Hearing this, Shu Sanqi asked, “How many other trainees do you think need us to keep secrets for them?”

After thinking for a while, Young Ke figured it out.

The 42 trainees, except for Lin Xun, Lee Duxing, and a few other people, all had influential backgrounds, and they didn’t need the protection from the camp at all.

Shu Sanqi said, “Lin Xun is different. He’s the most special one among all the trainees not only because of his unimaginable potentials but also because of his mastery and fantastic attainments of spiritual tattoos. Both of the remolded Ziying Battleship and the Meteors Crossbow are the top-notch weapons in the world. If he is utilized by the big shots in the empire, it’ll be hard to predict whether it’s lucky or not.”

Such a short conversation revealed Shu’s disbelief and even repugnance for the big shots in the empire!

...

Lin Xun didn’t know what he had shown had already attracted Shu’s great attention, and even caused Shu to protect him to a certain degree.

Whether Shu’s protection was good or bad remained to be seen in the future.

The training went on every day. As Lin Xun reached the Mastery of the ninth level of the Martial Realm, and the eighth spiritual star was lit up in the sea of his consciousness. Only three days were left before the one-year training in the Bloodthirsty Camp was over.

Young Ke said suddenly by the end of this day’s training, “The final assessment will kick off tomorrow. The 30 trainees passing it will enter Gang-producing Lake for refinement.”

Lin Xun was in a daze, and then abruptly realized that he had been in the camp for almost a year.

That evening in the warehouse of Old Mo-

During dinner, Lin Xun acutely found Young Man distracted, so he couldn’t help asking, “Sister Young Man, is there something wrong with you?”

Young Man sighed, “No need to worry about me. You should prepare yourself for tomorrow’s assessment. Since only three days are left, it’ll be a pity if you’re sifted out now.”

“H'm,” Lin Xun replied, and then ate the meal silently.

Having found the atmosphere a little depressing, Young Man asked, “Hasn’t Chirps woken up?”

Lin Xun nodded. After swallowing that black beast tooth, the little thing flew into his palm and fell fallen into sleep.

“It seems that the black beast tooth is a terrific treasure,” said Young Man thoughtfully.

Lin Xun said calmly and seriously while staring at her, “Sister Young Man, I might leave here soon, but if you have some troubles, you must tell me.”

Young Man was stunned for a long time, and then said with a chuckle, “Do you really expect to solve my troubles?”

Lin Xun didn’t seem to flinch for her words, and said with a rather more serious face, “But at least, I’ll do everything I can to help you without frowning once.”

“Yeah,” Young Man replied. She then stood up and walked towards the door of the warehouse, “Take a good rest. If you’re eliminated tomorrow, I’ll no longer consider you as my little brother.”

Watching her leave, Lin Xun eventually shook his head without thinking more.

...

Lin Xun didn’t notice that no sooner did Young Man turn round and leave the warehouse than tears welled up in her eyes.

As she walked in the darkness alone, the breeze wafted her soft and silky long hair, making her feel the chill.

“What a little jerk! He’s so good at making girls touched, which is really a bad thing. When he leaves this camp, who knows how many girls will fall under the spell of his charm,” Young Man murmured gently.

Because of Lin’s words, all sorts of feelings welled up in her mind and she lost control emotionally. It was the first time she had such a feeling after so many years.

Out of the blue, the hard voice of Shu Sanqi aroused in the darkness. “This session of training will draw to an end soon. Don’t you really want to leave the Bloodthirsty Camp?”

Young Man was in a trance for a moment, and the tears in her beautiful eyes immediately disappeared. She asked pathetically, “What? Chief Shu, do you want to ask me to leave?”

As Shu Sanqi, who was as thin as a spear, showed up, he glanced at Young Man and said, “I’m not kidding. The accumulated scores you’ve won last time can definitely help you get out of here completely and unload the responsibilities the empire entrust to you. Such a chance could happen only once, and you should think it through.”

“No need to think more.”

Young Man said without any hesitation, “I choose to stay in the camp. As for the chance...I give it to Young Ke.”

Shu Sanqi promptly narrowed his sharp eyes and said in a muffled voice, “You should know if Young Ke leaves here, she’ll go to the Forbidden City to settle the old score right away. Are you ready for this?”

A trace of sadness flashed across Young Man’s dainty face. After in a daze for a while, she said while gritting her teeth, “I’ve done wrong that year, and I don’t hope it will last forever.”

Shu Sanqi fixed his eyes on Young Man for a long time and said with a nod, “Since it’s your choice, I hope you won’t regret by then.”

After that, he turned around and left.

Seated in the darkness alone, she watched the distant night sky while she felt a sense of relief suddenly.

After all those years, it was time to let it go!

...

The next morning-

As the 42 trainees including Lin Xun were gathered up, Shu Sanqi in person led them to a huge field.

The field was rather special, the surface of which was paved with smooth black rocks and was inscribed with mysterious spiritual tattoo patterns. Against the sunlight, the dreamlike luster rose from it.

In the center of the field were 30 erect pitch-black pillars. Each of the pillars was as high as 30 meters, just like a huge sword stabbing into the sky.

The trainees standing on the field only felt a gush of inexpressibly solemn breath blowing on their faces. They felt awed and didn’t dare to make any noise.

“These 30 pillars stand for 30 pathways leading into Gang-producing Lake!”

The first sentence of Shu Sanqi directly caught all the trainees’ attention. As they looked at the pillars again, their eyes were full of fervidity

The reason why they entered the Bloodthirsty Camp was that they wanted to enter Gang-producing Lake.

Now, the chance lay in front of them!

“As the final assessment in the camp, the assessment is very simple. Within an hour, you need to snatch the 30 stone pillars, and any trainee who doesn’t get one can snatch it from others who get one. When time is over, the trainees who don’t get one will be eliminated!”

Shu Sanqi swiftly briefed the trainees about the rules, “Remember, you can’t engage in a brawl, and you can only fight one to one. You’re not allowed to use all auxiliary items like short crossbows and poisonous fog except for battle weapons!”

In an instant, the atmosphere in the field got tense.

There were 42 trainees, but there were only 30 pillars. In other words, 12 trainees would be definitely sifted out in the assessment.

Since only three days were left before the training in the Bloodthirsty Camp was over, who was willing to be knocked out at the last moment?

None!

Lin Xun felt surprised upon hearing such simple rules. It seemed easy for the trainees to snatch these 30 pillars within one hour. But it was indeed dangerous if you considered it carefully.

If one trainee, who had snatched one pillar, was challenged by another trainee and lost the pillar, he was rather difficult to reverse the situation.

But likewise, the one who got the pillar would face a crisis. He had participated in a battle, so he must have consumed some of his physical strength. In this case, he would turn out to be the perfect target for the trainees who hadn’t grabbed pillars.

Thus, the assessment was involved with not only the combat effectiveness but also the physical strength!

“The assessment begins now!” said Shu Sanqi in a muffled voice.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Without waiting for him to finish his words, all the trainees who had already been ready hurtled towards the 30 pillars like arrows being fired from the bow.

Everyone tried to rush to the fore, so the scene was chaotic.

Each one made every effort in an attempt to occupy one pillar in the first place.

Boom!

One trainee, who had occupied one, was attacked by another one with one punch before he felt excited. He was pushed away from the pillar.

Soon, such a scene took place continuously.

Lin Xun was one of the trainees. He even was one of the first group of trainees to get to one pillar, but as many as three other trainees competed with him for the same pillar.

A fight was inevitable. The moment he set his foot on the pillar, a sturdy teenager shouted, “Get off from it!”

As his voice aroused, the teenager had already thrown a punch at Lin Xun.

Lin Xun just simply waved his sleeve, and then the teenager was blown away and hit hard on the ground with screams.

Seeing this, the other two trainees immediately looked frightened and gave him a stern look before turning around to seek another target.

Standing on the pillar, Lin Xun looked around and found something interesting instantly.

Bai Lingshi, Zhao Yin, Lee Duxing, and Zhangsun Heng had already taken up one pillar respectively at the moment, but no one dared to challenge them.

The rest of the trainees apparently knew that to snatch their pillars was no different from throwing an egg against a rock.

Likewise, he also found that some trainees, who hadn’t got pillars, felt hesitant when they glanced at him and finally gave up the idea to challenge him.

Lin Xun finally realized that he had obtained some influence by his power in the Bloodthirsty Camp, so the other trainees didn’t dare to offend him.

The chaos didn’t last long before the scene became tranquil again. 30 trainees got pillars respectively, and the rest of 12 trainees became alert, too. Without taking reckless actions, they were observing and choosing the most appropriate target.

To his surprise, Ning Meng didn’t snatch a pillar. At the moment, Ning Meng was carefully choosing his rival.

However, when Lin Xun noticed the fighting desire in his eyes and the thrill on his face, Lin became speechless and totally understood that Ning Meng did this on purpose!

That was because he indeed wanted to have a fierce battle!

“The assessment seems too easy...”

Some drillmasters murmured in the distance. They found it a little boring and nothing was worth watching.

“The fun’s just beginning,” said Shu Sanqi calmly.

Click to read chapter 177 - Thunder Ring on Flying Lines ahead.