Chapter 51: Prison Riot (Part Two)

Breaking the Space-Time Barrier (No Ads)

Zhao Li was resting, sitting upright on his bed in his room, a vibrating awakening device worn on his finger, eyes closed in meditation. Recently, his Nameless Martial Art seemed to have entered a phase of rapid, explosive progress, so overwhelming that even Zhao Li himself was taken aback. If he hadn’t been diligently refining his true qi every day using the Basic Body Conditioning Technique, he probably would have hit another troublesome bottleneck by now.

During his cultivation, Zhao Li discovered anew the true value of the Basic Body Conditioning Technique. It seemed that beyond merely condensing true qi, it could also purify it—quite a miraculous realization. Of course, this only worked when the six ninety-cycle periods of the Basic Body Conditioning Technique were maintained continuously.

Previously, Zhao Li had never noticed this subtlety. He only knew that whether it was the Basic Body Conditioning Technique or combat martial arts, generating more true qi meant deeper cultivation.

Later on, he realized that the quantity of true qi did not necessarily equate to profound cultivation; the quality of true qi was far more crucial. The six ninety-cycle periods of the Basic Body Conditioning Technique could condense all the sparse and scattered true qi into a refined, concentrated stage. For ordinary practitioners, reaching this stage would require two to three years of arduous effort.

Yet the Basic Body Conditioning Technique accomplished this feat, seemingly elevating the quality of Zhao Li’s cultivation by leaps and bounds. However, this also led to another consequence: the amount of true qi he produced appeared to decrease.

But once Zhao Li began cultivating the Nameless Martial Art, he realized that producing true qi became astonishingly easy—so easy that merely a slight exertion would generate a continuous stream of true qi. This overwhelming true qi repelled all other cultivation methods except for the Basic Body Conditioning Technique.

Still, the Nameless true qi could be compressed and refined. Yet every day after condensing the true qi, Zhao Li noticed that a portion of it seemed to dissipate naturally with the body’s consumption. The remainder was only the true qi that could settle and accumulate within his body.

This was an important insight, illustrating that the rapid production of true qi in the Nameless Martial Art did not guarantee swift ascension to supreme mastery. Only the true qi that was refined and accumulated was his genuine gain. With this realization, Zhao Li committed himself to practicing the Basic Body Conditioning Technique every day without fail.

As for the current level of his martial arts, Zhao Li was uncertain and seemed indifferent. First, there was no device to measure his level; second, whenever he interacted with the prisoners, they only spoke of practical combat effectiveness, never mentioning ranks. Since these experienced men only focused on real-world results, it indirectly implied that the rank of true qi was not so important—perhaps beyond a certain level, it no longer held significance.

Zhao Li was mistaken about this. In reality, after reaching level seven, advancing further became far more daunting than rising from level one to seven. The vast majority of people would never break past level seven in their lifetime, including many soldiers. Beyond level eight or nine, advancement was nearly impossible.

Therefore, most soldiers judged skills by practical effectiveness rather than simple ranks. Just as Zhao Li, at level four, could defeat Li Xiuyuan, who was at level six, the difference lay in actual combat application.

The cultivation of the Nameless Martial Art had entered an addictive stage, and Zhao Li had no choice but to train diligently—both to broaden his experience with others and to persist in his own progress.

Even now, Zhao Li could not determine whether the Nameless Martial Art bestowed upon him by the old warden was a great blessing or a curse.

While Zhao Li immersed himself in cultivation, unrest began to stir within the prison. The cause was again the prisoners’ treatment. These inmates in the special prison already enjoyed relatively high standards, though their privileges had been reduced upon arrival. To ordinary prisoners, however, they seemed like privileged elites with special treatment. What criminal would complain about the environment after all this?

Quarrels broke out frequently but were always quickly stopped by the guards. During outdoor exercise, serious offenders and ordinary prisoners were separated into two distinct areas to avoid conflict. At most, they would shout insults through the iron bars. Sometimes, Zhao Li even wondered if these people were truly so bored that they bothered to argue with petty thieves and those who violated minor military rules.

When Zhao Li finished his shift, everything was still normal. But once he clocked out to rest, chaos erupted.

The disorder stemmed entirely from poor management. The iron bars that usually separated the two groups had not been closed during this exercise period, allowing serious offenders and ordinary prisoners to come into close contact.

Used to verbally bargaining for advantage within their own territories without crossing boundaries, the prisoners initially exchanged insults without physical conflict. But when some ordinary prisoners noticed a female among the serious offenders, their minds began to stray.

The unrest ignited instantly. Ordinary prisoners, already resentful of the serious offenders, surged forward to invade their side. The serious offenders resisted fiercely. Without the iron bars as a barrier, a fight broke out.

Though all the prisoners had their true qi sealed, the serious offenders held significant physical advantages and combat skills. These were professional executioners who killed without hesitation. When they struck, they showed no mercy; every encounter was a deadly one.

Within mere seconds, over a dozen ordinary prisoners were killed outright, and another dozen sustained grievous injuries that would leave them crippled even after treatment. Not a single serious offender was harmed.

There were four to five hundred ordinary prisoners, and this sudden outbreak ignited a full-scale riot. They desperately attacked the serious offenders’ area. Even the guards’ repeated warnings were ignored. Forced to escalate, the prison alarm was sounded, summoning all available guards, on and off duty, to the scene.

Zhao Li was in the midst of cultivation when the alarm vibrated on his awakening device. He immediately ceased his practice, grabbed his baton, and rushed to his post.

The prison’s original staff numbered only about fifty, and they were caught off-guard by the scale of the brawl. Because the situation was so critical, the management simultaneously issued alarms, called for reinforcements to quell the riot, and reported upward to request permission to use force.

The special prison guards had never faced a fight of such magnitude with casualties before, and everyone seemed stunned, unsure how to respond.

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