Preparing to Re-enter the Wild Grasslands

Bellis blinked, her strike having missed once again. Watching the figure before her slowly fade away, she was left completely stunned.

She couldn't fathom what had just happened.

She hurriedly searched for Reke's location, only to find him crouching right beside the small crater she had just stepped out of.

"Hey, bumpkin, what was that just now? You're cheating, aren't you? I definitely should have hit you."

Bellis asked in a rush.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk! I told you you were a silly girl, and you won't even admit it. I hadn't been standing there for a long time; that was just an Afterimage."

"Hmm! I probably crouched here right when you stepped out of that crater."

Reke shook his head, wearing an expression that clearly said, You really are a fool.

"What was that move you just used?" Bellis persisted, refusing to give up.

Reke ignored her, stood up, stretched, and began walking home at a leisurely pace.

Bellis wanted to continue the fight, but waves of pain surged through her body, and her stamina had hit rock bottom. Reluctantly, she unclenched her tightly balled fists.

She lowered her head in silence, beginning to recall the Afterimage Reke had just displayed.

Over the past nine months, Reke had conquered 60 times gravity, bringing his combat power to the 300,000 threshold. He also sensed a new bottleneck, and he had a strong premonition that once he crossed this one, the next would lead him to Super Saiyan.

He was quite satisfied with his physical conditioning. He had run a test, firing a 100,000 combat power energy blast at himself, and his body hadn't sustained a single scratch.

Mind you, he hadn't used any ki at all; he had relied entirely on his physical durability to tank it.

His ki cultivation had also reached a bottleneck; once he broke through, he would be able to successfully replicate the Origin Energy Slash.

As for the Solar Flare, he had already mastered it. He had no interest in the Myriad Nation Shocking Heaven Palm, the Spirit Ball was too trashy, and the Kikoho was too life-draining.

The Afterimage Fist he used was merely a technique for manipulating ki; it didn't need to be taught. Once one's perception of ki reached a certain level, it came naturally.

Tomorrow was the day the adventure group was scheduled to train with Reke. Of course, he had no intention of managing them; he had only promised that they could train alongside Lan Xin.

In truth, he had stopped overseeing Lan Xin's training long ago. As the saying goes, the master leads you through the door, but the cultivation depends on the individual.

Reke had merely laid the foundation for Lan Xin.

Instead, Reke planned to send Lan Xin away tomorrow. He had already chosen the location: the Wild Grasslands.

Reke lay comfortably on the sofa, watching Lan Xin walk in while clutching his face. He glanced at him sideways and said, "Lan Xin, the Dabusu Adventure Group is coming to find you tomorrow."

"Brother Lei, aren't you supposed to be sending me off to the Wild Grasslands tomorrow?" Lan Xin asked, puzzled.

"That's right. I promised them a year ago that they could train with you. Since you're going to the Wild Grasslands, they'll naturally be following you."

"This..." As soon as Lan Xin saw Reke's expression, he knew the adventure group had been hoodwinked; they had definitely wanted to train under Reke.

"What? Do you have an objection?"

Seeing Lan Xin stammering, Reke asked with a light huff.

"No, no, but the adventure group probably wanted to train with you, Brother Lei. If you just dump them on me like this, will they agree to it?" Lan Xin voiced his inner doubts.

Once Lan Xin brought it up, Reke felt a twinge of embarrassment.

But compared to his own comfort, that bit of embarrassment was worth nothing.

"Go call Four-Eyes over right now. I'll tell him myself. If he doesn't agree, then so be it."

Reke stood firm in his decision.

Pat rushed over in a panic after receiving Lan Xin's call.

He had already guessed what this was about and looked at Reke with a face full of anticipation.

"Ahem—" Reke turned his head away, pretending not to see Pat's gaze. "Four-Eyes, tomorrow is the day we agreed upon. Lan Xin is heading out to the Wild Grasslands, so you all should go together."

"Eh?" Pat didn't react for a moment. What was this? This wasn't what he had expected at all.

"Aren't you the one training us?"

Reke rolled his eyes.

"When did I say that? My exact words were that once Lan Xin's progress caught up, you would all train together."

"Besides, didn't you almost get wiped out in the Wild Grasslands last time? This is the perfect chance to test the results of your training over this period. You aren't scared, are you?"

Pat couldn't out-argue Reke, and he did recall that Reke had never explicitly said he would train them personally. He had guessed wrong, and he hadn't expected Reke to kick Lan Xin out to train alone so soon.

The Wild Grasslands did leave a thorn in his side. Over the past year, their combat power had grown rapidly, and with the whole group heading out, there was really nothing to fear. He would just treat it as a major field exercise.

"Fine, I'll go prepare now," Pat said, full of confidence.

"Wait. You can go to the grasslands, but whatever you do, don't cross over. The monsters inside aren't things you can handle."

Reke thought for a moment and decided to give them a warning.

"Can't I even go with my combat power of over 3,000?"

Pat was currently at the peak of his arrogance. After a year of refinement, the group's average combat power had reached 2,000, not to mention he was a top-tier expert at 3,500.

"You damn fool, you've forgotten the pain as soon as the wound healed. You need to realize you're just a small fry. If you want to go die, go by yourself—don't drag everyone else down with you."

"There are monsters in there with tens of thousands in combat power. What the hell are you going to fight them with, your head?"

Reke's temper flared up instantly, and he began to curse roundly.

"Perfect, since you all know how to sense Qi now! Just use your senses when the time comes and you'll know."

"Get lost, now."

Pat had been scolded until he was drenched in shame by Reke, but the dressing-down had also sobered him up, and he left with his tail between his legs.

"Lan Xin, I won't waste my breath saying too much, just one thing: survival is what matters most. Go and say a proper goodbye to your mother."

Setting aside how reluctant Uti was to part with her son.

Once Pat returned to the building, he notified everyone to begin preparations.

This time, aside from the non-combatants, Pat intended to drag everyone out to the Wild Grasslands, regardless of age, prepared to conduct a thorough sweep of the area.

Pat's actions, unsurprisingly, alerted the veterans of the group.

Over a dozen younger brothers and sisters came to find him one after another.

"Leader, aren't we supposed to go for cultivation tomorrow? What is this?"

Lola asked first.

Pat relayed Reke's intentions and plans to them.

"Hmph! I think Reke just wants to be lazy," Lola said through gritted teeth.

"Eighth Sister, you can't say it like that. It was the Leader who guessed wrong in the first place, and besides, I think going to the Wild Grasslands is a good idea."

"That's right, the little ones in the group need to see some blood, and it's perfect that we'll be there to keep an eye on things."

"I agree too. I almost lost my life in there last time; this time, I'm going to kill them all."

"I'd like to add one thing: I hope we don't use any aircraft this time. Let's go there entirely on foot."

"But the children are still so young. Maybe we shouldn't bring them this time?"

"Third Sister, I have to speak up here. Think about how much combat power we had when we first went to the Wild Grasslands compared to how much they have now. They are so much stronger than we were back then; are you planning to raise them like dolls at home?"

"Alright, stop arguing. We're all going. The children are the future of our group; we will grow old eventually." Pat interrupted them and made the final decision.