Practiced to Perfection

Chen Chong took the slip and exited the private room, seeing Yu Feng waiting to the side.

Yu Feng took the slip to look it over, his expression showing no surprise. However, as he led Chen Chong to find Manager Guo, he glanced at him twice and suddenly said:

"You don't seem to feel like you've just escaped a disaster."

"Am I not still standing here?"

Chen Chong said indifferently:

"If you're talking about just now, I haven't heard that the second boss has a wife. Zhang Yao is already dead, so I suppose I can still count as a high-quality asset."

Yu Feng nodded:

"That is so."

They soon met Manager Guo in his office, a bald, middle-aged man wearing glasses.

He was currently busy handling the aftermath and urgently arranging substitute fighters, looking utterly frazzled. Yet, upon seeing Chen Chong, the cause of all this, he revealed a smile, his eyes even gleaming—the feeling was much like a miser seeing a money tree.

He gripped Chen Chong's right hand with both of his, rubbing it slowly, making Chen Chong suspect his orientation in a fit of chills:

"Chen Chong, you really are a genius! That, that move of yours, can you do it every time from now on? No, doing it every time might not be good... I need to plan this out further.

"Let's think of a resounding name first. Breathtaking? Explosive Combo Throw? Heaven-Collapsing Earth-Shattering? Oh my, what name would be good? Chen Chong, how about we make this your finishing move from now on?

"Today's match will definitely spread, and next time... three days? Good, I'll arrange it well, and I'll make sure Thunder Dragon is packed to the rafters, overshadowing the Wind Head next door!"

Amidst Manager Guo's incessant chatter, Chen Chong numbly pulled his hand away and soon left the office.

Feeling the expectant gazes behind him, he felt quite uncomfortable.

He had heard that Zhang Yao also had a bit of popularity; their attitude toward Zhang Yao before must have been quite good, right?

But now, his blood had transformed into their longing for banknotes.

It seemed that whether it was Zhang San or Chen Si, in their eyes, they were merely blood-stained coin symbols.

After coming out, Chen Chong saw a man he didn't recognize, who seemed to be waiting for him.

The man was tall and thin with a strange expression, and he carried a faint, dangerous aura about him.

This aura far exceeded Zhang Yao's. Chen Chong instantly stood his ground, raised his guard, and stared fixedly at the other party. The man looked back at Chen Chong, sized him up for a moment, and said slowly:

"If it weren't for you, I would have just coasted today, lost a match, and then been able to go home with a large sum of money."

Chen Chong frowned, but the next moment, the man revealed a peculiar smile:

"Thanks. If you need anything, you can look for me, though I might not be able to help."

He patted Chen Chong on the shoulder, nodded at Yu Feng, and left directly.

Chen Chong watched him, deep in thought, while Yu Feng said indifferently from the side:

"Gao Lei. He was supposed to be in the final match today."

"So it was him."

Chen Chong nodded and continued to follow Yu Feng downstairs.

He had nothing left to do here, so Yu Feng took him back to the waiting room, picked up Wang Li and Liu Hetao, and they all exited through the back door of the passage and boarded the business van.

Along the way, Chen Chong remained silent, leaning against the window, watching the noisy neon lights gradually turn into obscure silence.

Wang Li and Liu Hetao glanced at him from time to time. Neither of them had gone on stage today and had passed the day safely, so they naturally felt a bit lucky and were full of gratitude toward Chen Chong. But at the same time, as fellow trainees, their gazes toward Chen Chong were filled with something strange, even awe and hesitation.

Chen Chong had always given off a sense of detachment; among the four, Li Xiaoguang, who had a similar background and a sunny personality, had been closer to him. Li Xiaoguang had also gotten along well with them, and if he were here, the four would have gotten along better, but unfortunately... now, the two looked at Chen Chong, feeling not only that the distance had grown, but also a thick sense of unfamiliarity.

They had trained together for so long, and Chen Chong was indeed outstanding, but no matter how excellent he usually was, it was on a completely different level from the shock he brought on stage tonight. In fact, even now, their hearts were a blank slate; was the usual him and the him from tonight really the same person?

The business van returned to the park and drove to the front of the small building.

Chen Chong and his group got out of the car, and Yu Feng took him to the second-floor cafeteria.

"Eat something first."

Yu Feng asked the cafeteria auntie to stir-fry a few dishes. The auntie, with her face full of flesh, had been dozing off, but facing Yu Feng, she dared not say anything and hurriedly lit the stove and started the fire.

Stir-fry!

Even though Wang Li was still immersed in his mixed emotions of grief and joy, his throat moved subconsciously, and Liu Hetao couldn't even suppress the corners of his mouth.

However, Yu Feng turned his head and looked at them:

"You didn't go on stage, so you shouldn't be hungry."

The two were stunned instantly. Wang Li stammered twice and said sheepishly:

"Right, right, I'll head up first—"

"I'm a little hungry too..."

Liu Hetao said, conflicted.

Wang Li rolled his eyes and dragged Liu Hetao away directly.

The da-da-da of footsteps gradually faded, and the sizzling sound of stir-frying echoed through the cafeteria.

Chen Chong and Yu Feng sat opposite each other at a long plastic table with a blue edge and white top in the center of the cafeteria.

Seen from the side, both men sat with straight backs, but Yu Feng was more than a head taller than Chen Chong; as he sat there, he nearly bent the long blue bench under his weight.

Yet, facing the imposing Yu Feng, Chen Chong remained calm. Though he lacked that same raw presence, his demeanor at this moment was impossible to ignore.

"That was your first time killing someone."

Yu Feng stated it as a fact, then followed up with a question:

"How does it feel?"

The aroma of stir-fried food wafted over. Sitting in the cafeteria, Chen Chong seemed to finally descend from a drifting state of mind, returning to the real world.

He pondered for a moment and replied:

"It feels great."

Though his mood was complex and heavy, he felt calm. There was no imagined discomfort, let alone nausea or a loss of appetite; in fact, he was already feeling hungry.

Yu Feng's brow twitched.

He remained silent for a moment before speaking again:

"The fight in three days won't be easy. I know Zhou Hu; since he wants to test you, he will certainly put effort into the arrangements."

"Will it be a signed fighter?"

Chen Chong immediately thought of Gao Lei, whom he had just encountered, and his expression turned serious.

He had originally thought he wasn't too far from that realm, but upon meeting a fighter who had truly entered it, he realized he could sense the gap the moment they faced each other.

Moreover, Gao Lei had been arranged as a stepping stone for Zhang Yao, meaning he likely hadn't progressed very far within that realm. Even so, he had felt pressured; if he were to truly face someone like that, the outlook was not optimistic.

Yu Feng shook his head:

"A real signed fighter—you have no chance if you run into one now. He will find a master among the official fighters, and there are only a few of those."

Chen Chong raised an eyebrow:

"Stronger than Zhang Yao?"

Yu Feng glanced at him:

"Zhang Yao's strength here is actually only upper-tier; it doesn't count as top-tier."

Chen Chong was lost in thought.

It seemed Zhang Yao ran rampant in this building primarily because he had a good sister.

Although it appeared today that Zhou Hu was not someone who couldn't distinguish between priorities, with that connection in place, Zhang Yao could always receive some favoritism, and others dared not provoke him.

Furthermore, Zhang Yao was likely a typical "performative" fighter—the exact kind most popular in the Thunder Dragon Bar ring.

This was perhaps the fundamental reason Zhou Hu wanted to push him; he had indeed earned a lot of money for the Thunder Dragon Bar.

But conversely, had he not enjoyed the spotlight on the ring so much, the outcome tonight would have been completely different.

That is fate.

Chen Chong said slowly:

"Then my opponent in three days will be much stronger than Zhang Yao?"

"It should be a competitor who is truly only a step away from being signed. Although I don't know when you grasped the application of breathing techniques in combat, nor do I know where you learned your defensive deflection skills..."

Yu Feng stopped there, seeing Chen Chong's expression shift slightly, and said indifferently:

"I say this not out of curiosity; I don't care at all. As for Zhou Hu... he won't bother with it for now.

"But in the future, you had best not mention these talents of yours to anyone, and don't say how long you've been training—tell Wang Li and the other one to keep their mouths shut, too. The title of 'fighting genius' is not necessarily a good thing here. Of course, I'm just saying; what you do is up to you."

After a brief silence, Chen Chong nodded:

"I understand."

He knew his performance today had certainly been eye-catching; anyone with a bit of discernment could see he had mastered the breathing technique to the highest level.

The application of breathing techniques can be roughly divided into three levels.

The first level is entering the gateway, where daily static practice goes smoothly, sufficient to comprehensively improve physical fitness.

The second level is proficient mastery, where one can use the breathing technique during dynamic practice—such as stance training or combat drills—without interruption, or even employ it during non-intense sparring to increase training efficiency.

The third is the highest level, what is known as having "mastered" it: being able to use it anytime, anywhere, even during intense life-or-death combat, as naturally as breathing in daily life. This greatly increases the power of one's strikes, transforming it from a training method into a true combat method.

Originally, Chen Chong had only been at the second level after a few days of training, and he had always been just a hair's breadth away from the third.

This was the level where Zhang Yao and most official fighters resided; few people reached the third level before entering the realm.

This speed was already very fast; after all, he had been training for less than half a month in total, and his progress in the breathing technique had already caught up to fighters who had spent months or even years on it.

However, just now in the ring, he had naturally employed the breathing technique during his fight with Zhang Yao.

Had it not been for that, it wouldn't have been so easy for him to lift Zhang Yao with one hand.

This violent style of combat had actually caused muscle strains all over his body, with damage far exceeding what Zhang Yao had actively inflicted on him—in fact, Zhang Yao hadn't been able to actively inflict any damage at all; his Devour Form was even more powerful than he had anticipated.

But he didn't care. The injuries, the ability, the breathing technique—none of it was on his mind.

At that moment, he had only wanted to smash Zhang Yao's ugly head into a pulp.

"Even with your current level, you need to be careful about your opponent in three days. You are very likely to lose."

Yu Feng said indifferently:

"The gap in cultivation realm is too great. Unless you come up with something incomprehensible in these three days... In any case, prepare well. If you lose, Zhou Hu won't let you off easily."

"Understood."

Chen Chong nodded.

He saw Yu Feng's lips move again, as if this silent and cold coach was uncharacteristically hesitant, but the cafeteria lady happened to push over a food cart loaded with several large iron basins of stir-fried dishes, so Yu Feng said:

"Eat."