[Skill: Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist, Beginner (0/500)]

The Level was a bit low. After this preliminary stage, one was considered to have truly begun.

But in any case, he had finally learned it.

Tang Wen secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He felt a thrill, like when you’re playing a video game and finally see the boss’s health bar appear.

He recalled Zhou Bing’s instructions: "Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist is a Fist Technique that relies on explosive power, and every punch consumes a great deal of stamina. An average Third-Class Martial Artist who learns it can barely manage three punches before their stamina is nearly gone."

"Furthermore, you can’t throw these three punches in a row. If you fail to seriously injure your opponent, you’ll be out of stamina and left at their mercy. A Second-Class Martial Artist can probably throw seven or eight."

"As for a First-Class Martial Artist... as long as they don’t throw more than ten explosive punches, they can keep fighting."

Tang Wen walked up to the black Wooden Man Target. A scene formed in his mind: a Fireball shooting out, striking a mountain, and causing a massive explosion.

He threw a punch with a loud BANG.

The head of the Wooden Man Target shattered.

’This...?’

He was both delighted and puzzled. The Visualization Image also had a scene of the mountain shaking and collapsing, but he hadn’t visualized that part in his mind.

’Did I succeed with the Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist just by visualizing the massive explosion?’

He recalled the effect Zhou Bing produced when she punched.

’It seems... about the same as my own Fist Force, right?’

’As a Martial Artist, she isn’t that much stronger than me.’

’I can also perform Posture Stance and enter a state of Meditation. Maybe I’m a Martial Artist too?’

Tang Wen shook his head, clearing his thoughts, and looked again at the Visualization Image in the middle of the wall.

’The scene in the image of "the mountain shaking violently and collapsing after the explosion" can’t be useless.’

After thinking for a moment, he continued to visualize and outline the final scene in a sequence, like a comic strip.

After the explosion, the mountain collapses.

BANG!

Sinking his waist into a horse stance, Tang Wen punched the chest of the Wooden Man Target. The headless target wobbled.

’That’s it?’

’A random punch from me makes more noise than that.’

He shook his hand, flexing his wrist.

’Something seems wrong...’

’Whatever. I won’t think about it for now. There are still many Visualization Images for the Fist Technique’s moves I haven’t seen.’

Only two hours were left.

He took out a few pieces of cold roasted meat, chewed them a few times, and gulped them down.

He turned his gaze to the first Visualization Image.

[Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist, First Form: Mountain-Opening Cannon]

There were no fancy movements—just slightly bent knees, sunken shoulders, and dropped elbows, delivering a punch with a solid, powerful stance.

Tang Wen got into position and threw a punch, visualizing the image of the Fireball charging the mountain and exploding on impact.

BANG!

Tang Wen smashed the left arm of the Wooden Man Target. The wood cracked and splinters flew everywhere.

The Panel flashed.

[Skill: Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist, Beginner (0→51/500)]

’That many Experience Points?’

’One-tenth.’

He raised an eyebrow, formed the Visualization in his mind, and threw another punch.

BANG!

Mountain-Opening Cannon.

[Skill: Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist, Beginner (51→52/500)]

’It didn’t increase? Something’s strange.’

He looked up and counted the Visualization Images on the wall. There were seven in total.

The largest one in the center was for visualizing the Core Power.

The other six were for the Fist Technique’s forms.

’Maybe the Experience Points only increase significantly when I learn a new form of the Fist Technique?’

His gaze fell upon the second Visualization Image.

[Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist, Second Form: Head-On Cannon]

In the Visualization Image, an ordinary-looking person stepped forward, lunged, and threw a punch straight ahead, letting out a low shout at the same time.

Head-On Cannon is also known as Head-On Cannon Shout.

By coordinating the punch with an exhalation and a shout, you can achieve a better Intimidation effect on the opponent.

There were no strict rules on what to shout.

After all, the Visualization Image was just an image; you couldn’t hear any sound from it.

After a few attempts, Tang Wen took a step back with his left foot, shouted "Hah!", and continued to visualize the scene of the Fireball bombarding the mountain!

The Wooden Man was ravaged once more. Its headless neck was smashed to pieces.

[Skill: Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist, Beginner (52→102/500)]

’It’s just as I thought.’

’Experience Points jump every time I learn a new form.’

After mastering this move, he continued his studies.

[Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist, Third Form: Half-Step Bombardment]

The Visualization Image was clean and efficient: step forward while raising an elbow to strike upwards.

BANG!

The elbow strike was incredibly fierce, directly punching a bowl-sized hole in the right chest of the battered Wooden Man Target.

[Skill: Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist, Beginner (107→157/500)]

The experience shot up again.

Tang Wen’s enthusiasm for learning soared.

The feeling of getting instant feedback from the system every time he learned a new move was just fantastic.

’If I had a learning Panel like this back in high school, I could’ve gotten into an Ivy League school.’

’Repeaters, top scorers—they’d all be chumps...’

[Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist, Fifth Form: Dragon Emerges from the Water, Undersea Shock]

Tang Wen wasn’t at all surprised that it jumped from the third form to the Fifth Form.

Zhou Bing had told him that the version of Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist in the camp was incomplete.

Several of its forms had been lost to time.

In the Fifth Form’s Visualization Image, a person struck the water with both fists, causing a calm sea to suddenly erupt in massive, overlapping waves.

Tang Wen imitated the image, the scenes in his mind flowing more and more smoothly.

But after several attempts, all he did was make the battered Wooden Man Target wobble and shed splinters.

He was nowhere near achieving the proper power of this Fist Technique.

Half an hour passed with no progress.

Tang Wen stopped struggling with it and let his gaze drift to the second-to-last Visualization Image.

[Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist, Seventh Form: Eight-Armed Divine Fist]

After visualizing it for a while, he realized it was a form that prioritized attack speed, requiring footwork to strike the opponent from all sides with terrifying speed.

In the Visualization Image, the punch speed was so fast that it filled the air with afterimages, as if several pairs of fists were striking at once.

That was why the move was called Eight-Armed Divine Fist.

After pondering for a long time, he realized the key to this move was the speed of his Visualization, which he couldn’t achieve yet.

So, he memorized the footwork and moved on to the final form.

[Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist, Tenth Form: Mountain-Shattering Cannon]

In the Visualization Image, it was an ordinary-looking punch, but the mountain collapsed.

Tang Wen gave up on learning it after just one look.

Because the person in the image had their fist wrapped in a thin layer of flame as they punched!

This was simply not a power that a Martial Disciple, Martial Artist, or even a Martial Master could possess.

Unless one was born with a Flame Superpower, it was absolutely impossible to master the essence of this move before surpassing the Martial Master Realm.

CLANK.

Time was up. A Guard pulled the door open.

"You—" he began, staring stunned at the mess on the floor for a moment before frowning. "Did you use a wooden bucket to smash the Wooden Man Target?"

Tang Wen rubbed his nose.

The Guard said, "Pay a fine of 50 Copper Coins."

"Alright."

Tossing down a silver coin, Tang Wen walked out the door.

Behind him, the Guard muttered, "The Ironwood Man Target is really sturdy. Isn’t this the kid’s first time learning a fist technique? Even the captains who’ve mastered their techniques can’t break the Ironwood Man, can they?"

Hearing this, Tang Wen quickly picked up his pace and left the courtyard.

Overhead, the starlight lit his path home.

Back in his own courtyard, he hung up the Kraft Paper and continued practicing his punches.

Tangtang was packing things up.

"Let’s move tomorrow."

"Huh? Okay. Did you tell Brother Li and the others?"

"I did, I did. They’re coming to help tomorrow too. I borrowed a horse-drawn carriage from the Martial Arts Hall; it’ll be here first thing in the morning."

"Good."

Tangtang had contacted Zhou Bing yesterday to tell her they wanted to move into the Inner City.

Essentially, they would be renting the empty rooms in Zhou Bing’s courtyard.

Even though Captain Zhou clearly didn’t like to be disturbed, she agreed without a second thought.

’He’s my subordinate, after all. It’s my duty to look after him. Besides, I get along well with Tangtang,’ Zhou Bing thought to herself while eating a meat sandwich.

The next day, with the help of Brother Li and Eldest Sister-in-law Li, Tang Wen and his sister made three trips with the carriage, moving all their belongings from the Outer City to Zhou Bing’s home—No. 7, 3rd Street, Inner City.

Tang Wen moved into the east room, and Tangtang took the west room.

The most spacious central hall remained Zhou Bing’s.

As for the rent, Zhou Bing had casually said before, "Ten meat sandwiches a day will do."

After a busy day, the brother and sister had just finished setting up their new home when the courtyard gate was pushed open.

"Sister Bing, what are you doing back?"

The person who had arrived was indeed Zhou Bing.

"The duel with Black Mountain Camp has been moved up. I came back to assemble the team."

CLANG.

The spoon in Tangtang’s hand clattered to the ground.

With no time to comfort her, Tang Wen asked, "Moved up to when?"

"In just three days."