Su You had no choice but to abandon the sword in his right hand. He turned sideways and flipped around, while his left-hand sword shifted from a slash to a thrust, trying to force Xing Huaiguo back.
To his surprise, Xing Huaiguo didn't retreat. Instead, he took a fierce step diagonally forward to the right, first jolting Su You's sword downward, then twisting it aside. Su You found that he could no longer hold on to his sword, and the one in his left hand dropped as well.
But Xing Huaiguo didn't let up once he had the advantage. He thrust the tip of his sword straight toward Su You's chest, showing no hint of mercy.
Su You hurriedly used his Lingbo Microsteps, slipping past the attack by a hair like a gust of wind.
Xing Huaiguo seemed to have expected this. His footwork shifted, and he attacked Su You again.
Su You's steps flickered as he moved with an almost leisurely air, yet he dodged every flash of Xing Huaiguo's sword. Unfortunately, his opponent put him under so much pressure that he couldn't find any opportunity to counterattack. He could only keep dodging.
Unbeknownst to Su You, Xing Huaiguo, who was attacking him, was already extremely surprised.
Although Xing Huaiguo was using a body with the physical abilities of a newly promoted Advanced Warrior, his combat skills far surpassed Su You's.
After easily knocking both of Su You's swords away, he had wanted to see how well Su You had mastered his Micro-level footwork. That was why he had continued attacking. But he hadn't expected Su You to dodge every subsequent sword strike.
"Micro-level mastery? Looks like I'll have to put in a little more effort."
Xing Huaiguo was taken aback, but a hint of a smile crossed his face. His feet moved in quick succession as he swung his sword, then swiftly changed his move midway and thrust straight at Su You.
Su You had just begun to dodge when he realized his opponent had changed his move. He had no time to evade again.
The blade flashed past the side of Su You's neck, then withdrew at once. Xing Huaiguo said with a serious expression, "Your swordsmanship is too poor. It doesn't match your footwork at all. You need to practice a lot more!"
"Yes, teacher."
Xing Huaiguo nodded and looked at the other five. "Next."
Su You picked up his two swords and reflected on what he had done well and poorly in the fight, all while watching the other five battle their teacher.
The three sixteen-year-olds clearly had little combat experience. None of them could withstand even one of the teacher's moves. Garava and Dai Xueyang seemed to have some experience, but not much; they were defeated after just two or three moves.
All in all, the six of them were complete rookies. But this was clearly within Xing Huaiguo's expectations. The Basic Training Camp was a place where talented young people built their foundations. Most of the trainees were under twenty, so it was perfectly normal for them to have no combat experience.
Over the next few days, the six of them came here to train during the day. Sometimes they practiced alone, sometimes they sparred with their teacher, and they often practiced against one another as well. They gradually got to know each other better.
In the blink of an eye, it was September 1—the day Su You and the others were due to head out for combat training.
Su You wore a full set of combat gear. The Communication Watch was fastened to his left wrist, and he wore a Baihong Sword at each hip. His backpack held some high-energy food, water, and medicine.
In front of Xing Huaiguo's villa, the six of them followed him into an Extreme Martial Arts Hall car and headed for the train station in Hongning Base City.
Unlike the rest of Huaxia Country, Hongning Base City had a population of only eighty million and no satellite cities. The train station here connected only to the military bases in the eight cardinal directions. (Hong had an army under his command.)
For this reason, almost everyone who traveled by train was a martial artist.
At noon, the seven of them arrived at a military base a few hundred kilometers north of the Base City.
After getting off the train, Su You immediately spotted an iron tower fifty or sixty meters tall standing within the military base ahead.
Xing Huaiguo pointed at the tower. "That's the Warrior Supply Base. Every military base in the world has a lighthouse like this. It represents the light that guides us martial artists home."
Once they entered the Warrior Supply Base, an "officer" arranged their accommodation.
Although the staff at the Supply Base all wore military uniforms, not all of them belonged to the military. The Two Great Dojos and the HR Alliance also had people stationed here, mainly to buy materials from valuable monsters.
As the seven of them entered Villa C3, Xing Huaiguo said, "Fighting is prohibited inside the Supply Base. You can go out and look around if you like, but you're not allowed to leave the base. Understood?"
"Understood."
Xing Huaiguo nodded. "We'll officially set out tonight, so don't stay out too long. Come back early and get some rest."
"Set out tonight?" Duoniya asked, puzzled.
Dai Xueyang smiled and explained, "It's too hot during the day, and it'll take a lot out of us."
With that, Dai Xueyang immediately invited Duoniya, "Want to go for a walk?"
Duoniya agreed without a second thought. Colin chimed in, "I want to go too. Let's all go together!"
"Right, let's all go together!" Garava quickly echoed, though his eyes kept drifting toward Elena.
Su You smiled. There were relatively few female trainees at the Basic Training Camp, and anyone who made it in had considerable talent and a chance of becoming a War God in the future.
In that situation, unless a girl was exceptionally ugly, most female trainees had people pursuing them—and usually more than one.
There were two female trainees in Su You's squad, and both were fairly pretty. Naturally, the three other male trainees had already begun pursuing them.
But Su You was rather picky and had no interest in joining their activities, so he said, "You guys go. I didn't sleep well last night, so I need to get some proper rest."
With that, Su You headed toward a bedroom on the second floor.
"I need to get some rest too." Elena glanced at Su You's retreating figure and smiled as she turned down Garava's invitation.
At dusk, after the seven of them had eaten in the dining room on the first floor, they put on their gear, left the Supply Base, and entered the Wilderness Zone.
The seven of them followed the badly ruined road toward City 0125.
Su You led the way at the front of the group. Behind him were Duoniya, Colin, and Elena, the three Intermediate Warriors.
Behind them came their War God Rank teacher, Xing Huaiguo, with Garava and Dai Xueyang, the two Advanced Warriors, bringing up the rear.
They hadn't gone far when Xing Huaiguo called for the group to stop. "There's a G-grade Iron-furred Wild Boar up ahead. Duoniya, it's yours."
A G-grade monster was an Intermediate Beast Soldier. Its physical abilities were on par with those of an Intermediate Warrior, but it was still very unintelligent.
Duoniya pressed her lips together, drew her sword with her right hand, and held her shield in her left. She quickly approached the monster, while Xing Huaiguo also moved a little closer in case anything went wrong.
Anyone who made it into the Basic Training Camp had at least passed the Martial Artist Combat Assessment. There was no chance of one of them being completely afraid to fight.
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