Refusing the Recruitment

Soon, it was the turn of Tang Ping and his four brothers.

"Tang Ping, is it? Give me the left ears of the monsters you hunted." Three officers were seated in front, two of whom were using laptops, while the third officer looked at Tang Ping and spoke.

"Yes."

Tang Ping nodded and efficiently unslung his backpack.

"Clatter!" The monster ears fell directly into the metal pot beside them.

"Huh? That's not many. Didn't I hear he was recruited early by the Limit Martial Arts Hall? He doesn't look that strong," the other Quasi-Martial Artists waiting in line whispered to each other.

"Thirteen. Not bad. Next." The officer turned to look at the people behind, and Tang Ping walked away.

"We passed the actual combat assessment. We brothers are finally real martial artists." The brothers were quite excited.

"Tang Ping." A voice called out.

Tang Ping turned to see an officer smiling at him. "Come with me. A friend wants to see you in the lounge up ahead."

"Oh?" Tang Ping was puzzled. Logically speaking, while his assessment results were decent, they weren't exactly top-tier. Why would someone be looking for him?

Despite his confusion, Tang Ping did not hesitate and followed the officer into the lounge.

Inside, a burly man with a thick beard sat waiting, smiling at him.

Tang Ping recognized him; he was one of the bigwigs of the Thunder Martial Arts Hall in South China Base City.

"I am Xia Dong, a supervisor at the Thunder Martial Arts Hall," the bearded man said with a smile. "Tang Ping, sit."

Tang Ping smiled and sat down across from him. "May I ask why you wanted to see me, Mr. Xia?"

"It's simple," the bearded man replied. "I admire you, and I believe you have a very bright future. I am formally inviting you to join my Thunder Martial Arts Hall."

"Me? I've already signed a contract with the Limit Martial Arts Hall," Tang Ping said, shaking his head with a smile.

The bearded man waved his hand dismissively. "A contract? Since it's just a contract, it can be breached. You just have to pay the penalty fee, and our Thunder Martial Arts Hall will cover it for you."

"Furthermore, once you join, I will arrange a special training contract for you at our global headquarters!"

Xia Dong had offered the best terms possible, and he looked at Tang Ping with great anticipation.

"I apologize," Tang Ping said, bowing slightly. "I am grateful to the Thunder Martial Arts Hall, but I have already joined the Limit Martial Arts Hall and have no intention of switching. I am truly sorry."

With that, Tang Ping stood up. "Mr. Xia, if there is nothing else, I will be taking my leave."

Though disappointed, Xia Dong knew he had reached the limit of his authority. He gave a wry smile and said, "Very well, I won't pressure you. But if you ever change your mind, come find me. The doors of the Thunder Martial Arts Hall will always be open to you."

"Thank you, Mr. Xia." Tang Ping smiled and walked out.

As soon as Tang Ping left, Xia Dong's expression darkened. Since he couldn't recruit Tang Ping, there was no hope for his brothers either. Falling so far behind in the new generation of martial artists left him feeling quite frustrated.

August 2nd, evening, Hong City, Oriental Residential District.

"Tang Ping, you're all back! Congratulations."

Walking along the residential streets, people greeted Tang Ping and his brothers from time to time. Having moved in over a month ago, they were well-acquainted, and since everyone belonged to the Limit Martial Arts Hall, their relationships were quite good.

"Hello, Mom, Dad, Uncle, Auntie." Tang Ping saw a large group of people standing in front of his house—it was the parents of his brothers. They had agreed beforehand to celebrate at Tang Ping's house after the assessment; the more people, the merrier.

"Come on, let's go inside and eat," his father, Tang Rong, said with a smile.

That night, all the families were overjoyed. From this moment on, the fates of their families had truly taken a turn for the better.

Late at night.

"After becoming an official martial artist, I can access the internal Martial Artist Network of the Limit Martial Arts Hall." Tang Ping entered the URL and verified his fingerprint.

Upon logging in, he was greeted by his personal page, which displayed his information.

After browsing the site's instructions and spending some time on the martial artist forum, he found it uninteresting. He then proceeded to purchase the first three layers of the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade as he had planned. As for weapons and equipment, he would ask his martial artist friends with higher contribution points to help him buy them; he was still quite poor, after all, and every bit saved helped.

The Nine-Layered Thunder Blade arrived the next day, with a copy for each brother. There was no way around it; those who hadn't purchased it had no right to practice it. If someone were caught using it without purchase, they would be arrested for infringing on the copyright of the Thunder God's secret manual.

Afterward, they went together to see the chief instructor, Cheng Wei, and asked him to help them purchase their weapons and equipment.

Once they had their manuals and gear, Tang Ping and his group waited another half-month until the "nanny" Cheng Wei had found for them, Liu Haifeng, finally arrived to lead them to the Wilderness Zone.

Originally, the higher-ups at the Limit Martial Arts Hall intended to split the five brothers up and assign them to various elite fighter squads. However, the brothers refused to be separated, and the strength they had demonstrated was sufficient.

In the end, the chief instructor compromised and allowed them to form their own squad to head into the Wilderness Zone. However, given their complete lack of experience in the wild, Cheng Wei personally pulled strings to find them a low-level Warlord to act as a "nanny" for their first trip, primarily to teach them the necessary precautions.

That day, the brothers donned their combat uniforms early. After meeting Liu Haifeng at the HR Alliance and purchasing necessary supplies, the six of them took an HR Alliance vehicle to the train station, departing the base city for the Wilderness Zone.

Several hundred kilometers east of the South China Base City lay a military zone, where the train slowly came to a halt.

The Martial Artist Supply Base was located within the military zone, consisting of quiet little buildings in a beautiful environment.

"Old Liu, what's going on? You're taking so many rookies into the Wilderness Zone by yourself?" The officer at the supply base clearly knew Liu Haifeng. Seeing him without his usual squad and instead followed by several unfamiliar young men, he frowned and asked.

"Sigh, I have no choice. An old friend insisted, and after much persuasion, I agreed to take them once. Don't let their youth fool you; they are all geniuses with real strength. They just lack experience. I'm just here to teach them some survival tips. The monsters in this part of the Wilderness Zone are relatively weak, so it shouldn't be too dangerous," Liu Haifeng replied with a wry smile.

If he could have avoided it, he wouldn't have taken the job, but he owed Cheng Wei a favor. Plus, since they had agreed to stick to low-danger areas, he had finally relented.