Chapter 6: One Sword Divides the Water, Halting All Rivers

Page (1/3)
Blue Star, City of Withering and Flourishing, Shadow of the Storm Club.

“Xiao Zhen, what’s going on with you today?” The young man with a crew cut, dressed in a blue and white high-collar jacket, looked at Fang Zhen as he stepped out of the virtual chamber, his expression darkening. “Your face is pale, and even during training, you seem distracted and can’t coordinate with the others.”

“You haven’t been…”

“Playing some forbidden game, have you?”

In this era of virtual gaming explosion, there was every kind of game imaginable—if you could think of it, it existed.

“Team Leader Li, I haven’t. I’ve just been staying up late, that’s all.” Fang Zhen quickly explained, noticing the crew-cut youth’s grim expression.

Although Li Ranxing was not old—only 22 by the end of this year—he was the captain of the Storm of the Storm club, hired for a high price.

Since Li Ranxing joined, the Storm of the Storm team went from barely qualifying to the national mech competition to securing a spot in the top thirty-two, with Li himself ranking sixth in the individual tournament.

This year’s national mech contest saw Li Ranxing full of ambition. In the individual tourney, he had three wins and one loss, defeating last year’s third-place champion, the Scarlet Flame Gun Maiden Chen Ya.

Li was determined to lead the Storm of the Storm team into the national top eight. During this period, they trained relentlessly—from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., while Li himself pushed even harder, training from 8 a.m. until midnight. Apart from sleeping, he was constantly honing his mech skills like a madman.

“Staying up late?” Li Ranxing asked, puzzled. “What are you doing awake in the middle of the night?”

“Squats and digging holes,” Fang Zhen answered awkwardly.

Since the live broadcast of “Martial Awakening” began at 7:30 p.m. yesterday, he hadn’t rested until 3 a.m. He only then managed to obtain the training method and spent nearly an hour figuring out how to log off from Martial Awakening.

Sleeping!

This method was conceived during Ragnarok. Since death would cause players to exit the Martial Awakening world, sleeping—a state closest to death—was very likely the way to log out.

After several trials among the three of them, it was confirmed that both sleeping and losing consciousness would log the player off. However, the player’s body wouldn’t disappear but remain in the game, so one needed to find a safe place to log off; otherwise, if the body died, the player would be considered dead.

The Martial Awakening world was perilous, even inside the Obsidian Martial Hall, where radiation-contaminated zones abounded. To log off safely, one had to spend hall points to rent a safe zone for rest.

“That stingy hall master! Just for sleeping on a broken wooden plank, he charged me 2 points!”

Fang Zhen recalled how he had died twice just to earn those 2 points last night, losing two 648-value items in the process and working until after 7 a.m. He had barely managed to freshen up before rushing straight to the club for training. It was exhausting.

Some might ask why not just die outright and revive on the next login. But if something delayed revival beyond 24 hours, the account would be deleted, and the player would lose access forever.

Page (2/3)

“Squats? Digging holes?” Li Ranxing felt his mind struggling to process this, unable to understand when Fang Zhen had developed such a hobby. He then cautioned, “It’s good that you want to train your body at your age, but be careful. The simulation match is next week. If you perform poorly, it’ll be hard for me to talk to the coach.”

“Thanks, Team Leader Li. I’ll be more careful next time,” Fang Zhen said gratefully.

In the team training room, as Fang Zhen, the veteran, left, a newcomer who had recently joined Storm of the Storm approached Li Ranxing, eyes full of curiosity.

“Team Leader Li, didn’t the coach say that next week’s simulation match is Fang Ge’s last game?”

“Some things are better left unknown. Since it’s the last match anyway, it’s better to leave quietly than become a laughingstock.”

“Oh. Then will your duel with Chen Ya be affected?”

“You’ve been without matches recently; are you too idle? Today, train with me until midnight!”

…

Fang Zhen’s live stream began punctually at 7:30.

“So many people?” Fang rubbed his eyes, surprised by the backend viewer count.

265,876 viewers!

This was the highest audience Fang Zhen had ever had, exceeding his usual numbers by more than tenfold. The popularity rankings shot straight to number one among gaming streams.

“Zhen Ge, you finally showed up! My big sword was about to wait me out.”

“Zhen Ge! Since watching your stream yesterday, I realized my hobby is watching people do squats and dig holes.”

“What? Upstairs has some strange tastes. Am I the only one here just to see the goddess?”

“Oh my! Seeing Wu Shang yesterday, I couldn’t believe my eyes. She’s one of Pilgrimage’s top ten Sword Saints—Cutting Water with One Sword, Wanjiang’s unmatched Luo Wu Shang. She’s even prettier in real life than in Pilgrimage. I cleaned my eyes just to watch today. You know what I mean, streamer.”

The chat erupted as viewers reacted to Fang Zhen’s broadcast.

“Is this the power of celebrity?”

Fang Zhen watched the comments, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

Pilgrimage held an unquestioned status in the virtual gaming world, far superior to the Mech Continent, and the Sword Saint was among its highest titles. Ordinary players rarely saw such elite masters, and these top-tier experts scorned streaming. After all, joining a top-tier Pilgrimage guild meant treatment that even elite professional players dreamed of.

Page (3/3)

Now that Luo Wu Shang, a living legend from Pilgrimage, appeared in the stream, many Pilgrimage players flocked here out of admiration.

“Alright, today I’ll fulfill everyone’s wishes.”

Fang Zhen wasted no time and clicked “Martial Awakening” to enter the game.

City of Radiance, Obsidian Martial Hall.

“Hall Master, is there something you need?” Fang Zhen stood up, surprised to see Lin Qi at the door holding a small notebook, his gaze like a wolf spotting a fat sheep.

“Nothing. I just came to check if you’ve been training.” Lin Qi scrutinized Fang Zhen and his notebook, puzzled. “Did I record something wrong before?”

Player Fang Zhen, age 29, physical fitness test: strength 77.4 kg, speed 7.4 m/s.

Though the increase was slight, Fang Zhen’s strength had improved by 1.4 kg, and his speed by 0.1 m/s.

“Could inhaling poison gas actually aid growth?”

Lin Qi observed Fang Zhen digging holes and pondered what set him apart from the other two players yesterday.

Today, both Ragnarok and Luo Shang logged in, but their physical stats showed no change. Only Fang Zhen’s data differed noticeably from previous records.

Though the increase was small, if this pace continued, Fang Zhen would soon advance from kindergarten level to elementary school level within days.

If outsiders learned of this rapid progress, Fang Zhen would likely be taken for research—a lucrative opportunity—since few parents in the City of Radiance would not want such swift advancement for their children.

The biggest difference was Fang Zhen’s higher exposure to poison gas.

Yesterday, Ragnarok and Luo Shang each died once from poison, but Fang Zhen died four times, even pushing himself almost relentlessly in high-intensity activity.

Just as Lin Qi considered encouraging Fang Zhen to inhale more poison gas, a system notification sounded in his ear.

System: Congratulations! The number of reservations for the Traditional Martial Arts System has exceeded ten thousand, unlocking Level 1 priority admission rights.