Level Up in Martial World

"How is he teleporting?"

Lu Zhen couldn't catch the short guy.

As the small figure appeared near one of the kunai and slashed at him with the gauntlet again, aiming for his back, Lu Zhen stood like a tall mountain, completely tanking the hit.

However, the sharp blade sticking out of the gauntlet was destroyed without leaving a single scratch on Lu Zhen's skin.

"What a weakling," Lu Zhen muttered as he turned around. The invisible intent in his body shone, multiplying his power several times. He then clawed at the person, catching him quite easily.

His speed was really too fast, especially with the intent covering his entire body; the increase in his already monstrous strength was multiplied several times.

So Lu Zhen caught the person's ethereal figure, but right through the tightened fist, the short guy teleported farther away using one of the kunai.

"This…?" Lu Zhen looked at the scene in complete shock and disbelief.

"Interesting. This weakling is nothing to me, but this kunai seems to have strange markings."

He took one of the kunai embedded in the ground and examined it.

There was nothing visible, at least to the naked eye.

It seemed like a normal kunai, but Lu Zhen could definitely sense the unique signature of Qi embedded in it.

As martial artists grow stronger, their affinity for Qi in the surroundings becomes more pronounced, especially for Lu Zhen, who already possessed an ancient martial artist's body and could absorb Qi directly without rejection.

He could basically be called the darling of Qi and was even more sensitive to it, so identifying the markings on this kunai wasn't difficult for him.

But when Lu Zhen sensed the vast pattern on the kunai, he felt a little overwhelmed.

He directly ignored the short figure and sat cross-legged on the ground to recognize the signatures in the kunai.

Whether by coincidence or not, as Lu Zhen observed the kunai, the short figure seemed to have disappeared and never attacked him again even he should be the most vulnerable situation right now.

Lu Zhen didn't care about such a weakling; instead, he was immersed in studying the patterns.

At first, the pattern looked relatively simple, with a circle, and inside the circle was a hexagon.

But as he looked further, he found a star shape with a unique Qi signature, and even inside this star were numerous Qi patterns, each with different meanings almost like a combination of geometry but even more complex and vast.

It was really too vast.

Even with his upgraded soul, which could heighten his comprehension, learning this was too hard and difficult.

"This seems similar to a spell but even more complex."

Lu Zhen squinted as a faint suspicion arose in his mind.

Based on his understanding of Qi, this was not how Qi should behave at all and shouldn't be used in this way. Only Mana can bend nature, while Qi is a more internal force that enhances physical capabilities.

Most martial artists fought physically with ancient weapons, but this Qi pattern completely changed his understanding of Qi, almost overturning it.

Lu Zhen slowly started to comprehend it. Although it was difficult and there was much confusion in his mind, he was too interested in this to pass up the opportunity.

However, Lu Zhen didn't know that a being was watching him from another space, observing him as he silently comprehended the Qi pattern.

This being looked exactly the same as the one Lu Zhen had previously fought—the short-statured man with a long beard and freely flowing brown hair.

"Can he do it?" the being muttered, then glanced at the other two screens with disappointment.

The two screens showed Lu Huang and Fang Ying, who were fighting identical copies of him. Unlike Lu Zhen, they couldn't comprehend the pattern and missed the hints, barely managing to kill his figure after exhausting at least half of the Qi in their bodies.

The being waved his hand, and the second round commenced for them without a hitch.

"Although these two have decent strength, they are too old and have nearly exhausted all the potential of their bodies. Even reaching the high First-stage martial artist level would be a problem for them."

The figure muttered as he no longer looked at the other two and instead focused on Lu Zhen.

"He might be able to reach the legendary realm of separation and formation, and even higher," he thought, watching Lu Zhen intently with some excitement.

Even his master was only in that realm.

Although he didn't believe Lu Zhen would be able to fully comprehend such vast and complex Qi patterns—something that even during the ancient era only his master could grasp—if Lu Zhen could gain anything from it, it would already be considered a true inheritance.

But this being didn't know that Lu Zhen had a system!

At this moment, Lu Zhen was fully immersed in comprehending the Qi pattern, completely free from all distractions.

Suddenly, a familiar ding sound rang in his ears, and a blue panel appeared in front of him.

[Ding! The host Charm attribute has increased from Mortal second level to Mortal third level]

Lu Zhen looked at the panel with shock in his eyes. Before he could think further, a warm energy appeared in his body, slowly travelling to his brain.

It wasn't like the first time his charm was upgraded, where he felt terrifying pain and experienced an overall improvement in his consciousness. This time, Lu Zhen didn't feel much pain, and the upgrade went smoothly.

"Hmm?" Lu Zhen touched his chin in contemplation.

It had been a while since his charm had levelled up.

The only time it did was when he was establishing his mana heart, which directly modified and upgraded his brain. But after that, the system underwent an upgrade and became attuned to the Martial world.

The level-up went smoothly, and then Lu Zhen felt nothing—no change in him, at least physically.

But he already knew that his charm was a little deceiving; it was directly related to his soul.

The soul was the window to his body; it directly increased both his comprehension and consciousness.

Charm didn't always mean a physical alteration.

As martial artists progress, they gain a perfect body made for fighting as their realm grows higher and they naturally grow beautiful although there exception to it depending on the Qi and martial art they practise.

However, these are external things; the real charm comes from spirituality. Lu Zhen's increasingly powerful soul meant that he could charm people with weaker souls.

The concept was vague, but the truest improvement he could feel was in his comprehension, which could quickly increase his strength.

Lu Zhen looked at the Qi imprints again and found that it had become much easier for him to comprehend them.

With some joy in his heart, Lu Zhen wholeheartedly began to study the Qi imprints. It wasn't every day that he got to level up so easily, especially with his charm, which was almost impossible to enhance.

Lu Zhen had learned one thing from his level-up system: as long as he worked hard, he would gain invisible experience, and when it reached the limit, he would automatically level up.