Qin Fen looked at the vanishing Zhao Shanhe with a hint of apology. According to the Sky Martial Arts Battle Net regulations, anyone defeated in battle was barred from logging back into the net for one week, unless someone spent money to buy a Resurrection Stone for an early return.

Defeat meant a mandatory week offline—this was the primary reason Qin Fen had always been hesitant to engage in fights. Losing wasn't the terrifying part; it was the loss of a week he needed to stay online to write and earn money.

Ru Zhen Qin Lin and the others still couldn't process what they had just witnessed. The sheer defensive power of 'Thirteen Iron Guards of the Vajra' was already formidable, and with the aid of the 'Iron Armor Pill,' Zhao Shanhe’s defenses had reached their absolute peak! Yet, the 'Stone Splitting Jade Punch,' a martial art that required currency just to acquire, had ended the fight instantly?

And... the most baffling thing to everyone was that Qin Fen had consistently used nothing but the 'Shaolin Arhat Fist' from start to finish!

When had the mere calisthenics of the boxing arts suddenly gained such terrifying potency? Everyone present had practiced the 'Shaolin Arhat Fist' a few times and had never sensed any inherent destructive power in it.

Taking a deep breath, Qin Fen savored the rush of hot blood stimulated by the fight. That bout had been absolutely exhilarating! Recalling it now felt like a dream.

He transferred ninety U.S. dollars into his bank account and downloaded the recording of the recent fight; three matches were more than enough material for a new article.

“Thirty-six hours! I’m challenging you to another match!” Zhao Shanhe, who had just died, reappeared online thanks to a Resurrection Stone.

“Another match?” Qin Fen let out a long exhale, forcefully suppressing the newly awakened fighting spirit, and lightly shook his head. “Not today.”

Without waiting for Zhao Shanhe to say more, Qin Fen decisively chose to log off. He feared Zhao Shanhe would escalate the challenge with a monetary wager, tempting him to succumb to the allure of easy cash once more.

Today had already been too erratic; he couldn't afford to continue this abnormal streak! Qin Fen removed his headset and gazed up at the full moon, replaying the string of miraculous events since school ended. Perhaps he should visit the hospital for a physical check-up. That liquid metal he swallowed—would it cause any adverse effects?

Forget it! Qin Fen vigorously shook his head. What if the hospital decided to treat him like a lab rat for a scientific experiment?

“Shameless! Utterly shameless!” Zhao Shanhe roared in the fighting arena. “He wins and runs away! What a despicable person! Next time, I will smash him so hard he won't be able to log onto the net for a week!”

“Exactly!” Ru Zhen Qin Lin chimed in, equally displeased. “From now on, every time we see him, we fight him! We’ll drive him completely off the Battle Net!”

“Qin Lin, Shanhe, don't be so agitated. I’ve posted that brat’s running-away behavior right after winning onto the official website…”

“What…” Zhao Shanhe and Ru Zhen Qin Lin’s expressions shifted slightly. Did that mean the news of their instantaneous defeat would now be broadcast to even more people?

In truth, Zhao Shanhe and Ru Zhen Qin Lin were worrying unnecessarily. Two-star warriors were hardly top-tier entities on the Sky Martial Arts Battle Net. People generally focused their attention on fighters at higher tiers. Except for the two-star warriors themselves, few paid heed to the battle recordings of their own rank.

The post titled, The Shameless Man Who Runs After Winning!, carrying its heavy tone of condemnation, was little more than a tiny ripple in the vast ocean of the forum, failing to stir any significant wave.

The only interesting aspect was that virtually everyone who viewed the post felt compelled to reply, resulting in a comment rate exceeding ninety percent.

Of course, most viewers harbored significant doubts about the recording's authenticity.

“Real or fake? This looks almost like it was choreographed beforehand. How else could they coordinate so perfectly?”

“Is this really the calisthenics routine they call a fist technique? They should have some limit on how fake they make it!”

“Could it be that a Three-Star warrior cheated and participated in a lower-tier fight?” This theory garnered some agreement. Indeed, people sometimes suppressed their true strength to compete in lower ranks, but this was extremely rare. After all, people joined the Sky Martial Arts Battle Net to improve their skills and gain experience, not to bully others.

The thread was soon moved to the Two-Star Warrior forum. Here, the post did manage to earn a respectable number of clicks, but the doubt regarding its veracity was immense. For matches between two-star warriors, instantaneous victories were nearly impossible; two in a row simply reeked of a deceptive attempt to generate views.

Qin Fen booted up the beat-up second-hand desktop he had bought. After quickly finishing his commentary on the three battles, he realized the drowsiness that should have set in from exhaustion was nowhere to be found. Feeling somewhat bored, he decided to browse the forums he rarely visited.

Soon enough, he found the thread about himself. He read every reply carefully. He even agreed with those expressing skepticism, as even now, he couldn’t quite grasp how he had executed such fluid attacks. While he was confident he could defeat Zhao Shanhe, he had expected a battle that would take at least five hundred moves to decide a victor.

After scrolling through over two hundred replies, Qin Fen's spirit suddenly lifted.

“Excellent combat awareness. The timing for every action is precise, almost like a computer. The mastery of the fist technique is flawless—this is nearly the absolute limit for a Two-Star warrior! If this person is indeed a Two-Star, their future prospects are limitless! I am very interested in exchanging blows with you.”

Looking at the ID of the commenter, Feng Zhi Yu Shao, Qin Fen felt a sense of familiarity, as if he had heard that name somewhere before.

Feng Zhi Yu Shao! That’s right! Qin Fen clapped his hands together and quickly pulled up the rankings board: one of the Top 100 masters among the Two-Star warriors!

Could it really be him? Qin Fen became somewhat excited. To spar with one of the Top 100 Two-Star masters would surely be even more thrilling!

Since he couldn't sleep anyway, Qin Fen pulled up the battle recordings of several Top 100 Two-Star masters and began watching.

Fascinating duels between new martial techniques, fierce combat between ancient martial techniques, and dazzling clashes between the new and the old—Qin Fen found these supposed heart-pounding spectacles rather tedious. Except for a few specific matchups, he could often tell the outcome within seconds of starting the playback, fast-forwarding to confirm his guess.

Having correctly predicted the results of over a hundred fights, Qin Fen once again felt puzzled. Anyone with a modicum of sense should be able to gauge their own standing.

Qin Fen knew that even though he rarely fought, he wouldn't be ranked too low among the Two-Star warriors. Even facing the top-ranked Two-Star warriors on the Sky Martial Arts Battle Net, he possessed the capability to fight them on equal footing. As for who would win, that would only be known in the actual contest; it couldn't be determined by talk alone.

But for some inexplicable reason, as he watched these recordings of the Sky Martial Arts Battle Net's Top 100 Two-Star warriors today, they all seemed less formidable than before.