Chapter 231: Chapter 117: Targeted Training

The summer night air was filled with a sweltering heat.

The streets were lined with bustling, noisy barbecue stalls.

Ever since barbecue and hot pot became popular, it was rare to find other types of restaurants on the street.

Places serving Sichuan or Cantonese cuisine were few and far between.

You could only find them in some shopping malls or high-end restaurants.

At school, every time they got together for a meal, it was always barbecue. He was sick of it.

So this time, Zhao Rui picked a well-reviewed Cantonese restaurant on his phone for their dinner gathering.

Zhao Rui arrived at the restaurant early and was sipping some tea when Yang Fan rushed over with his new girlfriend.

’Definitely new,’ Zhao Rui thought. ’The one from last winter break wasn’t a Martial Arts Student.’

“Haha, Zhao Rui, long time no see!”

The moment Yang Fan saw Zhao Rui, he pulled him into a big hug.

“Let me introduce you. This is Tian Lili, my girlfriend. This is my good buddy, Zhao Rui, a top student from Dongqi University.”

Yang Fan made the introductions proudly.

Zhao Rui smiled and nodded at her, then invited them to sit down.

The girl was pretty good-looking, a seven or eight out of ten, but she had a somewhat stern and heroic air about her.

“Brother Rui, you have no idea. I told Lily my best bro is an Eighth-level Martial Artist, but she didn’t believe me. You believe me now, right?”

Yang Fan turned his head to look at Tian Lili smugly.

“Yang Fan said you took leave from the provincial Martial Arts Training Base? How many rounds of the tournament have you passed?”

Tian Lili ignored Yang Fan and asked Zhao Rui directly.

“I’m not competing. I just went with the team.”

Zhao Rui replied.

“Oh!”

Tian Lili gave a meaningful smile. ’Since he’s not there to compete, the claim that he’s an Eighth-level Martial Artist is probably a bit inflated.’

’He’s most likely Level 6 or Level 7. Yang Fan loves to brag, so he definitely exaggerated.’

“My buddy is a beast! He’s the undisputed king of our class now. Last time our class had a get-together…”

Yang Fan was trying his hardest to sing Zhao Rui’s praises, not to make Zhao Rui famous, but to establish his own standing in the relationship.

He definitely couldn’t win a fight against her himself, so he had to rely on his brother to back him up.

Listening to him show off, Zhao Rui was left speechless and quickly cut him off. “Let’s hurry up and order. See what you guys want to eat.”

“You’re treating, so I won’t be polite!”

Yang Fan chuckled, then turned to order with Tian Lili, menu in hand.

“You love this, let’s get this!”

“This one too.”

Yang Fan went through the menu, ordering almost everything Tian Lili liked. The fawning look on his face astonished Zhao Rui.

’He’s been completely beaten into submission, hasn’t he?’

After they ordered, the food arrived shortly. The three of them ate and chatted, though it was mostly Yang Fan doing the talking.

Tian Lili’s attitude wasn’t warm, and she even seemed very impatient with Yang Fan.

She often frowned and glared at him.

This made Zhao Rui secretly wonder just how the two of them had met.

With Tian Lili there, the meal was not a comfortable one.

Zhao Rui couldn’t be bothered to entertain them much either.

You don’t always get along with your buddy’s girlfriend. Sometimes, she’s the one who ends the friendship.

After a simple meal, just as Zhao Rui was about to say goodbye and leave, he heard Yang Fan say, “Lily, you drive back to the hotel first. I’m going to hang out with Brother Rui for a bit longer. We haven’t seen each other in ages.”

Hearing this, Tian Lili frowned but didn’t say much. She just grabbed the car keys and left.

As soon as she was gone, Yang Fan let out a long sigh and slumped down onto the steps at the restaurant’s entrance.

“Finally, I don’t have to look at her face anymore.”

“What’s going on with you two?”

Zhao Rui asked curiously.

“How should I know! We were drinking at a class reunion once, and somehow we just ended up in bed.”

“This woman is crazy fierce. She insisted I… you know… and then beat the crap out of me…”

Zhao Rui was speechless upon hearing this.

“What happened after?”

“After that, she just latched onto me. She says she doesn’t like me, that she even hates me, but because she slept with me, she won’t let me be with any other woman.”

“Tell me, isn’t she psycho?!”

“I can’t beat her in a fight, and I’m the one in the wrong here. I thought maybe if we spent some time together, it would be okay.”

“But look, it’s been almost half a year, and she’s still like this!”

“Enough about that. Let’s go have some fun. I’m suffocating. Seeing her cold face all day makes me want to puke.”

“You’re really something else…”

Zhao Rui had just started a sentence when Yang Fan began pushing him away from the restaurant.

“I’m counting on you to be my shield! She can’t beat you, so she shouldn’t dare to cause trouble with you around!”

With that, the two hailed a taxi at the entrance and headed to the Carefree Pavilion.

If they were going out, they might as well go somewhere nice.

It still had the same magnificent facade, hiding a world of luxury within!

A year had passed in a flash since he last came here to broaden his horizons.

This time, they were greeted by a different woman. She was a little older but even more flirtatious, every movement exuding a seductive charm.

“I’m going to the third floor. You going?”

“You go ahead. I’ll just get a foot massage!”

Zhao Rui flatly rejected Yang Fan’s suggestion.

’This guy has already gone through several girlfriends. Who knows what kind of debauchery he’s into now.’

’He wasn’t interested. If he wanted to find a woman, why would he pick from these fallen women here? Weren’t the girls at school a better choice?’

“Alright, then. I’ll come find you later!”

Yang Fan agreed and followed the flirtatious woman upstairs.

Zhao Rui shook his head with a smile and turned to walk toward the foot massage area.

Along the way, quite a few security guards walked past him.

Before, his Power was too low to tell, but now he could gauge their depth with a single glance. They were at least Level 4.

The leader was even a Sixth- or Seventh-level Martial Artist.

’Their strength is truly formidable!’

“Sir, this way, please!”

Upon entering the foot massage area, an attendant led him to a private room.

A moment later, a woman with a graceful figure walked in, carrying a small case.

“Wow, you’re so handsome!”

The newcomer was quite the smooth talker, complimenting Zhao Rui right off the bat.

“You’re very beautiful too!”

Zhao Rui smiled.

The woman quickly began the foot massage procedure.

Zhao Rui asked casually, “Did you guys get a new boss?”

“No, I’ve been here for several years, and it’s always been the same boss.”

“Do people still come here to cause trouble often?”

“You must not have been here in a long time. No one causes trouble anymore. Our boss took care of everything.”

The woman said as she kneaded his feet.

Zhao Rui couldn’t help but nod. It seemed the incident from last time had been completely resolved.

’I wonder where the Fire Cloud Evil God is now?’

’And how does my strength compare to his?’

Just as he was lost in thought, his phone rang.

It was Yang Fan.

Zhao Rui’s heart skipped a beat. ’Don’t tell me something happened.’

’That guy’s a walking disaster. I hope he hasn’t gotten into some new trouble.’

“Which room are you in? I’m coming to find you!”

After hearing Yang Fan’s words, Zhao Rui breathed a sigh of relief, told him the room number, and hung up.

A short while later, Yang Fan walked in, looking completely dejected.

“What’s wrong?”

“Sigh, I feel like I’m traumatized. How do I get rid of her?”

Yang Fan collapsed onto the sofa, looking miserable.

“I can’t help you with matters of the heart. The most I can do is give you a place to stay when you have nowhere else to go!”

“Sigh, we’ll see!”

Yang Fan sighed, waved over an attendant, and requested another masseuse.

The two of them stayed at the establishment until around midnight before taking a taxi back to their respective homes.

The days of rest passed in a flash.

Zhao Rui was home for less than five days before he returned to the Martial Arts Training Base.

By now, the tournament had entered its third round, and more and more people were being eliminated.

Basically all the contestants from vocational colleges had been knocked out.

No dark horses had emerged this year.

Among those remaining, besides the people from East Art and Sports University and Ocean University that Zhao Rui had seen, there were also some unfamiliar faces from other established universities.

These people’s strength was in no way inferior to those from the other three universities.

It was just that their numbers were relatively small.

Unlike the three major universities like Dongda, which had managed to keep most of their contestants, these other schools only had two or three people left at most.

“Go, Qin Rui!”

In the stands, Li Xinran waved her arms, cheering loudly for Qin Rui.

She had rushed over from home specifically to watch Qin Rui’s match.

Her opponent in this match was a Level 9 Martial Artist.

One Level higher than Qin Rui.

Before the match, Zhao Rui had spent a long time encouraging her, seriously analyzing her opponent’s Martial Arts characteristics and fighting style.

He even simulated her opponent’s Martial Arts and gave Qin Rui specialized offensive and defensive training.

Zhao Rui had this person’s Martial Arts in his skill library—it was the Great Compassion Hand, which he had learned from Luo Yongxiang.

With Zhao Rui’s advance training, Qin Rui’s mindset was much more relaxed.

As soon as she got on stage, she feigned weakness, using the defensive capabilities of her Prajna Palm to maintain a tight defense.

Although they had rehearsed it all beforehand, seeing Qin Rui taking hits passively still made Zhao Rui’s heart tighten.

He was afraid she wouldn’t be able to withstand her opponent’s attacks and would be defeated early.

Fortunately, though Qin Rui appeared gentle, she was resilient. She took a few palm strikes but managed to endure.

After finding the sluggish transitional point in the Great Compassion Palm that Zhao Rui had demonstrated earlier, Qin Rui instantly burst into a counterattack.

She used her Flower Picking Finger Technique to its absolute limit. This Finger Technique was inherently fierce in its offense, with graceful and fluid movements.

She caught him off guard, attacking his vital points. Every Technique targeted the acupoints all over his body.

Her opponent had been confident of his victory, even imagining the delicate girl, Qin Rui, surrendering before him.

Who would have thought that in just an instant, her assault would become like a waterfall, pouring down relentlessly and impenetrably.

The continuous attacks left him flustered and struggling to cope.

Just as he was preparing to take a couple of hits and use his profound Power to counterattack and regain the initiative…

…she seemed to anticipate his Cultivation Technique and moves. With a shift in her footwork, she instantly dodged his counterattack and circled around to his back.

She deftly reached out and struck an acupoint on his back.

“Dongqi University’s Qin Rui wins!”

With the referee’s announcement, everyone from Dongqi University leaped to their feet and surged toward the arena.

The reason everyone was so excited was that this was a pure case of the weak defeating the strong.

Qin Rui had done it.

She had forced her way one step further.

The next match would be the round to advance from the top one hundred to the top fifty.

“You kid, what kind of special training did you give her?”

From the coaches’ seats, Wang Zhanshan curiously asked Zhao Rui, who sat beside him with a calm expression, as if he had expected this all along.

“Nothing much, just some targeted training!”

A happy smile appeared on the corner of Zhao Rui’s lips.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep