Cold Weapons

Bang!

Bang!

"Three rings!"

"Seven rings!"

"Nine rings!"

On the training grounds, the heavy machine gun's muzzle spat flames. The targets five thousand meters away either remained perfectly still or shattered on the spot, only for new ones to be erected.

"Fixed-target test complete. Next test: single moving target!"

As soon as Instructor Li Dingjun finished speaking, Jiang Ding leaped up with the over-two-hundred-kilogram heavy machine gun in both hands. He broke into a quick run, aiming and firing as he moved.

His feet moved like the wind, yet his upper body remained as still as a mountain.

Vajra Seal!

Bang!

"Eight rings!"

"Next test: dual moving targets!"

Through Jiang Ding's drone view, the target five thousand meters away began moving. It maneuvered in an S-pattern at the speed of a late Qi Refinement cultivator, occasionally accelerating abruptly and bursting forth at several times its normal speed.

"Miss!"

"Miss!"

The miss rate rose sharply, yet the teachers and students around him did not seem surprised.

Late Qi Refinement cultivators usually had a divine sense range of seventy to one hundred meters. In other words, unless one was enhanced with inscribed concealment and invisibility runes, a late Qi Refinement cultivator would detect them at that distance and maneuver in advance.

But it was not impossible to deal with.

Heavy machine-gun rounds traveled at 1,254 meters per second. Late Qi Refinement cultivators had a reaction time of 0.5 to 0.8 seconds. As long as ten shots were fired in succession to form a barrage and seal off their movement, it could be done.

One hit earned eighty percent of the score for the question. Two hits earned full marks.

If there were no hits, the distances between the ten bullets and the target would be measured and averaged. That was the usual outcome.

This was meaningful as well. In battle, late Qi Refinement cultivators were usually dealt with through siege tactics, with ten or dozens of people aiming at the same target at once.

"Three rings!"

The area fell silent.

"Fuck!"

"What dumb luck!"

Li Junhao, Sun Xiao, and the others waiting to take the test cursed, their voices full of envy.

Normally, an entire class would struggle to land a hit in the dual moving-target test. They could only compete by the average distance between their bullets and the target.

"Get lost!"

Jiang Ding smiled. This time, he had indeed gotten a little lucky.

Late Qi Refinement cultivators moved far too quickly, and their divine sense reactions were far too sharp. At a firing distance of five kilometers, even a barrage woven into a net found it difficult to hit them. A deviation of dozens or even hundreds of meters was nothing unusual.

That was with the restrictions on techniques such as invisibility, flight, earth escape, and wood escape.

If not for legion-scale combat, with reconnaissance methods such as Spirit-Particle Radar and cultivators of the same realm providing target locations, even groups of soldiers would find it difficult to harm a late Qi Refinement cultivator.

Furthermore, refining Spellbreaker Steel placed extremely high demands on industrial technology. Cultivators from beyond the realm found it difficult to manufacture low-cost Spellbreaker Steel bullets unaffected by divine sense. Still, they could spend vast sums to refine specialized artifacts with a range comparable to heavy machine guns and even greater flexibility.

Cultivators equipped with such specialized artifacts were rare, but they did exist.

In short, even if mortals possessed the ability to harm Qi Refinement cultivators, that did not mean they could stand on equal footing with them.

"Jiang Ding, overall score for the firearms test: thirty-five points."

Jiang Ding's heart settled.

That was not bad.

The firearms section was worth sixty points in total. Scoring above forty required a Qi Refinement cultivator to operate a tank. Thirty-five was already a high score.

"Next candidate, Li Junhao."

"Yes!"

Li Junhao entered the range carrying the heavy machine gun, brimming with confidence.

A few minutes later.

Li Junhao wore a miserable expression. "Sigh, it's all over."

"Ha."

Jiang Ding glanced at him and felt as though he had finally let out a huge breath.

Serves you right for showing off during the cultural exams!

After the first half ended, Instructor Zhang Dingjun drifted away to begin testing the Qi Refinement students.

In the distance, tank engines roared and cannon fire shook the heavens.

For a moment, everyone fell silent.

Quite a few people looked in that direction. Even Sun Xiao, Li Hu, and the others who had achieved minor success in the Inner Qi Realm wore complicated expressions.

Unless an Inner Qi Realm martial artist was truly extraordinarily gifted, with cultural studies a full major grade above their Qi Refinement peers, they had no chance of embarking on the path of immortality.

Jiang Ding ignored them. He lifted a camouflage cloth on his own, revealing a large pile of sabers, spears, swords, and halberds laid out on the ground.

He picked up an unremarkable blue-steel sword. The moment its hilt settled into his palm, his heart calmed considerably, and all distracting thoughts vanished.

He fastened the sword at his waist and sat down cross-legged.

A thread of inner qi flowed from the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian into the ten principal channels of the Hand Jueyin Pericardium Meridian, tempering and nourishing them.

Two days passed. The ten channels of the second regular meridian, the Hand Jueyin Pericardium Meridian, had largely been tempered. The progress was somewhat slower than he had previously expected.

As for the reason, Jiang Ding had figured it out through research.

Meridians were not sealed spaces. When inner qi flowed through the ten major channels of the first regular meridian, the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian, it did not remain intact. A small amount of internal energy flowed into the smaller branches, tempering and nourishing them as well.

"Right, let's practice."

As though waking from a dream, the other students also picked up weapons and began warming up with drills. Sharpening one's blade at the last minute still gave it some edge.

As for quietly nourishing one's meridians anytime and anywhere as Jiang Ding did, that required at least minor mastery of the Young Eagle Takes Flight Formula.

Half an hour later,

Instructor Zhang Dingjun returned with the fourteen Qi Refinement students. Seeing the students practicing noisily all over the ground, he could not help showing surprise.

"Next, we will begin the cold weapons test."

Zhang Dingjun said casually, "The total score is forty points. For the Inner Qi Realm, first place gets twenty-five points, second place gets twenty-three, and so on, with five points as the minimum."

"For Qi Refinement, the total score remains unchanged. First place gets thirty-five points, second place gets thirty-three, and so on, with twenty points as the minimum."

"Of course, Banyan City's conditions are limited, so this is a simplified examination procedure." Zhang Dingjun explained, "In major frontline cities or in the college entrance examination, students fight in the educational zone of the Taixu Illusory Realm. Every placement from first to last receives a different score."

"Now, the Inner Qi Realm assessment begins."

Pointing at Jiang Ding, Zhang Dingjun said, "Student Jiang Ding is first in the Inner Qi Realm cold weapons assessment. Does anyone object or wish to challenge him?"

The students looked at one another. Some were unwilling to accept it, but none stepped forward.

They were used to being beaten down in every cultivation class. They truly had no confidence in victory, so they might as well conserve their strength and fight for a better ranking.

"I'll do it, damn it."

Sun Xiao held a gleaming silver metal spear in one hand and snorted coldly. "My Heavenflow Spear has reached minor mastery. I refuse to believe—"

Clang!

Jiang Ding drew his sword halfway. A faint white glow appeared along the blade.

Inner qi!

"Jiang Ding broke through to the Inner Qi Realm?"

"Fuck! No wonder his heavy machine-gun shooting score improved by such a huge margin earlier!"

The surrounding students buzzed with discussion, their curses filled with envy.

At this stage, there were only three Inner Qi Realm martial artists in the class. With Jiang Ding included, that made four.

Of course, this was also because No. 1 High School had strong teachers and excelled in teaching Qi Refinement and cultural subjects. Many students with excellent martial arts aptitude chose Banyan City No. 7 High School instead. Its teachers included many Innate Realm martial artists and were more skilled in that area.

"...refuse to believe... I..."

Sun Xiao silently withdrew his silver spear and retreated into the crowd.

"Anyone else?"

Zhang Dingjun continued asking, entirely unsurprised.

After waiting for a while and seeing that no one spoke, he continued, "Second place in the Inner Qi Realm goes to Sun Xiao. Does anyone object?"

"Yes!"

"I want to challenge him."

The moment he finished speaking, Li Hu and Liu Meimei, both Inner Qi Realm martial artists, stepped forward without the slightest fear.

Sun Xiao's expression darkened further. He took out his silver spear and walked toward them.

Amid the clashing of weapons, victors were decided one after another. Even when someone occasionally made a mistake, Zhang Dingjun's thought-generated shield blocked the weapons before they could strike the bulletproof vests, leaving no one injured.

Jiang Ding stood silently with his sword at his side, tempering and nourishing his meridians.

The progress was rapid, and the Inner Qi Realm matches ended quickly. Sun Xiao claimed second place, Li Hu third... Li Junhao unsurprisingly came last and received the guaranteed five points.

"Qi Refinement test."

Zhang Dingjun pointed at Hua Bing. "Student Hua Bing, Qi Refinement sixth layer, is first in the Qi Refinement cold weapons assessment. Does anyone object?"

Everyone turned their eyes to Wu Tianli.

He was at the fifth layer of Qi Refinement and the only one who could threaten Hua Bing.

"I accept it."

Wu Tianli looked at Hua Bing, his voice incomparably gentle. Even an idiot could understand his feelings.

"So handsome..."

The girls around them immediately turned sour.

Hua Bing frowned, irritation appearing on her heroic little face.

I'm at the sixth layer of Qi Refinement, I have a high-grade artifact, and my Foundation Establishment father has taught me since childhood. Why does he make it sound like he's yielding first place to me?

But she could not say anything. So infuriating.

"Student Hua Bing, please enlighten me."

A fourth-layer Qi Refinement student stepped forward holding an inkstone. This was also the defensive artifact most favored by Immortal Sect cultivators. Besides, having more opportunities to fight other cultivators was beneficial regardless of victory or defeat.

"Student Luo Feng, be careful."

With a flick of Hua Bing's sword fingers, a silver flying sword emerged from nowhere. It slashed straight onto the inkstone, forcing him back several steps. Then it pressed on relentlessly, its sword light turning into a web of threads that rapidly ground away the inkstone's spiritual glow.

In just a few breaths, Luo Feng staggered backward. Yet the silver flying sword still found an opening, knocked the inkstone flying, pierced the shield, and came to a steady halt against his chest.

"I lost."

Luo Feng sighed and retrieved the inkstone.

The instant the silver flying sword appeared, Jiang Ding felt every hair on his body stand on end and a chill run down his spine.

The flying sword was not especially fast, still some distance from the speed of sound. His eyes could barely keep up with its flight path, but it was far too agile and far too sharp!

His thoughts could turn, but his body could not react at all. In a single exchange, his head would be rolling!

Next came cascading sword light, dancing red silk ribbons, enormous shields blocking the field, and drifting spiritual radiance. Compared with the clattering matches between a group of muscle-bound martial artists below the Inner Qi Realm, it was practically immortal and ethereal, with a level of technical sophistication beyond comparison.

Only when the first- and second-layer Qi Refinement students began competing did Jiang Ding barely regain some confidence.

Their flying swords and flying knives moved little faster than arrows and were not nearly as agile. If he could strike them repeatedly, he was confident he could shake away the divine sense attached to their artifacts.

But there was nothing to be proud of.

Immortal Sect Qi Refinement cultivators mainly focused on tank operation, anti-aircraft machine-gun control, and similar skills. Cold weapons combat was merely an elective hobby.