Your skills are excellent, and now I have them too.

Chapter 71 The Grand Selection

biu!

The chisel-like finger pierced the ground, leaving a small hole.

Over the past two weeks, as my cultivation level has improved, the power of this special skill has increased significantly compared to when I first acquired it.

However, Lu Zhao was not satisfied.

"Still can't integrate special effects."

Now, he has mastered the basic usage of the Three Thousand, and can perform the basic martial arts of the army, such as the Swift Step Technique, the Wind-Breaking Blade, and the Nine Close-Combat Unarmed Techniques, all with a harmonious and unified artistic conception.

At this moment, he fully understood what Old Ji meant.

The "One Thousand Three Thousand" technique is not a fusion skill; it is a core driving force used to control the martial arts techniques already mastered. This ultimate technique is like a hand, while the other martial arts techniques are like puppets held in that hand. As long as they are properly controlled, a complete drama can be staged.

What Lu Zhao wants to do now is to turn the puppet he is holding into a special skill, but he can't do it yet. However, he has a feeling that when his realm is stronger and his understanding of the Sword Sect's ultimate techniques is deeper, this idea should be achievable.

Of course, the most urgent task right now is not martial arts. In the past half month, he has reduced the time spent on martial arts training and devoted all his efforts to improving his cultivation level. With the support of more auxiliary special skills, his cultivation level has improved very quickly.

[Iron Body Realm: 78%]

[Details of specific sub-sectors:]

Muscle and bone training level: 78%

Skin and flesh training: 78%

Qi cultivation level: 78%

Neurological proficiency: 78%

Meridian Training Level: 78%

The skill level is very balanced, which is great for perfectionists.

This was naturally something Lu Zhao deliberately controlled. There was no particular purpose behind it; the main goal was to find joy in hardship and make the cultivation process less tedious.

If people knew that he had reached nearly 80% of the Iron Body Realm in just over half a month, they would probably find it very hard to believe, because there are no pills that can replenish the Iron Body Realm.

In martial arts realms, odd numbers represent Yang and even numbers represent Yin. Only Yang realms can be supplemented with external aids, while Yin realms cannot. Taking medicine haphazardly may have the opposite effect.

This means that those in the Iron Body Realm cannot use medicine to improve their cultivation efficiency and must rely entirely on manual labor.

However, there was no way around it; the group of auxiliary skills he possessed were more effective than pills. At this level, his cultivation efficiency even surpassed that of the prodigy Chen Qinhu, who had only just reached 60%.

"I'm disembarking the day after tomorrow, and I'm a little nervous about it."

Lu Zhao put away his beam saber and returned to his dormitory. He didn't realize that what he felt wasn't nervousness, but excitement.

According to Dong Yijian's notification, the transport ship will land in Vientiane Island for resupply in a little over a day. At that time, the new recruits of the elite class will disembark and undergo a small-scale assessment. The outstanding ones will have the opportunity to be selected by the armed guard-level troops. The uncertainty of the future is precisely what excites him.

Back in the dorm, all my roommates were there.

"Why isn't there any training in the middle of the afternoon?" Lu Zhao asked.

Murong Can said, "Because Old Dong has a meeting later, I was just saying I was going to find you."

Although elite classes, small classes, and large classes were divided, it was only for the convenience of teaching. The new recruits' identities and assignments were all divided by batch.

Old Dong was the head instructor for this batch. Apart from martial arts training, he was in charge of everything else, just like a college counselor.

"What kind of meeting is it?" Lu Zhao asked again.

"It's probably about notifying people to disembark."

Murong Can gave a perfunctory answer, then cleared his throat, as if what he really wanted to say was, "I already have information, do you want to hear it?"

Yang Guangming calmly put down his water glass, while Shi Jian continued washing his underwear on the balcony, unmoved.

"Hurry up and tell me."

Lu Zhao took the towel and wiped his face.

"snort."

Murong Can was annoyed at not getting the reaction he wanted, but he still said, "You're lucky. I just found out that one of the troops that came to select people this time is called the Linglong Guard, and their leader is General Meng Su..."

The Grand General commands the Imperial Guard?

Both Lu and Yang gasped.

Murong Can: "...the son of..."

"Ugh, what the hell are you talking about?"

Lu Zhao wanted to slap him twice.

The number of children of a great general may be more than the total number of all the great generals combined.

Murong Can grew anxious: "Do you even know how many marquises are still alive in the Meng family?"

"You know?"

"I don't know either, there are just a lot of options. If I could get into the Linglong Guard, wouldn't that be like getting on the Meng family's bandwagon? Then I'd be on a meteoric rise to power!"

Yang Guangming continued drinking his "Ten-Ingredient Tonic Tea" with little interest.

Lu Zhao also poured cold water on his enthusiasm: "A single military guard unit has at least several hundred or even a thousand people. Do you think you can catch their eye? Besides, General Meng has so many sons. Even if you manage to curry favor with one of them, what then?"

Murong Can said, "Just perform well once you're inside, right? How many opportunities do we common soldiers have to come into contact with those great nobles? During the martial arts assessment, those so-called great clans from Guzhongzhou were nothing compared to them."

"Of course we had a chance to get to know each other. Old Ji is also a highly respected figure," Lu Zhao said.

Murong Can scoffed, "Mr. Renji's attendance at the class was just for show. He left after we landed. What kind of acquaintance is that?"

Even though Murong Can and the others had been promoted to the elite class, apart from teaching cultivation methods and occasionally giving a few pointers, they didn't have many opportunities to communicate with Ji Ye, so they couldn't really be called teacher and student.

Lu Zhao and Gongsun Ke are exceptions; even if they can't be called disciples, they can at least be considered half students.

However, since others rarely even go up to the upper floors, they naturally wouldn't realize this connection.

So what Murong Can said makes some sense; being able to join the Linglong Guard is at least an opportunity to show one's face in front of the great nobles.

"What about the Qingming Guard? Are they recruiting?" Lu Zhao asked.

"Then I don't know." Murong Can shrugged. "Who would dare to ask Commander Xin? Aren't you familiar with him? Go ask him."

Gongsun Ke asked about it on the first day of class, but Xin Li brushed it off with a show of arrogance. Later, his attitude toward Lu Zhao softened, but he still had that deliberately cold face toward others.

"Familiar my ass."

Lu Zhao hasn't seen Xin Li much lately, focusing his energy on improving his cultivation level. "When is the meeting?"

"Let me see... Let's go now, Lao Yang, Shi Tou, let's go."

The four roommates then called Chen Qinhu, and together they went to the square below the high pavilion.

At this time, people from different batches lined up in order. The main group consisted of the 20 people who had joined the group overnight. After removing those who couldn't keep up and were kicked out, plus those who were promoted later, such as Murong Can and Yang Guangming, each batch still had more than 20 people in their queue.

Dong Yijian stood up straight, his face glowing, because the batch of new recruits he led was basically a one-dimensional attack on the other batches. Not only were there martial arts geniuses like Lu Zhao and Gongsun Ke, but also gifted oddities like Chen Qinhu and Xu Shu, and the overall strength of the others was also quite good.

Although whether the recruits in the elite class learn well or not has little to do with him as the "instructor," he can still brag to his comrades and bask in some glory.

After Lu Zhao and more than twenty others had all gathered, Dong Yijian stood in front with his hands on his hips and said, "I have some good news to tell you. The selection process after this trip will be a competition with other veterans who want to be promoted to the Martial Guard."

The crowd was speechless.

Last time, when assessing martial arts skills, I had to go with a group of scions of aristocratic families who had been practicing martial arts in advance.

This time, we'll be assessing overall strength together, and I'll be working with a group of veterans again.

Although they were used to it, after all, there is no fairness on the battlefield, and important figures from the enemy camp might suddenly appear out of nowhere and stand in front of them, the new recruits.

"Sir, why is it a good thing to be with veterans?" Shi Jian still spoke his mind.

Dong Yijian had been waiting for this question. He grinned and said, "Because it means that the selection process this time is of a higher standard, and the places we can choose from are better. Isn't that a good thing?"

Minghui said awkwardly, "But the pressure of competition is also greater..."

"madness!"

Dong Yijian said loudly, "The selection criteria for senior troops are fixed. No matter who you compete with, if you don't meet the standards, you won't be accepted. Even if they don't recruit any of them, they won't accept someone who is just a mediocre candidate."

Would Coach Xin Li really send out people who aren't skilled enough to carry out missions like decapitation strikes, assaults, or sabotage of key enemy rear areas? Impossible!

Now everyone understood.

Whether veterans participate or not, the selection criteria for the armed forces are fixed. However, the more people participate, the larger the scale, the more options, and the higher the ceiling.

"No wonder Ah-Can said earlier that there would be powerful martial guards like the Linglong Guard selecting people. There might be more than that. There are probably many important figures waiting on the surface of Wanxiang Continent."

Lu Zhao thought to himself, "I just wonder what form the selection process will take."