See Blood

As soon as they entered Monster Town, the 2,020 quasi-warriors scattered in groups of three or five or on their own, each going off to look for targets.

Ji Yun walked alone along the broad street. It was also the widest and brightest street in town. The supermarket and various shops beside it were in ruins, and some of the walls were even stained with blood. The town had most likely suffered a fierce monster attack.

"The monsters here are all the weakest H-Level monsters, with strength equivalent to that of Junior Warriors. They pose no threat to me at all. And there aren't any monsters that live in groups. Uncle Luo said there are only three kinds of monsters in this town: Tiger Mastiffs, Shadow Cats, and Iron-Haired Wild Boars."

"Though these three are just ordinary mutated monsters, each has its own strengths. Tiger Mastiffs are both strong and fast, but their defenses are weak. Shadow Cats are incredibly fast, nearly as fast as Intermediate Warriors, but they're unremarkable in the other two areas. As for Iron-Haired Wild Boars, their only notable trait is their defense."

Ji Yun walked down the street without a care. He was the only person on the wide central avenue, and the streetlights stretched his shadow far behind him.

Scrape...

Ji Yun let the tip of his spear drag along the ground as he headed toward the center of town.

Monsters were extremely sensitive to sound. Ji Yun had only taken a couple of steps when a dark shape suddenly sprang out of a rundown inn beside him, attacking like an assassin striking from the shadows.

The instant the monster appeared, Ji Yun knew it was a Shadow Cat. Its claws were razor-sharp, and its attacks were as deadly as those of an ancient assassin.

Before the Shadow Cat could reach him, a flash of light appeared in Ji Yun's eyes. He thrust his spear forcefully toward it.

Squish!

The sound of the spear piercing the Shadow Cat rang out. The force of its pounce made the shaft tremble, but Ji Yun was strong enough to steady it at once.

Looking closely, he saw that his thrust had pierced the Shadow Cat straight through the heart, leaving it skewered like a candied hawthorn. Its ferocious face was fixed on the spear as blood spread across it, turning Ji Yun's stomach.

"Ptooey."

Ji Yun spat, took the Shadow Cat off his spear, cut off its left ear, and tossed it into his backpack.

"The war between monsters and humans really is a fight to the death."

"Also, seeing that Shadow Cat get pierced made me feel sick. I have to get used to it! I'll be fighting monsters all the time in the future, living on the edge of life and death. If I lose focus or let my nerves get the better of me during a critical fight, I could easily die." Ji Yun understood one thing: the more critical the moment, the more important it was to stay calm.

"But it really is disgusting," Ji Yun thought wryly.

After taking another look at the Shadow Cat's corpse, Ji Yun resumed dragging his spear and headed toward the center of town.

As the minutes passed, bloody battles broke out in every corner of the sealed town. The H-Class monsters were about as strong as the quasi-warriors, but humans had one advantage: intelligence. The weakest H-Class monsters had very little intelligence, relying mostly on animal instinct.

At around three in the morning, Ji Yun sat cross-legged on the roof of the tallest building in the town center, the Original Town Government Building. His spear lay across his legs as he waited with his eyes closed for Xia Jiang, who had challenged him earlier.

Ji Yun had surrounded the Town Government with the corpses of the monsters he had killed along the way. There were about ninety of them. His habit of drawing monsters toward himself had clearly made them hate him. They had attacked him repeatedly, and on several occasions, more than ten had come at him together. These monsters were evidently dim-witted, not mindless. When their lives were threatened, even unintelligent beasts knew to band together.

Ji Yun had collected the left ears of only a dozen or so monsters, then stopped. Most of the corpses surrounding the Town Government still had their ears. Some quasi-warrior might be able to pass the test by cutting off three of them. But any quasi-warrior who passed that way would be showing a reckless disregard for his own life.

Meanwhile...

A gloomy young man with bloodstains on his clothes strode arrogantly down the street, a Mountain-Cleaving Saber in his hand.

"I wonder how many monsters that Ji Yun has killed," the gloomy young man thought to himself. He was Xia Jiang, a talented expert among the 2,020 quasi-warriors taking the examination. He had stood behind the effeminate supervisor and been recruited in advance by one of the factions. Including Ji Yun, four people had been recruited early this time.

But among the four, one had a talent for flight, while another was a firearms prodigy with unimpressive physical fitness. Xia Jiang was the only one who wanted to become a combat warrior.

"It's almost four. I wonder if Ji Yun's made it here yet. He'd better not be too scared to come." Xia Jiang smiled darkly.

He didn't think Ji Yun would fail the practical examination. After all, Luo Hong had taken a liking to him, so his strength was presumably not to be underestimated.

At 3:50 in the morning, Xia Jiang reached the Town Government. He suddenly noticed a neat ring of monster corpses arranged around the building.

Xia Jiang was startled. Who killed all these?

He walked around the circle of corpses and saw that most of them still had their left ears. Puzzled, he wondered, Why would the person who killed these monsters leave their ears behind? He continued examining them. These wounds all go straight through. They were all killed with some kind of spear weapon.

The only person I know who uses a spear and is capable of killing this many monsters during the Warrior Practical Examination is... Ji Yun!

The thought stunned Xia Jiang. Could Ji Yun have arrived early and been waiting for me this whole time?

He looked around but didn't see Ji Yun. Then he glanced up and spotted a young man sitting cross-legged on the rooftop beneath the moon, holding a spear.

It was Ji Yun.

Ji Yun had sensed Xia Jiang while he was examining the monster corpses, but he hadn't felt like moving. A young man with the physical fitness of an Intermediate Warrior wasn't enough to interest him. Unless he had an unusual understanding of saber techniques and movement skills—that was the reason Ji Yun had agreed to spar with Xia Jiang.

Otherwise, Ji Yun really couldn't understand why those factions had recruited Xia Jiang early. Was it just because he had the physical fitness of an Intermediate Warrior?

Ji Yun opened his eyes and looked at Xia Jiang. "You're here?"

"I'm here." Xia Jiang pressed his lips together, seeming a little nervous.

"I'll fight you using only the physical fitness of an Intermediate Warrior. Show me what you can do."

"You're not an Intermediate Warrior? Could you be an Advanced Warrior?"

"Maybe." Ji Yun gave his spear a shake.

"Let's begin."

Ji Yun didn't waste words. He started with the Half-Horse Spear Stance he knew best, planted his feet, and began advancing.

Xia Jiang's gaze shifted. He charged at Ji Yun with his saber. The first thing a saber-wielding martial artist pursued was speed. If you were fast enough, you could kill your enemy before they had time to react. Xia Jiang believed that with his speed, he could strike Ji Yun's vitals before Ji Yun had time to block with his spear.

But Xia Jiang was fast, and Ji Yun was faster!

Ji Yun immediately changed his stance and flicked his spear. The spearhead whistled through the air and slammed into Xia Jiang's saber from the side.

Clang!

The saber and spearhead clashed, and the sound echoed throughout Monster Town.

What... Xia Jiang was shocked and furious.

How can his spear be so fast and still hit with such force?

Ji Yun frowned. He hadn't sensed anything special about Xia Jiang at all. Being able to block one strike proved his physical fitness was indeed decent, but that was all.

Ji Yun lowered his spear, turned, and walked away. "Your saber skills are nowhere near my level with a spear. I haven't even used a spear technique."

"You!" Xia Jiang was furious. He swung his saber at Ji Yun's back. The strike was even faster than before, and the blade flashed a ghastly pale in the moonlight.

Swish!

Ji Yun brought his spear over his head and turned in an instant, powered by a twist of his waist. In the blink of an eye, his spear seemed wrapped in a gale, sweeping forward like a storm. The spearhead stopped at Xia Jiang's throat.

Though the spearhead didn't touch Xia Jiang's skin, the wind it raised left shallow cuts on it.

"The Warrior Practical Examination forbids killing other candidates. If it weren't for that rule, you'd be dead by my spear."

Ji Yun lowered his spear and walked toward the town gate without looking back.

The slaughter continued in the sealed town.

Some quasi-warriors were injured in their first fight with a monster and had no choice but to press the button on their communication watches to call for help, thereby choosing to fail. Some killed monsters but were left pale with fear. Others were capable quasi-warriors who became excited and wild after killing their monsters, thrilled by the experience.

In a large building not far from the sealed town, countless monitors showed everything happening in the various parts of town.

"What clumsy techniques!" In one room of the building, the supervisors and officers from several factions sat together drinking. A huge screen on the wall showed the slaughter in town. The effeminate man sighed, "Watching these young people fight monsters reminds me of when we were young!"

"Yeah. Look at them—all in their twenties, at the youngest and most inexperienced stage of their lives." Another man sighed. "Old Zhou, before we knew it, we'd grown old. We two brothers were rising stars in Kyoto Base City back then. Now you're a supervisor in the Underground Alliance, a big shot in your own right. Ha!"

The effeminate man laughed. "Xiang Sheng, haven't you made it all the way to major general yourself?"

"Hm?" The officer stared at the screen in surprise. "Old Zhou, look!"

"Oh, Xia Jiang and Ji Yun are fighting." Everyone was clearly interested.

"Whoa..." The effeminate man sucked in a breath. "With just one strike, he nearly snapped Xia Jiang's fast saber. The second strike was an entire-body Return Horse Spear, his movements flowing together as one. That's already touched on the Conception Level."

"Perfect Level Spear Path, no doubt about it."

"That's the Man-Spear Unity level. And look at that Return Horse Spear move. He even stirred the air, creating a gust. The wind drove the air, making the spear even faster. He's already touched on the Conception Level."

The levels of weapon mastery were similar to those of movement skills. Movement skills were divided into Micro-Level, Perfect Level, and Conception Level. Spear mastery was the same: Arm-as-Extension Level, Man-Spear Unity, and Unity of Heaven and Man.

"Pull up the footage of Ji Yun from earlier. I want to see how he did it," the bigwigs in the room said one after another.

"Yes, sir," came the firm reply.

"Damn, that kid's arrogant. He drags his spear down the street and doesn't even worry about being surrounded."

"He drew so many monsters to himself, and still dealt with them so cleanly. His physical fitness is good, too—at least that of an Advanced Warrior."

"Every thrust is incredibly steady. Even after he hits, he keeps control of the spear and doesn't let it waver. His fundamentals are rock-solid."

"Ji Yun's already a minor expert. He's no longer just a young genius."

A burly man chuckled. "Luo Hong, you've not only found yourself a good son-in-law, you've found a treasure for the Limit Dojo, too."

"Of course. The Limit Dojo has always had a good eye for people," another man with a rather lively disposition replied.

"No way a genius like that should be passed over. He could join the War God Training Camp. I'm going to try to recruit him."

"Who dares poach someone from my Limit Dojo?" The lively man glared, pretending to threaten him.