Elite Training Hall

From high above, No.8 Middle School resembled a radiation source at its center, with building clusters on all sides gathered around it, enclosing the massive ring-shaped complex.

The outermost layer of the Elite Training Hall was an intermittent ring of buildings, like high walls guarding the core tower. Cameras above the three-meter gates looked down upon the passing group, their glass lenses reflecting a cold gleam.

Following Wu Shan inside felt like diving into a warm sea. The pores on Jiang Qiu's bare forearms instantly relaxed, and as his nose twitched, he faintly caught a fresh fragrance.

The tiled floor reflected the figures of the five of them. Broad-limbed security guards sat in inner booths, while high windows echoed the white light of the dome.

Reinforced concrete pillars supported the dome's immense weight. Cameras placed in the corners cast their gaze over every person and every object within sight.

Compared with the Regular Training Hall, which seemed hastily thrown together, this place felt like palace grounds he had never set foot upon, carrying the distant, unattainable air of a Slum Area.

"Beep—"

"Verification passed."

After passing through the first glass inspection gate, all the cameras overhead turned toward them like owls, watching as they approached a massive steel door.

"Click—"

[Name: Wu Shan]

[Authority: Person in Charge of Field No. 8, Elite Training Hall]

Text appeared on the display embedded in the wall. With a clack, the enormous door was slowly pulled open. Row upon row of weapon racks stretched to the end of sight, all kinds of spear shafts laid across them, while spearheads glittering with jagged cold light were embedded in black foam.

"One spearhead with one shaft. You can all choose your weapons here." Wu Shan strolled between the wooden racks and casually lifted a shaft nearly three meters long, weighing it in his hand. "They're all synthetic materials. Some are about as flexible as white waxwood, while others are no less hard than iron. Choose the weight and length yourselves. What matters most is whether it feels right in your hands.

"There are mainly two kinds of spearheads: sword-shaped and cone-shaped. The former is nimble in its moves, while the latter specializes in piercing armor."

Buzz—

The sound of spear shafts being shaken rose and fell through the armory. After quickly testing nearly a hundred shafts, Jiang Qiu finally chose a two-and-a-half-meter black shaft and a sword-shaped spearhead with double curved blades.

The instant the black shaft slid into the spearhead socket, the serrated teeth within the sword-shaped spearhead twisted shut. With a click, they bit firmly into the black shaft. Cold light flashed sharply along the tip, as though shaft and spearhead had always been one.

"So this is an Ancient Spearhead?" Jiang Qiu's Bright Sight glittered. Holding the spear, he looked like Zhao Yun reincarnated. "Feels like I could poke straight through the ceiling."

"Enough. Now that you've picked your spearheads, stop dawdling. I've already registered and confirmed them for you." Wu Shan stood at the doorway with a newly assembled spear in hand. Sha Qi naturally seeped from his lone right eye. "Get out. Go take a look at the place where you'll be learning Ancient Martial Arts Spear Technique from now on. I'm going to get some water."

"Okay."

As they answered in unison, the steel door slowly closed. The brilliant white light vanished the moment the gap sealed shut, and darkness and silence swallowed the armory once more.

"Beep—"

"Verification passed."

A broad glass door marked "Eight" stood open along the corridor. A sealed wave of heat surged out, accompanied by the clanging of iron blades striking each other.

The four of them turned their heads to look. More than ten youths in matching black short-sleeved shirts had formed a circle, their shouts enveloping the two people fighting in the middle. "Brother Xie is awesome! He's beaten two in a row!"

"Oho, that's the third!"

"Brother Xie, I surrender!"

As the final shout fell, a cone-shaped spear tip spun around the opponent's shaft and stopped exactly three inches before his brow. The cool wind tossed his hair. The disarmed student shuddered and backed away, his smile both shocked and flattering. "With Brother Xie's current strength, he probably isn't much weaker than Li Juefeng from Field No. 1."

Brother Xie raised his spear shaft back upright with one hand and said nothing. Suddenly, his eyes swept toward them, their cold gleam like darts shot through the air. "The Outstanding Students from the regular class have arrived.

"And there's an old acquaintance."

Hm?

Jiang Qiu raised an eyebrow and glanced at Wang Guanjia, who had clenched his fists beside him. He quietly let out a breath. Looks like this has nothing to do with me.

"Oh? Brother Xie knows someone in the regular class? Who has such a big reputation?"

"Didn't Brother Xie just mention him? Wang Guanjia. During the Proficiency Test, he got beaten senseless by someone born in the Slum Area. He couldn't even keep hold of his spear shaft!"

"Hahaha, Brother Xie's old acquaintance is pretty useless. Back then, he tried to show off and got beaten senseless by Li Juefeng. After being a regular student for two years, he got beaten so badly by someone from the Slum Area that he even threw away his spear shaft."

Someone suddenly struck a spark, and a gust of wind immediately whipped up into towering flames. Xie Kuang strode over with his spear in hand, followed by more than ten students whose presence formed an invisible pressure.

Like city inspectors making their routine rounds to inspect a newly opened street stall.

"Old Wang, I heard even your spear shaft got knocked flying." Xie Kuang grinned crookedly, his gaze slanting over the two girls before landing squarely on Jiang Qiu's face. "Was it you?"

"Xie Kuang, do you have to keep picking on me?!"

With Wang Guanjia's furious roar, a spear tip ripped through the air. Cold light flashed, followed by another crisp clang, but Xie Kuang casually flicked aside the spear shaft that had shot toward him. "What are you now? You probably haven't even grasped Spear Tip Pierces Armor in Ancient Martial Arts Spear Technique, and your body hasn't developed Copper Skin either. Yet you can't even beat someone from the regular class now. Heh, and you say I'm picking on you."

Xie Kuang sneered. His hawk-like gaze seized Jiang Qiu once more. With his back to the skylight, the shadows across his face looked carved by blades, and his eyes were like a vicious wolf in the night. "Kid, with that expression like it's none of your damn business, you must be the one who beat Wang Guanjia. Let's have a match now and see just how much he's regressed."

"..."

Jiang Qiu's eyes turned cold. Before he could speak, a startled cry rang out at his side. "We haven't even finished learning a complete Ancient Martial Arts Spear Technique. Aren't you bullying people too much?"

"Oh? So he hasn't even finished learning Ancient Martial Arts Spear Technique. Then, Old Wang, you really are becoming more and more useless." Xie Kuang swept past Liu Zili's gleaming cold eyes and smiled at Wang Guanjia. At once, the surrounding students burst into laughter. "By all rights, your conditions should be better in every way than someone born in the Slum Area, yet you still lost. Isn't that a joke?"

"You..." Liu Zili clenched her fists. She pursed her lips and glanced at the class monitor beside her, whose fists were shaking, then fell silent with a cold expression.

The joy she had felt earlier was all washed away again.

Only when she caught sight of Jiang Qiu's upright profile, standing tall and silent with his spear in hand, did her feelings ease somewhat.

Tap, tap, tap.

Unhurried footsteps approached from afar. The crowd's noise gradually died down. Following the sound, they saw Wu Shan strolling over, a black water bottle cradled in his right palm, steaming heat curling out of it. Even his half-squinted lone eye had been clouded by the vapor. "Looks like you've all met. Getting along quite lively, I see. You four, introduce yourselves to them one by one."

"Wang Guanjia!"

"Hu Yeye."

"Liu Zili."

"Jiang Qiu."

"Mm. There isn't much time today, and there's nothing much to do. As long as everyone's met, that's enough." Wu Shan gulped down a mouthful of scalding water. His rolling lone eye deliberately or inadvertently turned toward Wang Guanjia and Jiang Qiu. "Let me emphasize one thing. Here with me, you only have one training goal from now on: fight for as much Martial Spirit Incense allocation as possible.

"If you don't have enough Martial Spirit Incense to temper your bodies, it'll be perfectly normal to be missing arms and legs by the time of the college entrance exam. Especially for those who've only just become Outstanding Students—if you don't fight for more Martial Spirit Incense, your mortal flesh won't even be enough to fill the teeth of those demon beasts.

"And how much Martial Spirit Incense you receive depends on your strength. Some people haven't used any Martial Spirit Incense even now, but people like Xie Kuang can receive two portions every month!"