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 a.s.sa.s.sin, 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 att.i.tude 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 s.p.a.ce 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 s.p.a.ce 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 s.p.a.ce 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 impa.s.se 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 fl.u.s.tered. 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!