Boss, Come Out! I Can't Hold On Anymore

Mingshan Training Ground.

Only thirty trainees remained at the training ground. A few more had been eliminated during the days Qin Chen had been away.

Even so, that was relatively good. Everyone seemed to have reached an unspoken understanding not to challenge others casually. Otherwise, even more would have been eliminated.

These days, the trainees mostly went to the gravity room and the infrared room to cultivate.

As for the combat room, it contained mechanical puppets whose cultivation levels could be adjusted. Each trainee could set the puppets to a level that suited them as opponents.

This placed greater emphasis on actual combat, but everyone felt there was no need to spend points on it for now. After all, they had yet to take the college entrance exam.

Actual combat training would only begin once they entered university. For now, raising their cultivation was the most important thing.

"Have you heard? Yu Yang has already broken through to one-star!"

"Who hasn't heard? It caused such a sensation."

"I heard he can withstand four times gravity in the gravity room now. Xu Fei has made progress too, though he hasn't become a martial artist yet."

"Don't underestimate Xu Fei. He's been cultivating his movement technique all this time. He probably knows he can't break through to become a martial artist for now, but he won't admit defeat, so he's put a huge amount of effort into his movement technique. I heard he's already raised the infrared room's setting to level three, and he's probably close to clearing it."

Only after entering the training camp did everyone realize that, although they had once considered themselves geniuses, there were simply too many geniuses in this world.

If you didn't work hard, others would quickly leave you in the dust.

So, for the past few days, everyone had been cultivating like mad with all their might. Yu Yang and Xu Fei in particular had been competing with each other in secret.

Even after breaking through to one-star, Yu Yang had not slackened in the slightest, spending every day in the gravity room.

"Say, what's been going on with Qin Chen lately? We haven't seen him for days," someone suddenly asked, curious.

No one had seen Qin Chen since he came out of the elemental cultivation room last time, and at first, everyone had been very puzzled.

But once Yu Yang broke through to One-Star Martial Artist, he captured everyone's attention. For a time, they forgot about Qin Chen, but now that someone had suddenly brought him up, their interest was piqued.

"No one knows what he's doing. He was so fierce before, spending an unprecedented twelve straight hours in the elemental cultivation room, and now he's suddenly vanished."

"Do you think he still dares to show his face? After all, Yu Yang has broken through now, and Xu Fei has made considerable progress too. He could break through at any moment."

Speaking of Qin Chen, many people now felt that those two had probably surpassed him.

"Heh, are you idiots? You think my boss is that easy to surpass?"

"You're all too weak. He doesn't feel any pressure at all. Boss is just waiting, waiting for someone to catch up."

"Ever heard this saying? 'I'll give you time to catch up, until you can no longer see me even from afar.' That's exactly where Boss is now!" Zhou Lei had heard their discussion from nearby. He turned, walked over, and spoke loudly.

When everyone saw Zhou Lei, their expressions changed slightly. He had been keeping a very high profile these past few days, and many people had wanted to challenge him, but they had given up when they remembered he was Qin Chen's lackey.

But he was extremely annoying, forever going on about Qin Chen this and Qin Chen that. Their ears had practically grown calluses from hearing it.

"Don't worry, my big brother will be back soon. When the time comes, just wait and tremble!" Zhou Lei smiled, then turned and left, as if he had come over just to say those words to them.

After leaving, Zhou Lei quickly returned to his room. Only then did he let out a breath of relief.

"Boss, come out already! I can't hold on much longer!"

These past few days, because of Yu Yang's and Xu Fei's progress, everyone had nearly forgotten Qin Chen. When they did mention him, they thought he was inferior to those two. So Zhou Lei had been whispering in their ears from time to time, going on about Qin Chen, all to preserve Qin Chen's prestige.

Of course, it was also for his own sake. If Qin Chen truly fell from his pedestal, it would be a heavy blow to him as well.

The gravity room.

A young man stood inside, bare-chested, his muscles looking exceptionally solid and well-defined.

The gravity room was currently set to one times gravity. He was completely at ease, showing no sign of discomfort as he threw punches.

He adjusted the gravity to two times normal, yet continued to punch freely, his movements flowing like clouds and water.

At three times gravity, his body became somewhat uncoordinated, but he quickly corrected himself and gradually adapted.

When he switched to four times gravity, the pressure forced him to bend slightly at the waist, but he could still move.

"I'm still a little short of being able to punch freely under four times gravity, but I'm confident I can fully adapt within three days."

The young man held on under four times gravity for a while, then opened the door.

"Young Master Yang, Instructor Yang is looking for you!" a trainee hurriedly said when he saw Yu Yang come out.

He looked at Yu Yang with admiration. Yu Yang had only broken through two days ago, yet he had almost adapted to four times gravity. That speed of progress was terrifying. He truly was a top figure among all these geniuses.

"Instructor Yang is looking for me?" Yu Yang nodded.

Over the past two days, Luo Bin and Yang Xue had also sought him out several times, mainly to ask whether he needed any guidance.

He felt that after he broke through to One-Star Martial Artist, the instructors had begun to value him greatly. He was receiving completely different treatment.

A few minutes later, Yu Yang arrived at the command room. Seeing Yang Xue and Luo Bin, he said softly, "Instructor Yang, Instructor Luo!"

"We called you here this time to give you a mission!" Yang Xue wasted no words and went straight to the point.

"I'll definitely complete the mission!" Yu Yang straightened up and said at once.

Luo Bin smiled. "Don't agree so quickly. We're not asking you to actually complete the mission, only to carry it out. Whatever the outcome, there will be no punishment or reward!"

Yu Yang looked surprised. He had never heard of such a strange mission before: they were giving him a task but not requiring him to complete it.

Luo Bin wasted no words either. He said directly, "You've already broken through to One-Star Martial Artist, so you're now qualified to know something."

"Before long, our Western Theater Command will hold a General Star selection..."

Luo Bin explained the General Star selection in detail.

By the time Yu Yang finished listening, excitement was gradually showing on his face. He wanted to try for General Star.

"Instructor, is the mission for me to represent Jiang Province in the General Star selection?" he asked.

To represent Jiang Province, he would have to become the province's number one genius of this generation. Now that he had become a martial artist, he was fully qualified.

Luo Bin smiled. "That's right. We're also planning to hold a competition in half a month. At that time, the strongest trainee in this training camp will be chosen to compete against the geniuses of Jiang Province as a whole."

"Half a month!" Yu Yang was startled.

"Half a month is enough. By then, you'll have been in the training camp for about a month. If you're still not first by that point, you won't be able to become first in the little time after that either. So, in half a month, we'll decide who takes the Rongcheng Genius Training Camp's spot!" Luo Bin explained.

"Instructor, I don't think half a month is too short!"

"Oh?"

Yu Yang said confidently, "I'm already number one here. I think half a month is too long. Of course, it doesn't really matter. I'll only get stronger over the next half month, and the gap between me and everyone else will keep growing!"

He had simply felt there was no need to wait half a month to hold the competition. But on second thought, perhaps it was a good thing too, since it would let him leave the others even farther behind.

"You're confident. Good!" Luo Bin nodded. "Go and prepare!"

Only after Yu Yang left did Luo Bin look at Yang Xue. "Will this work?"

"Yu Yang cultivates faster than Qin Chen," Yang Xue said.

Luo Bin was taken aback. "You want to use Yu Yang to force Qin Chen to put aside his wind-element cultivation for now?"

He quickly understood. It was clear from Qin Chen's usual behavior that he was very ambitious and wanted to cultivate both elements at once. But doing so might well hold back his fire-element cultivation.

Yang Xue wanted Yu Yang to put pressure on Qin Chen, making him focus on cultivating the fire element.

"I'm just afraid it'll deal a blow to Yu Yang's confidence when the time comes!" Luo Bin said worriedly.

Qin Chen had managed to cultivate both elements to Peak Body Tempering at the same time. Perhaps he really could break through with the wind element in a short time. If so, Yu Yang would not have the slightest chance.

Yang Xue said nothing. If a genius couldn't withstand even a single setback, she couldn't be bothered to say anything.