Two Astonished Instructors

"All right!"

Luo Bin nodded, walked over to the big screen, and brought up the surveillance feeds for rooms 1 and 2, enlarging both.

"Room 1 is Yu Yang, a student from Seventh High. He reached peak body tempering a month ago."

"Room 2 is Xu Fei, a student from Ninth High. He had his peak body tempering cultivation certified half a month ago, and it caused quite a stir at the time."

Luo Bin looked at the big screen and began to explain.

On the screen, both Yu Yang and Xu Fei had brought down three mechanical puppets and were fighting their fourth. Both had the upper hand and would likely win within a few minutes.

"Both of them activated three mechanical puppets at once, including one at late body tempering. That's already pretty good."

"It is pretty good!" Yang Xue nodded as well, though her expression barely changed.

To him, although they were outstanding, they were not quite astonishing.

"Focus on training these two. Also, notify the training camps in the other cities of Jiang Province and have them focus on training one or two people each. Before the General Star selection, have them compete, and recommend whoever is strongest."

"Even if we can't win the General Star title, we can't bring shame on Jiang Province!" Yang Xue said after some thought.

She was the chief instructor in charge of Jiang Province's talent selection this time. If the person selected performed too poorly, she would be the one losing face as well.

"Understood!" Luo Bin nodded, then suddenly added, "Do you want to see what's happening in the other rooms?"

Yang Xue waved a hand. The numbers this time had been assigned according to the students' usual performance at school and their actual cultivation. Even if there were discrepancies, they wouldn't be great. None of the others had even reached peak body tempering, so she really wasn't interested.

"Report!" Just then, a staff member came running over.

"Aren't you in charge of carrying the students who pass out after being eliminated out of the rooms? What are you doing here, rushing around in such a panic?" Luo Bin looked at him and demanded sternly.

The man paid no mind to the scolding and hurriedly said, "Officers, something's happened!"

Luo Bin and Yang Xue's expressions changed. "Is there something wrong with a student?"

Both of them thought at once of how, in previous talent training camps, some people had gotten in through connections despite having very low cultivation.

Then, during the mechanical puppet trial, they had been crippled by the puppets. One person had even died in one of the camps.

"No, no, it's the mechanical puppets. Something's wrong with them," the staff member hurriedly explained.

Yang Xue's expression darkened. "The mechanical puppets this time are all brand-new. Something's wrong with them? How did you inspect them when you bought them?"

The staff member grew anxious at once. Without explaining further, he said, "Officers, you'd better look at the surveillance footage. Room 37!"

Luo Bin glanced at him and shook his head, then pulled up the surveillance feed for room 37.

The moment it appeared, his expression changed. "What's going on? Are all the mechanical puppets faulty?"

Yang Xue, meanwhile, sprang to her feet. Staring at Qin Chen, who stood in the center of the room on the screen, she drew a deep breath.

"Play it back," she said calmly.

Luo Bin noticed something strange as well. The mechanical puppets lying on the floor in the footage clearly hadn't lost power because of a malfunction. They had been beaten into scrap.

He hurriedly rewound the surveillance footage.

Before long, they saw Qin Chen's crazy move: he activated nine mechanical puppets at once.

"What tremendous strength. Look at his punches-they carry the fire attribute. He's comprehended the fire element. And to be able to attack with that kind of power, has he broken through to the martial artist realm?" Luo Bin watched in surprise as Qin Chen battered the mechanical puppets.

"And the agility of his movements," Yang Xue reminded him from beside him.

Only then did Luo Bin realize that, at the beginning, Qin Chen hadn't been hit even once under the combined assault of nine mechanical puppets. He had deftly dodged every attack they threw at him.

"A fire cultivator shouldn't be this agile." Luo Bin frowned and turned to Yang Xue. "Could he have learned a movement technique?"

Martial techniques could only be learned after breaking through to the martial artist realm. With Qin Chen's strength, he had clearly made the breakthrough.

"Look more closely," Yang Xue said, staring with utmost seriousness at the mechanical puppets falling one after another before Qin Chen on the screen.

Luo Bin turned back to watch. Gradually, shock appeared in his eyes once more. "He hasn't condensed an elemental mark. He's still at peak body tempering."

"This is... the wind element!"

Yang Xue nodded.

"Peak body tempering in two elements. No wonder he has the strength of a one-star martial artist!" Luo Bin understood.

With both wind and fire cultivation, his strength and agility had surpassed peak body tempering and crossed the threshold into the one-star martial artist realm.

The footage soon ended. It lasted less than ten minutes in total.

"If I'd known, I would have put a one-star martial artist mechanical puppet in there," Luo Bin said with some regret.

There were three early-stage mechanical puppets in the room, three mid-stage, two late-stage, and two peak-stage.

For someone in the Body Tempering Stage, such a trial was almost impossible to pass.

But for someone who had attained the strength of a martial artist, it was much easier.

"Senior Colonel Yang Xue, it looks like we have a shot at the General Star title this time," Luo Bin said, suddenly smiling.

Yang Xue glanced at him. "Don't get happy too soon. Peak body tempering in two elements is impressive, but there's still a gap between him and a true martial artist."

Cultivating two elements was time-consuming to begin with. Even if Qin Chen's strength had now reached the level of a one-star martial artist, any further progress would be very slow.

Meanwhile, in other provinces, those who had already broken through to the martial artist realm were still improving, and at an even faster rate. By then, someone might even have broken through to become a two-star martial artist.

"You're right, but don't forget, one of his elements is fire, and we happen to have a fire element cultivation room here."

"He was able to reach peak body tempering at this age, so he's very talented. As long as we let him enter the fire element cultivation room, I believe it won't be long before he breaks through to become a fire element martial artist. His strength will naturally rise as well, and it won't be as though he has no chance then."

Watching Qin Chen on the screen, Luo Bin was already beginning to plan how to train him.

"Everything will be done according to the rules. And we still need to focus on training Yu Yang and Xu Fei." Yang Xue resumed leafing through the documents in her hands.

"You want to use Xu Fei and Yu Yang to put pressure on him?" Luo Bin immediately understood what Yang Xue meant.

He knew Yang Xue. The more outstanding someone was, the more pressure she put on them, so as to draw out their full potential.

Yang Xue nodded. "Jade must be carved before it can become a vessel. Although his chances of winning the General Star title are still slim, at least Jiang Province won't come in last this time. We can strive for a good result."

"I'm just afraid that instead of putting pressure on him, we'll end up breaking those two under it!" Luo Bin said with a laugh.

Yang Xue ignored him and turned to the information supplied by First High.

"Wang Qiang? He's only at late body tempering. What kind of information did First High send over?" There was a note of displeasure in her voice. Were they playing her for a fool?

"Officer Yang," the soldier spoke up at that moment. "His name isn't Wang Qiang. First High made a last-minute substitution this time. His name is Qin Chen!"

First High had only just called to report the substitution, saying he was at peak body tempering, but they still hadn't mentioned that he was at the peak in two elements.