Chapter 644: Where Did This Stray Dog Come From? Barking So Ugly

An hour later, the routine meeting ended.

Hearing Ling Shuang returned to her office to continue working, while Xu Jingming headed back to his own villa.

"Welcome back, Head Coach."

The smart prompt tone sounded, and the villa's main door slowly opened to both sides.

The moment Xu Jingming stepped inside, he saw Xia Lan sitting on the sofa in the first-floor living room.

"Jingming, you're back?"

Xia Lan wasn't surprised by Xu Jingming's return — after all, she had already seen him at the building earlier.

But what struck her as odd was that before Xu Jingming entered the building, he had clearly been wearing a black combat suit stained with blood.

So why had he changed into loose training clothes after coming back?

"Good thing you're here — I happen to have a question I want to ask you." Xu Jingming walked over with a smile.

Tomorrow, people from the Holy Spirit Martial Hall would be coming over, and besides Head Coach George, there would surely be some students as well.

Among the students, there would surely be a segment for mutual exchange and sparring.

But he had no idea at all which experts were in the elite training camp, so he could only ask Xia Lan.

Besides receiving Hearing Ling Shuang's private guidance, Xia Lan usually trained at the public training room.

She naturally knew every strong fighter in the training camp by heart, and told Xu Jingming all of them.

"Thanks. Once the Holy Spirit Martial Hall matter is wrapped up tomorrow, I'll treat you to a meal."

Having gotten a clear picture, Xu Jingming expressed his thanks.

"Sure."

Xia Lan's eyes lit up, she quickly nodded in agreement, then grew a little curious:

"You're not going to the Wilderness Zone anymore?"

"I'll rest for a few days. I'll go back after New Year's Eve and the Spring Festival." Xu Jingming replied with a smile.

Today was February 16th; the Great Xia New Year's Eve fell on February 19th.

Even if he was going into the Wilderness Zone, a day or two wouldn't make much difference.

After all, New Year's Eve was all about reunion — he could take the chance to treat Teacher Ling to a meal.

And also gather with his aunt and Song Qiuyun and the others in the virtual world.

"Fair enough." Xia Lan nodded in agreement as well.

Other festivals could be skipped, but New Year's Eve and the Spring Festival were different.

On the second floor of the villa, Thorn Sword Grass was rooted in thick black soil, continuously absorbing nutrients.

The entire living room resembled a primeval forest, full of Thorn Sword Grass stems and sword-shaped leaves.

Rustle, rustle, rustle~~

The moment Xu Jingming came upstairs, the Thorn Sword Grass shook its branches and leaves, as if welcoming him home.

"Eva, when will the Thorn Sword Grass be able to advance to seventh-tier?"

Looking at the Thorn Sword Grass, which had clearly grown far more lush than before he left, Xu Jingming couldn't help asking aloud.

During this period, in order to let the Thorn Sword Grass grow as quickly as possible,

he hadn't brought it along into the Wilderness Zone, leaving it here at the villa to be cultivated.

"About another fifty days or so."

Eva replied, "This growth rate is decent, but the Daffodil Milk used for cultivation is almost used up — you'll need to restock soon."

"No problem. Just place the order with Eileen — only the Daffodil Milk, no need for thick black soil."

As for thick black soil, Xu Jingming still had several dozen cubic meters of it in his spatial ring.

More than enough for the Thorn Sword Grass to smoothly grow to seventh-tier.

After checking on the Thorn Sword Grass's cultivation, Xu Jingming sat down on the sofa.

He opened his system panel and looked at the Ability Points column.

【Ability Points】:

650,000 ability points!

This was Xu Jingming's harvest over the past month, which also included another stint on Moben's frontline battlefield.

The entire system panel was covered in plus signs.

But unfortunately, the most important abilities and tiers still couldn't be allocated points.

"Abilities I can accept — going from SS-tier to SSS-tier, who knows how many ability points that'll take.

But my level still can't be allocated points."

Xu Jingming's brow furrowed slightly.

Going from lower sixth-tier to mid sixth-tier had cost him 510,000 ability points.

Logically speaking, 650,000 ability points should be about enough to allocate points by now.

"Should be soon. Next time I enter the Wilderness Zone, I should be able to advance to upper sixth-tier."

Letting out a long breath, Xu Jingming stepped into the bedroom.

Although it was still early — just past seven in the evening —

he had just left the Wilderness Zone and was in desperate need of a good rest.

"Teacher Xu, could you guide me on practicing this combat technique?"

"Coach Xu, I heard you've been in the Wilderness Zone lately — is that true?"

"Coach Xu, are you free tonight? Can I treat you to a meal?"

"......"

The next day, in preparation for the arrival of the Holy Spirit Martial Hall.

Xu Jingming, for the first time in a while, put on the Lei Ting Martial Hall instructor uniform and appeared in the training hall on the second floor of the martial hall.

The moment he showed up, he was swarmed by the trainees.

There were trainees of the lightning element who wanted to ask for guidance on combat skill cultivation.

There were those curious about where Xu Jingming had been lately, and some young maidens who boldly invited him to dinner.

Among them was Ailaina, who had only entered the training camp a month ago.

This princess of Xilan, rather than being interested in the training camp, was more interested in Xu Jingming.

She grabbed Xia Lan and stuck close to Xu Jingming's side, never leaving once.

Crackle, crackle—

Golden Lei Guang flickered as Xu Jingming ignored the gossip and invitations, focusing entirely on demonstrating combat techniques for the trainees.

He was, after all, the head coach—he ought to teach them a thing or two, no?

As for George and the others from the Holy Spirit Martial Hall, since he already knew what sort of people they were, there was naturally no need to wait around in the hall to greet them.

It wasn't until two hours later, at 11 a. m., that someone came up to notify them that the people from the Holy Spirit Martial Hall had arrived.

"Let's go. Let's see what sort of trash these people actually are, to have the nerve to bring the media along."

The wild and resplendent golden Lei Ting receded as Xu Jingming took the lead toward the elevator.

Behind him followed the elite training camp's group of trainees.

"Sh*t! Xu Jingming didn't even come to greet us personally! What the hell is this Lei Ting Martial Hall doing!"

"We're the ones they invited, and yet they're treating us with such disrespect."

"I was planning to hold back, but judging by the situation, during the sparring exchange later, we have to beat the crap out of them!"

"..."

In the first-floor lounge of Lei Ting Martial Hall, the Holy Spirit Martial Hall's group had already arrived.

Behind them followed a batch of media personnel carrying all sorts of professional-looking filming equipment.

Among them, several white men were loudly protesting in English, clearly dissatisfied.

George, the team-leading instructor, was tall with a high, straight nose—a textbook Western appearance.

But faced with his trainees' grumbling, he didn't stop them; instead, he shook his head toward Catherine beside him and said:

"The people of Great Xia really are barbaric—they don't even know the basic courtesy of a welcome."

Catherine merely blinked and said nothing.

Based on her understanding of Xu Jingming, he was not an impolite person.

This situation seemed more like a deliberate cold-shoulder toward them.

But then again, bringing so many news media along made it plain they were here to challenge the hall.

It would be strange if the other side showed them a pleasant face!

Of course,

none of this had anything to do with her.

She wasn't a member of the Holy Spirit Martial Hall—she had only come this time to watch the show.

Just as the white men's protests were showing signs of escalating, a puzzled voice suddenly rang out from afar:

"Where did these stray dogs come from, barking so hideously?"

"Hm?"

George, who had been speaking with Catherine, narrowed his eyes at once and looked up toward the front.

He saw Xu Jingming—tall, faintly radiating an oppressive aura—leading a group of people in their direction.