From Igniting Talent to Becoming a Demon God Section 21

But the several rings in the central area, along with the training zone to one side, were already busy with quite a few figures.

Some were stretching their muscles and bones, warming up for real combat.

Some were clenching their fists and firing off combinations, pounding sandbags with dull, heavy thuds.

The older disciples in particular stood on hard posts, holding kettlebells or iron balls as they tempered themselves through stance training, drenched in sweat yet not daring to slack off in the slightest.

Set foot in Combat Grade within three months, and break through Rock Skin.

This was not only Master Luo's requirement, but also the goal of every disciple in the martial arts hall.

Once they failed, it meant it would be very hard to break through the barrier later on. This was a truth countless senior brothers had already verified.

Unless their family was well-off, most people could only give up in dejection and choose to leave.

"Hm?"

Before long, Lu Chao noticed something unusual.

The ever-diligent Zhang Hong was standing in a corner, for once not training.

Two other senior brothers who had yet to break through to Combat Grade were gathered around him, and all of them had gloomy expressions, as if they were discussing something.

A full few minutes passed. Only after he went to the changing room, changed into his training clothes, and came back did he see them disperse.

"Senior Brother Zhang."

Seeing that Zhang Hong still looked rather downcast as he stood alone in the corner, Lu Chao thought for a moment, then walked to his side.

"Have you run into some kind of difficulty?"

"If you need your junior brother's help, just say the word."

He asked openly, without avoiding the matter.

During this period, the two of them had trained bitterly together every day. The other man had also spent his energy multiple times feeding him moves and sparring with him. Lu Chao naturally kept that friendship in his heart.

"Junior Brother Lu..."

Zhang Hong snapped back to himself in a daze and looked somewhat moved.

He thanked him, then gently shook his head and sighed.

"It's not that something happened to me. It's... Senior Brother Wang."

"Oh?"

A little surprised, Lu Chao thought of last week, when two senior brothers had failed their breakthroughs and left the martial arts hall in dejection.

Among them had been a senior brother surnamed Wang, who seemed to have a good relationship with Zhang Hong and the others.

"Senior Brother Wang, he... sigh. His family's burden is heavy. Back when he became a disciple, the tuition and these three months of expenses were actually all borrowed through loans."

"Out of consideration for Master Luo, no one dared to come after him before, but after he went back last week..."

With a complicated expression, Zhang Hong said bitterly, "The loan company and the gang came to his door and took the kidney he'd put up as collateral."

As the words fell, Lu Chao's expression tightened.

A complicated feeling welled up inexplicably in his heart. He finally understood why Zhang Hong and the others had looked like that earlier.

They had staked everything on choosing martial arts, yet the price of failure in the end was this heavy.

For a moment, he fell silent, not knowing how to comfort him.

The entire Gold-Stone Martial Arts Hall seemed to have been covered in a layer of gray.

All that remained were the older disciples' even more urgent, desperate shouts as they squeezed out their potential through bitter training.

"Combat Grade..."

That night, neon lights flickered endlessly, filling his vision.

After finishing a day of martial practice, Lu Chao once again came to Dreamfire Bar.

The training clothes on his body had been replaced by a black suit. Wearing an earpiece, he stood in a corner of the first-floor hall.

Thinking of what he had seen over the past two days, a ripple stirred in Lu Chao's heart.

If not for [Glutton] and [Primary Resilience], would he also have ended up like Senior Brother Wang?

As the thought flashed through him, his desire for Combat Grade grew even stronger.

Then he looked at the panel.

[Vitality: 10→11!]

After six straight days of bitter training, combined with practical combat training, his vitality had finally risen by another point.

His strength rose another step, approaching one hundred and ten kilograms.

In addition, his stamina, reactions, speed, burst power, and other aspects had also improved slightly.

And this was not even the greatest gain.

The key lay in this.

"My progress really hasn't slowed down at all."

Lu Chao's eyes brightened slightly as he confirmed a guess.

The enhanced recovery brought by [Primary Resilience] would remain with him as his strength improved.

Because of this, he could maintain higher-intensity training at all times, constantly pushing the limits of his stamina.

In other words.

Others might run into bottlenecks because of the continuous growth of their vitality, their improvement gradually slowing down.

But he, at least before breaking through to Combat Grade, would not encounter that situation.

Lu Chao nodded to himself and once again dispelled all negative emotions.

His gaze swept around, and he took in the entire bar while he was at it.

The concrete ceiling, crisscrossed with pipes, was hidden in the darkness, while the corridors on the second floor of the bar wrapped around on all four sides.

Noisy, flashy, disorienting...

A deep electronic beat came from the speakers by the wall, making his eardrums buzz.

The air was mixed with the smell of alcohol and hormones. On the central stage in the first-floor hall, a hot-bodied girl was swaying around a pole.

After a month, he had completely adapted to this security job.

Bzz, bzz!

Soon, his wristwatch vibrated, and Lu Chao looked over.

[Rock Loan Company: Dear customer, our company is offering a limited-time special collateral loan!]

[After mortgaging an organ, you can enjoy a 30% discount on interest. If interested, click the link below or contact us for consultation...]

A new text message appeared, and Lu Chao's gaze stopped on the words "Rock."

"A company under the Rock Gang?"

He frowned slightly, somewhat puzzled.

Who exactly had leaked his information, causing so many loan companies to come knocking?

He searched his memory—the Cleaning Squad, the Martial Arts Hall, the bar, even those few friends from the welfare home—but he had no clue at all.

While he was thinking, the voice of the security manager, Zhou Qiang, suddenly came through his earpiece.

"Lu Chao, Luo Wei."

"There's something going on at Booth Three. Go handle it."

The duty of nightclub security was to maintain order in the bar. Hearing this, Lu Chao pushed down his stray thoughts, nodded, and walked into the hall.

After nightfall, business at the bar was booming, every booth packed with people.

There were young men and women in the bloom of youth, good-looking and dressed lightly, as well as middle-aged men in shirts and wristwatches.

In the dim environment, colorful lights swept in every direction, while the clamor rose and fell in waves.

And soon, when the two of them reached the left side of the hall.

"You stinking bitch, I gave you face, didn't I!"

A yellow-haired young man wearing a thick silver chain was holding a beer bottle, standing to one side of a booth, spittle flying as he pointed at two young girls and cursed at them.

Seeing that something was wrong, Lu Chao also understood what Zhou Qiang had meant by "something going on."

He quickened his pace, like a moving reef cutting through the crowd, his black leather shoes stepping across the dark floor tiles with crisp clicks.

"I asked you to drink with me because I was giving you face. You still dare not drink?"

"We're all out here to have fun. Who are you putting on an act for?"

The yellow-haired youth cursed arrogantly, ignoring his friends' attempts to stop him, and smashed the beer bottle in one swing.

Bang!!