Chapter 651

Crackling—

In the second-floor training room of the villa, golden lightning flashed and danced through the air.

Xu Jingming sat cross-legged on the ground in silence, radiating a terrifying sense of pressure.

"He's leveled up again? What a monster."

Eva, the little girl with twin pigtails, floated midair, her cute face filled with astonishment.

Sixth-rank upper at age twenty!

Even in her vast Second Civilization-era database, this was unprecedented.

"The Yuan Energy revival has only just entered its peak phase, yet S-class has already achieved such rapid advancement."

"In another two years, when Yuan Energy concentration rises again, who knows how far S-class will go."

As an intelligent lifeform,

Eva knew certain rare celestial treasures could forcibly accelerate an adept's breakthrough speed to an astonishing degree.

But during the nearly year she had followed Xu Jingming, she had never seen him use any such celestial treasure or pill.

Under these conditions, maintaining such a rapid breakthrough pace was simply unbelievable!

Of course,

those celestial treasures carried severe side effects.

After the drug's effects faded, one could virtually never break through the bottleneck again, remaining stuck at that level for life.

After several more minutes, all the lightning retracted into his body, and Xu Jingming slowly opened his eyes.

A powerful aura instantly spread throughout the entire training room.

If Xia Lan, a fifth-rank adept, were to burst in now, he would be left powerless, unable to activate his ability at all.

"Successfully broke through to sixth-rank upper! Both attributes increased by over four thousand points!"

He could feel the immense energy now contained within his body.

If he fought George again, just one Thunder Extreme Form Thunder Art strike would suffice.

To completely crush George under his SSS-rank combat technique!

"First, test my combat power—see if I can now handle an eighth-rank Master Zongshi of A-class."

He took out a neural helmet from his space ring and, filled with anticipation, quickly entered the virtual arena.

"Shocking! Holy Spirit Dojo's S-class called a stray dog?"

"One-sided annihilation! Holy Spirit Dojo brings shame upon itself!"

"The Mighty Lei Di! The prodigy remains dominant even after the tournament!"

"Where is George's public confession? We've been waiting!"

"..."

The supercity Mo Ben, spanning over six hundred thousand square kilometers, housed no fewer than ten thousand dojos.

Normally, reports of such dojo battles would generate zero ripple.

But Holy Spirit Dojo and Lei Ting Dojo were both top-tier dojos.

And Xu Jingming was the dual champion of the Prodigy Tournament—naturally drawing attention!

Thus, after a single afternoon's fermentation,

the morning match between George and Xu Jingming finally topped Mo Ben's online trending list.

The media didn't exaggerate.

They simply recounted George's actions verbatim—and instantly drew a storm of criticism.

"Lei Ting Dojo invited you over for exchange—why did you bring so many reporters?"

"Exactly! Is this a sparring exchange or a challenge?"

"Stray dog? I have to say, Lei Di remains as domineering as ever."

"If even the head coach acts like this, imagine how bad Holy Spirit Dojo must be."

"True. Lei Ting Dojo seems better anyway, especially with Lei Di holding the fort."

"..."

In an instant,

Holy Spirit Dojo's reputation in Mo Ben suffered a crushing blow.

In contrast, Lei Ting Dojo received widespread praise.

Even many former Holy Spirit Dojo students were considering transferring to Lei Ting Dojo.

"Hahaha! Excellent! Very excellent!"

In Lei Ting Dojo's headquarters building, Director Liu Shan grinned broadly upon hearing the news.

Although he was deeply displeased by Xu Jingming's arrival,

he had to admit: Xu Jingming was truly a talent.

This was evident both in his strength and his methods.

If Xu Jingming were from his own faction, he would have nurtured him vigorously.

But unfortunately, Xu Jingming belonged to Director Su's faction.

He could only offer verbal praise at the next regular meeting.

"Fool! Fool! Fool!!!"

"I told you to challenge Lei Ting Dojo—is this how you handle it?"

In the top-floor office of Holy Spirit Dojo's East District branch, Director Jiesi was nearly driven mad with rage.

He had originally planned to use this opportunity to crush Xu Jingming underfoot.

Raise the prestige of Shengling Martial Arts Hall to a new level.

But unexpectedly, instead of gaining an advantage, the prestige of Shengling Martial Arts Hall plummeted straight down.

"It can't be that serious, can it?"

Across from Jies, seated in a wheelchair, his entire body wrapped in bandages.

George, wrapped like a zongzi, with only his eyes exposed, hesitated to speak.

"Not that serious?"

Jies nearly laughed in anger, "Take a look at these news reports yourself!"

With a wave of his right hand, a series of holographic news reports appeared in midair.

Every single one of them attacked Shengling Martial Arts Hall.

When the wall falls, everyone pushes it—everyone wants to ride this wave of public attention.

Many journalists dug up Shengling Martial Arts Hall's old, rotten scandals to launch attacks.

That was still the best case; some media outlets even fabricated entirely false atrocities committed by Shengling Martial Arts Hall.

"This..."

After browsing all the news, George said with a grim face:

"I never expected such severe consequences—my public statement hadn't even been released yet.

Besides, I never agreed to represent Shengling Martial Arts Hall in a public statement; I only represented our training camp..."

In his expectation, these media attacks should have only erupted after he issued his public statement.

"Is there a difference?"

Jies couldn't help but roar in anger:

"You are an S-class member of Shengling Martial Arts Hall! Every move you make outside represents the entire Shengling Martial Arts Hall!

When you make a mistake, it means Shengling Martial Arts Hall made a mistake!

Also, where did you find those initial media outlets? Give me their list."

"Media outlets?"

George froze, then replied:

"I had the trainees find them—I need to ask before I can know."

"So the media people weren't even personally selected by you?"

Jies widened his eyes, his face filled with disbelief.

After the Lei Ting Martial Arts Hall incident erupted, he realized George was somewhat foolish.

But he never imagined George could be this foolish.

The most critical media outlets weren't just ones he didn't personally recruit—

Even the ones he hired from outside, he didn't even vet!

"No wonder those media outlets immediately leaked the news."

Director Jies's face was filled with despair.

After taking a deep breath, he asked George: "How long until your injuries heal?"

"Xu Jingming's Dou Tian Shen Lei is troublesome—it's still damaging my body.

It'll probably take over a month to fully remove it," George replied.

As a seventh-rank master of the Enhancement type, even if his entire abdomen were shredded,

he could recover within a day.

Carbonized flesh would quickly regrow new tissue.

But Xu Jingming's Dou Tian Shen Lei

raged through his body like poison, preventing his wounds from healing.

Though he now looks like a wrapped zongzi and seems utterly miserable,

this is already after treatment by healing-type adepts.

Otherwise, he wouldn't even be able to get out of bed yet!

"Then focus on healing for now—I'll replace you as head trainer of the training camp."

Jies waved his hand listlessly and ordered:

"Once you're healed, train as a regular student for one or two years."

From this incident, George is clearly unsuited to be head trainer of the training camp.

After all, this position isn't one you can hold just by being powerful.

After this incident, Shengling Martial Arts Hall will need at least one or two years to recover.

If George continues as head trainer, who knows how many more problems he'll cause.

In contrast, Xu Jingming of Lei Ting Martial Arts Hall performed perfectly.

Too bad he's a core figure of Great Xia—otherwise, we might have tried to recruit him.

"Yes."

After a long silence, George muttered in response.

Though deeply unwilling, he knew he had no power to change anything.

"If only I hadn't provoked Xu Jingming in the first place..."

At this moment, boundless regret surged in his heart.