Night Raid, Trial Disciple

At this moment, in a small alley near Nine Bends Ward, two men with black cloth covering their faces were whispering to each other.

"Fifth Brother, are you sure that brat takes this road every night when he comes back?"

"Don't worry, I can't be wrong."

"Then why hasn't that brat returned yet? It's already so late."

"Isn't later better? The later it is, the less likely we are to be noticed."

"Fine, then..."

"Don't make a sound. Someone's coming."

"..."

"Tap, tap~"

Not far away, Gu Yang walked slowly forward, pondering his next steps as he went.

At that moment, he suddenly raised his head warily and looked toward a pitch-black corner.

Just now, he seemed to have heard a sound from over there, but it had vanished in an instant.

After thinking it over, he decided not to take that dark little path after all.

He immediately turned around, intending to take the main road home instead.

But just then, two black shadows rushed out of the alley and lunged straight at Gu Yang.

"Hmph. Walk the night road often enough, and sooner or later you'll run into a ghost."

Gu Yang had only just made a breakthrough, so naturally he did not fear these two furtive men. He immediately met their charge.

Perfect. He had wanted to test the talent of Mighty Ox Strength anyway.

Though he moved later, he arrived first, instantly appearing before one of them and throwing a punch.

Boom!

Their fists collided, and one black shadow was immediately sent flying back like a scrap of torn cloth.

"Fifth Brother, be careful! This one's tough!"

Seeing this, the companion beside him let out a strange cry and drew the long saber at his waist.

"A blade!"

A sharp glint flashed through Gu Yang's eyes. He grabbed the man's hand and twisted it, making the black shadow cry out miserably as the long saber slipped from his grasp.

Gu Yang swung his arm, then flung and smashed him down again.

Bang!

The black shadow hit the ground and went limp.

"Hah, hah~"

Ignoring the man's agony, Gu Yang tore the black cloth from his face and looked him over in the moonlight.

"It's you?"

After giving it some thought, Gu Yang recalled the man's face.

He then walked over, dragged the other black shadow over by his broken arm, and ripped away his face covering. He discovered that this was someone he had seen before as well.

"You two are City Guard, yet you dared to ambush and kill a Martial Academy disciple. What are your intentions?"

"Y-you, who are you? Why did you attack the City Guard?" Fifth Brother's face was full of pain, yet he had the gall to turn black into white.

"Heh." Gu Yang laughed in anger. "Dressed like this, you still have the nerve to claim you're City Guard?"

"Hmph, we were carrying out a special mission, yet you ambushed us."

"Good. Very good." Gu Yang's voice immediately turned cold. "It seems that unless I make you suffer a little, you won't understand the situation you're in!"

As he spoke, Gu Yang stomped on Fifth Brother's hand and ground down hard.

"Ah!" A pained scream rang out. Seeing his companion tortured like this, the man beside him blurted out in a heated rush, "Your family lives in Nine Bends Ward too, don't they..."

"Shut up!" A furious roar rang out, but it did not come from Gu Yang. It came from Fifth Brother.

One moment, Fifth Brother's face had been twisted in pain; the next, he was glaring furiously at his companion.

"We were only overcome by greed for a moment and wanted some drinking money. What are you trying to do? Are you looking to die?!"

Then Fifth Brother looked at Gu Yang and said, "My brother's not right in the head. His mouth has no door on it. I apologize for him. We've lost this time. Name your terms, and I won't talk back!"

Hearing Fifth Brother's words, the killing intent in Gu Yang's eyes gradually faded.

When he had heard that man threaten him just now, he had truly wanted to kill someone.

Consequences? What the hell did young people care about consequences when doing things?

They had started threatening his family's lives. How could he endure that?

Luckily, the other man explained himself in time. Otherwise, by now, the two of them would already be cold corpses.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Gu Yang thought for a moment before saying, "Tomorrow at this time, right here. The two of you will scrape together fifty taels of silver. Then this matter will be over!"

"Fine!" Fifth Brother gritted his teeth and agreed at once.

Gu Yang turned and left. In the end, killing someone would ruin his future, and he did not want to make a move either.

Fifty taels of silver were enough to leave these two badly shaken.

"Fifth Brother, we got beaten up and still have to pay money? I can't swallow this."

"You have to swallow it even if you can't! What kind of person is he? A Genius Disciple of the Martial Academy. He's only been in the academy for such a short time, yet he's already stronger than both of us. There's an eighty percent chance he'll join Canglong Island in the future. If you want to die, go ahead, but I still have a wife and children at home to think about."

"But... that's fifty taels!"

"It's not like you're paying all fifty yourself. How about this? I'll pay thirty, and you pay twenty. All right?"

"All right... then..."

Behind the wall, Gu Yang listened to their conversation before finally turning and leaving with an expressionless face...

The next morning, Gu Yang went to the Martial Academy as usual, while two men from the City Guard had taken leave.

"Gu Yang, come with me. I have something to tell you." The moment he entered the Training Ground, he heard Qin Hu call out to him.

The two walked to a corner of the Training Ground, where Qin Hu said in a low voice, "Gu Yang, during this next stretch of time, you'd best devote all your energy to cultivating the Blood Nourishing Stance Art. If you can break through to the Blood Condensation realm before the year ends, I'll give you a tremendous opportunity!"

"A tremendous opportunity?" Hearing Qin Hu's words, Gu Yang was immediately energized. His drowsiness vanished, and his eyes lit up as he asked, "Master Qin, what opportunity?"

"Don't ask until you've reached that point. Just listen to me and cultivate properly." Qin Hu replied with a frown, then turned around to leave.

But just then, he suddenly heard Gu Yang call out behind him, "Master Qin, I think I can ask now!"

Whoosh!

In the next instant, he turned back around and saw Gu Yang throw a punch. The air shook, releasing a shrill howl.

His body abruptly froze. Qin Hu was stunned for a moment before he came to his senses, overjoyed. "Good lad, you broke through? When did you break through?!"

"Last night..."

Gu Yang had not expected Qin Hu's reaction to be so intense.

After all, he had only used a little over a thousand pounds of strength just now. If Qin Hu learned that he now possessed two thousand pounds of strength, would he not be ecstatic to the point of madness?

However, unless it became necessary, he did not intend to casually reveal the talent of Mighty Ox Strength.

After all, he spent every day in the Martial Academy and had no way to explain where this talent had come from.

At the same time, doing this brought another benefit: it gave him an unknown trump card to save for a critical moment.

Displaying enough talent to draw Qin Hu's attention was wisdom. But if he had no vigilance at all and laid himself completely bare before others, that would be foolishness.

"Come, throw a punch at me." At this moment, Qin Hu suddenly said to Gu Yang.

Though he trusted his own eyesight and believed he could not have been mistaken, Gu Yang's punch just now had indeed displayed the power of the Blood Condensation realm.

But this matter was extremely important, so to be safe, he still needed to confirm it once more.

"Fine. Be careful, Master Qin." Feeling Qin Hu's attention, Gu Yang did not dare be careless. He focused his mind, steadied his breathing, and threw another punch.

Other than concealing the thousand-pound immense strength granted by Mighty Ox Strength and not using it, he truly went all out with this punch.

Bang! His fist landed in Qin Hu's large palm. Qin Hu's arm did not even tremble. He merely nodded in delight and said, "Not bad. You truly have broken through to Blood Condensation. Come with me, I'll take you to see Dean Hong."

With that, Qin Hu turned and headed toward the exit of the Training Ground.

"Dean Hong?" Walking briskly beside Qin Hu, Gu Yang was puzzled and directly asked, "Master Qin, who is this Dean Hong? And what exactly is that tremendous opportunity you mentioned earlier?"

"I'll tell you once we're outside."

"All right."

Walking down a quiet path within the Martial Academy, Gu Yang gradually learned from Qin Hu's explanation what this tremendous opportunity was.

The Martial Academy Seed Selection.

Seeds referred to disciples who might condense Blood Qi before the age of sixteen, pass the Life and Death Trials, and travel to Canglong Island. They were also known as Trial Disciples.

Passing the selection meant that for a period of time in the future, he would become a key disciple cultivated by the Martial Academy and receive personal guidance from Hong Tao, the vice dean of the academy.

The resources and treatment would be utterly different from those of ordinary disciples, like heaven and earth apart.

Gu Yang naturally would not refuse such a good thing.

As for the Life and Death Trials Qin Hu had mentioned earlier, as well as matters related to Canglong Island, Gu Yang only received one answer after asking: "Once you pass the selection, you'll naturally know."

After passing through a grove of tall cedar trees, they arrived outside a sealed small Cultivation Room deep within the Martial Academy and stopped.

Qin Hu first had Gu Yang wait outside, then entered alone.

Before long, faint sounds of arguing came from inside. Unfortunately, the soundproofing of this Training Ground was too good. Even with Gu Yang straining his ears, he could only vaguely make out words like "Blood Condensation," "two months," "Canglong," "half a year," "dean," and "believe."

A moment later, Qin Hu emerged from the Training Ground. Beside him stood a figure Gu Yang found very familiar: that burly middle-aged man built like a Giant Bear.

Qin Hu, who stood over 1.9 meters tall, actually appeared rather "petite" beside him...

"This is the one you were talking about?"

The moment Hong Tao saw Gu Yang, he immediately recalled this disciple.

However, although Gu Yang's displayed willpower when he received the Military Rations Pill among the top hundred in the Minor Competition had satisfied him quite a bit, that alone was nowhere near enough to qualify Gu Yang to become a Trial Disciple.

In principle, the Martial Academy Seed Selection chose disciples who had broken through to the Blood Condensation realm within a year and a half of entering the academy. Judging by cultivation time, Gu Yang undoubtedly met that requirement.

But how old were those other disciples besides Gu Yang? Only eleven or twelve, with a full four or five years to attempt to condense Blood Qi.

Gu Yang, on the other hand, had broken through Strength Training after cultivating for less than two months, but he had at most half a year left to attempt to condense Blood Qi. This was clearly an almost impossible task.

One had to know that the Blood Condensation realm was several times harder than the previous two minor realms combined.

The vast majority of disciples could not condense Blood Qi before leaving the Martial Academy at sixteen.

Normally, there was no way he would agree to Qin Hu's request, but...

I hope what Qin Hu said is true... Hong Tao looked at Gu Yang and said, "Demonstrate before me now what you comprehended from those three Martial Techniques."

"Yes." Gu Yang nodded respectfully, immediately realizing that the Stance Training framework he had comprehended after merging those three Martial Techniques was truly something extraordinary.

Taking up the Stance Training framework of Azure Dragon Dance, Gu Yang began demonstrating it punch by punch and kick by kick.

His fist wind howled, but that alone was not enough to move Hong Tao.

What truly made his eyes shine was Gu Yang's unchangingly steady Stance Training framework, whether he stepped forward or threw a punch.

Compared to Qin Hu, although Hong Tao had not cultivated Azure Dragon Force either, he clearly understood it more deeply.

That's right. There can be no mistake. This truly is the beginner Stance Training framework of Azure Dragon Force... Hong Tao muttered inwardly, his heart stirred.

Azure Dragon Force bore the name "Azure Dragon." From that alone, one could see the meaning and status this Martial Technique held on Canglong Island.

Many disciples who stood out from the Hundred Cities Martial Academy, passed the Life and Death Trials, and entered Canglong Island did not even qualify to learn it.

Yet Gu Yang had comprehended this cultivation method on his own simply by studying those three Martial Techniques. He truly possessed heaven-bestowed talent!

In that case, even though Gu Yang was already fifteen years old, he was still worthy of being included among the Seed Disciples for cultivation!

How many resources could cultivating a Trial Disciple possibly cost? Anything that slipped through his fingers would be enough to fill Gu Yang to bursting.

But if he could truly send a "genius" into Canglong Island, then the entire Wancheng Martial Academy would receive enormous benefits!

Especially he and Qin Hu, the two direct instructors, would benefit immensely as well!

After watching Gu Yang finish demonstrating the set of Martial Techniques, Hong Tao made his decision without hesitation. "Very good. You've passed the assessment. From now on, don't return to the previous Training Ground. Come inside with me directly."