The doorbell rang.
Shi Feng was a little surprised. He hadn't been living in this apartment building for long, and not many people knew about it. If Hei Zi and the others needed something, they'd normally just call — let alone show up at his place early in the morning.
"Who on earth is it?" Shi Feng tapped his smartwatch, and a view of the entrance appeared on the screen.
He took a closer look and nearly jumped.
Standing outside was none other than their class president, Zhao Ruoxi. She was dressed in sportswear with her hair pulled back in a ponytail, radiating youthful energy — undeniably charming.
"Why is she here?"
Shi Feng remembered that Zhao Ruoxi's birthday wasn't until next month. Even if she'd come to invite him, this was awfully fast.
But since she was already here, he couldn't very well pretend he wasn't home. He tidied himself up and went to open the door.
The moment he opened it, Zhao Ruoxi fixed him with wide, almond-shaped eyes full of concern and demanded, "Shi Feng, did you really agree to Uncle Xiao's challenge?"
Hearing that, Shi Feng more or less understood. Xiao Yan and Xiao Yu had deep ties with the Zhao family — with something as big as the Beidou Fitness Center getting involved, there was no way the Zhaos wouldn't know.
"Yeah, I agreed to a demonstration match," Shi Feng nodded.
"You're awfully calm about this. Do you even know who your opponent is?" Zhao Ruoxi looked at his relaxed demeanor and sighed helplessly.
"I don't know yet, but Beidou said they'd notify me in advance," Shi Feng shook his head.
"Do you even know what the word 'nervous' means?" Zhao Ruoxi exhaled, at a loss for words. A fighting match was no small matter — and this particular event was far from ordinary. "This time Beidou has invited a number of famous fighters in an effort to make a comeback. Some of them are genuine martial arts masters."
"Even though Beidou offered a hefty appearance fee, most of those people have their own schedules and absolutely no time to spare — let alone the high-and-mighty martial arts masters. Originally your opponent was going to be Jinhai City's reigning fighting tournament champion, but…"
"What happened?" Shi Feng asked curiously.
He had a vague impression of Fang Qinghua, Jinhai City's former fighting champion. The man had placed well at the provincial tournament and had been a household name in Jinhai City at the time.
But Shi Feng didn't think he'd lose. There was a fundamental difference between someone who could use Dark Force and someone who couldn't. Besides, his body was currently in the best shape it had ever been.
"But your opponent was suddenly swapped out. The reason is that Fang Qinghua was defeated by someone — and that someone is now your opponent. Apparently, when he fought Fang Qinghua, the two exchanged no more than ten moves before Fang Qinghua was taken down with a single palm strike."
"If it had been a normal defeat, that would be one thing. But the last palm he struck actually used Dark Force. And the man said he was very interested in Beidou Fitness Center's chief instructor — that's why he wanted to replace Fang Qinghua in the match."
Although Zhao Ruoxi knew that Shi Feng also wielded Dark Force, his opponent was a Dark Force expert as well — and a powerful one at that. If the two actually clashed, the outcome was genuinely hard to predict.
"So he's a Dark Force expert?" A spark of interest flickered in Shi Feng's eyes.
Dark Force experts were hardly a dime a dozen. Even ten years into the future, such masters were rare. Shi Feng had only stumbled into mastering Dark Force himself, and he had never once crossed hands with another Dark Force expert in real life.
Before this, he had never heard that Jinhai City had a Dark Force master, let alone one connected to Beidou Fitness Center.
In his previous life, Beidou Fitness Center had had no chief instructor at all.
For one to suddenly appear now was truly baffling.
"Could it be that my rebirth is causing history to change as well?" Shi Feng mused quietly. As he recalled the massive shifts in the Divine Realm, he felt more certain of it.