Chapter 134 - Heart of a Martial Artist

People actually were willing to spend a thousand dollars to buy an autograph? Qin Fen was now certain that if someone knew where he lived, there would be assassins hired by fans to come kill him.

The time for the auction ran out, but the other auctions continued to count down.

Qin Fen suddenly realized his heart wasn’t as strong as he once imagined. These thirty or so autographs looked like they were going to reach astronomical prices by the end of the auctions.

For the sake of having a good night’s sleep, Qin Fen simply chose to exit from the auction interface. He placed his focus back on Zhang Xiangyang, who sat on his bed.

This man possessed super computational abilities. At the same time, he had the member login, password, and URL to the black market. Such a person could not be ordinary. Qin Fen propped his chin up with one hand. He carefully studied Zhang Xiangyang, who was looking at a magazine at this time.

Why is he helping me? It seems that he wants to get close to me on purpose? Qin Fen was really puzzled. He was unable to find any clues for the time being. Even the psychology that Squad Leader Hao had taught him was incapable of being used at this time.

The series of fights, along with the special training infusing martial arts, had made Qin Fen’s body and mind weary to their limits. Qin Fen fell asleep sitting there at an unknown time.

—

The darkness was boundless and limitless, and it belonged to the master of the school of analysis. He walked slowly out from the darkness with a faint smile on his face, and faint appreciation could be seen on his forehead.

“Young man, you have done well today.”

The master spoke his words forever in a manner that was neither too fast nor too slow. His calm, unperturbed, and collected voice was well in-line with his temperament.

“Does the master have any suggestions in regards to my fusing the Guardian Deity Dance and Dragon Guard together?”

Qin Fen really liked to chat with this master. They would talk through the entire night every time they met. The martial dao was vast and blurry, but Qin Fen always gained quite a bit of clarity from their talks.

“Suggestion, eh?” The master had a faint smile as he shook his head over and over. “I don’t have any suggestions this time. You have your own road. I don’t want to use my road to completely control you. I will investigate and give you suggestions on any mistakes that can be avoided. However, you will likely hit a brick wall with some things. You need to experience this in order to truly grow.”

A hint of astonishment flashed in Qin Fen’s eyes. “What? Is the master saying that I’ve walked the wrong road this time?”

The master smiled for quite some while before saying, “What do you think?”

Qin Fen sunk into contemplation. The master had never been wrong since he first started talking to him. Before the master, Qin Fen felt himself to be a mere rookie. He had to do some proper thinking when faced with the master’s question.

A minute. Ten minutes. An hour. Two hours…

Qin Fen slowly raised his head. The confusion in his eyes was wiped completely clean. In its place were calmness and firmness like that of the master.

“Master, thank-you sir.”

“What are you thanking me for? I didn’t do anything.”

Qin Fen shook his head very seriously. “I have always believed that I had something to preserve my own when it comes to my understanding of the martial dao, but I was immediately rattled by master’s question. This is because you have never spoken something by mistake before. Therefore, I began to suspect that my idea of fusing and creating is wrong. I thought for a long time. I contemplated very seriously until I understood just now. You are teaching me, sir, that the journey on the martial dao is forever vast and blurry. However, a martial artist must possess a staunch heart! A heart of martial arts that can pierce through whatever vastness and blurriness before me!”

The master spread open his hands and shrugged his shoulders, but his face was filled with a smile that said, ‘Everything is as you’ve said. I have nothing to say at all.’

“Thank you, sir.” Qin Fen gave a serious bow. “I figured it out from what you said just now. There is no right or wrong when it comes to martial dao. The only things that can be wrong are the person and the person’s heart.”

Clap, clap, clap, clap.

The master lightly clapped without end. “Kid, your comprehension far exceeds my imagination. I thought that your level of comprehension would only reach an understanding on whether or not your actions are suited for you. I never thought that you, with your four-star strength, can possess a comprehension that far exceeds the comprehension of the four-star level. Good. Very good!”

The compliments came out, and the master’s body flickered. His speed was as fast as coursing lightning. He extended two fingers to directly strike Qin Fen between the eyebrows!

Four-star strength? How is this possible? What happened to Qin Fen was just like what happened to the opponents that Qin Fen had struck down in the past. When faced with the master using four-star strength, Qin Fen didn’t even have the chance to resist at all.

The sight before his eyes went black, and Qin Fen fell completely into a deep sleep.

He had heard the master’s words echo from the void the instant before he sunk into sleep. “Kid, take a good break for now.”

Qin Fen snored thunderously this night. None of his comrades, when faced with the noise, were able to easily and peacefully fall asleep.

“Old Boss’s snoring is even louder than his battle roars.”

“Doesn’t this show just how powerful and amazing Qin Fen is? He fights so ferociously, so naturally, his snoring is ferocious as well.”

“Yeah, let’s just let him have a good night’s sleep. The Neo Sumo wrestler from the State of Japan has been coming to our doorstep every day to find him. I’m guessing that Old Qin won’t be able to avoid him even if he wants to. It will be better for him to properly recuperate his mind so that he’ll be ready when the Neo Sumo wrestler challenges him.”

“Man! I really don’t know if Old Qin is lucky or unlucky. He has defeated Park Jong-Hwan, and he seized the name of the Recruit King of Martial Combat as a result. This, in turn, has caused the young experts of the other local regions to come searching for trouble. I have heard that the State of Thailand’s young expert in Neo Muay Thai is also asking around for information about Old Qin.”

“I’ve heard of this too. I’ve also heard that young expert of Neo Kyukushin Karate has also heard news of Old Qin.”

Everyone glanced at each other in silence. Everyone could see the concern in each other’s eyes. The young experts that Qin Fen faced had all entered the military through a direct invitation from the military region. Not a single one was easy to deal with. When it truly came down to it, it was extremely hard to determine who would be the victor and who would be the loser.

Some time passed, and people got used to Qin Fen’s snoring, gradually falling asleep.

The reveille bugle call rang at the crack of dawn.

Qin Fen stretched his body. His bones cracked and rang out for a moment. This was the expression of a full recovery as his weary body had gained ample rest.

The other recruits who got out of bed all admired Qin Fen for his abnormal recovery abilities.

Yesterday Qin Fen was someone who was so tired that he didn’t even have the strength to open his eyes. At the rise of the next day, he was actually bursting with life. As the saying went, there’s always someone better out there, and it can be quite infuriating.

It had been a while since Qin Fen had done activities as a group. He very happily performed training with everyone to his heart’s content.

It had been a few days since he trained with the others, and today he discovered that the intensity of recruit training had increased quite a bit. However, his comrades found the training easier than in the past regardless.

It was in this moment that Qin Fen discovered something. He was not the only person to have made progress. His comrades had made progress as well.

He looked at Squad Leader Hao, who was situated not too far away. Qin Fen once again admired this instructor for designing this legendary training program.

This camp was different from the other camps, where all was fine as long as one could reach the training standards and standard numbers. Here, there was only one standard, and that was that the people with the worst training records would certainly be punished!

After tasting the pain of punishment, everyone could only stake their lives and strive with all their might to avoid being punished.

It was all right if one couldn’t run faster than a tiger, as long as one could run faster than the companion beside you! This old saying was utilized in Squad Leader Hao’s training, and the results were utterly clear.

Taking top recruits like Du Peng and Qin Fen out of the equation, the other recruits couldn’t compare to the best of the best of the other military camps but they could excel far past the common recruits of the other military camps.

Soon it became lunchtime. Qin Fen didn’t go with his comrades together to the canteen. Cook had created a delicacy with the utmost care, one that people found hard to swallow. He was waiting for Qin Fen.

Squad Leader Hao had been waiting for quite some time on a road that Qin Fen must take to reach his destination. The two walked shoulder-to-shoulder toward Cook’s canteen when Squad Leader Hao suddenly said, “Kid, I have some good news and bad news for you to hear. Which one do you want to hear first?”

Qin Fen eyed Squad Leader Hao’s face for quite some time before ultimately sighing. “Man! I really can’t think of a way to use your lie to counter-lie and trick you in a counter-assault.”

“Lie? I have spoken no lies.” Squad Leader Hao’s eyes flickered with a glow purer than that of a baby’s. “How can you be so suspicious of me, the drill instructor who’s like a father figure or older brother to you? You really break my heart….”

“Like a father or an older brother?” Qin Fen sighed with a smile. “What kind of family has a father who tricks his kid when he’s bored. What kind of family has an older brother who toys around with his little brother every day? Since the good news and bad news are one and the same, how do I even have a choice?”

Squad Leader Hao’s eyes, as pure as a baby’s, were pure no longer. In its place was a gratified smile. “Not bad, not bad. It looks like these past few days being dispatched on a mission has not made you forgotten your training in psychology. However, you should not be pleased with just this. You have yet to trick me.”

“Trick you?” Qin Fen was very suspicious. Squad Leader Hao had done exquisite research for many years in the field of psychology. Even if Qin Fen’s older brother, Qin Zhan, were to appear once more, he might not be able to counter-trick this Squad Leader Hao who was known as a master of psychology.

“A few numbers of spots came down from the brass.” Squad Leader Hao changed his expression to one of seriousness. “Simply speaking, the East Asian Military Region’s achievements haven’t looked good with the many recruit sparring competitions to this day. This time there are rumors that Africa and Southwest Asia are hooting about rising in the rankings, and the big shots of the East Asian Military Region are all scared of losing their last semblance of pride. So, they’ve attached great importance in this next competition.”

“And so?” Qin Fen asked. “They’ve thought of a method, and the method is special training? Is that why there are the so-called available spots?”

Squad Leader Hao gave a heavy pat with great delight. “Not bad! You got brains! Indeed, they have arranged a short-term training camp this time. Though not every one of the young elites of East Asia are able to enter, the ones able to enter are genuine elites. To tell the truth, such an opportunity is quite rare to come by. The drill instructors of the training camp might not be as skilled as us few, but they are much more fierce in terms of strictness and savageness.”

Qin Fen studied Squad Leader Hao once more through the corner of his eyes. These few drill instructors often had eyes growing out from the top of their skulls. They called everyone else rookies, but today one of them actually praised the drill instructors that would be dispatched to the training camp. This meant that whoever went to the training camp would truly learn some useful things.

Learning a bit more before the recruit tournament can help me seize a bit more points and rewards when the tournament actually happens. Qin Fen thought about this point, and his interest completely stimulated forth. “I’ll go! It’s just that I have a question. Am I the only one going to this training camp?”

“Du Peng is going as well.” Squad Leader Hao had a naughty smile on his face. “That one should be the successor of some military family. He probably got the news from home. He actually ran over to me and asked for a spot. I was really quite surprised by him. Normally these orders are passed directly from the top. Never has a kid been allowed to ask for a spot on his own. For a matter as strange as this, I’ve been very happy to help the kid. I want to see how the situation will unfold in the future. I want to see what is up with this kid.”