Ding-dong!

A text message showed that 800,000 yuan had been deposited into his account.

This was all the money Su Jie had.

‘At least Starshine Combat Fitness Club stuck to the contract and transferred the prize money to me,’ Su Jie thought. Even though he earned 500,000 from this match, he didn’t feel happy at all.

He couldn’t stay at Starshine Combat Fitness Club anymore.

It wasn’t about the 100,000 yuan monthly salary for being a coach. It was about the friendships he built through daily sparring sessions. The atmosphere had been great, and he was reluctant to leave.

Martial arts had never been a solitary pursuit.

Hiding away in the mountains practicing forms, or punching a sandbag at home, would never lead to real progress. Only by treating martial arts like a science — gathering people to exchange and refine techniques — could one achieve true improvement.

‘Forget it, Club is Club, friends are friends. We can always find another place to gather,’ Su Jie thought as he stepped out of Starshine Combat Fitness Club. The cold wind blew past, pulling him out of the intense state he’d been in.

Earlier, during the fight with Zhou Chun, he had unleashed all his martial arts skills. Taking hits head-on and counterattacking without flinching looked simple on the surface, but in reality, it required courage, physical fitness, combat experience, and a perfect grasp of timing and angles — none of which could be missing.

Zhou Chun wasn’t weak — quite the opposite. His strength was tremendous. Although he wasn’t at Feng Hengyi’s level, he wasn’t someone Su Jie could easily defeat.

From the very beginning, Su Jie had crafted a battle strategy: to overwhelm Zhou Chun with momentum. If they simply traded techniques, Zhou Chun, with his vast experience in the ring, would quickly see through Su Jie’s style after a few exchanges, leading to a hard-fought battle.

Right now, Zhou Chun was ranked tenth among professional fighters in commercial matches. His years of experience were not something Su Jie could match.

But Su Jie had gone all in from the start.

That’s right — in that first moment of contact, Su Jie had been fighting for his life. He channeled his Qi throughout his body, used his body as a shield, and launched a desperate charge — a mindset inherited from ancient cold weapon warfare.

In large-scale ancient battles, soldiers who retreated often died faster. Only by charging forward without hesitation could they seize a slim chance of survival.

‘My physical condition isn’t bad.’

In just ten seconds, Su Jie replayed the battle in his mind. He gained a lot, especially in controlling emotions like courage and intent.

During the fight, he hadn’t felt any pain. But now, as his adrenaline wore off, the spots where Zhou Chun had struck began to ache slightly, showing signs of swelling and bruising.

He pulled out a bottle of liniment and various medicinal powders from his backpack, mixed them together, and rubbed the mixture onto the injured areas. Coordinating his breathing techniques from his body strengthening training, he massaged the bruises. In no time, the swelling and bruising disappeared, and the pain was gone.

This was a remedy from the Minglun Martial Arts Academy — extremely effective at treating combat injuries. It wasn’t any worse than treatment from professional doctors, and in some cases, it was even better.

The fact that he recovered so quickly also showed just how astonishing his muscle and soft tissue recovery abilities were.

“Su Jie, why did you leave?”

As Su Jie finished his treatment while sitting on a flight of stairs, Hua Xing caught up to him and plopped down beside him.

“The doctor just checked Zhou Chun. He’s fine — just a temporary blackout,” Hua Xing said. “Still, you managed to hold back even in that situation. I honestly didn’t expect it. Right now, Qian Youguo is visiting Zhou Chun in the infirmary. Who knows what they’re talking about.”

“That’s none of my business.” Su Jie packed up the ointments and stuffed them into his backpack. “I’m not coming back to Starshine Combat Fitness Club. We’ll find another place to train together later.”

“I’m planning to leave Starshine Combat Fitness Club too.” Hua Xing clapped Su Jie on the shoulder. “Qian Youguo and I are old friends. I helped him back in the day. After I retired, he invited me to Starshine Combat Fitness Club to coach and gave me some shares. But now, Haoyu is definitely going to invest and acquire Starshine Combat Fitness Club. Afterward, Zhou Chun will probably take over club operations. Rather than stick around and get sidelined, I might as well cash out now. I already talked to Qian Youguo — he agreed. Once I have the money, I’ll open a new club. If you’re willing, I’ll give you a share.”

“Me?” Su Jie waved his hand. “Starting a club requires a huge investment, and it’s hard to turn a profit. I don’t have that kind of money.”

“You won’t have to invest a cent,” Hua Xing said. “You beat Zhou Chun in front of so many witnesses. Even though the video hasn’t spread online, everyone in our S City circle knows about it. Many will come just to train with you. You’ve got real skills — you won’t lose money.”

“There are a lot of fitness and combat enthusiasts in our city,” Su Jie mused.

“Actually, I’m not doing it for the money,” Hua Xing said. “I just don’t want to live a different kind of life. Martial arts and combat have been part of my life since I was a kid. I’m used to the daily routine of exchanging ideas, practicing, and coaching others. That’s my ideal life. Even if you gave me wealth, luxury cruises, beautiful women, or a trip around the world, I still wouldn’t be happy.”

This statement made Su Jie see Hua Xing in a whole new light.

Hua Xing had found his favorite way of living. Every day, he was cheerful and happy, and he could even solve his financial problems through this lifestyle. That was definitely a kind of happiness.

Actually, during their exchanges over the past month, Su Jie could feel Hua Xing’s relaxed and joyful state every day.

“Forget about the shares. After your club opens, I’ll just visit every day like I do at Starshine Combat Fitness Club. You don’t even need to pay me a salary,” Su Jie said.

“That won’t do,” Hua Xing replied. “Little brother, you don’t understand. Giving you shares is actually me benefiting from your fame. With you as a signboard, we can attract a lot of investors. Over this past month, your strength has earned the recognition of many business owners.”

“Alright then. Just let me know when everything’s ready,” Su Jie thought for a moment and nodded. “I have something to take care of now.”

He had already made a plan for himself — he was going to return the dark web login device and the card to Lu Shu and the others.

“Alright, I’ll get things ready and contact you again,” Hua Xing stood up. “But you still need to be careful of Zhou Chun. He’s definitely not going to let this go. That guy is crafty, has decent skills, but his character is terrible. He was originally a disciple of Liu Guanglie from Minglun Martial Arts Academy. With Liu Guanglie’s connections, he achieved decent results in various commercial competitions. But instead of being grateful, he secretly opened a fighting gym to poach students from the academy. He also has a gambling problem, and Liu Guanglie had to clean up his messes many times. People in the martial arts circle tend to stay away from him. I don’t know why Haoyu Group would place so much trust in someone like him.”

“Maybe Haoyu itself isn’t exactly clean and needs someone to handle the dirty work,” Su Jie said as he bid farewell to Hua Xing and headed towards the downtown villa area by subway.

Whoosh!

A van almost drifted to a stop right in front of Su Jie, startling him so much that he quickly dodged.

But the van stopped precisely at his feet.

Su Jie thought it was some reckless, rude driver and was about to step forward to scold them when the window rolled down, revealing Zhang Manman’s face.

“Get in,” Zhang Manman said, turning the steering wheel with a flick of her wrist.

“Zhang Manman? Why are you here?” Su Jie was even more surprised.

Because this was a very low-end van — a Wuling Hongguang. And it was filthy, clearly not washed in a long time.

Even when brand new, this van only cost about fifty thousand yuan. It was typically used by farmers in the countryside to transport goods or privately ferry passengers. Judging by its current dirty and beat-up condition, it probably wasn’t even worth a few thousand now.

Su Jie could tell from their previous trip to “Heart-Cleansing Manor” that Zhang Manman came from a wealthy family.

If she showed up in a luxury sports car worth millions, Su Jie wouldn’t have been surprised at all. But showing up in this beat-up van didn’t match her status in the slightest.

“What? Looking down on this car?” Zhang Manman seemed to read Su Jie’s mind. “I just came down from the mountain roads after racing with a bunch of rich second-generation kids from B City. I actually won two million from them — and had them leave behind their car emblems as trophies.”

She pointed to the back seat.

Su Jie looked over and, sure enough, saw a bunch of freshly pulled-off car emblems — Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Bentley, and even a tiny golden Flying Lady from a Rolls-Royce.

“Impressive,” Su Jie said. From the way she had just drifted the van, he could tell Zhang Manman’s driving skills were almost on par with professional race car drivers.

“Don’t underestimate this van. It sells very well in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Some factions in the Middle East and Africa even use it to transport troops. If you took a Mercedes, BMW, or Ferrari there, it would break down in no time. When I was doing bounty hunter missions in Africa, I relied entirely on this type of van,” Zhang Manman said as Su Jie climbed aboard. Then she stomped the gas, sending the van flying forward, giving Su Jie a strong sense of being pressed into his seat.

“This van feels like a supercar ride,” Su Jie couldn’t believe it. “Where are you taking me?”

“You’re something else. You actually beat Zhou Chun just now. Your martial arts have improved way too fast — it’s only been two months,” Zhang Manman replied instead of answering.

“How did you know what just happened?” Su Jie felt like Zhang Manman had been monitoring him.

“There were so many people watching. News about it has been going wild in some rich kids’ chat groups. I saw the news and rushed over to find you,” Zhang Manman said casually. “I’m here in S City this time to meet an old friend of my dad’s, planning to use his connections to settle down and start a business.”

“What kind of business are you planning to start?” Su Jie asked while pulling up his phone and pointing at a map. “Drop me off here. I need to return something.”

“No problem,” Zhang Manman answered. Her driving skills were ridiculously good — weaving in and out of traffic at breakneck speed. Even with Su Jie’s composure, he felt a bit anxious riding with her. Yet somehow, there were no accidents or even minor scrapes.

“Drive slower! Don’t break any traffic laws. By the way, do you even have a driver’s license? Don’t tell me you’re driving without one,” Su Jie suddenly remembered to ask.

“Of course I have a license,” Zhang Manman said without even turning her head. “As for what business to start, I’m still researching. What do you think about opening a fitness and wellness club?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep