Starting as dockworkers, they swept through Chongqing.

Xilun followed the club members back to the accommodations arranged by Daewoo Dojo.

Upon entering the courtyard, Fester began gesturing dramatically to the name:

"Senior Xilun, when you won, you didn't see the expressions on the faces of those people in the audience!"

They were all incredulous, their eyes practically popping out of their sockets, completely terrified!

Lund nodded slightly, looked at Xilun with a hint of approval in his eyes, and said:

"Well done. Take a good rest today and get back to work."

Xilun shook his head and calmly said, "I'll go to the gravity chamber for some more practice."

Lund paused for a moment, then said, "It's up to you."

During these few days of competition, I won't be overseeing your training; maintaining your form is the most important thing.

Siren entered the gym's gravity chamber alone.

He activated double gravity and, as usual, practiced the "Natan Heavy Gun Technique" and the "External Circulation" breathing method for a while until he was drenched in sweat, expelling the impurities accumulated in his body along with the lightning charges.

After dinner, Xilun returned to his room.

He sat at the table, gazing thoughtfully at the magic rope hanging on the wall.

He continued practicing the spells of the Spiritual Rope. It wasn't that he didn't know the importance of practicing this mysterious art; in life-or-death battles, a magical rope that could instantly bind an enemy could often turn the tide of battle.

However, practicing these mystical techniques is extremely mentally taxing.

Each practice session caused him a sharp pain in his brain, making it difficult to sustain.

Previously, he could only practice for a short while each day, and the progress bar could only increase by a few dozen points each day.

In the past few days, in order to prepare for the combat competition, I have practiced very little and focused most of my energy on shooting practice.

Today, looking at the progress bar on his retina, he realized that he was only a hair's breadth away from breaking through, so he decided to intensify his training for a while.

Xilun closed his eyes and began to mutter incantations in an ancient and obscure syllable.

The rope on the table seemed to come alive, beginning to move and twist in mid-air like a nimble venomous snake.

Although her spellcasting speed and dexterity are still some distance from that of the Raven School woman she encountered in the black market, she is still quite skilled.

After several more tedious practice sessions, cold sweat beaded on Xilun's forehead, and a sharp, stabbing pain shot through his brain.

Suddenly, a soft "buzz" sounded in his mind.

A sense of enlightenment instantly welled up in my heart.

Xilun felt a strange familiarity with the rope in his hands, as if the rope had become an extension of his nerves.

He suddenly increased the speed of chanting the mantra, finishing almost instantly.

"call out--"

The magic rope shot out like a black lightning bolt, precisely touching the solid wood cabinet a few meters away.

With a "snap," the rope tightly bound the brass handle of the cabinet, and then with a sudden pull, it ripped open the heavy cabinet door.

Xilun stared blankly at this scene.

In his pupils, a pale red data stream flickered rapidly, finally settling:

[Skill: Spiritual Rope (Expert)]

[Progress: 0/1000]

[Characteristics: 0.3-second casting time, expert in spellcasting, versatile, and extremely powerful!]

He looked down at the rope in his hand, which had fallen silent again, lost in thought.

To test his mastery of the technique after his breakthrough, he activated his magic once again.

He found that his mastery of the technique was improving by leaps and bounds.

What used to take more than a second to cast can now be activated instantly in just 0.3 seconds!

Moreover, the rope, imbued with spirituality, exhibited a terrifying power unique to magical creations.

It has immense strength and exceptional resilience.

Xilun even tried to bind his arms with ropes and then used his first-level qi to try to break free.

As a result, even with his strong physique, he was unable to break it in a short time, and the marks from the strangulation were deeply embedded in his flesh.

"In actual combat, if the enemy is suddenly bound, even a second of stiffness would be enough for my spear to pierce his heart," Xilun thought to himself.

However, he also knew that in normal combat, enemies are moving at high speed, making it difficult to bind them so perfectly; it could only be used as a surprise trump card.

After several tests, Xilun's head started throbbing violently again, and his mental energy was almost completely depleted.

He then put away the rope, lay down on the bed, and fell into a deep sleep.

……

The round of 16 was held as scheduled the next day.

Xilun drew a number from the draw table, glanced down at it, and said: "7".

The seventh match.

He yawned, stuffed his number into his pocket, and casually glanced around at the race.

The first game was still Rose's game.

The moment he stepped onto the ring, his opponent, without even drawing his weapon, immediately raised his hands and shouted, "I surrender!"

The referee immediately declared the match over.

Although there was a chorus of boos from the crowd, no one mocked the contestant who surrendered.

After all, that poor guy who was disemboweled yesterday is still being treated in the infirmary.

In the following matches, Xiren looked thoughtfully at the match-up list.

He discovered that many of the favorites to win the championship, with an overall score of 18 or 19, were facing off against a small number of players with an overall score of 17.

"It seems the organizers orchestrated this intentionally," Xilun realized.

The Church clearly interfered with the lottery, meaning that strong players wouldn't be drawn quickly in the early stages.

Seeded players with an overall score of 18 or higher are usually drawn against players with an overall score of 17 or even 16.

This is to avoid the embarrassing situation of the runner-up or third-place finisher being eliminated early due to encounters with champion-level players, and to ensure the entertainment value of the later stages of the competition.

Xiren withdrew his gaze, and heard the booming voice of Deputy Curator Belang in his ear:

"Match Seven! Iron Cross Fight Club, Siren vs. Blackthorn Club, Coens!"

Upon hearing this name, Xilun instantly recalled the iron turtle he had seen yesterday—Koens.

Its overall score is 17, slightly better than Marshall's.

However, his fighting style, characterized by wearing strange heavy armor and wielding a deep-sea grappling hook, is extremely troublesome and can be considered a nightmare for martial artists of the same level.

Siren secretly wrapped the magic rope under the sleeve of her left wrist.

He felt there was no need to use the magic rope against a clumsy opponent like Cohens, but he brought it on just in case.

When Xiren walked onto the ring carrying a black umbrella, another murmur erupted from the audience.

"Xilun is definitely going to lose this time!"

"His victory over Marshall, who has a combined rating of 16, yesterday was purely due to good luck in finding a weakness."

But today, he's facing an even stronger opponent, Coens!

"That's right! Even among experts with a combined score of seventeen, Cohens is an extremely troublesome existence."

How could Xilun possibly break through his heavy armor?

Someone explained: "The heavy armor that Cohens is wearing is forged from a strange stone from the deep sea. It is extremely tough and can perfectly withstand external impacts. It is a top-tier first-order extraordinary relic!"

His claws are made of a special deep-sea metal, strong enough to tear through the skin and flesh of most of those being baptized.

What makes West Ham capable of winning?

On the arena.

When Koens saw that his opponent was actually Xilen, he was clearly taken aback.

Then, his eyes, hidden beneath the mask, curved into a deep laugh:

"Hahaha! Looks like I'm really lucky today! My opponent is actually you, kid!"

He was tall and imposing, and with his menacing heavy armor, he looked like a steel behemoth.

He casually swung the hooks on his arms, slicing through the air with a sharp whistling sound.

"Go ahead and make your move, kid. Don't say I'm bullying you," Coens said smugly.

Xilun ignored his taunts.

He pressed the trigger with his thumb, and the black umbrella instantly ejected and reassembled into a 2.4-meter-long alloy spear.

He gripped the gun with one hand, adjusting his breathing rhythm, his eyes fixed on the enemy like a hawk's.

Although this Coens only has a strength of eight and a physique of nine, his stats are not top-tier.

But Xilun knew very well that if he did not carefully choose his attack method and rashly launched a thrust, once the tip of his spear was deflected by that strange stone armor, the opponent's grappling hook would instantly tear his throat apart.

Seeing that Xilen was standing still, Cohens became somewhat impatient.

"Since you're not going to make a move, then I won't hold back!"

Cohens immediately took two heavy steps forward, instantly closing the distance to within three meters of Xilun.

Just as he was about to swing his grappling hook.

"boom!"

Xilun moved.

The heavy spear, like an angry dragon emerging from the sea, burst through the air.

This time, however, Xiren did not choose to stab. Instead, he used the spear as a club and slammed it hard into Cohens' shoulder at an extremely tricky angle.

"Bang!"

A muffled thud.

Cohens paused only slightly, and the strange stone armor actually neutralized most of the impact of the spear.

Cohens sneered, continued to ignore the attack, and strode forward.

Xilun took a step back expressionlessly, flicked his wrist, and swung his spear again, delivering another powerful horizontal smash.

This time, Cohens simply raised his left arm and used the steel arm guard to block the shot.

Xilun used the recoil to retract his spear, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

Seeing this, Cohens assumed that Xilen had run out of options and immediately strode forward again.

He was surprised to find that he had gotten so close to Xilun's body so easily.

"Looks like your marksmanship is still pretty rusty, kid!"

Cohens laughed wildly and immediately raised his right arm, the gleaming claws slamming down towards Xilun's chest.

Xilun shifted his body slightly to the side, his movements as nimble as a cat's.

He held the gun horizontally in front of him, and with a "clang," he precisely blocked the grappling hook's fatal blow.

Immediately afterwards, Xilun's right leg muscles tensed up instantly, his blood and energy surged, and he kicked out with a powerful stomp.

"Bang!"

The kick landed squarely on Cohens's heavy abdominal armor.

The terrifying force sent Koens's bulky body staggering back several steps.

After all that effort, Cohens not only failed to even touch the hem of Celen's clothes, but was also led around the ring by the nose by his opponent.

He stopped, and heavy breathing came from behind his mask.

Xilun held the gun in one hand, a mocking smile playing on his lips: "So, you're this clumsy."

Cohens took a breath, a flash of annoyance in his eyes. He sneered:

"So what if I'm clumsy? This is a ring competition, and the area is only this big!"

We will eventually have to confront them head-on. Are you going to keep running away and avoiding battle like a monkey?

Xilun shook his head, the mockery in his eyes instantly turning into a chilling coldness.

"No," Siren said softly, "Knowing you're clumsy is enough."

Before he finished speaking, Xilun's aura suddenly changed.

The next moment, he gripped the gun with both hands, pushed off with his feet, and shot out like an arrow.

"Whoosh!"

One shot, straight at Coens' face!

Cohens was horrified.

He knew very well that the only weakness of his body that was not covered by heavy armor was his eyes and face, which were exposed under the mask.

Faced with this lightning-fast shot, Cohens had no time to retaliate. He hurriedly raised his arms and crossed them, narrowly blocking the stab.

However, this was just a feint.

The moment Cohen's view was blocked, Xiren had already closed in.

He raised his right leg again, like a battle axe, and kicked Cohens hard in the chest, sending his massive body staggering backward once more.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Immediately afterwards, the spear in Xilun's hand transformed into a raging storm.

He no longer sought to strike vital points, but instead used the spear as a heavy forging hammer, constantly unleashing sweeping and chopping attacks.

Every shot landed squarely on Cohens's heavy armor.

Although Cohens did not suffer any real injuries, the continuous and terrifying force left him powerless to fight back, and he could only be forced back like a sandbag.

A sense of unease finally welled up in Cohens' heart.

He took a deep breath and decided to fight to the death.

"what!"

He let out a roar and charged forward with a "bang," his hooked arms slamming down on Xilun.

Xilun neither dodged nor evaded, but raised his left arm armor, covered with white sharkskin, to block.

"Sizzle—"

Coens was overjoyed, thinking he had finally succeeded.

However, when he looked closely, he was devastated to find that his prized deep-sea metal grappling hook, which he was so proud of, had only managed to tear the sleeve of Xilun's arm, leaving a shallow white mark and a tiny bit of blood on his skin.

It didn't penetrate to the bone or flesh at all!

"How is this possible?!" Cohens' mind went blank.

Before he could react, Xilen had already swept his arms away with a shot, then swung the gun up and slammed it heavily onto Koens' helmet.

"Buzz—"

Coens felt as if a giant bell had been struck in his head, and he saw stars.

Xiren followed up with another powerful flying kick.

This time, Cohens staggered backward and suddenly felt his foot slip.

He belatedly turned his head to look, only to be horrified to find that he had been forced to the edge of the ring by Xilun!

"He's going to kick me out!"

Koens was immediately alarmed. He no longer cared about defense, lowered his head, and charged fiercely at Siron like a mad boar, trying to reclaim the center of the ring.

Xiren looked at Cohens charging towards him with an icy gaze.

He gripped the alloy spear tightly with both hands, and the "Great Sea Whale Guiding Technique" within his body was running wildly, his energy pouring into his arms like boiling magma.

"Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!"

Six in a row!

Xiren's heavy gun, like a tireless pile driver, swept across Koens's body continuously with extreme ferocity.

Each shot that struck the heavy armor produced a teeth-grinding roar.

Although the strange stone armor was tough, the force of the impact caused Cohens to finally feel intense pain in his internal organs.

He frantically swung his grappling hook, but because he lost his balance, he couldn't even touch the hem of Xilun's clothes.

Occasionally, a few brushes would graz Xilun's body, but they couldn't seriously injure him, only leaving shallow marks.

"Get down!"

Xiren let out a low, angry roar. Facing Cohens' final dive, he whirled around, slammed his spear into the ground, and struck Cohens' ankle with pinpoint accuracy.

Coens was already unsteady, and this time he could no longer maintain his balance.

His massive, clumsy body drew a comical arc in mid-air before crashing heavily off the stage with a "bang," slamming into the hard ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.

The entire room fell silent.

Vice-Governor Belang gave Siren a deep look and loudly announced, "Koens, get off the ring! Siren wins!"