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nTranslator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

nClap, clap, clap!

nThunderous applause came from the spectator seats. Without a doubt, this battle had been extremely exciting and full of twists and turns!

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nThey’d thought that Xu Xiaoshou wouldn’t be able to last against the continuous barrage of punches from Liu Zhen’s Great Darkness Calamity Fist. They didn’t expect him to counter that technique with just one finger and turn the tide of the battle.

nThey’d thought that Xu Xiaoshou wouldn’t be able to turn the situation around after being severely injured by Great Darkness Calamity Fist. However, he’d unexpectedly taken advantage of his injury to seize the initiative and blur Liu Zhen’s vision with his blood.

nMore importantly, the two of them had circled in the air at high speeds. Not only had Xui Xiaoshou’s spin made Liu Zhen doubt for his life, but the technique he used in the end had allowed him to maneuver around Liu Zhen and slam him into the ground, showing the full extent of his powerful brawling skills.

nXu Xiaoshou, who had initiated this insane battle, had stated that he would’ve been done in if he didn’t have Strengthen.

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nThe dark energy of the Great Darkness Calamity Fist was terrifying. Even though he had managed to turn defeat into victory, he had now lost all ability to battle.

nThe judge ran over. “Do you need to rest?”

n“Yes.” Xu Xiaoshou nodded.

nThe judge took a deep breath, then pointed at Liu Zhen, who was being crushed under Xu Xiaoshou’s weight. “He needs to rest too.”

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nLiu Zhen had already fainted. He didn’t know if Liu Zhen had fainted because of his fall or because of his anger.

nXu Xiaoshou awkwardly stood up, finally releasing the candidate Liu Zhen. Attendants immediately rushed forward to carry Liu Zhen away.

n“Aren’t you going to go into the barrier to recover?” the judge asked.

nXu Xiaoshou stole a glance at the applauding crowd. “What a joke,” he thought. “How could I possibly go into the barrier?”

nHe shook his head and turned his attention inward.

n“Got encouraged. Passive Points 242.”

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n“Got praised. Passive Points 366.”

nHis notification panel constantly updated. Within half an hour, his Passive Points had surpassed what he’d earned during his past two battles.

nXu Xiaoshou couldn’t help but glance at the lower section of the interface.

n“Passive Points: 7225.”

nTsk tsk!

nNot counting the few points that Di Xin’er had given him, just Liu Zhen alone had given him more than 2000 Passive Points.

nHe had earned the rest of the points from the insane crowd during the time between his battles.

nThis number was still constantly rising.

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nXu Xiaoshou no longer paid attention to his Passive Points. Instead, he started examining his body.

nHe had been severely injured from the explosion of dark energy. It could be said that he did what he did after the explosion using sheer willpower alone.

nThe tension left his body, and with it the ability to move. It felt painful to even lift his fingers.

nHowever, there was still another round left in the preliminaries!

nXu Xiaoshou clenched his teeth and sat down on the Chuyun Platform with his back facing the crowd.

nHe took out a pill bottle. Inside was the tenth-grade recovery spiritual pill that Elder Qiao had given him after the group-stage battle—the Red Gold Pill.

n“I’ll go all out!” he thought.

nXu Xiaoshou seemed as though he were prepared to die. He picked up a Red Gold Pill but didn’t dare to take a big whiff of it. Instead, he took a gentle whiff.

nIn that instant, he felt as though he’d been struck by lightning. His eyes rolled back into his head and he started to tremble violently.

n“Uhhhh…”

nEveryone in the spectator seats was watching Xu Xiaoshou. At that moment, they saw Xu Xiaoshou suddenly tremble, his back facing them. All of them craned their necks, incredibly curious.

n“Wha’s he doing?”

n“He’s taking pills? What kind of pill is that? Why are its effects so strong?”

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n“That must be a poisonous pill. It’s so terrifying!”

nEveryone saw Xu Xiaoshou, who was seated, suddenly fall backward. His body formed a star-like shape on the Chuyun Platform. He looked like a twitching pile of mud.

n“What did he eat? Why is he shivering like that?”

n“That guy must be the trembling type…”

nEveryone instantly became confused. Xu Xiaoshou harvested another large wave of doubt while he was unconscious.

nEven the judge was scared silly. “What is this?” he thought. “We just sent Liu Zhen away, and now you’ve collapsed too?

n“How old are you? Why do you have to make a judge like me worry so much for you!”

nHe quickly ran over with the medical team. They felt for Xu Xiaoshou’s pulse while applying pressure on his philtrum.

n“Uhhh… I’m, I’m fine…” Xu Xiaoshou foamed at the mouth.

n“Do you look like you’re fine?” the judge nearly cursed.

n“You have to tell me if you can’t hold on, and I’ll take you to heal your wounds!” The judge tried to press on Xu Xiaoshou’s chest to stop him from trembling.

nXu Xiaoshou’s eyes rolled back as he struggled to sit up. However, he had no strength left in his body. He howled weakly.

n“Don’t, don’t touch me!”

n“Currently, I have a… sensitive constitution. Uhhh…”

nThe judge was speechless.

nHe silently withdrew his hands from Xu Xiaoshou. “Perhaps he doesn’t need me…” he thought.

nThe spectators were all wondering what was going on. Because Xu Xiaoshou was lying down on the ground, they could see his face, and a few of the spectators who could read lips interpreted the conversation.

nThe spectators were in an uproar.

n“He must have taken an aphrodisiac!”

n“Taking those things before a competition… I have to hand it to him!”

n“Someone drag him off somewhere and cool him off!”

n“I strongly request for a drug test. That Xu Xiaoshou must have consumed a banned drug!”

nAll of these interpretations of the situation gave Xu Xiaoshou countless Passive Points. There was doubt, respect, mockery…

nThe medical personnel who’d taken Xu XiaoShou’s pulse released his hand from around his wrist and said in shock, “He seems to be fine?”

n“What?” The judge was confused.

n“I don’t know what medication he took, but its effects are really powerful. His body is recovering at a rapid rate. He’s almost fully healed.”

n“Hehe!”

n“He’s almost fully healed?”

nThe judge pointed at Xu Xiaoshou’s convulsing body. “Then what’s that?”

nThe medical personnel stammered and said, not too sure himself, “Pleasure?”

nThe judge’s expression darkened. “Pleasure, my foot!” he thought.

n“You’re useless!”

nHe thought for a moment, then pried open Xu Xiaoshou’s hand and saw the Red Gold Pill.

n“Just this?”

nHe raised an eyebrow, then took the pill and popped it into his mouth. The medical personnel almost jumped when he saw him do this. “You can’t eat that!”

n“It’s fine. It isn’t poisonous. If it was, Xu Xiaoshou wouldn’t have dared to consume one, and he wouldn’t be experiencing the effect you described. By taking it, I’ll immediately be able to detect if he consumed banned drugs before the competition or not.”

nThe judge sat down cross-legged. He circulated the spiritual source in his body, and the pill immediately dissolved into his system.

nHe opened his eyes. “What’s going on?” he thought.

n“Is this really a Red Gold Pill?”

nHe looked at Xu Xiaoshou, who couldn’t stop trembling, and lapsed into deep thought. “Did we eat the same thing?” he thought.

n“Or could it be that he really does have a sensitive constitution?”

nThe judge trembled when he thought about that. The medical personnel was startled.

nOn the ground off to the side, Xu Xiaoshou continued trembling for a while before gradually regaining composure. Because of his experience with the Spiritual Cultivation Pill the previous time, he was actually much better off this time around.

nFurthermore, the Red Gold Pill was ultimately a medicine used to treat injuries. The high only came in one wave. It came on fast, but it quickly went away.

nHe had to admit that while the side effects of the Breathing Technique were great, the effects of the technique were even greater!

n“I seem to have mostly recovered. I still feel a little pain…” Xu Xiaoshou thought to himself.

nThe explosion of the dark energy left by the Great Darkness Calamity Fist was no laughing matter. His scalp still crawled when he thought about it. He didn’t how he’d been so brave enough to hang on during that battle.

n“Yes, there was nothing I could do besides try my best to hang on during that battle I think…” he thought.

nXu Xiaoshou flailed his arms and legs, forcefully trying to reenergize himself. He still had one more battle. He couldn’t cool down.

nThe judge watched Xu Xiaoshou jump about and occasionally twitch. There was a doubtful look on his face.

n“So that’s the end of the matter?” he thought to himself.

nXu Xiaoshou leapt about and looked back, then waved his hands and thanked the spectators that loved him. He expressed his gratitude for their concern before returning to the notification panel in his mind.

n“Passive Points: 10220.”

nTsk tsk, it increased by over 3000 points!

n“This is true love!” Xu Xiaoshou exclaimed as he walked into the barrier once again with trembling legs.

nHe had reached his quota for today. He might’ve even exceeded it.

nThe judge followed behind him like his personal bodyguard. “Are you ready for your next battle?” he asked nonchalantly.

n“There’s no rush. Let me rest for a while more. Give me some time, all right!”

nXu Xiaoshou took out a Spirit Crystal and whiffed it from time to time, trying his best to stay at peak condition.

nEven though he had just gone through a rough battle and recovered from a severe injury, he could still use 60 to 70 percent of his powers, which was decent.

n“All right!” the judge chuckled. “Then let’s start. There’s no time left anyway.”

nXu Xiaoshou looked at the judge in shock. “You’re a dog! Why did you even ask me if I wanted to start if we’re out of time? Do you have to toy with people like that?”

nThe judge happily infused an array token with his spiritual source and activated the screen, a victorious smirk on his face at having achieved a small victory against Xu Xiaoshou.

nThe screen shimmered, and a name was selected.

n“Wen Chong!”

nXu Xiaoshou looked at the judge, dumbfounded. “Wen Chong?” he thought. “You must be messing with me!”

nThe judge put his hands up as if to say that he had nothing to do with the matter, an innocent look on his face.

nAt the same time, the spectators immediately got into an uproar. The atmosphere had immediately become fired up by that name.

n“My God, Wen Chong?!”

n“This must’ve been rigged. That Xu Xiaoshou is so pitiful. Someone must’ve pulled this on him!”

n“That’s right. He’s just gone through a battle of life and death, but in the end, he won’t even have the chance to rest before he has to face a boss who’s supposed to be the champion of an arena.”

n“Champion of an arena?” Some people were excited, while others didn’t understand why everyone had suddenly gotten into an uproar. “Tell me quickly. What’s going on?”

n“Do you know arena number two? Boss Wen was unlucky and was grouped with Zhao Qingteng during the group-stage competition. He got dominated. Zhao Qingteng became champion while he got second place.”

n“Tsk, so what? Xu Xiaoshou is also a champion!”

n“Zhao Qingteng is ranked second, an Innate-stage expert!”

n“Boss Wen is ranked second and is half a step into the Innate Stage!”

n“Sss! He’s that strong?”

n“Hehe, do you think that’s all there is to it? No, no, no… That guy is the mortal enemy of Xu Xiaoshou!”

nThe person speaking was beating around the bush and whetting the appetite of the people around him.

n“Stop beating around the bush. Tell us quickly!” the people off to the side said, impatient.

n“Do you know Liu Zhen? The Level Ten who nearly made Xu Xiaoshou explode?!”

n“Yes, yes!” Everyone nodded.

n“He’s Wen Chong’s lackey!”

n“Ssss!” The crowd gasped.

n“That’s not all!” The speaker had a proud expression as he continued, “You know Di Xin’er, right? The girl who got hit on the head twice by Xu Xiaoshou with his wooden sword!”

n“Yes, yes!”

nHe revealed the shocking news. “Wen Chong’s goddess!”

n“Oh s***!”

n“Intense!”

n“Then Xu Xiaoshou is done for, darn it!”

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