Blood Kill Camp, canteen.
The canteen was enormous with enough space for thousands of tables and chairs to set up into forty areas, which corresponded to the dining area of the forty camps.
When Lin Xun dragged his numb body over to sit down, he couldn't help but grimace. He was aching all over.
The three hours of constant battles not only consumed Lin Xun’s aeth power but his strong body also felt exhausted.
Lin Xun felt that he would have passed out if it wasn’t for his strong perseverance.
Before long, Ning Meng brought over two sets of breakfast and sat opposite Lin Xun. He smiled. “The living conditions here are bad but the breakfast is really good. It’s comparable to an emperor’s feast.”
The breakfast was indeed pretty good. They each had a bowl of porridge, four plates of side dishes and ten meat buns.
The porridge was made from azure jade aeth grains, which were extremely rare, and every grain was translucent and fragrant like jade stone. The four dishes were also made from various precious aeth vegetables and meat. They were perfect in color, aroma and taste. Even the meat buns were made from the thigh meat of blood-eyed leopards. They weren’t only delicious but also contained abundant aeth power.
Lin Xun didn’t say anything and just devoured the food. His exhausted body was like a bottomless pit urgently in need of nutrition.
Ning Meng was also starving. While gorging on the food, he mumbled, “Lin Xun, I underestimated you. Your performance in the 10th training ground has made me look at you differently.”
Lin Xun rolled his eyes. This guy speaks with such an attitude. His inability to hold his tongue will definitely bring him a lot of trouble in the future.
“By the way, I saw Qi Can pick on you today. I will look for an opportunity to stick up for you later,” said Ning Meng casually.
Surprised, Lin Xun set down his chopsticks and curiously studied Ning Meng. “Why do you want to help me?”
Ning Meng said irritably, “Did you forget what I said on the way to the Blood Kill Camp? You are my friend. If you’re bullied, what about my face?”
It turned out he was afraid of losing face…
“Let’s eat!” Lin Xun snapped.
While the two lowered their heads and ate, the canteen became more and more lively. The one thousand students from the forty campgrounds sat in groups in different areas. It was truly a spectacular scene.
They were allocated half an hour of meal time and there were no other restrictions other than following the rule of not to fight each other. This was a rare opportunity to relax.
The atmosphere was very lively. The students were all teenage boys and girls, and some of them already knew each other before they came to the Blood Kill Camp.
The topics they discussed centered around the students who had quite a bit of fame before they came to the Blood Kill Camp.
This was normal. The students recruited into the Blood Kill Camp were all carefully selected through special channels. Each one had outstanding talent and aptitude. Furthermore, most had extraordinary backgrounds. It was very rare to see children from poor backgrounds.
Lin Xun had no interest in the topic and so he just buried his head in the food.
However, Ning Meng seemed to have overheard something as he said gravely, “I didn’t expect that Bai Lingxi, the eldest granddaughter of the empire’s Marquis Jinghai, and Zhao Yin, the great grandson of Marquis Bowang of the Forbidden City, to also be here!”
Lin Xun said casually, “Are you afraid of them?”
Ning Meng’s eyes widened. “Ridiculous! I, Ning Meng, have never been scared of anyone since I was a child!”
After a pause, he frowned and said, “It's just that those two are very tricky to deal with. They are both geniuses born with special talents. They can be called exceptionally gifted and one in a million. You have to be careful if you go up against them.”
Lin Xun’s heart quivered. “Could it be that they have an Origin Aeth Artery in their bodies?”
Ning Meng shook his head. “Origin Aeth Artery is only one type of innate talent. I heard that Bai Lingxi’s innate talent is ‘Eternal Shining Stars’. It’s a mysterious spirit talent and is extremely rare. Zhao Yin’s talent comes from his bones and called the Violet Sun body and is equally as rare.”
According to Ning Meng, innate talents were a cultivator’s talent, such as perception, bones and blood vessels. They were collectively referred to as innate talents.
According to the empire’s evaluation of innate talents, they were roughly divided into nine grades.
One being the highest.
Nine being the lowest.
People with rare talents could cultivate several times faster than ordinary people. Most terrifyingly, they could comprehend techniques and practice martial arts much faster than ordinary people!
Their bodies, spirits and aptitudes were in perfect harmony. Their one year of cultivation was equivalent to other people’s years of hard work. The higher their cultivation level, the greater the advantages they would have and that would further widen the gap between them and ordinary people.
One of the most famous examples in the empire were the twin descendants of Marquis Dong more than three hundred years ago. The elder brother had the innate talent Impenetrable Body and the younger brother had an outstanding aptitude but no innate talent.
The two brothers grew up and trained together all the time. The elder brother made breakthroughs several times a year but the younger brother only broke through once every three years.
When the elder brother reached the Heaven Ascension Stage, the younger brother was still hovering in the Spirit Dipper Stage.
When the elder brother became an authority and lord over others, the younger brother had long disappeared.
The cultivation gap between the twin brothers grew greater and greater because of innate talent. This clearly showed how significant a person’s talent was.
For example, Bai Lingxi’s talent, Eternal Shining Stars, was a grade-4 innate talent.
Zhao Yin's talent, the Violet Sun Body, was a grade-7 innate talent.
However, a grade didn’t matter too much because anyone with an innate talent was already superior to ordinary cultivators.
Lin Xun vaguely understood the significance of possessing a talent. His heart tumbled as he couldn't help but think of the Grand Abyss Heaven Devourer, his Origin Aeth Artery.
What grade would it be?
“Unfortunately, only very few cultivators in the entire Ziyao Empire have innate talents.”
Ning Meng sighed, “If I have an innate talent, even if it’s the lowest grade-9 talent, I would have soared into the sky long ago.”
Lin Xun kept quiet but he had almost impulsively asked about the Grand Abyss Heaven Devourer. Fortunately, he suppressed himself in the end.
He couldn’t tell him that it was his biggest secret.
A sneer suddenly interrupted them. Shi Yu walked over with a smile, sat down and narrowed his eyes at Ning Meng. “Stop bluffing. With your stupidity, even if you have a grade-2 talent, it will be useless.”
Ning Meng slammed the table and fumed, “Little White Face, do you want to die?”
Shi Yu ignored him and mumbled, “I heard that not only Bai Lingxi and Zhao Yin are here, but your sworn enemy Zhangsun Hen is also here.”
Zhangsun Hen!
Ning Meng’s face suddenly darkened with rage.
This was the first time that Lin Xun saw Ning Meng like that. He couldn’t help but knit his brows together and looked at Shi Yu.
Shi Yu stood up with a smile and said to Ning Meng. “If you want to beat him, you have to train hard in the Blood Kill Camp.”
“Why did you tell me this?” Ning Meng said through gritted teeth. He balled his hands into fists as though suppressing something.
“It can’t be helped. We are in the same campground. I can’t just stand and watch.” Shi Yu shrugged.
“What if Zhangsun Hen was in the same campground as you?” Ning Meng stared intently at Shi Yu.
Shi Yu smiled and turned away without saying anything.
“Zhangsun Hen is your enemy?” Lin Xun asked.
Ning Meng shook his head. He clearly didn’t want to talk about him.
……
At the end of the breakfast, Lin Xun and the other twenty-seven students from the 39th campground were notified that they had passed the training at the 10th training ground and they each received five points.
It was also then that Lin Xun realized that they should have been arranged to train at training grounds no. 1 to 9 in their first month of training because the environment in those areas was much safer in comparison.
The 10th training ground was actually prepared for the second month of training!
Lin Xun had no objection to the arrangement because he had to obey orders. Moreover, it would be useless to protest to someone like Instructor Xiaoke.
In any case, the number of people eliminated in the 39th campground on the first day of training was undoubtedly the highest compared to other campgrounds,
Yesterday, fifty people came to report but only twenty-eight people were left after just one day.
After breakfast, the intense training resumed.
Xiaoke brought all the students of the 39th campground to an open-air training field. The sun was blazing and the temperature was scorching hot.
Lin Xun and the others had to rapidly restore their aeth power and their bodies to their optimum state within two hours.
Two hours later, Xiaoke then brought Lin Xun and the others somewhere for close combat training. She allowed students to fight one-on-one without weapons. Those who win would receive one point, and those who lost would be deducted one point.
Lunch didn't begin until close to noon.
The five points that Lin Xun had just earned were all deducted. Ning Meng was the one who earned them. It couldn’t be helped, Lin Xun got Ning Meng after drawing lots.
It was unfortunate because Lin Xun’s cultivation level couldn’t be compared to Ning Meng’s. Even if his battle techniques were superior to Ning Meng’s, he was still violently beaten and lost repeatedly.
During lunch, Ning Meng couldn’t help but laugh smugly when he saw Lin Xun’s bruised face. Lin Xun gnashed his teeth with hatred.
Lin Xun suddenly remembered Shi Yu’s remark on Ning Meng when they first met—he needs a beating.
In the afternoon, Lin Xun and the others gathered in a sealed room. The room was completely empty except that a tall platform was set up in the center of the room and a bronze coffin was placed on it.
Xu Sanqi stood right in front of the bronze coffin. His thin and straight body resembled a spear piercing into the sky and his face was serious and straight like an ice-cold rock.
His gaze, sharp as a blade, seemed capable of penetrating the depths of one’s soul. No one dared to meet his gaze.
“Today you will learn to understand the enemy.”
Xu Sanqi’s words were concise as usual. With a wave of his hand, the tightly-closed bronze coffin opened and revealed a strange-looking corpse.
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