Chapter Forty-One: Encountering a Bottleneck (Part Two)

"Hey, kid!" The warden's oversized head poked out from his office. "Keep this matter to yourself—just the two of us need to know!"

At this moment, Zhao Li was on the verge of tears, unable to find words to describe his current predicament. How had he failed to restrain himself and blindly trusted this shrewd, cunning old warden?

Seeing Zhao Li's disappointed figure drifting away, clearly feeling deceived, the warden withdrew his gaze and muttered to himself, "As expected, I wasn't mistaken. There's a strand of true energy in him that doesn't belong. Cultivating this technique is the most direct route! Kid, how far you go now depends on you!"

Zhao Li heard none of this. Still dazed by the realization that he’d been duped by the warden, he didn’t even know how he made it back to his dormitory.

After a while, he leapt up abruptly. "No! I can't just give up like this!" At least, nothing had actually happened yet—he hadn’t truly failed. How could he surrender so easily?

He sat down, preparing to cultivate his combat technique once more. Unexpectedly, the technique he once controlled with ease now faltered under the influence of that unfamiliar true energy. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t return to his former state.

Again and again he attempted it, but the result was always the same. The mysterious energy seemed to have locked the flow of his meridians, leaving no room for any other technique. Apart from the basic body-strengthening practice, no other method could be wielded at all. Of course, Zhao Li had only practiced the combat technique and the basic body training—he hadn’t even encountered more advanced methods yet.

Even so, this left Zhao Li with a deep sense of helplessness, as if there was no turning back. Was there truly nothing he could do? He felt the two strands of true energy within him—one flowing swiftly, one slowly—as his mind drifted, empty and unsettled.

His fists clenched and unclenched, again and again. At last, Zhao Li made up his mind, stood up, and strode straight to the gym. There, a device similar to those used for measuring cultivation levels awaited him; he could test his current abilities.

The gym was nearly empty—those on duty were at their posts, those off-duty were resting. This suited Zhao Li just fine; for now, he didn’t want anyone to know how embarrassingly low his cultivation had fallen.

Like a recruit at the training camp, Zhao Li stood before the device, ran through the basic body-strengthening routine to steady his emotions, then summoned that unnamed true energy and drove his fist into the leather-wrapped target.

A crisp “thud” echoed through the gym, and the digital screen instantly displayed a string of numbers—punch force, true energy attack and so forth. Finally, the system calculated his overall cultivation level.

“Level Five.” Zhao Li stared blankly at the number, unsure whether he should feel joy or sorrow. This nameless technique was indeed powerful—overnight, it had propelled him from Level Four to Level Five. That should be cause for celebration. Yet, recalling how he’d been outwitted by the warden, Zhao Li couldn’t help but feel a bitterness he couldn’t voice.

No matter—improving his abilities could only benefit his body. Since there was no turning back, there was no point in dwelling on it. Better to seize the opportunity and refine this nameless technique to a higher level.

Regaining his composure, Zhao Li felt his confusion lift; the world before him seemed brighter. Whether comrades, inmates, or even the old warden, they would all be together for at least six more years. The days ahead were still long.

That evening, Zhao Li tried once more to enter a meditative state through the basic body-strengthening practice, curious to see if the routine’s six cycles would benefit the nameless technique as well. Strangely enough, though he could no longer use his combat technique, the basic practice still functioned as normal—proof, perhaps, of its fundamental nature.

To his relief, the routine’s six cycles compressed and refined the nameless true energy as well. Moreover, since the energy was generated by his own body, there was no resistance between the two strands. The only difference was that the nameless energy was evidently more advanced than the combat technique’s true energy, with a higher degree of refinement. The body-strengthening practice could only affect a small portion of this advanced energy; the rest remained in his dantian and meridians.

In other words, after a day’s cultivation, the amount of true energy preserved by the basic practice far exceeded that of the combat technique—indirectly proving the superior efficiency of the nameless energy in cultivation.

This unexpected boon left Zhao Li both delighted and reconciled to his new reality. After finishing his basic practice, he would spend whatever time he could refining the nameless true energy.

The days that followed passed in quiet routine. Zhao Li’s life became a monotonous cycle—patrols, brief conversations with those willing to talk, and endless rounds with Jiang Hao during their shifts. The remaining hours were split between meals and cultivation.

Sanders’ raw physical power had opened Zhao Li’s eyes and made him keenly aware of his own shortcomings. Without true energy, he was nothing. But men like Sanders were different—even with their true energy sealed, they retained destructive strength and the power to intimidate, to protect themselves. Even in such constrained circumstances, they remained dangerous, and it was this fundamental gap in raw strength that Zhao Li most deeply lacked.

The nameless true energy became ever more refined; Zhao Li could feel his cultivation growing day by day, moment by moment. This sense of steady progress filled him with happiness and sharpened his focus.

He was either on duty or practicing. Zhao Li’s dedication even startled Jiang Hao, who began to worry his young friend was becoming obsessed and reported his concerns to the warden. The old warden, however, seemed to know exactly what was going on. Hearing Jiang Hao’s worries, he reassured him instead, without offering an explanation.

Jiang Hao trusted the warden completely. Since the warden said there was no problem, then there was no problem. He let go of his concern and went on with life as usual.

Engrossed in the joys of cultivation, Zhao Li hardly noticed the changes in himself. Lately, though, a new worry gnawed at him—after so much time, he seemed to have hit a bottleneck. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t make any progress. Had he encountered a problem in his cultivation?

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Sorry for the delay, everyone. Tonight is the legendary Silent Night—Merry Christmas to you all!