Starting as dockworkers, they swept through Chongqing.

He is not an arrogant person.

Xiren had to admit that the sense of threat emanating from Ross was too strong, so strong that even after witnessing that strike, he could no longer be blindly confident.

However, Xiren raised his head, looked at Ross's departing figure in the distance, and a bloodthirsty sneer curled at the corner of his mouth.

Not being confident doesn't mean he thinks he has no chance of winning.

Deep inside the Daewoo Dojo, in a high-class ward filled with the strong smell of disinfectant, the pure white sheets were almost soaked with blood.

Ang Lee lay on the hospital bed with his eyes closed and his face as pale as paper; only the extremely faint rise and fall of his chest proved that he was still alive.

His body was covered with various IV tubes, and expensive, extraordinary medicines were flowing drop by drop into his ruptured veins through those transparent tubes.

Li Lei stood by the bed, his hands clenched into fists, his eyes bloodshot.

Looking at his lifeless son, he asked the elderly doctor beside him in a hoarse voice, "Doctor, why hasn't Xiao An woken up yet? What's his condition?"

The elderly doctor in the white coat shook his head, solemnly adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, and sighed:

"President Li Lei, your son's injuries are far too serious."

The boy named Xilun's strength was simply inhuman.

Your son has seven broken ribs, two of which pierced through his lungs.

Most fatally, the violent shockwave directly damaged his heart meridian.

"If your son hadn't had such a strong foundation in qi and blood, he probably would have already... sigh."

I have now given him the highest level of cardiac protection medication.

However, he needs long-term rest and absolutely cannot have any more drastic fluctuations in his qi and blood.

He will absolutely not be able to participate in the bronze medal match three days later.

Upon hearing this, Li Lei swayed violently, as if he had aged ten years in an instant.

His gaze gradually shifted from worry to extreme resentment, and he growled through gritted teeth:

"Xiren... Iron Cross! I, Li Lei, swear I will never let you get away with this!"

The atmosphere was completely different in the luxury suites at the other end of the Daewoo Dojo.

As evening fell, the afterglow of the setting sun shone through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows into the spacious practice room.

Ross sat cross-legged on an expensive velvet carpet, slowly sheathing his long sword.

He closed his eyes, his breathing even and deep. The air around him distorted slightly with his breathing, as if an invisible layer of sword energy was protecting him.

Before long, the heavy oak door of the training room was pushed open, and a middle-aged man dressed in an elegant tailcoat walked in.

Upon hearing footsteps, Ross immediately opened his eyes, stood up, bowed slightly, and said calmly, "Chairman."

The middle-aged man in front of me, who looked young but whose eyes revealed depth and shrewdness, was none other than Ildis, the president of the Platinum Club.

Ildis nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over Ross, and asked with concern:

"How are your injuries? The fight with Cole during the day, although it seemed easy, the force of that sword strike must have put a lot of strain on your body."

Ross shook his head expressionlessly and calmly replied, "It's nothing serious. Although Cole is physically strong, he's too slow and only knows how to use brute force. He can't even touch me."

Ildis smiled, took out a pale gold potion encased in a crystal glass tube from his pocket, handed it to Ross, and said, "Take this, just in case. The final is in three days, and I hope you can be in your best condition for that match."

Ross glanced at the vial of potion that gleamed with an alluring light, but did not refuse it.

He nodded slightly, said "Thank you, Chairman," then uncorked the bottle, tilted his head back, and drank it all in one gulp.

The medicine entered my throat and instantly transformed into a warm current that flowed throughout my body.

Ross felt the energy he had expended during the day rapidly recovering at a visible pace, and the slight soreness in his muscles was also gone.

Ildis looked at Ross, a satisfied smile on his face, and said:

"Although you are a member of the Ocelli family, since you are now a part of my Platinum Club and represent us in the competition, I should take care of you."

After a pause, Ildis's expression turned serious. He looked into Ross's eyes and asked in a deep voice:

"By the way, regarding tomorrow's opponent... that boy named Xilun, are you confident you can defeat him?"

Upon hearing the name "Silen," Ross's previously calm face instantly revealed an undisguised contempt and sneer.

"Confident? President, you overestimate him."

Ross snorted coldly, his eyes revealing an arrogant and condescending look. "Perhaps that Xilun really did get lucky, or he concealed some of his strength, which is why he stumbled his way to where he is now, and even defeated that guy Li An."

However, his crude brute force alone is far from enough to defeat me!

Ildis keenly sensed the undisguised arrogance and subtle hostility in Ross's tone.

He frowned slightly, feeling somewhat uneasy.

In combat sports, underestimating your opponent is often fatal.

But then he thought again that with Ross's terrifying strength, which was almost at the second-tier extraordinary level, and the top-notch swordsmanship inherited from the Ocelli family, he did indeed have the right to be completely arrogant.

So Ildis didn't say anything more to spoil his mood.

After a moment, Ildis seemed to remember something and asked with some curiosity:

"Ross, I've been watching you."

You seem to have a greater sense of contempt and hatred towards that person, Xilun, than towards others.

"I'm curious, you're both young masters from the Ocelli family, one of you is a commoner from the lower city, you shouldn't have had much interaction before, why are you so hostile towards him?"

Ross walked to the window, looked down at the bustling dojo below, and a cruel sneer curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Hate? President, you've used the wrong word."

Such a lowly commoner doesn't deserve my hatred.

Ross's voice was icy and chilling, as if he were talking about a piece of roadside trash:

"I just feel disgusted."

He simply did some things he shouldn't have done.

This world has order; nobles should be high above, while commoners should crawl in the mud like dogs, barely surviving.

But this Xiren actually dared to try to break the order through this competition; his muddy, dirty hands dared to touch the glory that did not belong to him.

Besides, my brother is a member of the Ocelli family; no one but me has the right to kill him.

Ross whirled around, gripping the hilt of his knife tightly, his eyes flashing with a crazed killing intent:

"I will completely defeat him in the ring in three days!"

I will break his bones inch by inch, so that he can see his true, despicable nature!

Once I kick him away, he will become nothing more than an insignificant stumbling block on my path to extraordinary cultivation.

After that, the gap between us will only widen until he's no longer even worthy of looking up to me!

at the same time.

On the other side of the dojo, in the rest area belonging to the Iron Cross Club, Siren was alone in his room.

The room was spacious and simple, with almost no extra furnishings other than a bed and a table.

Xilun was shirtless, his muscles still bearing traces of blood and thick ointment.

He did not rest, but stood in the center of the room, his hands loosely clenched as if he were holding that heavy gun.

His upper body was ramrod straight, his left foot stepped forward steadily, his right foot moved back, and he was slightly bent over. His whole body was like a fully drawn bow, or a cheetah about to pounce.

"call……"

Xilun took a deep breath and exerted his strength.

His body shot forward like a spring, his spine cracking with a crisp sound, propelling all his strength outward through his loosely clenched hands!

He practiced this simple thrusting motion dozens of times.

Just then, the door to the room was pushed open.

Lund stood at the door, watching Xilun's persistent actions, and finally couldn't help but ask:

"Sirlen, what are you doing? Your injury needs rest. Overworking your muscles right now is not a wise move."

Upon hearing the teacher's voice, Xilun immediately stopped what he was doing, stood up straight, took a breath, and said:

"Teacher, I'm thinking."

Ross's swordsmanship was too fast, and it had already formed that ethereal and elusive sword aura.

I've been working on it, trying to figure out if I can develop a more refined technique based on my "Splitting Water Flow" technique of "Gun and Qi as One," or shorten the burst time, so that I'll have a chance to hit him.

Lund walked to the wooden chair in the room and sat down. Looking at Xilen's bloodshot eyes, he shook his head helplessly.

"Sillen, you've gone astray."

Lund said in a deep voice, "Although the move 'Severing Water Flow' seems simple, it contains great mystery, combining strength and pure destructive power to the extreme."

This trick is enough for you right now.

"The biggest difference between you and Rose right now is not that your moves are not sophisticated enough, but that there is a huge difference in your most basic physical abilities."

At this point, a hint of regret flashed in Lund's eyes, and he sighed:

"If you could train for another year, or even half a year, to make up for the gap between your strength and physique and Ross's, with your combat intuition, the outcome would still be uncertain."

However, the competition schedule this year is simply too tight.

Lund looked at Xiren and continued:

"If you do the math, it's been almost exactly one year since you officially embarked on the path of extraordinary cultivation from an ordinary person until today."

"One year is far too little time to catch up with the foundation others have built up over years with precious resources."

Xilun remained silent; he knew his teacher was telling the truth.

Faced with an absolute difference in physical ability, any exquisite technique will appear pale and powerless.

At this point, Lund paused, his gaze suddenly becoming deep as he looked Xiren up and down, as if trying to see through his secret.

"Sirlen, there are always many peculiar things about you that are hard to understand."

Lund spoke slowly, "I usually don't ask too many questions to respect your privacy."

However, since there are still three full days until the final against Rose, I want to ask you a question.

If it's convenient for you to answer, please tell me.

Xilen stopped wiping away his sweat, pulled a jacket over his shoulders, sat down opposite Lund, and said frankly:

"Teacher, you have given me a second chance at life. Please feel free to ask me any questions."

Lund nodded slightly, organized his thoughts, and said:

"I've observed you in many battles. Your body seems to possess an exceptionally remarkable adaptability, even to the point of being immune, to extremely cold environments?"

Lund began to give an example: "I heard that during the incident at Bath Monastery a few months ago, you could dive into that underground ice pool, which only second-tier extraordinary beings could barely adapt to, without any hindrance."

And then there was that time the ocean liner sank, you were in the icy seawater for so long and you were fine.

And then there was the python hunt organized by Yuri; you were able to maintain your sanity and fighting ability for an extended period in the frigid depths of the river.

"This kind of physique is definitely not something that can be achieved by the ordinary 'Great Sea Whale Guidance Technique'." Lund's eyes were like torches as he stared intently at Xilun.

Xilun listened thoughtfully, without denying anything. He knew these things couldn't be hidden from someone who was interested, so he spoke frankly:

"Teacher, your observation is very keen, that's true."

However, my constitution doesn't make me immune to all extreme environments. Rather, my body, or rather my internal organs, have a better ability to regulate and adapt to deep water and extremely cold temperatures.

Upon hearing Xilun's admission, Lund's eyes suddenly flashed with a sharp light.

He slapped his thigh hard and said excitedly:

"If that's the case, then... perhaps within these three days, your strength and physique will experience a very significant breakthrough!"

Xilun was taken aback and looked at Lund with some confusion.

Lund smiled and asked, "Did you know that I gave you ten days off before you prepared for the competition?"

Where did I go during those ten days?

Xilun paused for a moment, then shook his head: "Teacher, did you go out? I thought you were just handling some business at Red Leaf Manor."

Lund twitched the corners of his mouth, revealing a complex smile, and said:

"I must have gone out, and to a very far place."

He looked at Xilun and said earnestly:

"I cannot offer much guidance or assistance in your spiritual practice."

So after I gave you basic weapons training, I started to worry.

I've been thinking about how to improve your skills even slightly in the last month, at all costs, so that you can achieve a good ranking in the subsequent matches and preserve the club's reputation.

"At the time, I thought that with your combat talent, you should have no problem dealing with most enemies with an overall rating of 17."

However, in this kind of knockout tournament, if you're unlucky and encounter monsters like Ang Lee or Derrick Rose early on, you might not even make it to the quarterfinals.

To ensure stability, we naturally need to find more guarantees for you.

Lund took a deep breath and continued:

"Your breathing technique is the 'Great Sea Whale Guiding Technique'."

This is a water-attribute breathing technique that doesn't consume many exclusive resources, making it quite accessible and widely practiced throughout the empire.

However, its drawback is also obvious: it lacks specialized high-level cultivation potions to aid in breakthroughs.

“So, I settled for the next best thing.

During those ten days, I ventured into a dangerous ruin in search of an extremely rare, universally used cultivation material. That is… the sap of the Red Heart Tree.

As he spoke, Lun carefully took out a vial of medicine tightly wrapped in special metal from the inner pocket of his clothes.