super-tech weapon we're holding—this specially made sniper rifle. It can pierce through the steel plating of a standard warship with a single shot! Furthermore, the muzzle velocity of the ammunition is terrifyingly fast; the bullet hits the target before the sound even arrives. I refuse to believe that mere flesh and blood can withstand our sniper array!"
Another voice came through the communication device. Hearing this, the stern middle-aged man nodded silently, but after a moment, he still said with a hint of hesitation: "No matter what, being careful is always the right choice. I'm only at the Quasi-Inner Force Realm myself, so I can't gauge how an Inner Force Realm master will react. But we've all seen the deterrence and combat power of the Inner Force Realm—those battlefields ravaged by Inner Force Realm masters look as though they've been torn apart by wild beasts and monsters. Ships snapped in half, fortresses torn to pieces, armies massacred... We've all seen those scenes. To be honest..."
"I'm just glad our mercenary group has never gone head-to-head with an Inner Force Realm master before. But this time, the bounty is too high for us to refuse. We only need to pull off this one job, and aside from me getting Inner Force Realm guidance and a top-tier martial arts manual, the rest of you will also get the lives you've always dreamed of. So... complete the mission!"
"Understood!" the personnel at the several sniping points said in unison, followed by complete silence across the communications channel.
Meanwhile, Hao Qi walked directly into this block. Though he appeared to be walking normally, his entire body was tensed. His inner force was gathered throughout his body, ready to be channeled into his brain at a moment's notice to enter the highest-speed thinking mode.
Who was the enemy? How many enemies were there? What method would they use to ambush him? Would it be a coordinated assault by Inner Force Realm masters? Or would they use technological weaponry? However, judging by the technological level of this era, large-scale destructive weapons like high-explosive missiles were unlikely to exist. Still, rudimentary sniper rifles seemed to have appeared; perhaps...
Hao Qi vaguely seemed to sense the enemy's methods, yet he still dared not let his guard down. This was also his first time using superhuman power to contend with mortal strength at its peak. Could the Inner Force Realm... truly rival high-tech weaponry?!
At that exact moment, Hao Qi felt a stinging pain on the left side of his chest, like a needle piercing flesh. He immediately channeled his inner force into his brain, and instantly, everything around him seemed to come to a standstill. Right from a vantage point above and to the left, a flash of fire erupted from a building, and he saw a metal bullet come jetting out from the muzzle. Although they were separated by a vast distance, and the metal bullet was as small as a fly, his inner force was now concentrated in his brain, which not only accelerated his cognitive reaction speed but also enhanced his vision and dynamic eyesight. Even across such a great distance, when he focused his attention on that bullet, it felt as if it were right in front of his eyes. He could even see the cross-shaped mark on the tip of the bullet with abnormal clarity.
(With this kind of visual acuity, physical enhancement, and accelerated thinking state... If I could return to Earth, I'd already be a superhero, at least far more formidable than Captain America from the American comics...)
Seeing the muzzle flash and watching the bullet streak toward him, Hao Qi even had spare time to imagine himself returning to Earth with physical attributes alone surpassing Captain America, before snapping back his focus to the incoming projectile. He observed its trajectory, its speed, and the ripples in the air caused by the bullet...
(I can't catch it with my hand. Although the bullet looks agonizingly slow under this accelerated mental state, as if I could easily pluck it out of the air, its actual speed is infinitely faster than my hand speed, and it carries an immense amount of kinetic energy. Even if I reinforce my palm with inner force to catch it, the point of contact would likely be injured. If I insist on catching it, I suppose I could manage, but what's the point...)
Watching the bullet fly toward him at roughly the speed of a civilian throwing a plastic bottle, Hao Qi roughly gauged its trajectory, then withdrew his inner force back into his body and exited the accelerated thinking state. As he slightly sidestepped, the bullet grazed past his left chest and slammed into the ground with a sharp *clack*, blasting a small crater into the pavement.
"He... he dodged it!? How is that possible?! He didn't evade beforehand! He only made the dodging motion *after* my bullet left the muzzle—how can that be?!" The shooter exclaimed loudly in disbelief. Immediately after, he witnessed something even more unbelievable and terrifying.
Hao Qi, standing on the street, suddenly broke into a run toward the building where the shooter was located. His running speed was terrifyingly fast, covering a hundred meters in less than a second. Almost in the blink of an eye, he had already rushed to the base of the building. Yet the ordinary citizens, only now hearing the gunshot, were panicking and fleeing in all directions. At the base of the building, Hao Qi didn't bother with any stairs; instead, he directly kicked off the brick wall and ran straight up the vertical surface. With his current speed, he sprinted up a height of over ten meters in an instant. Then, with a powerful stomp of his foot, he blasted a hollow cavity right into the wall. Using that cavity as a foothold, he pushed off upward once more, scaling another dozen meters in altitude with a terrifyingly rapid pace.
The shooter's reaction was swift, and he didn't stand frozen in place. However, he no longer had time to use the pre-arranged escape route; he could only immediately raise his firearm and shoot downward. The technology of this era featured no miniaturized machine guns, only stripped-down semi-automatic rifles. Gripping one such weapon, he fired down toward the street below.
Yet even as Hao Qi was running straight up the side of a tall building, his agility was far beyond what this non-Inner Force individual could imagine. Especially at such close range, his current speed was so fast that the shooter could barely even see him, managing to squeeze off only a few shots before a tremendous force struck his gun-wielding shoulder. With a crisp shattering snap, his entire arm and shoulder were pulverized, and the sheer impact blasted him over ten meters away, nearly sending him tumbling off the opposite edge of the building.
Hao Qi stood atop the roof of the building, holding the semi-automatic rifle in his hand. He glanced down at the two-meter-long sniper rifle lying on the ground below, then exerted strength in his hands and directly crushed the semi-automatic rifle into a mangled heap of scrap metal. After that, he walked straight toward the person who had collapsed onto the rooftop pavement.
"Heh... hehe, so this is the Inner Force Realm... So this is the Inner Force Realm... It's so unfair..." The man collapsed on the ground, struggling to roll over while coughing up a continuous stream of blood.
"Oh? How is it unfair?" Hao Qi walked up to the man and asked, looking down at him.
"I've been through hundreds of battles, surviving on battlefields in over a dozen countries. The number of soldiers, officers, and even martial arts experts who have died by my hands is countless. My sniper rifle is a creation from a technologically advanced superpower in the distant western Red Sea region—technology at least twenty years ahead of this backward countryside. This is the crystallization of knowledge from countless people, the accumulation of countless years of technological precipitation... and all of this... can't even touch a single hair in front of an Inner Force Realm master! If this isn't unfair, what is?! You train in martial arts for a few decades at most, yet you can emerge completely unscathed against such a crystallization of technology. Gun-handling skills that countless people like me have dedicated themselves to mastering are as powerless as a child's before you. If this isn't unfair, what is?!" The man roared furiously.
"Unfair... No, you don't understand. There is nothing unfair about this at all."
Hao Qi offered no further reply. Instead, he delivered a kick straight to the man's chest. The man's chest immediately caved in and shattered, killing him instantly. The corpse was kicked flying over ten meters, tumbling right off the edge of the building. At the same time, Hao Qi once again entered his accelerated thinking state, turning his full attention to his surroundings.
(You won't understand. One is the accumulation of technology—it takes the hard work of countless people, the inspiration of countless minds, the knowledge of countless scholars, and a lifetime of dedication from generation after generation just to advance by a tiny fraction. But technology is like bricks, stacked layer upon layer. Even if one layer is wrong, you simply kick it down and rebuild upward. Eventually, you can reach the unimaginable worlds of this cosmic starry sky, even realms of the fourth dimension that even three-dimensional life forms cannot fathom. The so-called holistic ascension of dimensions is precisely this; it is so magnificent. The other path is the evolution of one's own life. It seems that every tiny step of evolution is enough to rival the massive leaps of technology, but if even a single evolutionary step goes wrong, the life form itself perishes, leaving no other possibility whatsoever. Countless millions pave the way for those behind them, yet not even a single person might succeed. Comparing the two, who is truly the one being unfair? No, it is fair. Once you choose the path of becoming stronger, any disparity is entirely fair!)