Chapter 155: The Final Large-Scale Mandatory Training Ends, Zhao Xing Gets Humored

"Is there really a Mind-Dulling Art in this world?! Every single one of them has turned into an idiot!" Xia Jing looked at the people holding their heads and drooling foolishly, and could not help but shake his head.

"I never want to take part in this kind of mandatory training again. I don't know how much longer I can hold out."

Cao Shuang shook his head vigorously, as if trying to fling all the stupidity out of his skull.

"Zhao Xing, if I start acting as dumb as these martial artists later, just knock me out!"

Cao Shuang said this to Zhao Xing beside him.

Xia Jing was displeased: "What do you mean, looking down on us martial artists?"

"So what if I am? I'm looking down on you. What are you going to do about it?!" Cao Shuang said furiously.

"You want to die, don't you? I'll cut you down right now!" Xia Jing drew his treasured sword.

"Bring it on!" Cao Shuang stuck out his neck and gestured, "Chop here. If you don't chop, you're a dog-mothered Xia Jing!"

"I'm going to f*** your mother!" Xia Jing's treasured sword sang as it left its sheath, and he immediately slashed toward Cao Shuang's neck.

"Squelch~" A hand blocked in front of Cao Shuang's neck. Fresh blood flowed as the hand gripped the treasured sword.

"Brother Xia, come back to your senses." Zhao Xing slowly lifted Xia Jing's treasured sword upward. Although blood was flowing, he still moved the sword away from Cao Shuang's neck.

"F*** your horse, you really chopped? I'll fight you to the death!" Cao Shuang immediately spat out a line of fire. Flames shot up three zhang high as he charged toward Xia Jing.

"Boom!" "Ugh…"

Zhao Xing's hand-chop was fierce and swift, knocking Cao Shuang out. The flame that had been spat out swirled around, only singeing Xia Jing's hair into curls, before being absorbed back by Zhao Xing.

"Bastard, how dare you burn my hair with fire. Get out of the way, I'll split him open!" Xia Jing, who had just raised his sword, was about to chop down again.

"Smack!" Zhao Xing delivered a big slap to Xia Jing's forehead. His Niwan Palace trembled, and a wisp of golden aura was dispersed. "Are you calm now?"

"Hiss…" Reason returned to Xia Jing's eyes.

"Smack!" Zhao Xing, thinking Xia Jing had not recovered, delivered another one.

"Stop! That's enough, Brother Zhao, I'm clear-headed now!" Seeing Zhao Xing was about to hit a third time, Xia Jing immediately tossed aside his treasured sword, signaling that he was free of the spell's influence.

"Good, let's discuss a plan." Zhao Xing pointed at the sand table beside him and said, "In this joint military drill of all the departments, the senior commanding officers of our recruit camp are now few and far between."

"We need to gather these remnants and broken soldiers to break out as soon as possible. Otherwise, whether you're a martial artist, an agricultural official, or a mechanism master… none of us will get good results in this training."

Xia Jing rubbed his cheeks and lifted open the large tent flap to look.

Outside the camp, one group of people was brawling, another group lay collapsed on the ground, and yet another group squatted on the ground drooling while playing with ants.

Among the familiar faces of the Four Great Martial Departments, Zhang Jie was shamelessly defecating, Chen Fang was watching him defecate. Those who had kept their reason were still some, but their eyes all held a hint of confusion.

Chen Fang was even more wrapped in medical bandages, lying on a chair and groaning.

This was a large-scale 【Mandatory Training】, simulating real combat. The location was set at 'Heaven's Gate Peaks' near Daofeng Mountain.

The reserves within the Ten Sun Grotto-heaven — the Martial Department, the Agricultural Bureau, the workshop, and the Temple — participated jointly.

The Four Departments totaled over one hundred and fifty thousand people!

Their opponents numbered only thirty thousand, but these thirty thousand were all drawn from the nine regular armies within the Ten Sun Grotto-heaven.

This mandatory training truly gave the reserve recruits a harsh lesson.

One hundred and fifty thousand versus thirty thousand, with no other demands — they only needed to break out.

Yet half a month had passed, and even the most elite recruit camp, a genius combination like Xia Jing, Zhao Xing, and Cao Shuang, had not been able to break out.

Xia Jing's newly raised morale sank again.

God only knew what they had been through these past days.

First came the Hundred Ghosts Night Parade, as Temple ritualists commanded tens of thousands of mountain ghosts to raid the recruits' camp.

Immediately after, barbarian Five-Element stone-throwers bombarded them indiscriminately for seven days.

Five more days, and natural disasters followed one after another — floods, earthquakes, scorching sun, insect swarms… all the insects and beasts of Heaven's Gate Peaks had been driven their way.

In recent days, they had also sent Ritual Cultivators to cast Mind-Dulling Art, Discord-Sowing Art, and Provocation Art on the recruits.

The Provocation Art caused many recruits to break ranks, charging madly toward the veterans' main camp.

The Discord-Sowing Art — Chen Fang was an example. He was beaten up by Zhang Jie, Hu Bing, and ten other afflicted martial artists, and was still groaning over there.

During this time, the Mind-Dulling Art had been continuously in effect, making them all irritable and unable to think calmly.

Just now, Xia Jing had even wanted to cut Cao Shuang down with one sword.

"How do we fight?" Xia Jing stared at the sky in exasperation. "The command tent and military flags can't shelter everyone. The few of us designated as main commanders stay in the command hall, where ritualists cast spells, and we can block out one or two of them. But the moment we step out, we fall under these spells' influence."

Zhao Xing walked out after bandaging his palm: "If there's no way, we make a way — we still have to break out. The tricky part is that the spells' effects are intermittent. Whether it's Ritual Cultivators or Ghost-Controlling Ritualists, this kind of large-scale casting has an interval."

"Brother Xia, look here."

Xia Jing followed the direction Zhao Xing pointed and looked at the sand table inside the tent.

"Heaven's Gate Peaks — the distances between mountains, and the mechanism formations between each peak, all have gaps and weak points left in them. These are the breakout openings for us recruits."

"Welcoming Guest Peak, Birthday Wishes Peak, Three Clarity Mountain, Jade Curtain Waterfall, Carefree Valley, One-Line Sky, Southern Qing Garden… these forty-six locations are all places we can break out through."

"We are currently following the route of Birthday Wishes Peak, One-Line Sky, and Jade Curtain Waterfall. Based on previous breakout experience, the casting intervals along this route are: Ghost-Controlling Obstacles — starting at the third quarter of the Zi hour, lasting until the end of the Mao hour."

"Natural Disaster Obstacles — starting at the seventh quarter of the Chen hour, ending at the third quarter of the Shen hour. One of eighteen types of natural disasters appears at random. My brothers from the Agricultural Bureau and I can give advance warning."

"The Ritual Cultivators' Three Arts Blockade — starting at the fourth quarter of the You hour, ending at the end of the Hai hour. The three arts rotate in intervals, occasionally launching surprise attacks, but we also have breathing room."

"At the weak points, the soldiers' combat strength is also deliberately set to be relatively weak. As long as we can reach the location, we can charge through…"

Listening to Zhao Xing's explanation, Xia Jing's eyes lit up: "Right, we can get through. Zhao Xing, you truly have the bearing of a great general. I never expected you had thought of so much!"

Zhao Xing smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Brother Xia, this was the joint decision of all nine of us. We are already on the breakout route. This is the forty-seventh time I've told you all this."

Xia Jing was startled, then said: "Right, I remember now! It was indeed you, me, Cao Shuang, and Chen Fang, Zhang Yi and the others who thought of it together."

"How many times have I fallen to the 'Oblivion Art' now? Have any important decisions been missed during this time?"

"I can't remember clearly either." Zhao Xing took out a roll of yellow paper, on which many things were recorded. "But Zhang Yi used a Holy Page to record it. You can take a look."

"Where is he?" Xia Jing asked. "Resting nearby."

"Wang Gong and Qi Gong are repairing the flying boat." Zhao Xing said, "In another shichen, the people in camp will regain their senses, but you and I need to act quickly and wake these people ahead of time. Otherwise, we won't have much time left for traveling, and we'll fall under the next large-scale spell, entering a vicious cycle."

"Understood." Xia Jing glanced at the map. "We've already reached Hukou, almost successfully breaking out. You and I will split up and act separately now. If something feels off and you can't hold on, hurry back here."

Xia Jing looked at Cao Shuang lying on the ground and said sorrowfully, "If the high-ranking generals are all wiped out, the breakout is hopeless. This training exercise will probably be hard to pass."

The seventeenth year of the Jingxin Calendar, the nineteenth day of the second month.

Tianmen Peaks, South Clear Gardens.

Beyond the South Clear Gardens lay a stretch of barren land.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh~"

One battered flying boat after another wobbled high in the air, bobbing up and down, left and right, as if drunk burly men were piloting them.

"Buzz~"

Finally, one flying boat couldn't hold on any longer, letting out a wail and crashing headfirst into the ground. Fortunately, the forced-landing altitude wasn't high—it only kicked up a cloud of dust.

"Cough cough…"

A hand gripped the edge of the broken flying boat, and then Zhao Xing's face appeared.

"Damn it, Che Shihai, do you even know how to pilot a flying boat?! Doesn't your surname mean 'cart'? This boat's flying has rattled my bones nearly apart!"

Zhao Xing cursed as he reached back and hauled Che Shihai up.

Che Shihai, also disheveled and bleeding, couldn't help but cry out his grievance: "Can you blame me? Can you blame me?"

"Boss, you should blame Wang Gong! He's the one who didn't fix it properly. No matter how good my piloting skills are, it's useless!"

Crack~

A piece of the flying boat's hull plating fell off, as if confirming Che Shihai's words.

At this moment, more people crawled out.

Among them, a half-bald young man carrying a craftsman's hammer limped over.

Wang Ji, one of the top-tier geniuses of the Tian workshop.

"Che Shihai, you bastard, don't speak with a guilty conscience!"

"The military's Swordfish flying boat is a fourth-grade top-quality item, with forty-nine thousand formations driving it. Before this, it had already been smashed flat by the barbarians' Five-Element Stone Throwers. Besides me, who else could make it fly?!"

"Go ask around the Tian workshop—how many people could pull this off?!"

"How come Cao Shuang's flying boat landed safely? And you still say it's not because you're terrible?"

"I haven't even settled accounts with you yet. What kind of flying is this? A patch of my scalp got scraped off!"

Wang Ji had a serious temperament. Seeing Che Shihai throw the blame his way, he was immediately displeased and seized the chance to curse him out.

"Wang Gong, forget it, forget it." Zhao Xing hurriedly held Wang Ji back.

"If you weren't holding me back, I'd give him a chisel!" Wang Ji clutched his head resentfully. "I barely had any hair to begin with, and now another patch got scraped off here."

"Hehe, Wang Gong, don't be angry. I'm the one who's terrible, I'm wrong." Che Shihai laughed sheepishly. He had assumed Wang Ji wasn't on this flying boat, never expecting his blame-shifting to fail.

"Military medic! Where's Military Medic Yuan?! Come quickly and check on Wang Gong!" Zhao Xing activated a wind technique and shouted at the top of his lungs, spreading his voice across the surroundings.

"Stop yelling, I'm—ah, ptooey—I'm right under your feet…" A weak voice came from the sandy soil below.

"Huh?" Zhao Xing jumped in fright and quickly leapt aside, then saw a dead man's head poking out of the ground.

"Ah, my apologies."

"Splitting Light, Rise!" Zhao Xing pointed, and Yuan Yang's body floated up from underground.

"I'm really impressed." Yuan Yang looked at Zhao Xing resentfully. "My head was moving the whole time—didn't you feel anything was wrong?"

"Th-that, Brother Yuan's head was as hard as steel. I thought I was stepping on a rock." Zhao Xing said sheepishly. "Here, Brother Yuan, let me wash you off first."

Buzz~

Suddenly, a large column of water descended from the sky, swirling around Yuan Yang.

"Wash him too—sticky and mixed with sand, it's hard to apply medicine." Yuan Yang pointed at Wang Ji's head.

"No problem."

Zhao Xing then rinsed the wounds of Wang Ji, the mechanism master.

Then Yuan Yang was seen pulling a patch of medicinal plaster from his medicine box and slapping it onto Wang Ji's head.

"Done. Within half a month, your hair will definitely grow back!"

As they were chatting here.

The remaining flying boats landed, and quite a few people ran over.

"Are you all alright?" Xia Jing hurried over and looked at Yuan Yang. "Is anyone seriously injured?"

If there were serious injuries, they'd have to call the Joint Exercise Bureau and have the seriously injured withdraw.

They couldn't really let people die.

But ordinary fractures or losing a chunk of flesh didn't count as serious injuries.

"No one needs to withdraw." Yuan Yang swept his gaze around. "I don't sense any signs of serious injury."

The construction of all living beings in heaven and earth should be perfect and flawless. If major damage occurs, this sense of incompleteness, in a physician's perception—especially a military medic's—is as obvious as the moon in the night.

Sensing injuries is the most important skill of a military medic.

"Good that there isn't." Xia Jing breathed a sigh of relief. "We've already made it this far. If anyone withdrew now, that would be too unfair."

Yes, Xia Jing and the others had already completed the breakout. There were no more "enemies" ahead. As long as they reached the designated location, they could complete this mandatory training.

"Zhao Xing, shall I order a rest?" Xia Jing asked.

At the very beginning, Xia Jing, this heir of Hou Fu, had been elected as the camp's main general, with the others as deputy generals. But now, half a month later, Zhao Xing's voice carried more and more weight.

The position of main general was effectively already Zhao Xing's.

"You're the main general, you give the order." Zhao Xing smiled. He had no desire to fight for power—during training they'd been battered into such miserable states, what was there to think about? "We're probably the first camp to break out, so this bit of time doesn't matter."

"Alright." Xia Jing said, "Then let the brothers rest for half a shichen. We've already passed the South Clear Gardens boundary. One more quarter of an hour and the special training will be over."

The seventeenth year of the Jingxin Calendar, the nineteenth day of the second month, the third quarter of the You hour.

The new recruit Nineteenth Battalion, consisting mainly of Zhao Xing, Xia Jing, Cao Shuang, Wang Ji, Yuan Yang, Zhang Yi and others, totaling fifteen hundred men, completed the breakout mission on the seventeenth day after training began.

Based on their breakout performance and various metrics, the first new recruit Nineteenth Battalion to break out received a Grade A evaluation for all its members!

Among them, Zhao Xing, Xia Jing, Wang Ji, and Yuan Yang, totaling twenty-nine people, demonstrated their talents in this performance, perfectly playing their roles, and received a Grade A+ evaluation.

In early March, the new recruit battalions broke out one after another.

On the fifteenth of March, the last large-scale training within Ten Sun Grotto-Heaven concluded.

All the reservists of the nine garrison forces will leave Ten Sun Grotto-Heaven in April to take up their designated posts; if they can complete the established missions, they will smoothly obtain military official positions.

This time, life and death are no longer guaranteed.

And in the previous half year, Divine Might Army's Minister of Agriculture Zhao Xing, who had repeatedly received Grade A+ evaluations in mandatory training and maxed out all seventeen elective trainings, also faced a wave of competition.

Especially after the last large-scale training concluded, the moment Zhao Xing returned to the Minister of Agriculture Office with his front foot—

—with his back foot, lobbyists came knocking.

The first lobbyist was still a "familiar face."

"Zhao Xing, I am Helian Lie, a Valiant Captain of the Blazing Sun Army. Sent by the Marquis's instructions, I have come to invite you to join my Blazing Sun Army."

"If you are willing to come, you may freely choose any of the Blazing Sun Army's elite ten battalions, and the Marquis is willing to grant you a territory within the Nine Heavens Primordial Mansion, according to the standard of a Third-Rank Earl's fief!"