Heavy Machine Gun

More than ten minutes later, Jiang Ding's arms began to tremble, aching unbearably. The thuds of guns hitting the ground sounded beside his ears, only for the recruits to pick them back up again under the instructor's fierce shouts.

The hundred-plus kilograms he had not cared about at first now weighed as heavily as a mountain.

Jiang Ding did not dwell on his body's pain. He tried his best to focus his mind on the dynamic visualization diagram in his head. Each muscle moved in orderly fashion like gears, while formulas of mechanics flashed and vanished one after another.

Gradually, he entered a state of lucid emptiness.

The soreness in his body disappeared. He thought of nothing; only the giant of mechanics in his mind turned quietly and methodically.

"Time's up!"

Amid the rising and falling thuds of heavy machine guns hitting the ground, Jiang Ding opened his eyes, and his body shuddered.

The aching in countless muscles surged back like a raging tide, nearly swallowing him whole. It took him quite a while to recover before he lowered the heavy machine gun in fits and starts.

"Holy shit, Jiang Ding, not bad. You didn't drop it even once in twenty minutes."

"Even his Vajra Seal didn't deform. He seems stronger than some of the Inner Qi Realm students..."

Jiang Ding received countless astonished looks.

"Not bad!"

Zhang Dingjun praised him without stint. "Your Vajra Seal should have made a breakthrough. Remember this feeling. It will help you step into the Inner Qi Realm."

"Yes, Instructor!"

Jiang Ding answered loudly, delight filling his heart.

He knew this was related to the Broken Sword Tip. It had greatly enhanced his comprehension. This time, he had caught hold of the flash of inspiration that had appeared many times before but had always slipped through his grasp.

"Now, Hidden Stance!"

After the students had rested for a while, Zhang Dingjun shouted again.

Jiang Ding stood still and made the motion of sheathing a longsword, slowly closing his eyes.

The Hidden Sword Style among the Nine Great Sword Styles!

It could relax the muscles, store up strength, and conceal one's aura. It was far more effective than any massage or muscle-loosening treatment.

The other students adopted various poses as well. Some mimed setting down a long spear, while others lowered hammers to the ground. All were variations of the Hidden Sword Style.

The difference was that some rapidly entered the state, their muscles beginning to loosen as they rested, while others merely shut their eyes and put on the form, their bodies twitching from time to time as they wasted their strength for nothing.

Zhang Dingjun swept a glance over Li Junhao and several others, secretly frowning, but said nothing.

He knew that since these people had entered First Middle School despite their poor martial cultivation, their academic scores must have been decent. Even so, he did not like what he saw.

"Stop!"

At the shout, Jiang Ding opened his eyes. The pain in his sore arms and knee joints had been greatly relieved, and he was temporarily fine.

"Next is live-fire shooting. I've set up targets at four thousand five hundred meters. Each person is limited to two hundred rounds." Zhang Dingjun paused, then said sternly, "No matter what happens, do not point your gun at your classmates!"

"No matter the reason, no matter how justified you think you are, even if you have suffered an injustice as vast as the heavens."

"One warning. A second offense goes on your record. A third offense means immediate expulsion!"

"Understood?"

"Yes, Instructor!" Jiang Ding and the others answered loudly.

"Free activity."

Zhang Dingjun waved a hand. His figure flashed as he flew toward the Qi Refining Realm students using the Wind Riding Technique.

Jiang Ding picked up the heavy machine gun from the ground and walked toward the firing point, casually opening the Swallow-1 drone case at his waist.

A palm-sized swallow lay at the bottom of the case, its eyes gleaming like gemstones.

Bluetooth connected to the Panoramic Helmet.

"Activate."

Jiang Ding tapped the activation button in his helmet's field of vision.

The Swallow-1's eyes moved. It swiftly completed its self-check, flapped its wings, and flew into the sky. At the same time, image after image appeared in the Panoramic Helmet.

Compared to the drone Jiang Ding had bought online, this one was more precise and had better image quality. He could even clearly see ants crawling on the ground. Beyond that, it could locate and mark even stationary hidden targets.

Very soon, target after target four thousand five hundred meters away came into view. They were human-sized: some standing, some prone, some hidden behind large trees.

"I really envy you guys."

Li Junhao dragged his heavy machine gun along behind him listlessly. Even standing still while holding the gun was difficult for him. His Hidden Sword Style was not practiced well enough for him to get any rest, and this sort of class was torture to him.

"I'll say it again: keep a regular schedule and keep exercising." Jiang Ding shot him a glance. "Skin tempering and flesh tempering are the beginning of martial arts. How hard can it be to break through them? Keep at it, and you'll gain something."

"Besides, your academic scores are so high. That helps greatly with martial cultivation."

Hesitation appeared on Li Junhao's face.

Jiang Ding reached the firing point and lay prone. He set up the heavy machine gun, loaded the ammunition belt, pressed his left eye to the scope, and aimed at Target Number One.

He held his breath. The Vajra Seal circulated through his body, stabilizing his frame, while he used Thousand Threads Pull to adjust the gun.

Thousand Threads Pull had currently only been cultivated to the proficient stage of "Ten Pulls," allowing him to divide one force into ten.

Bang!

Amid muzzle flash and the smell of smoke, the bullet left the barrel and flew into the distance at over two thousand meters per second. Two and a half seconds later, it reached the target.

A miss.

"Wind speed..."

Jiang Ding muttered to himself.

At this moment, he truly envied cultivators. They had specialized spells for controlling firearms. Divine sense and spiritual power granted them formidable precision, allowing them to easily score a perfect forty points in the light-weapons exam.

Cultivators worked toward tank driving and control. They were born standing at the endpoint of martial artists.

Bang!

The second shot, the third shot...

He finally hit the target with the sixth shot, blasting its head into fragments scattered across the ground.

After steadying himself, he aimed at another target that moved unpredictably at the speed of a Qi Refining Level Three cultivator using the Wind Riding Technique. He kept pulling the trigger as the roaring continued without end and shell casings flew.

This was even harder. It took more than fifty rounds before he managed to blast it apart.

"This..."

Jiang Ding frowned.

A real Qi Refining Level Three cultivator was far more cunning than a target. They had divine sense with a coverage range of roughly thirty meters, as well as the Yuanwang spell. Even if heavy machine gun rounds flew at several times the speed of sound, they could see them clearly and predict their path in advance to evade or hide.

"They're impossible to contend with..."

With a sigh, Jiang Ding continued practicing. Students all around him kept firing, kicking up a cloud of dust.

After that, he did not dare waste ammunition like before. After each shot, he stopped to slowly ponder and carefully sense the immense recoil of the heavy machine gun. He used the Vajra Seal to neutralize it, observed the wind speed, humidity, and other conditions, then used Thousand Threads Pull to make minute adjustments to the machine gun.

The practice of these two martial techniques was this repetitive and dull.

More than two hours later.

At around eleven in the morning, during the fourth class, Zhang Dingjun returned from the Qi Refining Realm students. In his hand was a refined-steel battle axe over two meters tall.

He called the students over and had them form a circle.

"Cold weapons—swords, spears, halberds, staffs, and the like—aren't very useful on the battlefield. They only have some use in a handful of special situations." Zhang Dingjun raised the battle axe one-handed. "But the Immortal Sect's enemies use them, and they're mainstream weapons. Things like Magic Artifact Flying Swords, Magic Artifact Shields, and Magic Artifact Water Beads are equally terrifying."

"Therefore, the Immortal Sect has established cold-weapon electives. You do not have to use them, but you must understand them. They account for forty points on the college entrance exam."

"Preparation Stance."

Zhang Dingjun placed the battle axe diagonally. "The Fledgling Eagle Takes Flight Art is a cultivation method that combines practice and combat. Many of the Immortal Sect's martial techniques were derived and specialized from it, such as my Long-armed Ape Axe."

Buzz!

The battle axe slashed diagonally, detonating the air and creating a gale that spread in all directions, making the students' clothes flap wildly. Then it swept horizontally, forcibly cleaving apart the newly formed gale until all eight directions stood still.

"Next, choose your sparring partners freely. Whoever strikes the other's torso with their weapon wins." Zhang Dingjun lifted another camouflage cloth, revealing a pile of cold weapons beneath it.

Jiang Ding stepped forward and chose a steel sword around a meter long without hesitation.

With the sword hilt in hand, he inexplicably felt much safer.

The other students also selected their own cold weapons. There were all sorts of them, especially Li Junhao's—his main cold weapons were actually a pair of meteor hammers.

Once everyone had chosen their weapons, they did not immediately begin sparring. Gaze after gaze shot toward Jiang Ding.

"Jiang Ding!" Sun Xiao, captain of the first squad, held a two-meter steel spear and revealed a faint smile. "How about a round?"

He was at the Minor Accomplishment of Inner Qi stage, among the strongest Inner Qi Realm martial artists in the class.

Although an Inner Qi Realm martial artist was challenging someone from the Bone Refining Realm, the surrounding students were not surprised and gathered around.

"Sun Xiao wants to challenge him again? How many times has he lost already?"

"The others are the same. Have the Inner Qi Realm martial artists trained themselves into dogs? They can't even beat a Bone Refining Realm fighter."

"Bullshit. Why don't you go up, then? You don't even have Inner Qi..."

Compared to endlessly doing problem sets and studying, or repeatedly firing machine guns, this sort of real blade-and-blood combat stirred the hot blood of youths far more easily.

With his longsword in hand, Jiang Ding's heart calmed. He nodded.

"Alright."

Whoosh!

With the steel spear in hand, Sun Xiao seemed to become a winding, swimming serpent. In a burst of extreme speed, he lunged three times in succession, forming three points of starlight that shot toward Jiang Ding's body.

Li Junhao held his breath. From his perspective, the silver gleam had flashed by in an instant; there was no time to react at all.

Clang!

Clang!

Jiang Ding drew his sword. A precise arc flashed, accurately bracing against the side of the spearhead. His feet slid like flowing water, shedding most of the force before he struck again, knocking aside the spearhead's flank once more.

His footwork turned again, evading the third thrust as he swiftly entered the inside range of the steel spear.

Exhibiting Sword Style!

Step Sword Style!

"Damn it! Again with this. Sun Xiao's speed and strength are obviously far greater than his, so how can he dodge?" Some sword-using students nearby widened their eyes, unconvinced.

Sun Xiao's face darkened. He quickly retreated, then suddenly thrust with his entire body. White light flickered, and his speed more than doubled as he flashed into Jiang Ding's embrace.

Returning Horse Spear!

"Sun Xiao mastered a new martial technique? No wonder he dared challenge him." Li Junhao cried out.

"Not worth it. He'd be better off practicing the Fledgling Eagle Takes Flight Art more and entering the next realm..." Someone shook his head.

A trace of surprise appeared on Jiang Ding's face. He turned sideways, and the longsword violently scraped against the spearhead's flank, sparks flashing. The Returning Horse Spear immediately stabbed into empty air.

Sword light flowed like water, racing along the spear shaft. It soon neared Sun Xiao's fingers, its edge icy cold.

Sun Xiao's expression changed. He had no choice but to let go and allow the spear to fall to the ground. Before he could do anything else, a thread of sword light flashed and arrived straight at his throat, stopping against his bulletproof camouflage uniform.

"I lost." Sun Xiao took a deep breath.

A silver flash, and Jiang Ding sheathed his sword. His gaze swept around.

"Lost again? Fuck, what a freak!" The surrounding students cursed inwardly, but none dared step forward. They knew they would be instantly defeated if they did.

"I'll do it!"

Suppressed by a Bone Refining Realm martial artist, Li Hu, captain of the third squad, could not save face. He grabbed a great axe and charged in.

Clang!

Clang, clang!

Five moves later, the longsword stopped at his throat.

"I'll do it!"

Another Inner Qi Realm student stepped forward. After a burst of clanging, he was defeated as well.

One after another, nearly most of the students stepped up. Some lasted six or seven moves, others only one or two, but every battle ended in an extremely short time.

"I'm not playing anymore!"

"You animal!"

By the end, no one was willing to fight Jiang Ding anymore. He alone picked an open patch of ground to practice his swordsmanship.

Zhang Dingjun moved among the various battles, offering occasional guidance and correcting the students' methods of exerting force and exchanging moves.