According to Yun Hao, this group’s Martial Arts were extremely formidable. He suspected some of their experts had already reached the Dharma Realm, or perhaps even higher.

Even going all out, he could only hold them off for a hundred techniques.

’Did they reach an agreement with the Court?’

Zhao Rui’s thoughts ran deeper. ’Could the Court’s artillery barrage have served a dual purpose? Besides halting the Gui Xu people’s offensive, maybe it was also a show of force—a display of raw power to intimidate these people from the Sects.’

Besides, the Gui Xu people had retreated to Central Asia after being hit by the artillery, and they had been contracting their forces ever since.

’Could that be related to the harassment and counterattacks from the Sect members within Gui Xu?’

’What a mess!’

Zhao Rui sighed. In his past life, he was just a retired professional ping-pong player. In this life, he was just an ordinary university student.

Even though he was in Dongqi Province, he was way out of his depth when it came to politics.

’Still, the Martial Arts I know are the most reliable thing I have!’

Zhao Rui dismissed the chaotic thoughts from his mind. He opened his right hand, and a flame instantly leaped into the air, burning steadily.

Ever since Spiritual Qi began to permeate the world, techniques that were once impossible had become easy to perform.

In the past, no matter how high your Martial Arts skill, you could never make a flame burn continuously in your palm. At most, you could unleash a burst of Fiery Palm Force.

But now, enveloped by Spiritual Qi, he could do more than just make it burn in his palm; he could project his Flame Palm over ten meters to form a wall of fire.

This was all thanks to the dense Spiritual Qi in the air.

Moreover, these weren’t ordinary flames. They burned Spiritual Qi. In fact, one could say they weren’t "burning" at all, but rather Spiritual Qi transformed into a special, plasma-like state.

They were more powerful, hotter, and far more controllable.

Zhao Rui clenched his fist, instantly extinguishing the blazing flame in his palm.

"Reporting, Colonel! Soldier Han Zhihai reporting for duty."

"Soldier Wang Bin reporting for duty!"

"Soldier Cui Hao reporting for duty!..."

A moment later, twenty soldiers came jogging over from the entrance and saluted Zhao Rui in unison.

"Alright. This training session will only last one month. You must study and train diligently, and strive to make some gains."

"Yes, Colonel!"

The twenty-odd men responded in unison, their voices thunderous.

Zhao Rui smiled and motioned for everyone to assemble at the Martial Arts Arena up ahead.

These were the top Martial Dao talents in the barracks, all handpicked by him. The Martial Arts they had learned were styles circulated within the military, ones he hadn’t yet had a chance to copy.

’Since I’m in the army, it would be a waste not to take advantage of this opportunity.’

Of course, he would definitely teach them with all his heart.

’How much they improve will be up to them.’

Zhao Rui, who loved to play the role of a teacher, had finally returned to his element.

This was far better than leading a squad on patrols, constantly on guard against small-scale raids from Gui Xu enemies.

Fulfilling days always flew by.

A little over a month passed in the blink of an eye.

One day, just as he was leaving the mess hall after a meal, he received a call from Wang Zhanshan.

He said that both Cai Zhengyang and Wang Dalong had broken through to the Grandmaster Realm.

On top of that, many other students had broken through to Martial Arts Level 9.

The whole group was advancing like mushrooms after a spring rain, with breakthroughs happening one after another.

As a result, his own Cultivation, which had been stagnant for a long time, also showed signs of a breakthrough.

Wang Zhanshan couldn’t hide the joy in his voice.

"This is inevitable," Zhao Rui said with a smile. "In the future, the Grandmaster Realm will no longer be a Celestial Abyss. More and more people will break through to this Realm."

"Does that mean everyone on the Gui Xu side is at that level of strength?"

Wang Zhanshan was stunned.

"More or less," Zhao Rui explained. "But it’s not that exaggerated. Reaching the Grandmaster Realm is still beyond the reach of the average Martial Artist. It’s just that the barriers to breaking through have been significantly lowered."

"Mm. I don’t know if this trend is a good or a bad thing. When are you coming back?"

"Another eight or nine months. Once the army has more Grandmaster Realm experts, they might shorten the term of service for civilian personnel like us."

"Mm."

The two exchanged a bit more information before Wang Zhanshan hung up.

Not long after the call ended, a guard came jogging over.

He was panting as he delivered an astonishing piece of news.

"Gui Xu has made contact with the Court and they’ve reached a preliminary ceasefire agreement..."

After hearing the news, Zhao Rui froze for a moment, then was overcome with joy.

’The war has finally stopped.’

’I don’t know how long it will last, but at least it’s a good sign.’

’Perhaps Grandmasters like us will be transferred away from the front lines.’

Sure enough, just a few days after the news broke, his transfer orders arrived.

He was being transferred to the military headquarters to serve as a Martial Arts Instructor.

When Zhao Rui received the news, he was a little speechless. ’If I’d known this was going to happen, what was the point of gathering those soldiers beforehand? What a waste of effort.’

「The next day」

After a reluctant farewell from Qiu Tong and his other comrades, Zhao Rui took a jeep to the military headquarters.

He’d been to the military headquarters before, so the place wasn’t unfamiliar.

Following the directions, he found the reporting office. When Zhao Rui pushed the door open, he saw Liu Huaijin was already there, one step ahead of him, in the middle of processing his check-in.

"Hey, Zhao Rui. You got transferred here, too."

Liu Huaijin flashed a toothy grin at Zhao Rui.

The two hadn’t really interacted since the last time Liu Huaijin had deserted.

But they were acquaintances, after all, so he had to at least be civil.

"Yeah. Just got here," Zhao Rui replied.

"I hear the Court acquired some new battlefield Martial Arts. The army doesn’t have enough Grandmasters, so they called us in to help."

Liu Huaijin seemed to know a lot.

"Battlefield Martial Arts?"

This was the first time Zhao Rui had heard of such a thing.

"Yeah. It’s supposedly a type of combination art. Not only is it highly destructive when used by a single person, but multiple people can also coordinate to unleash power far exceeding their individual strength."

"Oh? Now that’s interesting!"

Zhao Rui raised an eyebrow.

The two of them chatted while completing their registration.

The person handling the paperwork was a pretty female soldier. Seeing that Zhao Rui was a Grandmaster at such a young age, she couldn’t help but take a longer look at his file, where she discovered he was also a student at a top university.

And he wasn’t even twenty.

She couldn’t help but ask curiously, "How did you get so good at Cultivation?"

"Just practiced year after year, I guess. I don’t really know," Zhao Rui gave a simple reply.

"Well, can you teach me? The army recently started requiring us clerical staff to practice Martial Arts, too," the female soldier said with a slight pout, looking a little glum.

Unlike front-line units, the military headquarters had logistics and a base, so it also had female soldiers and administrative personnel.

"Sure," Zhao Rui said bluntly. "When it’s my turn to teach a class, you can just join in and practice then."

The female soldier was speechless. ’If I could just learn with the main group, would I even need to ask you?’

Another young woman beside her covered her mouth and giggled. "You’re a bit dense, little brother!"

Zhao Rui’s face twitched. ’Great. I’ve only been in the army for a few months and I’m already being called dense.’

He couldn’t help but laugh. "Of course I can give you private lessons, Sis. It’s not even expensive—just treat me to a nice meal."

"Really? Okay, you’ve got a deal!" the first female soldier who had spoken said, instantly excited.

"I’ll treat you to a meal, too," the other female soldier chimed in, wanting in on the fun. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"No problem."

Zhao Rui agreed with a smile and got both of their contact information.

Liu Huaijin watched from the side as Zhao Rui flirted with the girls, shaking his head. ’Damn, I wish I was in his shoes!’

After finishing their check-in and registration, Zhao Rui and Liu Huaijin left the office building and headed for their dorms.

Grandmasters like them were given their own private quarters. They were quite spacious—two-bedroom apartments, complete with a kitchen and a dining area.

They were fully equipped with modern electrical appliances.

Zhao Rui put his luggage down and began to tidy up the room. Before he could finish, his phone rang.

He picked it up and saw it was the young woman whose number he’d just gotten—no, he should probably think of her as ’Sis.’

"Sis Qing Mei, what’s up?"

"I’m treating you to a meal, of course! You didn’t forget that quickly, did you?"

"Uh, you don’t have to."

"What’s with the hesitation? Come on, Fei Yan and I are waiting for you at the entrance!"

"Alright!"

Zhao Rui didn’t refuse.

It wasn’t every day you got to see female soldiers in the army.

After a quick freshening up, Zhao Rui went downstairs and immediately spotted the two female soldiers from earlier, now in casual clothes, waiting for him.

"Where are we eating? Are we allowed to go off-base?" Zhao Rui asked curiously.

"Of course we can’t go off-base! We’re just going to the mess hall. The food is really cheap!" the female soldier named Qing Mei said with a giggle.

"Alright, I’ve been had. I thought we were going out for a nice meal!" Zhao Rui said with a laugh, holding up his hands.

"We only get one chance a week to go off-base, and even then we have to file a request and get it approved."

"Is that so? How many people are stationed at the military headquarters? Are there a lot of female soldiers?"

"What? Aren’t the two of us enough company for you?"

"..."