Su Mo’s voice seemed to carry a magical force, freezing Ge Wen and his mother on the spot.
“What do you want?” The woman was somewhat afraid of him, but she refused to back down in terms of attitude.
Su Mo said coldly, “First, Ge Wen spread rumors about me and tarnished my reputation. Then, he falsely accused my friend. Any one of these offenses would be enough for me to end him.”
The woman’s expression stiffened. “End him?… They were just a few careless words. Is talking about death really necessary?”
Su Mo glanced at her sideways. “You can go ask someone that, but he’s already passed away.”
The woman was finally growing worried. She felt Su Mo’s tone wasn’t that of an ordinary person; what if he seriously targeted Ge Wen?
Then, she heard Su Mo say to Ge Wen, “I’ll give you a chance. You can choose me as your opponent in the challenge a few days from now. If you can last one minute under my hand, I’ll consider it your win, and I’ll act as if none of this ever happened. How about that?”
The woman flared up in anger, “Who do you think you’re looking down on? My son is—”
“Shut up!” Ge Wen yelled at his mother, then turned to Su Mo. “Fine, I agree. I will definitely defeat you then!”
With that, he turned and left the office without a backward glance.
The woman’s mouth opened slightly, as if she wanted to say something more, but the words seemed stuck in her throat, and ultimately, not a single word came out.
She glanced at her son’s retreating figure and hurriedly chased after him.
Su Mo noticed tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, probably stunned that her son had yelled at her.
Ge Wen was gone, leaving two others behind.
Seeing their backing had left, the two quickly admitted their fault: “We’re sorry, we shouldn’t have spoken recklessly. We are willing to accept any punishment.”
Yang Jie stood up from his chair, his gaze sweeping over the two. “One major demerit each. Unless you show exceptional performance, you are permanently disqualified from entering the Elite Camp.”
The two had nothing more to say, they just looked miserably at Huo Jingshuo and Xia Qingqing nearby. “What about them? They were the ones who started the fight.”
Yang Jie naturally wouldn’t let them off either and penalized them as well. However, considering they acted for a justifiable reason, their punishment was lighter. Furthermore, since they ultimately won the fight, their merits offset their faults, and they received no penalty.
Seeing the other two were dissatisfied, Yang Jie patiently explained, “We are training warriors, not trash. This is the difference between winners and losers. If you had won, it would be your merits offsetting your faults.”
Yang Jie’s words were persuasive and easily stirred the latent fierceness buried in a person’s heart.
And so, the matter was concluded.
As soon as Su Mo entered the training ground, he was stopped by Shen Nanshu, who was walking towards him. She looked innocent and apologetic.
“I’m sorry, I never thought what happened that night would cause such serious trouble for you and your friends. Even though I wasn’t directly involved, it started because I looked for you… I’m truly sorry. I hope you can forgive me.”
There were quite a few people coming and going around, all witnessing this scene.
This time, however, no one dared to gossip, afraid of getting beaten up by Huo Jingshuo and Xia Qingqing.
They were quite famous, even notorious, among all 200-plus trainees in the集训…
Su Mo grinned. “Alright. I’m magnanimous, I forgive you.”
After saying that, he turned and walked away, unwilling to see her innocent face any longer.
…
A week passed in the blink of an eye.
Yang Jie stood in the center of the training ground. To his left were Su Mo and the other eleven. To his right were the top twenty from the remaining two hundred trainees, who had earned the right to compete for the twelve special spots.
Huo Jingshuo, Xia Qingqing, and Ge Wen were all among them. Wen Wenwen, however, hadn’t made it into the top twenty.
“There are no rules for the fights. Win by any means, but intentionally maiming or crippling your opponent is forbidden. Violators will receive a major demerit.”
After speaking, Yang Jie stepped back, yielding the center stage to these spirited young men and women.
The others who weren’t qualified to participate formed a circle around them, ready to observe and learn.
The twenty challengers had already chosen their preferred opponents and formed nine lines accordingly.
The three who remained unchosen were Ye Qingyi, Wu Heng, and a youth named Li Tianke.
The reason was simple: these three were all C-rank.
In contrast, the chubby youth who often hung out with Wu Heng was quite popular; a quarter of the challengers had chosen him, including Xia Qingqing.
Huo Jingshuo, without hesitation, chose to fight Shen Nanshu. It was unclear whether her choice was related to the previous incident.
Two people had chosen Su Mo: one was Ge Wen, the other was a quiet-looking girl who didn’t seem like much of a fighter.
Su Mo and Ge Wen were the first to take the field. Ge Wen wore a serious expression, his eyes darting as he assessed Su Mo, ready to engage at any moment.
As Yang Jie’s signal flag swept down, both of them moved simultaneously, charging towards each other.
They had both chosen the simplest and most direct combat method—a head-on clash!
However, the moment their figures were about to meet, Ge Wen suddenly sidestepped to avoid Su Mo’s attack and countered with a punch aimed at Su Mo’s waist.
Knowing his own strength was lacking, Ge Wen immediately used his ultimate move.
“Shattering Void Fist!”
He didn’t hope to defeat Su Mo in one blow, only wanting to last through the first minute. But the instant he executed his “Shattering Void Fist,” he felt a sudden chill on the back of his head.
Bad!
It was too late to dodge. Su Mo’s open right hand seemed to possess a pulling force, rapidly closing in on Ge Wen’s head. The movement was fierce and decisive, leaving no room for evasion.
The spectators shouted “Save him!” in unison, as they sensed killing intent from Su Mo; his move was clearly aimed at taking a life.
“Skull-Shattering Palm!” Su Mo murmured inwardly, his right hand’s five fingers hardened like steel, imprinting fiercely onto Ge Wen’s head.
Whoosh!
A gust of forceful wind sent Ge Wen’s clothes and hair into disarray. Su Mo’s five fingers stopped right on his head. Although they caused no physical injury, Ge Wen was already paralyzed with fear.
For a moment there, he felt like he had seen Death waving at him.
All the onlookers held their breath, only releasing it after confirming Ge Wen was unharmed.
“No wonder Instructor Yang didn’t intervene; he must have guessed Ye Qingyi wouldn’t actually kill him.”
“Exactly, such a minor issue isn’t worth killing over.”
Hearing the murmurs around him, Ge Wen finally confirmed he was still alive. Su Mo was already several meters away, greeting his next opponent.
The fight was over.
“Sis, could you go easy on me? I’m afraid of pain,” the quiet girl pleaded with Su Mo.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be very gentle…”
…
The trials concluded.
Aside from Xia Qingqing, who defeated and replaced the chubby youth, no one else succeeded in their challenge.
This wasn’t just a matter of strength, but also related to their choice of opponent.
Take Huo Jingshuo, for example. With her strength, she could have easily defeated several of the others, yet she specifically chose Shen Nanshu.
Actually, Shen Nanshu was also C-rank, but her delicate appearance easily made people overlook the powerful strength hidden beneath the surface.
Everyone thought Huo Jingshuo would simply choose someone else next time. Only Su Mo and the others knew that this girl not only wouldn’t change opponents, but might even fixate on her, refusing to give up until she won.
That was just who Huo Jingshuo was.