Martial Arts Livestreaming
Chapter 428 - 394: A Line of Grandmasters

Chapter 428: Chapter 394: A Line of Grandmasters

[Achieved recognition from a Tai Chi Plum Blossom Mantis Fist Master-level Martial Artist, "Master’s Name" mission completed 7/10]

[Mission Reward: Upgraded to Master Level in Tai Chi Plum Blossom Mantis Fist]

Wu Li had not expected that when he held a press conference to announce the dismissal of Wang Kehan, and on the day Wang Kehan officially left the team, he would suddenly receive a system message.

The mission "Master’s Name" had been stalled for a while, and today it had suddenly made a breakthrough.

This mission had been ongoing for too long, and Wu Li sometimes even subconsciously forgot about it because, in terms of benefits, each mission completion only upgraded a martial art to Master Level, which at most saved Wu Li a few hundred thousand Fan Value. Now, Wu Li was earning at least several million Fan Value per live broadcast, so the mission reward seemed somewhat irrelevant to him, and he gradually lost interest.

However, having worked on it for this long and having come this far, Wu Li still wanted to complete the mission to see what the rewards would be upon full completion.

Halfway through the mission, Wu Li earned an extra reward "Ultimate Killing Move" which was upgraded from Bronze to Silver, so he guessed there should be extra rewards upon full completion as well.

But regarding the standards for completion, Wu Li had never found a clear criterion; the task mentioned "recognition," but that was too vague. How could recognition be defined? Would someone recognize me just because my strength is greater than theirs?

If it were solely a matter of strength, Wu Li had publicly showcased his own strength numerous times. Countless martial artists around the world had seen it, which would certainly lead many people to recognize his strength; but still, his mission remained incomplete, so a recognition based purely on strength was clearly insufficient.

Considering his previous mission completions, Wu Li speculated that the mission firstly required some interaction with a Master-level martial artist, and secondly involved doing something very important for that martial artist.

For instance, when he guided Zhao Lixin to break through to Master Level, he immediately gained Zhao Lixin’s recognition because reaching Master Level had always been Zhao Lixin’s obsession; helping Li Changsheng to kill those drug dealers also earned the old man’s recognition because it was his obsession; by assisting Zhang Shicai in reopening Jiyun Hall under Southern Country Gang, he gained Zhang Shicai’s recognition, as preserving Jiyun Hall was Zhang Shicai’s obsession...

For Li Tongyun, she actually had no particular obsessions; she became a coach for the Hua Country Team more out of a sense of challenge and personal interest. But when Wang Kehan publicly questioned her and Wu Li took all the blame to protect her, even though Li Tongyun didn’t say much, she cared deeply about it.

Now that Li Tongyun had proven her coaching abilities, Wu Li had cleared his name and dismissed Wang Kehan, dissipating Li Tongyun’s mental burden, so Wu Li earned her recognition.

"Only three more..." Wu Li muttered as he looked at the system information.

He had been working on this mission for nearly a year, and although the progress wasn’t rapid, there was no way to rush it; it all depended on fate.

Setting aside the mission for the moment, Wu Li opened his personal information page:

[Fan Value: 12.24 million

Items: S-grade Virtual Battle Card x1 (18 minutes), S-grade Virtual Battle Card x1 (62 minutes), A-grade Virtual Battle Card x1 (120 minutes), Grandmaster-level Experience Card x1

Skills: Xingyi Fist (Master Level), Golden Bell Shield (Master Level), Eagle Claw Fist (Master Level), Tai Chi Fist (Master Level), Bagua Palm (Master Level), Ground Fist (Master Level)

Overall Score: S(92%)

Divine Value: 142 (Spirit)

Power Value: 99 (Innate)

Body Value: 96 (Thunder Sound)

Ultimate Move: Heavenly Punishment (88%), ??（32%）]

These were Wu Li’s current stats; after a few competitions, he had earned over thirty million Fan Value, spending more than half to enhance his Divine Value to 142, and reached the threshold of Power Value, just one step away from a breakthrough, while his Body Value was also close to the critical point.

The "Ultimate Move" section also changed considerably; after Wu Li named his modified "Tiger Hugging Head" move as ’Heavenly Punishment,’ the system also listed this name, with a progress reaching 88%; as for the other Ultimate Move, Wu Li had not yet named it, and he had just figured it out recently.

Wu Li had broken through to Master Level in March 2020. In less than two years, he had almost reached the Grandmaster Level, a terrifying rate of advancement that, apart from his unique natural talent, was also due to spending almost one hundred million Fan Value in the system!

Wu Li speculated that the system had saved him five to seven years of time, which was the biggest help it had provided him.

Of course, Wu Li himself was willing to risk his life, repeatedly hovering between life and death; it was also crucial that he had the wisdom and the opportunity to advance from "Empty Brightness" to "Spirit."

Wu Li closed his eyes and used an S-grade Virtual Battle Card.

The next second, he found himself in a void, with nothing around except for a figure with a turtle’s back and crane’s shape, arms descending past his knees, dressed in a white coat—the figure was Bai Tao.

It was apparent that the S-grade Virtual Battle Card simulated Bai Tao, whom Wu Li had met once before. This Vice President of the Global Hongmen Association and Master of the Public Hall was the strongest national martial arts expert Wu Li had ever encountered.

As of now, Wu Li had spent twelve million Fan Value to purchase four S-grade Virtual Battle Cards for simulating Bai Tao, totaling over six hours of combat time.

Wu Li had 18 minutes left on this S-grade Virtual Battle Card in his hand, and without sparing any, he planned to use it up tonight and then acquire another.

The environment was a void; there was nothing but bare cement ground where Wu Li and Bai Tao stood. Wu Li had deliberately simulated this kind of environment to feel Bai Tao’s strength as realistically as possible.

Whoosh!

In his mind, he had given a command, and Bai Tao opposite him immediately moved, starting the battle!

Two steps later, Bai Tao’s black cloth shoes split open due to the excessive force he exerted and the friction with the cement floor that damaged the shoes.

It must be said that in these details, the virtual reality almost perfectly restored reality.

Bai Tao’s back slightly bent, his body shook, his ten toes scraped and gripped the ground, shrinking the ground to mere inches, and he covered the distance of ten meters in the blink of an eye.

He stepped in the Qilin Step, his body’s center of gravity and Qi-blood were firmly held three inches below the navel at the Dantian, subtly incorporating the movement technique of the Wudang Zhenwu Seven Forms.

After so many encounters with Bai Tao in this virtual space, Wu Li had discovered that in addition to creating a set of Bone Marrow Skill, Bai Tao had also created many martial arts skills; taking Wudang Fist as the core, techniques from Xingyi, Bagua, and Tai Chi were all effortlessly integrated by him.

At this moment, the movement technique Bai Tao was using was his own creation, its short-range explosive power was no weaker than Wu Li’s Tiger Pounce, and its ability for small-range continuous direction changing was even more ingenious than Wu Li’s Horse Jumping Creek technique, in terms of flexibility and variability, it was even superior to the Bagua Wandering Body Step!

Seeing that Bai Tao was about to charge in front of him, Wu Li perfectly timed at a node, stepping out and striking down with his arm.

His move was Heavenly Punishment!

The two had clashed hundreds of times, Wu Li was very familiar with this virtual Bai Tao’s fighting style, and just happened to catch the rhythm of his step technique, smashing down.

Boom!

The air exploded, Wu Li’s right fist smashed down like thunder striking from heaven.

Bai Tao’s momentum was clearly suppressed, his movements slowed a bit, but he did not retreat but instead pushed out a palm, his body’s muscles and bones emitted a deep rumble, the Thunder Sound hidden within.

Innate Gang Qi!

Bai Tao’s right palm collided hard with Wu Li’s right fist. Because the rhythm was disrupted and the momentum was at a disadvantage, the force was insufficient, so he stepped back two steps, but Wu Li also did not have an easy time, right at the contact with Bai Tao’s palm, his right arm went numb, as if shocked by electricity, his Qi-blood shaken.

This was the dominance of Innate Gang Qi, Bai Tao’s muscles and bones vibrated together, shaking Wu Li’s muscles, bones, and Qi-blood, like a high-speed vibrating tuning fork entering the water surface.

However, Wu Li’s current Body Value was as high as 96, and he was about to reach great success with the Bone Marrow Skill. If an ordinary person’s body was like a pool of clear water, then Wu Li’s body at this moment was almost like set concrete, being able to resist several attacks of Innate Gang Qi in a short period of time, the impact wasn’t significant.

Without any hesitation, Wu Li twisted his waist and swung his hips, a punch thundered toward Bai Tao’s face.

Having clashed with Bai Tao numerous times, he knew that once he hesitated and let Bai Tao perform, he would quickly be completely overwhelmed by the opponent’s Innate Gang Qi, so he needed to take the offensive.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Wu Li met force with force, occasionally striking with Heavenly Punishment to repel Bai Tao, while he was also shaken by the Innate Gang Qi reverberating through his body.

However, in terms of momentum, it was still Wu Li who overwhelmed Bai Tao, even if he was at a disadvantage in strength, the initiative was with Wu Li.

Wu Li’s Divine Value was much higher than Bai Tao’s, he suppressed him with Fist Intent, and whenever his body shook to the point of affecting his strikes, he would use Heavenly Punishment to temporarily repel Bai Tao, buying some time for himself to adjust.

Facing Wu Li’s continuously intensifying Fist Intent, Bai Tao was under great mental pressure, temporarily on the defensive, not daring to fully engage.

After clashing for over a minute, Wu Li’s entire body’s Qi-blood was shock, his arms’ muscles ached and his bones faintly pained, a taste of blood in his mouth—signs of internal injuries inflicted by Bai Tao’s Innate Gang Qi were showing.

The gradually accumulating impact slowed Wu Li’s strikes slightly, and the force weakened a bit, finally unable to suppress Bai Tao, who seized the opportunity to counterattack.

Wu Li took a deep breath, his neck thickened, his chest expanded, his Qi-blood fast-flowing, he powered Heavenly Punishment with Giant Python Swallowing Pill, forcibly pressing down on Bai Tao!

Faced with Wu Li’s sudden eruption of Fist Intent, Bai Tao chose to defend, his Qi-blood felt leaden, true mercury interacted, his center of gravity sunk, arms twisting like Snake Form, back bent like a turtle’s shell, it was exactly the Turtle and Snake entwined Wudang Fist technique.

However, just as Wu Li’s fist was about to chop down, it suddenly paused; his Fist Intent had clearly already ’chopped’ out, but his fist didn’t move, like the thunder had sounded, but the lightning had yet to strike.

This feigned chaos for a moment disrupted Bai Tao’s rhythm, not waiting for him to change his move, Wu Li’s right fist finally chopped down.

Boom!

Bai Tao received Wu Li’s punch squarely, his stance was shattered, Wu Li seized the opportunity, and crushed his opponent’s throat with a punch.

Puff!

Bai Tao’s body disappeared, while Wu Li spat a mouthful of blood.

This variant of Heavenly Punishment he used was very reluctant, sparked by stimulating Qi-blood to forcefully stop his about to be struck fist, such an action was like forcefully stopping an already moving racecar, causing severe internal injuries to Wu Li himself.

But regardless, being able to kill Bai Tao, whose Power Value and Body Value both exceeded 100, near-Grandmaster, proved that Wu Li’s combat strength was only a step away from Grandmaster.