In the distance, a man in his twenties, wearing armor could be seen with his arms behind his back. The young man stood in front of a group of men who faced him. Behind him, two soldiers stood side-by-side.
Looking back, Wu Dong Yi immediately knew that it was Gongsun Zhong. What he had hoped to not happen, really happened.
He quickly hid himself within the crowd of people, hiding towards the very end, hoping to delay his discovery as long as possible. He had worn a normal person's clothing today.
"Attention!" one of the two soldiers shouted.
The rowdy men became immediately silent as soon as the voice ended. "General Gongsun, commander of 10,000 troops will now give a brief speech!"
Gongsun Zhong walked forward. He didn't open his mouth, but words still came out from his Divine Will.
"It is good to see you all here today, men and women of the nation. After today, some of you may become my brothers and sisters in arms, while others may be sent home to your families."
"Be at ease, you will receive a small fortune for your bravery in coming to today's recruitment. The recruitment will be simple, swordsmanship, archery, tactics, spearmanship, etc, will be tested."
"Of course, your cultivation base will be measured, so those of you who have not met the requirements will be punished if you are found out." Gongsun Zhong said.
In the crowd, a young man walked out and raised his arm. "General! I have not met the requirements," he shouted.
Wu Dong Yi and Gongsun Zhong glanced at the young man. He could be considered to be quite handsome, but he is a little on the skinny side. Looking at him, you could tell that his family was poor.
"It's good that you are honest, I can see that you are extremely close to reaching the requirement, and since you were honest, I will make an exception and allow you to take part in the recruitment." Gongsun Zhong replied.
"Thank you, general!" the young man cried happily as he returned to the crowd.
"So he made an exception." Wu Dong Yi thought.
"The recruitment will now begin, you will all be put into groups and take each test in your groups." one of the two soldiers spoke.
In an instant, a token flew out towards everyone in the crowd. A number could be seen engraved onto the tokens, which represented the group they were in.
With multiple tests and quite a large number of applicants, each group had roughly 50 people in it.
Wu Dong Yi was in group 5, everyone would take the cultivation test before splitting off into the other tests.
Five large pillars soon appeared out of nowhere. Wu Dong Yi lined up in his group and awaited his turn.
***********
Zoom!
"Whoa!!!!"
A strange sound was heard, as one of the pillars displayed the words, 'Qi Condensation Stage One'
A figure removed their hand from the pillar after having their cultivation base revealed. As many of the people in the crowd were of the Body Tempering Realm, seeing a Qi Condensation stage caused a ruckus.
Wu Dong Yi glanced at the person who left the pillar, a pretty young girl of around 15 held her token and waited.
"Hoh? Her cultivation base isn't too bad." Wu Dong Yi thought.
Just a few minutes later, another zoom sound was heard. This time, the sound was a bit louder.
'Qi Condensation Stage Eight' the pillar read.
"Good, if your other talents are enough, you will immediately become a 300-man commander." Gongsun Zhong suddenly spoke.
"Amazing! A young man who isn't even 20 with a late Qi Condensation stage cultivation base, which family is he from?!" someone in the crowd said in envy.
"He must be from one of the eight great families who has been hidden from the public, else we would know of such a talent." someone else replied.
"A young man? That's clearly a woman crossdressing as a man. It must be some family's young miss running out to play in the army." Wu Dong Yi thought.
Since he could tell, Wu Dong Yi knew that Gongsun Zhong noticed as well. He didn't say anything and let the crowd keep their assumption.
It wasn't until about 30 minutes later, was it Wu Dong Yi's turn. Many of the people in the crowd met the minimum of Body Tempering Stage Seven, only a few were of Body Tempering Stage Eight, and so far none have been of Body Tempering Stage Nine.
After the two women, no one of the Qi Condensation stage had been seen either.
Wu Dong Yi walked forward. He turned to look at Gongsun Zhong who also turned to look at him. The two men looked at each other and came to a tacit understanding without any words.
He gently placed his hand on the pillar, which made a zoom sound as his Body Tempering Stage Nine was revealed.
Gongsun Zhong was quite shocked when he saw this, from what he was told, Wu Dong Yi was but a mortal with absolutely no cultivation base just a few months ago. Now, he was already at the peak of the Body Tempering Realm.
He then used his cultivation base that was much higher than the former's to look through him.
"His realm had long reached the peak, he could've been in the Qi Condensation Realm a while ago if he wanted to." Gongsun Zhong thought.
"It looks like the empress made a good choice."
If Wu Dong Yi knew what Gongsun Zhong thought, then he would've been quite surprised. After all, he was told that everyone thought the latter would be in his position and marry the empress at some point.
It seemed that Wu Dong Yi thought too much about the rumors.
After being tested, Wu Dong Yi went to the side. At this point, the test was taking too long, so Gongsun Zhong changed his mind.
"This is taking too long, forget about the groups, whoever has finished theirs already can choose whichever test they want to take." he sent his voice out to everyone.
Hearing this, Wu Dong Yi's eyes lit up. Immediately, he headed to the swordsmanship test. Even though it was a test of sword skills, it was actually a short spar against one of the soldiers.
As he was fast, he was the first in the queue.
The soldier who was in charge of this is a middle-aged man of the middle Qi Condensation Realm.
A sword appeared in the instructor's hand, Wu Dong Yi picked up a sword from the rack nearby and stood a few meters apart from the instructor.
"Please," he said.
"You may have the first move." the instructor replied.
Wu Dong Yi nodded.
Using the Ice Empress' Road, he moved in the blink of an eye, leaving behind an icy trail of cold air. The sword in his hand moved along with his body, resembling that of a dance.
The Black Swan art was immediately used in play, his body moved according to the first move, 'Swan Rain'
As the name implies, it was a series of sword rain, making use of both speed and power. It was the first time that Wu Dong Yi would battle in his entire life, he wanted to make use of this chance to further improve his powers.
Whoosh!
A series of endless sword attacks, similar to a rapier attack shot out toward the instructor. Wu Dong Yi's attack made him seem as though he had a thousand arms.
The instructor moved, his sword arced to block the torrent of swords that rained upon him. Wu Dong Yi's attack didn't seem to be able to penetrate the defense of the instructor. With his cultivation only at the Body Tempering Realm, the amount of Spiritual Qi he could use in his attacks are very minimal.
Of course, since he was already so close to the Qi Condensation Realm, his attacks had a hint of Spiritual Qi in them.
Seeing that attacking in a singular direction didn't work, Wu Dong Yi switched to the third form, 'Swoop'. His sword arm came forward, while his left arm was behind his back. Even though his attacks were much slower than before, he attacked from many different angles, making it hard for the instructor to defend.
Slowly, the instructor was being pushed back. Suddenly, the instructor's entire sword was enveloped in flames.
The flames burst forth, turning the water element Spiritual Qi into steam. Wu Dong Yi kept attacking, while the instructor defended.
When a large amount of steam was released, everyone's vision was getting cloudier. The instructor saw a shadow within the steam and lashed out.
Whoosh!
A streak of flames made of fire element Spiritual Qi passed through the steam. Wu Dong Yi was behind the instructor, contrary to his thoughts.
Ding!
The instructor's sword came from the back and blocked Wu Dong Yi's sword.
"Since you want to do it like this, then let's go." Wu Dong Yi thought. His body flashed, as he dispersed into the steam, lingering cold air filled the air, making the steam ever more so cloudy.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Wu Dong Yi's figure moved about everywhere within the mist of steam. Attacks came flying out at various directions which were all blocked.
If one were to look carefully at the instructor's sword, they would realize that a single spot has been damaged more so than the rest of the sword.
Wu Dong Yi's attacks were precise and with great speed, if he kept this up, the sword would snap from the point he was aiming for, within a short timeframe.
Whoosh!
The instructor's aura became stronger. It was clear that he was now releasing his Qi Condensation Realm combat prowess.
Whoosh!
Multiple lashes of flames came flying out, while the steam dispersed completely. The crowd that was watching had to get out of the way, in case stray attacks would hit them.
With every of Wu Dong Yi's attacks, he was getting more and more familiar with the Black Swan art, so far he had only used two of the forms, which seemed to be enough for now.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
With the steam no longer being there, Wu Dong Yi relied on his movement art to get away from the flames.
When flames came flashing by him, Wu Dong Yi barely dodged them, a few strands of his hair were sacrificed as he slowly chipped away at the instructor's sword.
The flames from the instructor were dazzling, a straight cut flew directly at Wu Dong Yi. His sword came out the front to block, as he flew backward in the air. Fortunately, his movement art helped him to defend against the flames, making him suffer little damage.
Looking at the opponent, Wu Dong Yi observed. "One last attack should do it."
As he thought this, Wu Dong Yi moved with his current greatest speed, an icy trail was left behind, propelling him forward, while creating a road of ice could be seen under his feet.
He held his sword in his left hand, and turned it sideways as pink cherry blossoms were being created from his sword.
Wu Dong Yi started moving in a spiral, while he lifted his sword up high. Twin spirals of ice and cherry blossoms were combining together, creating a singular force.
The instructor held his sword and slashed forward. Wu Dong Yi continued spinning while gathering more power, the longer the distance he travelled. Within the blink of an eye, a powerful flame that was the strongest one yet, came crashing into his attack.
Boom!
The flames were pierced through, while Wu Dong Yi arrived to meet the instructor's sword.
Ding! Crack!
His attack aimed at a single point, which was the place he had been damaging the entire time.
Gongsun Zhong who sensed the battle taking place turned to face their direction. "So she taught him that technique." he thought.
He then continued observing the recruitment process in his seat and ignored the outcome of the battle.