Chapter Ninety-Seven Rainforest Training Chapter Ninety-Eight Settling Old Scores

While in the special prison, Ban Yunchan had once said that cultivation is sometimes the refinement of a state of mind. When Zhao Li felt that his cultivation had hit a complete standstill for a time and searched everywhere for a breakthrough, Ban Yunchan had advised him with these very words.

At that time, Elder Sister Ban’s method was to have him chat idly with the heavy-duty criminals, listening to their past experiences and their insights on life. Now, Qin Yifan seemed to have fallen into a similar bottleneck.

"Old Lai, why were you willing to live like that back then?" During a break, Zhao Li sat down beside Old Lai and asked. Currently, the enthusiasm for daily training shown by the elite squad led by Old Lai and the others was so high that even Zhao Li found it quite astonishing.

"No hope!" Old Lai panted, struggling to steady his breath. Old Lai felt immense admiration for this lieutenant who was much younger than him. Putting aside the matter of martial arts prowess, simply the high-level connections that could reach the imperial court, and the sheer courage to lead their group into an assault, were things he could never hope to achieve.

"No hope." Zhao Li chewed on the phrase, savoring it carefully. He himself had only experienced that feeling of discouragement and despair for a brief moment; for the most part, he remained filled with confidence.

"I just wanted to survive safely." Old Lai took a drag from a cigarette and exhaled a long cloud of dense smoke. "Damn it, who knows what kind of person I offended to be assigned to this ghost of a place. By the way, sir, did you also offend someone?"

Right after saying this, Old Lai seemed to realize there was a problem with his words and hurriedly corrected himself. "Pui, pui, pui. Sir, I didn't mean that. If even the military region commander can show up and give face, you certainly didn't offend anyone." What he said was correct; if the military region commander was backing Zhao Li, even if he had offended someone, he wouldn't have been sent to this ghost of a place to suffer.

"Then are you sent down from above to gild your resume?" Seeing that Zhao Li was not angry, Old Lai asked cautiously once more.

Zhao Li looked at Old Lai with a smile that was not quite a smile, making Old Lai feel somewhat uncomfortable before he finally patted Old Lai's shoulder. "Old Lai, it's not that I'm lecturing you, but in the military, some things that shouldn't be asked shouldn't be asked. Curiosity is not a good thing!"

Old Lai gave a start, nodded, and shut his mouth, speaking no more. Zhao Li also smiled and said nothing further.

For several consecutive days, Zhao Li trained alongside these soldiers. The elite soldiers were already taking shape and looking the part. It was almost time to head out together into the dense forest to conduct field survival training.

"Why haven't you come to see this old man lately?" Kang Hongyuan's life over the past few days had been quite comfortable. Without pressure, eating well and sleeping soundly in the military camp, his complexion was very good. His spirit was forgetful, but he seemed to have grown lazy, spending his days lying idly in a reclining chair, extremely at ease.

"Humph!" Zhao Li let out a low snort and didn't say much. It was only after General Lucas reminded him last time that he realized the so-called drug trade was highly abnormal. If the old man hadn't mixed some other things into it, Zhao Li wouldn't believe it even if beaten to death.

"Feel like you've been used? So you're unhappy inside?" Kang Hongyuan certainly heard that cold snort, but the smile on his face didn't change at all. "Feel like you've become a tool in my hands?"

Zhao Li maintained his silence, but his gaze still betrayed that exact meaning.

A cigar went in and out of Kang Hongyuan's mouth two or three times, blowing three or four rings of smoke. The two of them sat facing each other, neither speaking.

"Then, did I force you to do all of this?" After a long while, Kang Hongyuan finally spoke to break the deadlock. "Or did I order your subordinates to take action? Armed operations, would they listen to me?"

A single sentence left Zhao Li speechless. The truth was indeed disheartening. Just as Kang Hongyuan said, he had merely provided a piece of intelligence. Whether to adopt it, whether to take action—the ultimate decision-making power remained in the hands of Zhao Li, the military commander. When all was said and done, everything stemmed from Zhao Li's own decision.

"Then what is there for you to be unhappy about?" Seeing Zhao Li look like that, Kang Hongyuan mocked him with a hint of disdain.

"You're formidable!" Zhao Li raised his thumb in admiration, waving it at Kang Hongyuan. "You calculated that I would definitely help you with that matter, which is why you gave me the intelligence in the first place, right?"

"It wasn't for me." Kang Hongyuan held the cigar between two fingers and shook it rapidly. "All of this was for you!" Facing Zhao Li's somewhat doubtful gaze, Kang Hongyuan continued to guide him. "You don't intend to stay in this ghost of a place forever, do you?"

"Starting tomorrow, I will lead the elite squad in a month-long field survival training. Behave yourself in the military camp!" Zhao Li seemed to accept Kang Hongyuan's words and figured out what he needed to do. Leaving behind those words, he walked away from Kang Hongyuan.

Watching Zhao Li's slowly retreating back, Kang Hongyuan took another puff of his cigar before muttering in a voice only he could hear, "Young people just lack a good tempering. Sigh, it's really exhausting!"

Special operations soldier training: back in the special prison, Zhao Li had already undergone practical and theoretical study under the guidance of a group of mad and perverted instructors. All those training modules that the special prison could not meet the conditions for were taught entirely through theory.

In Zhao Li's mind, there were sets upon sets of such training methods, but very few had actually been put into practice. Therefore, even when teaching the elite squad, he had been imparting theory. Now, actual combat drills were finally about to commence.

The team members were all excited, yet simultaneously quite nervous. Everyone knew this was an opportunity; having experienced this training, one would become an elite soldier. However, at the same time, conducting such training in the dense forests of the Golden Five Stars region was absolute madness. Still, no one quit. At least after Zhao Li asked twice in succession, no one stepped down. Zhao Li looked with satisfaction at the queue before him, waved his hand, and twenty elite soldiers filed sequentially into the small warship.

"Christine. I will carry a communicator; if there is any emergency, notify me." Li Mengdie was worried about Zhao Li leaving alone, so she would pilot the warship as a search and rescue team to provide backup for everyone. Christine naturally remained behind at the military camp. "If it's nothing urgent, there's no need to handle it for now. If you really can't make a decision, go ask that old man." Although Kang Hongyuan's character was untrustworthy, the old man's unique vision in certain matters, especially political insight, was definitely at the grandmaster level relative to Zhao Li.

In the dense forest that had been chosen long ago, a soldier was dropped from the warship every five minutes. Each person was equipped with a compass, a military dagger, some sewage purification pills, a small amount of salt, and an emergency call device. Nothing else was provided. Every soldier had to live in this dense forest for a month while completing certain predetermined virtual tasks, such as orienteering. This was the standard training course regulation.

Zhao Li had the same equipment; the only difference was that he carried an extra communicator to facilitate contact with the base. This dense forest was also carefully selected. Located at the southernmost tip of the Golden Five Stars, it was the most heavily forested area. Very few people lived here. Yet, while free from human disturbance, such conditions also brought greater danger.

Zhao Li had explained a lot of theoretical knowledge, but actual operation was entirely different. At least on the first day, due to lack of experience, Zhao Li used up more than half of his pitifully small amount of salt. What remained wasn't even enough for a three-day quota.

It seemed there was still a fundamental difference between theory and practice. Zhao Li smiled bitterly, putting away the tiny bit of salt he had left. A lot had been wasted, but it wasn't without a solution. At least theoretically, there were three or four ways to obtain substitutes, but the reality was that even though he knew the methods, he had never practiced them once.

Most of the time, it wasn't that he didn't know what to do, but rather an inability to overcome certain psychological barriers. For instance, when temporarily unable to find delicious food, the thought of putting those plump little bugs—brimming with protein and calories—into one's mouth was truly an incomprehensible torment.

Zhao Li knew that this was the very meaning of practical training. After hesitating and struggling for a long time, he finally closed his eyes and popped that pile of soft, mushy things in his hand into his mouth. The tingling sensation of the meat worms still moving on his tongue made Zhao Li not dare to chew at all. Struggling, he swallowed them in one gulp and hurriedly rinsed his mouth with water.

It felt as though those bugs were still crawling inside his esophagus and stomach. Zhao Li exerted twelve hundred thousandths of his effort to keep from vomiting, but he never wanted to try a second mouthful.

With something in his belly, the empty feeling in his stomach became much more comfortable. However, those few tiny bugs were simply not enough. With no other choice, he had to think of something else.

Fortunately, being in a tropical rainforest, the vegetation was extremely dense. Finding something edible, while not exactly easy, wasn't too difficult either. One just had to be careful of the dangerous creatures among them. As for the larger animals, generally speaking, to someone with Zhao Li's keen eyes and ears, they posed no great threat and could be spotted from far away. On the other hand, the lurking, motionless small bugs caused the most trouble.

The virtual mission Zhao Li had arranged for himself was to march through the dense forest, reach a designated location, and survive for thirty days. Basically, everyone's missions were largely similar, with the only real difference being the destination.

For two consecutive days, while diligently trying to find food, Zhao Li was also rapidly identifying his location. However, to his profound astonishment, he discovered traces of human habitation within this seldom-visited dense forest.

In the Golden Five Stars region, the population was mostly concentrated in cities and surrounding rural areas. Though called rural, they were basically modernized villages. The ratio of planting food crops to growing drugs was one to one. Although some drugs could be mass-produced industrially, more people still favored this new type of drug extracted from plants.

This region was rarely frequented by anyone, which was why Zhao Li chose it for rainforest survival training. Yet, finding traces of human activity in an impossible place appeared highly abnormal.

Fortunately, the traces were very old, appearing to have been left quite some time ago. They were mainly path-clearing marks made by hacking with blades. Sometimes the vegetation in the dense forest was too dense, forcing people to chop some away just to pass through. These marks were impossible to cover up completely.

Following these path-clearing markers, Zhao Li soon found a former campsite. With just a little tidying up, it could serve as his resting place for the day. Yet, the more it was like this, the more worried Zhao Li became: what kind of people operated here, and why did they choose their campsite location so professionally?

If Zhao Li were just an ordinary soldier, he could completely ignore this and easily make use of the ready-made facilities here to complete his training. However, Zhao Li was now the military commander of a military base. He could not afford not to consider the bigger picture.

What slightly reassured Zhao Li was that these traces were extremely ancient. Judging by the growth rate of the rainforest, they must have been left several months ago—perhaps even before Zhao Li arrived here. Moreover, these traces had been meticulously camouflaged; without careful observation, they would have been entirely undetectable.

After another two days, Zhao Li was certain that a military squad had definitely passed through here a few months ago, because some of the camping techniques were unmistakably those of military special forces. Although Zhao Li had never operated in the field, he possessed at least that much discernment.

What were special operations squads doing here? Zhao Li did not know. However, thinking of the special arms cache beneath the military camp, Zhao Li couldn't help suspecting whether small-scale special operations frequently occurred here.

These weren't the main issue; what unsettled Zhao Li was that starting from the day he found this campsite, it felt as though someone was secretly watching him. There was no murderous intent; if there were, Zhao Li would have sensed it instantly. Instead, it was a persistent feeling that a lingering presence haunted his surroundings, though he couldn't be certain whether the feeling was correct or not.

Perhaps being alone in this place had caused intense psychological pressure, leading to sensory errors. Following the instructions of those instructors, Zhao Li specifically set up a camouflage here, then hid himself in a slightly safer spot, closed his eyes, and began to rest and practice his cultivation.

When it came to the best recovery effects, the Basic Body-Sculpting Art remained supreme. Especially after Zhao Li cycled through the complete nine heavenly cycles seven times in a row, basic fatigue could be dispelled by eighty to ninety percent. Furthermore, there was another benefit: the Basic Body-Sculpting Art allowed tense nerves to quickly relax and return to normal during cultivation.

Upon rising, Zhao Li once again felt that unsettling sensation of being watched. This feeling made Zhao Li almost unable to eat or sleep in peace. Previously he had thought it a hallucination, but now he could be certain it was not.

"Who?" Zhao Li reached out to grip his military dagger and shouted aloud.

Suddenly realizing something was wrong, Zhao Li lunged sideways, abandoning his original position. The moment his body threw itself forward, a barrage of intense gunfire erupted. The exact spot where he had been standing turned into a beehive in an instant.

Zhao Li's body had not yet landed steadily when he was forced to shift positions immediately, because the opponent had already located him and rapidly swung their muzzle around. A string of bullets swept right past the top of Zhao Li's head, carrying a trace of scorching heat.

Continuous rolling and diving made Zhao Li look rather disheveled, but it successfully allowed him to dodge the hidden enemy's burst of fire.

"Click." Hearing the sound of an empty chamber from not far away, Zhao Li exerted force in an instant, hurling the military dagger in his hand toward that direction. At the same time, his body lunged forward without hesitation.

His head and body repeatedly collided with outward-stretching branches and leaves, but he could no longer care about such things. Zhao Li's lunge was highly effective. At least, while seeing his dagger embedded in a tree, he also caught a glimpse of a broad back flashing past and vanishing—one that seemed remarkably familiar.

Just as he retrieved the military dagger into his hand, he heard the familiar sound of a round being chambered. Cursing his bad luck internally, Zhao Li could only lunge once more into the bushes on the opposite side.

Bullets drilled into the surrounding tree trunks and mud right beside him, kicking up bursts of flying wood splinters and clumps of dirt. Zhao Li had to expend all his strength, desperately controlling his body and constantly altering his direction and speed, yet the bullets still relentlessly appeared in his immediate vicinity.

Finally, he heard that long-awaited "click" sound again. Back against a large tree, Zhao Li cautiously came to a halt. There was no sound around him, no movement whatsoever, as if that person had suddenly vanished into thin air.

"Whoosh." Less than two centimeters above his head, a bullet drilled into the tree trunk. Zhao Li was startled, and just as he prepared to continue dodging, he heard a familiar laugh.

"Hahahaha!" The sound was so familiar that Zhao Li dared not believe it for a moment: "Kid, using a gun, you still need to practice for a few more years!"

"Sanders!" Zhao Li called out in disbelief.

"Rustle." The bushes not far away parted, revealing Sanders's sturdy figure. No wonder the back had looked familiar; it was indeed Sanders.

"Did you come to kill me?" He had been reassigned here after encountering an assassination attempt. Those people, to cover up the prisoners' identities, had even ruthlessly killed all the prison guards who had contact with them. Zhao Li could not help but think along these lines.

"Killing you would require waiting until now?" Sanders curled his lip. He re-chambered the magazine in his hand, engaged the safety as he walked, and slung the rifle over his shoulder. Aside from this assault rifle, Zhao Li noticed that Sanders also carried a sniper rifle on his back. Sanders was a weapons expert. When Zhao Li first arrived at the special prison, it was through his bout with Sanders that the prisoners in the facility developed a different view of him. Almost all the special weaponry knowledge Zhao Li mastered had been learned from Sanders.

Precisely because of this, Zhao Li had a profound understanding of the danger Sanders posed wielding firearms. Sanders was not boasting; if the sniper rifle on his shoulder were deployed, Zhao Li could almost guarantee that from two thousand meters away, Sanders could easily finish him off.

"Though I don't know how your firearm training is coming along nowadays, at least your footwork and evasion techniques against bullets and sniping are passable." Sanders approached with zero murderous intent, casually tossing down the carcass of some unidentified animal. "What are you out here doing? Survival training?"

Zhao Li nodded blankly, feeling somewhat unable to process what was happening. Sanders harbored no hostility—Zhao Li had already discerned that much—but he simply couldn't fathom what this fellow was doing here, nor how he had managed to arrive.

"How did you get here?" Watching Sanders take over the initiative, sit on the ground, and begin organizing the animal carcass on the floor, Zhao Li couldn't help asking.

"Naturally, someone sent me." Sanders didn't even raise his head, extending a hand. "Pass me the military dagger."

Zhao Li casually reversed the hilt of the military dagger and handed it to Sanders, immediately pursuing his question: "Who sent you?"

"Those prison breakers, obviously. Do you even need to ask?" Sanders stood on no ceremony, taking the dagger and beginning to skin the carcass.

"Do you know their identities?" Zhao Li asked, though deep down he held little hope.

"I don't. They just came around asking one by one where we wanted to go, and then arranged for us to be transferred here through a few intermediaries." Sanders's hands never stopped, nor did his mouth. "I can't figure out why they did it; it's like doing a good deed without asking for a reward, quite rare indeed."

"A good deed?" Zhao Li felt a surge of anger. Dozens of prison guards killed, three companies of emergency forces wiped out, and himself relegated to this remote backwater—and he called that a good deed?

"Of course, from our perspective, it's naturally a good thing. But for you, it feels completely different." Sanders didn't care in the least whether Zhao Li was happy; he expressed things purely from his own standpoint.

"And what about assassinating the prison guards?" Zhao Li's face darkened. From the moment Sanders revealed his identity, Zhao Li once again found himself locked in an internal struggle: should he capture Sanders and bring him to justice?

"The same thing!" Sanders raised his head, locking eyes with Zhao Li. "Kid, you're a soldier. In war, there is no good or evil; there are only two outcomes: killing the enemy or being killed. Never forget that!"

He couldn't recall which perverted instructor had originally said those words, but coming now from Sanders's mouth, they clearly carried a different flavor. Zhao Li didn't know whether he should refute it, but pondering the opposing stances carefully, he found himself unable to argue against it. Could he argue that those prison-breakers should have simply allowed themselves to be killed by him without resisting?

"Were you the one who killed those gunmen?" A thought flashed through Zhao Li's mind, recalling the gunmen who attacked the military camp when he first arrived here. All of them had their internal organs smashed to pulp before Li Mengdie and Christine finished them off with a final shot.

"Even though you're a prison guard and even the warden, I took a liking to you and didn't want you to die so early!" While speaking, Sanders had already nimbly processed his prey. He skillfully lit a campfire, shoved a wooden stick pierced with a chunk of cleaned meat into Zhao Li's hands, and began roasting his own share unconcernedly.

At field survival, Sanders was far superior to Zhao Li. Not only were his food and water fully prepared, but his skills were also top-notch. For the past several days Zhao Li had been scraping by; today he could finally eat his fill.

Having eaten and drunk his fill, Zhao Li leaned contentedly against the tree trunk behind him, gazing up at the patches of sky visible through the gaps in the leaves, and couldn't help sighing: "If every day could be a life like this, how wonderful would that be?"

"Don't harbor unrealistic fantasies. If you're afraid of hardship, don't be in the military; stay honestly at home and be your good little boy." Sanders's voice drifted over from the other side. "Alright, now that you're well-fed and rested, and your physical strength has recovered, it's time we settle our old scores!"

"What?" Zhao Li couldn't help being startled. "What old scores?"

"Kid, your memory can't be that bad. On the very second day you arrived at the prison, relying on your True Qi, you knocked me down three times in a row. I have never forgotten that." With that, Sanders pulled a police baton and a military dagger from his underground backpack. "Look, I've got them ready. Pick your weapon!" Having kept these items in his pack all along showed how much emphasis Sanders placed on this.

"Damn it!" Zhao Li cursed aloud again. "How long ago was that? I'm amazed you remember so clearly." Despite saying this, he stood up with an expression full of excitement and accepted the police baton from Sanders.

During previous battle exchanges, he had encountered three eighth-tier experts, though those could barely be considered surprise attacks. Since everyone was fighting for their lives, he had merely seized the opportunity and ultimately resolved the battles with firearms. The only one he killed with his bare hands had his neck snapped, but that was with Li Mengdie's assistance.

Although Li Mengdie was also an eighth-tier expert, she never sparred with Zhao Li—at least not seriously. Sometimes, she feared hurting Zhao Li, and even more, she feared damaging his pride. After all, the environment she had experienced was a perverted place where one had to reach the eighth tier just to qualify, whereas Zhao Li was not from such a background.

Zhao Li similarly dared not be earnest with Li Mengdie, terrified that his somewhat abnormal bone-dislocating and tendon-snapping techniques might injure her. Facing Li Mengdie, Zhao Li found himself completely unable to strike. This also led to Zhao Li being unable for a long time to determine the exact tier of his cultivation, lacking even a relative point of reference.

His subordinate soldiers were too low-tiered to serve as references. With no other option, Zhao Li could only orchestrate this field survival training. On one hand, he consolidated his theoretical knowledge; on the other, he enhanced the combat capabilities of the elite soldiers.

Though Sanders's appearance surprised Zhao Li immensely, this final proposal aligned perfectly with his wishes. It was like being handed a pillow just as he grew drowsy—exactly what he prayed for.

The terrain here wasn't large, which offered considerable advantages to Zhao Li while posing slight restrictions to Sanders due to his massive build. However, Sanders was an eighth-tier expert after all; this minor restriction could be regarded as a balancing handicap compensating Zhao Li.

With the police baton in hand, Zhao Li's expression instantly shifted into another state—one of utmost tension. In his previous clash with Sanders, Zhao Li had cheated using the Basic Body-Sculpting Art. This time, there would be no such luck; Sanders would certainly not pull his punches, and Zhao Li held no intention of holding back or letting him off either.

Observing Zhao Li's excitement, a flash of light crossed Sanders's eyes, and Zhao Li's choice of the police baton fell well within his expectations. Immediately afterward, the military dagger he chose manifested in his hand.

The two stared at each other for a long time before simultaneously letting out a roar and lunging toward one another.

"Clang!" The police baton and the military dagger collided in mid-air. Following that, their free hands whipped out simultaneously to grab the weapon-wielding arm of the opponent.

Zhao Li's technique was far more agile. Fingers driven by Nameless True Qi snapped out to grab Sanders's arm first. As the True Qi surged, Sanders's right hand suddenly twitched as if electrocuted; his muscles spasmed, and he retreated desperately.

"What is that thing? What kind of trick are you playing?" Sanders stepped back a few paces and demanded loudly.

Stretching out his left hand, which was entirely empty, Zhao Li pondered for a moment. "Sanders, you should know that I've broken the bones and joints of hundreds of people bare-handed. Watch out for my hands!"

"Bring it on!" Sanders glanced at Zhao Li's hands and lunged forward once more.

From that initial clash, Zhao Li already knew that Sanders—now unsealed of his True Qi suppression—vastly outmatched him in raw physical strength. Yet the formidable nature of Zhao Li's bone-dislocating techniques also made Sanders cautious. Their attacks now carried a probing nature.

In the jungle, one had to mind not only the opponent's movements but also the surrounding tree branches and foliage. Zhao Li's physique was relatively well-proportioned and far more agile; seizing the opening, he struck Sanders two or three times in quick succession, whereas Sanders failed to land a single touch on him.

Taking those hits in succession seemed to provoke Sanders's genuine fury. With a roar, he threw caution to the wind and charged blindly at Zhao Li. Realizing Sanders had seemingly abandoned defense, Zhao Li refused to let the opportunity slip. He straightened the police baton and thrust it straight toward Sanders.

"Bang!" Even as Sanders absorbed the blow head-on, his fist found the exact timing to land squarely on Zhao Li's chest, connecting solidly. Both men let out synchronized muffled grunts and staggered backward.

Sanders was a quasi-eighth-tier expert; even if that punch had been thrown in haste, the kinetic energy packed within it was still difficult for Zhao Li to withstand. Fortunately, at the critical moment, the condensed True Qi of the Basic Body-Sculpting Art manifested across his chest, intercepting a large majority of the attack. Even so, it left Zhao Li's chest feeling stuffy and temporarily immobilized.

However, Sanders didn't have an easy time with that baton strike either. An eighth-tier expert who could shrug off firearm attacks, under the application of Zhao Li's unique techniques and the support of the overbearing Nameless True Qi, found himself clutching the struck area upon retreating, unable to rise for a good while.

"Good kid, I underestimated you!" From the confrontations in prison, Sanders had roughly gauged Zhao Li's cultivation tier to be around the fourth or fifth tier. He never expected that as a quasi-eighth-tier expert, he still couldn't handle such an assault from Zhao Li.

How could he accept this? Sanders flew into a rage. When his True Qi had been sealed, the playing field wasn't even, so losing was just losing. With both sides stripped of True Qi, losing simply proved Zhao Li's tenacity. But now that his True Qi had recovered, how could the result still be the same? Yet, alongside his anger came mounting excitement; such an adversary truly made for an exceptional opponent.

"Again!" Sanders roared and charged forward once more, his military dagger thrusting toward Zhao Li without mercy.

Given this, Zhao Li could only focus entirely on parrying. The lethal sharpness of the dagger combined with the reinforcement of Sanders's True Qi constituted an absolute instrument of death. After dodging consecutively several times, he narrowly avoided having his uniform slashed open by Sanders on one occasion.

"Clang." At the precise moment, the T-shaped baton locked onto Sanders's right hand holding the dagger. With a subtle, skillful twist, Sanders's grip failed, and the dagger dropped out of his hand.

Shoving Sanders forward, Zhao Li discarded the police baton as well, charging bare-handed straight at Sanders.

In hand-to-hand combat, Zhao Li—possessing the bone-dislocating art—held an overwhelming advantage. Every single point of contact inflicted minor torments upon Sanders. Moreover, whenever Sanders endured the pain to counterattack, he would always be astonished to discover that even after absorbing a punch or kick from him, Zhao Li would merely pause for a fraction of a second before lunging back in with even greater ferocity.