Elephant Farm

Boom!

The man's strong, burly body was like a giant sandbag, hurled viciously off the platform by a tremendous force.

He struggled to his feet and spat out a mouthful of blood. Then he looked up at the platform, a trace of horror and fear flashing across his face. He quickly clutched his chest and limped away without looking back.

"My god, Weiji actually ran away! ... So the final winner of this match is... School Uniform Fierce Tiger!"

The boxing announcer's hoarse shout blared from the enormous speakers.

In the ring, Cheng Sheng casually picked up the blue rope from the floor, but his eyes were fixed on the direction in which the man had fled, his gaze flickering slightly.

Was a Nurturing Sha boxer's physique really that strong...?

At the warehouse in Balai City, Cheng Sheng had cracked a concrete brick wall with a single punch. "Blue Dragon" Weiji had taken several blows from him, yet had still been able to walk away.

The first-layer secret art of the Black Killing Style really did focus on defense...

Cheng Sheng looked away.

Even the optimized secret art was the same: it simply strengthened its defense to an even greater degree. As a result, a punch from a Nurturing Sha boxer who followed the path of strength felt about the same as being hit with a sandbag. It barely hurt or itched.

But it fell a little short in explosive power.

Even with the boost from Power of the Ram, it's still difficult to kill a Nurturing Sha boxer in one blow without hitting a vital spot...

I wonder if the secret arts of the later layers of the Black Killing Style will make up for that weakness. If they keep focusing on defense, I'll have to perform some targeted sacrifices myself...

As Cheng Sheng thought, he slowly relaxed.

He stood in the center of the ring, looking down, and felt an inexplicable sense of ease.

He actually quite enjoyed this moment.

-Being the center of everyone's attention.

No one disliked standing on high and feeling the shocked, upturned gazes of others. Cheng Sheng was no exception; it was just that, as a shut-in in his previous life, he hadn't had the strength.

But things were different now. After Cheng Sheng obtained the warlock inheritance, the desires hidden deep in his heart finally had a chance to quietly surface.

Maybe the Book of Warlocks has something to do with it too, but I'm a worldly person to begin with...

Warlocks were the nobility of the Abyss.

They were powerful, ruthless, clear-headed, arrogant, vain, greedy... possessing every quality that symbolized "nobility" in the Abyss.

Every warlock was a "desire monster." You couldn't expect a bunch of people who grew stronger mainly by "borrowing from the Abyss" and spent all day dealing with demons to have the virtues of ascetic monks.

Generally speaking, it was desire that gave one the drive to keep moving forward...

Cheng Sheng imitated a scene he had seen on TV, closing his eyes and spreading his arms toward the surrounding stands.

But the cheers and shouts he imagined never came. Instead, he was greeted by a mountain-roaring, sea-surging wave of boos.

"Fixed match! Fixed match!"

"Refunds! Refunds!!"

"Uh..."

Cheng Sheng opened his eyes, his expression stunned. Looking at the noisy crowd below, he finally shook his head helplessly, lifted the ropes, and climbed out of the ring.

As he headed toward the backstage entrance, countless popcorn buckets and drink bottles flew around behind him, though the vast majority were aimed at the boxing venue's organizers.

Ten minutes later, in the lounge.

Cheng Sheng sat in a massage chair with a sweat towel around his neck, slowly sipping water.

After drinking for a while, he put down the water bottle, turned to look at Sulai beside him, and spoke after a moment's thought:

"Senior Sister, haven't you had enough of feeling me up after all this time?"

"Huh?"

Sulai, who had been intently examining the Spiny Skin showing slightly on his arm, raised her head. Her expression was blank for a moment before she instantly realized what he meant. Her pretty face reddened, and she hurriedly pulled her hand back.

"I just thought... it was unbelievable."

Sulai raised a hand to smooth the braids by her ear, quickly suppressing her embarrassment. Then she sighed softly, her tone somewhat complicated. "Counting from the afternoon of the first day of special training, you've only trained for less than nine days in total."

"Is that fast?"

Cheng Sheng asked despite knowing the answer. After a moment's thought, he added, "How many days did the previous fastest person take to master it?"

"More than fast. It's very, very fast."

Sulai couldn't help shaking her head. "The last record breaker, Sha Lie, mastered it in just one month. He was a monster, just like you."

"Nine days and a month..."

Cheng Sheng shook his head. "That's not much faster."

As soon as he finished speaking, a stool toppled over with a bang nearby.

The group looked toward the sound and saw Mo Jiang standing ramrod straight, his lips moving as though he wanted to say something. In the end, though, he said nothing, merely storming out and slamming the door behind him, his face full of shame and anger.

"And now he's throwing a tantrum."

Cheng Sheng pointed at Mo Jiang and spoke to Tong Huan, who was sitting beside him. "That makes no sense."

"Ha... ha..."

Tong Huan obliged with a couple of laughs, but his expression immediately turned dejected again.

"Brother, I can't laugh..."

Cheng Sheng: "..."

"You really are a freak!"

Tong Huan took cigarettes and betel nuts out of his pocket and walked toward the door, sighing.

Tong Huan came from a well-off family and, like Zhou Wenye, was a second-generation rich kid. He practiced fighting purely as a hobby and had always been fairly laid-back, so he had never liked Mo Jiang's strange, nearly obsessive competitiveness.

But this time, he too had been dealt a crushing blow. He needed some quiet.

Once Tong Huan and Mo Jiang had left, only Cheng Sheng and Sulai remained in the lounge.

"...No one has ever completed the cultivation of the secret art during special training before. By rights, you can already begin Nurturing Sha, and the rest of the special training won't mean much to you."

Sulai glanced at Cheng Sheng and continued, "Also, now that you've mastered your first secret art, you're qualified to become a core disciple of the Black Killing Style."

Cheng Sheng's gaze flickered, but he said nothing, listening as Sulai went on.

"...But the gym master is away on business at the moment, so we'll have to wait until he returns to confirm your status as a core disciple."

"Are the responsibilities and benefits different after becoming a core disciple?"

Cheng Sheng picked up his towel and wiped his face as he asked casually.

"The sect rules you have to follow are mostly the same. As for the benefits..."

Sulai thought for a moment and said, "For now, your monthly allowance will increase to twenty thousand. You'll also have opportunities to take over businesses under the boxing gym in the future and receive regular dividends..."

"Businesses under the boxing gym?"

Cheng Sheng slowed the motion of wiping his face and blinked.

"Yes."

Sulai nodded. "Our Black Killing Style has more than just one boxing gym. Here in Qingsha City, besides the rubber plantation outside the gym, there are also several banana plantations, durian orchards, and an elephant farm...

"There are more core disciples than just the few of us you've seen, too. Most of them are away helping manage the businesses and rarely come back..."

Cheng Sheng didn't hear what Sulai said after that. His attention was fixed entirely on the words "elephant farm" she had mentioned.

"Which senior brother manages the elephant farm?"

Cheng Sheng gave nothing away.

Sulai answered casually, "Nalong. You'll meet him soon after you become a core disciple..."