Chapter 41: Meeting Zhou Yu Again

Chapter 41: Meeting Zhou Yu Again

...

In the time that followed, Qin Feng was completely immersed in the grueling battles of his placement matches.

In the third match, he faced a sword-and-shield warrior with only 75 points.

The opponent’s defense was impenetrable, but his attack power was somewhat lacking.

Qin Feng used the reach advantage of his spear to constantly harass and probe. After nearly ten minutes of stalemate, he seized a tiny mistake from his opponent, thrust his spear, and barely won.

[Victory!]

[In the arduous battle to break through defenses, you have learned how to deal with shield-bearing enemies. Spear of a Thousand Troops proficiency +2.]

In the fourth match, his opponent was a dagger-wielding assassin with a score as high as 140.

The opponent’s footwork was eerie, like a ghost, always attacking from the most unimaginable angles.

Though Qin Feng’s spear held a massive advantage in frontal combat, it seemed clumsy against such a nimble and unpredictable foe.

He gave it his all, even unleashing his ultimate move, “Thousand Troops, Stand Aside.”

The spear swept across, but couldn’t even touch a single leaf—the gap in footwork was too vast!

A dagger grazed his throat, and Qin Feng lost once more.

[Defeat!]

“Footwork… the footwork inherent to the Spear of a Thousand Troops, born from chaotic battles. I should have imagined enemies all around and responded to change with stillness… If only I had…”

Qin Feng continued to reflect, silently pondering and replaying the last battle.

One advantage of the Imperial Arena was its recording feature.

Contestants could review their own battle footage at any time to analyze and fill in gaps.

Qin Feng watched carefully for forty or fifty minutes, then let out a long breath, gaining great insight into footwork.

[Spear of a Thousand Troops proficiency +3.]

—

Fifth match, victory.

His opponent was an axe warrior with 92 points.

[Victory!]

[You have defeated a strength-type opponent and gained new understanding of using skill to overcome brute force. Spear of a Thousand Troops proficiency +1.]

Sixth match, defeat.

His opponent was an archer with 128 points, who kited him to death.

[Defeat!]

[Suppressed by a ranged enemy, you have recognized the importance of footwork and closing distance in combat. Spear of a Thousand Troops proficiency +2.]

Seventh match, defeat.

His opponent was a boxer with 115 points, who closed in and took him down with a combo.

[Defeat!]

[Defeated in close-quarters combat, you have begun to think about how to leverage the spear’s advantages at extremely short range. Spear of a Thousand Troops proficiency +2.]

Eighth match, victory.

His opponent was a whip user with 88 points.

[Victory!]

[You have successfully countered an attack from a flexible weapon and gained deeper insight into weapon counter-relationships. Spear of a Thousand Troops proficiency +1.]

Ninth match, victory.

His opponent was a swordsman with 95 points. The two fought for over a hundred exchanges, and Qin Feng ultimately won by a hair’s breadth.

[Victory!]

[Winning narrowly in an intense exchange of blows, your fighting spirit and spear technique details have been honed. Spear of a Thousand Troops proficiency +2.]

...

Time flew by swiftly amid victories and defeats.

When the ninth battle ended, Qin Feng’s placement match record stood at four wins and five losses.

The opponents he could beat all had scores below 100.

But whenever he faced a warrior with a score over 110, the fight became extremely difficult, and his win rate plummeted.

After these nine high-intensity real battles, Qin Feng had gained a clear understanding of his own strength.

His current spear skill level, among first-tier warriors in the Imperial Arena, was roughly around 100 points. However, with so few battles fought, the data wasn’t absolutely reliable.

After all, he might encounter someone with a thousand battles in the same tier, or a sudden epiphany seeker climbing the ranks.

Only with enough matches could he truly gauge where he stood.

At the same time, he also figured out the matching rules for placement matches.

Placement matches seemed to randomly pair opponents across the entire score range of the first tier.

That was why he had faced a powerhouse like “Mad Demon Staff” with 152 points, and also a novice gatekeeper with only 75 points.

This caused his battle experience to fluctuate wildly.

Either he crushed his opponent easily, or he was crushed himself. Truly exhilarating, evenly matched duels were few and far between.

But once the placement was complete, the Imperial Arena would prioritize matching him with opponents of similar scores, making the experience much better.

“Huff…”

Qin Feng exited the queue and, on the virtual arena, slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

After nine consecutive high-intensity life-or-death battles, even though his body wouldn’t truly be injured, the mental drain was immense.

Every offensive and defensive exchange, every capture of an opportunity, demanded intense concentration.

At that moment, he felt his mind growing heavy, a deep fatigue settling over his spirit.

He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to practice the Imperial Meditation Method.

Though he couldn’t truly cultivate in the virtual world, this visualization brought his spirit a moment of peace and relief.

After about ten minutes, the mental fatigue began to fade.

He opened his eyes, his gaze once again clear and resolute.

One match remained.

He stood up and clicked on the ranked mode once more.

[Matching your tenth placement match opponent…]

[Match successful!]

The information panel for his final opponent slowly appeared.

Qin Feng's gaze swept over, and then he paused slightly.

【ID】：Zhou Yu

【Rank】：First Rank

【Points】：98

【Record】：15 wins, 5 losses

【Self-Introduction】：Skilled in using the Ninefold Thunder Blade.

【Enemy Evaluation (1)】：Top dog at Enlightenment Star Thunder Dojo.

……

At the same time.

On another life planet—Enlightenment Star—countless light-years away from Qiming First Advanced Martial Arts High School.

Inside a grand and vast martial arts hall, hundreds of people were gathered at this moment.

The hall's decor exuded a rugged aura of iron and blood, with walls cast from black alloy as a whole, hung with enormous banners embroidered with golden thunderbolts and crossed war blades.

This was the emblem of one of the empire's main battle groups, the "Thunder Battle Group."

And this hall was an affiliated institution under the Thunder Battle Group, specifically for discovering and nurturing talented reserve soldiers—the Thunder Martial Hall.

At this moment, at the very front of the hall, seven or eight strong individuals in Martial Hall uniforms sat solemnly upright.

Their auras were condensed, their eyes like lightning; merely sitting there, they exuded the bearing of grandmasters, as steady as mountains and rivers.

Below them, sixty or seventy youths aged fifteen or sixteen, dressed in uniform training suits, stood with bated breath, their gazes all fixed on the center of the hall.

There, a tall and graceful girl with a lovely face stood with eyes tightly shut, her mind immersed in the Imperial Arena.

She was Zhou Yu.

Today was the Thunder Dojo's annual "Killing Technique Assessment Day."

And Zhou Yu, as the most outstanding genius among this cohort of students, was undergoing her final assessment—completing her placement matches in the Imperial Arena and reaching 100 points.

The surrounding students were watching Zhou Yu's battle through a massive holographic screen above the hall, their murmurs rising and falling, filled with envy and admiration.

"Sister Zhou Yu is too strong! I heard she only started practicing the Ninefold Thunder Blade two months ago? And she's already reached the 'Minor Accomplishment' stage!"

"Yeah, she's a monster! I've been training for almost a year and haven't even fully mastered the first layer of force, but she can already skillfully use the second layer."

"That last match, she defeated an opponent with 110 points—it was so beautifully played!"

"Winning this match will push her to 100 points. Hey, the opponent is unranked. ID is 'Qin,' self-introduction is 'Thousand Army Spear Practitioner.'"

"Spear arts? That could be tricky. The spear is the king of a hundred weapons, extremely hard to master. But this 'Qin' is just unranked, probably a newcomer. Sister Zhou Yu should have no problem beating him."

"Hard to say. The Thousand Army Spear—anyone who dares choose it is usually a genius with heaven-defying insight."

"Yeah, everyone knows the Thousand Army Spear is powerful, but few mentors dare to teach it to students, and even fewer students dare to learn it."

The students' discussions were filled with anticipation for the upcoming battle.

On the screen, the battle scene for Zhou Yu and Qin Feng had finished loading.

The countdown numbers began to tick slowly.

【5, 4, 3...】

"Oh? It's you?"

Before the countdown ended, Zhou Yu raised an eyebrow.

Qin Feng remained silent, gripping the standard-issue spear in his hand, recalling the scene when he first entered the Imperial Arena and was beheaded with a single slash.

Back then, he hadn't practiced any killing techniques and couldn't even understand the trace of that slash. Now, he wanted to test how much he had improved since before enrollment!

How much progress in this one month!

Free period, four chapters. Begging for data support, begging for follows, dear readers. The author is sincere~

(End of this chapter)