Faith Energy

Following Frostbite's incessant dialogues throughout the chaotic battle, Ye Qing was able to learn the names of the other squad members, while also studying their close-quarters foundations.

Even though they hadn't used any sophisticated techniques, whatever they put on display was enough to inscribe an impression in Ye Qing's mind.

Sting, for example, was proficient in highly precise finger techniques with a focus on pressure points in the human body; muscles, joints, bones, nerves, and acupoints.

Another example was Waveflow, who focused on softness and flexibility, complemented by his palm techniques that are pioneered towards receiving, rechanneling, and mitigating damage, if not outright rebounding it.

Then you have destruction incarnate; Demolition, a squadmate with quite the stature and raw power, relying merely on brute force to contend with the rest of his squadmates, without even relying on his internal force.

The last guy's name was Lethality, and if you encountered him on an average day, you'd establish the impression of a lazy, laidback, unproductive young man. However, he was anything but that. In fact, throughout the entire battle, this young man didn't even bother removing his hands from his pants, relying on his nimble movements and reflexes to weave through the formation, while a single tap of his foot at the right moment would leave someone on the ground.

Throughout the two hours of chaotic combat, Lethality captured most of Ye Qing's attention, but no matter how focused Ye Qing was, he simply couldn't get a read on this person's seemingly effortless, borderline lazy movements. Even when he made a move, it seemed as though he acted out reluctantly.

There was even less to mention about Frostbite and Wraith, as the former was heavily involved in directing the flow of the battle while stubbornly sticking to the standard stance of unarmed combat, perhaps with the intention of drilling these forms of punching, blocking, kicking, and dodging into Ye Qing's mind.

Little did he know that Ye Qing briefly watched the stances from start to end a couple of rotations before grasping them completely.

As for the latter, Ye Qing didn't know whether to call it despicable or not, but he had joined the fray with two short yet blunt metal swords, not hesitating the least about using them against his unarmed squadmates.

Ye Qing knew that from everyone present, he wanted to learn combat the most from Lethality. Although the basics and foundations provided by Frostbite were great in their own ways, there was this mesmerizing yet dangerous tranquility to the way Lethality conducted himself.

Contrary to his name, Lethality seemed every bit like an isolated, harmless, socially awkward, unenthusiastic young man. This further stroked Ye Qing's curiosity about the power hidden within that mask of a misfit.

"Two hours are up!"

Clap!

Frostbite quickly distanced himself from the group, gathered his internal force, and clapped his hands as a visible ripple of sound struck Ye Qing, shaking him out of his focused state.

Everything he absorbed throughout the last two hours reeled into his mind like a film, and his dark eyes practically glowed with faint comprehension.

"Sting," Frostbite looked at the well-built, tan-skinned middle-aged man as he spoke. "You start first, followed by Demo, Waveflow, Lethality, myself, and finally Wraith."

Wraith jumped to interject. "Hey! Why am I the last to have a go?!"

Frostbite looked over coldly. "If I let you go first, no one else would get the chance to fight him afterward."

He knew Wraith all too well; that man had no bottom lines to speak of. Those not in the know would mistake him for someone from the Crimson Nation.

Wraith choked on his words, and his hands trembled as he was about to say something, and more than once, but he could only swallow it down and glare at Ye Qing.

"Sigh, count yourself lucky, brat!"

With that, Wraith toyed around with his two, short dull blades while making his way over to the side.

Ye Qing shrugged, took a deep breath, and stepped into the arena even as everyone with the exception of Sting left the combat grounds.

Due to his lack of experience, Ye Qing struck a standard boxing pose, though it seemed like he performed the stance well enough in his opinion.

Frostbite frowned.

Wraith smiled warmly.

Sting's expression remained as stoic as it could get.

Clap!

Hearing the clap, Ye Qing's eyes focused. However, all he saw was Sting's figure swaying from one side to the next before fading into one of his blind spots. Just as he was about to sweep his surroundings, Sting occupied his full vision.

Whoosh!

Sting joined his index and middle finger as he jabbed at Ye Qing's throat, directly above the intersection of the latter's collar bones. Ye Qing gasped hard, and his vision went blurry. Then, he dropped to his knees, clutched at his throat, and began to cough violently.

Immediately, sweat poured from every inch on his body.

Sting wasn't about to wait, though.

He arched his right foot with a kick to Ye Qing's side belly, and the next thing Ye Qing knew, the world around him spun in circles before he thudded on the ground, convulsing.

It had to be said that Sting hadn't paused for one second for the entire duration of the 'mock' battle, keeping Ye Qing on the edge of consciousness.

Sweat and blood soaked the arena.

Muffled gasps and compact blows filled the closed stadium.

Countless warning notifications filled Ye Qing's blurry vision, but he promptly shut them down one at a time.

By the time it was finally Wraith's turn, no one knew whether or not Ye Qing was even breathing at this point.

At the very least, during Lethality's turn, all the young man did was give Ye Qing a kick to the kidney and watch the latter wriggle in pain for 60 minutes, leaving the arena afterward.

Wraith's expression was ugly as he said, "Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you can't get up! On the battlefield; you have no choice but to fight back even if all you had left of your body was a finger!"

As he spoke, he laughed and picked up Ye Qing by his hair.

He loved that dull, borderline lifeless look in the eye.

Wraith smiled warmly as he said, "How about we make a bet? If you touch the ground before the 60 minutes run out, consider it your win for the day! Cool, right?"

Thud!

As he finished talking, Wraith struck Ye Qing's abdomen with a knee, following up by kicking the young man into the air.

"Haha, you're pretty light despite your tough bones!"

Bang!

"Incoming!"

Bang!

By relying on no more than punching, kicking, and palm strikes, Wraith was capable of keeping Ye Qing suspended airborne for a few seconds with the force of each strike.

Even in his half-conscious state, Ye Qing refused to permit the safety mode logout. This wasn't an overload of information, but merely an overload of stress, something unrelated to the brain's capacity but had more to do with a person's willpower.

Suddenly, a voice alien to the cacophony of laughter and ridicule entered Ye Qing's mind.

His hazy vision blurred as the image of a young girl in the shadows of a dimly lit room surfaced in his mind.

Kneeling on the ground, hands to her chest, her head lowered piously as an expression of sincere devotion colored her cute, peaceful countenance.

Her lips moved yet no sound came out.

Oddly enough, there was a voice in the depths of Ye Qing's mind, and he subconsciously attributed this voice to this girl.

She was only the first but far from the last. Next was the image of yet another girl, albeit this one seemed much older and enjoyed both poise and elegance. Looking closely, her features closely resembled that of Lady Polaris save for the mellow contours of her face.

The image quickly shifted to a young man, then a middle-aged man, and many more surfaced in Ye Qing's mind. However, there was one common link between all of them; they were natives who survived the crash.

All of them were praying in worship for one name, Lord Divine Venerate.

Ye Qing quickly regained his sense of time and realized these people must have finished with their lecture and were sent back to their rooms after mingling with one another for a while.

Although they didn't dare openly mention their Lord Divine Venerate, they were fine about praying in their hearts.

As more people prayed, Ye Qing felt a burning sensation on his back as though the tattoo of a tree began to pulse and take shape on his skin. This was, of course, his skill tree.

Faith energy steadily rushed into Ye Qing's body; pure and unrelenting, diffusing throughout his system.

From one person to tens and hundreds.

The power of a hundred surged, and reflexively as Ye Qing watched a knee fast approaching to his abdomen, he reached out with his left palm and postured on the point of contact.

Then, with a delicate pivoting, Ye Qing swung his right foot in a beautiful arc.

"Huh…?"

Wraith's laughter paused, and in the midst of his surprise, Ye Qing's foot smacked him in the face, rebounding the pair from one another.