Chapter 107: Three Suns in the Sky, Zhao Xing Stirs Up Trouble, the Five Elements Earth-Splitting Art!

Zhao Xing looked over as well, and saw that on the Fierce Sun Army's flying boat there were two men and one woman; one of the young men wore a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat.

As for the other man and woman, their attire was different—the man wore armor and carried a battle saber on his back, while the woman wore a ceremonial robe and carried a brocade pouch on her back.

"From the look of it, these three are a Si Nong, a martial artist, and a Weaver."

Participating in the training, no special treatment is allowed. Before this reporting-in, the equipment distributed was all standard-issue of the same grade.

Of course, the style can still be chosen—as a martial artist, you may pick from among the eighteen weapons based on your specialty.

Mechanism Masters have an even wider range to choose from.

It's just that the grade of what is distributed is the same for everyone; no one gets special treatment.

"Kid, once you're inside and run into a Si Nong from the Fierce Sun Army, beat the hell out of them!" Long Xiao held a grudge. "As long as you don't kill them, beat them half to death."

"You're too weak yourself, so why have him help you vent your anger?" Chen Shijie said. "Train hard, then go back to the Fierce Sun Army and challenge him."

"Zhao Xing, don't mind him. Once you're inside, the first thing to do is find the location of the Si Nong Bureau."

"The higher your ranking, the more points you get. If you can earn ten thousand points, your subsequent training will also be a step ahead of others."

"If your points are sufficient, you can even request one-on-one guidance from the Si Nong Captains and Si Nong Commandants inside."

In the Soldier Realm's training, naturally the strong train the weak.

Guidance from the strong is also a resource, and the number of times can be purchased with points.

"I know." Both Zhao Xing and Chen Shijie were extreme pragmatists.

Why fight a battle with no benefit? With that time for competing and showing off, I'd rather go plant a few trees properly.

Lord Helian Lie and Lei Huan were also giving instructions to the people on the flying boat.

"Today at the You hour is when the military Si Nong reserves go in to report. Tomorrow and the day after are for the other military branches."

"Zhuo Li, once you go in, find your bearings immediately and hurry to the Si Nong Bureau."

"The top one hundred all receive point rewards, but I hope you can achieve an even better ranking."

Lord Helian Lie looked at the young man in the straw raincoat—Zhuo Li was a promising talent he had picked out from the regional army.

In fact, many of the reserve military Si Nong present already had experience serving in the army.

Many were selected from positions such as Auxiliary, Grand Granary, Equal Transport, and Field Overseer in lower-tier army corps.

It's just that the various armies of the Ten Sun Grotto-heaven had higher standards for military Si Nong.

Of course, many were also assigned from well-known academies and Daoist schools.

ottkanoc〇

As for those selected through the clerk examination system? They were very few indeed.

"I will do my best." Zhuo Li nodded.

Time ticked by, and soon it was exactly the You hour.

"Clang!!"

A melodious bell toll sounded, instantly spreading throughout the entire camp.

"Shwa shwa shwa!"

Countless figures leapt from the air toward the lake surface.

The vast lake below was one of the entrances to the Ten Sun Grotto-heaven.

"So many people jumping into the lake—anyone bold enough to enter by jumping is at least two or three thousand in strength." Zhao Xing watched the scene below, like dumplings being dropped into water, and couldn't help sighing at how spectacular it was.

Swoosh~ swoosh~

At this moment he also leapt down, plummeting from a height of a hundred meters.

The reason for jumping down from mid-air was to save time.

The barrier of the grotto-heaven minor world, although very thin at the entrance, would take quite a bit of time to pass through if one swam in from the lakeside.

But if one jumped down from the air, one could pass through quickly—this was the special feature of the lake entrance.

Choosing this method of entry meant suffering a powerful impact when passing through the barrier, so anyone bold enough to jump down from the air was without exception confident in their own strength.

"Swoosh swoosh swoosh~"

Zhao Xing felt the lake surface drawing closer and closer.

Long Xiao, watching from the boat, could not help exclaiming: "He's truly confident. The falling speed is already fast to begin with, yet he still borrows the wind to accelerate his descent."

"Daring to do this on his first visit—he really isn't afraid at all."

Chen Shijie said: "Confidence comes from real ability."

Long Xiao watched Zhao Xing plunge into the lake: "Too bad, we still have to hurry on our way and can't wait here... I really want to know right away which place he reports in at. I hope he can give us a pleasant surprise."

"Sooner or later, we'll find out the same."

Seeing that Zhao Xing had already disappeared beneath the lake surface, Chen Shijie looked up: "Let's go, to Xi'er Commandery to see the Marquis."

"Mm."

The moment he entered the lake surface head-first, the impact wasn't great, because this wasn't real water—the lake water was actually the external manifestation of the grotto-heaven's barrier.

However, once his entire body was submerged, an invisible repulsive force surrounded him, halting his descent.

Primordial Qi rippled across the surface of his body, and at the same time flowed into his Cloud-Stepping Boots as Zhao Xing continued to swim downward.

After maintaining a rapid descent for about a quarter of an hour.

Suddenly—

The repulsive force reversed, turning into a powerful attractive force!

"I've already entered the range of the grotto-heaven world; the repulsive force has become attractive—this is to prevent the grotto-heaven's matter from being lost." Zhao Xing thought to himself.

At this point, he no longer needed the Cloud-Stepping Boots to accelerate; he simply went along with this pulling force and continued to fall.

"Swoosh swoosh swoosh~"

The speed of descent grew faster and faster. Zhao Xing felt that in a single breath he dropped twenty or thirty meters, and the speed was still increasing.

"The azure barrier is growing fainter—we're almost through the barrier."

Zhao Xing steeled himself.

Hum~

At a certain moment, the pale blue vanished from his field of vision, replaced by a grey-green.

Zhao Xing felt his whole body lighten, as if breaking free from something.

But his fall only quickened, and he felt a wave of scorching heat.

Because he had appeared in midair.

In the sky of the Ten Sun Grotto-Heaven.

"Rise Wind!"

Zhao Xing had been unable to cast spells while passing through the barrier, but now he could.

"Whoosh~"

The mid-tier Rise Wind spell didn't achieve the expected effect. Zhao Xing gauged the wind's force—it was only half as strong as outside.

Zhao Xing manipulated the wind to flip his body over.

He had entered head-down, but now his feet pointed downward.

"Tread the Rising Clouds!"

The levitation force from the Cloud-Stepping Boots returned.

But Zhao Xing found he was still falling fast—at this rate, hitting the ground would still be extremely dangerous.

"The leyline force here is incredibly strong. The Ten Sun Grotto-Heaven is essentially casting Earth Palace Law on everyone who enters."

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Streaks of Jin Guang burst from Zhao Xing's fingertips, shooting toward the ground at tremendous speed.

Since the Ten Sun Grotto-Heaven's leyline force was strong enough, casting Earth Palace Law would be even easier.

The Boundless Earth Palace could draw in all external objects, and this drawing force naturally followed Zhao Xing's control. It could therefore be used to cancel out the force of his fall.

"Hum~"

A shallow underground palace quickly formed, mirroring the airspace where Zhao Xing hovered.

"Rise Wind!"

Zhao Xing cast Rise Wind again, and this time the spell's power returned to normal.

A powerful gust held Zhao Xing aloft, and at twenty meters above the ground, his body stabilized.

"Crack~"

The dead branch beneath his feet snapped, and Zhao Xing landed on the ground.

"Hoo~"

Zhao Xing took a deep breath, but his chest felt searing hot, so he hastily exhaled.

"The air is a bit scorching. How many suns are in the sky now?"

Zhao Xing looked up and saw three luminous bodies in the southeast, southwest, and due north.

The one due north was the brightest, like the blazing sun at noon.

The southeast and southwest ones were dimmer—bright enough that even an ordinary person could look at them directly.

"Three suns in the sky, and the intensity isn't too extreme yet." Zhao Xing narrowed his eyes slightly.

The Ten Sun Grotto-Heaven was named for these luminous bodies.

"The scene of Ten Suns in the Sky is the rarest—in the five or six years since the grotto-heaven was discovered, it has appeared only once. But when it does appear, it's a disaster. Apart from staying inside buildings covered by protective formations, even fifth-rank powerhouses can't endure it for long, and anyone below fifth rank will die in a very short time."

"A Single Sun in the Sky, rising in the east and setting in the west, is also very rare—about as likely as Ten Suns in the Sky. But when it appears, it signals tremendous vitality; all things revive, and many treasures are born, like the spiritual marvels of sacred mountains."

"Normally, in the Ten Sun Grotto-Heaven, three to five suns appear, and not all of them carry such overwhelming power." Zhao Xing recalled the information in his mind.

Some of it came from materials he had just read in the Armory, some from knowledge gained in his previous life.

"Right now it's Three Suns in the Sky, positioned in the southeast, southwest, and due north. It isn't too scorching yet—I have to reach the proper position for the Three Suns' full power to take effect." Zhao Xing thought to himself.

At the moment it was essentially equivalent to two suns in the sky at once. Although unbearably hot for ordinary people, the effect on Zhao Xing wasn't too severe.

"The hours on the Evil-Averting Almanac are completely scrambled." Zhao Xing pulled out the Evil-Averting Almanac from his robes.

He had departed at the You hour; the passage should have taken only about two quarter-hours, yet the almanac now showed the third quarter of the Wu hour.

Less than ten seconds later, it changed again to the first quarter of the Xu hour.

"It's been affected by the chaotic time-flow inside the Ten Sun Grotto-Heaven." A thoughtful glint flashed in Zhao Xing's eyes. "There's a method to recalibrate it, so the almanac's hours always follow the sun in the proper position."

In his previous life, after more than half of the Ten Sun Grotto-Heaven had been explored, the Si Nong had summarized the Ten Sun Positioning Method.

The Ten Sun Positioning Method was very complex, but the Three Sun Positioning Method was comparatively simple.

"I only need to cast a cloud spell to block out the other suns' light, open a window in the cloud layer, and aim the Evil-Averting Almanac at the sun in the proper position. Then the almanac's hours will return to normal."

"Once the hour function recovers, the directional function will recover as well."

Zhao Xing planned to try it, because the southeast, southwest, and due north he had identified were based on his own facing and the perceived intensity of the light.

But such judgment wasn't accurate. Different positions within the Ten Sun Grotto-Heaven, and different hours, along with changes in the luminous bodies' intensity, could all cause errors in his current assessment.

To get an accurate bearing, he had to rely on the almanac—this third-rank superior-grade treasure.

"Move Clouds!"

Zhao Xing was about to raise a layer of clouds overhead when, unexpectedly, a sound rang out from two li away, and Jin Guang shot up into the sky.

Someone else was also casting a cloud spell.

"Hm?"

Zhao Xing looked in that direction, and his bright eyes reflected a flushed, square-shaped face.

"Could he also be trying to recalibrate his almanac?"

"True, although the Ten Sun Positioning Method was only summarized later, it's hardly surprising that someone now knows the Three Sun Positioning Method."

He had assumed that once the other party finished calibrating the almanac, they would dismiss the cloud layer.

But he hadn't expected the other party to keep the cloud layer up the whole time, and without even glancing at the almanac, just walk off in some direction.

The square-faced Sinong couldn't calibrate the almanac himself, but he didn't want others using the sun to confirm their bearings either.

"He can't calibrate the almanac, so he props up clouds just to block the three suns in the sky? If he's weak, he drags everyone down to his level… Hmm, very Sinong of him."

Seeing this, Zhao Xing no longer hesitated.

Whoosh whoosh!

Jin Guang flickered, shooting straight up into the sky.

A Cloud-Walking that normally cost one unit of Pang Yuan Qi now consumed double, and its effect was greatly diminished.

But Zhao Xing's cloud layer, at the ninth tier of the Scroll, formed a black vortex in midair.

"Cloud Devouring!"

The domineering Cloud Devouring method began swallowing others' cloud Qi, reducing its own consumption.

The cloud layer quickly spread across the sky.

It forcibly tore apart and devoured the square-faced Sinong's cloud technique.

"Who?!"

The square-faced man was greatly shocked.

He hadn't expected that even though he had cast his cloud first, a later arrival could overturn it.

One had to know his cloud technique was mid-tier seventh-turn, and he cultivated the Soldier Cloud Method—he was already in the ranks of experts among the reserve candidates.

Through his senses, the square-faced man quickly spotted Zhao Xing's presence.

"To be able to tear apart and devour my cloud Qi—what a domineering cloud technique, how have I never seen it before?"

"Which army are you from, sir? My name is Ouyang Song, from the Fifth Pan Army of Lishui Commandery, Ping Haizhou. I'm about to join the Zhenhai Army—might I make a friend, and we could…"

Ouyang Song was hoping to befriend Zhao Xing and travel together to report to the Sinong Bureau.

But before his words had finished, the cloud layer in the sky vanished.

"Hmm?" Ouyang Song stared at the sky in surprise—hadn't the cloud layer just been propped up? Why was it dismissed again?

Looking back, Zhao Xing had also disappeared.

"There are truly many experts." Ouyang Song gazed in the direction Zhao Xing had vanished, and the trace of pride in his heart faded as well. "I'm a genius in the Fifth Pan Army, but here, who isn't a genius?"

"A local genius is only the threshold for participating in this training—I should keep a low profile…"

Ouyang Song no longer propped up clouds either, picked a direction carefully, and hurried on his way properly.

Over ten thousand people had entered the Ten Sun Grotto-heaven, but Zhao Xing noticed that not many had landed in his vicinity.

Apart from the square-faced youth he had just seen, he walked for another quarter-hour without spotting anyone else or detecting any spell activity.

"Looks like I broke through the boundary wall fairly early. Good—saves the trouble of fighting over time."

Zhao Xing checked the map. He had now reached a broken-rock zone, barren of vegetation all around, with only very fine gravel, and it was a dark red color.

"Earthfire Plains—according to the map's markings, I'm on the east side of the Earthfire Plains, and the Sinong Bureau lies to the west."

"I could take a detour, but that would mean traveling eight times the distance."

"But if I cross the Earthfire Plains, it's more dangerous. The earth's fire-fires float on the surface, and even with the Golden Straw Raincoat, it's easy to get hurt. Plus there are some graded exotic beasts blocking the way."

Taking the detour might not actually be slower, because according to the materials and map Old Chen had given him, the detour was less dangerous—even if there were fierce beasts, none of them were graded.

Not taking the detour and wanting to cross quickly would depend on whether one had the ability.

"The Earthfire Plains is a zone that filters out geniuses and mediocrity. This single terrain alone is enough to weed out seventy or eighty percent of the trainees." Zhao Xing didn't hesitate and stepped straight into the Earthfire Plains.

He was still somewhat confident in his own strength—having cultivated so many spells to perfection was enough to handle many complex environments.

"The power of the earth's fire-veins surges violently, not even a blade of grass grows around. Otherwise I could have woven a few straw men to scout the way."

"Five Elements Earth-Splitting Method!"

After Zhao Xing used his Cloud-Stepping Boots to swiftly cross a broken slab of earthfire rock, he suddenly cast a spell toward the rear.

"Boom!"

The ground suddenly split open, and a fissure stretching seven or eight thousand meters appeared behind Zhao Xing.

The dark-red earthfire rock was exposed, and the earthfire erupted violently, soon spilling out and forming a small river of lava.

"Gurgle~"

The earthfire surged up, forming pillars like a red ribbon; viewed from the sky, a barrier belt had formed here.

Great Success of Fortune!

A faint smile appeared on Zhao Xing's face.

His thoughts were exactly the same as Ouyang Song's.

While hurrying on his own way, he had to make it hard for others to hurry on theirs.

It happened that Zhao Xing had noticed the earth's vein power here was unusually strong, perfect for casting the Five Elements Earth-Splitting Method.

So Zhao Xing cast it without the slightest hesitation.

"The Five Elements Earth-Splitting Method has drawn out the earth's fire-veins below. The Cloud-Stepping Boots can only do brief low-altitude leaps—even if those behind want to fly over, they'll have to consider whether they'll get sprayed by the earthfire."

Zhao Xing looked at his handiwork with satisfaction, then continued on his way.

Ten Sun Grotto-heaven, Taicang Court.

Taicang Court was part of the Sinong Bureau, and also the place where the reserve military Sinong candidates were to report this time.

At this moment, in one of the palaces of Taicang Court, two Sinong officials sat at a desk.

Before them stood several dozen mirrors, each over a dozen meters tall.

What the mirrors reflected were the major regions from the Dahu entrance all the way to the Sinong Bureau's Taicang Court.

"The reserves joining this training cycle are pretty mediocre—not many standouts." One of the officials, a middle-aged man in a Qilin Wolin service uniform, sipped his wine and casually flipped through a roster.

"Brother Lu, you say that every year." Another man, clad in armor with seven auspicious clouds on his chest, laughed. "Every year you tell these new recruits they're the worst batch. Didn't Zhenhai Army and Lieyang Army produce a few good seedlings a couple years back? In just two years, they rose to commander rank."

"Zizhi, what does their poor performance in training have to do with how fast they get promoted later?" Lu Bang looked at Zuo Zizhi. "Besides, the ones you mentioned all got ahead partly thanks to their family backgrounds—that's why they rose so fast."

"Well, here's hoping this year brings some good seedlings worthy of Brother Lu's eye." Zuo Zizhi said.

"Whether they catch my eye or not, I still have to train them—who told me to take on this assignment?" Lu Bang tossed the roster aside. "I just hope it won't be too boring. I'll nap for a bit—Brother Zuo, keep an eye on things for me…"

"Buzz~~" Suddenly, one of the mirrors marked Earthfire Plain began to tremble. Beside its surface sat seven beads, representing Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, and Thunder respectively.

As the mirror trembled, the red bead beside it lit up as well, indicating an anomaly had appeared in that region.