Chapter 651: Aftermath of the News! George

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, radiating a terrifying sense of pressure.

"He's leveled up again—what a monster."

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

A sixth-rank upper at age twenty!

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

"The Yuan Energy resurgence has just entered its peak phase, yet S-class cultivators are advancing this fast already."

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

As an intelligent lifeform,

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

But during the nearly year she'd followed Xu Jingming, she'd never seen him use such treasures or pills.

Under these conditions, maintaining such rapid breakthroughs was simply unbelievable!

Of course,

those rare treasures carried severe side effects.

After their effects faded, adepts could rarely break through their bottlenecks again, remaining stuck at that level for life.

Several minutes later, 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'd be rendered powerless, unable to activate his ability.

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

He could feel the immense energy now coursing within him.

If he fought George again, just one Thunder Strike in Thunder Form would be enough.

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

"Let me test my combat power—see if I can now handle an eighth-rank Grand Master of A-class."

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

"Shocking! Spirit Spirit Martial Arts Hall's S-class called a stray dog?"

"One-sided annihilation! Spirit Spirit Martial Arts Hall brings shame upon itself!"

"The Mighty Lei Di! The genius champion remains dominant!"

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

"..."

In Mocheng, a supercity spanning over six hundred thousand square kilometers, there were no fewer than ten thousand martial arts halls.

Normally, reports of such hall battles would generate zero buzz.

But Spirit Spirit Martial Arts Hall and Lei Martial Arts Hall were both top-tier halls.

And Xu Jingming was the dual champion of the Talent Competition—naturally drawing attention!

So after a single afternoon of fermentation,

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

The media didn't exaggerate.

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

"Lei Martial Arts Hall invited you over for exchange—why did you bring so many reporters?"

"Exactly—was this a friendly sparring match or a challenge?"

"Stray dog? Undeniably, Lei Di remains as domineering as ever."

"If even the head coach acts like this, imagine how bad Spirit Spirit Martial Arts Hall must be."

"True—Lei Martial Arts Hall seems better anyway, especially with Lei Di holding the fort."

"..."

In an instant,

Spirit Spirit Martial Arts Hall's reputation in Mocheng suffered a crushing blow.

In contrast, Lei Martial Arts Hall received widespread praise.

Even many of Spirit Spirit Martial Arts Hall's own students began considering switching to Lei Martial Arts Hall.

"Hahaha, excellent! Very excellent!"

In Lei Martial Arts Hall's headquarters building, Director Liu Shan grinned broadly upon hearing the news.

Although he resented Xu Jingming's arrival,

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

This was evident in both his strength and his methods.

If Xu Jingming were from his own faction, he'd 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 Martial Arts Hall—is this how you handle it?"

In the top-floor office of Spirit Spirit Martial Arts Hall's East District branch, Director Jiesi was nearly apoplectic.

He'd planned to crush Xu Jingming underfoot,

elevating Spirit Spirit Martial Arts Hall's prestige to new heights.

Instead, he'd lost the chicken and broken the rice—Spirit Spirit Martial Arts Hall's reputation plummeted straight down.

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

Across from Jiesi sat George, strapped to a wheelchair, his entire body wrapped in bandages.

Wrapped like a dumpling, only his eyes visible, George hesitated.

"Not that bad?"

Jiesi nearly laughed in rage, "Take a look at these news reports yourself!"

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

Every single one attacked Spirit Spirit Martial Arts Hall.

When the wall falls, everyone kicks it—eager to ride this wave of hype,

many reporters dug up Spirit Spirit Martial Arts Hall's old scandals and aired them.

That was still mild—some even fabricated entirely false atrocities to report.

"This..."

After scanning all the reports, George's face darkened:

"I didn't expect such severe consequences—my public apology hasn't even been released yet.

And I never agreed to represent Spirit Spirit Martial Arts Hall in a public apology—I only represented our training camp..."

In his mind, this media backlash should have only erupted after he issued his official statement.

"Is there a difference?"

Jiesi couldn't hold back his fury:

"You're an S-class of Spirit Spirit Martial Arts Hall! Every move you make abroad represents the entire hall!

Your mistake is our mistake!

Also, where did you get those reporters? Give me their names."

"Reporters?"

George froze, then replied:

"I had students find them—I need to check first before I can tell you."

"The reporters weren't even chosen by you personally?"

Jiesi's eyes widened in utter disbelief.

After Lei Martial Arts Hall's incident blew up, he'd realized George was somewhat dim.

But he hadn't expected him to be this stupid.

The most crucial reporters weren't even his own people—

and the ones he hired outside? He didn't even vet them!

"No wonder those reporters leaked the story right away."

Director Jiesi's face was filled with despair.

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

"Xu Jingming's Doushen Thunder is troublesome—it's still damaging my body.

To fully remove it will take over a month," George replied.

As a seventh-rank Enhancement-type Grand Master, even if his entire abdomen were shredded,

he'd regenerate within a day.

Carbonized flesh would quickly grow back.

But Xu Jingming's Doushen Thunder—

It raged through his body like poison, preventing the wound from healing.

Don't be fooled by how bandaged he looks now, utterly miserable.

This is even after treatment from a healing-type adept.

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

"Then focus on recovering for now—I'll assign someone else as head trainer of the camp."

Jiesi waved his hand listlessly and ordered:

"Once you've recovered, train as a regular student for a year or two."

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

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

After this incident, Holy Spirit Martial Arts Hall won't recover for at least one or two years.

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

In contrast, Xu Jingming of Thunder 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 reply.

Though deeply unwilling, he knew he could no longer change anything.

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

At this moment, boundless regret surged in his heart.