Chapter 139: A Hundred Battles, A Hundred Victories

Chapter 139: A Hundred Battles, A Hundred Victories

Ji Xinghuo observed his opponent and pulled up his information.

A sixth-level martial artist with around 7,500 points, having fought over 57,000 matches in total with a 53% win rate. Neither his points nor his win rate met the standards for promotion to the seventh level; he still had a ways to go.

Nonetheless, Ji Xinghuo did not underestimate him.

A warrior who had fought tens of thousands of battles was bound to be experienced. Even a pig would be a formidable opponent after fighting nearly sixty thousand matches.

Moreover, his opponent wielded a spear.

Ji Xinghuo switched his weapon to a longsword. As soon as the countdown ended, he took the initiative and lunged forward.

He took a leaping step, pointing his longsword straight at his opponent's center. As his body rapidly closed in, he swayed from side to side, all feints to throw off his opponent's balance. However, his opponent completely ignored the feints as if he hadn't seen them, and jabbed his spear directly forward.

"Damn," Ji Xinghuo cursed inwardly.

It was only when he saw the speed of his opponent's spear that he realized the other party hadn't seen through his feints but had simply reacted too slowly. By the time he finished his feints, his opponent still hadn't seen clearly.

It was like performing a play for a blind man; no matter how brilliant it was, it would be in vain.

"I've overestimated the strength of virtual platform players," Ji Xinghuo thought. With this realization, he took a sidestep to dodge the spear tip and appeared at his opponent's side, slashing his throat with his sword and ending the battle in an instant.

His opponent chose to challenge him again.

Usually, the winner would accept a rematch, giving the loser a second chance. This had become an unspoken rule.

Ji Xinghuo agreed to the rematch and saw the player on the other side of the light curtain looking resentful.

"Not satisfied?" Ji Xinghuo smiled.

After the battle started, he used the same tactic to rush forward, then sidestepped to his opponent's side. This time, his opponent was prepared. He took a step back to create distance while sweeping his spear horizontally. However, his speed was too slow. Before the spear could reach Ji Xinghuo, the sword tip had already slashed across his throat.

+1 points

Ji Xinghuo didn't give his opponent a chance to chat and immediately left the arena to continue ranked matches.

The Martial Arts Platform System always prioritized matching opponents of similar levels, and Ji Xinghuo was consecutively matched with several sixth-level martial artists.

This level was already very high and unattainable for ordinary people, but Ji Xinghuo didn't feel any pressure. Fighting these opponents was no different from fighting those of similar rankings; none of them posed any threat, and each battle ended within a few seconds.

For each match, the winner gained +1 point while the loser lost 1 point.

After five consecutive wins, the winner would gain +2 points per match. If the winning streak was interrupted, the count would reset, and winning a match would only grant +1 point.

After ten consecutive wins, the winner would gain +3 points per match.

Conversely, for five and ten consecutive losses, the loser would lose 2 and 3 points respectively.

Ji Xinghuo soon achieved ten consecutive wins, gaining +3 points per win. With this efficient accumulation of points, he fought tirelessly until dawn.

By eight o'clock the next morning, Ji Xinghuo's points had surpassed 8,000.

Even more terrifying was his 100% win rate!

The Martial Arts Platform could identify seventh to ninth-level martial artists, and these three levels all required over 10,000 points. However, the standards for win rates were different. The seventh level required a win rate of 55% or higher, the eighth level required 65%, and the ninth level required a daunting 75%.

Ji Xinghuo had a 100% win rate, but his points were still insufficient.

"I earned over a thousand points in one night. If I keep this up for four or five more days, my points should reach ten thousand," he said, looking at his character's information. This feeling was truly exhilarating.

At that time, he should be able to advance directly from the sixth level to the ninth level.

After winning over a hundred consecutive matches, Ji Xinghuo noticed that his opponents were getting stronger, and he was increasingly matched with seventh-level and even eighth-level opponents.

It also took longer to find an opponent, often requiring a few minutes of waiting.

This slowed down his rate of accumulating points.

Matching with a ninth-level opponent would take even more time.

After all, the ninth level of martial arts was an extremely high level, and there might only be thirty to forty thousand people worldwide at this level. Even fewer would be online and available for matching at any given time, making it difficult to find an opponent.

Ji Xinghuo exited the virtual platform and climbed out of the virtual cabin, feeling a sense of reluctance.

Winning continuously and climbing the ranks was truly addictive.

"No wonder so many people become addicted to virtual games..." He shook his head and left the virtual cabin, relying on his strong willpower.

After a simple breakfast and a change of clothes, Ji Xinghuo carried a gym bag and headed to a training facility not far from his home.

He now needed to use three-ton barbells for his cultivation, and he had higher requirements for other equipment as well, which made his training noisier. His home training room was no longer sufficient, so he had to go to a specialized training facility.

This training facility wasn't large in scale, but it also provided high-end cultivation rooms for super-humans.

It charged by the hour at a high price.

After inspecting it, Ji Xinghuo was very satisfied. The place was spacious, the equipment was complete, and it had private rooms to ensure privacy. Most importantly, it was close to his home; it only took a few minutes to walk there. Thus, he booked it for a month at a total of 100,000 Asian dollars, which was still a discounted price.

After closing the door, he let Qinghong practice Gravity Mutation in the adjacent room while he began his cultivation.

From morning to night, he completed four training cycles.

His stellar power increased slightly!

[Stellar Power: 658/658]



Ever since advancing to the Advanced Human stage, Ji Xinghuo's stellar power hadn't increased much. This was partly because he had advanced not long ago, and also because he hadn't fused with any new exotic species.

However, he wasn't anxious about it.

After washing up and having dinner, Ji Xinghuo returned home and lay down in the virtual cabin.

After fighting hundreds of matches on the Martial Arts Platform, his points had increased by over three hundred, and it was already past twelve o'clock at night. He finally felt a little tired.

It had been over two days since he returned to Earth, and this was the first time Ji Xinghuo went to bed to sleep, maintaining the same sleep schedule as he had on Star World.

The next day.

Ji Xinghuo met up with his brothers and sisters and went to Bali Island in Java Province, where they spent three wonderful days as a family before returning home satisfied.

During the vacation, he paused his cultivation, but whenever he had free time in the hotel, he would log into the virtual platform and participate in ranked matches, steadily increasing his points.

His second brother, Zhong Ming, noticed Ji Xinghuo's obsession with martial arts matches and suggested a spar.

The outcome was as expected.

In the past, the two brothers often sparred when they were both ordinary humans, and Ji Xinghuo had won more than he lost. It was only after Zhong Ming became a super-human that he managed to salvage some face.

Zhong Ming had a dedicated martial arts coach at the club and was progressing rapidly. He was already a fifth-level martial artist, close to the sixth level.

In just three days, Zhong Ming's martial arts prowess improved by leaps and bounds.

This delighted him.

After their vacation, Ji Xinghuo spent two hours every night sparring with Zhong Ming on the virtual platform, helping him improve.

Although this affected his own ranking, Ji Xinghuo didn't mind.

He was just playing casually anyway.

The seven-day New Year holiday ended quickly, and as the festive atmosphere faded, people returned to their jobs or resumed their usual lives.

Ji Xinghuo's ranking on the Martial Arts Platform had reached over 9,500 points.

However, getting those last few hundred points proved difficult as the wait times for ranked matches became extremely long, often taking over ten minutes or even longer.

In the morning, Ji Xinghuo boarded a driverless car and exited the superconductor highway, speeding into the Qinling Mountains along a winding mountain road.

Most of this rugged and expansive mountain range was designated as a nature reserve, with small sections developed into residential areas and factories. Hundreds of villages were scattered throughout the mountains.

Due to its convenient transportation and scenic beauty, these mountain residences were even more popular than those in the city center, offering both privacy and a pastoral lifestyle. They were exclusive, and the prices weren't much lower than those of houses in the central district of Chang'an, with some luxury homes even being more expensive.

The car drove into "Lijiawan Town."

Ji Xinghuo looked out the window. This town was nestled in a mountain valley several kilometers long, with a population of only two or three thousand, and its quiet and serene environment was no different from that of many other towns in the Qinling Mountains.

A few minutes later, the car pulled into a food processing factory in town.

This was a real factory.

Although it wasn't large, it still had a hundred or so employees, and all its business operations and production activities were above board.

However, this place was actually a secret entrance to a Sword Bureau base.

In one of the factories built against the mountain, Ji Xinghuo saw two swordsmen guarding the passage. After verifying his identity, the thick metal wall slid open, revealing a bright tunnel leading directly into the mountain that was wide enough for two cars to drive side by side.

He boarded a commuter car and traveled through the tunnel.

"This is quite an engineering feat."

Ji Xinghuo's magnetic field perception spread out, and he found that this secret passage was over five kilometers long, leading directly to the Sword Bureau's base.

The tunnel was protected by layers of firepower defense nets and scanning equipment, making it highly secure.

He wasn't the only one; most of the Sword Bureau's employees commuted to and from the base like regular office workers.

Ji Xinghuo got off the car and passed through the security checkpoint into the base.

The people walking around were either swordsmen or Sword Bureau clerks, totaling two to three hundred people, and they all seemed familiar with each other. As a new face, Ji Xinghuo immediately drew attention.

He heard whispers as he walked by.

However, the Sword Bureau members had a strong sense of secrecy, and most people didn't know that he was a Red Cloud Swordsman or that he had been missing for a year and a half. They simply regarded him as a new swordsman.

Ji Xinghuo didn't go looking for Zhou Yi or the familiar Ming Chongwu. Instead, he made his way to the Training Department.

The Training Department was the largest department in the base.

It had a complete range of training facilities, including cultivation rooms, martial arts arenas, shooting ranges, and virtual practice rooms.

When Ji Xinghuo arrived, several dozen swordsmen were already training. The training curriculum varied depending on the swordsmen's ranks, and most of the people here were Fish Gut Swordsmen. Based on their magnetic field intensity, about a third were advanced superhumans, and the rest were intermediate superhumans.

"Who are you looking for?" a clerk asked.

"Is Director Tan here?" Ji Xinghuo asked, showing the person his phone screen, which displayed a simple and ancient red sword, symbolizing his identity as a Red Cloud Swordsman.

The clerk immediately stood up and said respectfully, "Please come with me."

Soon, Ji Xinghuo met with Tan Jichun, the director of the Training Department, in the adjacent office. In truth, his magnetic field perception had already told him the director's location.

"Director Tan!" Ji Xinghuo greeted him.

Tan Jichun was a middle-aged man in his fifties with an ordinary appearance and a medium build. In a crowd, he would be the most inconspicuous person.

However, Ji Xinghuo didn't dare to underestimate him. This Director Tan was a super superhuman and a very powerful one at that, just a step away from becoming a legend.

Of course, he might have been stuck at that step for many years.

"Xinghuo is here!" Director Tan walked around his desk and shook Ji Xinghuo's hand. With a warm smile, he said, "Just call me Old Tan."

After they took their seats, Director Tan said, "Director Zhou has already instructed me. Xinghuo, feel free to make any requests, and the Training Department will do its best to accommodate them."

"Director Tan knows that I'm new here and don't know anything, and I've never handled firearms before," Ji Xinghuo said straightforwardly. "Please treat me as a newcomer and put me through all the necessary training."

A hint of surprise flashed in Director Tan's eyes.

He had received Director Zhou's orders and initially thought that Ji Xinghuo would ask for special treatment. But now, his impression of Ji Xinghuo improved significantly.

Of course, he couldn't possibly treat Ji Xinghuo as an ordinary newcomer.

This was a master from the Tower!

"Your request is too simple," Director Tan laughed. "I'll assign you the best teacher in our bureau to ensure that you quickly become a qualified swordsman." He picked up his phone and sent a voice message: "Yufeng, come over here."

In less than half a minute, a woman walked into the office and asked, "Old Tan, do you need me?"

"Let me introduce you," Director Tan said. "This is Ling Yufeng, one of our bureau's most outstanding swordsmen. Many swordsmen have been trained under her, and she's a true ace."

Then he pointed to Ji Xinghuo and said, "Yufeng, this is Ji Xinghuo. He's also a Red Cloud Swordsman, but he's new to the Sword Bureau, so I want you to give him one-on-one training."

"Please take care of me," Ji Xinghuo said as he took the initiative to reach out.

Ling Yufeng sized up Ji Xinghuo like a hunter observing her prey, her gaze filled with scrutiny and interest as if searching for weaknesses. Suddenly, she said, "I've heard your name before. If I'm not mistaken, you're the last one on the Tower, right?"

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end