Ten minutes later, Jiang Ding's arms began to tremble from the pain and ache, and amidst the thud of firearms hitting the ground, he picked them up again under the drill instructor's stern shout.
The initial negligible weight of over a hundred kilograms now felt as heavy as a mountain.
Jiang Ding did not dwell on the physical pain; he strove to focus his mind on the dynamic visualization chart in his brain, where each muscle operated in an orderly manner like gears, and mechanical formulas blinked in and out of existence.
Gradually, he entered a state of emptiness and clarity.
The soreness in his body disappeared, his mind thought of nothing, save for the mechanical giant in his mind quietly and orderly rotating.
"Time's up!"
Amidst the successive thuds of heavy machine guns hitting the ground, Jiang Ding opened his eyes, his body trembling.
The sensation of sore muscles surged like a tide, almost overwhelming him, and it took him a while to recover, gingerly placing the heavy machine gun down, stopping after each step.
"Damn, Jiang Ding can do it, didn't drop it once in twenty minutes."
"The Vajra Print hasn't deformed, seems to be stronger than some of the students in the Inner Qi Realm..."
Jiang Ding garnered a plethora of astonished gazes.
"Not bad!"
Zhang Dingjun was generous with praise: "Your Vajra Print must have made a breakthrough, remember this feeling, it will help you step into the Inner Qi Realm."
"Yes, Instructor!"
Jiang Ding replied loudly, rejoicing in his heart.
He knew that this was related to the broken sword tip—it greatly enhanced his aptitude, and the flashes of inspiration that had appeared numerous times before without being grasped were now captured.
"Now, the Hidden Style!"
After letting the students relax for a while, Zhang Dingjun roared again.
Jiang Ding stood firm, performing a motion of sheathing a longsword, his eyes slowly closing.
The Hidden Sword Style from the Nine Great Sword Forms!
It had the ability to relax muscles, store energy, and conceal one's aura, far superior to any massage or meridian clearing.
The other students also adopted various poses, some casually placing their rifles down, others pounding the ground—all variations of the Hidden Sword Style.
The difference was that some quickly entered the state, with muscles beginning to relax and gaining rest, whilst others simply closed their eyes and posed, their bodies occasionally twisting, vainly depleting their own energy.
Zhang Dingjun glanced at Li Junhao and several others, frowning slightly to himself, but said nothing.
He knew that these students were able to enter No.1 High School, and since their martial arts cultivation was lacking, their cultural course scores should be considerable, but he still disliked it.
"Retrieve!"
At the command, Jiang Ding opened his eyes, and the ache in his arms and knees was greatly alleviated, temporarily forgotten.
"Next up, live-firing," Zhang Dingjun paused before continuing sternly, "I've set up targets at four thousand five hundred meters, with a limit of two hundred rounds per person." He then warned, "Under no circumstances should the muzzle be pointed at a classmate!"
"No matter the reason, no matter how justified you think you are, no matter how grievously wronged you feel."
"One warning, two demerits, three strikes and you're directly ordered to withdraw from school!"
"Understood?"
"Yes! Instructor!" Jiang Ding and the others answered loudly.
"Free activity."
Zhang Dingjun waved his hand and, with a flash, flew towards the Qi Practicing Realm students using the Wind-riding Technique.
Jiang Ding picked up the heavy machine gun from the ground and headed towards the shooting point, casually opening the Swallow-1 drone case at his waist.
A palm-sized swallow lay at the bottom of the case, its eyes emitting a gem-like glow.
Bluetooth connection to the panoramic helmet.
"Start."
Jiang Ding clicked the start button in his helmet's field of view.
The swallow-1's eyes moved, quickly completing a self-check, flapped its wings and flew into the sky. At the same time, various images appeared in the panoramic helmet.
Compared to the drones Jiang Ding had purchased online, this one had higher precision, better image quality, and could even clearly spot ants crawling on the ground. Moreover, it could locate and mark even hidden targets that were stationary.
Soon, targets at four thousand five hundred meters entered his sight, human-sized, standing, crawling, or hiding behind big trees.
"I really envy you guys."
Li Junhao trailed behind with his heavy machine gun, finding it very difficult to stand and hold it; his practice of the Hidden Style wasn't sufficient for rest, and this course was torture for him.
"I still say the same thing, keep a regular routine, and keep exercising," Jiang Ding glanced at him, "Skin refining and flesh training are the beginning of the martial path, and how hard could it be to make a breakthrough? Persevere, and there will be gains."
"Besides, your high cultural scores can greatly assist in martial arts cultivation."
Li Junhao's face showed hesitation.
Jiang Ding arrived at the shooting point and lay down, positioning the heavy machine gun, chambering the bullets, and aligning his left eye with the scope, aiming at target number one.
Holding his breath, he channeled the Vajra Print throughout his body to stabilize himself and used the Thousand Threads Traction to adjust the firearm.
He had only achieved the 'Ten Threads' level of proficiency with the Thousand Threads Traction, which allowed one part of strength to be divided into ten parts.
Bang!
Amidst the flash and smell of gunfire, the bullet left the barrel, flying at over 2000 meters per second towards the distance, reaching the target after two and a half seconds.
Missed the target.
"Wind speed..."
Jiang Ding mused to himself.
At that moment, he envied Cultivators for having specific magic that could control firearms; Divine Sense and Mana gave them high precision control, allowing them to easily achieve a perfect forty-point score with light weapons.
Cultivators' efforts were aimed at tank driving and control, naturally starting at the endpoint of martial artists.
Bang!
The second shot, the third shot...
Finally, on the sixth attempt, he hit the target, blasting its head into fragments.
After pausing, he aimed at another target constantly moving unpredictably at the speed of a Third Level of Qi Practicing Cultivator using the Wind-riding Technique, and kept pulling the trigger, gunfire roared endlessly, casings flying.
This was even more challenging, and it took over fifty rounds of ammunition to finally shatter the target.
"This..."
Jiang Ding furrowed his brows.
Real Third Level of Qi Practicing Cultivators were far more cunning than targets; they possessed Divine Sense, which covered roughly thirty meters, and the Viewing Technique, which allowed them to clearly see even bullets traveling at several times the speed of sound, predict their trajectory in advance, and evade or hide accordingly.
"It's no match..."
With a sigh, Jiang Ding continued his practice as those around him fired their guns repeatedly, kicking up clouds of dust.
He couldn't afford to waste more effort like this; after one shot, he paused, pondering slowly, absorbing the heavy recoil of the machine gun with Vajra Print, observing factors like wind speed and humidity, and then adjusting the machine gun bit by bit with Thousand Threads Traction.
This was the repetitive and monotonous nature of practicing these two martial skills.
More than two hours later.
Around eleven in the morning, during the fourth period, Zhang Dingjun returned from the group of Qi Practicing Realm students, carrying a fine steel battle-ax over two meters tall.
He called his classmates over to form a circle.
"Cold weapons, such as blades, spears, swords, halberds, and staffs, aren't very useful on the battlefield, except in a few special circumstances," Zhang Dingjun lifted the battle-ax with one hand: "But the enemies of the Xianmen Sect use them, and they are mainstream—Magic Tools like Flying Swords, Magic Shields, Magic Water Droplets, all of which are terribly powerful."
"Therefore, the Xianmen Sect set up an elective course for cold weapons. You don't have to use them, but you should understand them, as they form part of the total score of forty points in the College Entrance Exam."
"Prepare."
Zhang Dingjun demonstrated a slanted axe-holding stance: "'Eagle Taking Off Technique' is a cultivation method that integrates combat techniques, and many martial skills from the Xianmen Sect are specialized derivations from it, such as my 'Gibbon Arm Axe.'
Whoosh!
The battle-ax slashed diagonally, the air exploded with a bang, and a fierce wind spread outward, causing the clothes of the surrounding classmates to flutter wildly, before he swung horizontally again, cutting off the emerging gale so forcefully that it quelled the winds from all directions.
"Now, choose a partner for sparring at will; striking the torso with a weapon constitutes victory," Zhang Dingjun unveiled a camouflage cloth, revealing a pile of cold weapons underneath.
Jiang Ding stepped forward without hesitation and chose a steel sword about a meter long.
With the hilt in his hand, he felt an inexplicable sense of security.
The classmates also picked their weapons, each its own variety, especially Li Junhao whose primary cold weapon turned out to be a pair of meteor hammers.
Once everyone had chosen their weapons, they didn't immediately start sparring. Eyes turned toward Jiang Ding.
"Jiang Ding!" shouted the captain of the first squad, Sun Xiao, wielding a two-meter steel lance with a hint of a smile: "Want to try me?"
He was at the Minor Completion of Internal Qi Realm, ranking among the highest in the class of Inner Qi Realm Martial Artists.
It was not surprising to the bystanders that an Inner Qi Realm challenger would take on someone from the Bone Refining Realm; they gathered around with interest.
"Sun Xiao is challenging again? How many times has he lost already?"
"It's the same with the others, the Inner Qi Realm Martial Artists are so practiced they might as well be dogs; they still can't beat Bone Refining."
"Bullshit, why don't you go up yourself? You don't even have Inner Qi..."
Compared to the endless routine of cramming for exams and repetitive machine gun firing, it was this kind of real combat with actual weapons that truly ignited the fervor in the youths' hearts.
With the longsword in hand, Jiang Ding felt at peace and nodded.
"Alright."
Swish!
With the steel lance in hand, it transformed into a winding serpent, striking thrice rapidly in succession, forming a tri-star luster that zapped around Jiang Ding.
Li Junhao held his breath, from his perspective, the silvery light was just a fleeting glance, offering no time to react.
Ding!
Ding!
Jiang Ding drew his sword; a perfectly circular arc flashed as he precisely blocked the tip of the lance, sliding his feet as smoothly as flowing water, and in the motion, he dissipated most of the force before striking again, deflecting the lance tip.
With a shift of footwork, he dodged the third thrust and rapidly closed in on the inside of the steel lance.
Expose Sword Style!
Step Sword Form!
"Damn! It's that move again. Even though Sun Xiao's speed and strength are far superior to his, how can he still dodge it?" Some classmates who also practiced swordplay stared in disbelief and dissatisfaction.
Sun Xiao's expression darkened as he quickly stepped back, then suddenly stabbed all around himself, a white light flickering, doubling his speed in a flash and thrusting straight towards Jiang Ding's chest.
Counter-lance!
"Sun Xiao mastered a new technique? No wonder he had the guts to challenge," exclaimed Li Junhao surprised.
"It's not worth it; it would be better to focus on advancing to the next realm with the 'Eagle Taking Off Technique'" someone commented, shaking their head.
Jiang Ding showed a hint of surprise, sidestepped, and his longsword harshly grinded against the lance tip, sparks flying; Sun Xiao's counter-lance struck emptily.
The sword-light flowed like water, skated up the lance shaft at high speed, and quickly neared his fingers, the edge icy cold.
Sun Xiao's expression changed, and he was forced to let go, the lance falling to the ground. Before he could react, a streak of sword-light flashed, pressing directly against his throat and stopping on his bulletproof camouflage suit.
"I lost," Sun Xiao took a deep breath.
The sword-light flashed as Jiang Ding sheathed his sword, looking around.
"Lost again, damn! Freak!" The surrounding classmates cursed under their breath, unwilling to step forward, knowing they would be defeated in seconds.
"I'll try!"
Feeling ashamed to be outdone by a Bone Refining Realm Martial Artist, the captain of the third squad, Li Hu, picked up a heavy axe and swung it down.
Ding!
Ding ding!
Five moves later, the longsword rested at his throat.
"I'll try!"
Another Inner Qi Realm student stepped forward, only to be defeated after a flurry of clinking clashes.
One after another, most of the students had their turn, with fights ending in a matter of seconds, some in six or seven moves, others in just one or two.
"I'm done playing!"
"Damn beast!"
In the end, no one was willing to spar with Jiang Ding anymore. He alone chose a clear area to practice his sword moves.
Zhang Dingjun moved among the ongoing fights, occasionally giving pointers to correct the students' techniques for applying force and combat.