Chapter 674: Lin Mo's Challenge

"Two thousand? Are you a devil?" Lin Mo exclaimed, taken aback.

He paused for a moment and realized that even using the strength of his legs for jumping was challenging, let alone relying solely on the strength of his arms.

"Three thousand!" However, before Lin Mo could fully recover from his shock, Yan Qingwan announced coldly, without a hint of expression on her face.

Hissing sounds filled the training ground as everyone gasped in astonishment when they heard Yan Qingwan mention three thousand.

Handstand push-ups were the most fundamental training to refine a martial artist's elemental power. Although considered basic, they were far from easy, especially when done in such large numbers.

Usually, in their physical training, each disciple would do only five hundred handstand push-ups per day. Yet, Yan Qingwan had immediately assigned Lin Mo to do a thousand, and now it was three thousand… It was truly devilish.

Lin Mo felt an intense frustration welling up inside him, but he didn't utter a word, fearing that Yan Qingwan might add another thousand.

"Haha, I never expected Lin Mo to have such a day," Nine Lives commented from within the Emperor Spirit Space, laughing heartily. She had never seen Lin Mo in such a predicament before, unable to resist the orders of someone who not only was his mentor but also exceptionally powerful.

"Women are indeed formidable creatures," Zhao Yun remarked, shaking his head as he glanced at Nine Lives.

"Aren't you starting yet? Would you like to add another thousand?" Yan Qingwan's stern voice echoed again, and Lin Mo immediately began the exercises.

As Lin Mo tried to do a handstand, he felt a tremendous force of gravity acting upon his body. Initially, he struggled to maintain his balance and nearly fell to the ground.

After a few moments of adjustment, Lin Mo finally stabilized his handstand. He then exerted a powerful force through his arms, channeling his Heavenly Dragon Elemental Power into them.

With this burst of power, he leaped more than a meter into the air. However, under the extreme gravitational force, his body seemed to be magnetically attracted to the ground, causing him to crash down forcefully. He had to use his elemental power again to withstand the impact.

This repetitive process consumed some of his elemental power, but given Lin Mo's level of elemental refinement, it wasn't too demanding. Besides, he could absorb the elemental power of heaven and earth at any time to replenish his reserves.

"It doesn't seem too difficult," Lin Mo muttered to himself.

"I forgot to mention earlier, but within the training grounds, you're not allowed to absorb the elemental power of heaven and earth. If you deplete your elemental power, you must rely solely on your physical strength," Yan Qingwan reminded him, her tone stern. "If I catch any sign of you refining the elemental power of heaven and earth, you know what the consequences will be."

"Oh, didn't you say that during lunch, we could absorb the elemental power of heaven and earth?" A faint voice came from the crowd at this moment.

All eyes turned to see a delicate-looking, tall woman who appeared somewhat timid. Lin Mo also glanced at her.

"Yes, isn't that one of the rules of the Ancient Dragon Institute?" Another voice chimed in.

"Luoyao? Lin Yinger?" Lin Mo was pleasantly surprised to see these two individuals.

As he looked around, he noticed that many other familiar faces were present, including Muyuguge, Fang Qilin, and their team members. It seemed that all the new students of the institute were here, along with some older students he didn't recognize.

"Are you two talkative?" However, Yan Qingwan showed no mercy and said in a deep voice, "Alright then, you two will do an additional one thousand each today!"

"What?!" Lin Yinger was dumbfounded, a hint of regret in her eyes. She regretted speaking up.

Luoyao, on the other hand, wasn't too bothered and said with a huff, "One thousand more it is."

After speaking, she ran over to Lin Mo's side and started doing handstand push-ups. Lin Yinger had no choice but to reluctantly join them. Yan Qingwan was indeed the "Yan Wang" (King Yan), and there was no room for argument.

"Mentor, there's no need to punish them. After all, they just spoke casually, and they didn't say anything wrong," Lin Mo said, feeling uncomfortable seeing the two girls being penalized because of him.

"Are you questioning me?" Yan Qingwan questioned sternly. "Add another one thousand!"

"Penalize me five thousand and let them do only five hundred. How about that?" Lin Mo said, his tone becoming more serious.

Yan Qingwan naturally saw his point. She understood the importance of moderation; otherwise, if Lin Mo became too resentful and decided to quit the Ancient Dragon Institute, it would be a significant loss for them.

So she agreed, "Alright, because of your compassion, I agree."

"Good!" Lin Mo said firmly, then resumed his exercises.

In the training ground, many disciples glanced at Yan Qingwan and began their training. Everything seemed to return to normal.

"Where did Su Yang go?" Lin Mo asked as he continued the exercises.

Luoyao replied, "Su Yang is with the Dean. The Dean said he hadn't seen anything like this before and asked Su Yang to stay with him to investigate."

"That's good. I thought he had been expelled," Lin Mo said with relief.

...

"Who is Lin Mo? Come over here!" However, while Lin Mo was chatting with Luoyao and the others, a harsh voice suddenly echoed outside the training

 ground. The voice carried a hint of arrogance, as if it didn't regard anyone else.

Lin Mo furrowed his brow and looked in the direction of the voice, where he saw a man wearing a purple martial outfit standing and shouting.