Yu Fei infused 100 units of Stardust into [Quick Hands], choosing to upgrade the blue-quality talent. He had 18 units of Stardust left.

Just then, however, the Fate-Reversing Pearl strangely sent him a message, prompting him to choose an evolution path.

The original effect of the Quick Hands talent was a threefold increase in hand speed. Yu Fei had just tested it out and found the effect was limited to his hands—or more precisely, the parts below his wrists. It could be useful in a fight, but only if he timed it perfectly.

The Fate-Reversing Pearl presented two evolution paths. The first was to continue increasing his hand speed by raising the multiplier.

The second was to expand the talent’s effective range while keeping the multiplier the same.

Yu Fei chose the second option without a moment’s hesitation. ’This is the kind of evolution I was hoping for.’

Instantly, a tingling, electric-like numbness spread from his hands up his arms, finally stopping at his shoulders.

This evolution took longer than before, lasting about half an hour.

[Electric Arm]

Quality: Purple

Description: The strength of my arms is three times yours!

Effect: Base speed of both arms is tripled.

Ignoring the nonsensical description, Yu Fei quickly finished his meal and rushed to the Tianxing Dojo.

He was going to practice his Swordsmanship!

Inside the Tianxing Dojo, the martial arts training rooms were brightly lit. Yu Fei chose to train anonymously; he was a bit paranoid after his last experience.

The training facility was extremely advanced, employing holographic projection technology.

Dressed in a training uniform and wielding a practice sword, Yu Fei continuously pierced one virtual light projection after another. His uniform was covered in various micro-sensors.

Users could select the enemy’s realm and number, the simulated environment, and so on.

The system would automatically generate extremely realistic virtual projections. These projections possessed the speed and techniques of Martial Artists of the corresponding realm, though they were slightly more rigid in their movements.

These holographic figures, wielding projections of various cold weapons, attacked Yu Fei. If he were struck in a vital spot or took too much damage, the system would declare his defeat.

Likewise, when his practice sword struck a projection, the system would simulate a reaction, sometimes causing the hologram to dissipate entirely.

Yu Fei started by choosing five third-realm projections, but he dispersed them effortlessly.

He then increased the number to ten, and then twenty.

It wasn’t until he was facing ten virtual projections of Inner Qi Martial Artists that he finally felt some pressure.

It had to be said that the combination of the [Super Speed Reaction] and [Electric Arm] talents produced a fantastic chemical reaction.

In a battle between Martial Artists, being even a fraction faster can mean the difference between life and death—let alone being three times faster.

And his superhuman neural reaction speed allowed him to perfectly unleash the power of his arms.

In close-quarters combat, the system-simulated Inner Qi Martial Artists were defeated in almost a single strike. His sword was faster, more precise, and more powerful.

An increase in one’s martial realm would subtly enhance a Martial Artist’s fundamental abilities, but under no circumstances would it result in a threefold speed difference.

Inner Qi Martial Artists possessed a kind of minute perception, an instinct born from an evolution in their very being, but their thought processes were still much slower than his [Super Speed Reaction].

The simulation might be slightly unrealistic, but it still proved that the current Yu Fei was capable of killing an Inner Qi Martial Artist.

He was a far cry from his former self. After more than half a year of training, Yu Fei had made great strides in his second-realm cultivation, and his strength was incomparable to what it was before.

During that fierce rainstorm, he had struggled immensely against the Inner Qi bandit leader, Di Yunliang. Faced with his opponent’s desperate, all-or-nothing tactics, they had nearly taken each other out.

Now, he had cultivated the basic Swordsmanship gifted by Kong Sheng to the level of Perfection, had achieved Great Accomplishment in the [Three Talents Footwork], and his [Pure Yang True Body] was already starting to show its effects.

If they were to fight again, he could now easily cut down Di Yunliang in a direct confrontation.

Through this simulated training, Yu Fei also discovered his own weaknesses. The Inner Qi Martial Artists had attacks with a wide range and were swift in their movements and changes in direction. In contrast, he had to get in close to his opponent to have any chance of landing a killing blow.

As a result, his Great Accomplishment-level [Three Talents Footwork] had become a vulnerability.

Because his footwork hadn’t reached the Perfection level, there was a subtle pause whenever he changed direction. When facing third-realm opponents, his sevenfold increase in neural reaction speed could mask this flaw, but in a battle at the Inner Qi level, it became a fatal opening.

After some experimentation, Yu Fei settled on setting the number of simulated Inner Qi projections to six. This number of opponents was more suitable for him to practice his [Three Talents Footwork] and fully adapt to his suddenly enhanced Qi Blood and physical conditioning.

For the next five days, Yu Fei holed himself up in the Tianxing Dojo. He even temporarily paused his cultivation of the [Pure Yang True Body], focusing all his energy on practicing the [Taiwei Profound Origin Pillar] and the [Three Talents Footwork].

Of the miraculous changes brought about by tempering his five viscera, the enhancement of his sight and hearing was the most beneficial in combat.

Finally, on the last day before the tournament, Yu Fei cultivated his Three Talents Footwork to the Perfection level. One could only say that his [Xuanxiao Spirit Body], having integrated a red-quality comprehension talent, was truly exceptional. He had undergone a complete transformation.

At this point, his transitions between the Heaven, Earth, and Man steps of the footwork were seamless and fluid, eliminating his previous opening. Furthermore, at the Perfection level, the Three Talents Footwork could activate a "Three Talents as One" effect, granting him a massive burst of speed for a short period, though it came at a high cost to his Qi Blood.

However, with his Qi Blood amplified sixfold, he had little reason to fear the expenditure during a fight.

His pillar-stance training was just shy of Perfection, but the tempering of his five viscera was finally complete. This further strengthened his Qi Blood, and the increased resilience of his internal organs meant he could output even more power.

The cultivation of the six bowels relied on the essence qi generated by the cyclical flow between the five viscera and the five elements. This was the next hurdle in second-realm cultivation.

On March 25th, the points-based challenge tournament officially began.