A Gift

After touring the War God Palace for a while, Feng Qingmo ordered six SS-Grade Flying Daggers from the palace's online store, replacing his previous standard-issue blades.

Fortunately, the SS-Grade daggers were compact, keeping the price within an acceptable range, though it still dealt a heavy blow to his wallet. With no other choice, he had to head back out to hunt monsters.

This trip kept him in City 007 for over a month, and he did not return to the training camp until the end of June.

After selling the monster materials from his backpack, the total came to less than 10 billion Huaxia coins.

Due to his lack of funds and his time spent in the Wilderness Zone, he had missed both the May and June auctions at the War God Palace.

In fact, he hadn't even brought his consciousness-sensing helmet when he left the training camp—logging into the War God Palace while in the Wilderness Zone was purely suicidal. Even with safety alarm distances set, there was no guarantee that an accident wouldn't occur.

Furthermore, he simply didn't have enough money. He had already inquired, and the average price for Water of Life at the War God Palace auctions was around 20 billion, sometimes more or less depending on the level of competition.

He had been hunting monsters in the Wilderness Zone constantly, but gathering 40 billion in a short time was no easy feat. In nearly two months of desperate, non-stop fighting, he had only earned about 10 billion, which was already considered highly efficient.

Inevitably, he encountered danger. Once, he directly provoked a high-level lord-class Silver-Crested Ibis, a true hegemon of the Qinling Mountains.

Since it had wings and could fly, for a beginner God of War spirit reader like Feng Qingmo to compete with it in flight speed was like a kindergarten student racing Usain Bolt in a hundred-meter dash.

Luckily, he was near the edge of the city. After using his SS-Grade Flying Daggers to hold it off for a few moments, he finally found a sewer manhole and managed to escape with his life.

It was a pity that he had been unable to master the third level of the Wind-Washing Sword technique he had been practicing. Otherwise, not only would his explosive power reach the standard of a normal God of War, but his footwork and swordsmanship would also have reached a higher level.

However, it wasn't without gains. When facing the high-level lord-class Silver-Crested Ibis, his martial artist strength was useless, forcing him to rely on his SS-Grade Flying Daggers. In that life-or-death moment, he finally managed to merge two strands of spiritual force into a single dagger. The sudden surge in both speed and power brought it close to the level of a peak intermediate God of War, which gave him the window of time he needed to escape through the sewer.

With the July trial only a few days away and his backpack full of lord-class monster materials, he decided to pack it in and return to the training camp.

After relaxing at his residence for a day, he didn't bother calling ahead and went straight to the Central Building to find Li Ping.

"Teacher Li," Feng Qingmo said, moving his right hand from behind his back to the front and placing two bottles of Xinghuacun brewed in the last century onto Li Ping's desk. "I spent over a month in City 007 this time, and I didn't expect to find a few bottles stored in a cellar. This is wine from before the Great Nirvana..."

Li Ping took them without ceremony, examined them carefully, and nodded repeatedly. "Not bad, this really is from before the Great Nirvana era..."

Suddenly, he realized something. "You said 'a few bottles' just now—that means there's more than two? Where are the others?"

"I gave two to Teacher Guan," Feng Qingmo said, bringing his left hand from behind his back to reveal two more bottles, which he placed gently on the desk. "These two are for you to please pass on to Chief Jia..."

Li Ping nodded, his eyes darting toward Feng Qingmo's back again. Feng Qingmo simply turned in a circle. "There really aren't any more this time. There were only six in total!"

"At least you have a conscience, kid..." Li Ping gathered the bottles on the desk. "I'll keep one for myself, and I'll find an opportunity to send the other three to the Chief."

"Thank you, Teacher Li."

"You, don't call me 'Teacher' anymore," Li Ping said, gesturing for him to sit. "Old Guan is your direct instructor and deserves the title, but I don't. From now on, you can call me Old Li or Brother Li..."

"Understood, Brother Li."

Li Ping looked stunned. "I was just saying that, but you really know how to climb the pole..."

"The life-and-death trial is on July 1st, which is only a few days away. You shouldn't go out again, right?" Li Ping sat on the sofa in the guest area and began to brew tea.

"Yes, I'll take these few days to relax and prepare for the upcoming trial..." Feng Qingmo asked, "But I still don't know the location, or what preparations I need to make?"

"Our training camp divides students into Warrior and Warlord levels. Those at the Warrior level, or even beginner Warlord level, are sent to suitable locations within the country, chosen randomly each time. As for the Warlord level..."

He placed a cup of tea in front of Feng Qingmo and asked somewhat mysteriously, "Are you afraid of the cold?"

"That depends on how cold it is," Feng Qingmo said, picking up the cup and taking a sip. The fragrance filled his mouth, and he couldn't help but praise, "Good tea."

"The location for this Warlord-level trial is—the North Pole!"

"The North Pole?" Feng Qingmo looked blank. "It's all ice and snow up there; there can't be many monsters, right?"

"Not many monsters?" Li Ping glared at him. "Never mind the polar bears—they're the hegemons of the North Pole. There are also seals, arctic wolves, arctic foxes, arctic hares... don't underestimate the arctic hares; after mutating, they are quite ferocious creatures..."

"There are also snowy owls, sea lions, auks, and so on. In the water, there are beluga whales, walruses, arctic shrimp, capelin..."

"And you have to understand, the North Pole has never had a human population. After the Great Nirvana, even the research teams vanished. It's just like those island nations from before the Great Nirvana—it's a paradise for monsters now. The only difference is that there are no King-Level Monsters in the North Pole yet... This is the first time our training camp has chosen it as a trial site."

"However," Li Ping picked up his cup and took a sip, "the North Pole is better than Australia. Places like Australia, the Amazon in South America, or the Sahara in Africa—those are the true gathering grounds for monsters... Our training camp, after all, can't compare to the Limit Dojo or the Thunder Dojo; we can't send our students to such dangerous places for training..."

"Do you remember Dr. Long?" Li Ping asked suddenly.

"...Of course I remember!" A graceful figure flashed through Feng Qingmo's mind. "What does this have to do with Dr. Long?"

"Our military previously sent a squad to the North Pole to carry out a mission, and they happened to hunt some monsters to bring back. After Dr. Long's research, she discovered that the monsters in the North Pole seem different from those in lower latitudes. She wants to study them more, which is one of the reasons..."

"Are there other reasons?" Feng Qingmo's curiosity grew.

Li Ping hesitated for a moment before lowering his voice. "Do you remember Shenliukov and Wang Xiangying?"

"Yes," Feng Qingmo nodded. "I spent so long in City 007 this time that I was hoping to run into them and test their intentions, but I never crossed paths with them..."

"Of course you didn't!" Li Ping chuckled softly. "They set their sights on a mysterious research facility our country has deep in the Qinling Mountains, only to be 'coincidentally' captured by the Chief who happened to be there..."

He placed a heavy emphasis on the word "coincidentally," and the two of them shared a knowing laugh.