Starting as dockworkers, they swept through Chongqing.

Chapter 156 Platinum Club, Born Fighters

The two were discussing in hushed tones when they suddenly heard a surprised female voice coming from ahead.

"Senior? You—how did you get hurt like this?!"

A young woman wearing a tight-fitting workout outfit and with her hair in a high ponytail ran quickly toward the unconscious Reggie, her face full of disbelief.

She was the user of the Wind Whispering Fighting Technique who had just won the match.

With the help of the medical staff, Lei Jiexi barely opened his eyes. When he saw that it was his junior, his already unpleasant face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

"Senior, wasn't your opponent that eighteen-year-old newbie? From a declining club like Iron Cross? How could you lose so badly?"

The woman's voice was filled with shock.

In her mind, she could easily win even after being baptized for a year, so for Reggie, who had been baptized for three years, to beat a newcomer was like an adult beating a child.

Lei Jiexi coughed twice, spitting out a few drops of blood, and said through gritted teeth, "That kid's fighting skills are indeed a bit strange."

My attention was completely focused on his sharp claws; I never expected that he had been hiding his true abilities, but his leg fighting skills were also so formidable.

I was careless and suffered a hidden loss.

"Leg techniques?" The woman frowned. "Senior, based on your estimation, how much of his strength is he hiding? How far can he go?"

As Lei Jiexi leaned against the stretcher, the image of Xilun's cold, icy eyes flashed through his mind again, and his body involuntarily shivered.

He was silent for a moment, then said with heavy breathing, "He might be at the top eight level. However—his stamina is a major weakness."

Moreover, although the final kick was powerful, it was clear that the technique used was only skillful, far from being at the expert level.

If he encounters a true master, he won't go far.

The woman nodded thoughtfully and hurriedly left with the stretcher.

The two men in suits standing not far away heard the conversation clearly.

The two of them were stunned for a moment, then looked at each other in bewilderment.

"This—are we still going to use the Silver Hand?"

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses pushed up the frames on his nose, his tone somewhat hesitant.

The man with the mustache stroked his chin, a shrewd glint in his eyes.

He didn't answer, but strode to the front desk and knocked on the table: "Excuse me, what's the name of the player who played against Rejesty from the Silver Hand Club today?"

The female employee at the front desk flipped through the thick register, ran her finger across it, looked up and smiled, and said, "Number 24, Xilun, belongs to the Iron Cross Fighting Club."

The two men in suits exchanged a glance and fell into deep thought.

"This guy has another game tomorrow."

The man with the mustache said in a low voice, "Let's wait and see, don't rush to make a decision. If he can really pull off upsets all the way through, perhaps—"

Iron Cross Club is a better choice.

As evening fell, the continuous drizzle in the foggy city shrouded the entire city in a damp and cold gray.

With his bulletproof black umbrella in hand, Xilun pushed open the wooden door of a cheap restaurant near the hotel.

The restaurant was filled with a mixture of smells from cheap tobacco, cheap beer, and grilled meat.

The greasy wooden table was crowded with all sorts of lower-class commoners and some low-ranking mercenaries wearing rough leather armor.

Xilun folded his umbrella, found an empty spot in the corner, and ordered a large grilled steak, two smoked sausages, and a plate of boiled vegetables from the waiter.

He ate slowly and attentively.

Every bite of food was chewed to a pulp in the mouth, then slid down the esophagus into the stomach, where it was quickly transformed into strands of qi and blood by the domineering digestive ability of the "Great Sea Whale Guiding Technique," repairing the negligible consumption during the day's battle.

Before long, a number of people began to pour in from the direction of the hotel, making the already noisy restaurant even more crowded.

Xilun raised his head, his gaze sweeping casually across the crowd, before suddenly pausing.

He spotted a familiar face—the brothers he had seen in the rest area of ​​the annex during the day.

That tall, composed man is said to have mastered a fierce martial art called "Blizzard Eight Strikes," and is a formidable opponent who could potentially challenge for a spot in the top four of this competition.

The brothers found a seat and sat down, unaware of Xiren in the corner.

Celen looked away and continued cutting the steak on his plate.

"Hey, have you heard? This unarmed combat competition has produced quite a few hotshots."

At the next table, a young man with a face full of freckles was excitedly slapping the table.

"What's so interesting about this? It's just a bunch of Tier 1 guys fighting each other on stage." Another person curled his lip in disdain.

Are you referring to a newcomer or a veteran?

The young man looked at the old man sitting opposite them, leisurely smoking a pipe.

The old man exhaled a thick smoke ring, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his cloudy eyes, and chuckled, "This old man has been watching the Pioneer Cup for over ten years."

If we're talking about veterans this year, it's definitely Marshall from the Platinum Club!

That guy is a monster.

"Marshall? That guy who's supposedly invincible with one arm?"

"That's right!"

The old man tapped his pipe, lowered his voice, as if telling some terrifying legend: "He was born with long arms that reached past his knees and was taller than a door frame. He was simply a perfect candidate born for hand-to-hand combat."

It is said that his strength was extremely powerful, and his physical strength was even comparable to that of a weak, low-level bear!

Upon hearing this, Xilun, who was chewing beef, paused slightly.

Is the human body comparable to a low-level alien species like a bear?

Even if it's just a weak, low-level mutant, it's still a terrifying being that has undergone a transformation and can tear apart an entire fully armed mercenary squad in the wild.

Xiren recalled the terrifying, armored train-like impact of the severely wounded boar mutant he faced in the wild forest.

If that man named Marshall really possesses that level of physical strength, then he is definitely an extremely dangerous and formidable opponent.

He nodded slightly, secretly marveling at how high the competition was, definitely not some trivial game.

"What about the newcomers?" the young man asked impatiently. "Have any outstanding newcomers emerged this year?"

The old man frowned and pondered for a while, then took two puffs of his cigarette and slowly said, "This year's batch of newcomers seems to be of average quality; not many have stood out. However—I do remember one."

"Who?"

"A kid from the Iron Cross Fight Club."

A hint of amazement flashed in the old man's eyes. "That kid has mastered an extremely vicious claw technique. He was able to dominate a seasoned veteran who practiced the Silver Ape Fighting Technique on the arena."

The veteran used every ounce of strength he had, but still couldn't break through his defenses. And guess what happened in the end?

"What's wrong?"

"That kid suddenly seized an opening and used an extremely beautiful kick to send the old man flying, ending the match on the spot!"

The speed and power of that kick... wow, he's definitely a tough nut to crack.

Hearing others talking about him so vividly behind his back, Xilun's expression remained unchanged.

He stuffed the last piece of sausage into his mouth, wiped his mouth with a napkin, left a few coins, and quietly got up and left the restaurant.

Back in the small but clean single room at the hotel, Xilun locked the door, took off his coat, and was wearing only a thin vest.

He didn't rest immediately, but stood in the center of the room and closed his eyes.

In his mind, the battle scenes from the daytime played back frame by frame like a projector.

He could clearly analyze Lei Jiexi's footwork, the angle of his punches, and the muscle tremors when he exerted force.

"I have indeed accumulated a lot of combat experience in life-and-death battles."

But these kinds of disciplined battles in the ring are really rare.

Xiren pondered to himself. The arena battles prohibited killing blows, hidden weapons, and attacks on vital points, which significantly limited his beastly fighting style, designed for a single, fatal strike.

"If you don't think clearly about the many changes brought about by these rules, you might easily become flustered when you go on stage the next day and encounter a real expert."

"The only way is to keep practicing."

This transformation must be ingrained deeply, becoming muscle memory, so that one can remain calm and composed in the ring, responding with ease.

Xilun suddenly opened his eyes, his deep pupils seemingly burning with two cold flames.

There was no training equipment in this cramped room, not even a single sandbag.

But Xilun doesn't need those.

He was relying entirely on his senses, swinging his fists and feet in the air.

Whoosh—Bang!

A series of muffled explosions echoed through the air.

Xilun's movements were slow at first, as if he were swimming against the current.

But gradually, his speed increased, and the shadows of his fists and the wind of his legs intertwined to form an impenetrable net.

Then came a hissing sound as the dark gold bone claws tore through the air.

The "Great Sea Whale Guiding Technique" within his body was operating wildly, and his energy surged like a river through his meridians.

The surrounding air seemed to be stirred up by this deep-sea whale, forming a tiny cyclone visible to the naked eye.

Sweat cascaded down his strong muscles like a waterfall, splashing onto the wooden floor.

After an unknown amount of time, Xilun suddenly stopped moving.

Boom, boom, boom.

There was a very light, very rhythmic knocking sound coming from outside the door.

Xilun was taken aback.

He vaguely sensed that there was only one person standing outside the door.

However, an indescribable, terrifying pressure was surging through the thin wooden door like a tsunami.

The feeling was as if an ancient, ferocious beast was lurking outside the door, quietly watching him.

Xilun stared intently at the doorway, his chest heaving instantly slowing down, his breathing becoming barely perceptible.

His muscles tensed instantly, his [Coiled Dragon] talent was pushed to its limit, and his hands and feet were already secretly gathering power.

"Who?" Xilun asked in a deep voice.

No one spoke outside; there was only deathly silence.

Xilun frowned, and after a moment, he activated the talent [Distant Listening] that he had plundered from the Big-eared Fox without hesitation.

Invisible auditory sound waves spread outwards like ripples on water.

He listened slowly to the sounds outside the door.

There were no footsteps, no rustling of clothes, and even the sound of a heartbeat was extremely faint.

All I could hear was breathing.

The breathing was extremely calm, yet it seemed to contain immense power.

Each inhale felt like it was sucking all the air out of the room; each exhale carried a sense of oppressive despair.

Xilun was horrified to discover that the twenty-meter-long corridor outside the door seemed to have fallen completely under the control of the person outside.

That's an absolute suppression of the life magnetic field!

Xilun paused for a moment, a fine layer of cold sweat appearing on his forehead.

He spoke again, his voice calm yet resolute: "Which senior has come to pay their respects?"

Outside the door, no one spoke.

Xilun exhaled a breath of stale air.

He knew that if the person outside wanted to kill him, the wooden door wouldn't even last a fraction of a second.

Without hesitation, he turned around, strode to the window, pushed it open, and placed one foot on the windowsill, intending to escape by climbing out the window.

Just then.

With a "click," the door lock was easily opened from the outside.

The door was pushed open, and a familiar figure, dressed in an elegant tuxedo and with a tall, slender figure, walked in with a gentle smile.

"You were fighting fiercely in the ring during the day, so why are you acting like a mouse facing a cat now, ready to jump out the window?"

Xilun stopped climbing out the window, turned around, and looked at the man who had appeared like a ghost.

It's Lund.

The true mastermind behind the Iron Cross Fighting Club is that terrifying Tier 3 Aberrant, "Crimson Star's Radiance".

Xilun twitched the corner of his mouth, withdrew his foot from the windowsill, and walked barefoot to the center of the floor, his tone tinged with helplessness: "Your Excellency is certainly in high spirits. In the middle of the night, you actually hold back your breath to tease a nobody like me."

Lund couldn't help but burst into laughter when he saw Xilun's tense yet forced composure.

"I watched your game during the day, and you played very well."

Lund casually pulled over a wooden chair and sat down, elegantly crossing his legs. "After practicing in the manor for so long, I always feel bored and a bit depressed."

However, seeing how alarmed you looked just now instantly cheered me up.

Xilun twitched the corners of his mouth again, thinking that this third-tier big shot's perverse sense of humor was really hard to bear.

Lund's smile faded, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes, as he encouraged, "You won the first match, well done."

At least they weren't eliminated in the first round, which saved face for our Iron Dry Fighting Club.

So, any words of encouragement after winning?

Xilun thought for a moment, then said in a serious tone, "Yes—thank you for the country's support and for the people's encouragement."

Of course, I am most grateful to Your Excellency the Knight for your guidance, to Mentor Renn for his instruction, and to Lord Yuri for the resources he provided—thank you to everyone who has supported me.

Lund paused for a moment, then chuckled again, pointing at Xilun and saying, "You little rascal, you're quite the character, very cunning."

After laughing, Lund's eyes sharpened as he looked Xiren up and down, as if trying to see through his soul.

"Xilun, your strength is improving much faster than I expected."

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