Quasi-Martial Artist Assessment

"Mo'er," Feng Jiansong said softly on the way back, "you decided to join the military because of your mother's and my status, didn't you?"

"Not at all, Dad, you're overthinking it..." Feng Qingmo said with a smile, "I have some understanding of the situation at the Limit Dojo and the Thunder Dojo. Given my conditions, the training I'd receive joining those two wouldn't necessarily be better than joining the military. Besides, I am a Huaxia citizen first, so my first choice is naturally to join our own military..."

"You're right to think that way!" Feng Jiansong was very pleased. "Don't slack off during this time; keep training. There's no suspense regarding the Quasi-Martial Artist examination, and with your strength, I believe the actual combat assessment shouldn't be difficult for you either..."

Feng Jiansong's voice turned grave: "But I heard the Dojo Master mention that he might recommend you to the 'Huashan Training Camp.' The students in there are definitely the elites of our country..."

"Don't worry, Mom and Dad," Feng Qingmo said easily. "Just wait for me to become a War God in the future. By then, I'll get a bottle of Water of Life for each of you..."

"Haha, that would be great. Once your mom recovers, we could even 'start a new character'... Ouch!" It was Zuo Huifen pinching the soft spot on his waist.

"You're going to be the death of me, talking nonsense in front of our son..."

In the training room, Feng Qingmo wore a training suit, holding a long sword in his right hand as he stood in the center of the room.

"It feels so light. It seems my strength has increased too quickly, and I haven't fully mastered it yet..." He weighed the long sword in his hand; a weapon that was the perfect weight before now felt as light as nothing.

Following the moves of the basic sword techniques in his memory, he began to practice one by one: drawing, guiding, lifting, parrying, thrusting, pointing, collapsing, hacking, intercepting, and so on.

At first, his mind, eyes, hands, technique, and footwork were completely uncoordinated. Moreover, because of the sudden surge in strength, his physical coordination was extremely poor. Several times he nearly injured himself, but fortunately, his Spiritual Force stopped the inertia of the sword in his hand a step early, sparing him the tragedy of being disemboweled by his own blade.

As the memories in his mind and the muscle memory he had reawakened merged, Feng Qingmo's posture gradually became more standard, and the transitions between each move began to flow smoothly. More than a dozen basic sword techniques unfolded continuously, accompanied by the movement of his basic footwork, filling the surroundings with the sound of breaking wind.

Perhaps because his eyes could not see clearly, Feng Qingmo's Spiritual Force habitually enveloped his surroundings. As he swung the sword, his Spiritual Force seemed to turn into countless tentacles, constantly probing the changes in the surrounding air.

This gave Feng Qingmo, who was encountering basic sword techniques for the first time, some unique insights—this thrust should be made from this angle to be faster and have less air resistance; this hack should be pulled back by thirty percent to have more power and more concentrated force...

"Air? Is this wind?"

A thought drifted through Feng Qingmo's mind as he swung the sword, but he wanted to explore it further yet could not delve deeper.

"Take it slow. Practice a move a thousand times, and its meaning will reveal itself..." He suppressed the urge to explore, focusing his attention on practicing once more.

The original Feng Qingmo, under his parents' guidance, had no secret manuals to practice, but his foundation was extremely solid. After training for a short while, Feng Qingmo had fully absorbed his predecessor's insights into sword techniques and footwork.

Two hours later, Feng Qingmo stopped, still feeling unfulfilled, and sat cross-legged to begin practicing Genetic Energy.

This was his first time experiencing the feeling of cosmic energy entering his body and being absorbed by his cells. Almost immediately, he became addicted to this sensation; the feeling of comfort produced as the wisps of energy were absorbed by his cells made him unable to stop.

While his body absorbed cosmic energy, wisps of it also entered his sea of consciousness, transforming into Spiritual Force. The deep cyan droplets in his sea of consciousness accelerated their rotation, releasing more pale cyan mist.

Unfortunately, he had not yet passed the Martial Artist actual combat assessment and had not obtained a Martial Artist account, so he could not purchase high-level sword techniques, footwork, or guidance manuals and could only use the most primitive methods to practice.

After half an hour of training, his body cells reached saturation, and this training session came to an end.

After washing up, Feng Qingmo sat cross-legged in the training room once again.

"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!"

Two sounds of breaking air rang out as two matte black flying daggers flew in irregular patterns before him.

He had borrowed these from Feng Jiansong specifically to practice his Spiritual Force.

Having read the original work, Feng Qingmo naturally knew that without a cultivation method for Spiritual Masters, he could only strengthen his control over Spiritual Force through such methods.

"No, it's still a bit of a stretch to control two flying daggers at the same time. I'd better focus on practicing with one first and maximize the power of this single dagger..."

He retracted one of the daggers, and the flight speed of the other immediately increased, its trajectory becoming even more unpredictable and untraceable.

It wasn't until the Spiritual Force mist in his sea of consciousness was nearly exhausted that he stopped, feeling dizzy and lightheaded. He fell into a deep sleep without even having time to eat.

Life returned to its previous rhythm. His parents took time to go to the dojo every day, but the difference was that his daily training became even more arduous. Every time, he would swing his sword until he was exhausted, and after training, he would push himself until he had drained almost every bit of his Spiritual Force.

A few days later, he discovered that this method of training seemed to better promote the growth of his Spiritual Force, and his physical fitness naturally increased along with the increase in his Spiritual Force.

The surging physical strength was also gradually being perfectly mastered through this kind of training.

Time quickly arrived at January 1, 2054.

Inside the Military Dojo, Feng Qingmo and the other five high-level students from the military who were participating in the Quasi-Martial Artist assessment arrived together at the testing hall on the third floor.

"First, test your punch power, one by one," said Huang Qihui, an intermediate War God in charge of the assessment, as he looked at the list in his hand. "First, Xu Zaiyong."

"Present!"

A lean young man, looking to be in his twenties with a sharp crew cut, stepped forward and stood before the punch power testing machine.

"Ha!" With a soft shout, he threw a punch at the target.

"923KG, pass!" After recording the score, Huang Qihui said, "Next, Feng Qingmo!"

"Present!" Feng Qingmo had specifically worn a pair of sunglasses when he left the house today, making it impossible for people to see his eyes. He also stepped forward and stood before the target.

"Bang!"

Controlling his force, Feng Qingmo struck the target with one punch.

"1023KG! Pass! Next..."

There weren't many people, so the assessment progressed quickly. After the punch power test, one of the five failed to meet the standard, and the remaining four proceeded to the speed test.

One person failed that as well. Feng Qingmo controlled his speed, passing with a speed of 28.5 meters per second.

The remaining three then proceeded to the nerve reaction test. This time, everyone passed, so there were three people who passed the assessment.

"You three, come over and sign the application contract for the Martial Artist actual combat assessment."

Huang Qihui led the three who had passed the test back to the main hall, where staff members had already prepared the contracts.

"Little Mo, do you need me to read the contents to you?" Huang Qihui asked Feng Qingmo in a considerate, low voice.

As a senior instructor at the Military Dojo, he naturally knew Feng Qingmo and was aware of his vision impairment.

"No need, thank you, Uncle Hui!"

Feng Qingmo shook his head; these contracts were standard forms, and aside from the names, the content was identical.

He took the pen and signed his name on the contract.

After all three had finished signing, Huang Qihui collected the documents. "This is the final hurdle before you become official Martial Artists. The Martial Artist combat assessment begins on February 1st. I believe you have all heard about the content of the assessment, so I won't repeat it. If you cannot pass this stage, you are not qualified to be a Martial Artist!"

Seeing all three nod, Huang Qihui proceeded to turn on the display screen in the hall.

"Look here!" Huang Qihui pointed at the massive screen. "This is the Genetic Energy cultivation method..."