Chasing Light City, Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.

The scorching sun was high in the sky at noon, a time when illegal vagabonds should be resting, yet at this moment, the newly built martial arts hall courtyard had a long line of over a thousand apprentices, each with eager eyes, gazing at the grand and magnificent Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall with longing.

In front of the martial arts hall's courtyard, a luxurious car slowly stopped at the entrance, and two beautiful women from the Half-Scale Race stepped out, catching the eyes of many vagabonds in line. However, upon seeing the Phosphorus Fire Gang symbol on the luxury car, they quickly lowered their heads, not daring to look further.

"Xia Ling, is this the good place you mentioned for training?"

A hot Half-Scale Race woman with an oval face and a sharp chin, dressed in dark blue training shorts and a top, looked at the imposing Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall on the rundown street, her brows furrowing deeply.

She was a classmate of Xia Ling at Chasing Light University. They were both participating in the Five Cities Grand Competition, and as rivals of similar strength, she thought the place Xia Ling specially invited her to for special training would be something formidable. She never expected it to be a martial arts hall in the abandoned area.

"Zoe, I'm not lying to you; this really is a good place for training." Xia Ling looked at Zoe, who was frowning, and couldn't help but laugh, "Recently, you must have heard of Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, right? Especially last night, they dispatched six martial artists to wipe out the Two-Headed Gang."

"I certainly know about that, but what does that have to do with our training?" Zoe glanced at the large characters of Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall written on the grand entrance in the distance. These four characters were now known by everyone in Chasing Light City, standing as a top-level power in the city outskirts.

But this had nothing to do with them participating in the Five Cities Grand Competition. After all, no matter how famous Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was, it couldn't influence their ranking in the competition.

"Well, I can tell you that those six martial artists were all cultivated by Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall itself." Xia Ling looked at the long queue of apprentices and couldn't help but sigh, "And now so many apprentices, even advanced ones, come to Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall hoping to join and improve themselves there."

"Those six martial artists were all cultivated by Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall? You're not kidding me, are you?" Zoe looked at Xia Ling, her mouth slightly agape, her beautiful eyes full of disbelief.

The rise of Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall is well known throughout Chasing Light City. You could say it grew from a wild gang.

And for Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall to produce a genius hall master like Lin Qi, it could already be called a miracle. After all, even major forces in the city outskirts find it extremely difficult to cultivate one martial artist, let alone the unimaginable feat of Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall cultivating six.

"Of course," Xia Ling affirmed, "I witnessed Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall's rise. I knew Hall Master Lin Qi before he even became a martial artist. His rapid progress is something I've never seen before. And now, Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall has cultivated six martial artists, indicating their training technique is of high caliber."

"This time, Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall is not only recruiting disciples in large numbers but also opening its training techniques and various martial arts to the public. Aren't you interested?"

"If that's truly the case, then Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall is indeed extraordinary." Zoe couldn't help but grow interested in the martial arts hall.

Although her family was one of the city's, she was not valued by them and wasn't even in line for inheritance. After all, her martial artist talent was average, and with so many resources, it was better to give them to more talented family members.

But hearing Xia Ling's words, the Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall must have an impressive cultivation method; otherwise, it couldn't cultivate six martial artists at once, a feat even city martial arts halls struggle to achieve, with two or three a year being exceptional.

If she could become a martial artist through this, her status in the family would greatly improve, making it possible to enter the Genius Training Camp in three years.

"But now, there are only a few days left to the Five Cities Grand Competition. Learning a training technique now won't do much, and as for learning martial arts, I've already mastered one martial arts level technique. Learning another, given the short time, wouldn't significantly enhance us." Zoe stated.

"Don't worry, Hall Master Lin mentioned that this time, the hall's teachings include VIP treatment. For the cost of an energy crystal stone, you can access VIP treatment to learn Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall's exclusive martial arts, some of which are high-tier martial arts level." Xia Ling smiled.

"High-tier martial arts level techniques? Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall is willing to teach that?!" Zoe was astonished.

High-tier martial arts level techniques are typically of the sixth rank, and even the city's major forces wouldn't easily teach such techniques to their members, let alone outsiders.

"Alright, let's go in and take a look." Xia Ling, seeing the surprised Zoe, directly led her into the Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.

As the two entered, they found the vast first-floor training grounds already filled with people who came to learn training techniques and martial arts. Among them were not only formal residents of the city outskirts but also apprentices from many wild and city-edge gangs. Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was accepting them all, as long as they paid, showing no intention of keeping anything secret.

"Hello, we want to handle two VIP memberships." Xia Ling looked at the human receptionist hired by the Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall and directly took out two energy crystal stones.

"Xia Ling, you are spending too much. I can just get my membership card myself." Zoe watched Xia Ling hand over the money, carefully taking out an energy crystal for her breakthrough to the Martial Artist Realm and reluctantly handed it to the receptionist.

"Alright, here are the two VIP cards, please hold onto them." The human receptionist put away the two energy crystals, then took out two jet-black metal cards and a list, "Now you both are VIP members of our martial arts hall. On this list are the exclusive martial arts techniques we offer. The cost of purchasing these techniques is uniformly 500,000 Bit. An hour of guidance costs 10,000 Bit. However, for official disciples of the martial arts hall, these fees are all discounted to 20%."

But the words from the receptionist seemed to have not reached Xia Ling and Zoe's minds. They both just stared at the A4-sized list.

The martial arts techniques listed weren't many, just seven in total: Star Pointing, Overlapping Waves Saber, Sword Qi Slash, Infinite Full Moon, Spiral Demon Spear Kill, Sword Control Technique, Eight-leaf One Slash, but each bore the Sixth Rank level.

The strongest Star Pointing could reach Sixth Rank 95%, while the weakest Spiral Demon Spear Kill could reach Sixth Rank 65%. Any of these martial arts techniques could be considered a family heirloom in the city, but now they were all available for them to learn. It was simply unbelievable.

"I'll learn the Star Pointing then." Xia Ling, without any hesitation, paid 500,000 Bit for the martial arts technique Star Pointing at almost the Seventh Rank level.

"I'm good at sword techniques, so I'll learn this Eight-leaf One Slash." Zoe took a look and decided to choose the quick sword technique she excelled at.

"Alright, please proceed to the training room; two instructors will be there shortly." The receptionist nodded, then tapped the smart watch on her wrist, sending a notification to Luo Wushang and Chen Ya.

As Xia Ling and Zoe headed to the training room, they suddenly saw a woman with a metal mask and an old man wearing B4 level battle armor entering the martial arts hall, instantly causing the entire first-floor training field to fall into silence.

"Why is Estina here?" Zoe looked at the metal-masked Three-Eyed Race woman in surprise, her heart full of shock. "Could it be she's here to learn too?"

Estina was a well-known name in the city and had even become the first in line to inherit the family business of Branon's Household. An exceptional talent of high potential, she could be considered in the top five geniuses of their generation, absolutely out of reach.

"Indeed she's here too." Xia Ling watched as Estina directly entered the Hall Master's lounge without any hint of surprise.

Both she and Estina had personally witnessed the growth of the Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. Now, the hall had eight martial artists stationed there. Among the major forces in the city's outskirts, there were likely none except the top two recognized forces with such a number of martial artists.

Adding Lin Qi, the genius martial artist, the future expansion of Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall into the city was a foregone conclusion. Estina had every reason to come and cooperate.

Inside the Hall Master's lounge.

"Miss Tina, I wonder what brings you here on short notice?" Lin Qi looked at Estina dressed in a white gown that subtly exuded a sense of danger and spoke with a smile.

His impression of Estina was that of a strong-willed lady from an influential family, not to mention that Estina was now a martial artist certified by the Martial Artist Association, making it even more unimaginable.

It was hard to imagine such a lady coming over personally after he refused an invitation last time.

"Hall Master Lin is joking. As a genius martial artist yourself, what advice could I give?" Estina chuckled indifferently. "This time, I've come on behalf of the Branon's Household with a sincere offer to cooperate with Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall."

"Cooperate? I'm curious to know how," Lin Qi asked with interest.

The Branon's Household was a prestigious family in the city area of Chasing Light City. With known Bone Forging Realm martial artists numbering at least two, they were an existence that Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall could not possibly reach.

"Hall Master Lin, you should be aware of the Azure Sky incident," Estina smiled and said, "Azure Sky was wiped out by a monster tide. The city's high authorities have investigated the matter thoroughly. According to various investigation teams deployed by the city, the monsters from the tide dispersed throughout the region for unknown reasons, increasing the monster prevalence in this area. And with winter approaching, food scarcity has made the monster conflicts more intense, with even nearby towns suffering frequent monster attacks."

"Now, based on our analysis from Chasing Light City's investigators, our region will likely form a monster tide that would attack the surrounding cities. Our Chasing Light City might very well be the first!"

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