Base City Headquarters

Before the towering dark-blue skyscraper that housed the Limitless Martial Arts School headquarters in the Main urban area of Jiangnan Base City.

Xia Zhi stood before the headquarters' main entrance, looking up at the four large characters on the building—"Limitless Martial Arts School."

Outside the martial arts school headquarters' walls, armed soldiers stood guard at every post. The entire Limitless Martial Arts School headquarters felt like a monster armed to the teeth.

Noticing Xia Zhi lingering at the entrance, the guards turned their eyes toward him. Before anyone could come over to question him, Xia Zhi stepped forward and took out his identity card at the guard booth for registration and verification.

Seeing that Xia Zhi was already an official martial artist at such a young age, the verifying officer saluted him and personally led the way.

After entering the Limitless Martial Arts School headquarters, Xia Zhi found the enormous compound resembled a large park. Small bridges, flowing water, artificial hills, and flower beds could be seen everywhere. Pedestrians streamed through the grounds without pause, and from each person's aura, Xia Zhi could tell that they were likely all martial artists.

Following the officer into the martial arts school building, Xia Zhi was brought to an elevator. The officer said, "Supervisor's office is on the nineteenth floor. Assistant Bai is already waiting for you."

After thanking him, Xia Zhi entered the elevator and pressed the button for the nineteenth floor. Many martial artists were waiting at the other elevators, but no one was waiting for the one Xia Zhi had entered.

Seeing the surprised looks cast his way by the other martial artists waiting for elevators, Xia Zhi immediately understood that he was receiving this treatment because of Supervisor Zhuge Tao's status.

The elevator did not stop midway and moved extremely quickly. Soon, it arrived at the nineteenth floor.

The moment he stepped out of the elevator, the young woman in professional attire whom he had seen twice in the videos was already waiting at the elevator entrance.

Upon seeing Xia Zhi, she quickly came forward and extended her hand. "Mr. Xia Zhi, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Supervisor's work assistant. My surname is Bai."

"Hello, Assistant Bai." Xia Zhi gently shook her fair, soft hand and smiled.

"This way, please. Supervisor will meet you in the reception room." With that, she led Xia Zhi into a room nearby.

"Please wait a moment. I'll report to Supervisor."

Not long after Xia Zhi sat down, a familiar figure entered the reception room. The man wore a Tang suit, and his slightly graying hair was combed flawlessly. When he saw Xia Zhi, he broke into hearty laughter.

"Haha, Xiao Zhi. This is your first time at our martial arts school headquarters, isn't it?" The man was Zhuge Tao.

Xia Zhi hurriedly greeted him. "Hello, Supervisor. Yes, it's my first time at headquarters. I didn't expect there to be so many martial artists here."

Hearing Xia Zhi's words, Zhuge Tao let out another burst of hearty laughter.

"Jiangnan City has a population of two hundred million. As the martial arts school headquarters for the entire Base city, how could there be few martial artists?" Zhuge Tao said with a smile.

Then he continued, "The matter of the F-class monster, the Tiger Mastiff King, suddenly appearing during the assessment has basically been investigated."

"One was an ignorant brat who didn't know his limits, and the other was a greedy, audacious deputy chief of staff."

"Old Lei personally had the deputy chief of staff under his command who was involved in the matter executed by firing squad."

Hearing that a military officer had been implicated, Xia Zhi nodded. "If they could tamper with the assessment, someone in the Northern Military Region must have been involved. What about the others?"

"As for that other brat, if his father hadn't stepped in to pressure the Security Bureau and the Northern Military Region, he would have been dealt with already."

"But now, the executed officer has taken all the blame. As long as we agree to let it go, this matter will be over."

After Zhuge Tao finished speaking, he glanced at Xia Zhi and asked, "You used up the one hundred million free credit I gave you last night?"

Caught off guard by the sudden mention of the free credit, Xia Zhi still answered, "I used it all. I bought the first three levels of the Nine Heavens Thunder Blade."

"You dared to buy the ultimate manual, Nine Heavens Thunder Blade. Good lad, you've got ambition." Zhuge Tao said, "Now you know just how much money martial artists burn through, right?"

Xia Zhi nodded but said nothing.

Seeing Xia Zhi remain silent, Zhuge Tao sighed. "Sigh... Without key evidence, and with that brat's family being quite influential, even if we really executed him, it would leave you with a huge hidden danger in the future."

"A martial artist's talent is one aspect of becoming stronger, and the resources available in the later stages are another."

"You saw the prices of the online mall's goods yesterday. For ordinary martial artists, earning enough resources on their own is extremely difficult."

"No matter how gifted you are, with abundant resources to support you, what you save is your most precious asset—your time."

"You must understand, the younger you are, the easier and faster it is to increase your strength."

"If you wait until you reach my age, when even more resources can hardly improve your strength, it will be too late for regrets."

After listening to Zhuge Tao's words, Xia Zhi was deeply moved.

This Supervisor had treated him very well from the very beginning. While it was possible that Xia Zhi's talent and potential had drawn his attention and made him want to invest in Xia Zhi's future,

there was no denying that Zhuge Tao had handled everything exceptionally well, and the way he treated Xia Zhi made him feel genuinely welcomed and warmed.

"I understand, Supervisor."

Meeting Zhuge Tao's gaze, Xia Zhi said, "When I am strong enough in the future, I will personally make them pay the punishment they deserve."

"Good. I'll handle that Old Black Eagle who'll be arriving shortly. You just watch from the side," Zhuge Tao said.

Hearing the unfamiliar name, Xia Zhi asked in confusion, "Old Black Eagle is?"

"Just a lackey. He's an Intermediate Wargod level Mind Controller, but his potential is too low. He can never improve any further."

"A Mind Controller actually went and became someone's dog." Zhuge Tao spoke disdainfully.

Hearing that the arriving man was actually a Mind Controller, Xia Zhi's heart stirred. This would be the first time he truly met another Mind Controller besides himself.

He could not help looking forward to the upcoming meeting.

At that moment, an Old Man dressed in a black suit and styled like an English butler was walking toward the reception room under Assistant Bai's guidance.

Deep wrinkles covered the Old Man's forehead and cheeks. His high, hooked nose, coupled with his constantly shifting eyes, fully revealed a cold and cunning air.

After entering the reception room and seeing Zhuge Tao, he said coldly, "Supervisor Zhuge, long time no see. War God Li Yao asked me to send you his regards."

Even his words seemed to carry shards of ice, utterly frigid.

"Thank your master for his regards. Our Inspector also asked me to convey his regards to your master." Zhuge Tao answered without yielding an ounce in presence.

When the Old Man heard the words "Inspector" in Zhuge Tao's reply, his eyelid twitched. His tone softened, apparently deeply wary of this Inspector. "On behalf of War God Li Yao, I thank Inspector for his regards."

As he spoke, the Old Man looked toward Xia Zhi and deliberately asked, "Is this the young martial artist who encountered an accident during the assessment?"

Xia Zhi raised his head and met the Old Man's eyes.

Boom—

In an instant, it was as though everything around him had ceased to exist. He could not sense anything at all.

Who knew how long passed before Xia Zhi suddenly jolted awake, cold sweat instantly breaking out across his back.

Terrifying. Just one glance made me feel as though I had entered an illusion. Is an Intermediate Wargod level Mind Controller really this powerful?

It was Xia Zhi's first time meeting a Mind Controller. He was greatly shocked that the Old Man could make him lose all perception through nothing more than eye contact.

What Xia Zhi did not know was that the Old Man was even more incredulous at that moment.

Xia Zhi's Mind Controller level had already reached Beginner General level, so the gap between him and the Old Man was not that great.

More importantly, although Xia Zhi still could not approach the Nine-story Pagoda in his Sea of consciousness, with such a great presence there, how could a mere General level mental assault shake him?

How is it possible?

He thought in alarm, My mental secret technique, Dark Arrival Impact, can affect even High-level General martial artists. How could a Warrior level brat recover almost instantly without any reaction at all?

Originally, Uncle Eagle had harbored ill intentions. At their first meeting, he had wanted to secretly use his mental secret technique to strike Xia Zhi's mind, then quietly plant a concealed killing move while Xia Zhi's consciousness was shaken.

He planned to trigger it after the negotiations. Unless a Mind Controller's level was far above his own, even ordinary War God level experts would find it difficult to detect this mental secret technique. It truly killed without leaving a trace.

Uncle Eagle had succeeded many times with this hidden killing move.

Yet he had not expected this covert mental assault to have no effect this time.

Instead, his own mental will had even been faintly jolted by the rebounding fluctuation.

Could this brat's will be even stronger than a High-level General's?