"No — not 'if.'"
Li Qingshan shook his head and said with certainty:
"Since the Panel shows a progress bar, then it can definitely be ground all the way to Perfection. 《The Starry Sky Beckons》 absolutely has a fifth stage!"
In the Panel, he had absolute faith.
But...
Li Qingshan's gaze dropped to the Martial Dao Space line, a row of cold numbers cooling him down.
[Available Time: 150 days]
For a three-thousand-proficiency bar, 150 days was a drop in the bucket.
"The only way to add available time is to kill monsters — but right now there's not a single savage beast to kill on the whole Old Continent!"
Li Qingshan shook his head helplessly and drew his gaze back.
Hoo—
Cao Shaoyu finished the last movement and slumped to the floor, gasping for breath.
"Coach, you're awake?"
"What?"
Li Qingshan lifted his eyelids and looked at the kid.
"Not had enough training today?"
"No, no!"
Cao Shaoyu waved with a fawning smile and shuffled over beside him.
His mouth opened and shut a few times, looking like he wanted to say something but held back.
"Spit it out!" Li Qingshan said impatiently.
"Coach, I won't come for lessons tomorrow."
"Got it. It's the weekend tomorrow — spend some good time with your parents."
Li Qingshan waved a careless hand.
Cao Shaoyu had asked for time off before; his parents were in the provincial capital and only had time to come to Luoying City to see him on weekends.
"Coach, this isn't time off." The kid explained, his voice gradually dropping.
"My parents said that since I've got talent, I can't waste it. They're taking me to the provincial capital to have a Martial Dao teacher in Wuyi City teach me."
"Hm?" Li Qingshan's gaze sharpened; he turned to Cao Shaoyu and asked seriously:
"You want a refund on your sessions?"
Because of his earlier days off, Cao Shaoyu still had six days of lessons left.
"No, that's not what I mean!"
Cao Shaoyu flushed red, his voice dropping further.
"Coach, I'm leaving tomorrow, won't you even..."
"Just teasing." Li Qingshan shook his head with a laugh and rubbed Cao Shaoyu's head.
"Wuyi is the provincial capital. If your parents can get a Martial Dao teacher there to teach you, that's a huge stroke of luck."
"Be a man, don't be all mopey. Once you make it to the New Continent, we'll meet again!"
Cao Shaoyu had talent to begin with; with a better teacher, he might reach the third stage of 《The Starry Sky Beckons》 in under a year and head to the New Continent.
Stirred by the words, the kid puffed out his chest and said loudly:
"Right — a real man keeps his word. Coach, I'll work hard and make it to the New Continent for sure."
Li Qingshan smiled, patted the back of the kid's head, picked up his blade, and turned to leave.
But just as he turned, a hand caught his hem.
Li Qingshan looked back to find the kid, all heroic a moment ago, now wearing an ingratiating grin.
"Coach, I'm leaving tomorrow — could you take me out to see a bit of the world first?"
"Hm?"
Li Qingshan's gaze shifted; he looked the just-turned-thirteen kid up and down, a dangerous smile rising to his face.
"See what, exactly?"
"Coach, do you know the Yinhui Hotel?" Cao Shaoyu rubbed his hands and said in a low voice:
"I hear it's really exciting inside!"
"Oh? Tell me what's so exciting." Li Qingshan's smile grew more dangerous.
He'd heard of the Yinhui Hotel, but only knew it as a luxury hotel.
He hadn't expected the kid to be so well-informed — and to want to "see it" for himself, no less.
Li Qingshan rubbed the hilt with his right hand, feeling a final lesson in moral education was in order for the kid.
Oblivious, Cao Shaoyu rubbed his hands red and said excitedly:
"I hear the hotel's third basement level holds fighting matches regularly. There's one today, Coach..."
"Not interested!"
Li Qingshan's smile froze, and he turned to leave.
Underground bare-knuckle fights — what was there to see?
"Huh?" Cao Shaoyu's excitement froze on his face, and he lowered his head, crestfallen:
"I wanted to see what the savage beasts from the textbooks actually look like..."
Whoosh!
A gust of wind hit his face.
Cao Shaoyu looked up blankly to find his coach, who'd already stepped out the door, standing before him as if he'd teleported.
"Next time, get to the point!" Li Qingshan's face was serious.
Cao Shaoyu's mind went blank, and he gaped:
"What point?"
"Savage beasts!" Li Qingshan prompted, then asked:
"You can see a savage beast at the Yinhui Hotel?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Cao Shaoyu caught on and nodded over and over:
"I got a tip — tonight the Yinhui Hotel has brought in a savage beast and is going to stage a beast fight."
"A beast fight?"
Li Qingshan mused for a few seconds, met the kid's shining eyes, and nodded.
"All right, I'll take you."
By Wan Keshan's account, every beast brought onto the Old Continent had its own use and had to pass strict review.
An underground "beast fight" was clearly not a legitimate use, and the Yinhui Hotel shouldn't have that kind of clout.
Otherwise, when he'd asked a month ago, Wan Keshan would surely have mentioned it.
Li Qingshan didn't know where Cao Shaoyu had gotten his tip, nor whether it was reliable.
But that didn't stop him from going to "have a look"; at most it would cost a little time, and if there really was a beast...
At the thought, a smile curved Li Qingshan's lips despite himself.
"Coach, your smile is terrifying." Cao Shaoyu shrank his neck.
"Quit yapping, hail a cab!"
Li Qingshan grabbed the kid by the collar and hurried downstairs.
The Yinhui Hotel sat in the southwest of Luoying City, a dozen-odd kilometers from downtown; with the area still under development and mostly unfinished construction sites, it felt somewhat desolate at night.
Only the hotel building blazed with light, standing tall in the dark.
Before the hotel lobby, a taxi slowly stopped.
A doorman, smiling, stepped up quickly and opened the door.
Cao Shaoyu hopped out, unable to wait, and said excitedly:
"We're here to watch the fights — where's the venue?"
The doorman's face stiffened for a moment, then put the professional smile back on.
"Little friend, we're a legitimate hotel. There are no fights of the sort you're after."
"Of course there are!" Cao Shaoyu grew anxious at once, spittle flying.
"I've found out all about it — it's on your hotel's third basement level."
"Little friend, you may have the wrong place." The doorman's smile held.
"Our underground parking has only two levels — there's no third."
"Impossible! You're lying to me!"
Cao Shaoyu stamped his feet in frustration, but the doorman's smile seemed carved onto his face, impervious to all of it.
Shing!
Metal rang as a half-drawn blade extended from the car door.
Li Qingshan stepped out unhurriedly and turned to the doorman whose smile had stiffened.
"Lead the way!"
"Yes, sir!"
The doorman bowed slightly, no nonsense at all, and briskly turned to lead.
"Hey — how can he do that?"
Cao Shaoyu gaped, his face reddening at a visible rate, furious:
"Looking down his nose at me — why'd he ignore me just now!"
"Enough, keep up! If any middle schooler off the street could go down, this hotel would've been raided long ago."
Li Qingshan patted the back of the kid's head and set off.