I Will Grind My Way To Godhood

"However, there are still many challenges to overcome in mastering this ultimate technique of rigid strength." Xue Jing gathered his thoughts, contemplating.

"First, achieving one hundred percent pure rigidity in force is a major challenge... The Vajra Wishful Hand should address this problem by cultivating a special body through rigorous self-training." He glanced at the imposing figure of Yin Mǔhǔ standing not far away.

"Yin Mǔhǔ's build reaching such a stage may partially be due to innate genetic factors, but achieving this level is certainly thanks to their unique training methods."

"For a woman to develop a physique as robust as a man's without external aid, she must endure ten times, perhaps even nine times, the effort."

Through unique training methods and secret medicines, a body of extraordinary strength can be forged to unleash overwhelmingly fierce power.

"Let's give it a try." Xue Jing took a deep breath, drawing an immense amount of oxygen into his lungs.

Due to the enhancement of his lung capacity from the skill upgrade of [Running], his lungs were currently the strongest part among his five organs.

The health of the lungs is crucial for force exertion. Martial breathing techniques absorb oxygen from the outside, which enters the bloodstream from the lungs, generating driving force that surges throughout the body and activates various organs. This is the principle of force exertion.

The more oxygen that can be inhaled in one breath, the stronger the resultant driving force, thus enabling greater force exertion. This is one reason Xue Jing can form a 'force crushing' over these young prodigies of his age.

The disparity in lung capacity was significant. Under the influence of breathing techniques, the blood circulated at high speed, Xue Jing's skin surface slightly heated up, and the Force True Dragon transformed and emerged amidst roars.

He focused his mind and entered internal vision. The True Dragon roamed within his body, treating his form as if it were vast rivers and seas, its passage echoing with the rushing sound of great rivers.

This True Dragon formed by force, its detailed features becoming increasingly refined with Xue Jing's persistent strengthening, now also appearing more magnified.

"First... try to eliminate flexible force elements." As Xue Jing’s thoughts flashed through, the True Dragon suddenly shed densely packed dragon scales.

The falling scales gently floated like feathers, appearing incredibly soft. The True Dragon roared, and the gaps created by the lost scales were immediately filled by the surrounding flesh.

The newly grown scales appeared extremely sharp and rigid, and its form subtly reduced, almost imperceptibly.

Simultaneously, the True Dragon's originally lively and graceful body stiffened considerably, as if it had rusted over, and its eyes became much duller.

"Still not enough." Xue Jing focused his will.

The dragon scales on the True Dragon’s body immediately lifted, the entire dragon seeming as if it had fluffed up like a cat.

Subsequently, countless streams of blood sprayed out from the gaps in the scales, these blood streams representing threads of concentrated force.

The extraction of force from the True Dragon was not limited to soft force, because it was difficult for Xue Jing to precisely remove only the soft force. Thus, he had to cut out large chunks of hard force that contained threads of soft force, akin to cutting out flesh to cure an illness.

As he continued to remove these chunks, the True Dragon's figure kept diminishing, leaving only half of its original size.

Its movements became increasingly stiff, until at a certain moment, it almost completely ceased moving, as if it had turned into a puppet-like lifeless object.

“Hmm, this is probably the current limit.”

Xue Jing observed the nearly fully hard force-composed True Dragon within himself.

“Move… it can still move.”

The True Dragon of hard force could move, yet it was a kind of movement where the body remained stationary in posture, sliding through the air like a game character stuck in place.

Xue Jing controlled it, bringing it to his right hand, merging it with his right fist, and then swung fiercely at the Yin Mǔhǔ beside him.

“Whoosh—”

The fist imbued with hard force, pushing against the air's resistance, emitted an extremely sharp whistle, pushing away layers of airwaves along its path, striking the muscular chest and abdomen of the Yin Mǔhǔ.

“Bang!”

A sound like a hammer striking a bell rang out, as both Xue Jing’s fist and the Yin Mǔhǔ’s iron-like flesh trembled, both being propelled backwards by the force.

His feet skidded along the wooden floor, carving two grooves before stopping his backward momentum.

“This rigid hard force is way too cumbersome to use.”

He shook his head.

“It's mainly because it hasn't reached the level of 'purely rigid'; there's still some residual soft force that can't be removed... this almost achieved, yet slightly lacking state is the most frustrating.”

“If I could remove all the soft force, transforming it into a 'True Dragon of Pure Steel', with just a little exertion, it could be shattered, allowing the next step of 'shapeshifting at will'.”

Xue Jing walked over to the Yin Mǔhǔ, placed a hand on her shoulder, and circulated his force into her body.

By invading with his force, he vaguely explored her internal bodily structure.

He hadn't yet reached the level of his master, Li Qi, where his force could enter the body and perceive everything, only being able to broadly explore.

“It's still the physique’s influence; the Yin Mǔhǔ's physique is unique, extremely forceful, ensuring minimal ‘softness’ during internal force generation and clear separation from ‘hardness’, making removal easy.”

“If I'm not mistaken, when the Vajra Ruyi hand style's physique reaches mastery, all generated force would directly be ‘purely rigid’, with no need for any removal work.”

Xue Jing pinched his chin.

“Looks like I'll have to rely on the gradual grind method.”

“A martial artist's physique gradually changes adaptively with their martial arts training.”

“As long as I keep practicing, pursuing purely hard force, my existing physique will gradually alter, becoming more suited to purely hard force exertion, and naturally, I will be able to shape the 'True Dragon of Pure Steel'.”

A wave of dizziness hit, and Xue Jing rubbed his temples, exiting his inner simulation.

Everything dissolved into pixels and vanished, as Xue Jing opened his eyes in the real world.

“Slowly but surely,” he murmured to himself.

The advantage of the Canglong Flow martial technique was its versatility, making it highly adaptable to other martial arts styles. This process shouldn't take too long.

[...Canglong Strength EXP +306]

[...Visualization of True EXP +288]

After checking his gains on the panel, Xue Jing closed his eyes and, within seconds, fell into a deep sleep.

...

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

Xue Jing, Yin Muhu, and Jiang Siwei were sitting on the couches in the lounge, gazing at a tablet computer placed on the table before them.

It was brought by Jiang Siwei, their manager.

The screen was streaming a live broadcast.

A subtitle below read—

[U19 Unlimited Fighting Championship - Regional Qualifiers - Feng City Draw Ceremony, Coming Soon]

The video was still showing an advertisement when Xue Jing, bored, casually asked, "By the way, how much is the prize money for the U19 competition?"

“The prize itself isn't much, the total prize pool this year is less than a hundred million Zhuxia currency... The champion prize should be around twenty million."

“Prize money in martial arts competitions has always been just a bonus. What's important is the fame and honors gained from participating."

Jiang Siwei glanced at Xue Jing and felt it was a pity.

If this young man was willing, with the resources and operations of the club, he'd swiftly become an unstoppable rising top star.

Too bad he really seemed uninterested.

Nevertheless, he's truly pleasing to the eye...

Jiang Siwei looked at Xue Jing's perfectly flawless profile and momentarily lost her focus.

“Looks like it's starting,” Yin Muhu, sitting beside her with arms crossed, remarked.

On the tablet, the advertisement had ended, and the picture transitioned into a colorful grand stage.

A middle-aged male host, wearing a suit and looking composed, stood on the stage, holding a stack of cards, and was tirelessly reciting various commercial scripts.

Behind him was a huge screen displaying various comments from the audience, text messages, and similar inputs.

“…So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, please watch the big screen!”

After the host's words, he gestured, and the screen quickly transitioned to a new display.

"Here it is, the list of participants." Jiang Siwei and Yin Muhu immediately sat up straighter, focusing intently.

On the screen, four groups of names appeared, each consisting of eight individuals, for a total of thirty-two names.

Xue Jing's name was prominently displayed among them, listed as the third in the second row.

After confirming his own name, he casually glanced through the other names.

With just a quick scan, he memorized all of them.

Comparing them to the information Jiang Siwei had provided him yesterday, Xue Jing noticed that apart from someone named 'Deng Jizhou,' all the other contestants' names were present in those documents.

"Pretty impressive," Xue Jing remarked, glancing at Jiang Siwei and nodding.

"The Night King's two major branches' Du Mingluan and Kou Chengjian, the Angry Tide Sect's Jiang Jingang, the Four Symbols Dojo's Ji Huaiyu..." Yin Muhu named one famous sect and person after another next to him.

"These are all renowned young prodigies, making this year's U19 incredibly competitive..." Finishing her thought, she couldn't help but glance at Xue Jing beside her.

"Especially with you around..."

Xue Jing smiled slightly without speaking.

The live stream began showing detailed introductions of the contestants.

Many of them had participated in public competitions before and were somewhat familiar figures.

"...Li Chengxuan, a direct disciple from the Golden Wind Dojo in Qingtown, trained by professional martial artist Jiao Hongyuan, a ninth-dan master..."

The computer screen was focused on someone Xue Jing was quite familiar with; then the scene changed, showcasing impressive clips from Li Chengxuan's past matches.

"...A dark horse who emerged impressively during the previous qualifiers; he practices the 'Golden Wind White Rainbow Sword,' claimed to be a bladeless four-sword style that hones hands and feet into true weapons. Every strike spells victory or defeat!"

On the screen, Li Chengxuan and his opponent zipped past each other; with a flick, he cast off the blood staining his hand, while his opponent fell slowly to the ground, looking quite elegant.

Yin Muhu next to him sneered, "So obviously posing... it's too deliberate."

Jiang Siwei chuckled, "Aren't young people all like this, love to show off."

...If only this one liked to show off as much as him. Jiang Siwei ogled Xue Jing, unable to suppress her thoughts.

Not a sign of youthful arrogance, way too mature, making it impossible to read him.

As more contestants were introduced, it was soon Xue Jing's turn.

This time, a shadowy silhouette with a white question mark in the middle appeared on the screen, followed by sparse basic information.

Only the name, his school of Hidden Dragon Style, and being the seed representative of the 'Galaxy Martial Arts Club' were mentioned, with little else.

"Quite mysterious, isn't it? Feels like a hidden boss character?" Xue Jing raised an eyebrow and smiled.

Jiang Siwei shook her head and said, "This is actually quite common. Many large clubs arrange for newly contracted young talents to make their debut in the U19 to make a sensational start. The audience is already used to it."

Yin Muhu agreed, "You truly are a hidden BOSS."

Xue Jing waved his hand dismissively and humbly said, "Oh, come on, don't speak such blunt truths."

Quickly, the contestants were introduced, and the scene shifted back to the main stage.

"Next up is the draw... Hopefully, Xiao Jing, you'll draw one of the first eight matches and finish on the first day," Jiang Siwei said.

"This way, you'll have an extra day of rest compared to those in the latter eight matches..."

"Martial arts competitions often lead to serious injuries. Any extra rest time is a boon."

The knockout preliminaries are a 32-into-16 format, spread across two days. After completion, there’s only one day of rest. Drawing one of the first eight matches is considered a good draw.

Yin Muhu's lips twitched, "Uh... I don't think you need to worry about that."

Jiang Siwei adjusted her glasses, a bit curious.

This young... lady, who seemed quite strong, appeared to hold Xiao Jing in high regard.

Although Jiang Siwei had read about Xue Jing and knew he was quite talented, she hadn't seen him in action and didn’t have a clear understanding of his martial arts prowess.

Yin Muhu scratched her head, murmuring in an unexpectedly sweet girl voice, "Let's hope we're not in the same bracket... I don’t want to lose two matches and head back in disgrace, only to be ridiculed by my old master for a year."

Xue Jing reassuringly patted her shoulder.

"I don’t think you’ll be that unlucky, Yin Junior."

On the broadcast screen, an elderly man in traditional training clothes, looking serene and vigorous, stepped onto the stage from backstage. His steps were steady, and his body didn’t tremble in the slightest as he walked.

"Next, we invite Xu Jinghong, an eighth-level expert, to conduct the draw in person!"

...

In the penthouse suite of a hotel in Feng City...

Li Chengxuan soaked in a large round bath, holding a champagne-filled glass in his hand, with two naked beautiful women clinging to him from either side.

Watching the scene unfold on the large-screen television in front of him, his previously good mood soured immediately.

【Match Six: 'Hidden Dragon Stream' Xue Jing VS 'Golden Wind White Rainbow Sword' Li Chengxuan】

"Dammit, this persistent boy!"

"Enough, I was careless last time. This time, on the battlefield, I’ll beat you!"

Li Chengxuan spoke fiercely, though an unwanted tinge of uncertainty crept into his mind.