Tianxia Group, 39th floor, training arena.
"Impressive. Tianxia Group is worth 300 billion, and they've even built an ancient Roman Colosseum inside the building."
He stamped on the solid earth beneath his feet. His exclamation echoed through the vast arena.
"Greetings, Miss! *3"
The middle-aged man in a suit, the red-haired dwarf, and the bald man bowed to Feng Shayan.
"Mm. This is Mr. Ode, who's here to join the Tianxia Association. You three, go test him."
Feng Shayan flashed over to the stands and gave the three men their orders.
"These are three of the Tianxia Association's executives! You're quite a talented man, sir. If you can defeat any one of them, you may join the association."
"So this kid's the one? These days, just any Tom, Dick, or Harry thinks they can join the Tianxia Association. Little brother, you'd better go home and study."
"Exactly. Let's get this over with. I've got a spa appointment this afternoon!"
"Go!"
The suited man, whose manner was a little roguish, was the quickest to act. He flicked a finger.
"Snap—poof!"
The air bullet kicked up dust, but made a dull sound, like a dud.
As the dust settled, a shadow had already charged forward. The suited man flicked all ten fingers.
"Poof, poof, poof!"
Several more explosions followed, but none had the desired effect. They all fizzled out.
"BOOM!"
The suited man was knocked flying by the shadow. As the dust cleared, the shadow came to a stop.
The humble middle-schooler had become a medieval black-iron knight.
"How is that possible? When did you switch places?"
The suited man struggled to his feet, staring at the fearsome armored figure in shock.
"Don't use those air bullets anymore. Your attacks can't get through my defenses!"
Wearing the Armor of Toughness, he glanced at the incredulous man in the suit.
The suited man's ability was to compress air, then shoot it out and detonate it, using the resulting blast wave to inflict damage.
"There's no point using Brazilian jiu-jitsu or Bone Claws, either. Unless you have Bone Scraper Xia He's palm strength, you can't break through my defenses."
After punching the Clawed Woman back, he let her attacks scrape sparks across his chest, then shook his head at the bald man, who was about to strike.
With its high defense and double damage reduction, the Armor of Toughness was a high-scoring blue piece of equipment. Not just anyone could break through it.
"Crafting? That's some impressive defense. Let me try."
Feng Shayan shouted and twisted into a left hook. Her fist vanished, then suddenly appeared at Wang Changle's lower back.
"Thud!"
[Health -2%]
"Pretty tough. Nice defense. Let's go again!"
Feng Shayan's body blurred and vanished from where she stood. She closed in and landed a heavy punch on Wang Changle's arms with a "boom."
"Miss Feng, wait a moment. I've already completed the challenge against the executives. May I ask if I've joined your association?"
After taking two punches, Wang Changle rolled aside, narrowly dodging the third punch as it came crashing down.
"With those crafting skills, you're certainly qualified to join the Tianxia Association, sir. But if you want to become an executive, crafting alone won't be enough!"
At that, Feng Shayan drew back her fist, smiling as a hint of amusement entered her voice.
He looked like an Otherworldly Person who practiced crafting, but there was no qi on him, so he could only be a suspected crafter.
Of course, that was enough if all he wanted was to join the Tianxia Association.
After all, the association was now recruiting Otherworldly People from all over the world. Someone would be there to receive them at the Tianxia Alliance's reception point.
He didn't need to come to Tianxia Group and ask for her and her younger brother by name.
He'd shown off his crafting skills as soon as the fight began, so he clearly had another motive. And now he'd brought up the executive challenge in particular.
He'd even named the abilities of three executives. He was here to apply for an executive position!
"I can keep going with the assessment, but I'd like these three to leave first. Otherwise, I'll have to go. With my crafting skills, I'm sure I'd be qualified at the Tianxia Alliance's reception desk."
He didn't hide his intentions after she'd seen through them. Instead, he spelled them out.
"Since you've already called me Miss, that makes you one of us! You three, go downstairs first!"
Feng Shayan's eyes lit up. This man really was perceptive.
Why ask the others to leave? Did he have another ability? Now that was interesting.
Five minutes later, in the training arena.
"Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!"
Feng Shayan's fists formed a curtain of shadows. She charged, sidestepped, and leaped back, throwing a punch with every move. Each fist struck the Iron Armor man with pinpoint accuracy.
Her blows landed with muffled thuds, forcing him to hunch lower and lower to keep his balance.
Feng Shayan, meanwhile, kept flashing around Wang Changle, attacking him again and again.
"Mr. Ode, if this is all you can do, the Tianxia Association doesn't need a punching-bag executive."
Feng Shayan punched Wang Changle in the back again, then pulled her hand away and rubbed it. This man's armor really was hard.
Not only was it hard, it could also deflect some of her qi.
She'd landed more than a dozen punches in a row, every one at full strength, yet he showed no sign of weakening. He was still holding on!
His head should've been his weak point, but he was clutching it and guarding it fiercely. That had made it the most heavily defended area. What a nuisance!
"Miss, you're using Hundred Paces Divine Fist and Shrinking Ground Footwork, right? And your fist can teleport. So can your body. You're a natural-born Otherworldly Person, and your ability is Space Shuttle, right?"
He kept guarding his head, but his feet edged toward the corner. After taking more than a dozen punches, Wang Changle was in bad shape too. His health had already dropped by 27%.
Against an Otherworldly Person who was strong in both speed and strength, and skilled in space-based abilities, he was at a real disadvantage. He couldn't grab her, and he was slower than she was. His arms began to loosen.
"Not bad. But you let yourself get distracted!"
This man had sharp eyes. In such a short time, he'd figured out her footwork and even her ability. He was better than those three executives.
Feng Shayan's eyes shifted, but her fist was already moving. It vanished.
"Root Entanglement!"
[Health -15%]
[Your head was hit by 'Hundred Paces Divine Fist.' Make a Stamina Check. If you fail, you will be stunned for 1 second.]
[Your Black Iron Helmet's durability -12]
"Clang!"
The helmet flew off. Wang Changle was punched several meters away and fell face-first to the ground.
[Your Intelligence is equal to your opponent's. Forced immobilization: 2.4 seconds. Nature Mark applied.]
At the moment Feng Shayan threw her punch, four vines shot out from four different directions. Caught off guard, Feng Shayan was bound and immobilized.
"Cough, cough! That's one hell of a punch, Miss! Are you trying to beat me to death? I'm your executive!"
"But your ability is powerful, Miss. You do have one weakness. Every time you use Hundred Paces Divine Fist and Space Shuttle, you're briefly immobilized."
Wang Changle shook his head as he climbed to his feet. The Human-faced Rose on his face had also fallen to the ground. He glanced at his damaged, misshapen helmet. That White Equipment was done for.
He spat out a bloody glob, and green light reappeared around him.
"Call of Nature!"
Feng Shayan, still immobilized, suddenly narrowed her eyes. The vines around her tightened, writhing like four giant snakes as they squeezed her.
She struggled to breathe, but couldn't break free. Instinctively, she activated Life Protection Qi.
In an instant, the vines around her transformed into a three- or four-meter-tall monster—a Treant!
Once it had taken shape, the Treant began pounding its own body wildly, and it beat Feng Shayan just as savagely. Unable to fight back, she could only use her qi to shield her head and vital areas.
From the corner of her eye, she saw that damned Ode wasn't controlling it. Instead, he'd crouched down and covered his head with both hands, hiding in the corner!
That was right. The moment he saw Feng Shayan envelop herself in qi, he knew the Treant couldn't do anything to her. So he'd simply found a corner and crouched down.
That way, he only had to defend against attacks from the wedge-shaped area in front of him. He just needed to shield his head with his hands. He casually took out some Life Essence and absorbed it.
The vine Treant in the arena was his trump card, which he'd bought for 30,000 Paradise Coins and trained with for a long time before finally learning. It was also a combo skill Kakashi had taught him.
He used the vines to ensnare his target, then followed up with another skill depending on the situation.
If he wasn't up against a Taijutsu expert like Kakashi, he'd look for an opportunity to trigger a second stage of control and deal damage in a third stage.
The summoned vines were plants too. Their entangled target would grow inside them, extending the control time and applying Nature Mark.
The Treant was a plant as well. Combined with Nature Mark, it could launch the third attack on its own.
That was the power of combining skills!
Before you continue