章節 23: Are You Worthy?
編輯: Atlas Studios
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Su Hei stepped forward and prepared to give it a try.
However, Li Burou was faster than him. He smirked.
"Leader Cao, you're exaggerating. Let me have a go."
As he spoke, Li Burou had already picked up his training suit.
The crowd stirred into a wave of murmurs and gasps of surprise when they saw how he lifted up the training suit effortlessly.
"What? He picked it up so easily?"
"As expected of a martial artist from the Elite class of the martial arts academy. Impressive!"
"Being able to pick it up doesn't mean anything. After all, you have to wear it for daily training all day long."
"Leader Li, why don't you put it on and let everyone have a look?"
Everyone stared at Li Burou with skepticism.
Su Hei saw that after mere seconds had passed, Li Burou's legs had started to bend slightly.
"He won't last much longer."
Su Hei thought to himself.
Almost simultaneously, there was a thud.
Li Burou let go of the training suit and it dropped to the ground.
"Leader Cao is right. I can only carry this and walk for a distance of five kilometers. It's really not easy to wear it all day long."
He gladly admitted that the training suit was too heavy for him.
His honesty left a good impression on Su Hei.
Li Burou's failure instantly sparked Bai Tiantian's competitive spirit.
The girl carried the puppy and walked forward. She shook her head incessantly.
"You're too weak, buddy. You can't even withstand the weight of a training suit. How are you going to roll in the hay for hours with your girlfriend in the future?"
"Let me do it. Help me carry Ice Cream."
Bai Tiantian shoved the puppy into Su Hei's hands.
Woof!
Ice Cream licked Su Hei's hand and grinned its floppy doggy grin at him.
Su Hei could not help but rub its head when he saw how adorable Ice Cream was.
"Ha!"
Bai Tiantian let out a delicate shout and clapped her hands a few times. After that, she bent down and exerted all of her strength.
She easily picked up the training suit and was about to put it on.
Everyone's eyes lit up. They thought that Bai Tiantian would succeed, for sure.
Suddenly, Bai Tiantian frowned and let go of that training suit.
Thud!
The training suit landed on the ground again.
"It's too heavy. I'm not doing this anymore!" she grumbled.
Bai Tiantian turned around and grabbed Ice Cream, disregarding how Su Hei was still engrossed in stroking and fondling the puppy.
Right on her heels was Zhang Xiaofan.
Li Burou had a carefree personality, Bai Tiantian was a woman, and Cao Guangning was a fool.
Out of the four of them, only Su Hei had a mature and composed demeanor. On top of that, he was more powerful than the four of them.
Zhang Xiaofan subconsciously looked at Su Hei.
"C-can I try?" he asked.
Su Hei was slightly stunned before he smiled at Zhang Xiaofan.
"Leader Zhang, don't stand on ceremony. Please, go ahead," said Su Hei.
In response, Zhang Xiaofan smiled. He felt a lot more relaxed.
He stepped forward and exerted strength in his hands.
"Wind!"
The next instant, a light wind started to blow.
It gathered around Zhang Xiaofan's legs.
Standing by the side, the other four geniuses' clothes fluttered in the wind.
"This is Elemental Possession! The martial artist can envelope themselves in their elemental power!"
Someone in the crowd exclaimed.
Everyone stood and stared, dumbfounded.
"This is something that only a Grandmaster can do… But wait… Leader Zhang's combat strength was only slightly more than 10,000 yesterday. How can he become a Grandmaster in one day?"
"Leader Zhang is also a genius who obtained an assessment token in the recruitment examination. We can't treat him like a normal martial artist."
"I originally thought that Su Hei—Leader Su—was the strongest among this batch of recruits. Now it looks like I was blind to the truth, and I have misjudged!"
"A martial artist in the Perfected Realm is capable of Elemental Possession! I think it won't be long before Leader Zhang's ability surpasses Leader Su's."
Everyone was dumbstruck.
Su Hei was also stunned.
Over the past two days, Zhang Xiaofan had given people the impression that he was a lone wolf, lacked confidence in himself, and was far inferior to Li Burou and Bai Tiantian.
Now, it seemed that he had been lying low and concealing his powers.
"With the help of the Wind Element, who knows? Maybe he can succeed in wearing that training suit," thought Su Hei.
His eyes gleamed in anticipation.
Everyone else felt the same way.
Soon, the result was out.
With the help of the wind, Zhang Xiaofan could easily lift the 10,000-pound training suit and even slipped his hand up into the sleeve.
He was about to fully don the training suit when he changed his mind and threw it on the ground.
His brows furrowed slightly, and he looked like he was in considerable discomfort. Drops of cold sweat beaded his forehead.
"I can't do this. My bones can't support this weight. If I force myself to wear it, the most I can do is stand here. I can't participate in training at all."
Zhang Xiaofan shook his head.
Of the five captains, only Su Hei had yet to try.
A discussion broke out among the crowd again.
"Leader Su has a combat strength of 59,000. It should be easy for him to wear this, right?"
"It's hard to say. After all, combat power refers to a martial artist's attack power. The training suit is so heavy, but he has to wear it at all times. He might be able to tolerate the weight for a while, but it'll be difficult for him to wear it 24 hours a day. On top of that, he has to participate in daily training! It's tough."
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They were still in the midst of the discussion. Su Hei did not hesitate at all.
His right hand reached for the collar of his training uniform and picked it up.
Everything was done smoothly, and there was no pause or hesitation in his movements at all.
Under everyone's dumbfounded gazes, Su Hei put it on.
He moved his shoulders to try to adjust the training suit to a better fit.
Following that, Su Hei looked at Cao Guangning expressionlessly.
"You can't even do such a simple thing and you want to compete with me? Do you think you're worthy?" he taunted.
A simple sentence.
"Do you think you're worthy?"
That sentence had pierced Cao Guangning's heart like needles of ice.
Cao Guangning's face was beet red, then it took on a purplish tint. It was as if he had been poisoned.
He could not think of a thing to say to rebut Su Hei.
After all, Su Hei had managed to do what he could not. Furthermore, he had done it so easily.
"Could it be that the gap between our capabilities is really that huge?" he wondered.
"No, it couldn't be!"
There was a dissatisfied look in his eyes.
"Your combat strength is five times more than mine. If I have that much combat strength, I can also easily do it," Cao Guangning argued.
"But I wonder how long you can last, wearing this training suit. I hope you're not outwardly strong but inwardly weak, and you end up taking off the training suit after a few minutes."
Jealousy could cause someone to lose control over who they were. Cao Guangning was stubborn. He was still trying to argue back.
Su Hei shook his head and sighed.
"You have great talent, but you're not a genius. The only thing you have is your pitiful self-esteem," he remarked.
Cao Guangning's face turned crimson with chagrin when he heard that.
That was especially so when he saw everyone pointing at him and whispering to one another.
The hatred in his eyes intensified.
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