Chapter 80: Breaking Through to Four-Star

“A breakthrough?” Though the female soldier didn’t like Park Jong-Hwan prideful attitude, she couldn’t help but add a tone of admiration in her words. “I recall that you were at three-star strength when you first came. Are you now at four-star strength? Just how old are you? You’re a genius.”

“Oh, really?”

Park Jong-Hwan laughed but didn’t deny it. People had called him a genius since he was very little. Much time passed where he observed martial artists of the same age advance much slower on the path of the martial dao. Park Jong-Hwan had gradually begun to accept people calling him things like this.

Today Park Jong-Hwan had broken through to four-star strength. He was confident that not even a few recruits were able to do this in the entirety of the recruit training camp. He was worthy of being called a genius.

Park Jong-Hwan enjoyed the rays of sunlight upon walking out of the gravity chambers. His lips lifted to the side in a smirk. “I think I’ll go back to the living quarters and take a look around.”

His feet sped up, his four-star strength unleashed. Park Jong-Hwan dashed through the wind, feeling a certain spiritual enjoyment.

A different gravity chamber’s door opened a dozen or so minutes later.

The door that opened was the door to the 1.5 times gravity chamber. The female soldier stared blankly at Qin Fen, who stood at the entrance.

This…. This young man, who had been in something akin to a vegetative state, had actually done closed-door cultivation! And he actually came out of closed-doors!

Park Jong-Hwan had come out glowing with health and vigor. In comparison, weariness could be seen all over Qin Fen’s face. For the sake of breaking through to the four-star level, he very nearly died of fatigue. He felt none of the joy of breaking through when he woke up. All he felt was an entire body heavy with fatigue and a stomach howling in anguish.

It’s been far too long since he last ate! If the figure of light hadn’t done some special adjustments with his body, he would have long since fainted from malnutrition and hunger from all these days in closed-door cultivation.

“You… you….” The female soldier didn’t know what to say for a time.

Qin Fen supported himself using the door frame. He asked, weak and without strength, “Excuse me… is there food being served at this time?”

“Yes yes yes.” The female soldier saw Qin Fen and how his body lacked all strength, but his eyes glowed when he asked about food. The female soldier quickly nodded, “There’s always food in this place. I’ll bring you over.”

Qin Fen strode with a weak and powerless step. “Is it still next door?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll go by myself, so as not to bother you.” Qin Fen nodded. His breakthrough this time had been much more troublesome than last time. It would be better to make more preparations for the next one.

Qin Fen arrived at the small kitchen and its canteen, and Cook saw Qin Fen in an instant. “You came out of closed-doors, kid! Hey, it looks like you made a breakthrough from your aura.”

“Yeah, I broke through.” Qin Fen maintained his basic courtesy and sat his but down at the dining table. “I’m starving to death from it. Is there something to eat?”

Cook gave a deep look at Qin Fen, his gaze totally that of a grumbling elder generation looking at a young generation for being reckless. “We’ll see if you dare to make a breakthrough by staking your life on it the next time. Nobody tries to make a breakthrough like you, not eating, not drinking, believing himself to be an iron man.”

He chopped vegetables, turned on the stove, added oil….

“Hold on. You’ll need more nutrition with how hungry you are. I’ll make you something good.”

As Cook spoke, he tossed a few vegetables that Qin Fen had never seen before into the pan. The vegetables and the scalding oil created a sizzling sound without end. It didn’t take long for a large steaming hot nutritious meal to come out from the kitchen.

Qin Fen was really far too hungry. He gave the cook a word of thanks and immediately started eating like a wolf.

The food this time had a taste that was even worse than last time, but it was indescribably delicious to Qin Fen when it entered his mouth.

Indeed, there was no such thing as disgusting food in this world. What was believed to be disgusting was caused by a lack of hunger! This viewpoint of Qin Fen’s, which he had concluded in the past, was confirmed to be true once more, and the feeling was that of incomparable delight.

Cook laughed as he started to make a second serving of an even larger nutritious meal. He was confident in Qin Fen’s self-control from his chats with Squad Leader Hao. No matter how hungry Qin Fen was, he wouldn’t ruin his body by eating and drinking unreasonably. He would certainly stop eating once he reached critical values.

As he stirred with a large spoon, Cook held his cellphone and gave Squad Leader Hao a call. He reported that all was well. “Old Hao, the kid Qin Fen has come out. He’s eating over at my place. Okay! I’ll have him wait for you here.”

Qin Fen annihilated his third serving of the large nutritious meal when Squad Leader Hao charged into the canteen.

“Kid! You’re okay, right!?” Squad Leader Hao grabbed Qin Fen by the skull with his two hands. He observed him, “The heck were you doing!? Nobody does closed-door cultivation like that! Are you seeking to die?”

Qin Fen could only smile wryly. Doesn’t everybody want to do closed-door cultivation like normal? The problem was with the figure of light in the dream. The figure of light hadn’t discussed things with him at all and had placed him in a bind before he had broken through.

“What are you smiling for? One must avoid being rash on the path of the martial dao at all costs. Your deadly closed-door cultivation was a bit rash. It’s quite easy for things to go wrong.” Butcher’s tone was that of lecturing, but it was brimming with the love of an elder generation toward a younger generation.

Qin Fen could do nothing but smile wryly. It was best to keep the matter of the figure of light and the liquid metal a secret. On that day, several people had struggled in deadly battle. The situation clearly had something to do with the liquid metal. Who knew what sort of secrets were concealed in the background. It would be best to keep it a secret even from people who he had the most intimate of relationships with. This was to avoid involving them in whatever dangers in the future.

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When it came to the liquid metal, Qin Fen always avoided thinking about the scene of that day. Anyone would feel a certain dangerous vibe when thinking about killers in dark alleys.

“But Qin Fen is Qin Zhan’s little brother.” Phoenix’s tone was brimming with pride. “I told you guys that you were worrying yourselves blind.”

“Yeah We were worrying ourselves blind.” Squadron Leader Trash’s laugh caused his eyebrows to rise. “I don’t know just who was the most worried one in these past few days.”

Phoenix got into a fighting stance, while Gale Riley came out to dissuade her, “Okay, okay. The kid’s fine, and that’s all that matters.”

Qin Fen felt a burst of emotion as he watched these people beside him. Their feelings of care weren’t things that could be expressed by fake gestures.

Boor grabbed a spoon and ate a bite of Qin Fen’s nutritious meal. He coughed a couple times and spat it out. “Hey, Cook. Are you making food here, or are you making poison? Do you want to poison someone to death!?”

“Really?” Squad Leader Hao couldn’t hold back from grabbing a spoon and trying a mouthful. “Can you make it even more disgusting? I want to see Qin Fen eat only the food you make. He won’t be going to the canteen.”

“Huh?”

Qin Fen, who was in the middle of eating, was shocked for a moment. He could eat delicious food these days. Nobody would want to eat disgustingly tasting food. The taste of the canteen’s food was much better than this cook’s food.

“You’re lucky, kid! If you weren’t Qin Zhan’s little brother, and you hadn’t entered the gravity chamber for self-cultivation. You wouldn’t even be able to think about eating the food I make.” Cook smacked his chest as he spoke. “Since Old Hao said so, let’s do it that way.”

Phoenix only expressed her tender female side when she was in front of Qin Fen. “Qin Fen, you’re only eighteen. Your body is still in the developmental stage. This Cookster’s food may be getting more and more worse, but its best to have nutrients match with your body. When he specializes in cooking for someone, he will do it different for every person according to their body. He formulates different menus for each person. He is the best nutritionist you can ask for.”

Qin Fen stood up and gave a very sincere bow. It didn’t matter how bad tasting the food was. The most important thing was how good it was to the body.

“Kid, it’s not that I don’t know how to make good tasting food.” Cook patted Qin Fen on the shoulder. “When people get used to enjoying good tasting things, the mouth becomes picky. When the mouth becomes picky, other bad habits can easily and quickly form.”

Butcher interrupted him at this time, “Kid, since you made a breakthrough, what do you think of letting me test you out in a little bit?”

“Oh? I’m very tired.” Qin Fen had a face that asked for forgiveness. “Can you please be considerate?”

Butcher was stunned at first, but he suddenly saw a faint smile in the corner of Squad Leader Hao’s eyes. Butcher’s eyes immediately lit up and he patted Qin Fen on the back. “Don’t fake it too much with me. Stop it with the trickery that you learned from Old Hao for now. I’m not one to be underestimated.”

Qin Fen looked at Phoenix very puzzled. Wasn’t his performance done rather nicely?

“Qin Fen, your squad leader sold you out.” Phoenix pointed at Squad Leader Hao. “Even I was tricked by you just now, but you weren’t able to trick Old Hao.”

“Kid, next time conceal your excitement even deeper.” Squad Leader Hao pointed to his own heart. “Your excitement just now told me that you’d love to give Butcher a surprise.”

Qin Fen grinned. It looked like Squad Leader Hao’s trickery was very useful. If Squad Leader Hao hadn’t been present, his trickery this time would have been totally successful.

“But it’s still worthy of praise.” Squad Leader Hao looked at Qin Fen very seriously. “You have an honest personality, and an appearance that isn’t shrewd nor cunning. You have good makings to be using trickery.”

————-

The recruit camp, the hospital.

The walls were white, and the hospital bed was simple. Lying there was a young man whose four limbs were covered with bandages to form thick plaster. Purple scars could be seen all over his face, and an IV drip was pricked into his forehead. He was in deep sleep.

Park Jong-Hwan silently stood before the bed, surrounded by the other recruits of the State of Korea. He watched the miserable appearance of own younger brother. His amiable face gradually darkened.

With modern science and technology, people could utilize advanced technology to quickly and fully integrate a bone in the case of a bone fracture injury.

However, such a procedure merely integrated bone, missing the complete reorganization and assembly of the meridians. The quick connection of bone instead destroys the channels of the meridians, leading to permanent damage to the meridians. The patient would then have nearly no hope of traversing the path of the martial dao.

Park Jong-Hoon was an ideal person for the martial dao, so only the most old-fashioned of methods could be used to treat him. The doctors would not integrate the bones hastily.

“He fought with someone?” Park Jong-Hwan’s forehead wrinkled as a dark cloud loomed over his head.

“Yes.” A Korean recruit carefully answered, “He fought with a recruit called Du Peng not too long ago and got injured.”

“Was it one on one?” Park Jong-Hwan was a bit surprised. His older brother Park Jong-Hoon was a three-star Neo Taekwondo expert, yet he was actually injured to this degree by someone using a heavy fist technique.

“He only fought one against one after fighting several people in a row. That person wouldn’t stop even when Jong-Hoon lost. Only after breaking Jong-Hoon’s four limbs did he stop.”

Park Jong-Hwan’s eyes glared, and his essence, spirit, and energy fused together into a divine glow akin to coursing lightning. The Korean recruits caught in his gaze shivered subconsciously.

“Tiring someone out by taking turns? They’ve simply ignored the basic principles of the martial dao! And seriously injuring the defeated is even more of a trample to the principles of competition! Great! Great! Our fellow countrymen lying in the other beds… were they first tired out using the same tactic then fought one on one?”