Breakthrough

(Thanks to Dongxue Xiangwang Xiari for the third recommendation ticket)

The nights in the training camp in September already held a hint of chill. In the quiet room of Chen Daolin's residence in Jiangnan Pavilion, which was filled with the soothing scent of Zen incense, Chen Daolin sat cross-legged on a cushion wearing loose white training clothes. With his eyes closed, he assumed the five-hearts-skyward posture, silently absorbing the natural energy from the outside world and refining it through his cells into Genetic Origin Energy, constantly and imperceptibly improving his physical fitness.

Having been in the training camp for over twenty days, apart from going out to hunt monsters, Chen Daolin spent all his time in the simulated gravity room, the spear technique practice room, and the basement secret room of his pavilion. His spear technique, movement technique, and physical fitness were all improving rapidly.

Chen Daolin opened his eyes, stood up, and threw a punch like lightning at the space in front of him. The wind of the punch whistled, followed by a thunderous crack; the powerful force of the blow caused the empty air in front of him to explode. This was merely his base physical fitness, without even activating the King Kai Fist.

"My punch force is already approaching 8000kg." Chen Daolin retracted his fist with satisfaction. During these days in the Elite Training Camp, with the help of the simulated gravity room—though not as effective as the Ancient Civilization Gravity Room—his physical cultivation speed had increased significantly compared to before he entered.

On September 27th, Chen Daolin went out to hunt monsters once again.

In the training camp, some people were skilled at hunting monsters but lacked high strength, while others had high strength but were not necessarily skilled at hunting. Therefore, the leaderboard could not represent everything.

For example, a Spirit Reader's efficiency in hunting monsters was several times that of a martial artist of the same level.

However, Spirit Readers were unable to use their Spirit Reading Power in the Virtual Space.

This could be considered a form of balance.

Because his physical fitness and strength were constantly improving, Chen Daolin had begun to hunt medium-level Beast General Level monsters. However, his success rate was much lower than when hunting low-level Beast General Level monsters, and he had even nearly been severely injured by counterattacks several times. This made Chen Daolin extremely cautious and careful with every move he made thereafter, to avoid capsizing in the gutter.

The sky was overcast with thick clouds, thunder and lightning flashed from time to time, and heavy rain poured down. Amidst the misty rain, in the courtyard of a dilapidated three-story villa in City 1001, a martial artist was fighting a fierce, giant Golden Leopard that was three meters tall and over five meters long. The speed of both the man and the leopard was so fast that only shadows could be seen. Violent collisions echoed in the air, and obstacles were constantly shattered by the destruction caused by both sides. The Golden Leopard roared in constant fury.

Boom—

A massive collision sound rang out, accompanied by flying dust and stones. A figure crashed through the wall of the first floor and flew out, charging into the rain curtain. He rolled a long distance on the muddy ground before stopping. He quickly scrambled up; it was Chen Daolin, leaning on his long spear, coughing and spitting blood incessantly. "Cough..."

Rumble, a thunderclap erupted, illuminating the world in a stark white, casting a long shadow of the Golden Leopard as it stepped out of the villa like a behemoth. The Golden Leopard's emerald eyes stared fixedly at the human in front of it. Its fur was stained with blood in some places, and its flesh was torn open. Being drenched by the rain, the constant pain in its body only made it more furious and crazed. With a roar, its body instantly turned into a phantom, whipping up a gust of wind as it lunged at Chen Daolin.

"Damn it, I thought it was only a medium-level Beast General, but I can't beat it..." Chen Daolin smiled bitterly to himself. Hunting in the Wilderness Area was not just humans hunting monsters; monsters also hunted humans. Chen Daolin had just happened to encounter this hunting Golden Leopard near the city. Who would have thought the creature was a monster itself? Its strength, speed, and reactions all exceeded his own, and it possessed an incredibly keen beastly intuition, leaving Chen Daolin with nowhere to run. After a fierce battle, they had ended up in this villa for the final showdown.

A strong scent of death rushed toward him, making Chen Daolin's whole body tremble. At this life-and-death moment, his mind was extremely focused. In his eyes, there was only the rapidly enlarging figure of the Golden Leopard. His heart rate accelerated, his blood surged, and all the sounds around him faded away. Everything slowed down, turning into slow motion like in a movie; Chen Daolin could even clearly see the trajectory of the raindrops falling above his head.

A momentary epiphany surged into his heart. Chen Daolin's body moved instantly, dodging the Golden Leopard's attack by a hair's breadth, drifting beside the Golden Leopard like a weightless ghost.

Slash!

Following that, a long spear whistled out, its sharp wind piercing through the heavy rain curtain and stabbing deep into the Golden Leopard's tough, resilient flesh.

"Roar!"

The Golden Leopard felt the pain and roared, turning around to lunge at Chen Daolin.

But Chen Daolin seemed like a different person; his movement technique was incredibly mysterious, and every action was as precise as if it had been calculated by a computer. No matter how the Golden Leopard attacked, it always missed. Gradually, the beast's body was covered in countless wounds. Finally, the Golden Leopard became afraid; a trace of fear appeared in its eyes, and it slowly retreated before finally turning and disappearing into the rain curtain.

Chen Daolin stood there quietly holding his long spear, watching the Golden Leopard leave. Suddenly, his body trembled and he knelt on one knee, coughing incessantly. Blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, dripping onto the water and creating ripples.

"That was close... I almost died..." A look of lingering fear appeared on Chen Daolin's face, which then turned into joy. "However, because of this crisis, my movement technique has finally stepped into the Micro-level. I suppose this is a blessing in disguise."

Chen Daolin slowly stood up. He was quite heavily injured this time, so he needed to find a place to rest. Dragging his exhausted and wounded body, Chen Daolin slowly walked into the villa.

On the morning of September 28th, at the Elite Training Camp.

Chen Daolin got up and checked his injuries, finding that they had stabilized, which made him heave a sigh of relief.

Yesterday was probably the most dangerous situation he had ever experienced, even more dangerous than when he first faced a rat horde. That Golden Leopard had displayed strength not inferior to a high-level Beast General, crushing him completely. No matter how hard he fought, he only managed to add a few insignificant wounds to its body. The feeling of being unable to fight back or escape was simply desperate. Moreover, he didn't know if it was the thunder and rain or something else, but his tactical watch's distress signal wouldn't go through. Although, given the situation at the time, even if he had sent a distress signal, he probably wouldn't have lasted until someone arrived.

Under the pressure of death, Chen Daolin also felt that his strength had improved significantly. Many insights appeared in his mind, and due to the life-and-death limit he had pushed, his three-fold King Kai Fist state had also begun to loosen, showing a trend toward opening the fourth fold.

After breakfast and changing into his training clothes, Chen Daolin took his long spear and headed toward the Nine-Layered Tower. He still had one hour of usage time for the Ancient Civilization Gravity Room and the Trial Tower left for September.

Just as he stepped out, he saw Zhao Ruo jump down from the second floor of her pavilion. Seeing that Chen Daolin's face was a bit pale, she asked with concern, "Junior Brother Chen, are you alright? Why do you look so unwell?"

Chen Daolin thanked her for her concern, and since they were both heading to the Nine-Layered Tower, they walked together, chatting along the way.

"Speaking of which, Junior Brother Chen," Zhao Ruo suddenly leaned in, "are you and Junior Sister Ji dating?"

Chen Daolin looked at her: "No, we are just friends."

"Oh, I've seen several guys pursuing Junior Sister Ji recently, and I thought you didn't know." Zhao Ruo stuck out her tongue.

There were always fewer female students in the Elite Training Camp, and with more wolves than meat, the beautiful female students were very popular among the male students. Someone like Ji Xuan, who had great talent, a promising future, and was also beautiful, had been targeted by many people as soon as she arrived.

Chen Daolin really hadn't expected to hear gossip about Ji Xuan from Zhao Ruo, but this was Ji Xuan's private business, and Chen Daolin didn't want to meddle. He would let Ji Xuan worry about it herself.

Chen Daolin and Zhao Ruo chatted as they walked and soon arrived at the ninth floor of the Nine-Layered Tower. The elevator door opened, and a young man with slightly curly short blonde hair and another tall, thin white youth walked out. Both sides were startled upon seeing each other. Chen Daolin recognized the blonde youth as William, who had deliberately come to challenge him on his second day at the training camp at the end of last month.

William whistled. "Yo, the coward surnamed Chen, we meet again."

Don't let her petite figure and gender fool you; Zhao Ruo had a very fiery temper. Upon hearing William's words, she became furious and stepped forward. "William, watch your mouth. Who are you calling a coward?"

William sneered: "Isn't he? Then ask him if he dares to accept my challenge?"

Zhao Ruo spat, "William, do you have no shame? You only know how to bully the weak and fear the strong, picking on newcomers. If you have the ability, go compete with someone ranked higher than you."

William looked at Chen Daolin, "I heard that you geniuses from Huaxia Country are all very powerful. What, are you afraid to have a fight with me?"

Fearing that Chen Daolin would act impulsively, Zhao Ruo grabbed his arm, "Junior Brother, don't pay attention to them. These foreigners have ill intentions; let's not fall for their tricks. Let's go."

Chen Daolin followed Zhao Ruo away, but before leaving, he took a deep look at William.