Flying Snow

Outside the temple.

Jiang Ding did not choose the main road. He found a thicket and slipped inside.

Though nearly a hundred people was a lot, they were insignificant within a vast radius of five kilometers. After walking casually for a while, he had already avoided them.

Their encirclement route had not changed.

"The target isn't me!"

Jiang Ding relaxed inwardly, but still decided to keep his distance.

He noticed that these people were divided into eight or nine small squads, each with a vicious hunting dog. They seemed to be tracking something, so it was better not to approach and cause a misunderstanding.

Whoosh... whoosh...

The mountain wind howled, accompanied by faint sounds of something cutting through the air.

"Who's there?!"

Jiang Ding barked.

His sword left its sheath, slashing diagonally in a precise arc, only to be intercepted midway by a snow-white sword with a shrill clash.

The snow-white sword recoiled the instant it struck, trying to flee, but it was far too late. Jiang Ding condensed the strength of his entire body's muscles and bones into a single point, and his sword chopped onto the white blade, knocking it away.

This was the Exhibiting Sword Style!

Jiang Ding only felt a numbing force rush over him. The arm holding his sword trembled slightly, but the force was swiftly dispersed by the fully tempered muscles throughout his body, leaving him unharmed for the moment.

His opponent was an Inner Qi Realm martial artist!

Yet compared with his classmates, the other party's inner force was weak, less than one-third as strong.

A figure in a white dress flew backward, vomiting blood that bloomed into plum blossoms across the clothing over her towering chest.

"How is this possible? You clearly aren't an Inner Qi Realm martial artist!"

The other party spat blood and said in disbelief.

She had crumbled at the first touch!

Though she was injured, with inner force protecting her body, even a body-refining martial artist born with immense strength should have been able to escape smoothly. This defied common sense.

"Why did you attack me?"

Jiang Ding gripped his sword and slowly advanced. His tailbone quivered again and again as wisps of killing intent spread beyond his control.

Civilian drones were far too unreliable!

He had never encountered anything like this before.

From childhood to adulthood, whether it was teachers giving guidance or classmates sparring, even when there was ordinary resentment, they had only wanted to deliberately beat each other up. He had never faced such icy coldness, where a meeting meant life or death.

"Young master, I'm sorry."

"I mistook you for someone else. I realized it just now and tried to run, but I couldn't escape you."

The woman pressed her palms together, looking deeply apologetic. "Young master, this was my fault."

Jiang Ding kept approaching step by step, utterly refusing to believe such nonsense.

Anyone who took the initiative to attack him and endangered his life should pay the price!

"Young master!"

"It was this servant's fault! I mistook you for someone pursuing and trying to kill me!"

The woman had snowy skin, a baby-fat face, and cute features. She was around one and a half meters tall.

Her dress was filthy, but her face and hair were clean. She seemed to be someone normally accustomed to comfort and privilege, utterly out of place in this wild mountain forest.

"My name is Gong Caiyu, a disciple of the Seven Profound Sect. The Golden Saber Sect destroyed my sect and killed my entire household. I reacted too rashly. I beg young master to forgive me!"

Tears shimmered in her eyes as she pressed her palms together and pleaded.

Jiang Ding halted.

Not because of her words.

From the drone's perspective—

A large number of black-clothed people with golden sabers embroidered on their chests changed direction yet again, encircling this area as their hunting dogs barked wildly.

"Since it was a misunderstanding, let it go."

Jiang Ding's expression changed.

He was certain that these black-clothed people were targeting this woman. Since she was an Inner Qi Realm martial artist, he might not be able to finish her in one or two moves. He did not want to become entangled and bring disaster upon himself, so he immediately turned and left.

"Thank you, young master!"

Gong Caiyu said gratefully, staggering away.

She did not doubt him. This strange person before her nearly crushed her in strength in her current condition. If he had been an enemy, why would he go through such trouble?

Jiang Ding ran several kilometers in succession, crossing mountains and ridges before finally hiding in the crown of a large tree.

"So they really were chasing her."

"That's good. I wasn't exposed."

Jiang Ding let out a breath inwardly.

The black-clothed people's route changed repeatedly, but it basically followed the woman's path. During the pursuit, they quickly disappeared beyond the drone's observation range.

He had no intention of making the drone follow and track them. This had nothing to do with him. The grudges and entanglements of another world should not concern him, much less bring disaster down on him, because he owed no one favors or karma.

In the room, Jiang Ding opened his eyes.

The furnishings were simple. Outside, traffic streamed endlessly and neon lights flickered.

His heart, which had been taut all along, finally relaxed.

He practiced his sword for a while, waited for his mother and Jiang Yuan to return, and chatted with his family for a bit. At eleven that night, Jiang Ding went to sleep on time.

By the time he arrived at the classroom, the metal lockers had already been unlocked, and many students were changing into army-green camouflage uniforms.

They were the same model sold online, bulletproof and able to change color and shape, but these were public school teaching tools. They could not be taken out of school and had to be returned upon graduation.

"The first two periods are firearms?" Jiang Ding asked casually as he set down his backpack.

"Yeah. The last two are more or less the same." Li Junhao changed into a well-fitted camouflage uniform and put on a bulletproof Panoramic Helmet. His slight body suddenly gained a touch of heroic bearing. "Zhang Dingjun retired from the military. Being one second late has serious consequences."

The dark circles around this guy's eyes and his pale complexion made it obvious that he had stayed up studying until at least two or three in the morning yesterday.

Jiang Ding changed at lightning speed.

Ring, ring...

After waiting a while, the preparatory bell rang at seven fifty.

"Stand!"

On the podium, Class Leader Hua Bing looked valiant and spirited as he shouted.

Swish!

Thirty-two senior high school students rose in unison, straight as nails.

"First squad, move out."

"Yes, Class Leader!"

Sun Xiao of the Inner Qi Realm saluted and jogged out of the classroom first. Others followed one after another from all over the classroom. There were six in total, arranged in a perfectly straight line.

"Second squad..."

"Third squad..."

Jiang Ding and Li Junhao hurriedly followed, running behind their Inner Qi Realm classmate Li Hu.

The three squads were like three lines. They went from following one another, to running abreast, and finally became a neat square formation. Every student's stride and arm swing were identical. From afar, dozens of people looked like a single person.

Students attending class automatically moved aside to either side.

After jogging out of the teaching area filled with towering buildings, patches of wild grass, scrub, and sandy ground began to appear. There were fewer and fewer people on both sides. Live-ammunition shooting was common here; this was a semi-Military Exercise zone.

"One, two, one..."

Not far away, students from several other classes were also jogging forward, but they were not taking the same route and soon branched off in other directions.

"Speed up! Twenty kilometers!"

Li Hu, the third squad leader, roared in the squad channel.

"Yes!"

The formation began to accelerate, shifting from a jog into a run. The wind howled past them, and the neat square formation gradually changed into a scattered oval.

Huff—

Jiang Ding slowly exhaled, easing his muscles. A twenty-kilometer run was nothing to him, but sprinting twenty kilometers at this speed was still a heavy burden.

Li Junhao's running form beside him had already fallen apart.

A breeze swept past.

Jiang Ding turned around. Class Leader Hua Bing was leading two squads of fourteen pure Qi Refining Realm students, catching up with ease.

Their steps were not quick, nor was their cadence high. They looked as though they were taking a stroll, without shedding a single drop of sweat.

Yet they were fast—much faster than him. In no time at all, they passed his squad and quickly vanished from everyone's sight.

"A first-rank military formation, the Gale Formation."

Li Junhao connected to Jiang Ding's communications. Panting lightly, he said enviously, "Those guys really aren't human."

"You need to think about your health." Jiang Ding could not help saying, "You stay up every day, and neither rest nor exercise enough. How could your martial cultivation possibly improve if this goes on?"

"You don't understand. My martial talent is too poor. My only path lies in academic classes."

Li Junhao shook his head.

As long as he could enter the Cultivation Department, high-level cultivators would specially refine precious spirit pills for students with such uneven abilities. It might not turn them into geniuses in one leap, but at the very least, their martial talent would surpass that of most people.

Moreover, any student with uneven abilities who could enter the Cultivation Department had some real skill. Once their aptitude problem was solved, they could grow rapidly.

More than ten minutes later, the formation began to split apart.

Li Hu and the other two Inner Qi Realm students quickly disappeared from the students behind them, followed by Bone Refining Realm Peak martial artists such as Jiang Ding, and finally the Flesh Refining Realm martial artists.

Li Junhao was unquestionably at the very back.

Jiang Ding panted heavily. He had no idea how long he had been sprinting when, ahead of him, rows upon rows of students stood in neat formation like nails.

Before them stood a middle-aged man built like a bear. Simply standing there, he radiated an invisible authority.

"Reporting!"

"Enter."

Zhang Dingjun's voice was low.

Jiang Ding joined the formation, still behind Li Hu. The third squad was the sequence the teacher had assigned them.

Students continued to join the formation from behind.

Ring!

At eight ten, the alarm in Zhang Dingjun's hand rang.

Jiang Ding looked to either side. Li Junhao had not arrived yet.

Five or six minutes later, Li Junhao finally arrived late, panting hard as he said weakly, "Reporting!"

Zhang Dingjun gave him a cold look. "Forty kilometers after class. I don't care what plans or arrangements you have. If you fail the standard here, then you fail!"

"Yes!"

Li Junhao's face turned bitter.

There would be no real danger. The Immortal Gate had spells and professional treatment methods, but swollen, bleeding knee joints and several days on crutches would be unavoidable.

"You may move around freely for now." Zhang Dingjun looked toward Hua Bing and the other Qi Refining cultivators.

"Yes, Instructor!"

Rustle!

Zhang Dingjun pulled aside a thick camouflage tarp.

Sunlight shone down, glinting off metal. Heavy machine guns over two meters long stood on the ground, with piles of ammunition boxes beside them as the thick smell of gun oil spread through the air.

"On the battlefield, there are no pistols or submachine guns. Those toys can't even break a cultivator's defenses!"

Zhang Dingjun casually lifted a Heavy Machine Gun weighing more than two hundred jin with one hand and pulled back the bolt. "If you enlist in the military or take the college entrance exam, this will be the only partner you can rely on."

"Type 89 Heavy Machine Gun, made from N2702 anti-spell alloy. Its barrel is inscribed with Semi-magical Artifact runes, equipped with a Falcon-1 scope. Caliber: 12.5 millimeters. Total length: 2,140 millimeters. Theoretical firing rate: 600 rounds per minute. Theoretical range: five kilometers. At that distance, it can shoot through the standard shield of a Ninth Level Qi Refining cultivator."

"If it can hit a Foundation Establishment cultivator's shield, it can also consume a small amount of their spiritual power."

Jiang Ding knew it was not that simple.

As long as a Ninth Level Qi Refining cultivator was not stupid as a pig, they would evade, conceal themselves, and hide. Shooting one of them through five kilometers, when they possessed divine sense, was extremely difficult.

Forget the ninth level—even first- or second-level cultivators could learn an Optical Stealth Spell, charge in, and casually wipe out swathes of martial artists with a Fireball Spell.

The Heavy Machine Gun's role lay on large-scale battlefields!

The Infantry Spirit Particle Radar located enemies, heavy artillery bombarded them in advance, and dense barrages of bullets rained down. That was how one fought cultivators.

"Firearms are easy to use, but precise shooting within five thousand meters is not easy. That exceeds the limits of ordinary human vision." Zhang Dingjun pointed to the small boxes beside the ammunition crates. "You need drones for that. You will be issued military-grade Swallow-1 drones."

"In addition, you need to practice the martial techniques Vajra Seal and Thousand Threads Pull. The former ensures your shooting stability. Even when firing while running, your upper body remains as steady and unmoving as Mount Tai. The latter ensures your shooting accuracy. One force can be divided into a thousand threads, allowing you to accurately hit a squirrel even from five thousand meters away."

"Master the two martial techniques to the minor accomplishment stage, and you will be a qualified Immortal Gate soldier. It's that simple."

Zhang Dingjun paused.

"Now, take your guns. One each, two ammunition belts, and one drone."

"Yes, Instructor!"

Jiang Ding strode forward, slung a Type 89 Heavy Machine Gun onto his back, and the 125-kilogram weight made his steps sink. He then took two ammunition belts and crossed them over his chest, each belt containing one hundred rounds.

The Swallow-1, together with its case, was the size of a basketball. It had a hook that he fastened at his waist before returning to the formation. The entire process took seven seconds.

He discreetly glanced to either side. Everyone carried Heavy Machine Guns and ammunition, standing ramrod straight in dead silence.

"Spread out. Raise your guns," Zhang Dingjun said again.

"Yes!"

Everyone quickly scattered, each person more than ten meters apart. They raised their guns with both hands, barrels angled toward the sky, legs in a bow stance.

Jiang Ding silently visualized a mountain falling from the heavens into a giant's embrace. Vast gravity descended, dispersed through every limb of the giant's body, then flowed through its legs into the earth, where it took root.

The giant in his mind was divided into countless lines. How force dispersed and converged within them, how much force each muscle bore, and how much force it should exert to eliminate external force to the greatest extent possible—all of it became clear.

"Twenty minutes."

Zhang Dingjun left behind those words and walked over to Hua Bing and the other Qi Refining Realm students. Faint voices drifted over.

"The three fundamental spells of the Qi Refining Realm: Electromagnetic Wave Perception Spell, Enchanted Spell, Spirit Control Spell. You..."

Not long afterward came the roar of tank engines as Type 59 Tanks drove into the distance.