Chen Bitong turned to Chen Chuan and the other four Third Limit martial artists. “If no one intends to back out, the test starts now.”

Grim expressions settled on their faces, but no one backed out.

There was no way any of them would do that. While they might not be the best, they were pretty skilled to have lasted until this moment. They were confident they could do it.

Besides, if they took part in the test, it would look pretty good on their resumes. Even if they didn’t pass, being able to take the test was a testament of their strength in itself. They were clearly stronger than all the expelled students.

Chen Bitong waited for a moment. When he saw that no one was backing out, he nodded. “Then, let us begin.”

The scenery around them faded away and turned into the wilderness.

Chen Chuan found himself standing on a mudflat with no tall plants around, where he could easily see into the distance. There were quite a lot of low shrubs, though.

During his previous lessons, he had fought in plenty of different terrains, but all of them were complicated and covered in dense trees. Locations such as this were rare. It seemed like his test was going to be different from what he had learned.

Chen Bitong stood not too far away from him. “You’re different from the rest, Captain Chen. You’re from the first batch who has lasted to the very end, so I’m going to be much stricter to you.

“I’m going to bring you into a holographic site, and there’s no telling what’s going to show up inside.

“Some of the enemies will be from the lessons, but some you’ll have never encountered before. I’ll give you marks based on your choices and the creatures you kill.

“I’ve said this before, but I’m going to remind you: The World Ring Defense System is paying close attention to this test, so I hope that you’ll treat it seriously.

“Keep in mind, though, that the holograms are going to be highly realistic, and they might hurt you. If you want to give up halfway through, just say the word.”

“Got it,” Chen Chuan answered seriously.

“Then, the test will now begin.” Chen Bitong turned around. “Walk in this direction and don’t stop until you reach the end of the hologram.”

With that said, he vanished.

Chen Chuan took a glance at the area ahead and started walking down the soft, sticky mudflat.

Golden light shone on the wet mud. Mixed with it were all sorts of plants, shattered stones, and mud chunks, making the place look like an overturned color palette.

After just a few steps, Chen Chuan noticed countless black spots up ahead. They were accompanied by flapping sounds.

A large flock of fearsome birds were flying toward him.

After just one glance, he figured out what was going on. It was no wonder why his test was on this spacious mudflat. His feet sank into the mud, which made it hard for him to move. If he didn’t give up, he would have to stay and fight.

That was his only option.

Chen Chuan plunged the Frost King Saber’s sheath into the mud, and with a whistle, the saber came out while he moved forward. It shone with a chilling, sharp glare under the sun.

***

Half an hour later, Gu Haiting and two other students walked out of the training center to rest and wait outside.

The test was really difficult, and they did not last for a long time.

Gu Haiting sat down on a sofa and asked an attendant to serve him tea. Then, he started sipping in a relaxed manner.

Even though he came out somewhat early, he didn’t think that it was a regrettable situation. After all, he hadn’t come just to learn, but also to talk to Chen Chuan.

Right now, both goals were progressing smoothly. He had formed a partnership with Chen Chuan, and he had managed to stay in the training center until the last day, when he got to take the final test.

He cast a glance at the training center. Only Yu Lie and Chen Chuan hadn’t come out.

Gu Haiting wondered who was going to last longer.

Even though Chen Chuan was stronger than Yu Lie, Gu Haiting had learned from the other two students’ conversation that everyone’s test was different and custom-made based on their previous performance. Because of this, it was impossible to say who was going to make it to the end.

Two hours passed.

Gu Haiting was quite surprised. The test was continuing despite passing the time limit of how long Chen Bitong was allowed to use the hologram every day. The municipal government had to allocate more resources to Chen Bitong for the test.

It seemed like they really were attaching a lot of importance to this.

More time passed, and Yu Lie walked out. After looking around, he found that Chen Chuan was not sitting among the other students. He clicked his tongue and went to the side to wait.

***

Chen Chuan continued walking forward. As he did, he killed all sorts of fearsome creatures that jumped out to attack him.

The terrain had changed multiple times and bumped up the difficulty of the test.

He could sense that he had gone past the two hour-limit, but the hologram was showing no sign of ending.

Suddenly, tiny insects flew toward him. Chen Chuan didn’t ignore them, but observed them.

The creatures in the merged space had no growth limit. There were always one or two in every group that were born with the potential to keep growing until kingdom come.

Hence, no one knew what the mega creatures originally were. They could have been insects that anyone could squash under their feet, but after metamorphosing multiple times, ended up growing to an unbelievable degree.

The hologram brought this trait out to the fullest. Everything he encountered could suddenly metamorphosize to an unknown creature. Chen Chuan had already seen it more than once.

Some of those who didn’t metamorphosize would instead summon a large group of their kin, so Chen Chuan couldn’t let his guard down. He had to pay attention to all the changes in his environment.

According to what Chen Bitong said in the previous lessons, the real merged space wasn’t this intense, but if he went into the undeveloped places, certain areas could be as dangerous as what he was currently facing.

Chen Chuan suddenly felt a light tremor and went still. Twenty meters ahead of him, the ground rose up.

Chen Chuan trained his eyes on the place. A big guy was coming.

Boom!

The earth blasted apart, and a large arthropod with a hard shell and bristling antennae shot out of the ground.

It was overall dark-gray in color, and eight pairs of legs lifted up its heavy body. Its transparent wings stuck to the lower end of its back, and it was about four meters long. Underneath its cold, compound eyes were huge mandibles.

When it appeared, the dirt around it stirred. More arthropods resembling the first one crawled out. As Chen Chuan looked over, he found such arthropods crawling out for several kilometers.

He had never seen something like this before, but he could tell that this was the queen and a mutated being that metamorphosized from the smaller arthropods.

Based on how much time Chen Bitong was allowed to use the hologram resource, this might be the last important section of the test.

Chen Chuan had no knowledge of the creature’s attack style and characteristics. If he were in the real merged space, his best choice was to retreat, but this was a test, and that option didn’t exist for him. All he could do was fight against it.

He plunged the Frost King Saber into the ground and reached into his pocket to grab some stones. After a brief pause, he flung his arm outward and threw them all out.

The stones landed on the outermost shell, and the stones all shattered, leaving behind only faint marks on the shell.

Clearly, the shell was incredibly tough.

The stones were never meant to hurt the arthropod, though. Through the throws, Chen Chuan could make a simple deduction and come up with a suitable strategy.

Chen Bitong didn’t teach him this; Chen Chuan had come up with it after fighting against all sorts of different creatures over the course of his lessons.

After the smaller arthropods crawled out of the earth, they spread their wings and flew at him, as if to give him a direct sense of how these arthropods had instantly chewed through the plants underground while they were coming toward him.

These were the most difficult creatures to deal with. Not only did they have a queen, they were also numerous. If he were careless, he was going to lose.

But Chen Chuan remained calm. He crossed his arms, and blood essence filled his entire body to make his mutated tissue tense up.

Whoosh!

The swarm surrounded him. In just the span of a few breaths, they completely surrounded him. Only his outline remained seen.

The other arthropods kept flying toward Chen Chuan. In just a moment, they converged into a thick arthropod ball that kept growing.

When the ball grew so big that the rest couldn’t stick to it anymore and fell off the moment they tried, a tremor came from within.

It spread out like a ripple, and the arthropods that kept crawling on the ball froze before crumbling away like sand to reveal the person within.

Chen Chuan flicked off the arthropod carcasses stuck on him.

His eyes remained clear, and he wasn’t injured in the slightest. His hat and protective gear weren’t torn either.

These arthropods were authentic copies of the real deal, so if they didn’t manage to tear through his skin here, the real arthropods wouldn’t be able to hurt him either.

Chen Bitong was the one who taught him to lure the swarm on his person and kill them with one blast.

After all, killing them one by one was not efficient and wasted stamina. So, luring them all to one place and killing them with refined force was the most effective. Of course, the martial artist had to be able to endure the swarm first.

If he couldn’t control blasting them apart while surrounded, he was going to get torn apart himself.

However, at that moment, he saw the queen repositioning itself. Its wings spread, and the flaps on the sides of its chest and torso opened before fluttering rapidly.

At the same time, Chen Chuan felt his instincts screaming at him that danger was incoming. Then, an invisible ripple came charging at him, making him feel as if countless needles had pierced not just his skin, but also his organs and mutated tissue. They trembled, as if they were about to be torn apart.

The arthropods that had not stuck to him just now fell down in waves and covered the ground like a spread out fan.