The next day, at dawn.
As daylight sliced through the dimness and into the glass window, Ren Yuanhao was still sleeping like a log.
Indeed, for him, ingesting so many attribute-boosting pills at once was a tremendous burden on his body. Even though his physique was slightly stronger than average, he wasn't a Super Saiyan.
In the morning light, his skin was faintly flushed. If one looked closely enough, they could even glimpse nearly transparent gas seeping from his pores.
The bedsheet beneath him was already soaked with sweat. He breathed heavily, as if a thousand-pound rock was pressing down on him. A trace of dried blood could even be seen below his nostrils.
His eyelashes fluttered, his hands clenched tightly. It seemed the slowly brightening light was making him uncomfortable, or perhaps it was the immense burden of his body digesting the pills.
After a long while, he suddenly opened his eyes. His entire body, as if having drowned, exuded a strong odor of sweat.
He had a hazy dream. In it, he was being chased by something and kept running down the mountain. As he ran, he could faintly hear the sound of suonas being played in the distance. A drizzling rain fell from the sky, the cold wind blew fiercely, rushing at him from both sides, carrying the smell of earth. When he realized there was seemingly no one behind him, he abruptly stopped. Before him lay a shallow stream filled with water hyacinths. The river moved slowly, and then, startlingly, a person slowly emerged from the water's depths…
The thought of this dream sent a shiver down Ren Yuanhao's spine. Although he hadn't seen the person's face clearly, the eerie resemblance to a vengeful spirit made his spine crawl.
"Didi, yo, good morning."
"Can't be helped, I don't want to get up, but unfortunately…"
"Oh? That's right, you had a nightmare."
Ren Yuanhao frowned. "How do you know?"
"My apologies, such a minor detail can't escape my discerning eye. Actually, the mechanism of dreams is quite simple, as you should know. The brain needs to process a lot of information it deems useful every day, setting aside things it considers relatively unimportant. You can think of them as pending or ignored items. However, once night falls, these pending items invade the brain, which urgently needs rest, like a worm virus, thus feeding back in the form of dreams."
"But I don't feel anything amiss, or any pending matters."
"That's just what you think. Alright, how do you feel?"
Ren Yuanhao twisted his sore muscles. Apart from a general soreness and swelling, there seemed to be no substantial improvement.
Just then, a strange high-frequency vibration suddenly entered his ears. Before he could cover them, he saw a fly brush past his face!
—Holy crap? Did I just hear a fly flapping its wings?
Ren Yuanhao was too stunned to speak. At that moment, more and more sounds entered his ears, most of which were caused by shoes dragging on the floor!
"How is it, surprised? Unexpected?"
"Damn it, what's good about this? It's so noisy!"
Ren Yuanhao covered his ears, barely able to fend off the cacophony.
"What's the point of covering your ears? Use your internal energy, mobilize your five senses. When you reach a point where you can control them freely, you'll find this enhancement surprisingly useful."
Ren Yuanhao remained silent. He covered his ears and got out of bed, heading straight for the washroom. But as soon as he reached for the handle, it was directly pulled off by his right hand!
—Holy crap! With only 10 Strength, it's already this terrifying?
He looked at his hands in disbelief, and the system's smug loli voice reappeared in his mind.
"In the Bagua, nine is the extreme of Yang, and six is the extreme of Yin. Therefore, in a male body, every time an attribute value passes '9', it will advance by one level. That is precisely why this phenomenon is occurring with you."
"So, in the normal world, I'm already invincible now?"
"Invincible? Do you know Li Yuanba? Guys like him, upon birth, already possess innate strength exceeding 10. If he hadn't raised his hammer to curse the sky, his power would be even more terrifying!"
"Hey, hey, hey, I'm talking about normal people. Li Yuanba is already non-human, alright?"
Ren Yuanhao suddenly fell silent for a moment. After changing his shirt, revealing a body with smooth muscle lines, he said, "System sister, I'm going to take a shower now. Please excuse me~"
"Hmph. Your body data is always exposed to me. To me, you are naked every second. What's so strange about that?"
"Big sis, that's enough."
Ren Yuanhao waited for a moment, plugged his ears with two wads of tissue, properly screwed the door handle back onto the door, and after washing up, he went out.
At this time, Shen Lan Ni and the others were already dining in the hall, along with her disciples, of course.
"Today is the day for you to shine, why do you all look so dejected?"
Shen Lan Ni took small sips of clear tea, her expression extremely calm.
"Our captain hasn't woken up yet. For this competition, we…"
Cai Yuyang, who was even smaller than Peng Lin, looked utterly disheartened. In fact, it wasn't just him; even Gao Chenfei, the strongest among the three, was struggling to breathe under an irresistible pressure.
"Have you forgotten how Peng Lin won yesterday? How he conveyed his belief to you? Do you think this dejected appearance is worthy of your captain?"
Shen Lan Ni's string of questions made the three blush with shame. Yesterday's battle between Peng Lin and Pang Qiang flashed through their minds like slides. The blinding light, the audience's cheers and applause – to them, it was simply the most beautiful music in the world.
Gao Chenfei was the first to recover. As the strongest member of the team, he had to shoulder the captain's responsibility. Gritting his teeth, he placed his hands on his two junior brothers' shoulders and said, "We'll do our best and leave the rest to fate. The outcome isn't important; enjoying the process is the most important thing."
Shen Lan Ni cast a look of approval, then decided to give them a shot of courage.
"You are all my good disciples. Just perform to the best of your abilities. Besides, who says that kid Peng Lin can't fight? Just keep your eyes peeled later and you'll see!"
Upon hearing this, although the three were filled with doubt, their spirits were significantly lifted. Peng Lin was their backbone; as long as he was there, their combat power could be fully unleashed!
And at this moment, the person Ren Yuanhao least wanted to see, appeared.
"Zhang Liang!"
"Didi, detecting a surge in host's adrenaline. Recommend activating Bixihai Chao Sheng~"
"This anger, I can't suppress it!"
Ren Yuanhao gritted his teeth until they creaked, his face contorted with fury. Just as he was about to step forward, Ye Lan tightly grabbed his hand!
"Don't get agitated. Doesn't it seem strange to you that he could find this place?"
"What do you mean?"
"Besides a few of Lan Ni-jie's disciples, only that Zou Long knows our whereabouts."
"Are you implying~ that Zou Long might have met with him privately?"