Objective Complete

Across the boundless grassland, two hundred Reckless Bulls dug in their hooves and charged toward a black-haired young man.

Feng Qingmo gripped the Slender Willow Sword and charged to meet them. Swordlight flashed, and one Reckless Bull after another fell, blood spraying across the grass as the stench grew overpowering.

It was already the third week of March. The following week, they would head to the Wilderness Zone for field training. This was Feng Qingmo's second Trial Tower challenge of the week.

During his first challenge yesterday, his best result had been killing nine Intermediate Beast General Level Reckless Bulls. But he had suffered severe injuries and was gored to death by the last Intermediate Beast General Level Reckless Bull.

I should only get these two chances to challenge the tower this week. If I want another go, I'll have to wait until the end of the month... Feng Qingmo looked at the few Reckless Bulls with red horns. I need to find a way to take down these ten first. Then things will get a lot easier... Too bad I can't use Spiritual Force in the Trial Tower...

The last time he entered the Trial Tower, he had chosen a sword and Gold-Severing Thread as his weapons. But without Spiritual Force, using the thread had become far more difficult, and he had ended up trying to manage too much at once. It had been his worst performance yet. After that, he had stopped choosing the thread and relied solely on swordsmanship and footwork to fight.

Doing his best to dodge the other Reckless Bulls' attacks, he began seeking out the Intermediate Beast General Level ones specifically.

About five minutes left... He looked at the three Intermediate Beast General Level Reckless Bulls still standing, along with dozens of Junior Beast General Level ones, and spat out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva. One of the Junior Beast General Level Reckless Bulls had just grazed him with a hind hoof, leaving his internal organs aching.

He kept dodging without slowing his steps. Then, all at once, the tall Junior Beast General Level Reckless Bulls, the even taller Intermediate Beast General Level ones, the corpses on the ground, and even the grass to his left, where a slight dip had collected blood...

Everything registered in his mind, and his awareness of his surroundings surged to an entirely new level.

He no longer had to calculate and think at the edge of his limits. Everything seemed to become instinct.

Following this feeling, his footwork grew more elusive, more ethereal, and his sense of spatial distance became more precise!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

With just a few strokes, he brought down the three remaining Intermediate Beast General Level Reckless Bulls. Without them to lead them, the few dozen Junior Beast General Level Reckless Bulls charged at him all at once, but his faster footwork and more precise swordsmanship cut them down one by one!

"Time: 32 minutes and 17 seconds. Killed 10 Intermediate Beast General Level and 190 Elementary Beast General Level Reckless Bulls. Cleared Stage C of the first layer. First layer of the Trial Tower cleared. Congratulations, Trainee Feng Qingmo. Your Trial Tower level is now 2.0. The Stage A trial on the second layer is about to begin!"

As the last Reckless Bull fell, a booming electronic voice rang through the air. A flash of light later, the entire grassland vanished. Shifting yellow sand surrounded him, transforming the scene into an endless desert.

"Stage A trial on the second layer of the Trial Tower: kill 50 Elementary Beast General Level Iron-Armored Scorpions within 10 minutes."

"Finally, I passed!" Feng Qingmo let out a long breath and looked at the sand-rustling ground. "I must have briefly reached Perfect Level footwork at the end there. That's the only way I could have killed the remaining Reckless Bulls so easily... Since I've already completed my goal, I might as well spend the rest of my time fighting these scorpions..."

More than twenty minutes later, Feng Qingmo lay on the sofa and lifted off his helmet. After taking a deep breath, he headed for the door.

In the virtual space, an Iron-Armored Scorpion's tail stinger had pierced the back of his head the first time. The second time, he had been dragged beneath the desert. Fortunately, he had died quickly; otherwise, he would have had to experience suffocating to death as well.

"Trial Tower level 2.2. I've completed the goal Jia Yi set..." Feng Qingmo stepped out of the elevator and headed briskly toward Li Ping's office.

"Come in!" Feng Qingmo knocked twice, and Li Ping's voice came from inside. He pushed the door open and entered.

"Oh, Feng Qingmo." Li Ping seemed to be handling some paperwork. He looked up, recognized Feng Qingmo, and asked with a smile, "Shouldn't you be training? What brings you here?"

"Teacher Li." Feng Qingmo stopped in front of him and spoke steadily. "I've completed the first goal Chief Jia set for me!"

"Oh." Li Ping nodded, then realized what Feng Qingmo had said. "Wait! You've completed it?"

When Feng Qingmo nodded, Li Ping immediately checked on his computer. Then he looked at Feng Qingmo in surprise. "Good work. You really did complete it. Your Trial Tower level is now 2.2... Wait here. I'll report to the Chief right away!"

Feng Qingmo stood quietly, waiting for Li Ping to finish his call with Jia Yi.

"The Chief is very pleased!" Li Ping hung up and looked at Feng Qingmo. "He gave you a month, but you completed the goal in less than half that time. Excellent!"

"Your manuals will arrive tonight, and there'll be a purchase record. The Chief will cover the cost, so you can focus on your training without worry!" Li Ping looked at Feng Qingmo. "The Chief said he's very pleased that you completed your first goal in such a short time. He hopes you'll complete the second one soon, and he'll have the reward ready for you..."

"Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Teacher Li!" Feng Qingmo bowed slightly in thanks.

"Haha..." Li Ping nodded with a smile. "Keep working hard and master them soon. Off you go!"

A little after nine that evening, someone knocked at Feng Qingmo's door.

He went downstairs to check, and sure enough, it was the delivery of his manuals.

Taking the not particularly heavy alloy case, Feng Qingmo hurried to the training room on the basement level.

He unlocked it with his fingerprint and opened the case. Two manuals lay inside.

He carefully took them out. The second manual was noticeably thicker than the first one he had bought, and the third was thicker still.

Feng Qingmo soon understood the difference. Besides footwork and the Guidance Technique, the first manual included 36 sword forms that could help practitioners understand the Force Application Technique in the manual more quickly.

The second manual likewise included footwork and the Guidance Technique, along with 72 sword forms. They served the same purpose as the 36 forms in the first manual. The third manual contained 108 sword forms.

After quickly reading through the second and third manuals, he already understood the Guidance Technique they contained. After all, they were part of the same lineage; the techniques were simply more refined and profound.

At the end of the third manual was a passage: "Once you master the third level, your realm will be on par with mine. I imagine you'll have a firm grasp of how to create the fourth level, and perhaps even higher levels. You'll surely understand your future direction and path of cultivation as well!"

Feng Qingmo still couldn't understand those words. After all, he hadn't even mastered the second level yet.

He put away the third manual, sat cross-legged, and began studying the second one word by word.

More than two hours later, Feng Qingmo set the manual down, drew the Slender Willow Sword, and began practicing the 72 sword forms recorded in the second manual.

Once, then again...

The 72 sword forms included complementary footwork that could help practitioners advance their footwork toward Perfect Level more quickly.

And Feng Qingmo had just experienced the power of Perfect Level footwork in the Trial Tower that day: it gave him perfect control over his surroundings and himself.

If Microscopic Level footwork meant dodging enemy attacks in the simplest way possible, it still required constant calculation and could ultimately look a little stiff.

Perfect Level footwork, on the other hand, meant keeping the space within a certain distance completely in hand. It required almost no calculation; one could respond instinctively in the best possible way.

He practiced countless times. Only when the sky began to lighten did Feng Qingmo finally lower his sword.