Chapter 349: 358 November

In a flash, another half-month passed; October was barely exhausted, and the winter month arrived tardily.

This time, the examination was truly imminent.

In the deep autumn season, leaves withered; the west wind rose for another year, and the forest path before the Training Camp was carpeted with fallen leaves. No matter how the camp organized students to clear the leaves, after a night of wind, the ground was once again covered in gold.

On this day, the autumn sun was warm, and the trainees of the Land Inspection Division gathered at the entrance, waiting for the Instructor to give a final mobilization before departure.

Tang Zhao stood before the crowd of young people, looking at faces that had become familiar, his heart filled with mixed emotions. He said, "What should be said, and what shouldn't, I have already said before. At this point, what else do you need to hear from me?"

"As in previous years, the location of the examination is a secret. The clues have been given over these past two days, and they are sufficiently detailed. Whether you can reach the examination site within seven days depends on yourselves. However, I believe you can all find it. After all, even I can find it."

The youths chuckled—Tang Zhao was saying that his own intelligence analysis class was poor.

It was not modesty; it was said that it was indeed poor, with grades comparable to those of the middle-grade students. The Instructor had never hidden his shortcomings, and he even worked hard to take remedial classes together with the young people of his own age.

"This time I am the teacher leading the team, but as everyone can see, I am one person, I don't have three heads and six arms, so counting on me to watch over each of you won't work. I can only follow and observe a few of you. Who is willing to let me observe them along the way, and raise their hand if they want me to save their life when they encounter danger?"

The youths looked at each other, and no one made a sound.

Although everyone liked Instructor Tang, being stared at by the Instructor with every move was truly hair-raising.

Tang Zhao laughed, "It seems no one is willing. As a teacher, following too closely is also annoying. So I won't get too close to you. And don't go asking who I am following; just do as you please on the road. However—whoever commits crimes or brings shame to the Land Inspection Division, I will see you. And it's not just me who sees you—" He pointed his finger at the sky, "Three feet above your head, there is a blue sky."

Tang Zhao had said this phrase before. In fact, the young people who could remain in the Training Camp were not only outstanding in aptitude but also not lacking in character. They might have different personalities, but they all knew books and understood reason, keeping their hearts upright. At the very least, they had to be untarnished in major integrity, otherwise, they would have been eliminated long ago.

The Training Camp cultivated officers for the Land Inspection Division, not raising Gu or training dead soldiers.

But Tang Zhao still emphasized it repeatedly. After all, there were discrepancies in grades, and he might have oversights, but if even one person did evil, his work as an Instructor would be a complete failure.

"Cultivation and harmony are asked by no one; the heart's intent is known by Heaven."

This phrase was also one Tang Zhao repeated constantly.

"Finally—it is already the end. Three years have passed; think for yourselves, how much have you given in these three years? How many days and nights of diligent practice and exhaustion of Heart Power? How many years of leaving your hometown, how many months of missing your family? How many times have you been depressed and sleepless in the middle of the night, wanting to give up? You have endured these days; now that you have reached the final few days, do you still want to give up? He who travels one hundred miles covers ninety as half; don't let the last stone before the mountain peak trip your feet."

"I only have three wishes now. First, to see you at the examination site. Second, to see you at the finish line. Third..."

"Many years from now, when you have become the pillars of the Land Inspection Division, becoming Sword Guests or Sword Heroes, and you see me again, remember me and call me 'Instructor Tang'."

"Now, depart."

The youths shouted and ran out, not knowing the long journey ahead.

Tang Zhao did not leave. He waited for a while until the shadows of the students were nowhere to be seen. A group of Teaching Assistants came out of the camp in plain clothes and said, "Instructor, shall we go?"

Tang Zhao nodded and smiled, "Be discreet. If you seniors are discovered while tracking, it will be embarrassing."

That was correct; as an Instructor, Tang Zhao only needed to wait for the students at the Mu City examination site. The task of following and supervising the students along the way naturally fell to the Teaching Assistants.

If there were any who committed crimes or cheated, the Teaching Assistants would see them and punish them on the spot. As for those who were lazy or gave up, nothing would happen; wanting to give up was very easy.

In fact, many of these Teaching Assistants had only graduated a year or two ago, and their skills might not necessarily surpass the top students of this batch. But the Teaching Assistants were not restricted in equipment; each of them carried a True Artifact and knew the examination site intelligence. With intent calculating against the unintentional, if they were still discovered or shaken off, it could only be said that their skills were inferior, and they had to accept the other party's methods.

After the Teaching Assistants also departed, Tang Zhao bid farewell to Dong Jiaoyu, saying, "Then I will go first; thank you for staying behind, Instructor."

Dong Jiaoyu opened his mouth, not asking if he would return after proctoring the exam, but simply said goodbye, adding, "The past two months of getting along have been very pleasant. I will tell others that Instructor Tang is truly a good Instructor."

Tang Zhao also said, "Many thanks for the Instructor's care; my life in the Training Camp has been very pleasant. We shall meet again."

Having said that, he cupped his hands and departed. Taking advantage of the beautiful morning Sunlight, with the sky cloudless, he stepped on the fallen yellow leaves and left the Training Camp after two months.

He should return; he hadn't read many books in the Training Camp's library yet.

Tang Zhao had come light and left light. Anyway, his luggage was in the Time Jar, and he had nothing extra to carry. Wearing the Training Camp uniform and carrying his sword, he walked away alone.

Yet to outsiders, he appeared to be wearing ordinary green robes, empty-handed, like a young scholar out for a spring outing.

This was a trick of light. Tang Zhao used the Sword Image to wrap around his body, obscuring the uniform and recreating a thin illusion, condensing the shadow of green robes.

After more than two months of training, his Sword Image had gradually become as he wished, at least in creating light and shadow. For such a small illusion, he no longer needed to painstakingly construct it; he could form it with a single thought. From this point of view, he and the sword had already developed quite a bit of tacit understanding.

Thus, when he walked out of the camp, his image was no different in attire from the white-robed youth who had arrived.

The only difference: was there one less person by his side?

Leaving the Training Camp, Tang Zhao did not return to the nearby Zhongtian Prefecture but continued along the road toward the southwest.

He usually liked to ride a horse when traveling, or ride his beloved "Six Dragons" carriage in deserted places to enjoy the feeling of speed. This time, however, he was unhurried, traveling at the speed of an ordinary martial arts traveler for dozens of miles until he reached a town at noon.

This "Huang Feng Zhen" was a town with a population of ten thousand. In the old days, it would have been considered a large town, but nowadays, as commoners gathered in large cities, the scale of this town was only ordinary.

There were three main streets in the town, with commerce and trade flowing and all trades present.

At the entrance of the town, there was a small tavern with a two-room frontage. A large wine jar was placed at the door, and it didn't even have a name, only a half-new, half-old wine banner hanging.

Tang Zhao passed by, saw it at a glance, and headed straight for it.

The landlady drawing wine at the door saw a handsome youth in green robes enter, her eyes lighting up, and she hurriedly said, "Yo, so the YoungMaster has come. Are you eating or drinking today? For eating, we have chicken and meat; for drinking, we have home-brewed Zhuangyuan Red, just right for a top scholar who is about to pass the exams."

Tang Zhao smiled, "I'm looking for someone; perhaps someone is already inside."

He lifted the curtain and entered, seeing that seven or eight small tables were half-occupied. Most were groups of three or five drinking together, except for one table in the corner where only one young man sat, with a bowl of coarse tea and a dish of iron broad beans in front of him.

Tang Zhao smiled and sat directly opposite the young man, meeting those light-colored eyes.

"You came so fast? I thought I would arrive first and have to wait for you for a while."

Wei Se smiled slightly, "It didn't take long to shake off that Teaching Assistant; I've already been waiting for over an hour."

Tang Zhao glanced over and said, "Since you've waited so long, why not eat something good? Is grinding your teeth with broad beans enough?" He called the landlady, saying, "Bring two of your signature dishes. And two bowls of noodles."

He turned back to Wei Se and said, "Does that mean the Teaching Assistants are too poor? They say their scores in the camp's reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance courses are not low."

Wei Se smiled faintly, "Courses are just courses; practice is practice. If we couldn't do counter-reconnaissance, we would die. We once had an assessment where everyone was in an isolated small town, and the town was full of ordinary people. We had hidden ourselves a day in advance. The next day, old assassins entered the town to search; whoever was discovered was dragged out and killed. Only by hiding for three days could one succeed. If you wanted to end it early, you had to kill the old assassin."

He had been unwilling to mention his experience at the Yama Shop before, but when he was alone with Tang Zhao, he often brought it up, and always described himself as increasingly miserable and tragic.

Tang Zhao found it chilling and felt a bit sad; it was not convenient to ask what happened afterward, so he said, "Regardless, it's all over... the mission of this half-month is also over. In any case, I have done my utmost. It is also thanks to your exquisite disguise and acting; playing that kid Qin Yongcheng for half a month without revealing any flaws, even his friends couldn't see through it."

Wei Se said, "Playing a young man with no experience and no family is not difficult. And... actually, he didn't have any friends. Qin Yongcheng and that kid surnamed Xin were not on the same path. It was just that neither had any hope at the beginning, so they teamed up to slack off. Later, Qin Yongcheng was inspired by you and reignited his fighting spirit, while Xin Ying struggled a bit but gave up quickly, and instead, he disliked Qin Yongcheng the most, so the two grew distant. As for the other classmates, they were all companions who had teamed up three years ago; with only two months left, where could he insert himself? He had always been a loner, which made it convenient for me."

Tang Zhao sighed silently. He didn't know about these things between students, and even if he did, it would be useless; where were there not such things? He said, "According to the agreement, the fake Qin Yongcheng disappeared after leaving the Training Camp, and the future is left to the real Qin Yongcheng. If he can come, he will arrive at the examination site within the specified time; if he cannot, then he fails the exam. Anyway, there is more than one person every year who cannot arrive at the examination site on time."

As for if Qin Yongcheng encountered greater difficulties, or even a crisis...

There was nothing to be done.

Even for the Land Inspection Division, there was a death quota for the assessment. These were all his own decisions.

As they spoke, the proprietress brought the dishes over. A small shop like this didn't have any proper signature dishes, just a plate of sliced braised meats, some stir-fried bean sprouts with eggs, and two bowls of noodles with braised eggs.

Tang Zhao slurped his noodles, feeling thoroughly satisfied, and laughed, "Let's eat. We won't worry about them. Let's head to Mu City first; I'm about to return to my hometown, and I miss it dearly."