Chapter 66

Xu Jintang came out of the dormitory and found Miao Ruijia to say goodbye.

"Captain Miao, thank you and Sister Tong for taking such good care of me these past few days. I will definitely come back to see you after I graduate from military academy," Xu Jintang promised.

Miao Ruijia smiled and took out a soldier's rank insignia, handing it to Xu Jintang. "Take this. From now on, you're a full-fledged officer."

Very few people can obtain a military rank before graduating from military academy.

Xu Jintang gave her a standard military salute, then solemnly accepted the badge.

"The army will be reviewing the events of the past few days, including the battle and the underground tunnel, so I won't see you off. Your Teacher Zhuang. Zhuang, should arrive before noon. You should think about how to explain to her about secretly keeping the army here." Miao Ruijia smiled and patted her shoulder lightly.

Xu Jintang's smile froze instantly.

Captain Miao and Sister Tong are relatively easy to talk to, but Teacher Zhuang is not so easily fooled.

After giving her instructions, Miao Ruijia turned and left.

Xu Jintang withdrew his gaze, took a deep breath, and began to prepare to welcome Teacher Zhuang's arrival.

She arrived at the space hub half an hour early to wait for someone.

As soon as I arrived at the platform, a Federation Bureau of Defense aircraft slowly landed.

The cabin door opened, and a silver metal staircase extended from inside the cabin to the platform, after which a team of personnel in the Federation Bureau uniforms disembarked.

The middle-aged man at the head of the group had a square face and an air of righteousness; he was clearly a big shot who had spent years working in the government.

The male assistant followed beside him, but kept a slight distance, about half a step behind.

"It's been verified. The aura of the Ice Soul Dragon has indeed been detected in the Sector S Border Defense Star City. The satellite monitoring system only tracked it to the last place it disappeared in, which was the Extreme Cold Forest, and then its whereabouts became unknown," the assistant reported.

The middle-aged man said nothing, only quickened his pace as he passed Xu Jintang.

Only after the group had completely disappeared from the platform did Xu Jintang raise his head and quietly breathe a sigh of relief.

As expected, Brother Long's aura attracted the Federation people again.

But it might not be a bad thing.

Now everyone probably thinks Brother Long is still alive, so there's even less reason to suspect her.

Xu Jintang straightened his collar, stood up straight again, and waited for Teacher Zhuang to arrive.

A short while later, another aircraft landed at the platform.

The cabin door slowly opened, and this time, Zhuang Silin stepped out, looking extremely pale.

Chapter 66

Sensing that Teacher Zhuang was in a bad mood, Xu Jintang swallowed hard, then quickly stepped forward obediently and apologized, "Teacher Zhuang, I was wrong."

Zhuang Silin looked at her with a stern face, "Don't give me that. Staying in the army all by yourself, don't you know how dangerous it is here!"

Xu Jintang continued to apologize, "It's all my fault!"

Seeing that she was remorseful, Zhuang Silin crossed her arms and changed the subject. "I heard from Captain Miao that your superpower has already evolved?"

"Yes, and I even broke through to the Peak Third Tier in one fell swoop." Xu Jintang raised his head, looking like he was waiting for praise.

Zhuang Silin glanced at her, "We'll talk about it when we get back. Let's get on the aircraft first."

Noticing that Teacher Zhuang wasn't so angry anymore, Xu Jintang smiled and quickly nodded, "Okay."

After entering the cabin, the medical staff first used a special ability to relieve Xu Jintang's dizziness.

Afterwards, Zhuang Silin called her to a private rest suite.

"Come on, use your superpower on me." Zhuang Silin turned around.

Xu Jintang knew that she wanted to test her improved abilities.

After reaching the Peak Third Tier, she was able to completely control the Domain of Ice and ensure that Brother Long's aura would not be leaked.

This time, I don't have to hide it anymore.

She raised her hands and slowly activated her supernatural power.

In an instant, a cold current appeared out of nowhere around her, a biting wind blew up, and a vivid blue flashed in the depths of her eyes.

--Chains of Ice.

A sturdy ice chain shot out from her palm and extended towards Zhuang Silin.

The ice chain is made up of individual diamond-like buckles, making it sturdy and strong, and it continuously radiates cold air in all directions.

Zhuang Silin did not dodge, letting the ice chains imprison her.

Her hands and feet were bound by ice chains. Sensing the immense ice energy within, Zhuang Silin raised an eyebrow. "Indeed, it's stronger than Yu Wanyao's ice attribute."

Seeing that the ice chains posed no threat to Zhuang Silin, Xu Jintang once again activated his supernatural power, mobilizing all his mental energy to burn.

In the blink of an eye, a powerful Ice Blade Storm appeared in front of him.

Storm Vortex, five meters high, tossed objects from inside the room into the air.

The ice blades swirling within gleamed faintly, mercilessly piercing towards Zhuang Silin.

"Indeed, a significant improvement." Zhuang Silin waved her hand, and the powerful, unstoppable Ice Blade Storm vanished instantly. "The area-of-effect damage of this Ice Blade Storm is even stronger than that of a typical Fourth Tier attack."

Seeing that Teacher Zhuang had easily deflected his full-force attack, Xu Jintang looked down at his palm.

Even after becoming so much stronger, he still had no chance against a Peak Seventh Tier expert.

"What? You really want to fight me?" Zhuang Silin sat down on the opposite sofa, raising an eyebrow as she sized up Xu Jintang.

Xu Jintang chuckled dryly, "Then I guess I'll need to cultivate for another eight or nine years."

"Considering your significant improvement this time, I won't hold it against you for secretly staying in the army. However, your experimental class still has a competition to play after you go back." Zhuang Silin poured herself a cup of tea, picked it up, and took a small sip.

Xu Jintang sat down opposite him, looked up and asked, "Is it a challenge match with Senior Gu Nianwei and the others?"

"No. Besides the experimental class, the military academy recently formed another five-person team. Yu Wanyao is the captain, and the other four members are Mu Guang, Wei Zixuan, Yan Zitao, and Qin Shuxue."

"The teacher in charge of their team told me that these five people are quite strong overall. So the military academy leaders want the two teams to play a friendly match to see which team is stronger overall."

At this point, Zhuang Silin put down her teacup. "The reason the experimental class is called an experimental class is precisely because it has a strong experimental aspect. The military academy organized this friendly match to test your abilities. I hope the five of you will do us a good job."

Xu Jintang's expression turned serious. "We will definitely win."

The spacecraft traveled for a day and a night and successfully arrived in the Federation Star Region.

Upon landing, Xu Jintang went straight back to his villa dormitory.

It was lunchtime, and the aroma of food filled the air as soon as I entered.

Having barely eaten a decent meal during his time in the army, Xu Jintang's eyes lit up instantly, and he quickened his pace toward the mess hall.

"Class monitor, you're finally back!" Yan Yuting noticed Xu Jintang first and quickly stood up to greet him. Then, her expression changed, and she pointed at Song Tianqi next door with her hands on her hips, "I'm reporting that Song Tianqi spent the whole day yesterday playing holographic racing with Xue Zhongqi, completely neglecting his cultivation. Sister Shiyi can vouch for me."

Jiang Shiyi, who was standing at the table serving rice, looked up and said calmly, "Yes, I'll be your witness."

Song Tianqi and Xue Zhongqi stood there, stunned.

The air seemed to freeze for a moment.

Song Tianqi quickly explained, "No, I... I've been cultivating too much lately, so I only took a break yesterday."

Xue Zhongqi nodded in agreement. "I took a day off because I broke through to the Second Tier yesterday, and I wanted to celebrate."

Although their tone was harsh, both of them kept their heads down while speaking, looking guilty.

Xu Jintang looked at Yan Yuting, "What holographic racing?"

Yan Yuting put his hands on his hips and said, "It's the latest holographic racing simulation game launched by Star Network. It lets you race on different exciting terrains, just like a real person."

Xu Jintang thought for a moment, then blurted out three words: "Is it fun?"

Song Tianqi immediately exclaimed, "It's fun! Absolutely fun! This game even allows you to team up and climb the rankings. I teamed up with Xue Zhongqi yesterday and we made it into the top 100 in our Federation District!"

Xue Zhongqi nodded, "It really is fun. I wasn't originally addicted to the internet, but Song Tianqi insisted on dragging me into playing. I thought I'd play a game with him, but I didn't expect this game to be so addictive."

"Having fun, huh?" Xu Jintang slowly pulled out a chair at the dining table and sat down, leaning back with a slight smile. "You two can keep playing tonight, even if you don't go to sleep. If I find out you two haven't been playing games, your training will be doubled from now on."

Song Tianqi's smile froze, and he quickly admitted his mistake. "No, class monitor, we've had enough fun yesterday, and we're definitely going to start training properly today."

Xue Zhongqi's lips twitched; knowing he was in the wrong, he remained silent.

Xu Jintang changed his sitting posture and relayed the news that he would soon be playing a friendly match with Yu Wanyao.

"This friendly match was an internal assessment of the experimental class by the military academy leadership. It's clear that many people have high expectations for us, so there will definitely be more and more of these assessments in the future. Occasional relaxation is fine, but you must ensure that you don't disrupt your training rhythm."

Song Tianqi, who had just been joking and playing around, became serious and nodded earnestly, "Understood."

Xue Zhongqi leaned back on the sofa and fanned himself with a folding fan. "Don't worry, my cultivation definitely won't be delayed. I don't want to be kicked out of the experimental class one day because I'm holding everyone back."

"Let's eat first, and then we can discuss how to deal with Yu Wanyao and the others." Xu Jintang turned around and glanced at the dishes on the table.

The food was still steaming hot. Xu Jintang got up, took a bowl, filled it with rice, sat down, and began to eat voraciously.

"Squad leader, it was really dangerous for you to stay behind alone this time. Why don't you call us to come with you next time?" Yan Yuting said while eating.

Xu Jintang nodded, "I'll definitely invite you all next time."

Xue Zhongqi, holding his rice bowl, glanced at him curiously. "I heard you went to the tomb with the military? Wasn't that exciting?"

"It's alright, but overall it's quite dangerous. If you want to experience it, you should at least raise your mental strength level to Sixth Tier first," Xu Jintang answered truthfully.