Chapter 151 (1/2)

Lin Xun had become more silent than ever since Old Mo left.

After completing daily training, he would return to Old Mo’s warehouse and drank a pot of wine silently every day.

Young Man was worried about Lin Xun.

She was keenly aware that something was wrong with Lin Xun, but whenever she wanted to comfort Lin Xun, Lin had begun to cultivate.

Young Man sighed and had to give up the idea of consoling Lin Xun. Some things might be faced alone if he wanted to mature faster.

Thirteen days later.

Early in the morning.

From today on, 237 trainees from eight camps in Bloodthirsty Camp would go to the Demon-cloud Ridge in the northern frontier of the empire by warship for the battlefield assessment.

“Don’t worry about Chirps, I’ll take care of it. Your task is to return safely with an excellent assessment result.”

Before their departure, Young Man exhorted Lin Xun softly.

“I will.”

Lin Xun nodded, turned and walked to Camp 39.

Behind him, Young Man gazed at Lin Xun with her starry eyes. She found he had become taller and stronger, and then recalled the scene of their first meeting.

At that time, Lin Xun appeared to be a harmless sunny boy, with a warm smile and a glib tongue all day long. Sometimes, he was absorbed in spiritual tattoos, serious and calm.

But now, he was different from the past. People could hardly guess his thought.

Was this change good or bad for Lin Xun?

Young Man didn’t know it for sure. Maybe this was the road of growth. It was never defined only by age, and it depended on experience. The more one went through, the more changes he would suffer.

Chirps crouched in Young Man’s bosom, with its round black eyes looking at Lin Xun’s receding figure reluctantly and chirping ceaselessly.

…

A few moments later, eight small-sized Ziying Battleships took off and crushed the clouds, roaring, carrying 237 trainees from eight camps, and flying north.

“How many people do you think will be able to come back this time?”

“No more than fifty, I think.”

“Fifty? That’s about twice as much as before. Bless them!”

“So how many people do you think will die in the end?”

“It’s hard to say.”

“Assessment in Demon-cloud Ridge is a test of life and death. There are only two results, namely elimination or death, for those who cannot stick it out. Some of them are doomed to die.”

“This is the rule. Even they are of extraordinary origins and good talents, they are barely usable if they fail to bear the suffering of war ultimately.”

“I’m just worried that the forces behind these trainees are so complicated; if something unexpected happens, they will blame it on our Bloodthirsty Camp.”

“You are wrong. In a large clan, there is never a shortage of outstanding descendants. Sometimes, it is not a bad thing for them to lose a useless descendant.”

“Indeed, when it comes to cruelty, the competition within the families of those ancient origins is more perverted than that in our Bloodthirsty Camp. For getting more resources and rights, brothers turn against each other and killing relatives has become common things.”

“We just need to wait for three months, and then we will know how many of the 237 trainees can hold on to the last and who will be eliminated, or… have died.”

Watching eight Ziying Battleships disappear on the northern horizon, a group of Drillmasters had a brief conversation in the Bloodthirsty Camp.

…

In the Camp 39’s warship, Lin Xun looked at a storage ring in his hand.

This was the only spiritual instrument given out before the assessment. No trainee was allowed to carry any other spiritual equipment.

This was a rule of assessment.

After arriving at the Demon-cloud Ridge located on the northern border of the empire, the 237 trainees would enter the battlefield as ordinary soldiers of the empire.

What they had to do was, like ordinary soldiers, to use all means to survive in the war zone for three months.

The number of military merits was the result of assessment. Those who died and those who had relatively less military merits would be eliminated. This uniformly provided storage ring was designed to collect military merits.

The so-called military merits were the barbarians’ life!

The cabin was not so quiet. Many people were talking in a low voice, all about the assessment in Demon-cloud Ridge.

Demon-cloud Ridge was a complex war zone, located on the northern border of the empire. Across the Demon-cloud Ridge, further north was a turbulent wasteland controlled by Empire of the Dark.

Over the centuries, the flames of war in the Demon-cloud Ridge had never stopped, and both the empire and Empire of the Dark knew that neither of them could occupy the Demon-cloud Ridge completely.

The reason was that the terrain of Demon-could Ridge was too complex. Demon-cloud Ridge, with a range of tens of thousands of miles, was perennially shrouded in dark haze, and was full of danger. Unless the whole Demon-cloud Ridge was levelled, anyone who wanted to occupy this place had to pay a heavy price beyond calculation.

Up to now, the Demon-cloud Ridge had become a buffer zone between Ziyao Empire and Empire of the Dark. Although the fighting continued, its scale was small.

“I heard that the function of Demon-cloud Ridge has changed already. It has become a ‘Training Ground’ between Ziyao Empire and Empire of the Dark, aiming to let the young generations of both sides know their opponents very well through real bloody warfare. Only through the tempering of blood and fire can they grow into real war talents.”