The instant the extraterrestrial invaders were eliminated, their weapons, armor, and the bizarre rectangular objects suspected to be interstellar travel devices all self-destructed, turning to ash. Not a single valuable component was left behind.
Ma Ran remained remarkably calm.
If they could not win, they immediately self-destructed. That was practically standard procedure for extraterrestrials.
To prevent their enemies from gaining their technology, invaders from different civilizations shared a high degree of consensus on this matter.
"Brother Ma, don't just listen! Say something too!"
At those words, Ma Ran nodded expressionlessly and filled his wineglass.
He raised his glass, his gaze firm and his voice ringing out: "A man's heart should be iron until death! Watch me mend the sky's rift!"
That was the longest sentence Ma Ran had ever spoken at the dinner table.
Afterward, he tilted his head back and poured the spicy liquor down his throat.
In reality, many civilization guardians avoided neither cigarettes nor alcohol to relieve fatigue and pressure.
But on the eve of Earth's destruction, let alone drinking to excess like this—even a small glass of liquor or a cheap cigarette was incredibly precious. They had to set aside special rest time to share them with their comrades and savor them slowly.
No one present took it seriously. They merely thought it was youthful bravado, a bout of literary pretension, and a casual remark.
However...
Ma Ran's drinking capacity...
Watching his movements, the people who had already drunk their fill immediately flushed red as they held their breath.
Yang Guangzhao, who was leading the group, shakily opened a bottle of aged liquor. He stared stiffly at Ma Ran for quite a while before swaying and giving him a thumbs-up, saying in a distant voice, "What a drinking capacity!"
"Brother Ma, that's the spirit!"
After another twenty minutes or so of eating and drinking, everyone around the table had been knocked flat.
Ma Ran, however, quietly rose to his feet, found a black marker, and wrote a note.
"I met many new friends today, and I'm very happy. I want to go out for a drive. I'll stay within Area A3 and won't go too far."
After finishing, he gently pushed open the restaurant door.
The night wind blew against his face, and the tipsy feeling quickly vanished.
As his Inner Qi circulated naturally through his acupoints, it immediately converted the alcohol into a source of energy, absorbing it cleanly in just a few moments without leaving a single drop.
He was completely sober!
After replenishing himself with a large amount of nutrients, Ma Ran's Inner Qi was abundant, his spirits were high, and he was in excellent condition.
"Nightmare, I'm coming to find you!"
The moon was bright and the stars sparse, while crows flew south.
The evening wind rustled, and cold leaves danced through the air.
In the dormitory, where the heating was turned all the way up, Dong Huaiming lay lazily on his bed, bored enough to spam the group chat: "The sixth day without Brother Ran. I miss him."
The group members turned into a chorus of parrots, instantly copying Little Ming's message more than twenty times.
Qiang Qiang Qiang Qiang: "Are you all this idle? Don't you need to cultivate?"
As soon as Su Qiangwei, the conversation killer, spoke, the lively atmosphere in the group immediately faded considerably.
Little Ming: "We've already cultivated to our limits! Our brains and bodies are both completely exhausted!"
Qiang Qiang Qiang Qiang: "Your efforts are only for yourself and others to see. Stop moving yourself. It's useless. Learn from Ma Ran."
One message sent Dong Huaiming's blood pressure through the roof. He nearly got so angry he suffered a stroke.
Little Ming: "You're insulting my dreams!"
Qiang Qiang Qiang Qiang: "People aren't made great by their dreams, but by realizing them."
That was right. She was a consequentialist.
Every reason was an excuse.
Had Lady Su Qiangwei ever looked for an excuse after losing to Ma Ran so many times?
No.
Not once.
Little Ming: "You despicable counterfeit ability user! Even your nickname is copied from Brother Ran!"
Ma Ran's nickname in the group was "Ran Ran Ran."
The eternally unyielding Su Qiangwei had insisted on having one more character than him.
Seeing that the two were about to start arguing, He Nanguang, the good-natured man who had been lurking, immediately sent a message to change the subject.
Nanguang: "@Qiang Qiang Qiang Qiang, what exactly is the nature of your Myriad Transformations? I've watched you practice flying these past few days, and it feels like my aerial control is the counterfeit. My speed and endurance are both inferior, and I'm being crushed in every aspect..."
Butterfly in My Heart: "Little Su is, after all, one of only two Nation Supporter-level superpowered individuals in China right now. She only needs to burn fat to practice without limit. I advise you not to compare yourself with her."
The conversation was brought back on track, and soon people began sharing their opinions on the topic of "the difficulty of cultivation."
"Calculating the acupoints is fine. Mental work is our specialty. But refining Inner Qi is genuinely difficult!"
"Exactly! I thought we only needed to eat more every day, but now it seems we were far too naive."
"Refining the first wisp of Inner Qi is one threshold. Transforming the acupoints into mature miniature organs is another. Sending Inner Qi to other parts of the body is yet another... There are so many bottlenecks that they make my scalp tingle!"
"Ugh... Before this, watching Brother Ran advance had been as easy as eating and drinking, so I thought Inner Qi cultivation was really simple too... Who would've thought that after all this time, I'd still be far from the First Stage of Inner Qi?"
"Su Qiangwei has already filled two acupoints, so she's reached the First Stage of Inner Qi, right?"
"So this is what they call talent. We work ourselves to the bone every day, yet we still can't progress as quickly as someone who cultivates casually."
"No. Dogs aren't worked this hard."
The First Stage of Inner Qi required filling two acupoints.
The Second Stage of Inner Qi required filling four acupoints.
Then came eight, sixteen, thirty-two, sixty-four, one hundred and twenty-eight, and two hundred and fifty-six.
By the Ninth Stage of Inner Qi, it corresponded exactly to five hundred and twelve acupoints filled with Inner Qi.
Suddenly, everyone received an invitation.
Group member "Ran Ran Ran" had started a group video call. Accept?
"Accept! Of course I'll accept! I've accumulated so many questions these past few days! Without Brother Ran, cultivating Black Rock Martial Way is as slow as a snail crawling!"
The vast majority of the members made the same choice as Dong Huaiming. They accepted the video invitation at once and maximized Ma Ran's video window.
On the screen, beneath the pitch-black night sky, a young man dressed in a casual outfit of blue and red was walking along a mountain path.
He strolled leisurely, calm and composed.
Although there was not a trace of lamplight and the area should have been shrouded in darkness, everyone could see him clearly.
The young man had red lips and pearly teeth, eyes as bright as stars, and brows like distant mountains.
What drew the most attention was his radiant, fluorescent skin. He looked like a mobile human-shaped light bulb.
"Brother Ran, you broke through again!"
As his number-one fan, Little Ming was the first to notice the difference in Ma Ran: "Is the body emitting visible light an external sign of the Sixth Stage of Inner Qi?!"
The words that had been about to leave Ma Ran's mouth were silently chewed up and swallowed back down.
He had to admit, having a friend like Dong Huaiming felt pretty great!
He didn't even need to say certain lines himself. Dong Huaiming would imagine them for him.
Seeing Ma Ran give a slight nod, Little Ming excitedly began explaining in the group video chat: "Many years ago, Dr. Walter Kilner of London conducted an experiment."
"Hey! Those who already know, don't interrupt!"
"There must still be people in the group who haven't heard of this experiment!"
"I'll skip the process and give a simple explanation!"
"Dr. Walter Kilner observed the human body through a pane of glass coated with dicyanin dye. He discovered that a halo approximately fifteen millimeters wide existed around the surface of the human body!"
"As a person's state of health changed, the halo's exact shape and color would change as well!"
The chapter number and title fit together remarkably well...
Before you continue