It's Not Easy to Be a Man After Travelling to the Future - Chapter 527

Chapter 527: Choke to Death!

Ling Lan’s words made Han Jijyun, Luo Lang and others tremble. They knew why Boss was doing this, and now they only hoped that Qi Long wouldn’t lose too badly in the round-robin fights.

Everyone knew clearly that the freshmen, who were rid of their worries, would definitely not give up on the chance to reach the top. The round-robin fights had become a reality.

As expected, after a few seconds, a freshman jumped up to the stage. His face showed a hint of shame, but he still spoke out his objective; the freshman respectfully bowed to Qi Long and said, “I am Wang Ruoxu from Planet Qinhuang. Please go easy on me, Commander Qi!”

“Go ahead!” Qi Long replied, taking a deep breath. Wearing the color of determination on his face, he gestured him to start. This decision of Ling Lan’s wouldn’t make Qi Long actually resent her; he believed that there was definitely a deeper meaning to Boss’ decision. He just had to work hard and finish the mission that Boss had given him.

This Wang Ruoxu attacked crazily right from the beginning. Unfortunately, having only reached the peak of the late stages of Qi-Jin, the pressure he gave Qi Long wasn’t as much as compared to Wang Ke. After carefully defending for around 3 minutes, Qi Long had accumulated a certain amount of Qi-Jin, found the opponent’s weak spot and struck him off the arena.

Two more freshmen went up onto the arena in immediate succession; however, Qi Long fought with patience. With no energy left, Qi Long used his strong body to defend. Once he accumulated a small amount of Qi-Jin, he would find his opponent’s weak spot and defeat them. Qi Long fought in a very calm and collected manner. The freshmen couldn’t find a chance to win at that moment.

However, having to face so many people consecutively had pushed Qi Long’s already exhausted body towards its limit even more. If he didn’t have his spiritual power helping him endure it all, it was possible that he might not even have been able to raise his fists.

The sharper individuals had already discovered that Qi Long was now spent. Another freshman jumped up onto the arena…

“Captain, this a chance,” Yi Tiange whispered to Ling Yi.

“You want me to go up and defeat Commander Qi Long?” Ling Yi asked coldly.

“Yes. Wang Ke already made Commander Qi Long show his limit. Additionally, the round-robin fights that these people made him go through has already squeezed out the last bit of energy from Commander Qi Long. If you go up now, with your capabilities, you should be able to defeat him.” Yi Tiange spoke out his thoughts.

Ling Yi went silent and looked at Qi Long, who had already reached his limit yet wasn’t showing a hint of it on his expression; he was still determined to face his new opponent. His calmness and composure along with his unyielding expression moved Ling Yi’s heart…

“Captain, this is a good chance. If you win, Commander Ling said that he would give us the treatment of a frontline battle team. It’ll be very good for the growth of our battle team.” Rong Ziruo also agreed with Yi Tiange’s opinion.

Yan Wuyou smiled but didn’t say anything; however, his eyes showed that he also agreed. On the other side, the other person in the battle team, Tao Xiaotao, was concentrated on the fight and didn’t even notice that his teammates were in the middle of deciding something that could affect the future of their battle team. Of course, his teammates hadn’t intended on asking for his opinions in the first place. In the battle team, Tao Xiaotao’s opinions could be ignored.

Ling Yi finally spoke, his expression holding a hint of coldness and also a hint of pride. “I know that you guys are right, but I just don’t want to.”

Yi Tiange showed a hint of regret on his face as he looked at Rong Ziruo and silently sighed. His captain was good in every way, except that he was simply too righteous and didn’t want to do things that he thought to be unfair.

“I know that Commander Qi Long’s body is at the brink of collapse and now is the best chance to defeat him. But can’t you guys see that even though it’s so hard for him, Commander Qi Long still hasn’t shown a hint of weakness? He’s still remaining calm and composed, still fighting without giving any openings. He’s using his spiritual power to force himself to continue fighting in order to prove to us that he isn’t someone that will be defeated by despicable methods! He’s a real fighter. This type of fighter should be respected by us instead of becoming our stepping stone and being stomped on by us as we climb up the ladder. If I really did do something like this, I would feel very ashamed of myself. Even if we’d be treated like a front line battle team because of this, I wouldn’t be able to raise my head when facing the other members of Lingtian,” Ling Yi explained without hesitation.

Hearing Ling Yi’s righteousness in his words, Yi Tiange showed smirk on his face. It was this Ling Yi that had made them submit. Even if there were enough benefits, when Ling Yi believed that it shouldn’t be done, he would be able to withstand the temptation and stand his ground. Only this kind of captain would give them confidence that when they were faced with danger in the future, he wouldn’t abandon his comrades and would fight alongside them.

Yi Tiange smiled and replied, “Since you’ve already said so much, then we’ll definitely support you!”

Rong Ziruo and Yan Wuyou exchanged a look before they too nodded firmly and said, “Yes, we support you!”

Yi Tiange thought the same as they did as well. Although this kind of captain would lose their battle team many chances for promotion, the same benefits might cause them to end up in a dangerous situation. It was both a good and bad thing. Comparatively, they were more willing to accept a captain like Ling Yi. He made them feel confident with him backing them up.

In the arena, Qi Long had defeated another freshman. Tao Xiaotao’s eyes had returned from watching the fight and he heard the voices of his teammates coming from beside him. He turned around in confusion and asked with a confused expression, “What were you guys agreeing about?”

Yan Wuyou wore a smile as he held out his right hand to turn Tao Xiaotao’s face back towards. “Xiaotao, just watch. What we’re talking about has nothing do with you.”

Tao Xiaotao replied in dismay, “You guys always have things to say and never want to share it with me. I’m not going to ignore you guys and just watch. Oh, another person went up. How many does that make? I pity Commander Qi Long.”

It turned out that while they were talking, another freshman had challenged Qi Long. The bait that Ling Lan had set was sufficient to draw in the freshmen and make them continuously challenge Qi Long.

Seeing this, Ling Yi walked up to stand before the optical supercomputer. He was waiting for Qi Long to defeat this challenger, after which he would input in his own name for the evaluation battle.

“Who do you guys think the captain is going to challenge?” Yi Tiange asked Rong Ziruo while gazing at Ling Yi.

Rong Ziruo replied with a smile, “You and I both know. Do you really need to ask?”

“I don’t know, but I keep feeling that our captain is going to be disappointed this time,” Yi Tiange said as if in deep thought.

“What kind of person do you think Commander Ling Lan is?” Rong Ziruo suddenly asked.

Yi Tiange thought carefully before replying, “I saw him once during the award ceremony in last year’s Grand Mecha Tournament. He seemed to be very cold and cool at first glance. At second second glance, he seemed to be very dominant…”

“A few days ago, I caught a glimpse of Commander Ling Lan from afar.” Rong Ziruo’s smile had disappeared as he spoke. “He discovered me looking at him and looked me back in the eye.” A layer of sweat had actually formed on his forehead by the end of his words.

Rong Ziruo’s odd behavior made Yi Tiange’s expression become serious. The latter asked, “How was it?”

“That look of his made me feel as though my entire body had become frozen. In that instant, I thought I died,” Rong Ziruo replied with a pale face. “It was as though thousands of years had passed. By the time my consciousness returned, 10 minutes had already passed, and Commander Ling Lan was nowhere in sight.”

“He is someone that I’ve met who is the most dominant and strong out of everyone I know. Do you still remember the captain of the ship that took us to the First Men’s Military Academy? Our guess was that his level of Qi-Jin had peaked at the stage of Great Perfection. However, the feeling that the captain of that ship gave me was far weaker than that of Commander Ling Lan’s.”

“He’s really that strong!” Yi Tiange exclaimed with a serious expression.

“He’s really strong, unfathomably strong,” Rong Ziruo confirmed with a bitter smile. “Even I couldn’t believe my own senses, but at that time, that was how I really felt.”

“Captain, if you really choose Commander Ling Lan… I hope you won’t lose too badly,” Rong Ziruo said to himself. He was afraid that the captain might lose his confidence after being beaten. Truly strong people could not be pursued by others.

Hearing this, Yi Tiange went silent. He now hoped that someone could be sign up faster than his captain. Then at least his captain would be beaten a bit later by Commander Ling Lan.

In the arena, Qi Long had once again defeated a freshman who had challenged him. This time, however, he had spent almost 15 minutes in taking victory. Ever since Qi Long had defeated Wang Ke, every time he defeated a challenger, the time he took in doing so increased. This also meant that he truly had almost reached his limit. It was just that they didn’t know when he would completely collapse.

When the freshman jumped off the arena, Ling Yi, who was already ready, decisively pressed down on the confirm button for the evaluation.

“Ling Yi, a commoner from Puyi Scout Academy (Third-class planet, Planet Puzhe). Physical Skills: Qi-Jin Beginner Level. Mecha World Mecha Piloting Level: Advanced!” Ling Yi’s information was sent to the observation room through the optical supercomputer, and his data made the captains all gasp in disbelief. Compared to Wang Ke, Ling Yi surprised them even more. After all, Ling Yi did come from a third-class planet; it was very difficult for people from there to get into the First Men’s Military Academy. He had managed to get admitted to the First Men’s Military Academy, and even his capabilities ranked among the top of the freshmen.

“The opponent he has chosen is… Ling Lan! Boss!” Everyone in the observation room gasped in surprise. They didn’t think that someone would be so daring as to actually challenge the strongest individual in their mecha clan. Did he not know that Boss Lan’s physical skills was definitely the best in the entire military academy? He had defeated the previous top-ranked physical skills expert, Huo Zhenyu, in his first year. He was deemed as the most domineering individual in terms of physical skills throughout entire First Men’s Military Academy.

Ling Lan saw this notification and struck her armrest with great force. Luo Lang could clearly see that a crack had appeared in the armrest’s hard metallic surface. It looked Ling Yi’s accidental disruption in her plan had made Ling Lan angry. Qi Long had been about to reach his limit and could have been on the verge of death at any moment, but now it had all gone to waste.

As long as Qi Long was given time to rest, if she wanted to push him to his current state again, he would have to have many times the amount of people fight him to achieve the state. Not only that, she was afraid that once Qi Long calmed down, he would understand why she made such plans. Once he made preparations, it would be impossible to have him become unconscious and on the verge of death. In other words, the hardships that Qi Long had endured beforehand was all for naught.

At the same time, this also meant that it would be no longer possible to use fighting amongst themselves to help him reach his limit. Having prepared, if she had used the same method in the future, she would not be able to make Qi Long be on the verge of death. If Qi Long wanted to find a new way of advancing, he would need to find another shortcut. However, it was a known fact that shortcuts were discovered through luck while thinking on it day and night. To find a new way, she didn’t know how long he would have to wait and didn’t know whether that kind of chance would appear again.

This was why Ling Lan was angry. The hope that she saw was instantly destroyed by Ling Yi. Ling Yi interfering by making a challenge had completely messed up Ling Lan’s plan.

“I should have just choked him to death back then!” Ling Lan uttered, biting her lip.

Chapter 528: Why?

Inside her mindspace, Little Four rubbed his nose, rolled his eyes and didn’t say anything. His boss looked as though she was angry, but she didn’t have any killing intent. He wasn’t stupid enough to think that Boss was actually going to choke Ling Yi to death. Boss was more angry about Ling Yi messing up her plans; she had expected better from him.

Everyone in the observation room looked towards Ling Lan and waited for their boss’ next move. On the side, Ling Lan was looking at the arena with a blank expression as though she was thinking about something.

The moment the freshmen saw that Ling Yi had chosen Ling Lan, they were shaken. At the same time, this situation also made many freshmen become discontent. After all, with his interference in the middle, Qi Long would have time to rest. It wouldn’t be that easy for them to continue to take advantage of Qi Long.

However, even though many freshmen were dissatisfied with his decision, they couldn’t deny that they were all extremely excited as well. The examiner Ling Yi had chosen was Ling Lan and Ling Lan was the legendary existence in the First Men’s Military Academy. These freshmen definitely wanted to see the heroic figure of this legendary commander, and Ling Yi had given them the chance to do so.

The members of the Lingtian Mecha Clan around the arena were actually in an uproar.

“Sh*t, who is this freshman? He actually dares to challenge our boss. He’s really daring.” A Lingtian member, who respected Ling Lan greatly, spoke with an angry expression. From how he saw it, these freshmen didn’t even have the qualifications to challenge Boss Ling Lan.

“Is it because he’s underestimating our other captains and commanders?” someone asked.

“This punk is too cocky!”

Seeing the members of Lingtian Mecha Clan around them speak ill of Ling Yi, Yi Tiange knew the situation wasn’t going well; they had already made enemies with the senior members before they could even join the mecha clan. They were not in a very good position and could even be singled out by all the other members.

Yi Tiange immediately replied, “Our captain respects Commander Ling Lan very much. He was originally going to challenge Commander Qi Long, but Commander Qi Long has fought countless fights and his energy has been depleted. Our captain believes that challenging Commander Qi Long again wouldn’t be fair. That is why he chose Commander Ling Lan to ask for his advice in fighting.”

Yi Tiange words were very logical and made some of the Lingtian members calm down, but there were still others who remained very dissatisfied. They said, “You have to defeat our captains or other commanders before challenging our boss.”

“Also, are you guys underestimating our Commander Qi Long? Even though his energy has been depleted, defeating him wouldn’t be easy. Did he really need to have an expression of emapthy?” In terms of showing her physical skills, ever since Ling Lan fought in the arena battle in the very beginning, she never fought again in front of everyone. In these past two years, Qi Long was always the one to be challenged. In the eyes of Lingtian members, Qi Long was similarly undefeatable. Although Yi Tiange’s words were of good intentions and Ling Yi was being just, there was still a feeling that made them seem they were underestimating Qi Long. This made the other members feel very discontent.

Hearing all this, Yi Tiange couldn’t help but smile bitterly. If his own captain had chosen someone else, then maybe those of Lingtian would have seen him a better light. However, as luck would have it, his captain had chosen the spiritual leader of Lingtian, Ling Lan. This made these people’s opinion of his captain worsen. No matter how much more they explained themselves, they wouldn’t be able to turn those thoughts around.

At that moment, Qi Long was breathing heavily on the arena. He saw white flashes after being so exhausted and everything around him seemed to be really far from him. He was like a log waiting for the next freshman to come up the arena to challenge him…

Challenge our boss? Qi Long’s ears suddenly heard these words. What? Someone wanted to challenge Boss?

“If you want to challenge our boss, then defeat all the captains or other commanders first!” That was right. If Ling Yi didn’t defeat them, then how could he have to audacity to challenge the Boss?

“… Underestimating our Commander Qi Long… energy depleted to its limit… charity…” Underestimate? Charity? Qi Long’s eyes suddenly opened, following which his originally fading five senses returned to him and he saw the angry expression of the members below. A cool young man stood below the arena, standing there fearlessly. He stood tall and firm as though the mockery and anger from around him didn’t affect him at all.

“Is it him? He’s looking down on me because of my condition? And because of that he also thinks he can defeat Boss?” Qi Long’s eyes began to burn with rage. Everyone had their own friends and family. As far as the public was concerned, Ling Lan was a childhood friend that grew up with Qi Long, but in reality, the former was like a brother and father to him. Whether it be his physical skills or way of thinking, Ling Lan was the one who had taught him everything. He could accept any insults directed to him, but he couldn’t let anyone look down upon Ling Lan.

Right at that moment, Ling Lan had finally come to a decision. She was getting ready to defeat Ling Yi at lighting speed and continue her previous arrangement, but just then, in the arena, Qi Long’s entire aura suddenly changed.

Ling Lan frowned and looked towards Ling Yi, who was waiting for Qi Long to descend the arena. Her lips perked up as she said, “Making plans but the plans fail. If don’t plan, something amazing happens. Ling Yi… your luck isn’t bad! You’ve gotten away from danger!”

At that moment, Ling Yi suddenly felt his body become cold. Before he could figure out why, he heard Qi Long’s deep voice coming from the arena, asking, “Are you the one who wants to challenge our boss?”

Ling Yi nodded in response. The only reason he had worked so hard for so long was to let Young Master Lan see his potential, to have him judge whether or not he was qualified to stand behind him.

Qi Long suddenly burst out in hysterical laughter. “Hahaha, if you want to challenge our boss then defeat me first. Otherwise, you’re not qualified!” The sentence with the words “not qualified” was roared out, his voice exploding throughout the entire training dojo. It actually made a few people who had lower levels in physical skills become shaken.

Ling Yi looked at Qi Long’s red eyes and immediately frowned. He suddenly felt that the current Qi Long was very dangerous. His aura was very different compared to when he was fighting others.

“Qi Long looks kind of odd.” Han Jijyun, who knew Qi Long best, had a change in expression.

Ling Lan’s expression tensed up and she quietly agreed, “Yes.”

Although Qi Long was asking for a fight, Ling Yi didn’t go into the arena. The one he had challenged was Ling Lan, and thus they could only wait for her answer.

At that moment, a cold sharp voice sounded out in response to Qi Long’s outburst. “Let’s do what Qi Long wants!”

Ling Lan’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t think that Qi Long was so trusted by Young Master Lan. Young Master Lan actually let Qi Long interfere and fight. After leaving Young Master Lan for more than ten years, did the person who was now standing behind him this man?

The intent to fight flashed in Ling Yi’s eyes. “Since he wants to fight, then we’ll fight!” He moved quickly and jumped onto the arena. He said, “Then Commander Qi Long, please advise me.”

“Fight!” Following the signal to fight, the fighting spirit from Qi Long’s body poured out and almost force Ling Yi into the ground. The aura pouring out of him had also suddenly caused a transparent light barrier to appear on the outer edges of the arena.

Ling Yi expression changed drastically. The Qi-Jin in Qi Long’s body was quickly moving about. This definitely wasn’t the intermediate level of Qi-Jin. The physical skills instructor at his Scout Academy was only at the intermediate level of Qi-Jin. There wasn’t an existence of this type of aura that made people unable to raise their heads.

“Is it the Advanced level of Qi-Jin? Or even higher?” Ling Yi thought to himself as he endured with great effort.

The audience below the arena all wore expressions of confusion at the appearance of the light barrier. Some of the older cadets suddenly thought of something and their expressions showed pleasant surprise. Could it be that Commander Qi Long had already reached “that” level?

“Is it aura? When did Qi Long learn how to use an aura?” Luo Lang wondered aloud with surprise. Those who had previously received a beating at Ling Lan’s hand all knew what it was. They had been pressured to the ground by Ling Lan’s aura before. However, the day before, Qi Long clearly didn’t know how to use an aura.

Ling Lan’s eyes gleamed. She didn’t expect Ling Yi’s provocation to push Qi Long to the verge of death. It had actually accidentally allowed him to learn how to use an aura. Of course, this type of aura that only came from Qi Long’s fighting spirit wasn’t the actual aura from later stages of Qi-Jin. It could only be considered a prototype and needed strong emotions to kickstart.

Ling Lan already felt that it was a bit unexpected. She couldn’t help but understand why it had happened. Qi Long had been stuck at the advanced level of Qi-Jin for a very long time. He had only needed to progress just a bit more to advance into the later stages of Qi-Jin. Having sense the prototype aura earlier on was also a possibility.

Everyone stared at the arena. Even though they all had their own questions, at that moment, they didn’t want to think too much into the details.

Even though Qi Long’s aura was a prototype, for Ling Yi, it was strong enough. He endured with great effort and felt that he was going to get pressured by this shapeless pressure.

Ling Lan knew that if this continued, his final outcome would be being forced into the floor and laying there. Ling Yi had trained his physical skills long and hard for more than ten years and he was being watched by Ling Lan right now, so how could he just surrender like this? He bit his lip hard and put all of his body’s Qi-Jin into his two feet. He stomped on the ground and his entire body flew towards Qi Long like a cannonball. He clenched his right hand into a fist and launched a punch towards Qi Long’s head.

He had to attack Qi Long and interfere with the release of his aura!

“Bam!” Qi Long raised his right hand and blocked Ling Yi’s punch. The large aura began to spread, causing the originally dimmed transparent light barrier to brighten up once again.

Ling Yi was sent flying by this force. He somersaulted in mid-air and landed firmly on the arena. Qi Long didn’t move at all. In terms of the power of the hits just now, Ling Yi’s was weaker than Qi Long’s by a mile. However, it was because of Ling Yi’s attack that Qi Long’s aura’s pressure was cut off. The aura in the arena was instantly gone, making Ling Yi breathe a sigh of relief. He knew he had temporarily gotten through a crisis.

“That’s too bad. Qi Long’s aura stops once he gets interfered,” Luo Lang remarked with a face of pity for Qi Long. If he could continue to pressure Ling Yi, then Ling Yi wouldn’t have any chance to defeat Qi Long at all.

“It wasn’t easy for Qi Long to get to this point since he just comprehended how to use his aura.” Ling Lan knew clearly that using this kind of power would greatly burden the body. Qi Long being able to endure for this long was already a performance that was sufficiently amazing.

Luo Lang knew that he was forcing his body, but it was just that he worried that Qi Long’s energy wasn’t enough. If he could have defeated his opponent with his aura, that would have been the best possible outcome. This was why he felt regret.

No longer under the pressure of Qi Long’s aura, Ling Yi began to attack again. He was afraid that if he hesitated even for a second, his opponent would use that shapeless aura again. Ling Yi didn’t know that that aura just now was only accidentally turned on by Qi Long. If he wanted to use it again, he may not be successful. Qi Long, who couldn’t fully control this ability yet, would need to use a lot of time to train and study if he wanted to completely control it.

Qi Long saw his opponent come towards him with an attack and raised his fist to block. Qi Long’s way of using physical skills was to attack. He favored using offense to go against offense and using attacks as defensive moves. On his side, Ling Yi was afraid that Qi Long would release that aura of his if he got a chance, and thus he didn’t dare to back off. Because of this, the fight in the arena had now become a true hand-to-hand combat. The two of them exchanged punches, each thrown fist landing a blow on the other’s body.

“Bam! Bam! Bam!” The sound of intense collisions rang in the air, which made the audience members below the arena feel that their own bodies were hurting. However, the two people in the arena before had indifferent expressions, as though the body that was being hit was not their own but someone else’s.

“These two are both ruthless people,” some of the audience couldn’t help but remark. If they were the ones up there, they didn’t know how long they would have been able to endure this kind of battle.

“Do the two of them not feel any pain?” someone asked with surprise.

“How could they not feel pain? It’s just that their endurance is really strong and they don’t show that they are in pain,” someone responded.

“Looks like Ling Yi knows the method that the Ling family uses for physical training. I’m not sure who gave it to him. Was it Chamberlain Ling Qin or Ling Yu?” Ling Lan frowned. However, no matter if it was Ling Qin or Ling Yu, it meant that they didn’t give up on Ling Yi.

“It was Chamberlain Ling Qin. I remember that when Boss was in your second year at the scout academy, Chamberlain Ling Qin asked you whether to look after Ling Yi a bit. I remember your reply was that he could give Ling Yi some special treatment as long as it didn’t bring about danger to the safety of the Ling family.” Little Four suddenly appeared and answered Ling Lan’s question.

“Right, I remember now.” Little Four’s reminder made Ling Lan remember that part of her memory. She had allowed Ling Qin to be fully responsible, but she didn’t expect that Ling Qin’s expectation of Ling Yi was so high. He had even given Ling Yi the Ling family’s method of physical training.

“It’s also because of this physical training that made Ling Yi attend school a year later than he should have attended,” Little Four added.

Ling Lan finally understood why Ling Yi was two years behind her when he was only one year younger than her. Physical training was good, but he needed one year’s time to train. She didn’t know how Ling Qin had managed to convince Ling Yi to make him give up entering a scout academy in his first year.

It should be known that cadets who entered a scout academy after the first year would not be able to enter the best scout academies regardless of whether they possessed excellent talent. Some late cadets would even be put into third-rate scout academies. This act was to punish those cadets who didn’t apply on time.

The only reason why it was so strict was that most cadets would become soldiers in the future. Soldiers had to obey all rules and orders, and the military was especially even more strict when it came to time management. It should be known that arriving later than a minute on the battlefield could cause the entire battle to be lost. No one could take that kind of burden, and thus the military had to start placing restrictions while cadets were children and make them understand the importance of rules and the importance of time.

“No wonder he was studying at that third-rate planet.” Everything was now clear and could be explained. Although Ling Lan had allowed Ling Yi to leave, she didn’t want to completely destroy the latter’s future. The sympathy that Chamberlain Ling Qin had shown for Ling Yi wouldn’t have him be sent to a third-rate planet. The worst would only be a second-rate planet.

After a brief bout of intense fighting, the now separated two people were both facing each as they trembled. Ling Yi breathed heavily as he felt an incomparable pain in his body. Although he had used the Ling family’s special method of physical training, Qi Long’s punches were fierce and heavy and still wounded him.

However… Ling Yi looked towards Qi Long in front of him. At that moment, Qi Long was hunched over and his body was swaying about. Others perhaps could not see clearly, but Ling Yi could see very clearly that there was a puddle of water below Qi Long’s feet; it was the sweat from Qi Long’s body. It was flowing down and instantly made an entire area wet.

Qi Long’s endurance had really reached its maximum limit. If he didn’t have just a bit of Qi-Jin holding him up, it was possible he wouldn’t have even had the energy to stand. Although he could stand, only a gentle hit was needed to completely push down that swaying body of his.

“If I defeat you, then I’ll have the necessary qualifications to challenge Young Master Lan, right?” Ling Yi thought. “Although I don’t want to take advantage of the situation, I will take it in order to fight against Young Master Lan. Sorry, Commander Qi Long!” Ling Yi shouted. He let go of the shame in his mind, kicked off the ground and pounced onto Qi Long. He once again threw a punch straight at Qi Long.

Qi Long did not even have to energy to open his eyes at that moment; he couldn’t feel anything around him. He felt as if his entire being had become engulfed in darkness. He even felt that he didn’t even have the energy to breathe. Only his heart was beating intensely as though it was going to jump out of his chest…

“Dum, dum, dum…” The beating sound of his heart became faster and faster. Qi Long felt that his heart couldn’t handle the pressure from the beating and felt like it was going to explode…

“Am I going to die?” Unable to breathe and feeling his heart pressured so much that it seemed on the verge of exploding, Qi Long really thought he was going to die. He couldn’t even feel his body. It was as though his everything had disappeared.

“Could it be that I’ve lost my fight against Ling Yi?” At that moment, Qi Long was very curious as to why he wasn’t worried whether he was dead or not. Instead, he was thinking about whether he had lost to Ling Yi or not.

“If I lose, then will Boss have to come down?”

“Sh*t!” Qi Long roared angrily. This was a disgrace to Boss and it was all because he was useless. If he had just a bit more endurance, there would have been no way for him to lose, right?

“Why did you exhaust us of all our energy and then let us be examiners? Why, Boss?” Qi Long shouted begrudgingly.

“Because you guys aren’t strong enough!” Ling Lan’s cold voice suddenly exploded beside Qi Long’s ears.

After hearing this voice, Qi Long’s dark world suddenly became enveloped in light. He stood in the mid-air and looked below him. There he saw green fields, wherein laid countless hidden buildings. When the wind blew and the trees shook, the buildings could be seen just a little bit.

At that moment, a few hover cars suddenly flew down from above and stopped in front of a huge ball-shaped building. Seven or eight young men came out of the hover cars. They each had their own personalities. There were serious ones, and there were also ones who smiled. There were feminine ones, and then there were masculine ones as well. There were happy-go-lucky ones, and then there were cool ones.

The leader was a cool, young man. He seemed to feel something and turned to shoot a cold glare at Qi Long, which almost froze him.

“Boss, what’s wrong?” a young man behind the leader asked in confusion.

The leader turned around indifferently and replied, “Nothing. Let’s go into the fighting dojo.”

“Yes!” Everyone followed the cool, young man and walked into the large ball-shaped building.

Qi Long knew who these people were. They were Boss Ling Lan and his other friends. That young man who had asked Ling Lan what had happened was Qi Long himself.

This was Qi Long’s memory, but they had gone to the fighting dojo many times in the past. Qi Long didn’t know when this particular episode had occurred out of the many occasions they had gone. What surprised Qi Long was this—how could he be inside his own memories and be watching like a bystander?

Ling Lan and the others entered the fighting dojo, but they didn’t go to watch any fighting competitions. Instead, they used prestige credits to rent out a private training dojo. They all walked in and then Ling Lan ordered all them to fight each other. Qi Long walked into the high-pressure chamber in the training dojo to train under high gravity. He set the chamber at 16-fold gravity just like he had before.

Qi Long and the others didn’t notice that they could almost take on a 4-fold degree of gravity, while Qi Long could take on 8-fold. Qi Long had even taken on 16-fold gravity before. His best time was a bit more than 3 minutes, which wasn’t as long as the time that Boss Ling Lan could endure.

Qi Long and the others fought in the dojo without a care in the world. They did not discover that as time went on, the 16-fold gravity had become 24-fold unbeknownst to anyone. Then it went from 24-fold to 28-fold. The numbers increased drastically until in the end, it stopped at 64-fold gravity.

During that time, Qi Long had just been watching the fights and had only unintentionally looked at the screen for the gravity pod. However, he didn’t look closely at the numbers that were changing on the screen of the gravity pod. The Qi Long that was in the air watching all this thought to himself, “Maybe I just glanced at those numbers for a second and just ignored them. Now that I’m looking into my own memory as a bystander, I have discovered this.”

It turned out that the pressure their boss could take wasn’t the 16-fold they had previously thought. It was 64-fold instead. Qi Long sighed. “Although we knew Boss is really strong, we didn’t that he was this strong.”

The numbers just showed the gravity was at 64-fold. This continued for around 2 to 3 minutes before the number suddenly began to decrease. In the end, it became 16-fold.

“Bam.” The gravity pod was pushed open. The sound alarmed Qi Long and the others who had been fighting on the side. They turned around to look, but they didn’t see Boss come out. Qi Long walked over and took a peek in Boss’ direction.

Ling Lan suddenly opened her eyes, and the sharp expression on her face made Qi Long unable to look her in the eyes. He quickly stood up straight and waited for his boss to come out.

Ling Lan suddenly grabbed on to the side of the gravity pod and sat up. She paused for a second before jumping from the pod and landing firmly on the ground.

The Qi Long in his memory didn’t see very clearly, but the bystander Qi Long saw everything clearly. His boss had a thin layer of sweat all around his forehead, while his two hands that had held on to the pod’s door were trembling. His landing, that had appeared to be firm, had made him shake a bit uncontrollably. This kind of behavior was what was expected of the Boss. It seemed that the 64-fold pressure had completely exhausted all of Boss’ energy. It was just that at the time, Qi Long hadn’t thought too deeply about it and neglected it carelessly.

Actually, he shouldn’t blame himself for not figuring it out. The display on the screen for the pod still displayed 16-fold pressure, so logically he would think it was 16-fold. That kind of pressure wasn’t even enough to affect Boss. Thus, the small change that Boss had shown was naturally overlooked by them.

“Let’s challenge Boss to a fight now since he’s undergone 16-fold gravity and had his energy exhausted a bit.” Luo Lang saw that Ling Lan had come out from the gravity pod and excitedly made a suggestion.

“Group battle?” Qi Long, who was standing beside Ling Lan, asked.

“Yeah, group battle. Boss versus everyone else.” Luo Lang nodded in agreement. His suggestion was also agreed upon by the others.

At that moment, the bystander Qi Long suddenly realized it. This was his memory from two years ago; it was their first time fighting against Boss as a group and at the same time, the last time as well.

The bystander Qi Long became worried. He clearly knew the answer his boss would give, but he still couldn’t help but yell out, “Boss, don’t agree with us.”

“Alright!” Ling Lan replied plainly. Qi Long’s heart skipped a beat. “You already know you have no energy left. Why would you agree to it?”

Ling Lan slowly walked into the fighting dojo. At the time, Qi Long and the others thought Boss was giving them more pressure by moving into the dojo slowly, but now Qi Long knew that it was because Boss hadn’t had the energy to walk fast. Every step seemed easy but was actually very painful. Qi Long saw Ling Lan’s hands, covered by his sleeves, clench together very tightly. He could even see that with every step Boss took, his sleeves were trembling…

Chapter 529: Not Worthy!

However, the Qi Long, Luo Lang and the others from back then hadn’t discovered all the signs. They saw that their boss was standing calmly in the middle of the fighting dojo. Before he could stand firm, they all excitedly pounced on him… If they waited until he was ready, the boss being so strong, their odds of winning would be zero.

“Boss, eat my fist!” Luo Lang was the first to pounce onto Ling Lan. His strong punch ruthlessly flew towards Ling Lan as he shouted.

Ling Lan didn’t wear any expression. She raised her right arm, performed a counter spin attack and cleanly pushed back Luo Lang.

But before she could take a breather, the attacks of the others all arrived…

“Bam, bam, bam!” Following the consecutive sounds of fists colliding, Qi Long and the others were sent flying by Ling Lan one by one.

Qi Long, who was in control of his backwards flight, was puzzled. Boss’ blocks today were not as strong as before. However, the suspicion he felt back then vanished the next second. Perhaps Boss was being merciful and actually fighting them for real. At this thought, Qi Long’s fighting spirit rose even more.

“Haha. Boss, your killing intent doesn’t seem to be enough today.” Luo Lang, who landed firmly, had a bright gleam in his eyes. He had also sensed what Qi Long had felt, thought the same thoughts as Qi Long had. Almost everyone in Ling Lan’s battle team believed that Boss’ pressuring force today was meant for them train well. These kinds of opportunities were very scarce, which made Luo Lang become even more excited.

If Qi Long was a combat junkie, then Luo Lang would be a combat maniac. The difference between them was that Qi Long fought fairly and justly, whereas Luo Lang would do anything once he went berserk. As expected, as soon as Luo Lang stopped talking, his expression suddenly darkened then showed a hint of insanity…

At that moment, Luo Lang made Qi Long feel a bit of danger. He knew clearly that Luo Lang had most likely activated his innate talent. He just didn’t know which personality Luo Lang had activated.

The difference between them was that Luo Lang only needed to activate his innate talent by himself. With Boss whipping Qi Long, his Animal Instinct would activate as long as it entered combat mode. Of course, he still didn’t have full control of this power. If he wanted to use Animal Instinct to its full potential, then he would need to be able to activate it himself.

Qi Long used the activated Animal Instinct and focused on Boss. What he had to do now was to keep fighting and then let his Animal Instinct find the best time to attack.

The change in Luo Lang’s aura was also felt by Xie Yi and the others. Their blood all began to boil. Xie Yi laughed and said, “We can’t lose to that punk Luo Lang…” Right as he finished, his face became stern. Purple arcs of lightning suddenly appeared from his two hands. Those purple arcs of lightning, along with the chaos, made the entire atmosphere of the training dojo become wild.

As he activated his innate talent, Xie Yi’s face began to twitch and frown as if he was enduring pain. Although he hadn’t activated his innate talent ever since Boss had given some pointers, he had used the electricity it generated to train his body, and that training had brought him some small results. Unfortunately, the amount of time he had trained for was too short. While he wouldn’t end up electrocuting himself and fainting like before, the pain that he felt when he came out of this state was even more tormenting…

“If we want to go a few rounds with Boss, how can we do it without giving it our all?” Lin Zhong-qing said quietly. His presence began to disappear. A few seconds later, Lin Zhong-qing’s very being had become so transparent that if Qi Long and the others didn’t look at him, they actually couldn’t sense his presence—it was as though he had vanished into thin air.

It turned out Lin Zhong-qing had also activated his innate talent, Concealment. He was like an assassin, silently hiding in the darkness and waiting for the opportunity to kill.

Han Jijyun stared at Ling Lan. With the help of his innate talent, Heaven’s Strategy, he began to quickly calculate data in his mind. It was actually more than four times the amount than normal. Everyone gave their all and didn’t hold anything back. They wanted to see their boss’ real potential. At the same time, they wanted to know what level they were at as well. They wanted to know if they could get to the level of Boss Ling Lan who was undefeatable in their hearts.

“Since you guys are this serious, then I need to get serious as well.” Ling Lan looked around at the comrades who were surrounding her. She extended her right hand and for the first time, she took a defensive stance in front of her comrades.

Ling Lan’s focus moved Qi Long and the others, but at the same time, they were also very excited. Did Boss’ fully focused attitude mean that they had grown to the point where their boss had to be cautious against them? Had they gotten closer to their boss?

The Qi Long in mid-air saw all the excited faces of everyone. His excited face from two years ago now seemed like a joke to me. Qi Long smiled bitterly. They weren’t even close to Boss’ level. It was just that they had come across a time when Boss was at his weakest, and this was what had caused them to have this kind of illusion.

However, Qi Long couldn’t help but admit that that illusion was very nice. It made them mistakenly think that they had almost caught up with Boss’ footsteps. Thus, they worked and trained even harder. Back then, they always thought that if they trained harder than Boss, they would be able to get closer to him. Though afterwards, they discovered that Boss was always standing in front of them. No matter how much training and hard work they put in, they couldn’t catch up. However, those hardships had already been remembered in their hearts and would never be forgotten or given up on.

Now that Qi Long thought about it, had their training really been that hard? No matter how hard it was, it probably wasn’t even comparable to Boss’ all-out training method. Qi Long now knew clearly that since Boss had used the gravity chamber to exhaust his own energy this time, he must have used it the same way in all the other times. Every time Boss trained, he pushed himself to the limit. But what about them? They only trained until they were exhausted. That wasn’t even comparable to how their boss had trained.

Perhaps, they really didn’t even come close to their boss in terms of strength. Rather, they were becoming further and further from him.

“Boss, although I knew that torturing us was for our own good, I just couldn’t understand. I thought that I was already strong enough. Even if I continued to train, I wouldn’t become another person like Boss due to the limitations of my talent. Since it is like this, then why were you beating us to our death like this? Sometimes, although I didn’t refuse your training, I still felt resentment…” Qi Long’s eyes couldn’t help but tear up.

“But now I understand!

“Boss, you have such great strength because you also used this method of limit training.

“I hope that we’ll be able to follow in your footsteps. You hope that we’ll be able to become stronger and be able to walk with you to the end of the road!

“You… hope that we won’t someday lose our life!

“We neglected to see that your strength didn’t just come out of thin air. We even got used to your care!

“We never paid attention to the hard work you put in. Your pain, your feelings…

“We took it all for granted!

“We’re not worthy to be your followers!

“Not worthy!”

After thinking deeply about the past, Qi Long found that they had taken what Boss had given them for granted and didn’t even think of returning the favor! They hadn’t understood the real meaning behind Boss ruthlessly training them and actually held resentment for it! They hadn’t cared about what Boss was thinking and let his care go to waste. What had they done that made them worthy of being Boss’ underlings?

Qi Long asked himself this question. Every time their souls were whipped, he became emotional and felt resentment. It turned out, however, that he owed Boss so much, and hurt him so much too…

Qi Long’s tears uncontrollably ran down his face and fell into the air…

In the arena, Qi Long’s previously closed eyes suddenly showed regret and sorrow!

At that moment, Ling Yi’s punch was just about to hit Qi Long’s face, but he suddenly felt as if his fist was being obstructed by an invisible force and couldn’t get close to Qi Long.

Ling Yi was surprised. “What’s happening?” Ling Yi had never battled against someone at the Refinement stage of Qi-Jin. Although his instructor had told him about Qi-Jin beforehand, he didn’t know that Qi-Jin could be switched between attacking and defending.

“It’s an Aura Shield!” Ling Lan’s eyes gleamed. Aura Shields were a type of Qi-Jin where the shape of the aura was changed. It changed the outside force from an attack mode to a defensive mode. Originally, Qi Long would have needed to advance to the Refinement stage of Qi-Jin to control it. However, Qi Long hadn’t actually advanced into the Refinement stage yet, yet he was able to skip a stage and use it. This was enough proof that in terms of physical skills, Qi Long’s talent was unbelievable.

“If I didn’t have the learning space and only had just my talent, I wouldn’t have been that much better off than Qi Long,” Ling Lan murmured to herself. She didn’t feel any resentment, only infinite happiness.

Having the learning space was her luck. If she also had unbelievable talent, Ling Lan wouldn’t have been able to hold it together. She would definitely have made everyone else become envious of her. Ling Lan believed that this was the best. All of her comrades all had exceptional talent, while she had the learning space to make up for her own dullness. With this, everyone could grow up together and move forward together. This was the best kind of happiness.

Ling Lan looked joyfully at Qi Long who was in the arena. She knew that Qi Long had been pushed to the verge of death. It was the same as when she had exhausted her energy in the gravity chamber and then reached an impasse after fighting with her comrades. They had pushed her to the verge of death and helped her gain an opportunity to break through. She went from 50% to 100% into the Domain stage and became a real Domain user.

Now, through her plans, using what she had learned from when she broke through, she had made Qi Long successfully reach this moment and find that slim chance to break through.

Ling Yi’s attack was blocked, but he naturally didn’t want to give up this opportunity. He shouted and wildly gathered Qi-Jin in his right fist. He prepared to strike the invisible barrier that was obstructing him.

Qi Long suddenly opened his eyes, a gleam of light flashing across them, and then Ling Yi felt a strong force come towards him. He couldn’t control his body and was sent flying. Although Ling Yi was surprised by this sudden change, he didn’t become flustered. He turned around in mid-air and landed firmly on the ground of the arena. However, at that moment, he was already more than 10 meters away from Qi Long. It seemed that the sudden energy that Qi Long had brought out was very strong. Ling Yi needed around 10 meters to stop himself from that force.

Ling Yi was now far from Qi Long. This scene made the audience and those in the observation room clearly see how Qi Long appeared at that moment. Although Qi Long had fully opened his eyes, they were empty and without expression. It proof enough that the Qi Long had lost consciousness at that moment.

However, tears were trickling from those dark, emotionless eyes of his, running down his face and onto the ground…

One drop! Two drops! Three drops! Countless drops… a puddle of tears was quickly forming under his feet in the arena!