I will eventually become a god through sheer hard work.

Xue Jing put away his childish posture and pondered.

"The very first challenge is to unleash such pure, unadulterated power... The Vajra Ruyi Hand must be a solution to this problem through a special skill developed through personal training."

He glanced at the tall and imposing Yin Muhu not far away.

"Yin Mu Hu's physique has reached such a level, which may have some innate genetic factors, but it must be due to the cultivation methods of his own school."

"If a woman wants to develop a physique as strong as a man, she has to put in ten or even nine times the effort without external interference."

Only by cultivating such a powerful and fierce physique through special training methods and secret medicines can one unleash such powerful and fierce strength.

"Let's try it first."

Xue Jing took a deep breath, inhaling a large amount of oxygen into his lungs.

Because the [Run] skill can strengthen the lungs after upgrading, his lungs are currently the strongest part of his five internal organs.

The strength of the lungs is key to the circulation of internal energy. Martial arts breathing techniques absorb oxygen from the outside world. The oxygen enters the blood from the lungs, giving the blood driving force to flow to all parts of the body and mobilize various organs. This is the principle of internal energy.

The more oxygen you can inhale in one breath, the stronger the driving force you generate, and the more energy you can mobilize.

This is one of the reasons why Xue Jing was able to 'crush' these young geniuses of the same age.

The difference in lung capacity between the two is too great.

Blood circulated rapidly under the influence of the breathing technique, Xue Jing's body surface became slightly hot, and a powerful dragon of energy was born amidst its roar.

With a thought, he entered his inner vision.

The true dragon roamed throughout his body, as if treating his body as a river or a sea, and wherever it passed, it produced a surging, muffled sound.

As Xue Jing continued to grow stronger, the details of this true dragon formed from his energy became even more refined, and its size grew even larger.

"First of all...try to eliminate softness as much as possible."

As Xue Jing's thoughts flashed by, fine dragon scales began to peel off the dragon's body.

When these scales fall, they drift gently like feathers, appearing extremely soft.

The dragon roared, and the gaps in its body caused by the loss of scales were immediately filled by the surrounding flesh.

The newly formed scales looked extremely sharp and hard, and its body had also shrunk by a barely perceptible amount.

At the same time, the dragon's originally agile and graceful figure became much stiffer, like a rusty machine that couldn't bend, and its eyes became much duller.

"not enough."

Xue Jing was at a loss.

The dragon scales on the dragon's body immediately peeled off one by one, making the whole dragon look like a cat with its fur standing on end.

Then, countless streams of blood gushed out from the gaps in the dragon scales; these streams of blood were all wisps of abstract energy.

The power extracted from the true dragon was not only soft, because Xue Jing could not precisely remove only the soft power. Therefore, he could only cut out the large chunk of hard power that contained a wisp of soft power, just like cutting off flesh to treat an illness.

As the dragon continued to be cut away, its body shrank until it was only half its original size.

Its movements became increasingly stiff, until at some point it almost completely froze, as if it had turned into a lifeless puppet.

"Well, this is probably the limit right now."

Xue Jing looked inward at the true dragon, which was almost entirely composed of powerful energy.

"It can still move... it can move."

The true dragon formed from the power of strength can still move, but it is the kind of movement where the body itself remains still and it moves horizontally in the air.

It's like a character getting stuck in a game.

Xue Jing controlled it, bringing it to his right hand and imbuing it with his right fist, then suddenly swung it at the Yin Mu Tiger beside him.

"call out--"

The powerful punch, completely contrary to air resistance, emitted an extremely sharp whistling sound as it rubbed against the air, creating layers of air waves along its path before striking Yin Muhu's robust chest and abdomen.

"Ah!"

A sound like a hammer striking a bell rang out, and both Xue Jing's fist and Yin Muhu's steel-like body trembled. Under the interaction of forces, both of them were sent flying backward.

After his feet stomped on the ground, grinding two grooves into the solid wood floor, Xue Jing stopped his backward flight.

"The stiff, rigid strength is too difficult to use."

He shook his head.

"The main problem is that it can't reach the level of true 'pure strength,' as there are still some softness that can't be eliminated... This limbo, where you're almost there but not quite there, is the most uncomfortable."

"If all the softness can be eliminated and a 'true dragon of extreme hardness' is created, it can be shattered with a little force. Then the next step, 'shaping as you wish', can begin."

Xue Jing walked to Yin Muhu's side, put his hand on her shoulder, and channeled his energy into her body.

By invading with force, one can vaguely explore the opponent's internal body structure.

He had not yet reached the level of his master Li Qi, who could perceive the entire body as soon as the force entered; he could only explore it in general terms.

"It's still due to the nature of his internal energy. Yin Muhu's internal energy is special and extremely powerful. It ensures that when the power is generated from within the body, the amount of 'softness' is very small, and it is clearly distinct from 'hardness,' making it very easy to eliminate."

"If I'm not mistaken, when the Vajra Ruyi Hand style of martial arts is perfected, all the power generated is directly 'pure hardness', without even needing any elimination process."

Xue Jing pinched his chin.

"It seems the only option is to wait and see."

"A martial artist's skill will gradually change adaptively as they practice the martial arts they cultivate."

"As long as I continue to practice and pursue pure strength, my existing physical form will gradually change and become more adapted to the pure strength of exertion. At that time, I will naturally be able to generate the 'True Dragon of Extreme Strength'."

A feeling of dizziness washed over him, and Xue Jing pressed his temples before exiting the consciousness simulation.

Everything vanished as pixels, and Xue Jing opened his eyes in reality.

"Let's take it slow," he muttered to himself.

Fortunately, the Hidden Dragon Style is quite versatile and highly adaptable to other styles of martial arts, so this process shouldn't take too long.

[...Hidden Dragon Strength Experience Points +306]

[…Visualization True Experience Points +288]

After checking his haul on the panel, Xue Jing closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep in less than a few seconds.

……

The next day at noon, in the hotel lobby lounge area.

Xue Jing, Yin Muhu, and Jiang Siwei sat on the sofa in the rest area, looking at the tablet computer on the table in front of them.

That was brought by the agent, Jiang Siwei.

A live broadcast is playing on the computer screen.

The subtitle below reads—

[U19 Unrestricted Fighting Tournament - Regional Elimination Rounds - Maple City Division Draw Ceremony, Coming Soon]

The video was still playing commercials, and Xue Jing, bored, casually remarked:

"Speaking of which, how much is the prize money for the U19 competition?"

Jiang Siwei sat down next to him, thought for a moment, and replied:

"The prize money itself isn't much; the total prize pool this year is less than 100 million Zhuxia coins... The champion's prize should be around 20 million."

"The prize money in martial arts competitions is just a bonus; what's important is the reputation you gain and the honors you receive during the competition."

Jiang Siwei glanced at Xue Jing, still feeling a pang of regret.

If this young man is willing, with the resources available to him from the club, he could quickly become a rising, unstoppable top star.

Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be really interested.

But he's really good-looking...

Jiang Siwei stared blankly at Xue Jing's perfectly sculpted profile.

"It seems to have started," Yin Muhu said, arms crossed.

On the tablet, the advertisement had ended, and the screen switched to a dazzling, colorful stage.

A middle-aged male host, dressed in a suit and tie and with a kind face, was standing on the stage, holding a stack of cards in his hand, and talking non-stop about various advertising slogans.

Behind him was a huge screen displaying various viewer comments, text messages, and the like.

"...Alright, enough chit-chat, everyone, please look at the big screen!"

After the host finished speaking, he gestured with his hand, and the scene suddenly changed.

"Here it is, the list of contestants." Jiang Siwei and Yin Muhu immediately sat up straight and began to look at it carefully.

The image shows four groups of names, eight in each group, for a total of thirty-two.

Xue Jing's name was also prominently featured, located in the third position of the second row.

After confirming that his name was among them, he casually glanced at the other names.

With just a glance, he memorized all the names of dozens of people.

After comparing the contestant information Jiang Siwei gave him yesterday, he found that, except for one person named 'Deng Jizhou', all the other contestants' names were in that information.

"Pretty impressive." Xue Jing glanced at Jiang Siwei and nodded.

"Du Mingluan and Kou Chengjian from the two major branches of the Night King School, Jiang Jinkang from the Wrathful Tide School, and Ji Huaiyu from the Four Symbols Dojo..."

Yin Muhu, standing to the side, named out various schools of thought and individuals.

"They're all famous young prodigies; the competition in this U19 class is fierce..."

After she finished speaking, she couldn't help but glance at Xue Jing beside her.

"Especially with you here..."

Xue Jing smiled but didn't say anything.

The live stream began to feature detailed introductions of the contestants.

Many of them are players who have participated in public competitions and made their mark in the past.