First Kill

Pushing open the door, Master Liao was spotted by a sallow-faced, bearded middle-aged clerk, who immediately rose to greet him.

It was already midnight. Master Liao did not stand on ceremony with him, instead pointing directly at Gu Yang and saying to the middle-aged clerk, "A newly arrived Trial Disciple from the Martial Academy, Gu Yang. Old Liu, hurry up and register him."

"Sure thing, no problem."

After sizing up the silent Gu Yang standing to one side, the middle-aged clerk immediately opened the Martial Academy disciples' roster and entered Gu Yang's identity details and physical characteristics onto the newest page.

Once the information had been recorded, the middle-aged clerk retrieved a black beast-hide pouch from beneath the table and handed it to Gu Yang.

"Keep it safe. Don't lose it. After you kill a Ferocious Beast tomorrow, cut off one of its ears and bring it back in this pouch. The military camp tallies the numbers every night. A Ferocious Beast's left ear is worth one point; if you bring back the complete corpse of a Ferocious Beast, you can earn even more points."

"Alright." Gu Yang had already learned these matters at the Martial Academy. He merely accepted the hide pouch as instructed and hung it directly from his waist.

With the registration complete, Master Liao did not linger any longer. After greeting the middle-aged clerk, he led Gu Yang out of the barracks.

Standing at the entrance to the barracks, Master Liao spoke again. "For this period, go out during the day to hunt Ferocious Beasts, then return to this Grade Wu Military Camp at night to rest. The rooms are all individual. Wait here for now; a soldier will soon take you to your quarters."

"Grade Wu..." Gu Yang paused, his thoughts stirring, then replied, "Yes. Thank you, Master Liao."

"Mhm. Tomorrow at the hour of the Dragon, come see me with the others. The others know where my barracks are. Just follow them over."

With that, Master Liao turned and left at once, leaving Gu Yang alone to wait patiently where he stood.

Before long, a soldier clad in half-body steel armor came to his side and asked, "Gu Yang, the newly arrived Trial Disciple from the Martial Academy?"

"That's me," Gu Yang answered.

"Good. Follow me. I'll take you to where you'll be staying."

"Thank you for the trouble."

"Wooooar~"

"Roar~"

"Raaah!"

In the dead of night, beastly howls and roars rose and fell from the depths of the mountains.

Even within the military camp, Gu Yang could still hear them clearly.

The beast roars drew near from afar, then gradually faded away again, continuing without pause throughout the night.

Gu Yang did not know when he had fallen asleep that night. When he woke in a daze, he found a faint whiteness already brightening the edge of the sky.

Frost hung from the branches, and morning mist filled the air.

When Gu Yang stepped out of the barracks, he saw a great number of soldiers conducting morning drills in the small Training Ground at one corner of the barracks district.

Heavy breaths mingled with the cold morning fog, making it impossible for a moment to tell whether the white vapor around them came from the soldiers' exhalations or from mist that had yet to disperse.

Every one of these soldiers was a Blood Condensation martial artist, brimming with Blood Qi and unafraid of the cold. Even in the depths of this winter month, many soldiers were still bare-chested, training until sweat streamed down their bodies.

One had to know that the mountains were far colder than the city. Ordinary people simply could not remain here for long; if they fell asleep, they might well be frozen stiff by morning.

"Hah..."

Breathing out a mouthful of white vapor, Gu Yang felt his spirits sharpen.

He carefully checked the cloth bundle in his hand, confirming that all the various pills were inside and none had been left behind. Then he placed it beside the refined steel saber and black beast-hide pouch at the entrance to the barracks.

After tightening the leather armor on his body once more, Gu Yang began practicing Stance Training as well.

"Breathe in, breathe out..."

Wisps of white vapor curled around his nose and mouth. Gu Yang's movements did not stop, and the chill lingering in his body after rising in the morning gradually faded as he warmed up.

After half the hour of the Rabbit had passed, disciples began emerging one after another from the other barracks. Some practiced Stance Training or saber techniques alone, while others naturally joined the soldiers' morning drill formations.

Gradually, more than thirty disciples had gathered at this small Training Ground.

Only then did Gu Yang realize that there were far more disciples undergoing training than the dozen or so who had set out with him.

Many disciples had arrived here long ago and had never returned.

The morning drills continued until nearly the hour of the Dragon. After simply washing up, the disciples headed toward Master Liao's barracks.

With his saber on his back, Gu Yang followed behind the crowd and soon saw Master Liao again.

"Once you leave this military camp, put away the fear in your hearts and show your savage side. Ferocious Beasts will not show you mercy or reason with you. Remember: those not of our kind must have hearts unlike ours. There is only one path—kill!"

Master Liao practically roared out the final word.

At the same time, the several dozen disciples standing before Master Liao bellowed in unison.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

"Set out!"

With a sweep of his hand, Master Liao sent the disciples streaming toward the camp's exit.

Most of these disciples traveled in groups of three to five. Only a few acted alone.

Gu Yang knew no one here, so rather than form a party with strangers, he chose to travel alone.

Once outside the military camp, the crowd dispersed. Gu Yang casually chose a mountain path and entered the forest.

The morning mountain forest was hushed, entirely unlike the liveliness of the previous night. Only the occasional chirping of birds broke the silence.

"Rustle, rustle~"

His cowhide boots pushed through the weed-covered ground. Gu Yang gripped his saber tightly, his eyes gleaming as he constantly sensed the conditions around him.

Without realizing it, half an hour had already passed.

At a certain moment, a faint killing intent suddenly surfaced from the shadows of the forest.

But when Gu Yang turned to look, it instantly changed directions and vanished amid a burst of rustling.

Gu Yang withdrew his gaze and continued onward.

Soon, the killing intent appeared again, only this time from another direction.

Clearly, the hunter hiding in the darkness had not retreated. It was simply extremely patient. It seemed to have sensed that Gu Yang was not easy prey, so it refused to show itself, hiding in the shadows and spying on him all the while.

Gu Yang narrowed his eyes, his gaze dark and deep. In his mind, he kept the position of that killing intent locked down, but outwardly he pretended to have noticed nothing and continued walking forward.

The killing intent gradually drew closer. Five zhang, four zhang...

One zhang!

Above his head!

Without even raising his head, Gu Yang spun and swept the saber in his hand upward.

"Shing!"

The blade cut through the air. The strength of a thousand jin erupted from within him, and the dark shadow diving down from above was instantly cleaved into two by a single slash.

"Bang!"

The corpse crashed heavily to the ground. Gu Yang stepped back, avoiding the blood and entrails pouring down over his head, then turned to look.

Only then did he discover that the creature which had ambushed him was a Black-skinned Patterned Leopard more than five chi long.

Blood drenched the ground. The Black Panther's upper body still twitched faintly, but strings of entrails had already spilled from its abdomen and fallen to the earth.

Clearly, this Black Panther was dead for certain!