"Phew..." Even after stepping out of the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, Chen Daolin still felt a little shaken.
Once he had shown his potential as a warrior, the senior students who had previously barely given him the time of day—and even Jiang Nian, the lofty instructor at the martial arts hall—had all shown him a warm side.
Jiang Nian had even taken him aside and told him all about the benefits of becoming a warrior, making it sound so incredible that Chen Daolin had been left dumbfounded.
It was the first time Chen Daolin had learned that warriors held such high status in this world. Even if a warrior broke the law, the police wouldn't handle the case; it would be dealt with by a higher-level agency.
Warriors held an exceptionally special and exalted status!
Money, fame, status, a villa... Once you became a warrior, all of it was practically yours for the taking!
Chen Daolin shook his head. "According to Instructor Jiang Nian, if I become a warrior with the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, I can get a detached villa. The Extreme Martial Arts Hall sure is generous." At present, there were only six human bases in all of Huaxia Country, also known as the six cities.
Land was incredibly precious. Detached villas came with enormous luxury taxes, and in this day and age, even the government restricted who could live in one. Having money alone wasn't enough.
You needed money, power, and special status to live in one.
Of course, if you became a warrior and joined the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, you could get one for free. You could only live in it, not buy or sell it, but that was still impressive. A detached villa in this era had to be worth two or three hundred million.
Even across all of Yi'an District, hardly anyone could afford one.
If you didn't qualify, money wouldn't help.
And that was only for ordinary warriors. The peerless powerhouses at the pinnacle of the warrior world, like Hong, the world's strongest man, and Thunder God, could even speak to a great nation as equals.
Chen Daolin couldn't help sighing. The benefits of becoming a warrior really were... enormous.
Behind Chen Daolin, Lin Xiao tugged Ji Xuan along and whispered.
"Xiao Xuan, there's really nothing going on between you and Chen Daolin, right?"
"Mm."
"Then I'm relieved."
"?"
Ji Xuan gave her best friend a speechless look. What on earth was she thinking?
The next afternoon, under Lin Xiao's envious, jealous, and resentful gaze, Chen Daolin and Ji Xuan walked together into the training hall on the third floor of the senior students' teaching building.
"Chen."
"Ji."
"Chen, Ji, you're here."
The senior students who had witnessed Chen Daolin's test the previous night greeted them warmly.
Most people who spent their time training at the Extreme Martial Arts Hall didn't come from wealthy families. Their circumstances were much like Chen Daolin's and Ji Xuan's: they lived in low-rent housing, unlike the rich, who had their own training rooms in their neighborhoods. They were also more likely to admire someone like Chen Daolin, who had achieved success through his own "hard work."
In fact, Chen Daolin really had learned to use the King Kai Fist through more than two years of day-in, day-out effort. The agony of constantly pushing his body past its limits was something most people couldn't imagine.
Beneath Chen Daolin's unremarkable appearance lay a thick, resilient nerve.
After chatting with the senior students for a while, Chen Daolin and Ji Xuan went their separate ways to train.
Chen Daolin's actual physical abilities were only at the intermediate student level. He had merely unleashed warrior-level strength using the secret, unknown technique of the King Kai Fist. And the King Kai Fist still relied on his own strength as its foundation, so he couldn't afford to slack off. He trained hard, sweating buckets.
"Phew... Hah..."
Panting and drenched in sweat, Chen Daolin happened to glance toward Ji Xuan beside him—and his eyes immediately went wide.
Ji Xuan wore a tight black crop top, leaving her firm, sexy waist bare. He could even make out a few solid abdominal muscles on her fair, flat stomach. Beneath her round, pert backside, a pair of shapely, long legs looked especially tempting. Her youthful skin glowed with a rosy sheen, and beads of sparkling sweat kept trickling down, giving her a unique charm.
Ji Xuan, focused on her training, suddenly sensed something and turned around in confusion. She scanned the room, but saw nothing that caught her attention, so she went back to training. She didn't even notice Chen Daolin beside her.
As the youngest and prettiest senior student at this Extreme Martial Arts Hall, Ji Xuan had been pestered by men before. She was used to training alone to avoid such annoyances. But she unconsciously excluded Chen Daolin, whom she considered a friend, from that category.
Perhaps Ji Xuan hadn't even realized how much she trusted Chen Daolin.
Just then, several people came up the stairs to the third floor. They paused, then headed straight toward Chen Daolin and the others.
Most of the senior students training nearby turned their attention to them.
"Isn't that Zhang Bailan and Tang Cheng? Didn't Xiao Ji teach them a lesson a few months ago? Why are they here again?" Some students who recognized them began murmuring among themselves.
Zhang Bailan led several people over to Chen Daolin and Ji Xuan. Without even looking at Chen Daolin, she said directly to Ji Xuan, "Ji Xuan, got the guts to fight us?"
A muscular young man in his twenties couldn't help speaking up. "Zhang Bailan, this is the Extreme Martial Arts Hall. What are you trying to do?"
Zhang Bailan said coldly, "This is between Ji Xuan and me. Stay out of it."
A senior student had been watching coldly from the sidelines, but now he spoke up. "You brought all these people with you. Surely you're not planning to fight Ji Xuan one-on-one?"
These senior students had a keen eye and plenty of experience. They could tell that none of the people Zhang Bailan had brought were easy opponents. Some even recognized one of them as the son of a wealthy family. Compared with students from ordinary backgrounds, rich kids could use their resources to improve their strength more effectively, and were generally stronger.
Some students who were on good terms with Ji Xuan couldn't help worrying.
Zhang Bailan looked at Ji Xuan. "Well? Are you going to fight or not?"
After returning home that day, Zhang Bailan had brooded over it. She couldn't swallow her anger. With the college entrance exams coming up, she figured she had to teach Ji Xuan, her enemy, a proper lesson before graduation. So she had pulled some strings to find a group of capable helpers, including an expert who had passed the Quasi-Warrior Assessment just last month. Zhang Bailan couldn't believe Ji Xuan could still win against them.
Ji Xuan raised an eyebrow and started to move, but Chen Daolin stopped her. He looked at Zhang Bailan with an amused smile. "Zhang Bailan, I'd like to fight you. Are you up for it?"
"You?" Zhang Bailan stared at him in surprise, then laughed in disbelief.
She knew exactly how strong Chen Daolin was. He had only just scraped into the intermediate student level, while she was a senior student. It wouldn't have been unusual for her to become a warrior before graduating from university, especially since she had an uncle who was quite powerful even among warriors.
"Since you're asking for trouble and want to suffer, I'll gladly oblige," Zhang Bailan said briskly.
First, she'd give the person beside Ji Xuan a good beating. That might even provoke Luo Bin into joining the fight. Zhang Bailan had her plan all worked out—but would Chen Daolin let her have her way?
Zhang Bailan did find it a little strange that Ji Xuan wasn't stopping him.
On the contrary, a meaningful smile appeared on Ji Xuan's face, making Zhang Bailan frown slightly. She couldn't understand why Ji Xuan was so calm. Did she think that her weak, pitiful, helpless friend could take on Zhang Bailan?
What a joke.
The other martial arts hall members who knew what was going on wore odd expressions. They looked at Zhang Bailan with a trace of sympathy.
Chen Daolin's smile was even brighter.
After putting on their protective gear, the two of them went to the center of the training hall. The others spread out around them to watch.
The two martial arts hall staff members acting as referees had seen this kind of thing plenty of times. They announced the rules, then immediately called for the match to begin.
Without a word, Zhang Bailan and Chen Daolin moved at the same time.
Zhang Bailan was full of confidence against a mere intermediate student. As soon as they entered striking range, she kicked at him. It was only a feint: if Chen Daolin blocked, she would change her move and follow up with another attack. If he didn't block, her kick would land squarely.
Chen Daolin's expression remained calm as he silently activated the King Kai Fist.
Double!
His body shuddered, and his physical abilities surged across the board in an instant. His strength, speed, and reflexes all doubled... Zhang Bailan's movements, fast as the wind and full of force, suddenly slowed in his eyes. The next moment, she saw a blur—and Chen Daolin had vanished from in front of her.
A gust of wind struck from behind. Zhang Bailan's heart lurched, and she dodged to the side without hesitation. Her reactions were quick, but her body couldn't keep up. A tremendous force slammed into her backside. Pain burst through her, and she was kicked flying in a wretched, "wild goose gliding over sand" pose.
But Chen Daolin moved even faster than she flew. In a flash, he reached out, grabbed one of Zhang Bailan's airborne legs, turned around, and swung her body through a nearly 180-degree arc, slamming her mercilessly into the ground in front of him.
Zhang Bailan flailed helplessly, like a broken doll, as Chen Daolin's tremendous strength sent her face-first into the martial arts hall's hard alloy floor in an up-close, intimate embrace. A thunderous crash rang through the entire training hall.
Bang!!!
"..."
Chen Daolin slowly released her, straightened up, lifted his face to the sky, and let out a long breath.
That felt great!!!
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