Wan Dong

Despite having the dead weight Wang Meng in tow—whose bleeding wound even attracted a number of hungry monsters—Luo Zhe still managed to dispose of every beast with relative ease.

There was no helping it; in a monster town where the strongest threats were merely low-level soldier-grade, Luo Zhe, a warrior-level martial artist, was essentially a max-level player returning to the starter village to slaughter everything in sight.

He sliced off the left ear of the Tiger Mastiff Hound corpse on the ground; this was already the seventh monster Luo Zhe had hunted.

Generally speaking, hunting three monsters was almost a one-hundred-percent guarantee of passing the assessment, and having hunted seven, Luo Zhe was already assured of his qualification.

Luo Zhe's initial plan had been to begin earnestly honing his blade techniques and footwork once he had hunted a sufficient number of monsters, as he had previously only trained using the neural reaction testing equipment at the martial arts hall.

Although Luo Zhe had always remained on high alert and poured his heart and soul into every training session, he couldn't help but harbor the psychological suggestion that "they are only rubber bullets, it's no big deal if I get hit," which made the results inferior to actual combat. This was why Luo Zhe wanted to use real combat to replace his training.

While the strength of a single soldier-grade monster posed little threat to Luo Zhe—even the fastest Shadow Cat would be killed in a single strike before it could even touch his shadow—the training effect would naturally improve if he traded quality for quantity by being surrounded and besieged by multiple monsters.

However, with Wang Meng in tow and nursing an injury, he couldn't afford to take any risks.

After much deliberation, Luo Zhe abandoned the idea of using monsters to practice his skills.

Monsters were capable of thought; they weren't like game mechanics that wouldn't attack unless provoked. Just like the Shadow Cat Luo Zhe had encountered earlier, some would even resort to sneak attacks.

There were too many uncertain factors, which was the main reason Luo Zhe gave up on the notion.

Wan Dong, the gloomy youth with a purple birthmark on his face, was walking arrogantly down the street holding a Ghost Moon Blade, his body stained with the blood of monsters.

Ever since the assessment began, he had been searching for Luo Zhe's location.

Among the 1,680 prospective martial artists participating in this practical combat assessment, only Luo Zhe and Luo Feng had strength comparable to his, or perhaps even greater. As for Ma Xiao, who had also been recruited in advance by the Thunder Martial Arts Hall, he was a firearms genius, and his physical fitness was not particularly high.

Although he knew there was a clear gap between his strength and Luo Zhe's, Wan Dong felt no psychological pressure; he was not yet nineteen, while Luo Zhe was already twenty-one, so a disparity in strength was normal.

Even so, Wan Dong was eager to give it his all and compete against Luo Zhe and Luo Feng to see who was truly the most outstanding among this batch of prospective martial artists!

However, Luo Zhe's position remained elusive, especially after he took on Wang Meng. To avoid accidents, he would bypass streets with many alleys and only linger around squares with wide visibility. Thus, even though Wan Dong had been wandering the town for a long time, he still hadn't caught a whiff of Luo Zhe.

Suddenly, Wan Dong's gaze sharpened as he looked into the distance.

He saw two figures walking slowly down the street, looking furtive and peering around, much like students sneaking out to an internet cafe, terrified of running into their homeroom teacher.

Suddenly, a searchlight in the distance illuminated the street ahead of them. Taking advantage of this, Wan Dong recognized at a glance that one of them was none other than Luo Zhe, whom he had been searching for to no avail.

Wan Dong was overjoyed and immediately lunged forward, his speed erupting as he covered over ten meters in the blink of an eye.

Luo Zhe and his companion were moving along the street. Three prospective martial artists had appeared around the dilapidated three-story villa they had been occupying, and they seemed to be pursued by seven or eight Tiger Mastiff Hounds.

To prevent the others from bringing trouble to his doorstep, Luo Zhe had no choice but to take Wang Meng and leave the villa early to find a safer place.

Along the way, Luo Zhe carefully kept an eye on his surroundings, terrified that a dozen Iron-Haired Wild Boars might suddenly burst out from some corner, which would truly be a disaster.

Fortunately, the journey was calm; aside from encountering a Shadow Cat lurking in a corner to ambush them, they hadn't run into any other monsters.

Suddenly, the sound of wind being broken echoed through the street ahead. Luo Zhe immediately turned his head, his battle blade already raised and his sensitive nerves instantly tensed as he saw a figure rushing toward them at high speed.

But in the pitch-black night, without the illumination of a searchlight, Luo Zhe could only barely discern that the person rushing toward them was humanoid.

"Stop!" Luo Zhe shouted urgently toward the front. "Otherwise, I'm going to attack!"

The distance between the two sides was now less than a hundred meters, and at the other party's speed, they would be upon them in the blink of an eye.

However, the other party showed no sign of slowing down and continued to charge straight ahead. To ensure Wang Meng's safety, Luo Zhe dared not be careless. With a movement of his body, he swung his battle blade; the blade light was like the moon, and with lightning speed, the flat of the Blood Shadow Battle Blade in Luo Zhe's hand was about to land on the other party.

Just to prevent using too much force and killing the person with a single strike, Luo Zhe only exerted about three thousand kilograms of force.

At this moment, the Ghost Moon Blade in the other party's hand met him head-on. With a clang, the figure retreated half a step, parried the Blood Shadow Battle Blade, and then attempted a horizontal slash with a backhand, forcing Luo Zhe to release his grip on his weapon.

"Hmph!"

Sensing the movement of the other party's hand, how could Luo Zhe not know their intent? Seeing them being so tactless, he erupted with over eight thousand kilograms of force, slashing fiercely against the Ghost Moon Blade!

"Ugh!" The other party let out a muffled groan, sent flying five meters back along with their blade, and only stopped after rolling on the ground a few times.

He could faintly smell a trace of blood in the air; clearly, that last strike had caused the man to vomit blood, but Luo Zhe felt no guilt in his heart.

To show mercy to an enemy was the greatest disrespect to one's own life!

Moreover, in an environment like this, the other party had shown no intention of slowing down and had charged straight at them. If they harbored malicious intent, the lives of Luo Zhe and Wang Meng would be in serious danger. The only way to ensure the best defense was to nip the danger in the bud!

"Brother Zhe, you're so strong!" Wang Meng caught up from behind, looking at the figure lying on the ground, unsure if they were dead or alive, and praised Luo Zhe. "Those two strikes just now nearly made me pee myself! Your slashing speed is just too fast; I hadn't even reacted before I heard two clangs, and then he went flying!"

Luo Zhe didn't turn back, still staring intently at the figure on the ground. "Get up. My force just now wasn't enough to kill you."

Wang Meng also turned to look at the ground ahead. After a long while, following two heavy gasps, the figure on the ground climbed up and replied in a muffled voice: "Luo Zhe, you truly deserve to be the one with the best physical fitness among us. I'll remember this strike."