Fang Senyan touched the wooden staff and found its thickness and hardness quite similar to a human leg bone. The leather wrapping on the surface was also meant to imitate human skin, serving as protection for the beginner’s bone and skin. The Muay Thai fighters of the past often neglected a gradual approach, causing their competitive state to plummet at astonishing speed after the age of thirty, even affecting their lifespans.
If Fang Senyan exerted his full strength, he wouldn't just snap such a wooden staff; he could probably shatter a large tree with two or three kicks. However, Fang Senyan was here seeking a breakthrough, so he adjusted himself back to the state of an ordinary person, intending to comprehend the greatest secret within his own body with an ordinary heart. Thus, after sizing up the wooden staff, Fang Senyan, following Nai Zhu’s instruction, stood rooted to the spot and delivered a fierce kick, using the crest of his shinbone as the striking point to collide with the staff.
That day, Fang Senyan kept kicking until eleven o’clock at night before finally breaking the wooden staff... The next morning, the bone in his right lower leg was hideously swollen, glossy and bright, covered in massive patches of deep blue and black, looking terrifying, and he walked with a pronounced limp.
In the past, there had been others curious about Muay Thai who came here to train, so the fighters and Master Apichat were already used to this situation. They promptly brought over medicinal salves, and even Nai Zhu was about to follow custom and arrange a car to take him to the hospital.
Who knew that Fang Senyan would walk up to Master Apichat at that moment and ask with utmost seriousness:
“Did I complete the second training regimen yesterday?”
Master Apichat had absolutely not anticipated Fang Senyan asking such a question! The old man slightly raised his eyes and glanced at Fang Senyan:
“You did.”
Fang Senyan said calmly:
“Then I wish to proceed directly to the most grueling training regimen. Money is not an issue.”
Master Apichat raised an eyebrow slightly:
“We'll discuss that after you complete the third training regimen. This is a Muay Thai training base, not a place for people to commit suicide.”
Fang Senyan shrugged, brought his hands together in a respectful bow:
“As you wish, Master.”
Ten days passed, and Fang Senyan settled in steadily. With his current strength and willpower, the training here, though exceptionally arduous, posed no difficulty for him whatsoever. More importantly, he clearly and profoundly felt the sensation of an imminent breakthrough.
An indescribable power surged continuously within his heart, turbulent and mighty like the ocean tide, seemingly poised to spread to every limb and cell with the next powerful beat of his heart—yes, the very next second!
Therefore, Fang Senyan became even more frenzied, even more diligent! So much so that those around him sometimes guessed he was self-mutilating due to some immense shock. Take the sparring session that afternoon, for instance: usually, one person attacks while the other, wearing protective gear, parries and blocks. But Fang Senyan, a man almost utterly ignorant of Muay Thai, dispensed with the gear! The resulting injuries were easy to imagine!
Initially, his practice was stopped by others, but after several continuous days of this, those around him grew accustomed to his unbelievably resilient ability to take a beating! In truth, Fang Senyan, suppressing his true capabilities, was only slightly stronger than an average person. His body was covered in wounds, and several of his ribs were broken. Fortunately, the Nightmare Mark could adjust to his physical condition at any time, preventing his injuries from becoming life-threatening, but only preventing them from being fatal. It could be said that Fang Senyan at this moment was utterly sustained purely by his willpower!
The sun’s shadow gradually slanted westward. The man sparring with Fang Senyan was named Chaiba. He looked at his heavily panting opponent and said seriously:
“I’m going to start practicing knee strikes now. Be careful.”
Fang Senyan licked his cracked lips and narrowed his eyes:
“No problem.”
Chaiba was a powerful Muay Thai fighter in his prime. People around whispered that his leg strength was like an avalanche, ferociously immense. This powerful fighter let out a muffled roar, his leg sweeping out like lightning towards Fang Senyan, immediately erupting in sharp, cracking sounds.
The sounds were solid, sharp, piercing, and soul-shaking. The angles of his punches, elbows, and knee strikes were exceptionally tight, making them difficult to defend against! Under Chaiba’s attacks, Fang Senyan was like a small boat caught in a tempestuous storm, seemingly ready to capsize and perish at any moment.
It must be remembered that Fang Senyan was wearing absolutely no protective gear at this time! Therefore, Chaiba’s strikes landed squarely on flesh, just as in a real fight. Fighters like Chaiba, who viewed Muay Thai as their life, could easily enter a state where they recognized no kin, with the sole thought being to knock down the opponent—in professional terms: they went completely berserk! This is why deaths frequently occurred in Muay Thai’s underground boxing matches.
Suddenly, Chaiba’s eyes turned blood-red; he too entered that "berserk" state. With a furious roar, he leaped up and drove his left knee forward, immediately followed by a rapid-fire right knee strike! The vicious double knee slammed into Fang Senyan’s temple!
Fang Senyan’s physical condition, energy, and even his will had plummeted to their lowest point! Struck by this fatal, vicious blow, his vision immediately darkened, and amidst everyone’s shocked gasps, he flew backward, spitting out a gush of dark blood from his mouth!!
“Thump!”
“Thump-thump-thump!”
“Thump-thump-thump~~thump-thump!”
“What… what is this sound?” Fang Senyan slowly opened his eyes. “Wasn’t I just fighting Chaiba? Where am I?”
Before Fang Senyan’s eyes unfolded a vast, blood-red world! This world seemed to be an endless plain of flesh and blood. The sky was pressed exceedingly low, a blood-red firmament with blood-red clouds. In his ears, a powerful heartbeat echoed constantly! It would take a long time to get used to it.
Fang Senyan pushed himself up and thought seriously:
“If I’m not mistaken, I must have triggered the awakening of my inherent talent! It’s just that Reef didn’t tell me this kind of situation could occur.”
“I remember reading reports before that a normal person has about 14 to 15 billion brain cells, but less than 10% are developed and utilized; the vast majority remain dormant. Even scientific elites like Einstein only reached about 13% development of their brains. Could it be that I am now within my own consciousness, deep inside my brain?”
Fang Senyan began to try walking forward across this flesh-and-blood plain. Soon, he noticed a thin, dark shadow appearing ahead, stretching out like a mountain range. After walking a while longer, he realized it appeared to be a city so massive it seemed poised to consume the entire horizon, and faintly visible within it was a palace!! Even viewed from such a distance, the structure seemed to connect the earth and the heavens into a single line!
Fang Senyan truly hadn’t expected his talent awakening to involve such a detour! And such a shocking spectacle! The aura was majestic, truly unparalleled.
He continued forward, seemingly walking for an eternity, yet perhaps only for a brief instant. Fang Senyan arrived before the city and the palace. The city was utterly deserted, presenting a desolate bleakness of dead civilization amidst its grandeur, like the end of the world.
Fang Senyan paid no heed to any of this now; he sensed something incredibly powerful calling to him from within that palace! He moved forward with extreme urgency. As both his feet stepped onto the ground within the palace, his surroundings instantly shifted, as if he had entered a new space. Everything was pitch black, an endless cosmos, surrounded by dense galaxies, with occasional meteors tearing through the void, dazzling his eyes before vanishing instantly.
Here, time seemed to have ceased flowing.
Space had lost its meaning, And power seemed to have condensed together! As if eternally guarding something.
Fang Senyan pressed onward. Although he was utterly lost, an indescribable, fierce sensation gripped his heart—as if at the very end of this palace, something was beckoning him! This entity felt not only familiar but intrinsically tied to his very existence, a matter of life and death in the hidden threads of fate! As he got closer, he even began to run, shouting loudly!
His cries echoed in the dead silence of this space. A large expanse of mist appeared ahead, but it offered no impediment to Fang Senyan’s advance!
He finally reached the end of the palace: a colossal gate, reaching from the ground to the heavens. It bore a resemblance to the great doors leading to the Nightmare Space, but this one had no seams, appearing as an impenetrable barrier. The fangs on this gate were longer and sharper, and the door felt utterly monolithic, seemingly forged by nature itself. What struck Fang Senyan with even greater terror was that—right in the center of the colossal gate—was a gigantic, bizarre eye!
The lines surrounding this eye were fluid yet sharp; simple straight strokes vividly etched its cold detachment and ruthlessness. What caused the most heart-stopping dread was that—it was a narrow rhombus!
A vertical pupil!
“Who has opened the Palace of Destiny?”
“Who has disturbed my long slumber?”
A distant, powerful voice erupted, seemingly capable of shaking the entire world, posing its question, a tone akin to challenging the very firmament!!
In the very next second, that vertical pupil opened, fixing its gaze upon Fang Senyan. In that instant, Fang Senyan couldn't help but take a step back! He felt as if every single cell in his body was being pierced, and moreover, within that bizarre and immense vertical pupil, he seemed to witness the collapse of ten thousand stars and the eruption of ten thousand black holes! It was as if that single eye contained myriad worlds!
“So another inherent talent has awakened within a mortal body? Are you prepared to face your destiny?”