Xiao Hongchen: This Round Doesn't Count, Let's Go Again Next Round!

"Why are you crying? What are you crying for?"

"Smack, smack, smack, smack, smack—"

"Crying counts against your time too! What's with that look in your eyes? What's with that weak expression? What's with you acting like some limp noodle?"

"Smack, smack, smack, smack, smack—"

"Put some strength into it! At this level, you still think you're the Sun Moon Empire's greatest genius? What are you even thinking? If you call yourself a genius at this level when you go out, aren't you afraid of becoming the Sun Moon Empire's laughingstock?"

Dark clouds blanketed the sky, while bitter winds swept across the earth. Piles of snow that had not fully melted lay in the corners of the courtyard, and the piercing wind rattled the ice-covered branches.

At the Training Ground within Hongchen Mansion, two figures, one large and one small, trained in the freezing wind wearing nothing but thin shorts under the supervision of another pair, also one large and one small.

All manner of training equipment was piled in every corner of the Training Ground. Whenever they finished training one part of their bodies, they seamlessly moved on to the next exercise.

In a corner, the Healing Soul Master, dressed in padded cotton clothes, watched Chen Li mercilessly lash Chen Ming and Xiao Hongchen with a Soul Tool, his admiring expression tinged with fear.

Stimulated by the freezing wind, Xiao Hongchen's body shook uncontrollably from the cold, forcing him to use Soul Power to protect himself. But as he diverted his Soul Power, the heavy weights on his body became even more burdensome.

With every breath, every heartbeat, every jump, Xiao Hongchen could feel every nerve in his body screaming in agony.

Whenever a whip struck him, the pain and stimulation that pierced straight from his flesh into his mind jolted the already-dazed Xiao Hongchen awake again, forcing him to keep facing this painful reality.

Though it was the depths of winter, Xiao Hongchen had worked himself into a sweat. His face in particular had turned bright red from the training.

Tears, snot, and sweat mingled on the face Xiao Hongchen normally cared about so much, covered by a thick layer of frost. But under such terrifying pressure, the usually vain and arrogant Xiao Hongchen had no time to care about any of that.

He could only mechanically imitate Chen Ming's movements. Chen Ming was in even worse condition than he was, yet he still kept going on his last breath, training like a machine. Xiao Hongchen tried to use this to distract himself from the pain.

Meanwhile, Jing Hongchen, Xiao Hongchen's biological grandfather, watched Chen Ming with a puzzled yet somewhat enlightened gaze. Barefoot and carrying several times Xiao Hongchen's load, Chen Ming hopped across the field like a frog.

Watching every muscle in Chen Ming's body stretch, tear, and reform during the training, while his movements never slowed or stopped, Jing Hongchen felt that he finally understood why Chen Ming's Soul Power was higher than Xiao Hongchen's without being unstable.

He understood what it meant to be a genius born to stand at the pinnacle of the Soul Master path.

Ever since last night's banquet had ended, Jing Hongchen had privately interrogated Xiao Hongchen and learned exactly what he had done. Since then, he had felt as though his brain had been thrown into a blender.

Xiao Hongchen had spent several hundred Gold Soul Coins to buy a strange bug from a street vendor just to prank his sister, leaving a terrible first impression in front of the Dragon Elephant Sect.

During the spar on the Arena, he had not known restraint and had turned it into a contest of props. He had even thrown a Flashbang, something that should never have been used in a spar, and spent more than a thousand Gold Soul Coins setting up the terrain...

And most importantly, even after doing all that, even after resorting to dirty tricks on the Arena—

He! Still! Didn't! Win!

After pondering for a long time, Jing Hongchen decided that it was his own fault. He had not given Xiao Hongchen a proper childhood. His excessive doting and indulgence had caused Xiao Hongchen to gradually stray down the wrong path.

Thus, Jing Hongchen resolved to make a change. He hung Xiao Hongchen from a ceiling beam and spent an hour whipping the fleshiest parts of his body with a vine.

Xiao Hongchen was not even allowed to see a Healing Soul Master that entire night. He could only hang from the beam with his bloodied buttocks exposed, until shortly before dawn, when Jing Hongchen finally summoned a Healing Soul Master to treat his wounds before bringing him here to train as if nothing had happened.

For Xiao Hongchen, in the span of a single day, his grandfather's love had tumbled from the mountaintop to the foot of the mountain like a landslide.

The youth who had once been regarded as a peerless genius had suffered all sorts of blows in just one day. He had given it everything he had and still failed to break the defenses of someone his own age. After fighting for so long, he had been instantly defeated by a single punch. If Chen Ming had not held back, he might even have been beaten to death...

It had left Xiao Hongchen on the verge of collapse and deeply uncertain of himself.

Maybe he was not actually the Sun Moon Empire's greatest genius. Maybe he was merely an ordinary genius blessed with Innate Full Soul Power, a Divine Beast Martial Soul, the background of a top-tier family, and talent with Soul Tools?

Perhaps there were many people stronger than him across the two continents—or even within the Sun Moon Empire alone?

Maybe he simply had not encountered people like that because he had only recently awakened his Martial Soul, and because his grandfather had protected him too well?

Xiao Hongchen wanted to wave his hand and confidently shout, "Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" But reality's brutal beating had forced him to calm down.

Looking at Chen Ming training by himself while carrying double the weight of Xiao Hongchen's own load combined with the load on Xiao Hongchen's body, Xiao Hongchen refused to admit defeat even though he was exhausted to the point of collapse.

Bolstered by his will, as well as the pride and reputation he had built up over the years, Xiao Hongchen gritted his teeth and forced his body to keep moving.

Finally, at a certain moment, Xiao Hongchen felt as though his body had broken through some kind of limit. His body, which had been on the verge of collapse, instantly became much lighter, and even his strength seemed to recover considerably.

Even the Soul Power within his body seemed to be stimulated at that moment, circulating more fiercely than it ever had at its fastest before. If not for the fact that the Soul Power he had raised through Pills and absorbing metal energy was indeed somewhat unstable, Xiao Hongchen felt that he could have broken through from Rank Fifteen to Rank Sixteen in one go.

"So this is your secret to becoming stronger. I understand now. I'll become even stronger than you!"

A few minutes later, Xiao Hongchen, who had pushed beyond his limits and tried to speed up his pace until he collapsed from exhaustion, lay on the ground surrounded by several still-inexperienced Healing Soul Masters receiving treatment.

Chen Ming, meanwhile, maintained seemingly the same pace as when he had begun, neither faster nor slower. Though his entire body had turned crimson from the intense exercise, his eyes remained as resolute as ever.