The Dust Settles

"Bang!"

But this time he had miscalculated. Facing this strike, Guan Ning did not dodge, nor did he use the Qingming Sword to parry. Instead, he lunged forward. The Dragon Spear in John's hand slammed into Guan Ning's chest, instantly shattering his combat suit and sending pieces flying. The spear's momentum remained unchecked as it thrust toward Guan Ning's torso.

John had not anticipated this sudden turn of events. Seeing Guan Ning neither dodge nor block, a flicker of doubt crossed his mind, only to be immediately replaced by joy. This was a windfall from the heavens; not only would he obtain the video, but he would also retain his usage time for the ancient civilization Gravity Room.

"What a good guy!"

At this moment, he was filled with gratitude toward Guan Ning. Not only had he helped him improve his spear technique, but he had also voluntarily conceded. He couldn't help but mentally award Guan Ning a "nice guy" card.

If Guan Ning knew what John was thinking right now, he would surely tell him sternly, "You shouldn't just hand out nice guy cards to anyone."

As Guan Ning lunged forward, the muscles and cells throughout his entire body began to vibrate frantically. The Dragon Spear had already lost eighty to ninety percent of its force after piercing through the training suit. The moment the spear tip touched the skin of his chest, the vibrating muscles caused it to deflect slightly. As the spear continued to drive into his body, the resistance grew even more intense. In the end, the Dragon Spear plunged into Guan Ning's body, perfectly avoiding his heart and merely creating a large hole in his side.

The process seemed long, but in reality, it all happened in a mere split second. By the time John noticed the state of the Dragon Spear, before he could even react, the Qingming Sword of Guan Ning traced an arc, leaving a long, thin, shallow wound across his throat.

"How did you..." John only managed to utter three words before his breath faded away.

At the same time, the emotionless, mechanical electronic voice echoed once more within the Challenge Room.

"John McLean challenges Guan Ning. Guan Ning wins!"

The same voice rang out outside the Challenge Room, leaving the crowd of students waiting for a show in utter shock.

At the beginning, they had assumed Guan Ning wouldn't even last a minute against John.

Who would have thought that after a minute passed, no notification would appear.

They had felt that if Guan Ning could hold out for a minute against John, it would already be quite impressive.

As it turned out, one minute, two minutes, three minutes... the result finally came at the thirteenth minute, but this result was completely different from what they had imagined.

"Guan Ning won? How is that possible?"

"John is ranked 76th, with perfect footwork and a high-level combat power amplification. How could he possibly lose?"

"What kind of monster is this Guan Ning? How is he so terrifying?"

"Having one Luo Feng wasn't enough? Did they really have to bring in another Guan Ning? Are they trying to drive us to our graves?"

For a time, the entire hall was filled with heated discussion.

"Little Ning actually won? How?" Zhao Ruo knew Guan Ning's strength. Even if his swordsmanship was superb, his footwork and power-output level were right there; she never thought Guan Ning would win. Initially, she had just been keeping up appearances, refusing to lose momentum. Now that she heard Guan Ning had won, she couldn't wrap her head around it.

"Not bad!" Shi Jiang was only slightly surprised. After all, with his current strength, he didn't even consider John a threat.

"Junior Brother Guan Ning is this fierce? It seems I need to work harder; I can't let him outshine me!" A flicker of surprise crossed Luo Feng's mind, followed immediately by soaring battle intent.

"Hiss! That actually hurts. Even though I know it's fake, the sensation of pain is real. How amazing!"

Guan Ning rubbed his chest as he stepped out of the Challenge Room.

"Guan Ning! How is this possible? I don't believe it."

John had also emerged by now, his face full of confusion and resentment. He couldn't understand how Guan Ning had pulled it off.

Guan Ning ignored him, focusing instead on the message he had just received.

"Student Guan Ning, ID 570417, your usage time for the ancient civilization Gravity Room has been changed to 3 hours."

Seeing this message, Guan Ning smiled. Looking at the pained John, who had also just received a notification, he said, "Here, this is what you wanted. A piece of advice: you'd best destroy it after watching. If it falls into someone else's hands, don't blame me."

Guan Ning tossed a black flash drive to John and added a word of caution.

Seeing the curious gazes around them, Guan Ning quickly left with Luo Feng and the others.

After obtaining the flash drive, John carefully scanned the people around him and hurried away as well.

Guan Ning had left, but the news that a newcomer who had been in the training camp for less than a week had defeated the top-100 ranked John—whose combat power amplification was high-level, surpassing most of the students in the camp—spread like wildfire.

This explosive news spread throughout the entire training camp in an instant.

Countless people now knew that the training camp hadn't just received Luo Feng, but another even more terrifying genius—Guan Ning!

On the way, Zhao Ruo, Shi Jiang, and Luo Feng couldn't help but ask Guan Ning for the specific details, but Guan Ning didn't say much, leaving them only with a mysterious smile.

It made Zhao Ruo jump with frustration, while Shi Jiang and Luo Feng could only look on with helpless expressions.

Guan Ning had become a total sensation.

It wasn't just the training camp; countless forces in the outside world had already rapidly increased their evaluation of Guan Ning.

There were many invitations, and the terms offered were extremely generous, but he rejected them all.

He didn't want to join any faction right now; he only wanted to stay in the training camp and focus on improving his strength.

With the two Tuoshan Deer cubs, he could fully expect to reach the War God level before August 1st, the date of the life-and-death trial in Australia.

This meant his plans would have to shift. He had originally intended to wait for Hong to recover the Cloud-Touching Vine before going to Mist Island to see if he could lure out Babata. His soul had been undergoing a constant transformation, and logically, his brain domain width shouldn't be low.

Of course, this was just an attempt, and he didn't hold much hope of actually meeting Babata, but what if? Everyone has a bit of wishful thinking.

Now, things were different. He was guaranteed to be a War God, and if he worked hard over the next few months, was it possible to break through to a high-level War God?

Could he successfully master the Hidden Edge Sword Technique?

Although he knew the hope of breaking through to a high-level War God wasn't great, he could at least look forward to becoming a mid-level War God. After all, there was still the 100 billion bounty on Luo Feng; that matter also needed to be put on the agenda.

With the various ancient civilization instruments in the training camp and the guidance of Feng Mu, he could fully master the Hidden Edge Sword Technique within four months. By then, his footwork would be perfect, his swordsmanship would be consummate, and even his power-output level would naturally skyrocket to 4 times.

Even his defensive capabilities would increase significantly, greatly boosting his survivability. He might even be able to get a share of the Spirit of Vegetation on Mist Island, which would be a massive harvest.

Of course, these were all just fantasies of Guan Ning; realizing them one by one would require shedding sweat.

With such a "grand" goal in mind, Guan Ning's motivation for cultivation became even stronger. To maximize the utilization of his resources, he formulated a very strict training schedule.

On odd-numbered days:

Eight hours of daily training in the simulated Gravity Room, as requested by Feng Mu, at fixed times.

Three hours in the ancient civilization Gravity Room, divided into nine sessions of 20 minutes each, all held at night after finishing in the simulated Gravity Room.

Trial Tower time included the allocated one hour and the one-time opportunity for the first month, with no fixed schedule; failure meant the end. Guan Ning divided these into three parts: the allocated hour was split into two 30-minute sessions on the nights of the 18th and 27th, while the first-month bonus was set for the 9th at a fixed time, from 12:00 to 13:00.

On even-numbered days:

Hunt as many monsters as possible to increase combat achievement points, improve his Black Dragon Ranking, and earn more time in the Gravity Room and Trial Tower.

With a clear plan in place, Guan Ning trained even harder. Amidst his focused cultivation, time seemed to pass a little faster, and in the blink of an eye, it was April 28th.

At 11:16 PM, a travel-worn Guan Ning returned from City 1001. After exchanging his monster materials for combat achievement points and money, he cast his gaze toward the Black Dragon Ranking—"NO. 86 Guan Ning (570417)."

"Look, Guan Ning is back. He truly lives up to being the one who defeated John, having already charged into the top 86."

"In history, there have only been five genius students who charged into the top 100 upon arriving at the training camp. However, the earliest instance was 20 years ago, and the most recent was eight years ago. Four of them were War Gods, and the other even surpassed the War God level. It's truly hard to believe!"

"It's not just him; there's also that Luo Feng. His ranking has also reached 82."

Several students shouted when they saw Luo Feng.

Because of Guan Ning and Luo Feng, the area in front of the Black Dragon Ranking was extremely lively. Almost all the students in the training camp had gathered, and even over a dozen War God-level instructors had appeared. A freshman entering the top 100 in the first month only appeared on average once every four years; having two appear at once this year naturally ignited the entire training camp.

Hearing Luo Feng's name, Guan Ning's eyes lit up. Sure enough, he saw Luo Feng's ranking above his own—"NO. 82 Luo Feng (570403)."

Only 82? Still early days. Just wait until I blind you all later.

Guan Ning looked at the bustling crowd around him with a smile; he knew what Luo Feng's final results would be.

"Xiao Ning, we're over here, come quickly!"

Zhao Ruo suddenly spotted Guan Ning in the corner and shouted excitedly.

She never imagined she would witness such a shocking scene: two freshmen who had only entered the training camp a month ago squeezing into the top 100 together. Since the establishment of the training camp, there had been no record of this. She didn't know if there would be one in the future, but she knew that today's scene would be firmly etched into the history of the training camp, shining brightly.

"Guan Ning?"

"Guan Ning is back?"

"Where is he?"

At this moment, the crowd became restless. Everyone knew which was more attractive: the leaderboard or the person himself.

They all looked toward Guan Ning's location. Upon hearing Zhao Ruo's voice, Guan Ning had a bad premonition. Sure enough, seeing a group of people with fiery gazes staring straight at him, Guan Ning felt his face burn.

He glanced at Zhao Ruo, who realized she had caused trouble. Seeing Guan Ning's expression, she immediately stuck out her tongue and covered her face, too embarrassed to be seen.

Guan Ning shook his head helplessly, nodded at Shi Jiang, who was standing next to Zhao Ruo, and then pointed to his communication watch before leaving the area.