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The training grounds of the Chen Residence blazed with light. The night wind carried weariness through corridors and doorways.
Zhu Wuneng clutched the newly delivered match schedule, his knuckles white. "Heavenly Spirit, Oasis, Shui Yue, Ice Seal... all seven damn matches are tough bones to chew, second-tier or higher!"
He shook the paper, his hoarse voice scraping like sandpaper over rough stone. "Add Moonlight Bay, Heavenly Water, Nine Heavens, and Tianshan from the earlier rounds-they won't even let us catch our breath! Do they really think we're forged from iron?"
Chen Shurui sat amid the lamplight and shadows, a cold gleam illuminating his brooding brow. "With a schedule like this, even a blind man wouldn't believe no one was pulling strings behind the scenes."
In a corner, Dugu Fu leaned against a cold corridor pillar, closed his eyes, and sighed softly. "Snow piled atop frost. Right now, we only have... eight or nine uninjured people left who can step up."
In the end, every gaze settled heavily upon the young man's back in the middle of the grounds.
Chen Xiaojun sat quietly as the silent pressure gathered around him like a tide. Yet he slowly raised his eyes, the faintest hint of a smile appearing on his lips. "We'll fight as we go."
He closed the roster, his voice calm. "Dismissed. Get some rest first."
No one spoke again.
Several miles away, a secluded courtyard lay deep within an alley.
Dark clouds swallowed the waning moon, leaving only the congealed shadows cast by high walls.
There was no light in the courtyard, only the shrill whistle of wind passing the eaves and the rise and fall of breaths within a deeper, motionless darkness.
The hall