Chapter 136: Second Mandatory Training Ranking and Gains (Combined Chapter)

"Boom~"

The martial-artist squad that had been sparring not far away suddenly felt the ground tremble and all stopped what they were doing.

"What's going on, an earthquake?"

"The earth is cracking? Could it be Zhao the Agricultural Officer?"

"Huh, how come a sapling is growing out from here?"

"The ice layer is a foot thick and it's completely split open—look over there!" Chen Fang pointed east, his face full of surprise. "That spot was flat just now, but now there's a thirty-meter mound of earth."

Everyone immediately looked over, and sure enough, five hundred meters to the east, a small mound had appeared. The mound was entirely piled up from solidified clods of earth; the two largest layers of soil looked as if they had been squeezed toward each other by some tremendous force and then pushed upward, forming the shape of a person.

"In the direction of the flying boat, a huge crack has appeared!" Hu Bing leaped up on the spot, then scanned his surroundings; after landing, his eyes held a trace of astonishment. "That big crack is ten meters wide and bottomless, and there are eight more cracks like it around here, plus over a hundred smaller ones… how was this done?"

"Are the ley lines here this fragile?" Zhang Jie also stared around in astonishment.

Xia Jing shook his head; in the dark of night, a strange glint flashed through his eyes: "It's not that the ley lines are fragile—it's that the Earth-Splitting Art Zhao Xing performed is just too powerful."

"Look, the ice and snow have already started to melt. He must have used a fire-element earth-splitting art to make the underground fire here rise."

"So it is." The crowd clicked their tongues in wonder.

But Xia Jing had actually guessed wrong, because what Zhao Xing had performed was not a single-element earth-splitting art, but the Five-Element Earth-Splitting Art!

It was simply that each trade was a world apart; Xia Jing could only tell it was an earth-splitting art.

"Who told you to stop!" Liu Yongli ran over and berated them. "Bringing you here to train in different environments is precisely to make you adapt to all kinds of environmental changes. Now you've all interrupted your training—every single one of you loses ten points!!"

Swish~

Liu Yongli's gaze landed on Xia Jing: "Xia Jing, as the head of the Azure Dragon Martial Division, and the first to stop, you lose twenty points!"

"Yes, this subordinate knows his fault." Xia Jing accepted the penalty; those twenty points were nothing to him.

"Continue training, no stopping!" Liu Yongli barked. "Even if the sky falls, you must not change color! Understood?"

"Understood!"

The ten martial artists once again began their training.

The middle-aged physician plucked a flower from a slab of ice and let out a soft sound of surprise: "How did a second-grade ice lotus seedling even grow here?"

Liu Yongli turned his head to look: "What do you mean?"

The middle-aged physician put the snow lotus in his mouth and bit it: "It'd be too complicated to explain and you wouldn't understand anyway. You just need to know that the casting that kid did earlier was very strong—surprisingly strong."

Liu Yongli was a bit puzzled: how strong could Zhao Xing, an eighth-grade Agricultural Officer, possibly be, for even a sixth-grade physician to say so?

………

【You have cast the spell 'Five-Element Earth-Splitting'. This casting triggered a 'Derivation-Three' level fortune blessing; the 'Earth' element's effectiveness is additionally doubled, splitting the earth for a hundred zhang.】

【You have cast the spell 'Five-Element Earth-Splitting'. This casting triggered a 'Derivation-Three' level fortune blessing; the 'Fire' element's effectiveness is additionally tripled, and underground fire surges upward.】

【You have cast the spell 'Five-Element Earth-Splitting'. This casting triggered a 'Derivation-Three' level fortune blessing; the 'Wood' element's effectiveness is additionally quadrupled, and vitality bursts forth.】

【You have cast the spell 'Five-Element Earth-Splitting'…】

【…】

Zhao Xing watched the panel scrolling nonstop and immediately broke into a smile.

He had just circled the planting area and cast 'Five-Element Earth-Splitting' forty-five times in a row.

Among them, the number of times a great-success fortune trigger occurred reached as high as thirty-four!

And so, the current utterly explosive scene came about.

"Underground fire surging, vitality bursting forth… the Gambler's Art is badass!"

In his previous life, Zhao Xing had had little interest in this art, mainly because his fortune level had been low back then. Whether farming or fighting, he rarely used it, because the uncontrollability was too high—no one was willing to gamble on luck in battle; lose once and your life might be gone.

By the time his fortune had risen, the Gambler's Art had already been phased out.

But in this life he had reached the 'Derivation-Three' level of fortune early on, so the feeling of casting it was completely different.

One word: exhilarating!

"Hoo~"

Zhao Xing descended from the sky and landed on the flying boat.

Then he saw Zhou Ming staring at him with a strange look.

"Did I break a rule?" Zhao Xing asked cautiously.

"No."

"Then did I step out of bounds?"

"No either."

Then why are you staring at me like that?

Zhao Xing sat down at the table and began to eat.

Agricultural Officers ate separately, so whatever Zhou Ming ate, he ate.

Having expended quite a bit of primal energy earlier, Zhao Xing didn't stand on ceremony; he cupped his hands toward Zhou Ming in a brief greeting, then sat at the table and ate heartily.

Let the ley lines run wild for a while.

"How did you do it?" Zhou Ming also sat down beside the table and poured Zhao Xing a cup of wine.

Zhou Ming was a sixth-grade-lower Agricultural Master; although he belonged to the Heavenly Timing Court, that didn't mean he didn't study earth-element spells.

Zhao Xing's earth-splitting technique had practically knocked Zhou Ming's jaw off.

Forty-five spells, thirty-four great successes—what kind of concept was that?

Out of every four casts, three triggered an extra effect!

If that kind of probability could be guaranteed, the power of the Five-Element Earth-Splitting Art could completely rival high-tier techniques!

Even Zhou Ming, a sixth-grade, was envious!

"Luck."

Zhou Ming's eyes widened, and with a light flick of his finger, the poured wine flowed back into the pot.

Seeing this, Zhao Xing could not help but say helplessly, "I'm not brushing you off—it's really luck."

"You also know that the essence of the Five Elements Earth-Splitting Method is to disrupt the ley line power of a region."

"It's like taking one stone ball to smash into five stone balls squeezed together, with six holes beside them. Whether the five fall into the holes or get bounced away after the impact is completely uncontrollable."

"If that's not luck, then what is it?"

Zhou Ming poured the wine full again, sat down thoughtfully, and said, "Your example is a bit strange. Why six holes? Shouldn't Five Elements Wind and Thunder be seven?"

"Slip of the tongue." Fearing Zhou Ming would take the wine back again, Zhao Xing hurriedly took a sip of Purple Jade Nectar.

"Every four times you smash, three times the ball goes into the hole—and you call that luck?" Zhou Ming asked. "Didn't you research some method of your own?"

Zhao Xing laughed upon hearing this and said, "If I had that kind of skill, it wouldn't be hard for me to go to the Lihuo Dao Academy and take the exam for a Preaching Mage. Create my own high-tier method? You're really thinking too highly of me."

Zhou Ming nodded. It seemed he was overthinking it.

In the end, he could only believe Zhao Xing's words.

Luck cannot be learned.

Although Great Zhou was a dynasty of fortune, it neither had methods for cultivating fortune, nor methods for observing fortune levels—it hadn't even classified them. Yan One, Yan Two—those were purely sect terminology.

It was just like how the almanac only published the averting-calamity version, never the attracting-auspicious version.

When Great Zhou's founding emperor settled the realm, he slashed at the professions related to 'fate' and 'fortune,' as well as 'feng shui'—and he cut right to the main artery.

Otherwise, everyone would just go tell fortunes, calculate luck, find powerful legs to cling to—who'd bother cultivating?

So the topic had to end here.

Zhao Xing finished eating at top speed, recovered his vitality, then disembarked from the flying boat and began adjusting the ley lines again.

"Drip~ drip~"

At this moment, the underground fire had risen several times over, and even the accumulated snow began to melt.

Zhao Xing used Ley Line Convergence, King Di Zang Return to Origin, and Boundless Earth Palace to begin sorting out the ley lines.

This made Zhou Ming look at him with renewed respect.

Using Ley Line Convergence and King Di Zang Return to Origin to adjust the ley lines according to the Five Elements' generating and restraining cycles—that was the standard method.

But being able to use the Earth Palace method to adjust them as well—that was absolutely an experienced veteran Farmer-Official!

"The Boundless Earth Palace presses down on the water vein, using the Earth Palace method to control the Five Elements' water, in order to aid the ley line's wood element."

"Wood aids fire—he forcibly raised the originally very weak fire element to the same strength as the water element."

"Hm? Is that a Divine Movement Guardian?"

Zhou Ming stopped eating too, jumping down to the ground to sense Zhao Xing's operations beneath the earth.

At this moment, beneath the ground, besides a Boundless Earth Palace, there was another Earth Palace resembling an octagonal cage, charging back and forth underground.

Just like plowing a field, it channeled the overly flourishing water element of the ley lines toward Pine Snow Lake.

"He's using the Boundless Earth Palace as a wall, blocking the water element power of Pine Snow Lake from spreading to the lakeside…then using the Cloud-Swallowing Method to block the heavy snowfall, absorb the water vapor, and then pour it back toward Pine Snow Lake. If this cycle continues, in less than a day, barren land will turn into fertile soil."

"This kid not only has a high level of Dili Sect methods, but also a deep understanding of the Five Elements—I actually feel like I've learned something." Zhou Ming felt a surge of emotion.

As an evaluator observing Zhao Xing, he had originally only been doing his duty, but as he watched, he actually felt like he'd learned a thing or two.

Although he was a Farmer-Official of the Celestial Timing Academy, he was a Sixth Rank after all, and he was also well-versed in Dili Sect spells.

To make even him feel like he'd learned something?

"Bah! Ge Jinsong and Cheng Qingming of the Celestial Timing Academy are simply occupying positions without doing anything—blind as bats!"

"Exhausting."

After jumping back onto the flying boat, Zhao Xing lay sprawled out on the deck, not wanting to move at all.

If one word were used to summarize the characteristics of each sect's spells, the Celestial Timing Sect was carefree and elegant, the Benwo Sect was bizarre and strange, and the Dili Sect was just plain hard work.

Walking the Dili Sect path was like this—there was no such thing as a small workload.

Hearing Zhao Xing complain, Zhou Ming casually served up a bowl of chicken soup: "Only by being willing to endure hardship can you have a future."

"As long as you're willing to endure hardship, there's endless hardship to endure."

Zhou Ming couldn't help but laugh.

Zhao Xing got up, ran to the table, and started devouring food ravenously.

Seeing him so hungry, Zhou Ming poured Zhao Xing another bowl of 【Purple Jade Nectar】, waited for him to drain it in one gulp, then asked with a smile, "Cultivating at the Dili Academy is very hard work, isn't it? So, would you consider switching places? Look, the Celestial Timing Academy is very comfortable."

"Comfortable how?" Zhao Xing asked casually.

"Pioneering the Ten Suns Grotto-Heaven—the heavy, rough work is done by the Dili Academy, the miscellaneous, detailed work is done by the Taicang Academy and Pinghuai Academy."

"Our Celestial Timing Academy just needs to run over and set the celestial timing, and we might still take the lion's share of the credit. Tell me, is that comfortable or not?"

Zhao Xing looked up and blinked: "Is that something you can say?"

Zhou Ming smiled and took a sip of wine: "Whether it's said or not, the situation is what it is."

After eating and drinking his fill, Zhao Xing didn't go down to work anymore, because the seeds had already been planted; all he had to do now was wait for them to mature.

Seeing that Zhou Ming was easy to talk to, Zhao Xing casually asked about the situation in the Ten Suns Grotto-Heaven: "I heard the Ten Suns Grotto-Heaven has only been developed less than thirty percent so far?"

Zhou Ming shook his head: "The whole thing hasn't even been fully explored—how can we talk about thirty percent?"

Zhao Xing asked, "Could you tell me where the boundary markers have reached?"

"North to the Polar Night Sea, east to Inverted Shanfeng, west to Peng Lize, south to Crimson Lake."

"The Polar Night Sea has no light year-round, pitch dark and extremely cold. From where we are now at Pine Snow Lake, another five thousand li north and you've entered the Polar Night Sea's territory."

"Inverted Shanfeng is the place your Fan Agricultural Supervisor recently developed. There are many mountains and ranges hanging upside down in the sky like aerial islands. That's because the earth-element ley lines inverted, forming a natural reversed Earth Palace. We still don't know how far its influence extends."

"Peng Lize is shrouded in thick, lingering miasma, with strange beasts running rampant. Most of the strange beasts in the Mysterious Earth Prison were captured from there by the nine garrison forces."

"Crimson Lake got its name because underground fire riots erupted massive amounts of lava, dyeing it crimson. This place produces the native species 'Underground Fire Lotus,' which can help people practice Earth Sha—it's the best auxiliary cultivation item for Seventh Rank."

Zhao Xing poured Zhou Ming a cup of wine.

Zhou Ming finished his drink and chatted at length: "At present, the Earth Advantage Court focuses its main efforts on the Fallen Shanfeng and Crimson Lake regions, while the Heaven Timing Court focuses on the Peng Lize and Polar Night Sea directions."

"As for the known territories, such as the Ten Thousand Li Lei Chi, Earth Fire Plains, Gang Wind Mountain Range, and Heavenly Fire Path, there are still plenty of points-earning missions to scoop up."

"Of course, for fifth-rank, those are small-time skirmishes, not worth searching anymore. It's still more comfortable like Steward Fan Nong, who got a billion points in one go at Fallen Shanfeng."

Zhao Xing thought for a moment and asked: "I've heard that when a single sun hangs in the sky, there must be a prodigy of heaven and earth produced, and when ten suns hang in the sky, it destroys heaven and earth—even fifth-rank can't withstand it. I wonder how many times these two phenomena have appeared? What year was the last one?"

Zhou Ming recalled: "In the third month of Jingxin Year 11, a single sun appeared once; in the tenth month, ten suns appeared once. But the range wasn't large and didn't reach Yangcheng. Why do you ask?"

"I've never seen such terrifying phenomena, just curious."

"You still have a chance to see a single sun, but you'll never get to see ten suns."

"Why?"

"Because it can never appear again. With the efforts of the Agricultural Supervisorate, constantly reforming the heaven timing and earth advantage within the Ten Sun Grotto-heaven, the ten suns no longer exist." Zhou Ming said, "Look above Yangcheng—the heaven timing there stays stable at below three suns year-round."

Zhao Xing nodded, but he knew the Ten Sun Grotto-heaven would still see ten suns once more—seven years after the first appearance.

That would be Jingxin Year 18.

The second ten suns destroyed heaven and earth, with an even larger range and greater power, bringing severe disaster, and many powerful experts perished because of it.

Because before it appeared, a large-scale prodigy of heaven and earth had also been brewing. This led the Agricultural Supervisorate to misjudge, thinking the reform had truly succeeded and the grotto-heaven had become a blessed land.

"It's now the sixth month of Jingxin Year 16, two years away. I've never heard of Old Chen—could it be that he died in the Jingxin Year 18 disaster?"

"There's still time. When the time comes, I can make some changes." Zhao Xing thought to himself.

Military Agricultural training normally takes a year and a half, and it may be delayed, but it won't be shorter than that.

That means he'll stay at least until the second half of Jingxin Year 17.

If the Divine Might Army has an external assignment then, he'll leave—the timing is uncertain. If not, he'll stay at this grotto-heaven garrison.

No matter what, Zhao Xing can't just sit by and do nothing. After all, he's now joined the Divine Might Army, and he can't just watch Old Chen die.

"Buzz—"

Just then, the Earth Mirror trembled, interrupting Zhao Xing's thoughts.

He took out the Earth Mirror and saw it was a ranking list. It listed the points rankings of over ten thousand people in the Agricultural Supervisorate.

"The points tally for the first three days is out." Zhou Ming also took out his Earth Mirror. "Not bad, kid—you're ranked third."

"Third?" Zhao Xing opened the list and looked.

【First place, Shi Yong, Training Points: 35,550】

【Second place, Zhuang Ziqing, Training Points: 35,330】

【Third place, Zhao Xing, Training Points: 35,150】

【Fourth place, Feng Qiu, Training Points: 35,030】

【Fifth place, Cao Shuang, Training Points: 34,980】

【Sixth place, Jiang Tianming, Training Points: 34,920】

【Seventh place, Han Bing, Training Points: 34,850】

【Eighth place, Guan Junyang, Training Points: 34,770】

……

【Twenty-first place, Meng Song, Training Points: 33,280】

"Shi Yong is four hundred points ahead of me, and Zhuang Ziqing is also a hundred and eighty ahead." Zhao Xing looked at the rankings. Though the gap wasn't large, it was still a reflection of strength.

It proved that everyone still had gaps in their extreme utilization of the environment.

"Cao Shuang and Jiang Tianming from the same court had performance issues. Han Bing from the middle-tier actually fought his way to seventh, and Feng Qiu is even more outrageous—actually fourth?"

Zhao Xing was somewhat surprised. Feng Qiu was from the Heaven Timing Court and only had middle-tier resources, yet he charged to fourth this time.

Besides those two, Li Feng and Cai Jin also appeared in the top twenty-one.

"The gaps in the top twenty-one aren't very large—only the top three have gaps over a hundred. The points gaps behind them are all under a hundred."

"The environment of the first three days really was easy to score high." Zhao Xing thought to himself.

Second-tier supplies, one thousand jin, 100 points.

Third-tier supplies, one thousand jin, 1,000 points.

Fourth-tier supplies, one thousand jin, 10,000 points.

Zhao Xing planted five thousand jin of third-tier Hemp Fish Fruit, fifteen hundred jin of second-tier supplies, and three thousand jin of Fire-Glare Green Gold, earning 35,150.

On third and fourth tier, he estimated there was no gap with Shi Yong; that four hundred points was probably in the quantity of second-tier supplies.

"Shi Yong and Zhuang Ziqing pushed the extreme supplies a bit further." Zhao Xing thought to himself. "Over two months, everyone's improved, and some have caught up."

"I need to work harder too."

Putting away the Earth Mirror, Zhao Xing leapt off the flying boat and began focusing on supply training.

………………

June 26th, the fourth day of supply training, Chen hour.

The sky over Pine Snow Lake was still a gray haze, with three moons still hanging in the sky.

This was because it was close to the Polar Night Sea, and the light always remained at a relatively low level.

Zhao Xing arrived at Pine Snow Lake at Zi hour, used the Gambling Dog battle method, and only finished the earth advantage environment at Yin hour, third quarter.

At Yin hour, fourth quarter, he sowed, casting 【Wild Growth】 and 【Wasteland Condensation】 once every quarter-hour.

By Chen hour, seventh quarter, the third-tier supplies came out.

A total of ten thousand jin, earning 10,000 points.

At Si hour exactly, Zhao Xing delivered the third-tier supplies.

Liu Yongli also called a halt to the training.

Xia Jing, Chen Fang, Hu Bing, and Zhang Jie were speechless upon seeing ten thousand jin of third-tier supplies.

The Fire-Glory Lapis from yesterday hadn't even been finished, and now another ten thousand catties had arrived.

"Can't finish it, can't finish it at all…" Zhang Jie muttered. "Looks like I'll be spending this whole month feeling stuffed."

"Be grateful it's not hemp fish fruit and Fire-Glory Lapis," Xia Jing said. "What more could you ask for?"

"Fair point, a little bloating is a little bloating." Hu Bing glanced at the military doctor's expression. "At least there's no extra torment."

Zhao Xing set down the supplies and hurried off.

The warriors began eating one after another, and this batch of supplies was indeed far more normal.

June 27th, the fifth day of supply training.

Zhao Xing once again grew a third-tier supply, yielding five thousand catties, earning 5,000 points.

June 28th, the sixth day of supply training.

A fourth-tier supply, four thousand five hundred catties, earning 45,000 points.

June 29th, everyone headed to a new location.

Around the mao hour, the points rankings shifted.

【First place, Shi Yong, training points: 95,450】

【Second place, Zhao Xing, training points: 95,150】

【Third place, Zhuang Ziqing, training points: 85,330】

【Fourth place, Feng Qiu, training points: 80,200】

……

"At Pine Snow Lake, I got a total of 60,000 points, bringing my overall score to 95,150." Zhao Xing was quite satisfied. "The gap with Shi Yong has narrowed, and I've overtaken Zhuang Ziqing."

The gambling-dog tactic did its job; otherwise, at this second location, he wouldn't have been able to score so many points.

"Starting from the second location, the gaps are gradually showing, and the scores are now separated by tens of thousands." Zhao Xing thought to himself.

On the other side, Zhuo Li was also looking at the rankings.

"How did he suddenly get 60,000 points?!"

"His total is over ninety thousand, while I only have sixty thousand right now."

"Is the gap between him and me really this big?"

Zhuo Li's hand gripping the Earth Mirror had gone a little pale.

"I've climbed to thirteenth place, up five spots." Li Feng thought to himself — on the first ranking he'd been eighteenth. "But the gap with those ahead is still being pulled wider."

"Shi Yong, Zhuang Ziqing, Zhao Xing — they all gained so many points?"

"This Zhao Xing has actually climbed to second place, and he overtook Zhuang Ziqing by nearly ten thousand points!"

Seeing that glaring name, Li Feng's face was full of displeasure.

"At the third location, I have to push harder and strive to trample them all underfoot!"

Zhuang Ziqing was also holding his Earth Mirror, looking at the rankings.

"At the second location, I got 50,000 points, Shi Yong got 59,900 points, and this Zhao Xing actually got 60,000?" Zhuang Ziqing looked at the rankings, somewhat surprised.

"At the second location, he got ten thousand points more than me?"

"Where did I fall short?"

Zhuang Ziqing was summing it up.

Because everyone's environment was the same, if Zhao Xing was at Pine Snow Lake, then the others must have been at Pine Snow Lake too — the place was large enough, they simply hadn't run into each other.

Zhuang Ziqing had thought he could shake off Zhao Xing, but he hadn't expected that at the second location, he was instead the one left behind by Zhao Xing.

"Interesting — Zhao Xing actually got ten thousand points more than me." A spark of flame lit in Zhuang Ziqing's eyes. "Hmph, at this third location, I'll overtake him again!"

"How is it, still first?" Fu Ying looked toward his friend.

"Haven't looked." Shi Yong squatted on the ground, the wind at his fingertips turning over the soil as he observed carefully.

"Haven't looked?" Fu Ying said. "You really don't pay it any attention at all?"

"I only compete with myself." Shi Yong didn't even lift his head, saying calmly. "Besides, there's no need to look."

"Haha, you're plenty confident." Fu Ying said. "You say you compete with yourself, but really you think no one can catch up to you?"

"You should go train."

June 29th, twin suns hanging in the sky.

Zhao Xing stepped off the flying boat and looked around — seven peaks surrounded the area, and the basin in the middle of those seven peaks was their training zone.

The agrarian calendar showed it was the 【Minor Heat】 solar term. Zhao Xing sank underground and circled the area, and couldn't help feeling speechless.

"Goodness." Zhao Xing exclaimed.

Because the ley lines here had extremely stable Five Elements and wind-thunder energies, and the seven peaks completely suppressed the ley lines.

In other words, the terrain advantage here could not be altered.

It was a textbook "anti-gambling-dog-tactic" terrain.

"Playing targeted counters, are you." Zhao Xing muttered.

He'd only just had a good run with the gambling-dog tactic, and three days later he was sanctioned.

But Zhao Xing only grumbled about it in his heart — the higher-ups couldn't have changed the training location just for him, which meant the Seven Peaks Basin had been set up from the start.

"To reduce the influence of terrain-advantage spells, I'll have to rely on the Benwo Sect and Celestial Timing Sect spells."

After getting a clear picture of the terrain, Zhao Xing cast a Celestial Timing spell, using the solar-term command 【Start of Summer】 to replace the Seven Peaks Basin's celestial timing.

Then he selected suitable seeds and planted them.

During the three days at the Seven Peaks Basin, Zhao Xing earned 50,000 points.

July 3rd, the tenth day of training.

The points rankings updated.

Zhao Xing took out the Earth Mirror to look.

【First place, Shi Yong, training points: 155,450】

【Second place, Zhao Xing, training points: 145,150】

【Third place, Zhuang Ziqing, training points: 140,330】

【Fourth place, Feng Qiu, training points: 120,200】

"The gap has been pulled open by Shi Yong, reaching ten thousand points." Zhao Xing summarized. "In Seven Peaks Basin, I only got 50,000 points, but Shi Yong got 60,000."

"Zhuang Ziqing also got 55,000. It should be due to the cultivation gap from the Solar Terms Order."

【Wasteland Condensation Art】 seven revolutions, 【Wild Growth】 complete.

Zhao Xing had some advantages at the Benwo Sect.

But the influence of geographical factors decreased, and without the gambling-dog battle method, his cultivation gap in the Solar Terms Order became more apparent.

Because Zhuang Ziqing and Shi Yong had both entered the army early, serving as Military Agronomists for several years, they had cultivated the Solar Terms Order for several more years.

He, however, only began cultivating it after entering the Ten Suns Grotto-Heaven. The influence of the Heaven-Timing Method on production and supply was still very significant—the mainstream schools were no joke.

Zhao Xing briefly summarized, then focused on what was before him.

July 3rd to July 13th.

During this period, three different training locations were switched through.

Heaven-Timing and Earth-Advantage conditions changed accordingly.

There were three days of scorching Three Suns Hanging, and howling biting gales.

Arid, water-scarce desert zones, even with strange beasts interfering with planting.

Over those ten days, he and Zhuang Ziqing alternated rising—sometimes second, sometimes third.

But Zhao Xing no longer paid attention to the rankings, instead immersing himself in the various environments of the Ten Suns Grotto-Heaven.

Supply training let him know which direction to strive toward, how to reasonably match his own techniques, and thereby make corrections and adjustments to his own cultivation.

The first two months of technique cultivation were all theoretical, while this supply training was practical application.

In this atmosphere of mutual competition and different training environments, Zhao Xing was also growing rapidly.

On July 14th, the training difficulty skyrocketed.

The "Solar Terms Order" had completely failed, because the minimum was already Three Suns Hanging-level Heaven-Timing.

The Heaven-Timing Method's effectiveness was greatly reduced, and the same went for the Earth-Advantage Method.

Because from July 14th to the 24th, these final ten days of supply training, the three locations visited were the outer reaches of the Gang Wind Mountain Range, the outer reaches of the Earth Fire Plains, and the outer reaches of the Ten Thousand Li Lei Chi.

At the outer reaches of the Gang Wind Mountain Range, the planting difficulty was actually not that great, but after planting, how to defend it was the real problem.

Because the winds of the Gang Wind Mountain Range blew not only from the surface, but also up from underground.

Twelve hours without cease, an all-directional 'wind disaster' coverage.

Every Agronomist had to stay awake without a moment's rest, fighting for survival time for the planted crops.

Zhao Xing relied on the Lesser Nine Heavens Gang Wind and Yin Wind Methods, defending against the wind disaster with full concentration, and ultimately scored 20,000 points at the Gang Wind Mountain Range.

At the outer reaches of the Earth Fire Plains, the gambling-dog battle method failed once again.

Because fire is yang, governing ascent; water is yin, governing descent.

The effects brought by the gambling-dog battle method were strong indeed—good for blocking and killing enemies here—but it wasn't suitable for farming.

In the end, Zhao Xing only scored 10,000 points.

At the Ten Thousand Li Lei Chi, the situation was even more difficult.

Neither Heaven-Timing nor Earth-Advantage could be altered.

Zhao Xing could only try his luck, planting all the seeds in his Scholar Bamboo Box.

In the end, only two types of seeds survived.

He barely scraped together 3,000 points.

The final day of supply training ended, and Zhao Xing's group set foot on the return journey.

The assigned Martial Artist team, at this moment lying in the flying boat's cabin, completely did not want to speak.

For a full month straight, everyone had lost count of how many times they had thrown up from eating.

After the fourth day, Zhao Xing did stop tormenting people, but he couldn't help that his production volume was huge!

Couldn't finish it, simply couldn't finish it.

From the fourth day to the seventeenth day, the ten Martial Artists—every single one of them—the first thing upon waking was to eat, after eating they would practice the Gluttonous Food Method, then cooperate with exercise and military doctors for digestion.

After barely enduring until the eighteenth day, the environment grew increasingly harsh, and everyone hoped Zhao Xing's output would drop.

It did indeed drop, but the output after dropping was still a weight too heavy for everyone to bear.

In the final nine days and three training locations, Zhao Xing scored 20,000, 10,000, and 3,000 points respectively.

And toward the end, Zhao Xing himself had no choice either, and once again some bizarre foods appeared…

When everyone saw the walls of Yang City again.

Someone in the cabin finally couldn't hold back and spoke up.

"It's finally over, wuuuuh." Wang Meng lay sprawled against the window, tears streaming down his face.

"I've never felt Yang City was so lovely—it's practically my second home!" a Martial Artist sighed.

"The things I ate this month are equivalent to what I'd eat in two years." a short Martial Artist sniffed his own hand, "I don't think I'll eat fish again this year."

"Ugh~" Xia Jing beside him immediately reacted.

"Shut your mouth right now, don't say that word!" Xia Jing grabbed that short one by the throat, "Say it again and I'll cut you down!"

"Burp~" the Martial Artist being choked let out a burp, and a foul smell spread out.

"Ugh~" This time it wasn't just Xia Jing—the entire cabin began to feel nauseous.

"..."

Liu Yongli, standing at the hatchway, looked at these people and could not help but reveal a sympathetic gaze.

Even as a bystander, he felt this group was pitiful enough, having run into a crazy司農 like Zhao Xing.

"The Earth Fire Plains and Ten Thousand Li Lei Chi—are those places you can grow food? A whole month, and not a single breath of rest, day after day doing nothing but practicing the Gluttony Method... what a sin."

Whoosh~

The Flowing Cloud Flying Boat returned to the司農監.

Zhao Xing leapt off the Flowing Cloud Flying Boat and waved to the ten martial artists inside the cabin.

"Brothers, come visit often."

"Farewell!"

"Whoosh~" The Flowing Cloud Flying Boat shot off with a swish.

"Why run off so fast? Could've stayed for a cup of tea." Zhao Xing actually missed those ten people quite a bit, especially Xia Jing—that guy could really eat.

Most of what he grew himself ended up in that fellow's belly.

The other nine people combined didn't eat as much as Xia Jing alone.

"These last three training sites, I still couldn't grow much, and there wasn't any choice of flavor either. Sigh, can't blame them for running off so fast." Zhao Xing shook his head and walked into the Earth Advantage Court.

The moment he stepped through the entrance, the Earth Mirror trembled.

Zhao Xing took it out and looked—turns out the final rankings for the second mandatory training had come out.

Second and third got merged together, at least no debt owed now.

Also, thanks to all the bros for your concern—the author will go see a doctor when he gets up.

As long as nothing major happens, updates won't be interrupted!

The extra chapters for monthly tickets will be paid off this month!

Typos will be fixed when I get up!