Chen Bitong finished speaking and looked across the field at the five individuals before him, including Chen Chuan. "If no one wishes to drop out, the assessment will begin right now."
All five wore grave expressions and stood motionless.
Naturally, none of them would back down. Those who had made it this far might not necessarily be the absolute finest, yet each possessed real capability and boundless self-confidence.
Besides, being able to take part in the training course's assessment was a distinguished credential to add to one's record. Even if they failed to pass, having reached this stage proved their competence, which already placed them well above the other trainees.
Chen Bitong waited a moment. Seeing that no one spoke, he nodded. "Then let us begin."
As he said those words, Chen Chuan watched the surrounding scenery dissolve, reshaping itself into a sprawling wilderness.
He cast a glance around. He stood upon mudflats where virtually no tall trees or thick brush grew. A fair number of low, scattered shrubs dotted the area, allowing him to see vast distances at a single glance.
During his prior training sessions, he had navigated numerous simulated environments, but every one of them had featured intricate terrain and dense vegetation. A setting like this was seldom seen. It seemed this assessment was truly out of the ordinary.
Chen Bitong stood not far ahead of him and said, "Captain Chen, you are different from the rest. You entered this course in the very first batch and endured all the way to the end. Therefore, my assessment of you will be far stricter.
"I will place you in a simulation zone. You will not know in advance what might appear.
"Some threats are things you encountered in training; others are horrors you have never faced. I will score you based on the choices you make and the biological entities you eliminate.
"I mentioned this before, but I will remind you once more: the Defense Department is keeping a close eye on this simulation, so I hope you will treat it with the utmost gravity.
"Because the fidelity of this simulation is exceptionally high, it may well cause you genuine harm. If you decide halfway through that you cannot continue, simply declare that you give up."
Chen Chuan responded earnestly, "Teacher Chen, I understand."
"Then we begin now." Chen Bitong turned and pointed in a particular direction. "Follow this path forward. Do not stop until the scenario simulation ends."
With that, his figure vanished into thin air.
Chen Chuan peered ahead, then set off along the soft, sticky mudflats.
Golden light spilled across meandering sheets of wet, murky water, churning with tangled weeds, clumps of mud, and scattered pebbles. It looked like an artist's palette overturned.
He had taken only a few paces when countless black specks suddenly materialized in the distance. An ominous buzzing reached his ears as a massive flock of ferocious-looking birds swept straight toward him.
Taking in the sight, he understood. No wonder this wide-open expanse had been chosen, complete with mud that trapped his feet. He could not easily slip away. Unless he threw in the towel, he had no choice but to stay and deal with them.
Then he would put himself to the test.
He planted the Xuejun Saber into the muddy ground. With a sharp ring, his body pivoted into motion, drawing the blade cleanly from its sheath to reflect a gleaming, razor-sharp edge under the sky.
Half an hour later.
Gu Haiting and two other trainees stepped out of the training grounds and went to the lounge outside to wait.
The assessment had proven remarkably difficult. They had managed to hold out for only this long.
Gu Haiting settled into a sofa, had a server pour him a cup of tea, and sipped it leisurely.
Though he had been eliminated rather early, he felt little regret. Beyond wanting to pick up new skills, his main goal in coming here had been to establish a connection with Chen Chuan.
Both objectives had gone quite smoothly: he had forged a partnership with Chen Chuan, and he had held out until the final evaluation of the training.
He glanced toward the training grounds. Now, only Yu Lie and Chen Chuan remained inside.
He wondered which of them would endure to the very end.
Although Chen Chuan was more powerful than Yu Lie, it was easy to gather from the two trainees' conversation across from him that everyone's assessment was different, tailored specifically to each individual's circumstances. That made the outcome impossible to predict.
Two hours slipped by as they waited.
Gu Haiting felt a touch of surprise. This had already surpassed the daily allocated simulation time. The municipal government had likely funneled extra resources to support this evaluation.
It seemed they truly attached great importance to this.
Moments later, Yu Lie walked out from within. His eyes swept over the room, and upon seeing that Chen Chuan was not among those present, he let out a scoff before heading over to a corner seat to wait.
Meanwhile, within the simulated scenario, Chen Chuan was still trudging forward. Along the way, he had continuously slaughtered all manner of attacking savage creatures.
The terrain had shifted repeatedly as well, clearly escalating the difficulty.
By his estimation, he should have long since passed the standard time limit, yet there was no sign of the trial coming to an end.
Suddenly, several tiny insects drifted past him. He did not dismiss them. Shifting his gaze, he observed them closely.
Creatures from the Confluence seemed to lack clear growth ceilings. Within any given swarm or pack, there were always individuals capable of seemingly boundless evolution.
When faced with colossal beasts, one could never know what they had started out as. Such a monster might have originated as a tiny worm that could be crushed underfoot at any moment. Yet after numerous metamorphoses, it could transform into something beyond imagination.
The simulation brought this trait to life with terrifying precision. Anything he encountered here had the potential to undergo an unpredictable metamorphosis. On his way here, he had already experienced this no fewer than twice.
Other creatures might not evolve directly, but the slightest disturbance could summon a swarm of their brethren. Thus, he could not let down his guard for an instant and had to stay alert to sudden shifts around him at all times.
In fact, according to Chen Bitong, the real Confluence might not always boast such unrelenting intensity; yet if one ventured deep into untamed frontier territory, the peril would not be a shred lesser than what lay before him now.
Continuing onward, he suddenly felt a faint tremor through the ground. He halted immediately. Roughly twenty meters ahead, a patch of earth began to heave and bulge.
He fixed his eyes on the mound. It looked like something huge was coming this time.
With a resounding boom, the soil burst apart, and an armored monstrosity covered in coarse bristles thrust its way out of the ground.
It was a dull, grayish-black, supported by eight pairs of thick, sturdy limbs that hoisted its heavy bulk into the air. Transparent membranous wings clung tightly to the sides of its back. It measured roughly four meters in length, with massive, pincer-like mouthparts poised beneath cold, multifaceted compound eyes.
As it emerged, the soil all around it churned, and even more small insects of similar appearance burrowed out. Looking into the distance, identical disturbances rippled across a radius of several kilometers.
He had never encountered such a thing before, but he could tell it was a brood master—a mutated organism evolved from within a colony.
Judging by the elapsed time and resource consumption, this was likely the final centerpiece of his assessment.
He knew nothing about this species' attack patterns or attributes. In the actual Confluence, the best course of action would be to withdraw. But this was an evaluation; retreat was not an option. He had to face it head-on.
Plunging the Xuejun Saber into the earth, he reached into his pocket and produced a handful of pebbles. After a brief pause, he whipped his arm forward, flinging them out.
The pebbles slammed into the hard outer carapace and shattered to powder, leaving behind only a few faint scratches—testament to the sheer durability of the creature's shell.
Chen Chuan had not hurled them to inflict damage, however. He merely wanted to use the marks of impact to form a baseline assessment and devise a fitting tactic.
This method had not been taught by Chen Bitong; it was an insight Chen Chuan had developed on his own through days of clashing with various lifeforms.
By now, the smaller insects emerging from the mire spread their wings and swarmed toward him. As if to give him a visceral demonstration, patches of foliage on the ground were devoured clean the instant the swarm passed over them.
Such colonies were the most grueling to handle. Not only did they feature a massive brood master, but they also possessed an endless swarm. A single misstep would mean immediate failure and disqualification.
Chen Chuan's gaze remained calm. Drawing his arms inward in a rounded embrace, he surged his vital essence, pulling the mutated tissue throughout his body taut.
With a rushing whoosh, the dense swarm enveloped him. Within breaths, they covered him completely, leaving only the vague outline of a human silhouette visible.
Still more insects surged forward relentlessly, soon piling into a thick, writhing sphere of bugs that continued to swell.
When the mass grew so dense that incoming insects could no longer find purchase, tumbling off the moment they landed, a vibration rippled from within.
Like an expanding shockwave, it pulsed outward. The scurrying, writhing insects suddenly froze, then cascaded downward like a collapsing sandcastle with a soft, rustling hiss, revealing the figure standing inside.
Chen Chuan brushed his sleeve, sweeping the few remaining insect carcasses from his body.
His eyes shone bright and clear. Not a single scratch marked his skin, and neither his hat nor his protective gear had been breached.
This was an exact simulation of reality. If the insects could not bite through his protection here, it meant the outcome would be the same in the real world.
This technique of drawing the swarm close before obliterating them all at once with a burst of force had been taught to him by Chen Bitong.
Killing insects one by one was both inefficient and a waste of stamina. Luring them into a cluster and wiping them out simultaneously with jin was far more effective—provided the fighter could withstand the assault.
If one failed to pull off blooming from the inside out, the only thing bursting into pieces would be oneself.
Just then, the brood master ahead shifted into a distinct posture. It unfurled its membranous wings to both sides while the flaps along its thorax and abdomen flared wide, trembling in a rapid, violent shudder.
Simultaneously, a sharp pang of danger seized Chen Chuan. Invisible ripples seemed to cascade toward him. For a moment, it felt as though countless fine needles were stabbing into his flesh; not only did his skin prickle, but even his internal organs and mutated tissue began to vibrate in waves, feeling on the verge of being torn apart.
Meanwhile, the smaller insects gathering nearby plummeted in vast swathes, ultimately forming a colossal fan-shaped blanket of carcasses several fingers thick across the terrain.
Chapter 516