"Alright, Cousin, stop trying to scare me. Hey, this club looks pretty impressive. Looks like they've scammed a lot of money over the years, huh?"
Sun Dao'an was a little surprised as he looked at the club before them.
"Enough. Let's get going. Didn't you say you were here to do some debunking? We'll see if you're still this cocky in a little while."
Xu Yan snorted, then turned and led the way toward the club.
Sun Dao'an shrugged and followed Xu Yan.
A few minutes later, the two had changed into the Lanhai Society Martial Arts Uniforms as per the club's rules and arrived at the training hall.
"This uniform feels so awkward. So many stupid rules."
Sun Dao'an grumbled. Xu Yan shot him a fierce glare, and this time, he shut up. He might have a sharp tongue, but he wasn't an idiot. He knew this was their turf. As the saying goes, two fists are no match for four. No matter how skilled he was, he couldn't take on ten opponents at once.
He followed Xu Yan into the training hall. Many people in Lanhai Society Martial Arts Uniforms were already there, forming a circle around a wide, empty space. A tall man stood in the center of that space.
The moment he saw the tall man, Sun Dao'an's pupils contracted.
The man looked to be over 1.9 meters tall. He wore only a pair of shorts, revealing a bronze-skinned upper body.
His explosive muscles, looking as if they were cast from steel, bulged prominently. Every muscle on his body was sharply defined. Though he was massive, he lacked the bloated, stiff look of a bodybuilder. Instead, his physique was incredibly harmonious, creating a stunning visual impact.
For a moment, as Sun Dao'an stared at that terrifying physique, he was struck by an illusion.
It was as if the man's body was naturally covered in a layer of armor.
'I don't even need to see his technique. Just looking at that build, I can tell he's a born fighter.'
At that moment, the Lanhai Society's First Senior Brother, Yan Hao, stood with his knees slightly bent, his left hand at his waist, and his right palm held vertically before his chest. He had assumed a Foundation Stance, appearing as immovable as a great, towering mountain.
CRACK! CRACK!
Crisp cracks echoed through the hall. Four disciples of the Lanhai Society, clad in Martial Arts Uniforms, stood on all four sides of Yan Hao—front, back, left, and right. Each disciple held a long whip, roughly 1.5 meters in length, which they cracked through the air.
Sun Dao'an's sharp eyes noticed that the whips were covered in small, sharp protrusions.
'Wouldn't getting hit with that thing tear off a layer of flesh? What are they doing?!'
Sun Dao'an gasped. He had a sinking feeling about what was coming, but he still found it hard to believe.
The next moment, he watched as the four whip-wielding disciples stepped forward in unison and swung their whips with all their might.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!!
The spiked whips lashed heavily against Yan Hao's armor-like skin, creating sharp, explosive cracks. The sight made Sun Dao'an's teeth ache and his scalp tingle.
What horrified him even more, however, was what happened next. Whips that could flay an ordinary person's flesh only left behind white welts on Yan Hao's body. They didn't even break the surface of his skin. It was as if they were truly striking a suit of armor.
Sun Dao'an's eyes went wide. He desperately wanted to find some proof that this was all fake, just an act. But the sound of the whips cracking the air and the sickening thud as they struck flesh couldn't possibly be faked.
GULP!
He couldn't help but swallow hard. 'Is this guy even fucking human?!'
He didn't know, however, that this was only the beginning.
After nearly three solid minutes of whipping, the four disciples looked exhausted. But Yan Hao, standing in the center, was completely unscathed. In fact, the lashing seemed to have stimulated his circulation, turning his skin a light shade of red.
The next moment, Yan Hao relaxed his stance. The four whip-wielding disciples retreated, and ten other Lanhai Society disciples stepped forward, splitting into two groups of five on his left and right. Each disciple held a thick hemp rope.
Yan Hao took a rope in each hand, tying one end securely around each of his wrists. The other ends were held by the disciples on either side.
The five disciples on his left and the five on his right exchanged a look, then let out a great shout and pulled on the ropes with all their might.
They were playing tug-of-war, with Yan Hao as the anchor in the center of the training hall.
Yan Hao's arms, gripping the ropes, were pulled taut, but his body remained rooted to the spot, completely unmoved.
The next moment, Sun Dao'an watched as the muscles in Yan Hao's arms bulged and his veins popped. His powerful body sank into a slight squat, and his arms began to slowly retract.
The disciples on both sides strained with all their might, their faces red and necks bulging, but they were powerless to stop the contraction of Yan Hao's arms. They could only be pulled slowly forward.
Finally, pulling a total of ten disciples from both sides, Yan Hao completed a peak contraction.
Next, like a tireless beast, he used the ten disciples as resistance to perform a series of movements.
Ten minutes later, having finished his resistance training, Yan Hao began his flexibility and coordination training. He walked across a tightrope, performing various Yoga-like stretches while on the wire.
His massive body moved on the tightrope as if on solid ground, as steady as a mountain. His flexibility and coordination were simply unbelievable.
Then came footwork training, shadowboxing, Fist Technique drills...
As everyone watched Yan Hao's martial arts demonstration, a dead silence fell over the hall. They were all lost in a state of indescribable shock.
As for Sun Dao'an, in that short hour, he felt as if his entire worldview had been shattered.
"So? Quite an eye-opener, isn't it? Still feel like debunking anything?"
The demonstration was drawing to a close, and Yan Hao was now standing quietly, practicing his Foundation Stance. Xu Yan took the opportunity to lean in and whisper in Sun Dao'an's ear.
At this moment, she was thoroughly enjoying the look on her younger cousin's face.
"Is... is that guy even human?!"
Sun Dao'an asked in a hushed voice, still finding it hard to believe any human could be capable of such feats.
The strength of a tiger and an elephant, the defense of a rhinoceros, the agility, flexibility, and coordination of a cat...
"What did you just say? Watch your mouth!"
Xu Yan hissed.
Sun Dao'an immediately shut his mouth. Before, he was worried his sharp tongue would get him mobbed. Now, he was genuinely terrified that the monster would kill him with a single punch.
"If he's that incredible, why doesn't he compete? He'd win any championship hands down, wouldn't he?"
Sun Dao'an asked, confused.
"People have different goals, you know? First Senior Brother Yan Hao is going to take over the Lanhai Society soon. And do you even know what the Lanhai Society is? It's basically the biggest local conglomerate in Wuhai. Why would he bother with those competitions? Besides, their rules wouldn't even let Brother Yan fight to his full potential."
Xu Yan gave Sun Dao'an a strange look as she spoke.