Reconnaissance Infantry

"Urgent notice, the mid-term practical combat test has been canceled." Zhang Dingjun glanced at his phone. "The notice on the campus network says the principal, acting as the opposing force in the exercise, had some trouble with their cultivation."

"Alright, class dismissed!"

The students were astonished. Problems with a Foundation Establishment Cultivator's body are extremely rare. Many might not have even heard of such a thing since they entered the school.

The crowd dispersed. Some flew on their Flying Magic Tools, while others took the bus.

"Student Jiang Ding, please stay behind for a moment." Zhang Dingjun waved from not too far away.

"Okay."

Jiang Ding finished warming his meridians with Inner Qi and reluctantly placed the Green Steel Sword in his hand back onto the weapon rack.

"You, kid, your enthusiasm for cold weapons is a bit excessive. This isn't the path for Immortal Sect cultivators." Zhang Dingjun frowned but didn't say anything further.

"How much do you know about reconnaissance infantry?"

Jiang Ding honestly replied, "I don't know anything at all."

"Then I'll introduce it to you. This is very important for your college entrance exam and your future career." Zhang Dingjun nodded. "The core ability of reconnaissance infantry is the Minor Breath Concealment Technique, but that doesn't mean other abilities, like Vajra Seal, Thousand Threads Pull, Mathematics - Formation Dao, etc., aren't important. You still need to study them, and even do better than most classmates."

"Reconnaissance infantry is an elite profession; we'd rather have fewer than a shoddy one who exposes themselves for no reason."

"Therefore, the Minor Breath Concealment Technique must be cultivated to Minor Accomplishment to yield results. Otherwise, no matter how good you are in other aspects, it's zero points."

"Zero points?"

Jiang Ding was surprised. This was too harsh.

"Yes."

Zhang Dingjun nodded. "Reconnaissance infantry requires two top-grade magic tools from the start. The cost is far higher than for frontline infantry, and the Immortal Sect doesn't want too many students choosing this path."

"Moreover, those who can't master the Minor Breath Concealment Technique are useless in reconnaissance. Forcing it will only harm yourself and others."

"Before you, Sun Xiao and others also tried, but they gave up quickly. What are your thoughts now?"

Jiang Ding thought carefully for a moment.

"Teacher Zhang, I still want to try for a while."

"Mm, make your decision as soon as possible." Zhang Dingjun didn't say anything else. "The longer you drag it out, the more detrimental it will be to your college entrance exam."

"Understood."

On the bus.

"You're probably the top person in our class for the Inner Qi Realm now, right?"

Li Junhao's words were full of sourness.

"I'm still far from it. I don't see any hope of entering an Immortal Sect yet." Jiang Ding shook his head, his right hand loosely clenched as if something was missing, making him feel uneasy.

"Sigh." Li Junhao also sighed. "If only our strengths could be combined, we'd score significantly higher than the Cultivation Department at Spirit Veil University."

"That's impossible."

After getting off the bus, Jiang Ding dashed to the training room and rushed to the weapon rack.

Clang!

He drew the gleaming sword, and felt a sense of security.

A circular arc of rules appeared out of thin air, shimmering with white light, like a full moon hanging in the sky, only to dim after a few breaths.

Jiang Ding was completely unaware as he executed a set of sword moves—arm sword, step sword, organ sword, charge sword—like flowing water. Sword lights appeared and vanished in the air.

After a long while, he sheathed his sword.

His mind felt empty, countless thoughts and sword moves surging like a tide.

Ding!

Only when all his thoughts settled did the pale blue panel in front of Jiang Ding slowly unfold.

[Name: Jiang Ding]
[Student ID: 1246215]
[Realm: Early Stage Inner Qi Realm]
[Last Training Subject: Sixty-eighth Set of Eagle's Takeoff Sword Art (Minor Accomplishment 32%)]

"My fundamental technique's proficiency jumped over twenty points all at once." Jiang Ding showed a pleased expression. "This can be considered a minor epiphany, right?"

He noticed that below Eagle's Takeoff Sword Art, a detailed button had appeared.

He clicked it.

[Unknown Insight: Able to retain sword shadows for 0.2-0.5 seconds using optical principles. Internal Force circulation structure altered at the time... Possibly from the texts Divine Firmament Hundred Pace Flying Sword, Great Sun Seed Sword Refining Art, Great Sun Bright Sword Art...]

"Sword shadow retention... useless, it's purely a cosmetic effect."

Jiang Ding thought for a moment, somewhat disappointed. "If the sword shadow appeared before the blade edge, or gave the illusion of disappearing, that would be a great killer move for swordsmanship."

As for the references, they were all texts he had expanded his reading on recently. Some of the internal force circulation methods within them had been unconsciously used.

His Inner Qi was completely depleted. Jiang Ding swallowed a Hundred Essence Qi Transforming Pill and silently circulated his cultivation technique to recover his Inner Qi. At the same time, he used quiet cultivation to temper the ten major meridians of the Hand Jueyin Pericardium Meridian, his second main meridian.

He shook the empty pill bottle.

"There's still one bottle of Hundred Essence Qi Transforming Pills left. If I don't want my cultivation speed to drop, I must search for pill ingredients again," Jiang Ding thought silently. "Now that my realm has broken through to Inner Qi, I can be a little bolder."

While cultivating, Jiang Ding opened the cultivation inheritance of the Minor Breath Concealment Technique. He compared it with the annotations of his predecessors. He wasn't aiming for immediate understanding, just to memorize it into his mind.

Knock, knock!

Huang Deyou lightly tapped the backyard door twice and waited quietly.

He had already developed a tacit understanding with this employer who rarely left his home. Every morning, he would come to the door and greet him a few times as usual. If there was no response, he would leave on his own and start the day's business.

"Enter."

Huang Deyou pushed the door open and walked in.

The first thing that caught his eye was a handsome and refined young man in green, with a graceful bearing like jade. He was holding a brush and drawing something on the desk. Huang Deyou glanced at it and saw densely packed lines that made his head ache.

Huang Deyou lowered his head, not daring to look further.

Jiang Ding's Inner Qi surged like a tide as he painstakingly drew the final stroke.

Buzz!

The pale yellow talisman paper vibrated slightly, and a faint, almost invisible golden light flashed and disappeared. The paper talisman seemed to have become much harder.

Sharp Gold Formation!

Jiang Ding's Inner Qi was nearly exhausted. He let out a long sigh and sat down.

Ever since he successfully inscribed the Hundred Pace Flying Sword version of the Sharp Gold Formation under the protection of his teacher during the last math class, he had inexplicably gained some insights into basic formations. After pondering for several days, he finally succeeded in drawing the standard Sharp Gold Formation.

'My math score should at least improve by 5 to 10 points. As long as I successfully master the five basic formations, I should be able to pass, right?'

Jiang Ding said to himself.

Cultivation was a subject that combined practice and theory. With Inner Qi, a low-level energy, the difficulty of understanding formations, cultivation techniques, and other knowledge had decreased.

He put away the Sharp Gold Formation diagram and looked at Huang Deyou.

The only use of this formation diagram was to place it in a place with abundant spiritual energy for several years, which might turn the diagram into a metal plate. It was essentially useless.

"Good morning, Employer!" Huang Deyou said respectfully. "Here are the account books from the shop for this period."

Jiang Ding took the account books and quickly entered the various income and expenditure data into the display screen projected by his invisible contact lenses, calculating and verifying them using the spreadsheets in his micro-computer.

There was a discrepancy of thirteen copper coins.

It shouldn't be corruption. Huang Deyou wasn't originally from accounting, so a few errors were unavoidable.

Jiang Ding pointed out the errors and asked him to correct them. Then he praised him, "Manager Huang, the collection progress of plant and animal specimens in the past few days has been several times faster than before. Well done. If you continue to maintain this pace, I'll give you a bonus at the end of the month."

"This is just my duty, sir."

Huang Deyou was delighted. Although this employer scrutinized the accounts closely, he was generous with his rewards. He was definitely not like his previous superiors who just made empty promises.

He hesitated for a moment.

"Employer, most of this is thanks to the new employee, Han Lin, whom you brought back. His grandfather used to work for the Seven Profound Sect and has many existing connections, knowing many herb gatherers."

The Seven Profound Sect was previously a major martial arts sect that had a great demand for various medicinal herbs, so they had a large team of herb gatherers. Han Lin's grandfather was one of them.

"In addition, when he finishes work, he wants to go to the newly opened Seven Profound Martial Arts Hall to learn martial arts."

"Since that Flying Snow Fairy returned and re-established the sect, issuing new policies, any former member of the Seven Profound Sect can learn martial arts for free at the Seven Profound Martial Arts Hall. If they achieve something, they can be accepted into the Seven Profound Mountain and become official disciples of the Seven Profound Sect."

Huang Deyou's tone was somewhat indignant.

In his opinion, the employer had saved this young man when he was on the verge of starvation, giving him food and shelter, making him work only four hours a day, with two days off every seven days, and paying him a high wage. What a great kindness!

Not only was he ungrateful, but he was also thinking of climbing the social ladder. What a heartless wretch!

"If he wants to go, he can go."

Jiang Ding said indifferently, "As long as he works diligently during his work hours, I don't care what they do after work, as long as they don't break the law, steal, or engage in petty theft."

"This... Yes."

Huang Deyou was stunned, not quite understanding.