Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Four
Gu Jinghong? An Jiu’s heart skipped a beat, her peripheral gaze flickering toward the other dark enforcer. Based on his build, could that be Chu Dingjiang?
As if reading An Jiu’s thoughts, Gu Jinghong tilted his head slightly and asked, “Brother Chu, any objections?”
“None.” A single word, making him seem exceptionally cold and taciturn.
The two dark enforcers blatantly ignored the Earth Instructor’s words, arbitrarily assigning An Jiu first. The Earth Instructor didn’t dare question them.
The remaining twelve were then divided—Gu Jinghong picked one, Chu Dingjiang picked one, and in the blink of an eye, the selection was complete. Unsurprisingly, Lou Mingyue was chosen by Gu Jinghong.
This selection was far from fair. Chu Dingjiang had no prior knowledge of these candidates, and Gu Jinghong always picked first, leaving him with the leftovers.
“Follow me,” Gu Jinghong said.
“Yes!” seven voices responded in unison.
On the other side, Chu Dingjiang stood like a black monument on the training platform, silent as ever. His mantle concealed his face, maintaining his usual aura of mystery and composure.
An Jiu trailed at the end of the line. After a few steps, she couldn’t resist glancing back.
The moment she turned, Chu Dingjiang spoke. “Go.”
As he turned away, his gaze seemed to brush past her—whether intentional or not, it was unclear who that single word was meant for.
An Jiu lowered her head and quickened her pace to keep up with the group.
Inside a spacious hall, Gu Jinghong addressed them. “All of you possess martial skills and have passed two months of screening in the Crane Control Institute. What follows will be trials of life and death. Only the last two survivors will join the Crane Control Army.”
Lou Mingyue hesitated, as if wanting to speak but holding back.
Gu Jinghong turned slightly. “Any questions?”
It wasn’t Lou Mingyue who responded, but a man. “Why such harsh conditions? I recall the Instructor saying eight of us would enter the Crane Control Institute.”
Gu Jinghong paused before replying coolly, “Dying in trials or dying on missions—is there much difference?”
His detached tone laid bare the brutal reality before them.
“Mei Shisi only joined the Crane Control Army yesterday and hasn’t undergone screening,” Lou Mingyue pointed out. An Jiu lacked Inner Force, while the lowest-ranked here were at the fourth stage. Surviving on pure External Cultivation alone would be near-impossible.
“She has passed my screening,” Gu Jinghong explained patiently.
An Jiu’s brow twitched. Instinct told her the assailant last night might not have been sent by the Earth Instructor—it was likely Gu Jinghong testing her abilities.
From the moment he said “we’ll meet again” in Plum Blossom Village, he had probably been observing and evaluating her. The thought of someone secretly uncovering everything about her instantly placed Gu Jinghong on her list of extreme threats.
Lou Mingyue sensed that beneath Gu Jinghong’s mild demeanor lay an unyielding stubbornness—once he made a decision, no amount of persuasion would sway him. So she said nothing more.
“Tomorrow, the first trial begins. Your mission is to assassinate a target hiding in the forest. Tonight, Sheng Zhangku will distribute necessary supplies. You may now visit the armory to select suitable weapons.”
Having barely survived one life-or-death ordeal, were they now being thrust into another?
As Gu Jinghong’s words faded, the room fell dead silent. After a pause, an uneasy restlessness stirred—but these were trained individuals, and none reacted with overt emotion.Someone asked, "May I ask, sir, who is the target and where are they located?"
"You will be informed in due time. The only thing I can tell you now is that this will be a team operation, not an individual trial," Gu Jinghong said. "You may disperse now."
Gu Jinghong gave the impression of a gentle spring breeze, but his actions were the complete opposite, leaving people with a sense of disappointment. An Jiu felt nothing—not because she had witnessed Gu Jinghong's ruthlessness, but because she had never placed hope in anyone.
"Yes!"
The seven responded in unison, though their thoughts varied.
A team operation—this news was both good and bad. "Many hands make light work" was an undeniable truth, but in their previous training, they had learned not to trust anyone, fighting alone and developing a habit of self-preservation. Now, they were being asked to unite? Was that even possible?
An Jiu thought it was possible, but it depended on how the rules were set.
Officials were already waiting at the door. When they saw the group emerge, they said, "Please follow me to the armory."
The moonlight was cold, like frost seeping into their hearts. The sight of light brought no joy, only a chilling numbness.
The weapons in the Crane Control Institute were diverse. Though none were particularly rare, they were of excellent quality, each rigorously inspected. There was little need for careful selection—just choosing a preferred type would suffice.
An Jiu first picked a soft sword, then hesitated between a bow and a crossbow before finally selecting a bow. Elder Zhi had said crossbows lacked the spiritual nature of bows, and after some experimentation, An Jiu found this reasoning sound.
Returning to her dark quarters, An Jiu noticed additional supplies on the table—rations, common medicines, and a close-fitting outfit of unknown material. The design was ingenious, with hidden pockets that could hold numerous small items.
An Jiu removed her mantle and put on the outfit, methodically placing each item from the table into the pockets. To her surprise, aside from some of the rations, everything fit snugly inside the garment!
This made things much simpler, though the added weight now totaled thirty pounds.
"You're quite proactive," came a deep voice tinged with amusement.
The uninvited guest displeased An Jiu. Gripping her bow, she swiftly drew the string and unleashed a sharp, precise burst of Mental Strength—Startling String—directed at the intruder.
After a moment of silence, Chu Dingjiang let out a surprised "Hmm?" before lightly dropping from the rafters. In the darkness, he accurately caught An Jiu's bow. "So you've been hiding a trump card. Tsk tsk."
An Jiu remained silent, spinning around to deliver a fierce kick to Chu Dingjiang's waist.
He neither dodged nor used Protective Energy to shield himself, taking the blow head-on.
"What do you want?" An Jiu asked, her temper slightly cooled after venting.
"Scouting the enemy," Chu Dingjiang released her hand, flipped open his mantle, and sat on a stool. "Tomorrow's trial is actually a competition between two teams—one led by Deputy Commander Gu and the other by me. Your side has an extra person, including an eighth-rank martial arts master. You have every advantage, so I thought I'd come to kill one or two."
"Are you telling me this so I’ll kill myself?" An Jiu mocked."You really have a way with words, kid," Chu Dingjiang said in a tone fit for lecturing an underage girl. "Killing you would be as easy as lifting a hand—why waste my breath here? Besides, if I wanted to kill someone useful, it’d be the one next door. What’s the point in killing a waste like you?"
An Jiu scoffed. "You put on a show letting Gu Jinghong pick first, then secretly pull this stunt when he picks less or worse. Hypocrite. Despicable."
When she first met Chu Dingjiang, An Jiu had thought him a resilient man stuck in a pitiful situation. Later interactions revealed him as a straightforward, genuine man. But looking back now, the bastard had never been any good from the start.
"That wasn’t my choice either," Chu Dingjiang muttered, his chest heavy with grievances he couldn’t suppress. "Gu Jinghong is the Emperor’s special envoy. I was exiled here after being pushed out by the Divine Martial Army. He outranks me by half a level—how could our status be the same?"
Gu Jinghong was undefeated in battle, his reputation resounding through the Crane Control Army. Those capable of facing him in the trial feared the humiliation of defeat, while ordinary fighters stood no chance against him. Thus, the selection had remained unresolved. The newly appointed Divine Martial Commander, scheming to ostracize Chu Dingjiang, seized this rare opportunity. When he proposed Chu Dingjiang for the task, the decision passed almost unanimously, effortlessly ejecting the thorn in their side from the Crane Control Army.
Far from offering comfort, An Jiu sneered, "You were once a Divine Martial Decree holder and Commander."
Her implication was clear: How could a mere deputy become the Emperor’s confidant while you fell so low? Clearly, it’s a character flaw.
"Hah!" Chu Dingjiang laughed but didn’t refute her.
He had reached the Transformation Realm with external aid—his innate talent paled next to Gu Jinghong’s, a fact he never denied.
Yet like others, he had climbed to prominence step by step over mountains of corpses. His rise from Divine Martial Decree holder to Commander might have seemed meteoric, but the scheming and toil behind it were beyond outsiders’ comprehension. And though his tenure was brief before being ousted, he bore no resentment.
Victory and defeat were common in war. As long as he lived, there would always be another chance to rise.
"Enough, I won’t tease you further. I have matters to attend to." Chu Dingjiang stood, reaching out as if to touch An Jiu’s face, but his hand only grazed her cheek faintly before withdrawing.
An Jiu sensed he had something more to say, but in the end, all she saw was a fading shadow as he vanished into the darkness.
Her heart skipped a beat—had he really gone to kill Lou Mingyue? She approached the wall and knocked three times.
After a pause, two knocks answered from the other side.
Lost in thought, An Jiu wondered: What had Chu Dingjiang come here for, truly?
After two hours of rest, a distant signal horn sounded.
Everyone rushed toward the source.
On the training ground stood two tall figures in black, mounted on horses. Thirteen more steeds stood beside them, their hooves treated to muffle sound when galloping.
The trial participants arrived one after another.
"Mount up!" Chu Dingjiang ordered.
Once all were astride their horses, the group, led by Chu Dingjiang and Gu Jinghong, rode out through a side gate of the Crane Control Institute.
In the darkest hour before dawn, the riders swept down the road like a gust of wind, their passage marked only by muted thuds.It wasn't until they were near the city gates that the guards spotted a group of mysterious figures clad in black mantles galloping toward them. Just as they were about to shout a challenge, the leader raised his hand—in the blink of an eye, a bamboo slip embedded itself into the stone wall of the city gate.
The guard captain took a closer look, then turned and shouted, "Let them pass!"
The soldiers below dared not delay.
The side gate creaked open, and the group arrived just in time, vanishing before the gate had fully swung ajar. The soldier holding the gate paused in bewilderment, peering outside for a moment before remembering to close it. (To be continued...)
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