I will eventually become a god through sheer hard work.

Several martial arts practitioners began a heated discussion.

A person's name is like a tree's shadow. Li Qi, the old master of the Hidden Dragon Dojo, has a great reputation. He is influential even in the inner city, let alone in Qingcheng, this "countryside place".

Although the other party had his legs broken and his spirit crushed by a ruthless man more than ten years ago, and is now half a cripple, his former reputation as the "Dragon King" is still highly respected in the underworld.

The commotion from the onlookers did not affect the two people present.

Xue Jing looked up at the burly man in front of him, a question mark appearing in his mind.

Seeing that Xue Jing remained silent, seemingly frightened, Li Zhaoquan grinned and said in a loud voice:

"Don't worry, you don't need to be afraid. It's working hours now, and I won't cause you any trouble at this time."

Then, he changed the subject.

"However... we're colleagues now, and if there's danger later, we'll have to cooperate. So we need to understand each other's capabilities beforehand, don't you think?"

Xue Jing showed no expression, but calmly asked, "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Li Zhaoquan stretched out his right hand, rolled up his sleeve to his elbow, revealing muscles as strong as iron, and grinned:

"Let me lend you a hand."

In the old days, for martial artists who wanted to make a living through martial arts, reputation was the most important thing.

Therefore, established martial artists would never easily resort to violence against each other. If one side lost, their reputation would be ruined. Even if they were to fight, it would be a private fight behind closed doors, and the outcome would never be revealed.

If it were a public battle where each school of thought were to stake their reputation, it would essentially mean that the two sides had an irreconcilable and enormous conflict, at which point it would determine both the victor and the loser, and even decide their fate.

Based on this situation, a etiquette called 'ta shou' (搭手) arose among martial artists.

Skilled martial artists have honed their skills to the bone. When two people spar, they can roughly gauge each other's level by exchanging blows and releasing force. With this understanding, they don't need to make a scene. They value harmony and consider it a kind of "soft competition".

When the other party offered to lend a hand, Xue Jing didn't pay much attention.

He had only been practicing martial arts for a short time and didn't know much about the rules in the circle. He just thought that this was probably the etiquette between martial artists when they first met.

So he also extended his right hand and put his forearm together with the other person's forearm.

Visually, the two people's arms are quite different in size, like a child and an adult.

"They've joined forces! This is going to be interesting. That brute Li Zhaoquan loves to use this trick—using his hands to force people to their knees. It's his specialty, and many people have suffered because of it!"

"The Tiger Soul Dojo places the most emphasis on cultivating internal strength and has extremely high attainments in physical training. This young man is just starting out, and he'll probably have to suffer a loss and learn a lesson from it."

Hearing the conversation of several disciples from the dojo nearby, Pei Youguang wanted to remind Jing-ge to be careful, but after glancing at his elder brother Pei Tiancheng beside him, he hesitated for a moment.

At this moment, things had already changed.

As soon as Xue Jing made contact with his opponent, he immediately sensed a tremendous force surging from his opponent's forearm like a tsunami, which came extremely suddenly.

He blinked, his expression unchanged, but he also channeled his energy and pressed down on his opponent.

"Hmm?" Li Zhaoquan's expression changed slightly.

He felt less like he was working with an underage boy and more like he was placing his hand on a water buffalo that was becoming increasingly agitated.

'Oh no, I can't hold it down!' Li Zhaoquan gritted his teeth and continued to exert force, a flush appeared on his face, and his arms began to tremble slightly.

'This guy is quite strong.' Xue Jing looked at the other person with some surprise.

With a full array of skills and having practiced the Shaking Armor Technique for many days, along with the Five Great Body Strengthening Techniques, his strength has increased at an extremely rapid rate. Although it hasn't been tested yet, without using any techniques, his punching power is at least over 800 kilograms. In terms of pure physical attributes, he can be said to be incredibly strong.

But the person in front of him seemed to have a way of overwhelming him, and was probably a little stronger.

"Interesting." Xue Jing narrowed his eyes slightly, showing some interest.

With a thought, he activated his Twin Powers, instantly doubling his strength.

"Click..."

In less than half a second, a barely perceptible cracking sound was heard.

Li Zhaoquan's expression changed slightly, a few drops of sweat appeared on his forehead, and he slowly withdrew his right hand.

Without changing his expression, he clasped his hands in a fist salute to Xue Jing and said in a loud voice, "As expected of a worthy disciple of the Hidden Dragon Dojo, I am Li Zhaoquan!"

Xue Jing withdrew his hand, smiled, and returned the greeting with clasped hands: "Xue Jing."

"Alright, Brother Xue Jing, I'll treat you to tea sometime. It's working hours now, so let's not go any further. Um... I need to pee, I'm going to the restroom!"

Li Zhaoquan spoke very quickly.

Seeing Xue Jing nod and agree with a smile, she turned around and walked slowly toward the gate.

"Is that all?" Everyone was a little confused.

Zhang Daqing, who was not far away, noticed this situation and sensed that something was wrong.

What's going on? When did this brute become so polite?

He thought for a moment, then quietly followed Li Zhaoquan out the door.

Then, he watched as Li Zhaoquan, as he rounded a corner in the corridor, suddenly crouched down and gasped for breath.

"hiss!!"

He was seen covering his right forearm with his left hand and rubbing it incessantly.

His right hand was still trembling uncontrollably, as if he had Parkinson's disease.

Li Zhaoquan grimaced, his face contorted in pain.

"What the hell, what monster?!"

He looked at his trembling arms and secretly regretted his rash actions.

This is hardly the young man who has just started learning martial arts. He'd believe it if you said he was lifting weights since he was in the womb, or that he was born holding dumbbells.

He was actually outmatched in sheer physical strength by a boy who looked like he was underage?

"Uh... what are you doing?"

Suddenly, a voice that Li Zhaoquan absolutely did not want to hear came from behind him.

He immediately straightened up, turned around nonchalantly, and looked at Zhang Daqing's ambiguous smiling face.

"It's nothing, I just need to pee. Do you know where the toilet is?"

He tucked his trembling right hand behind his back and said calmly.

Zhang Daqing clicked his tongue twice: "Keep pretending, I'm watching."

Li Zhaoquan's lips twitched.

"You saw it, so why are you asking me anything?"

He immediately stopped pretending and continued rubbing his right forearm, occasionally letting out a hissing sound that sounded quite painful.

Looking at his appearance, Zhang Daqing found it amusing, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel secretly alarmed.

What exactly is the background of that new disciple from the Hidden Dragon Dojo?

How could he possibly outmuscle Li Zhaoquan? Was he on drugs?

……

Please vote for me!

Chapter 63: They wanted to get to know me, not the other way around.

"So why exactly did you cause trouble for them?" Zhang Daqing rubbed his chin and tilted his head to ask.

"..."

Li Zhaoquan scratched his head.

"There are a lot of girls here, so I just want to show off..."

Zhang Daqing was speechless: "You idiot, you're really not afraid of trouble. They're not a lone family. Even if you bully them, who knows, 'Little Dragon King' Meng Boshang might come to your dojo to challenge you tomorrow."

"It's just lending a hand, I won't really do anything to him, I've already come up with a reason." Li Zhaoquan said confidently.

Zhang Daqing rolled his eyes, too lazy to say anything more.

"Hiss... the bone is really broken. This guy isn't normal. We absolutely mustn't mess with him..." Li Zhaoquan rubbed his arm.

Zhang Daqing quickly waved his hand: "What 'we'? Don't give me that, I have nothing to do with you. I've always been watching him with friendly and kind eyes..."

……

"Huh? Is that all?"

A group of wealthy and noble young men and women were somewhat bewildered.

These two looked like they were about to have a fight, so how come they only held hands for a short while and then it was over?

Ye Shao and Ye Chenglin looked at Pei Tiancheng.

"Young Master Pei, what do you think? What happened?"

The rest of the people in the small circle also looked at him.

Pei Tiancheng smiled, took a sip of wine from his glass, and said, "That's 'sparring.' Between martial artists of high enough skill level, if two people want to test each other's skills, they can know each other's approximate level just by sparring, without actually fighting."

A group of second-generation rich kids, who had never been exposed to these things before, were immediately struck by their wonder and exclaimed in surprise.

"So they've already tested each other out? Young Master Pei, who do you think had the upper hand?"

Ye Chenglin asked with interest.

"Of course, it's this handsome young man!" a girl immediately said, her eyes shining as she stared at Xue Jing.

"That big bear ran so fast, it must have lost," another girl immediately chimed in.

A young man with slicked-back hair standing nearby couldn't help but feel a little jealous: "Hey, you guys who only care about looks, don't just focus on appearances. This is a martial arts competition, not a beauty pageant. Young Master Pei, you know the place best, what do you say?"

Pei Tiancheng looked at Xue Jing and said in a gentle voice, "It seems that this young man is indeed stronger."

"See? I told you he would win!" The girl immediately beamed with joy.

"Young Master Pei, Young Master Pei, what about you? Between you and him, who is stronger?" someone suddenly asked.

Pei Tiancheng smiled, a hint of confidence on his face.