"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Just as Huang Wen stood with a faint, satisfied smile, observing the defeated Iceman Bobby, the remains of the shattered ice wall—the same pieces Bobby had been smashed through—instantly transformed.
With a frantic wave of his hand from his painful position on the floor, Bobby converted the sharp fragments into a storm of countless, diamond-hard ice needles, sending them screaming toward Huang Wen.
The teenager, even in his shock and humiliation, retained the core training of the X-Men: never stop fighting. The attack was precise, aimed specifically at the non-vital points of Huang Wen's limbs and shoulders, intended to disable and freeze, not kill. A moment of true, unadulterated danger flashed in the martial arts master's eyes.
"Stop the attack, Bobby! That's enough!" Logan's expression changed drastically. He knew exactly what those high-velocity ice fragments could do, and he moved instantly to intervene, though he was too slow.
But before Logan's roar could even finish, all the ice needles froze mid-air.
They stopped, hovering just a few inches outside Huang Wen's body, shimmering silently in the warm air of the gym. Iceman Bobby, still sprawled on the canvas, gritted his teeth, his expression strained and utterly solemn. He was pouring every ounce of his remaining willpower into keeping the attack mobilized, but he couldn't push the attack any further.
"Thank the universe you managed to stop in time, kid, or that would have been a disaster!" Logan breathed out a long sigh of relief, then glared at Iceman Bobby with palpable annoyance.
"No… it wasn't me! I can't move them! They're stuck!" Iceman Bobby managed to choke out the words, confusion adding to his pain. He was trying desperately to recall the needles, or at least force them forward, but they were held fast by an unseen, unyielding force.
With a soft, almost inaudible "Poof!" sound, every single one of the surrounding ice needles suddenly burst into a fine, sparkling mist, dissipating into nothingness.
A flicker of profound fatigue briefly crossed Huang Wen's eyes, vanishing almost instantly, but not before Logan's heightened senses caught it. It was the mark of extreme effort. It was Huang Wen's special ability—the telekinetic control over objects—that had stopped the needles.
This had been a calculated risk, a direct test by Huang Wen to gauge the limits of his current extraordinary abilities against a Legendary-potential opponent.
The result was unexpectedly positive. Although Huang Wen's current special ability was at the extraordinary level and still quite far from the Legendary tier, he had managed to completely suppress Iceman Bobby's immediate attack. It hadn't been easy—the sheer effort required was a momentary drain—but he had done it.
Of course, the two most critical factors were: first, Iceman Bobby had just been violently injured and shocked; and second, Bobby Drake was a character with a famously high theoretical ceiling of power (Omega-level potential) but whose actual, current strength and control were still far from that level.
"Huang Wen! You still dare to say you're not a mutant, or something more?" Logan suddenly realized the profound implications of what he had just witnessed. This was beyond Kung Fu; this was power that defied the laws of physics.
"This… is still martial arts," Huang Wen replied seriously, though a mischievous glint entered his eye. He gave a subtle, almost dismissive wave of his hand toward Bobby.
Iceman Bobby suddenly collapsed fully onto the floor, then burst into uncontrollable, racking laughter, his body convulsing violently with the force of the unseen tickle. Logan winced; he remembered that feeling all too well. It was the famous "Laughing Point" acupressure—not painful, but agonizingly humiliating and impossible to focus through.
"Alright, alright, if you call that martial arts, then I guess it's martial arts," Logan forced a crooked smile, looking down at the hapless Iceman with genuine sympathy. He knew that feeling—a total lack of physical control that was, somehow, more unbearable than pain itself. More importantly, under such uncontrollable laughter, one could not concentrate or muster a proper defense.
"Bobby! Bobby, what did he do to you?!" Rogue rushed to Iceman Bobby's side, trying to pull him up by the collar of his jacket, but Bobby was too weak from the constant, involuntary spasms of laughter to offer any resistance.
"This is the true potential of martial arts," Huang Wen repeated, his tone serious once more, the slight smile fading. "Martial arts are not just about training the muscle; they are about forging the entire existence. They can comprehensively enhance all three facets of the body."
Huang Wen looked directly at Logan, his Divine Eyes piercing the illusion of Logan's invulnerability. "Not only physical fitness—I may not possess your unique biological immortality—but in terms of Spirit and Energy, I am definitely more well-rounded and deeply rooted than you are! You rely on a physical mutation; I seek complete existential mastery."
He began to lecture Logan and Banner, explaining the foundational philosophy of his training in the most literal terms.
"Such spiritual power—the ability that stopped those needles—is the power that extends after martial arts reach a certain, advanced level. We call it Shen, the Divine aspect, the conscious will that governs all things. Qi is the internal energy I used to strike Bobby's acupoints through the ice wall, the Energy that flows. And Jing is the raw strength of my body."
Huang Wen spoke to Logan with the gravity of a seasoned master, as if his mental strength, his Shen, was something he had truly cultivated purely through esoteric practice, rather than an accidental gift from a cheat system.
And yet, he wasn't entirely lying. When martial arts reached a legendary level, the true masters could indeed touch upon spiritual matters, even achieving the mysterious and unpredictable primordial spirit.
The concept was codified in many ancient martial arts scrolls; the Sword Twenty-Three technique by the legendary Sword Saint was a perfect, albeit fictional, example of the true spirit leaving the body to attack.
"Such control… I suddenly feel that maybe I should have learned some of these techniques from you a long time ago…" A rare flicker of excitement flashed in Logan's weary eyes. The idea of Shen—spiritual power—resonated deeply with him. This was the only thing that could truly secure his longevity.
Logan's celebrated immortality still had one major, often overlooked flaw: his mental state. Although his brain tissue could recover from damage, a powerful enough psychic force could completely erase Logan's current consciousness, leaving behind a fully functional body but an empty mind. When a new consciousness inevitably arose in that body, it would be a brand-new Wolverine, no longer the Logan they knew.
If Logan could possess this spiritual power, this powerful Shen, he could ensure that his consciousness and will would never perish, even under the most vicious psychic assault.
"You should have started learning from me on the very first day, bub," Huang Wen chuckled, shaking his head. "At least it would have been much better than you just sitting here brooding and doing nothing useful for the last few months."
"If one has such strong spiritual strength, wouldn't that allow for much better control of the Hulk?" Bruce Banner, who had been listening intently to the entire philosophical exchange, spoke up hesitantly, his eyes gleaming with intellectual fervor.
This thought mirrored Charles Xavier's primary suggestion to Banner: to manage his explosive emotions and cultivate his inner self by practicing various centering arts, like Tai Chi and Yoga, thereby strengthening his core mental fortitude.
However, even a mental powerhouse like Charles couldn't conjure raw mental power out of thin air or grant it to someone who lacked the innate ability. Charles could only help Banner regulate what was already there.
At this moment, Bruce Banner saw genuine, actionable hope in Huang Wen's words! He saw a practical path to completely mastering the unpredictable power of the Hulk, not through science, but through the cultivation of his mind and spirit!
"Um, Boss, could you please release Bobby's laughing point first? He sounds like he's going to choke, and she's starting to look seriously worried," Logan said, looking at the pleading, tearful look in Rogue's eyes. He quickly offered a placating smile to Huang Wen.
"He must admit defeat verbally and genuinely, otherwise, I don't untie him," Huang Wen stated calmly. He hadn't yet received the system notification, which meant that although Iceman Bobby could not physically control his body, his proud, arrogant mind was still refusing to yield.
"He admits defeat! He totally admits defeat!" Rogue quickly nodded for Iceman Bobby, desperately hoping to end his torment.
But as Rogue spoke, Huang Wen shook his head slightly. The system remained silent. Logan understood the gesture, walking over to the still-convulsing Bobby, and glared down at the teenager with annoyance.
"I'm sticking my neck out for you here, kid, and this is your attitude?" Logan growled, his brow furrowed. "Is this really what Charles taught you? To be a martyr to your own ego? This whole mess was your fault for attacking in the first place."
He leaned closer. "And you know what? If it weren't for Charles's direct instructions to keep your sorry butt safe, I wouldn't bother helping you at all. You're the one suffering now, not him."
"Bobby, please…" Rogue's voice was small and distressed, and she looked at the young Iceman with such raw pleading that it finally broke through the psychic hold of the laugh point.
"Haha… I… I GIV-HAHAHA-E UP! I surrender!" Iceman Bobby forced the words out, managing to suppress his laughter for a split second, the defeat finally genuine in his mind.
"Ding! Mission: Defeat Iceman Bobby Drake complete. Reward: One Legendary Skill Lottery Draw!"
The system notification finally rang clearly in Huang Wen's ears. The reward was his, confirming that no matter what, Huang Wen now had the chance to officially step into the legendary level of power.
A broad, genuine smile spread across Huang Wen's lips. He glanced one last time at the exhausted Iceman, then waved his hand. The uncontrollable laughter stopped instantly.
Bobby Drake lay there panting, utterly spent. Unlike Logan, who possessed rapid recovery from physical damage, Bobby's ability to regenerate was not linked to physical recovery from exhaustion. The combination of the Gekong Da Niu impact and the mental energy drain from the Laughing Point left him completely drained. Although he was able to trigger a Legendary quest, in terms of sheer resilience and recovery, he was no match for Logan. At this moment, Bobby was exhausted both physically and mentally.
"Take him upstairs to sleep, Logan, he can sleep in the smaller guest room. Rogue, you and Banner can take the main living room couch—I have a folding screen for privacy," Huang Wen instructed, his tone shifting back to the pragmatic Boss.
"First thing in the morning, I want a full, detailed report. Tell me everything you went through, and why you came back so quickly… starting with the man who made the Hulk angry."