The Best Opponent

In early March, the first breath of spring had quietly climbed the branches in Linjiang.

Xu Wuyi stood before the floor-to-ceiling window of his new home, watching the rippling light on the river in the distance, a cup of warm water in hand.

He had only recently moved into this villa. It was on an upper floor of a building near the Linjiang Battle Group headquarters, with the entire floor opened up. The training room alone took up nearly half the space.

His previous residence had been good enough, but as his strength grew, so did his demands for a training environment.

Ordinary walls did not provide enough soundproofing, and ordinary floors could not withstand the force of his full-power eruptions.

Qiao Tongyu had helped him find this new home. It had originally been the private property of a retired Grandmaster from the battle group, but that Grandmaster had later gone to be stationed permanently on the Astral Battlefield, leaving the place vacant.

The renovations had specifically accounted for the training needs of Grandmaster-level Martial Artists. The walls had been filled with special energy-absorbing materials.

The floor had a three-layer composite structure. The top layer was a buffer layer, the middle was a force-dispersal layer, and the bottom was a reinforced foundation. Even a full-power eruption would not damage the building's structure.

"Grandmaster Xu, your training schedule for today has been arranged," Anna's voice came from the personal terminal.

"From nine to twelve in the morning: physical tempering. From two to five in the afternoon: rule deduction. The evening is free for your own arrangements."

"Got it." Xu Wuyi set down his cup and turned toward the training room.

Over the past month, his life had run with the regularity of a precision clock.

Every day, without fail, he trained