15: Chapter 15 One Punch Breaks Through the Wall! The Crushing Power of Core-Condensing Lightning

The next morning.

In the single dorm room, sunlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains.

Chen Lin sat up from his bed and stretched.

Then, he froze.

Sitting on the chair beside the bed was Chief Instructor Liu Jianguo, staring at him with a resentful look like an aggrieved young wife.

Chen Lin: "..."

"Instructor Liu, what are you doing sitting in my room so early in the morning?"

Liu Jianguo sighed. "Chen Lin, oh Chen Lin, what am I supposed to say about you?"

"You've only been at the Special Training Camp for half a day, and you've already beaten up five people!"

"And in the end, you even sent Sun Hao to the infirmary!"

"Do you know what condition that kid is in right now?"

Chen Lin scratched his head. "He's not going to die, is he?"

"He's not going to die!"

Liu Jianguo slapped his thigh. "But he has to stay in bed for several days!"

"The key thing is, I just finalized it last night that he would go with me to the Catacombs for special training today!"

The Catacombs?

Chen Lin's interest was piqued.

The Catacombs were extra-dimensional rifts that suddenly appeared on Blue Star two hundred years ago. Currently, 378 of them had been discovered worldwide.

Each contained its own world inside, varying in size.

The small ones were like county towns, while the large ones were comparable to half a province.

Due to the special energy inside, the Catacombs bred countless exotic beasts.

They were the native creatures of the Catacombs, coming in all sorts of bizarre shapes and sizes, some as small as jackals and others as massive as mountains.

The beast cores condensed inside these exotic beasts could accelerate the cultivation of human martial artists, making them an important cultivation resource.

However, exotic beasts were ferocious and bloodthirsty, actively attacking humans.

Every year, Catacombs riots caused massive casualties.

Nowadays, the Catacombs were classified into several tiers by humans.

For martial artists, although it was dangerous, it was also the best training ground.

Liu Jianguo continued to complain, "I went through so much trouble to gather ten slots for this Catacombs special training, all of whom are in the Ninghe Realm!"

"Sun Hao was the only one at Qiling Stage 9, and I was actually a bit reluctant to include him, but now even he can't go!"

"We're about to set off, where am I supposed to find a replacement?"

As Liu Jianguo spoke, he slumped back in his chair, his face filled with utter despair.

This Catacombs special training was extremely important!

It was considered the final real-combat training before the Martial Arts Exam!

Slots were limited, and the opportunity was rare!

One less person meant one less competitor who could strive for a top-tier academy.

Liu Jianguo was truly helpless.

But Chen Lin's expression shifted.

All in the Ninghe Realm?

Didn't that mean these people were all geniuses?

Weren't they the perfect emotional chives to harvest?

And the key was that they were going to a dangerous place like the Catacombs.

"Then wouldn't it be fine if I went?" Chen Lin stood up.

"You?"

Liu Jianguo was taken aback.

He quickly came to his senses and sized Chen Lin up.

As he did, his pupils suddenly contracted.

Something was wrong!

The aura on Chen Lin...

"You've reached the Ninghe Realm?!"

Liu Jianguo leaped to his feet, his face filled with disbelief.

Chen Lin nodded. "Yeah, I leveled up four times in a row yesterday and made it to the Ninghe Realm."

???

Leveled up four times in a row?

Made it to the Ninghe Realm?

Liu Jianguo's mouth twitched.

Do you think this is as easy as eating or drinking?

Liu Jianguo wanted to doubt it, but his cultivation realm couldn't be faked.

So...

Was there really someone in this world who could jump four levels in half a day?

Liu Jianguo took a deep breath and hurriedly asked, "What element is your Source Core?"

Chen Lin grinned.

He raised his hand.

Crackle!

Purple-blue electric arcs crackled and leaped at his fingertips, illuminating the entire room.

Liu Jianguo's eyes went wide.

"Lightning?!"

"A Lightning Source Core?!"

"Holy crap!"

Liu Jianguo couldn't help but swear.

As the Chief Instructor, he knew all too well how rare a Lightning Source Core was.

Among the ten major elements, the lightning element was an absolute primary combat element!

Violent, domineering, and extremely destructive!

Most importantly, once martial techniques were learned, the lightning element was far stronger than other elements!

Just raising a hand could fill the screen with lightning.

At this moment, Liu Jianguo was ecstatic!

"Good, good, good! It's you, then!"

"That kid Sun Hao got bedridden at the perfect time! Absolutely wonderful!"

"If he hadn't ended up in bed, I wouldn't have been able to snag such a great prospect like you!"

Chen Lin: "..."

Instructor Liu, didn't you change your tune a bit too quickly?

...

10:00 AM, the entrance to the Catacombs.

A grayish-black energy vortex floated quietly in mid-air, resembling a giant open eye.

Liu Jianguo stood before the ten people, his gaze sweeping across this group of top students from the Special Training Camp.

"Listen up, all of you!"

"This Catacombs is designated as Number 037, D-class, with an area equivalent to three county towns, and it has already been fully explored."

"With your Ninghe Realm cultivation, as long as you don't mess around, you'll absolutely be fine."

"But remember, I said 'absolutely fine', not 'absolutely safe'!"

Liu Jianguo's voice suddenly rose. "There are no instructors and no rules in the Catacombs! There are only exotic beasts and accidents that can happen at any moment!"

"If you encounter danger, you either fight your way out, or you die inside!"

"Do you understand?!"

"Understood!" everyone responded in unison.

Liu Jianguo walked over to him and lowered his voice. "Even though you beat up five people yesterday, the Catacombs is different. Those exotic beasts don't play by the rules, so don't be too reckless."

Chen Lin nodded. "I got it."

"Alright, everyone go in!"

The ten people entered one after another.

The moment Chen Lin stepped into the vortex, his body felt light, and the scene before his eyes suddenly shifted.

A gloomy, gray sky.

Dark red soil.

On the undulating hills in the distance grew some kind of twisted black plants.

A faint, metallic sweetness filled the air.

This was the Catacombs.

"Everyone, come over here for a moment."

A voice called out.

Chen Lin turned his head and saw a thin young man wearing glasses standing on a rock, pushing up his frames.

"My name is Ye Huang, ranked in the top five in combat power in the entire camp. Instructor Liu won't be directly intervening during this trip to the Catacombs."

"So, everyone needs to be careful."

"I think sticking together is the best option."

"Don't try to play the individualist or the lone wolf to show off your personality."

"There's no point in that."

"In horror movies, the ones who get separated are usually the first to die."

"From now on, we move together. Any objections?"

Everyone nodded one after another, tacitly agreeing to this arrangement.

Including Chen Lin.

Being in the top five in combat power in the camp indeed gave him the authority to lead.

Besides, Chen Lin also strongly agreed with sticking together.

Sometimes, he really couldn't understand.

It seemed like in all the manga he had read growing up...

...every protagonist would choose to go solo at this point.

Did that make them stand out from the crowd and look cool?

Uh...

It was actually quite bizarre.

If they ran into an even stronger exotic beast or monster, what would the protagonist do?

Forcefully unleash their potential, or have some mysterious old mentor bail them out?

That was just too contrived.

Without overthinking it, the ten of them ventured deeper into the Catacombs.

As time passed, they gradually noticed a strange phenomenon—there were actually human buildings here.

However, most of the buildings were dilapidated and in ruins.

Everything looked like a city that had been overrun by exotic beasts!

"Could this Catacombs have been a city in the past?"

A girl in the team frowned and said.

"It looks like it," Ye Huang nodded.

Walking on a dilapidated concrete street, they were flanked by thick concrete walls on both sides.

Their line of sight was severely obstructed.

Under such complex circumstances, Ye Huang became vigilant.

He took out a laptop, and after messing around with it for a bit, the screen showed a radar-like interface, rapidly analyzing the surrounding environment.

Any hidden exotic beasts would be displayed on the laptop.

Soon, Ye Huang led the group to a halt in front of a dilapidated wall.

"Not good, there's an exotic beast on the other side!"

"It seems to be lying in wait for us!"

Ye Huang turned around and whispered. Relying on the radar on his laptop, he could clearly detect an exotic beast behind the wall.

He also detected that it belonged to the Second-tier Exotic Beast category.

Equivalent to a martial artist's Ninghe Realm!

Currently, the exotic beast was hiding behind the wall, waiting to strike the moment the ten of them showed their faces!

It had to be said that the exotic beasts nowadays were truly intelligent!

Fortunately, they had the laptop to detect the danger in advance; otherwise, they really would have been injured if they fell into an ambush!

"Ye Huang, what do we do now?" someone in the group asked.

Ye Huang frowned.

As the leader, although he possessed the strength, this was his first time encountering such a situation, and for a moment, he really didn't know what to do.

Just as he was solemnly pondering how to resolve the issue...

Chen Lin shook his head and pointed at the wall. "Is that beast right here?"

"No, according to the laptop, a bit further to your right."

"It's right behind that section of the wall," Ye Huang said, looking up at Chen Lin.

There was some confusion in his eyes, not understanding what Chen Lin was trying to do.

But before he could ask, Chen Lin swung his fist, stacking his Mountain-Moving Strength.

With a single punch, he smashed straight through the thick wall.

His large hand grabbed the exotic beast's head and violently dragged it out.

"You little beast, you're actually trying to pull off an ambush?"

"In my eyes, you and your cover are equally laughable!"

Ye Huang: ???