Cold Weapons

Bang!

Bang!

"Three rings!"

"Seven rings!"

"Nine rings!"

On the training grounds, the Heavy Machine Gun's muzzle spat fire. The targets five kilometers away either remained perfectly still or shattered on the spot, only for new ones to be erected.

"Fixed-target test concluded. Next subject: single moving target!"

As soon as Instructor Li Dingjun finished speaking, Jiang Ding leaped up with the over-two-hundred-kilogram Heavy Machine Gun in both hands. He broke into a swift run while aiming and firing.

His feet moved like the wind, yet his upper body remained as still as a mountain.

Vajra Seal!

Bang!

"Eight rings!"

"Next subject: double moving targets!"

Through Jiang Ding's drone view, the target five kilometers away began to move. It maneuvered in an S-pattern at the speed of a Qi Refining Late Stage cultivator, occasionally accelerating abruptly and bursting forth at several times its normal speed.

"Missed target!"

"Missed target!"

The miss rate rose sharply, yet the teachers and students around him did not seem surprised.

Qi Refining Late Stage cultivators usually had a divine-sense range of seventy to one hundred meters. In other words, unless they were enhanced with inscriptions of breath concealment and invisibility runes, they would be detected by a Qi Refining Late Stage cultivator at that distance and could begin maneuvering in advance.

But it was not without a solution.

Heavy Machine Gun Bullets traveled at 1,254 meters per second. Qi Refining Late Stage cultivators had a reaction time of 0.5 to 0.8 seconds. As long as ten shots were fired in succession to form a barrage blockade, it could be done.

One hit earned eighty percent of the score for this subject. Two hits earned full marks.

If there were no hits, the distances between ten bullets and the target would be measured and averaged. That was the usual case.

This was meaningful too. On the battlefield, Qi Refining Stage cultivators were usually dealt with through sieges, with ten or dozens of people aiming at the target at once.

"Three rings!"

The surroundings fell silent.

"Fuck!"

"What dumb luck!"

Li Junhao, Sun Xiao, and the others waiting to take the test cursed from the sidelines, their voices full of envy.

Under normal circumstances, an entire class would struggle to land a hit in the double-moving-target test. They could only be ranked by the average distance between their bullets and the target.

"Get lost!"

Jiang Ding smiled. This time, he truly had been somewhat lucky.

Qi Refining Late Stage cultivators moved too quickly, and their divine-sense reactions were far too sharp. On top of that, he was shooting from five kilometers away. Even if the barrage formed a net, it was difficult to hit them; deviations of dozens or even hundreds of meters were commonplace.

That was with the other side restricted from using possible spells such as invisibility, flight, earth escape, and wood escape.

If this were not corps-level warfare, with reconnaissance methods such as Spirit Particle Radar and cultivators of the same realm guiding their positions, even groups of soldiers would find it difficult to injure Qi Refining Late Stage cultivators.

Furthermore, refining Law-Breaking Steel demanded extremely advanced industrial technology. Outer Realm Cultivators found it difficult to manufacture low-cost Law-Breaking Steel Bullets unaffected by divine sense, but they could spend enormous sums to refine special types of magic tools with a range comparable to Heavy Machine Guns and even greater flexibility.

Cultivators wielding such special magic tools were rare, but they were not nonexistent.

In short, even if mortals possessed the ability to harm Qi Refining cultivators, that did not mean they could be mentioned in the same breath.

"Jiang Ding, combined score for the firearms test: thirty-five points."

Jiang Ding's heart settled.

That was fairly good.

The firearms section was worth sixty points in total. Scoring above forty required a Qi Refining cultivator to drive a tank. Thirty-five was already considered a high score.

"Next examinee, Li Junhao."

"Yes!"

Li Junhao entered the range carrying the Heavy Machine Gun, brimming with confidence.

A few minutes later.

Li Junhao pulled a long face. "Sigh, it's all over."

"Ha."

Jiang Ding glanced at him and felt like he had finally let out a huge breath.

Served you right for showing off during the cultural-subject exams!

After half the session had passed, Instructor Zhang Dingjun drifted away to begin testing the Qi Refining Realm students.

In the distance, tank engines roared and shells boomed like thunder.

For a moment, everyone fell silent.

Quite a few people looked in that direction. Even Sun Xiao, Li Hu, and the others at Minor Accomplishment of Inner Qi wore complicated expressions.

Unless an Inner Qi Realm martial artist was truly extraordinarily gifted, with cultural-subject scores a whole level above those of Qi Refining Realm students, they simply could not set foot upon the immortal path.

Jiang Ding paid them no mind. He lifted a camouflage cloth himself, revealing a huge pile of sabers, spears, swords, and halberds laid out on the ground.

He selected an utterly ordinary Green Steel Sword. The instant its hilt rested in his palm, his heart calmed considerably, and all distracting thoughts vanished.

He fastened the sword at his waist and sat down cross-legged.

A thread of inner qi flowed from the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian and surged into the ten principal meridians of the Hand Jueyin Pericardium Meridian, tempering and nourishing them.

Two days passed. The ten meridians of the Hand Jueyin Pericardium Meridian, his second regular meridian, had largely been tempered, though the progress was somewhat slower than he had expected.

As for the reason, Jiang Ding had figured it out through research.

Meridians were not sealed places. When inner qi flowed through the ten principal meridians of the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian, his first regular meridian, it did not suffer no loss. Rather, a small amount of internal force flowed into the minor branch meridians, tempering and nourishing them slightly as well.

"Right, let's practice."

The other students seemed to wake from a dream. They too picked up weapons and began moving to warm up. Sharpening a knife at the last minute might not make it gleam, but it would still make it brighter.

As for nourishing their meridians with meditative practice anytime and anywhere like Jiang Ding, that required at least Minor Accomplishment in the Fledgling Eagle Takes Flight Art.

Half an hour later,

Instructor Zhang Dingjun returned with the fourteen Qi Refining Realm students. Seeing the students practicing amid a clatter of weapons all over the ground, he could not help revealing a look of surprise.

"Next, we will begin the cold-weapons test."

Zhang Dingjun said casually, "The total score is forty points. For the Inner Qi Realm, first place gets twenty-five points, second place gets twenty-three, and so on, with five points as the minimum."

"For the Qi Refining Realm, the total score remains unchanged. First place gets thirty-five points, second place gets thirty-three, and so on, with twenty points as the minimum."

"Of course, Banyan City's local conditions are limited, so this is a simplified examination procedure." Zhang Dingjun explained, "In first-tier cities or on the college entrance exam, they enter the Illusory Realm—the Education Network Zone—to fight. Every place from first to last receives a different score."

"Now, the Inner Qi Realm assessment begins."

Zhang Dingjun pointed at Jiang Ding. "Student Jiang Ding is first in the Inner Qi Realm cold-weapons assessment. Does anyone object and wish to challenge him?"

The students looked at one another. Some were unwilling to accept it, but none had any intention of stepping forward.

They had grown used to being beaten up in every cultivation class. They truly had no confidence in victory and would rather preserve their stamina for a better ranking.

"I'll do it, damn it."

Sun Xiao held a gleaming silver metal spear in one hand and snorted. "My Skyflow Spear has already reached Minor Accomplishment. I refuse to believe..."

Clang!

Jiang Ding drew his sword halfway. A faint streak of white light surfaced along the blade.

Inner qi!

"Jiang Ding broke through to the Inner Qi Realm?"

"Fuck! No wonder his Heavy Machine Gun shooting score improved by leaps and bounds earlier!"

The students around them buzzed with discussion, their curses filled with envy.

At present, there were only three Inner Qi Realm martial artists in the class. Including Jiang Ding, that made four.

Of course, this was also related to First Middle School's strong faculty, which excelled at teaching Qi Refining Realm cultivation and cultural subjects. Many students with excellent martial arts aptitude chose Rongcheng Seventh High School instead, where many teachers were Innate Martial Artists and better at teaching such things.

"...Refuse to believe... I..."

Sun Xiao silently withdrew his silver spear and retreated into the crowd.

"Anyone else?"

Zhang Dingjun continued asking, not the least bit surprised.

After waiting a while and seeing that no one spoke, he continued, "Second place in the Inner Qi Realm: Sun Xiao. Does anyone object?"

"Yes!"

"I want to challenge him."

The moment he finished speaking, Li Hu and Liu Meimei, both Inner Qi Realm martial artists, stepped forward without the slightest fear.

Sun Xiao's expression darkened another shade as he took out his silver spear and walked toward them.

As weapons clashed, victories and defeats were decided one after another. Even if there were occasional mistakes, Zhang Dingjun's shield, formed with a thought, blocked the attacks before the weapons could touch their bulletproof vests. No one suffered any injuries.

Jiang Ding stood quietly with his sword at his side, tempering and nourishing his meridians.

Progress was swift, and the Inner Qi Realm matches ended quickly. Sun Xiao took second place, Li Hu third... Li Junhao, unsurprisingly, came last and received the guaranteed five points.

"Qi Refining Stage test."

Zhang Dingjun pointed at Hua Bing. "Student Hua Bing, Qi Refining Level Six, is first in the Qi Refining Realm cold-weapons assessment. Does anyone object?"

Everyone turned their eyes toward Wu Tianli.

He was at Qi Refining Level Five and was the only person capable of threatening Hua Bing.

"I accept it."

Wu Tianli looked at Hua Bing, his voice incomparably gentle. Even a fool could understand his feelings.

"So handsome..."

The girls around them immediately turned sour.

Hua Bing frowned, displeasure appearing on her valiant little face.

This old lady is Qi Refining Level Six, possesses a High-grade Magic Tool, and has been taught by a Foundation Establishment Realm father since childhood. Why does it sound as though you handed first place to me?

But she could not say anything. So irritating.

"Student Hua Bing, please enlighten me."

A Qi Refining Level Four student stepped forward holding an inkstone. This was also a defensive magic tool most favored by Immortal Sect Cultivators. Besides, having more chances to fight other cultivators was always a good thing, win or lose.

"Student Luo Feng, be careful."

With a flick of Hua Bing's sword fingers, a silver-glinting flying sword flew out from nowhere and slashed straight at the inkstone, forcing him back several steps. Then it pressed on relentlessly, its sword light weaving into a silken net as it rapidly wore down the spiritual light on the inkstone.

After only a few breaths, Luo Feng stumbled backward in rapid retreat. Yet the silver flying sword still found an opening, knocked the inkstone away, pierced his shield, and stopped steadily against his chest.

"I lost."

Luo Feng sighed and retrieved the inkstone.

Standing nearby, Jiang Ding felt every hair on his body stand on end and a chill run down his spine the instant the silver flying sword emerged.

The flying sword was not particularly fast; it was still some distance from the speed of sound, and his eyes could barely keep up with its flight path. But it was too nimble, too sharp!

His thoughts could turn, but his body simply could not react. In a single exchange, his head would hit the ground!

Next came scattering sword light, dancing red ribbons, massive shields obscuring the field, and drifting spiritual light. Compared to the clanging contests of muscle-bound martial artists below the Inner Qi Realm, it was practically immortal grace swirling through the air, with technical sophistication beyond measure.

Only when the Qi Refining Level One and Two students began competing did Jiang Ding barely regain a little confidence.

Their flying swords and flying daggers were not much faster than arrows, nor were they all that nimble. If he could strike them repeatedly, he was confident he could shake the divine sense off their magic tools.

But there was nothing to be proud of.

Immortal Sect Qi Refining cultivators mainly devoted their efforts to tank driving, anti-aircraft machine gun operation, and similar fields. Cold-weapons combat was merely an elective hobby.