Chapter 57: Chapter 57 – I Am Actually So Great and Mighty
“The Nature Exploitation Technique to Awakening is based on the video [A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Meters].”
In his clip, Li Le said, “After watching that video, many of you would have thought that the video was fake, and did not plan to look into it in more detail.”
“But some people went back to look at the evidence presented in 54P and saw the truth with their own eyes—that the entire video was real.”
“And most of these people who believed the video to be real would also have thought that this female G.o.ddess…No, I don’t like to use the word ‘G.o.ddess’ to describe her, because the girl had challenged and subsequently overcome nature, and I would not use such pa.s.sive words like ‘G.o.ddess’, which signify an ‘end’ of a journey, to describe her.”
“I am from Xuan Nation, and in Xuan Nation, we have an old saying: ‘One has not lived in vain if one dies after being told of the right path’. The girl we see in the video did not wait in agony for the holy beings to impart the knowledge of the right path. Instead, she set out on her own, overcoming nature, and finally learned the right path.”
“I call her, the Seeker.”
Li Le walked to the edge of the balcony he was on. If he were to slant slightly to the side and lose his balance, it was highly likely that he would fall 24 stories down onto the ground far below. There would have been no chance of survival and his body would have been smashed into pieces!
“Over the last few days, I finished watching all of the 54P of the video—yes, it took me a total of 4 days, 11 hours and 43 minutes. After 6463 minutes, I finished watching every, single, one, of the video.”
For some unknown reason, as he looked at the eye bags on Li Le’s face, Ren Suo felt as if whatever Li Le had said was extremely convincing.
Li Le said, “I witnessed the entire transformation of the Seeker. Throughout her journey, she did not rest, nor did she eat or drink. And yet, with a haggard face and fragile figure, she managed to accomplish what had previously been thought to be humanly impossible and reached the peak of the mountain.”
“Those who believed that this video was real might have thought of reasons to prove the authenticity of her conquest: she could have been a robot warrior made by the Pacific Federation, or a super-woman who was transformed and acquired special powers after being bitten by a spider, an ant, or a praying mantis, or even a mutant whose powers suddenly awakened…”
“But I say that she isn’t someone as mysterious as many of you think,” Li Le said in an extremely confident tone. “The Seeker, she is just an ordinary person!”
An ordinary person?
Ren Suo’s eyebrows raised slightly. He had not thought that anyone would have figured so.
Given that the Seeker not only had “inhumane strength”, could climb the cliffs to reach the peak with her bare hands, and even had extraordinary reflexes which allowed her to react instantaneously to avoid danger in precarious situations which occurred tens to hundreds of times, it was no surprise that virtually no one believed that the Seeker was a real person when Ren Suo was watching the video on Giligili—
It had to be the work of special effects, or otherwise, she would have to be a robot, or an Extraordinaire.
Regardless, it seemed impossible that she was an ordinary person.
Unless the United Nations had amended their definition of an ordinary person.
Li Le continued, “No, you did not get me wrong. The Seeker is just an ordinary person. I can show you an unending list of examples to prove my point, but all that would be useless—you would still not be able to believe that an ordinary person could survive without sleep or rest for five consecutive days while conquering the 10000-meter-tall peak.”
“But this truth is of no value either, you may argue. What benefit does it bring us even if she really were an ordinary person?”
“Actually, she is indeed an ordinary person, and there are benefits for us to gain from that.”
“Why did she partic.i.p.ate in such an extreme challenge and not stop to rest, even for a moment? Why did she climb the 10000-meter-tall mountain and put herself in danger a countless number of times? Why did she…disappear in the light at the end?”
“That is all because, through such a method, by thriving near death, she was willing to risk everything to seek the right path!”
As Li Le stood on the edge of the balcony, he a.s.sumed a striking pose with his eyes s.h.i.+ning, full of energy!
Suddenly, he stepped forward heavily with his right foot on the edge of the balcony. He straightened his body upright like a pencil, and with a swift movement from his waist, he twisted his upper body and threw a powerful punch forward!
Ren Suo continued watching nervously. That was a commonly seen move, and even though Li Le threw a punch with much force, Ren Suo would usually not have taken a second look.
However, Li Le was doing all that on the edge of a balcony, high above the ground on a tall building!
If he were to make a single mistake, or even lose his balance slightly…
Ren Suo could tell that Li Le was also feeling nervous. He did not dare to look elsewhere and the veins on his arms were prominent. The thick jugular vein on his neck was also bulging.
However, he did not stop there but instead continued showing off his moves on the edge of the balcony!
Ren Suo had seen some of the martial arts like Karate, Taekwondo, and the more relaxed Tai Chi before, but had never learned any of them. The only form of martial arts he knew was perhaps Set Eleven of Radio Calisthenics for primary and secondary school students.
Nonetheless, Ren Suo could tell that Li Le was extremely natural and fluent with his moves. Each punch and kick was forceful and purposeful. His strong build added to his tough, metal-like figure, and no one would feel like resisting him in a fight.
Just by looking, Ren Suo felt like he could beat someone to death!
With his brute force, he could punch anyone to death!
In fact, there were many martial arts pract.i.tioners like Li Le in Xuan Nation. Apart from pract.i.tioners of the traditional Chinese Ba Gua Zhang (Eight Trigram Palm) and Xing Yi Quan (Form-Intention Fist), j.a.panese Karate and Kendo, Korean Taekwondo, as well as hobbyists who learn martial arts to keep fit, the rest were masters of their trade. They were Grand Masters of the various martial arts clubs in the different towns and regardless of their techniques, they had to have very strong foundations in their martial arts.
In terms of combat techniques, they might just be slightly stronger than the gangsters on the street—the masters of martial arts usually spar with others to learn from one another, while on the other hand, gangsters were frequently brutal in their attacks on people.
Regardless, their muscles, lower body, and stance would definitely be trained to near perfection, and each of their moves would be strong and powerful. One move of theirs would be sufficient to make an ordinary person lose all of their strength.
Li Le was just like one of them. Even though he was showcasing his moves on the edge of the balcony, his lower body remained firm and rooted to the ground. He did not shake or s.h.i.+ver at all—he would have fallen 24 stories otherwise—and it was as if he was a rock connected firmly to the balcony, unable to be moved in the strong wind!
After about three minutes, Li Le seemed to complete a full routine. His entire body glistened with sweat as if he had just emerged from the water. Yet, for some unknown reason, his eyes continued to glow brighter and brighter. When he looked towards the camera, Ren Suo felt as if the light s.h.i.+ning from his eyes penetrated through the screen like two swords!
“This is the Nature Exploitation Technique to Awakening!”
Li Le said in a clear and loud voice, “I am a descendent of the Li ancestors from Hejian City. My ancestors pa.s.sed down techniques based on the fist and the spear. I trained under Old Master Fan until one year ago when I returned home after being diagnosed with leukemia.”
“Half a year ago, I met someone walking in fire and flying with the wind in the city, and that was when I began my search into the world of the mysterious unknown. At that time, I was holding on to my last breaths, but I did not want to implicate my family and my friends by ending up useless and lying in agony on the hospital bed.”
“I pinned all of my hope on extraordinary powers, just like how people of the past pinned their fate on alchemy, amulets or talismans. It was merely the last straw and the last rope I could cling onto to save myself when I was right by death’s door.”
“And yet, I succeeded.”
Li Le clenched his fists and continued, “If [The Hitman: The b.l.o.o.d.y Banquet] was Naisser_Ren’s way of telling us that our world is more complicated than we think, then [A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Meters] is actually Naisser_Ren’s way of telling us the extraordinary path!”
“When the Seeker turned into light at the end of the video, it signified her transformation into the extraordinary!”
“This is exactly the Technique to Awakening presented to us in [A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Meters]: there is much more we do not know about between life and death! As long as we start living life on the edge between life and death, there is hope that we can awaken our own abilities, and enter the realm of the extraordinary!”
“Of course, seeing is believing and actions are louder than words.”
Li Le looked straight at the camera and said, emphasizing each word with a short pause between them,
“With this method, I have awakened my own extraordinary power!”
As he said that, Li Le clenched his fists tightly, and very quickly, his bronze-colored skin started to s.h.i.+ne with a copper-colored glow. Soon, his hands turned fully copper-colored, and sharp scales started forming over his smooth skin as if that of a monster.
“This ability, I call it—”
“Copper Scales!”
Li Le walked over to the other side of the balcony to reveal a…motorcycle!
It was a very ordinary motorcycle commonly seen in the city. It was painted red in the middle and the seat at the back was black and made of leather. At the very back was a storage box that could store items and also prevent the second rider from falling over even without holding onto the driver.
In both Xuan Nation of today and other second and third-tier cities, such motorcycles would still be commonly seen outside train stations, which were used to provide pa.s.senger ferrying services (at a high price). Some of those motorcycles would even be installed with rain shelters and back carriages. They were a convenient yet dangerous means of transport for people.
There was no vehicle license plate on the motorcycle. Li Le sat down on the motorcycle and turned the key and the engine was ignited. With his left foot, he lifted the motorcycle stand and started riding the motorcycle on the balcony!
What was he trying to do? Make the motorcycle fly on the balcony?
Li Le had not gone too wild. He rode the motorcycle for about three to four meters before he stopped and turned to look at the camera. He said, “Here you have seen a perfectly working and rideable motorcycle.”
He turned off the engine, came down and pressed onto the red frame of the motorcycle.
Ren Suo narrowed his eyes and muttered, “Could he be…”
“Is he going to tear the motorcycle apart?!”
Ren Suo turned his head around swiftly to see a group of people crowding behind him. The remark had come from one of the astonished teenagers within the group.
Ren Suo had not put on his headphones to watch the video, and since the Jian Ji Noodles Stall was located right beside the street, it was very noisy. He had turned the volume to the loudest in order to hear what Li Le was saying clearly.
As such, the other customers at the stall could hear the video as well, but Ren Suo had not noticed when they had started crowding behind him.
They saw that Ren Suo did not mind them crowding behind him as he continued with his eyes glued to his mobile phone screen.
“Watch carefully—!”
With his hands filled with the copper-colored scales, he crushed the entire metal frame of the motorcycle into pieces, as if he were crus.h.i.+ng old cardboard boxes!
The next moment, his hands penetrated into the fuel pipes and tank, and with a powerful motion from the center, he ripped the motorcycle into two halves!
Li Le straightened his back slowly as he raised both of his scaly copper-colored hands which were glistening with oil in the sun.
After which, he punched down onto the ground, and the concrete floor crumbled into powder as if he was digging sand!
“I am still experimenting with my ability,” Li Le said as he looked at the camera. He continued calmly, “Of course, this extraordinary ability did not only grant me destructive power. After I Awakened, my physical health improved.”
“According to the report from my latest health examination, although I have not fully recovered, my condition is now under control and has started to improve.”
“This is due to the extraordinary ability I acquired. And this extraordinary ability was acquired through the Nature Exploitation Technique to Awakening.”
“I’m sure that training on the edge of the balcony is not the only way in the Nature Exploitation Technique to Awakening. There must be other methods, such as mountain climbing and swimming…Regardless, the core of the technique lies in the line of life and death!”
“As long as you remain in such a circ.u.mstance, you stand a chance at awakening your own extraordinary ability!”
Li Le’s copper-colored scales dispersed and he said, “My intention of uploading my gained knowledge and experience on the internet is not because I want to show off how compa.s.sionate I am, nor is it because I want to become famous. If all goes well, I would not be in Xuan Nation anymore by the time this video is uploaded.”
“I learned the technique from the video [A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Meters] uploaded by Naisser_Ren. He was willing to utilize special methods to ensure that the video remains on the internet forever for everyone to see, and this meant that he was hoping that more people would see it, understand, and learn from it.”
“I, Li Le, am very grateful for his kindness, and since I started a new life because of Naisser_Ren, I ought to repay his kindness. However, Naisser_Ren left no trace of finding him. Undoubtedly, he must be someone with strong and powerful abilities, and would probably not notice a small fry like me.”
“As such, I followed in his footsteps and put all the secrets that I have learned from his video in my own video. This is the only way I can repay him for his kindness.”
Suddenly, Li Le bowed to the camera and said, “Although I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know why you are doing this, but…thank you, Naisser_Ren.”
That was the end of the video.
Ren Suo turned off the screen of his mobile phone. Someone from amongst the group of people crowding behind Ren Suo asked, “Brother, where did you find this video? Why can’t I find it?”
Ren Suo slurped the last strand of noodles into his mouth and wiped his mouth with a piece of tissue before saying, “The video must have been removed. Don’t bother trying.”
Calmly, Ren Suo left the noodles stall, as if nothing had happened.
That was, until he reached home, closed the door, and reached for the wall to maintain his balance as he clutched his chest.
He could feel his heart beating fast and hard. He licked his lips and let out a burst of strange laughter, like a Gundam fan seeing a rare Gundam model, like a virgin hugging his partner, like a poor man winning the grand prize in the lottery.
“Heh heh heh…I am actually so great and mighty?!”