After Zhao Rong exposed the sweeping monk’s true identity, he immediately launched a flying kick. The monk, caught completely off guard, was knocked to the ground. At that moment, the assistant, Lili, Yu Lan, Xuelian, and Fengfeng all rushed forward. The four of them worked together to restrain the man.

Zhao Rong stepped forward, looked down at the so-called monk, and said, "I advise you to stop trying to earn dirty money here. Go back to your lab and be a proper technician."

Hearing this, the man began wiping tears from his eyes. "Ever since I was hired to guard the third checkpoint in Bada Hutong, no one has ever managed to pass. I never imagined that you young people would not only clear my stage but also expose me..."

Zhao Rong just smiled. He then directed the others to tie the man to a large nearby tree, planning to escort him and the African strongman out when they returned later.

After clearing the third checkpoint, Zhao Rong’s group continued toward the fourth. As they walked, they speculated about what kind of master they would encounter next.

The assistant, struck by a thought, mused aloud, "The first checkpoint had a fortune teller. The second had an African strongman. The third had a sweeping monk. I bet the fourth checkpoint must be a martial arts master. After all, each stage is harder and more powerful than the last."

Lili offered her own guess. "I think the fourth guardian is a Muay Thai expert. Muay Thai is an ancient martial art, said to be undefeated for 500 years. It’s incredibly powerful."

Yu Lan shook her head and voiced her own theory. "I think the fourth guardian is definitely a robot."

Xuelian let her imagination run wild. "It would be amazing if the fourth guardian was an alien! If we beat him, we could get superpowers!"

But just as they were all making their guesses, Zhao Rong suddenly pointed to a child playing in the distance. "Holy cow," he said, "don’t tell me that little kid is the master of the fourth checkpoint."

His words were met with a burst of laughter from the assistant and the three women. The assistant walked ahead, mocking Zhao Rong over his shoulder. "Zhao Rong, I think the masters in Bada Hutong have finally scared you silly. How could a cute little boy possibly be the guardian of the fourth checkpoint? You’re hilarious."

Lili was also skeptical. "That child looks to be about 1.2 meters tall and maybe five or six years old. How could he possibly be a master?"

Yu Lan, however, pulled out her phone to take a picture. "This poor child must have gotten separated from his mother. That’s why he’s wandering the streets alone. I’m going to take a photo and post it on the Baby Come Home website so his mother can find him."

Only Xuelian was suspicious of the child. Her imagination kicked in again as she said, "You don’t think this kid could be like Red Boy from *Journey to the West*—a truly formidable character, do you?"

Before they could say more, the assistant had already reached the child. He gently stroked the boy’s head and asked with concern, "Hey, little friend, how old are you? Where are your parents? Why are you all alone out here? Are you lost? Do you need our help?"

The assistant had barely finished his questions when the child suddenly leaped into the air, executing a spinning aerial kick that sent him flying five meters away.

When the women saw that the child could not only fight but was also shockingly vicious, they stared, dumbfounded. After kicking the assistant, the child turned around to face them. As he did, Zhao Rong and the three women saw that this was no child at all, but a dwarf. Their eyes widened in shock.

Zhao Rong stared at the dwarf in disbelief. "Young man, you must be eighteen, right?"

The dwarf’s face twisted into a vicious expression. He glared at Zhao Rong and snarled, "I’m thirty-eight!"

Hearing that the dwarf was thirty-eight, Lili broke out in a cold sweat. "Thank goodness I didn’t go over and hug him," she said, shuddering. "How embarrassing would it have been to hold a thirty-eight-year-old man in my arms..."

Yu Lan stepped forward and demanded, "Are you the master who guards the fourth checkpoint of Bada Hutong?"

The dwarf gave a cold smirk and said fiercely, "You guessed right. I’m the guardian of the fourth checkpoint. My nickname is Subterranean Pine."

When Xuelian heard him call himself Subterranean Pine, she immediately thought of the character from *Investiture of the Gods*. "Does that mean you have Special Abilities?" she asked curiously. "Can you burrow into the ground and move through the earth?"

The dwarf roared with laughter and promptly demonstrated his Special Abilities for the group. In an instant, he vanished into the ground. After scurrying around underground for a moment, he popped back up a short distance away.

When Zhao Rong and his companions saw that this man was a real-life Tu Xingsun, they couldn’t help but feel a surge of concern.

Lili said anxiously, "Zhao Rong, this Tu Xingsun won’t be easy to deal with. He can burrow into the earth. If we can’t even find him, how are we supposed to beat him?"

Yu Lan added worriedly, "To beat someone who can tunnel underground, we’d have to be able to do it too. That’s the only way we could catch him."

Suddenly, Xuelian had a flash of insight. "But if we could stop him from burrowing in the first place, then dealing with him would be much easier!"

At that moment, the dwarf pulled two sharp daggers from his belt and brandished them at the group. "If you want to pass my checkpoint," he threatened, "you’ll have to pay with your lives."

Seeing how arrogant the dwarf was, daring to threaten their lives, Zhao Rong gestured for his friends to fall back. "All of you, step back and leave this dwarf to me," he announced. "I’ll take him down within three minutes, and then we’ll pass the fourth checkpoint."

Seeing Zhao Rong preparing to fight the burrowing dwarf alone, the assistant was pessimistic. "Zhao Rong, you don’t have the Special Ability to travel through the earth. How can you possibly fight him?"

Lili was especially worried for his safety. "Zhao Rong, be careful!" she warned repeatedly. "Watch your back! He could disappear into the ground with those daggers and pop up behind you to stab you in the back!"

Yu Lan, meanwhile, picked up a sturdy stick from the ground and tossed it to Zhao Rong. "Zhao Rong, catch! If that dwarf dares to go underground, just play whack-a-mole with his head every time he pops out! Hit him so hard he won’t dare to show his face again!"