Zhou Lei's Moment to Shine

"Ten thousand points!"

After returning to the lounge and checking his points, Qin Chen was very satisfied.

In yesterday's mechanical puppet room, he estimated that ten thousand had been the most points anyone could earn. That meant he had gotten a perfect score.

As for the points from defeating Mo Qing just now, he hadn't expected much.

Once he knew his score, he wasted no time. He left the lounge and headed straight for the cultivation room building.

Whether they were elemental cultivation rooms or other special cultivation rooms, they were all inside that building.

Ten minutes later, he arrived on the building's first floor. There was an office there, and anyone wishing to cultivate had to register there first.

"One session in an elemental cultivation room costs two thousand points. One session in any other cultivation room costs one thousand points!" a staff member explained to Qin Chen.

Qin Chen was inwardly startled. The points required for the cultivation rooms were somewhat beyond his expectations.

One or two thousand points might not seem like much to him, but it was a different story for everyone else. He was certain that, of the thirty-odd trainees, probably fewer than half had enough points to cultivate here.

"I need a fire elemental cultivation room!" Qin Chen said, taking out his trainee card.

The staff member took his trainee card. When she saw that it bore the number one, she couldn't help looking up at Qin Chen. Only then did she swipe the card through a machine, deduct two thousand points, and return it to him.

"The fire elemental cultivation rooms are on the first floor. Go out and turn left. There are five rooms in total; you can choose any one of them."

"Also, your trainee card now has permission to enter a cultivation room, but you can only enter once. If you come back out after going in, the permission will expire. So once you enter, try not to come out. Otherwise, you'll have to come back to me and have another two thousand points deducted before you can enter again," the staff member reminded him.

"Thank you!" Qin Chen nodded, turned, and left.

Watching Qin Chen leave the office, the staff member immediately said to several others, "Number one is here. How long do you think he can stay inside?"

"Based on past experience, the longest anyone has stayed inside was three hours. And I heard this number one cleared all the mechanical puppets, so I'd guess he'll last around three hours too," another staff member guessed.

In previous Genius Training Camps, there had also been Peak Body Tempering cultivators who defeated all the mechanical puppets.

"I bet he can stay for five hours!" someone suddenly said.

The others looked at him in surprise. "Old Li, isn't five hours a bit much?"

The man called Old Li smiled. "The elemental cultivation room doesn't just test sensitivity to elements. It also tests a person's perseverance. This boy strikes me as very determined. I believe in him."

The others shook their heads, still unconvinced that Qin Chen could stay for five hours.

At this moment.

Qin Chen had already arrived outside an elemental cultivation room. He swiped his trainee card at the access reader, and the door opened with a click.

A wave of heat immediately rushed into his face.

"The fire element is so intense! Fifteen times the cultivation speed is no exaggeration!" Feeling the heat wave, Qin Chen couldn't help exclaiming.

When he walked into the room, his entire body was enveloped by the fire element. Without his noticing, the heat disappeared, and a cool sensation washed over him.

He wasted no time, quickly sitting down cross-legged and circulating the Element Comprehension Mental Cultivation Method. At once, a marvelous change occurred between the fire element left from his earlier Body Tempering and the fire element outside his body.

He placed his hands on his knees and tried once more to condense a mark.

Boom!

Two flames appeared simultaneously above his palms. They began to flicker constantly, growing smaller and smaller.

As the flames continued to condense, they transformed into Fire Elemental Power and surged into his body through his palms.

A mark was steadily taking shape inside his body, more than ten times faster than when he cultivated outside.

Time passed bit by bit. After an hour, the mark in Qin Chen's body was already eight percent complete.

Excluding the four percent he had condensed before, that meant he had completed four percent in a single hour.

As time passed, beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and the temperature inside the cultivation room rose somewhat higher than before.

"Looks like staying here for a long time won't be easy. The temperature will keep rising until I can't bear it anymore!"

Only then did Qin Chen understand what the staff member had meant when she told him to try to stay inside as long as possible.

Entering this cultivation room didn't mean one could simply stay inside indefinitely.

After two hours, the sweat on Qin Chen's forehead grew heavier and heavier. After three hours, it began to drip down.

But he wasn't troubled in the slightest. Instead, he was overjoyed, because the Elemental Mark he was condensing was now twenty-four percent complete.

As the temperature rises, the condensation speed gets faster and faster. The so-called fifteenfold speed isn't really accurate; it should be the initial speed, he thought with delight.

What he didn't know was that more than ten people had gathered outside the cultivation room, both staff members and trainees. They had all come to see just how long Qin Chen could stay inside.

"Three hours! He's tied the previous record. Impressive!" Earlier, some staff members had guessed that Qin Chen could stay for three hours, and now he had actually done it.

"What's the rush? He hasn't come out yet. I told you, he can stay for five hours, and he definitely will!" Old Li said confidently.

Everyone began talking at once.

After four hours, some people looked surprised. By the fifth hour, the crowd could no longer stay calm.

"See? I told you five hours would be no problem. This boy just gives me that much confidence."

"Everyone, make some room. Don't block the way. As soon as he comes out, cool him down immediately." Old Li pushed the people around him back.

"He should be coming out any moment now." He stared at the door, waiting nervously.

But time continued to pass bit by bit. The door remained shut, with no movement at all.

"Could he stay inside for six hours?" Someone's expression changed. Six hours was twice the record!

"Don't rush, don't rush. Maybe he'll come out any moment now," Old Li said awkwardly.

"What are you all worried about? My boss can stay inside for at least ten hours!" Suddenly, a proud voice rang out.

Everyone looked over. Zhou Lei was speaking smugly. "What? Is ten hours a long time?"

As he said it, he felt somewhat unsure. He had never been inside an elemental cultivation room either; he just felt certain Qin Chen could do it.

"Young man, do you know what the temperature inside will reach after ten hours?" Old Li looked at Zhou Lei. "Sixty degrees."

"And it's like being under the blazing sun at sixty degrees, not like our usual conditions, where we can at least catch a breeze and such."

"Besides, before that, he'll have already endured thirty degrees, forty degrees, fifty degrees-temperatures climbing higher and higher, all that time. Do you think that's something a Peak Body Tempering cultivator can withstand?"

Although he had high hopes for Qin Chen, he couldn't stay calm when he heard ten hours. Even someone who had just become a martial artist would struggle to endure it.

"This..." The trainees all looked surprised after hearing his words.

"So what?" Zhou Lei raised his head and said stubbornly.

"Holy shit!"

Everyone immediately looked at him as if he were an idiot.