Heading Out

On the early morning of August 1st, before the sky had even brightened, Yang Wu rushed to the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, unable to contain his impatience.

At this hour, only a few scattered trainees were working out in the hall. Yang Wu walked up to the fourth floor, but found it completely empty.

He walked into the weapons room, where a vast array of armaments was displayed on the racks.

Sabers, spears, staves, clubs, axes, halberds, hooks, forks... every type of weapon imaginable was there.

"Pojun Spear!"

Yang Wu had always used the Pojun series of long spears, so he chose that same model again.

He opened one of the cabinets, which contained quite a few spears of the same style.

Whoosh!

Yang Wu took out the spear he had chosen after his last breakthrough and weighed it in his hand, only to find it felt a bit too light.

"I'll pick another one!" After several attempts, Yang Wu still couldn't find a spear that suited him.

Yang Wu's physical fitness had already reached the level of an Elementary Warlord, and in the entire Yangzhou City, there were only three Warlord-level martial artists affiliated with the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, all of whom were at the Limits Pavilion in the Mingyue Residential Quarter. This was merely a branch hall in the Yi'an District, so naturally, it wouldn't be equipped with training weapons for Warlords, as the strongest person here was the instructor Jiang Nian, an Advanced Warrior.

With no other choice, Yang Wu had to select the heaviest spear in the Pojun series; the weight was marked on the shaft—159kg.

Once his weapon was chosen, Yang Wu began to practice his spear techniques in the training hall.

"Thrust."

Yang Wu held the spear loosely with his left hand and gripped the end with his right, suddenly exerting force.

A twist of his right wrist!

The spear seemed to come alive, spinning as it thrust forward!

This 'twist' was an incredibly refined technique; it could both confuse an enemy and increase the spear's piercing power.

In the past, Yang Wu would have been completely unable to execute this technique, and if he had forced it, he likely would have injured himself. But now, Yang Wu performed the move with ease.

"Thrust, thrust, thrust..."

"Sweep, sweep, sweep..."

Yang Wu exerted force time and again, continuously practicing the spear techniques and footwork he had comprehended in his simulations.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Yang Wu's communication watch suddenly rang.

"Ah Feng." Stopping his movements, Yang Wu answered the call.

"Brother Yang." Luo Feng's voice came through the watch. "When are you coming over? I'm waiting for you in the lobby."

"I'll be there right away!" Yang Wu replied, returning the Pojun Spear to its original place.

The actual combat assessment for martial artists would take place outside the base city, so the prospective martial artists in Yangzhou City preparing for the assessment had to gather at the Limits Pavilion in advance.

After hanging up, Yang Wu immediately headed toward the Mingyue Residential Quarter.

Before long, Yang Wu arrived outside the first-floor lobby of the Limits Pavilion, where over twenty prospective martial artists had already gathered.

"Brother Yang, over here!" Luo Feng shouted loudly.

The news that Luo Feng had been recruited by the martial arts hall in advance had already spread through the circle of prospective martial artists. So, at his shout, everyone in the lobby turned their eyes toward the two of them.

Yang Wu quickly walked over to Luo Feng and laughed, "Ah Feng, you're quite the center of attention!"

Luo Feng smiled and teased, "What, Brother Yang, are you jealous?"

"Jealous of you?" Yang Wu shook his head slightly and laughed, "Just wait for the actual combat assessment, and you'll see how I slaughter the competition!"

Having mastered specialized-level spear techniques, Yang Wu had decided to make a stunning impression during the actual combat assessment.

Luo Feng smiled, not taking Yang Wu's words to heart.

Although his current strength had already surpassed Yang Wu's by quite a bit, and he had even awakened spiritual force, he would never forget the help Yang Wu had given him in the past.

Before long, all thirty-plus prospective martial artists from Yangzhou City participating in the actual combat assessment had gathered, and they were then led by a martial artist from the Limits Pavilion to the train station.

Chug—chug—

The sound of wheels grinding against the tracks grew closer, and an exceptionally long iron-skinned train slowly came to a halt.

Yang Wu and the others, who had been waiting at the station, followed the official martial artist onto the train.

There were already many prospective martial artists on the train, gathered in small groups and chatting with one another; the scene was very lively.

Yang Wu and Luo Feng found a quiet place to sit, though people still kept coming over to talk to Luo Feng.

The two of them were becoming annoyed, but fortunately, after the last group of prospective martial artists boarded, the large screen in the middle of the carriage suddenly lit up.

Representatives from various major factions gave speeches, trying to win over these prospective martial artists who were about to become official martial artists.

The regional director of the HR Alliance, the director of the Jiangnan Base City Security Bureau, and the two major directors from the Thunder Dojo and the Extreme Martial Arts Hall—these titans who held immense power all appeared.

The propaganda from the four of them set the prospective martial artists in the carriage into a heated discussion.

"Brother, which faction do you plan to join after becoming a martial artist? I think the military is pretty good; within China, the military's strength is the greatest!"

"Of course I'm joining the HR Alliance. Not only do they pay well, but you can get along very well anywhere in the world."

The prospective martial artists discussed among themselves, all of them extremely excited.

"Brother Yang!" Luo Feng was also discussing with Yang Wu, "Which side do you plan to join? Why not join the Extreme Martial Arts Hall with me!"

Luo Feng had already signed a contract with the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, so naturally, he hoped that Yang Wu would join it as well.

"Me?" Yang Wu laughed, "I still need to look around a bit more. Whichever side offers the better benefits, that's the one I'll join."

A moment later.

"Attention, prospective martial artists, the train is about to enter the station. Please gather your personal belongings and prepare to disembark!" The voice of a train attendant rang out from the speakers in the carriage, and then the train began to gradually decelerate until it came to a stop.

Whoosh—

All the carriage doors opened at once, and a massive crowd of prospective martial artists filed out of the train, entering the interior of a large military camp.

"Look outside the camp," a martial artist shouted excitedly.

Everyone turned to look and saw that beyond the military camp's perimeter, some monsters were wandering about, yet they dared not cross the warning line by even half a step.

This was because, inside the warning line, there were many corpses of dead monsters.

"Everyone!"

At this moment, a loud voice was transmitted through loudspeakers into the ears of every prospective martial artist, "Welcome to the North Military Region of Jiangnan Base City. This time, your actual combat assessment for the 1,680 of you will be held here in my North Military Region. I hope that most of you will pass the assessment, and I also hope that all of you will survive this assessment!"

As soon as the words fell, the atmosphere among the large group of prospective martial artists, which had previously been quite lively, instantly became somewhat heavy.

The actual combat assessment, as the name implies, is a complete simulation of the scenes where martial artists fight monsters in the wilderness. In previous years' assessments, there were always a large number of casualties among the prospective martial artists.

"After working hard for so many years, I am only one last step away from becoming a martial artist. How could I easily give up?"

"Brother Liu, this assessment is quite dangerous. Why don't the two of us form a small team?"

Over a thousand prospective martial artists, feeling that their strength was insufficient, began to search for partners one after another.