A Small Test at the Training Grounds

Early morning.

Inside the White Crow Gang's training grounds.

Ling Wuyuan merely swept his gaze around for a moment before spotting several hundred people nearby.

This showed that many people at the White Crow Gang headquarters had a habit of working out here.

Even those who had long since graduated from the training grounds were no exception.

Hmm...

Most likely, it was because the facilities here were relatively good and produced excellent results.

However, although they were all in the training grounds, the complete newcomers were separated from those who had already graduated and merely came here to use the various equipment for their own training.

Something like a wire fence stood between the two sides.

They could see one another and even talk to each other.

But they would not mingle completely.

Presumably.

This was to prevent the graduates from disturbing the newcomers' studies.

Ling Wuyuan felt that was fine.

As everyone knew.

When new members and old members gathered together, trouble was bound to arise one way or another.

Especially with those who liked pulling rank and showing off.

Therefore.

For the time being, Ling Wuyuan had no desire to get too close to the older members.

At this moment.

Directly ahead of him.

A figure built like a gorilla, immensely muscular and nearly two meters tall, was explaining a few things.

"You must remember this."

"Practicing martial arts has never been a simple matter!"

"This is true even for those with exceptional talent."

"And it is even more so for inexperienced newcomers like you!"

"Although you have already learned to read and write, and have been taught some knowledge about meridians and acupoints, so you do possess the foundation for further study, what you have learned is ultimately still very superficial. If learning martial arts is compared to studying the culinary arts, then you are currently at most at the stage of having just learned what the various seasonings are. You have not even formally learned how to chop vegetables."

"Thus, although you have each received your martial manuals now... it is like a group of novice cooks who have only just learned what firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea are being handed an abstruse cookbook. Even if you know what the recipes are talking about, it will be difficult for you to understand their specific meanings. As for perfectly recreating the dishes within, that is harder than climbing to heaven."

"Furthermore, unlike cooking, where you can try again and again and failure does not matter, martial arts training involves actual operations upon your own bodies. More often than not, you will not have another chance. One careless mistake, and your life will basically be ruined."

"So, over the next two years, as one of your instructors, I will further improve your foundations and make you capable of practicing cultivation methods with relative safety..."

"During this process, just as there were assessments when you studied academic subjects before, we will likewise conduct an assessment every month over these two years. Whether it is martial techniques or cultivation methods, as long as you can pass the assessment in either one, you will be considered qualified."

As for martial techniques and cultivation methods, the White Crow Gang did not expect the newcomers to excel at everything.

That was something only a rare few geniuses could achieve.

Therefore, as long as each newcomer could be considered [decent] in either martial techniques or cultivation methods, that was already enough.

The requirements were neither high nor low.

To say nothing else, according to past practice, at least two-thirds of people failed the monthly assessments and were forced to take the whip.

But honestly, after hearing the instructor's words, Ling Wuyuan felt that the White Crow Gang's arrangements were quite reasonable. At the very least, they were not making things overly difficult for the newcomers, nor were they demanding that the newcomers slaughter one another in some gu-raising style of concentrated training.

Hmm...

Although they liked collecting protection money throughout the surrounding towns and villages.

Giving them quite the air of a criminal syndicate.

The White Crow Gang could actually be considered a righteous and reputable sect~

Whether in its way of operating or its reputation in the surrounding area, it was fairly good.

And this.

Was the main reason Ling Wuyuan had chosen to join them in the first place.

Very soon, under the instructor's orders, the newcomers began undergoing some relatively simple physical tests.

For example, running and weightlifting.

For running, they simply kept running.

Until he called for them to stop, they had to keep at it.

They ran until they could no longer run.

For weightlifting, he kept adding weight until they could not lift it even by summoning every ounce of strength they had.

Throughout the process, he kept taking out a small notebook and recording each newcomer's actual performance.

Presumably, because he knew absolutely nothing about the newcomers, he intended to use the simplest methods to assess their physical condition and formulate a training plan.

As for this.

While some of the more dim-witted newcomers could not understand his intentions and consequently resented him.

Many others could see what the instructor was truly thinking.

Thus, in order to receive the best training and the best resources, they gave it their all. Even when they were so breathless from running that walking made their lungs ache, they gritted their teeth and held on...

After all, although the instructor had not said what treatment the newcomers would receive during training, anyone with sense knew that the better one's aptitude, the better one's treatment would surely be. There was even the possibility of receiving private, extra instruction and being accepted by an instructor as a true disciple.

And to seize that opportunity.

No one minded making a desperate bid for it.

As for Ling Wuyuan, mixed among the many newcomers, he could not be bothered to care about so much.

He merely treated his future life at the training grounds as routine physical training.

Hmm... Routine training that was a little more standardized than his own daily workouts.

Besides, the instructor would also explain information he had never learned from books, such as small tips the man had summed up through his own daily cultivation.

They did not count as secret teachings.

But they could indeed save Ling Wuyuan time.

And so.

While holding back some of his strength, he achieved a decent result.

His overall evaluation placed him among the instructor's top five.

For a moment.

The newcomers who thought Ling Wuyuan looked like nothing more than a bookworm were all immensely shocked.

"Damn..."

"Not only is he good at studying, his physical condition is good too..."

These were the voices of some who were envious, jealous, and resentful.

The instructor paid them no mind. He merely nodded with satisfaction at the overall quality of this batch of newcomers, then continued speaking to those present.

"Rest where you are for a while. Next, I will explain the key points of the various cultivation methods. Make sure you remember them well and learn them properly..."