64: Chapter 64 The Eve of the Storm: The Final Polishing

The night deepened.

The student dormitory area of Third High School gradually quieted down.

Tomorrow was the Provincial College Entrance Exam Combat Ranking Tournament, and the air was filled with a suffocating sense of tension. The vast majority of students were using this last bit of time to rest or nervously checking their spiritual energy equipment.

"Knock, knock, knock."

Someone knocked on Su Chen's dormitory door. Opening the door, the instructor of the Cannon Fodder Class, retired veteran Instructor Lin Yi, stood outside. He carried a heavy scent of tobacco, his brows were tightly knit, and his face was full of worry.

"Instructor Lin Yi." Su Chen stepped aside, clearing a path.

Instructor Lin Yi walked into the narrow single dormitory, did not sit down, but turned around directly, his gaze fixed on Su Chen.

"During the day on the playground, that kid Jiang Feng really stunned everyone."

Instructor Lin Yi got straight to the point, his tone extremely serious, "That he could break through to the Martial Artist Realm is completely beyond my expectations. With him in the examination hall, self-preservation will definitely not be a problem. However, you cannot."

Su Chen did not reply, walked to the table, poured a glass of plain water, and handed it over.

Instructor Lin Yi did not take the water glass, but sighed heavily.

"Su Chen, I don't care what you've experienced in the past half month. I know your skin has undergone a 'secondary mutation' and is very hard, capable of deflecting even D-rank Wind Blades. But, Zhao Kuang is different!"

Instructor Lin Yi's speaking speed became faster and faster, carrying undisguised anxiety.

"I've asked my former military comrades about the S-rank Radiant Gold spiritual energy battle armor he wore today! That suit of armor has a powerful energy-gathering Formation built into it, which can boost his fire-type lethality by another thirty percent!"

"Your mutated skin can only defend against physical cutting and blunt force! Facing S-rank Radiant Gold Flame, that terrifying high temperature and fire poison don't even need to break your skin; the high temperature will pass directly through your skin and instantly burn your internal organs into charcoal!"

Instructor Lin Yi looked at Su Chen's calm face and raised his voice in frustration, "What are you going to use to defend? Your life?"

The dormitory was quiet for a few seconds.

Su Chen looked at the unfeigned sincerity and worry in Instructor Lin Yi's eyes, and a hint of gentleness flashed in his pitch-black eyes.

In this cold school filled with interest exchanges and a hierarchy of contempt, the retired veteran before him was one of the few people who didn't care about talent or background and genuinely cared whether he lived or died.

"So, what is the instructor's suggestion?" Su Chen asked calmly.

"Withdraw."

Instructor Lin Yi spat out the two words decisively.

"Tomorrow when the exam starts, as soon as you are assigned to the ruins area, press the distress/withdrawal button on your wrist immediately! There are military Grandmaster-level supervisors patrolling in the air above the examination hall. As long as you press the button, even if Zhao Kuang has the guts of a giant, he would never dare to make a move in front of a supervisor!"

Instructor Lin Yi stepped forward, patted Su Chen's shoulder heavily, and spoke earnestly.

"As long as the green hills remain, there's no need to worry about firewood. With your tough bones, wouldn't it be better to go to the military and become a heavy-armor guard, living a safe and stable life? There's no need to lose your life on the ring for a moment of pride."

After listening to Instructor Lin Yi's earnest advice, Su Chen did not answer immediately.

He placed the water glass in his hand on the table.

Then, his gaze shifted downward, landing on the weapon worn at Instructor Lin Yi's waist.

It was a military-standard refined steel katana. Although it had no spiritual energy circuits engraved on it, the material was excellent and it was incredibly sharp. It was an old partner Instructor Lin Yi had brought back from the Abyss frontline, having drunk the blood of countless Vicious Beasts.

"Instructor Lin Yi."

Su Chen raised his head, looking directly into Instructor Lin Yi's eyes, "Draw your blade."

"What?" Instructor Lin Yi was stunned, thinking he had misheard.

"Draw your blade." Su Chen repeated, his tone calm yet revealing an unquestionable dominance, "Use your strongest force to cut me."

Instructor Lin Yi widened his eyes, "Are you crazy? This is a sharpened military steel blade! Even if your skin is hardened, at such a close distance, one slash could snap your bones!"

"Cut." Su Chen did not explain further, his hands hanging naturally at his sides, standing quietly in place.

Looking at Su Chen's deep, firm, and even inexplicably oppressive black eyes, Instructor Lin Yi swallowed the reprimand that had reached his lips.

"Fine, you want to test the hardness of your turtle shell, right? I'll cut you awake today and make you give up completely!"

Instructor Lin Yi snorted angrily and took half a step back.

"Clang!"

A snow-bright blade flash streaked through the narrow dormitory. The refined steel katana was unsheathed in an instant.

Although Instructor Lin Yi deliberately restrained the Protective Aura in his body and did not use spiritual energy, this slash still utilized his terrifying physical strength!

The blade tore through the air, emitting a sharp whistling sound, and headed straight for Su Chen's left shoulder!

The force of this slash was enough to split a car in two.

Facing this powerful slash.

Su Chen did not dodge, nor did he move his feet even half an inch.

He just lifted his right hand very casually and extended his index and middle fingers.

There was no black Armament Haki covering them.

He didn't even deliberately activate [Iron Body].

It was merely the terrifying physical foundation tempered countless times after breaking through to the Martial Artist Realm, combined with the precise prediction of Observation Haki.

"Ding—!"

An extremely crisp and long-lasting sound of metal impact reverberated through the dormitory.

Instructor Lin Yi felt as if the blade he had slashed down with had suddenly cut into a solid ten-thousand-ton iron mountain!

The enormous counter-shock force traveled up the hilt, splitting the webbing between his thumb and index finger, and he almost couldn't hold onto the blade.

He looked up in horror.

The blade stopped in mid-air.

Su Chen had used only two fingers, like the sturdiest steel hydraulic pliers, to nonchalantly catch the high-speed descending steel blade!

"This..."

Instructor Lin Yi's face flushed red, and the veins on his arms bulged. He pressed down desperately, trying to make the blade move just one more inch.

But between Su Chen's two fingers, the blade didn't move at all!

Let alone cutting Su Chen's skin, he couldn't even push his fingers down by a single millimeter!

Before Instructor Lin Yi could recover from this extreme shock.

Su Chen looked at the blade and flipped his wrist slightly.

Two fingers pinched the back of the blade and snapped it gently to the side.

"Snap!"

An extremely harsh, crisp sound.

That military katana, which had accompanied Instructor Lin Yi for ten years, was forged from refined steel, and could cut through iron like mud.

Between Su Chen's two fingers, it was snapped in two as if it were a crisp biscuit!

"Clang."

Su Chen released his fingers. The broken half of the blade fell onto the desk with a dull thud.

Inside the dormitory, there was dead silence.

Instructor Lin Yi held the remaining half of the broken blade in his hand, standing there stunned as if struck by lightning.

His mouth was slightly open, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets, and his brain had completely lost the ability to think.

Two fingers, caught his full-force slash?

Then with a gentle snap, broke refined steel?

What kind of monster body is this! This is no "skin mutation"! This is simply an ancient Vicious Beast in human skin!

Instructor Lin Yi's worldview completely collapsed at this moment. He realized that all his assessments of this teenager over the past half month were simply ridiculously, laughably wrong!

"Instructor."

Su Chen looked at the dumbfounded Instructor Lin Yi and smiled faintly.

"Zhao Kuang's fire is indeed very powerful. But before he burns me, I will snap his neck first."

Su Chen turned around, walked to the window, and stood with his back to Instructor Lin Yi.

"If you trust me. Before the exam starts tomorrow, go to the underground betting ring on the outskirts and put all your savings on me winning first place in the province."

Su Chen's voice sounded extremely calm in the night, yet carried an absolute arrogance of controlling everything.

"You just wait to count the money."

...

Ten minutes later.

Instructor Lin Yi walked out of Su Chen's dormitory in a trance, still clutching the broken hilt of the blade tightly in his hand.

It wasn't until a cold early autumn breeze blew on his face that he shivered violently. He looked back at the closed dormitory door, and a flash of undisguised fanaticism and shock erupted in the depths of his eyes.

"This kid... is going to defy the heavens!"

Inside the dormitory.

"Click."

Su Chen turned off the overhead light.

He didn't take off his clothes and sat cross-legged directly on the single bed.

The night was deep. The entire city fell into silence.

Su Chen closed his eyes in the darkness and summoned the System panel in his mind.

On the eve of the big exam, he needed to perform one final review of his status.

"Realm: Second-Order Martial Artist."

The Qi and blood in his body were like a rushing river, full and endless. After breaking through to the Martial Artist Realm, his physical strength was finally able to perfectly bear the high-intensity consumption of various monstrous skills.

"Dojutsu: Two-Tomoe Sharingan."

Insight was doubled, capable of seeing through the subtle flow of high-level spiritual energy, and even immune to the vast majority of mental attacks of the same level.

"Haki: Observation Haki (Elementary), Armament Haki (Intermediate · Ryuo), Haoshoku (Elementary Fragment)."

Perception with no blind spots, offense and defense with long-range destruction, Soul suppression in group battles. The high-martial System of the three-color Haki had been completely established.

"Taijutsu: Rokushiki (Soru, Iron Body, Finger Pistol, Moonwalk, Kami-e, Tempest Kick)."

All six Taijutsu moves were mastered, with three-dimensional mobility and melee combat methods perfect and flawless.

Su Chen took a slow, deep breath.

Essence, Qi, and Spirit.

At this moment, they were adjusted to the Peak state since his Transmigration.

The destructive power hidden in this body was enough to stir up a Level 12 hurricane in this so-called high-martial world that would subvert everyone's cognition.

"Swish."

Su Chen suddenly opened his eyes in the darkness.

The pitch-black eyes instantly turned into a sheet of scarlet. Two black tomoe spun rapidly in the pupils, emitting a blood-chilling, bloodthirsty red glow.

Zhao Kuang? S-rank Radiant Gold battle armor?

Su Chen's lips curled into a cold arc.

Those were just appetizers for tomorrow's examination hall.

His true goal was the [Abyss Cult] blood altar hidden beneath the abandoned subway station in Jiangnan City, which was preparing to stir up a bloody storm tomorrow by taking advantage of the chaos of the college entrance exam!

As long as he took down that altar and uprooted the cancer of the Abyss Cult, his strength would welcome an unprecedented ultimate leap!

"Regardless of what conspiracy you have."

Su Chen stood up, looking at the cold moon obscured by dark clouds outside the window, his eyes like knives.

"Tomorrow, as long as you dare to come."

"I will overturn you, along with this world."