Chapter 226: Chapter 144: Promotion Assessment
A light breeze blew through the street.
Dust and debris drifted gently from the concrete, and the leaves of the green trees by the road swayed.
"What do you think?"
someone asked from inside the black sedan at the end of the alley, watching the two figures facing off in the distance.
The person in the passenger seat shook his head, set down a file, and said flatly, "Three moves. If the kid can take three moves, he passes."
"Three moves? Isn’t that underestimating him a bit?"
"Underestimating him? Wang Ling is already at the peak of the Elite Level. He’s just a hair’s breadth away from stepping into the Superpower Level."
The man in the passenger seat frowned. "Don’t forget, our assessment target only broke through to the Elite Level a month ago."
"He might have a few victories under his belt, but they were just from sparring in some small-town dojo. In places like Yao Capital or East Port, he wouldn’t even make a ripple."
"Three moves. I’m already showing him a lot of respect."
Hearing this, the man who had asked the question nodded. He had to admit it made some sense.
They had assessed countless so-called prodigies fast-tracked for promotion across the Alliance Country, so they knew just how vast the gap between different regions could be.
Meanwhile,
in the middle of the street, the young man in the black trench coat leaning against a lamppost had similar thoughts.
He squinted down at Lu Chao, who stood several meters away, taking in his sturdy build clad in a simple gray hoodie.
"If I had made the first move, you wouldn’t have had a chance to fight back."
His expression was placid, his hands in his pockets, as if he were stating some fundamental truth. "If I were you, I would have at least seized the initiative and taken the first shot."
His words carried over.
Lu Chao narrowed his eyes. He could sense the arrogance in the other man’s words.
"What’s the matter?"
As if sensing his hesitation, the man slowly straightened up and looked down at him. "Afraid to make a move?"
"Or is this the extent of your Martial Arts spirit?"
His tone was deliberately provocative, though quite clumsy. He clearly wasn’t very good at this sort of thing.
Lu Chao’s expression grew calm. He had a good idea of who this person was now.
One second, three seconds, five seconds...
The atmosphere was silent.
VWOOM!!
The next instant, a shockwave erupted.
The man in the black trench coat vanished in a flash, appearing right in front of him.
As his clothes whipped in the wind, his cybernetically augmented bionic arm glowed with a pale, whitish-blue light.
His fingers clenched into a fist, creating a rushing sound like a surging river.
"I gave you your chance!"
The indifferent voice reached his ears as the fist hurtled forward, seeming to suck all the air out of the space around it, carrying an ineffable momentum.
Through the man’s dark sunglasses, Lu Chao could see his own reflection in the lenses.
"It’s over."
The two men in the black sedan silently shook their heads.
Setting down the file, they prepared to get out of the car and treat the injured man to avoid any future trouble.
But then, in the very next instant...
THUD!!
A muffled boom exploded, making their hearts skip a beat.
An invisible vortex of wind swirled up from the ground.
Lu Chao stood firm, his corded-muscle right arm raised at some point, his fingers like talons, catching the incoming blue-glowing fist.
Not only did his sturdy body not waver in the slightest, but a brown sheen also flashed across its surface, his skin turning the color of bronze.
"Oh?"
The two men in the car raised their eyebrows, their movements freezing.
Meanwhile, the eyes of the young man in black facing Lu Chao lit up, a flicker of interest on his face.
"So this is your Fighting Skill?"
BOOM!!
His Life Energy erupted completely. The beat of his heart thundered like a roaring engine.
Suddenly, his right arm shot out. The fluorescent patterns on the back of his hand blazed with white-blue light as he once again smashed it toward Lu Chao, backed by the force of a new river.
THUD!!
The Fist Seals collided!
Lu Chao didn’t dodge or evade, meeting it head-on.
The concrete ground beneath their feet trembled from the impact, and a ring of white energy bloomed between their colliding fists.
"Rock Hide? A defensive enhancement-type Fighting Skill?"
Staring at the white-ash energy covering Lu Chao’s fist, and seeing how he was holding his own, the young man in black’s eyes grew even brighter.
THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!!
One punch after another, he unleashed his energy, throwing over a dozen punches in a single second.
A crackling, pale blue-white light flickered across his body, making him look unusually imposing.
Each punch carried two tons of force, leaving afterimages hanging in the air like cannonballs, causing the air to crackle and pop with explosive sounds.
And yet, in the face of such an onslaught...
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!
The sturdy body remained planted firmly on the spot, throwing out over a dozen White Ash Fist Seals.
Like hard stone resisting a river, giving no quarter.
His body, shimmering with that brown light, was like a silent megalith, exuding a sense of savage, primal ferocity.
BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!!
In the blink of an eye, it was as if barrels of dynamite were being ignited one after another in a continuous series of explosions.
The muffled booms echoed through the district, startling nearby passersby who scrambled to get away.
Some curious onlookers also opened their windows in the buildings above to watch.
"This..."
Witnessing this scene, the expressions of the two men in the black sedan turned serious.
"He actually managed to take several moves. It seems his foundation really is solid."
"Not bad. He can actually block fifty percent of Wang Ling’s power."
"In that case, I guess he barely passes..."
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!!
A sudden sound interrupted their thoughts. Lu Chao, who had been passively receiving blows the entire time, suddenly seemed to grow an inch taller as a sound of bones and sinews shifting came from within his body.
"Use your full strength."
His voice was deep. Lu Chao used a single application of the Stacked Force technique, entered the Iron Bone State, and blocked the next punch.
Their eyes met. His gaze was calm, as if he had already seen the outcome.
"Otherwise, I’m afraid you won’t be able to take it."
"Oh?"
Slightly surprised, the young man in black hadn’t expected him to have such audacity.
Almost laughing in anger, he threw a punch at Lu Chao’s head.
"Who the hell do you think you’re talking to with that tone?"
BAM!!
However, the fist landed, and white energy exploded outward.
But it was like hitting a wall of solid bronze. He actually felt a faint, sharp pain from the neural connection point of his bionic limb.
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