Chapter 15: Qianqian, You Truly Live Up to Your Name—You Owe Me!

The next day, when Zhang Ze saw Li Sanqing again, his curiosity about the man’s data was immediate.

“Cellular strength: 492S.”

Although he had his suspicions, actually seeing the real number still left him somewhat shocked.

“You’re not far from reaching the third rank, are you?” he asked softly as the two descended the stairs side by side.

Li Sanqing seemed surprised at first, but he didn’t dwell on it.

“I’ll take you to the martial arts gym. Until the Bureau’s assessment begins on September 1st, you can study some fundamentals there.”

After saying this, Li Sanqing lapsed into silence once more. Seeing this, Zhang Ze lost the desire to make conversation.

Half an hour later, the two arrived at the Yongsheng Martial Arts Gym.

“Go on in,” Li Sanqing said, leading the way inside.

As soon as Zhang Ze entered, he was greeted by the sound of spirited shouts. At the center of the training field, several people were sparring with each other. Had he not witnessed the fight between Li Sanqing and Wang Chao, Zhang Ze might have mistaken this place for some sort of Taekwondo class from his previous life—except the students here were adults, not children.

A few young men clearly recognized Li Sanqing and greeted him with their characteristic smiles.

“There are actually two warriors here…” Zhang Ze could immediately tell through his system’s scan that two of them had broken past 100S in cellular strength.

“Back already?” As Zhang Ze was sizing up the group, a young man appeared at the edge of the training area and approached Li Sanqing, glancing at Zhang Ze as well.

“I’ve brought him, as promised,” Li Sanqing said. “Before the assessment, let him pick up some basic combat and cultivation knowledge.”

The young man seemed friendly enough, and he nodded at Li Sanqing’s request.

“Just had your breakthrough?” he asked, looking at Zhang Ze.

“Two days ago,” Zhang Ze replied.

“Your cellular strength isn’t low—was it a limit breakthrough?” the young man mused, not waiting for Zhang Ze to answer. “No wonder he brought you to take part in the Bureau’s assessment.”

He then turned to Li Sanqing. “Will you be staying for a few days?”

Li Sanqing shook his head. “I have to prepare for the end-of-month Bureau assessment. He’s in your hands now,” he explained, then left without further words for Zhang Ze.

Zhang Ze wasn’t intimidated; after all, he’d dared to break into the Investigation Division headquarters and had seen dead bodies before.

Could a few living people possibly scare him?

“You’ll be teaching me combat?” Zhang Ze asked the young man once Li Sanqing was out of sight.

He had already realized that this young man was also a second-rank warrior, and his cellular strength of 456S wasn’t far behind Li Sanqing’s.

The young man chuckled but didn’t answer. He led Zhang Ze over to the others.

“You don’t need to follow me,” he finally said, noticing Zhang Ze trailing after him.

“State your name, then go over there and hold a horse stance,” he instructed, pointing to an empty spot near the training area.

Zhang Ze frowned, not quite understanding what the man meant, but he complied. “My name is Zhang Ze…”

“That’s enough; off you go. Hold the stance,” the young man cut him off. As a newcomer, Zhang Ze didn’t want to stir up trouble, so after a brief hesitation he obediently went to hold the horse stance.

Just then, he heard the young man’s voice behind him. “My name is Ren Fan.”

With that, Ren Fan motioned for the others to introduce themselves, and while holding his stance, Zhang Ze managed to remember the names of the other two warriors—Yan Long and Zheng Li, both first-rank warriors.

Each introduction was brief, just a name and nothing more.

Ren Fan then stood before them, feet apart. “Alright, let’s see what you’ve accomplished these last few days. Just show me three moves: a back throw, a straight punch, and the one martial technique—Crushing Fist.”

His gaze settled on Yan Long. “Yan Long, you demonstrate first. Liu Qianqian, you’ll be his partner.”

“Sir!” called out a slightly chubby young man—Liu Qianqian.

“Yes, Liu Qianqian, what is it?” Ren Fan asked.

“Coach Ren, we have a newcomer. To help him learn combat skills quickly, I think he should participate right away.”

When Zhang Ze heard this, he was delighted. After all, he’d come here to learn real combat techniques, not to stand in a horse stance all day.

“Zhang Ze, would you like to join in?” Ren Fan asked.

With no hesitation, Zhang Ze replied eagerly, “Coach Ren, I’d like to!”

Later, he would curse himself for that enthusiasm, slapping himself hard. “Why did you have to be so willing?”

But for the moment, Zhang Ze was just glad to escape the horse stance.

He stepped to the center of the training area, smiling as he stood next to Ren Fan.

“Yan Long, after your turn, Zheng Li will demonstrate next,” Ren Fan instructed. “Remember, use only thirty percent of your strength.”

Ren Fan stepped aside. Zhang Ze was about to ask how the exercise would proceed when suddenly the world flipped upside down.

Bang—

It took him a moment to realize what had happened.

“Did I just become a punching bag?”

As this thought crossed his mind, he was hauled upright, only to receive a heavy punch to the chest.

“Damn it…”

When Yan Long finally performed the Crushing Fist, Zhang Ze was certain his right forearm would never recover.

“Your moves are fairly standard,” Ren Fan commented. “But your Crushing Fist still lacks something, though it’s passable.”

He paid no mind to whatever Zhang Ze was muttering under his breath.

“Next, Zheng Li!”

Someone was still concerned for Zhang Ze; after all, before him, this had been Liu Qianqian’s job. Zhang Ze, dizzy from Yan Long’s throws, wanted to go back to holding the horse stance, but he wasn’t given the chance.

It’s worth noting that in just under ten minutes at this gym, aside from Yan Long and Zheng Li, the name that stuck in Zhang Ze’s mind most was Liu Qianqian.

One after another, more than a dozen rounds in total, Zhang Ze felt as if his bones were about to fall apart.

“The last one—Liu Qianqian, your turn,” Ren Fan announced.

Zhang Ze didn’t know where the energy came from, but upon hearing Liu Qianqian’s name, his legs stopped aching and his waist no longer hurt.

“Coach Ren, after participating just now, I think I’ve grasped the essence of these three moves. May I have Liu Qianqian demonstrate them with me?” he asked eagerly, his eyes blazing as he stared at Liu Qianqian.

Ren Fan chuckled. “I approve. Liu Qianqian, step forward!”