...
For the next while, Qin Feng was completely immersed in a series of grueling placement matches.
In his third match, he encountered a Sword and Shield Warrior with only 75 points.
His opponent’s defense was impenetrable, but their attack power was somewhat lacking.
Qin Feng used his Long Spear’s range advantage to constantly harass and probe his opponent. After a stalemate lasting nearly ten minutes, he capitalized on a minor mistake, thrusting his spear out to claim a difficult victory.
[Victory!]
[In a difficult battle to break through their defense, you have learned how to deal with shielded enemies. *Thousand Army Spear* proficiency +2]
The fourth match was against an Assassin with daggers who had a high score of 140 points.
The opponent’s Body Technique was uncanny, like a phantom’s, allowing them to attack from the most unbelievable angles.
Although Qin Feng’s Long Spear had a huge advantage in a head-on fight, it seemed somewhat clumsy against such a flexible and unpredictable opponent.
He gave it his all, even using his trump card, the ultimate move "Thousand Soldiers’ Evasion."
The sweeping force of his spear couldn’t even touch a sleeve. The gap in their Body Technique was too vast!
A dagger slid across his throat, and Qin Feng was defeated once more.
[Defeat!]
’Body Technique... The Body Technique that comes with the Thousand Army Spear was derived from chaotic battles. I should imagine enemies on all sides and use immovability to counter all changes... If I had just...’
Qin Feng continued to reflect, silently analyzing the last battle.
One of the benefits of the Imperial Arena was its video recording feature.
Contestants could review their battle footage at any time to analyze their performance and identify their weaknesses.
Qin Feng watched the footage carefully for forty or fifty minutes before letting out a long breath, having gained a great deal of insight into his Body Technique.
[*Thousand Army Spear* proficiency +3]
-----------------
Fifth match: Victory.
His opponent was an Axe Warrior with 92 points.
[Victory!]
[You defeated a strength-based opponent and gained a new understanding of how to use skill to overcome force. *Thousand Army Spear* proficiency +1]
Sixth match: Defeat.
His opponent was an Archer with 128 points. He was kited to death.
[Defeat!]
[Suppressed by a ranged enemy, you have recognized the importance of footwork and closing in for battle. *Thousand Army Spear* proficiency +2]
Seventh match: Defeat.
His opponent was a Boxer with 115 points. He was taken out by a combo after they closed the distance.
[Defeat!]
[Defeated in a close-quarters brawl, you begin to contemplate how to leverage the advantages of a Long Spear at extremely close range. *Thousand Army Spear* proficiency +2]
Eighth match: Victory.
His opponent was a whip user with 88 points.
[Victory!]
[You successfully countered attacks from a flexible weapon and have gained a deeper understanding of weapon matchups. *Thousand Army Spear* proficiency +1]
Ninth match: Victory.
His opponent was a Swordsman with 95 points. The two fought for over a hundred rounds, with Qin Feng ultimately claiming a narrow victory by a half-move advantage.
[Victory!]
[By narrowly winning a high-intensity exchange, your Combat Will and the fine details of your spear technique have been honed. *Thousand Army Spear* proficiency +2]
...
Time flew by amidst the cycle of victories and defeats.
When the ninth battle ended, Qin Feng’s placement match record stood at five wins and four losses.
The opponents he could beat generally had scores below 100 points.
But whenever he encountered a Martial Artist with over 110 points, the fight became exceptionally difficult, and his win rate was extremely low.
After these nine high-intensity practical battles, Qin Feng had gained a clear understanding of his own strength.
His current spear skill level placed him at around the 100-point mark among First Rank Martial Artists in the Imperial Arena. However, with so few matches played, the data wasn’t entirely reliable.
After all, he could run into a First Rank veteran with a thousand matches under their belt, or a prodigy who had a sudden epiphany and was now climbing the ranks.
He needed to fight a sufficient number of matches to figure out his true standing.
At the same time, he had also figured out the matchmaking rules for placement matches.
It seemed that placement matches were randomly matched from the entire point range within the First Rank.
That was why he encountered experts like "Mad Demon Staff" with a high score of 152, as well as beginner-level gatekeepers with only 75 points.
This resulted in a widely fluctuating combat experience.
It was either an easy steamroll or he was the one getting steamrolled. Truly exhilarating, evenly matched duels were few and far between.
However, once his placement was complete, the Imperial Arena would prioritize matching him with opponents of a similar score, which would greatly improve the combat experience.
"Hooo..."
Qin Feng exited the queue and slowly exhaled on the virtual arena platform.
Nine consecutive high-intensity, life-and-death battles, even without real physical injury, took an immense mental toll.
Every offensive and defensive exchange, every attempt to seize an opportunity, required intense mental focus.
At this moment, his mind felt heavy, and a deep sense of exhaustion washed over his spirit.
He sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to circulate the *Emperor’s Meditation Technique*.
Although he couldn’t truly cultivate in the virtual world, this kind of visualization allowed his mind to find a moment of peace and relief.
After about ten minutes, the mental fatigue began to recede slightly.
He opened his eyes, his gaze once again clear and resolute.
Only one last match remained.
He stood up and opened the ranked mode again.
[Searching for an opponent for your tenth placement match...]
[Match found!]
The information panel for his final opponent slowly materialized.
Qin Feng’s gaze swept over it, and he froze for a moment.
[ID]: Zhou Yu
[Rank]: First Rank
[Points]: 98
[Record]: 15 Wins - 5 Losses
[Self-Introduction]: Proficient with the Ninefold Thunder Saber.
[Enemy Evaluation (1)]: The number one noob at Enlightenment Star’s Thunder Martial Arts Hall.
...
「At the same time.」
An unknown number of light-years away from Qiming First Martial Arts High School, on another Life Planet—Enlightenment Star.
Inside a magnificent and sprawling martial hall, over a hundred people were currently gathered.
The hall’s decor was imbued with the stark aura of iron and blood. The walls were cast from a single piece of black alloy and adorned with massive banners embroidered with a pattern of golden lightning bolts crossed with a Battle Saber.
This was the insignia of one of the Empire’s main warbands, the "Thunder Warband."
And this edifice was the Thunder Martial Hall, an affiliated institution under the Thunder Warband’s jurisdiction, dedicated to discovering and nurturing talented reserve soldiers for the Warband.
At this moment, at the very front of the hall, seven or eight powerful figures in Martial Hall uniforms sat in solemn stillness.
Their auras were profound and their gazes sharp as lightning. Merely by sitting there, they exuded the imposing air of Grandmasters, as deep as a still abyss and as steadfast as a great mountain.
Below them, sixty or seventy teenagers around fifteen or sixteen years old, all dressed in uniform training clothes, stood with bated breath, their eyes all focused on the center of the hall.
There, a young woman with a straight posture and a beautiful face stood with her eyes tightly shut, her consciousness immersed in the Imperial Arena.
She was none other than Zhou Yu.
Today was the Thunder Martial Arts Hall’s annual "Combat Arts Examination Day."
And Zhou Yu, as the most outstanding genius of her class, was undergoing her final test—to complete her placement matches in the Imperial Arena and reach 100 points.
The surrounding students were watching Zhou Yu’s battle on a giant holographic screen above the hall, and the air was abuzz with discussions filled with envy and amazement.
"Senior Sister Zhou Yu is so strong! I heard she’s only been practicing the *Ninefold Thunder Saber* for two months, right? And she’s already reached the ’Minor Accomplishment’ stage!"
"Yeah, she’s a monster! I’ve been practicing for almost a year and haven’t even fully mastered the first layer of power, but she’s already skillfully using the second."
"In that last round, she beat an opponent with 110 points. It was a beautiful fight!"
"If she wins this one, she’ll hit 100 points. Hey, her opponent is unranked. Their ID is ’Qin’, and the self-intro says ’Practitioner of the Thousand Army Spear’."
"Spear arts? That won’t be easy. The spear is the king of a hundred weapons, and it’s extremely difficult to master. But this ’Qin’ is unranked, so he’s probably just a rookie. Senior Sister Zhou Yu shouldn’t have a problem beating him."
"It’s hard to say. The Thousand Army Spear... anyone who dares to choose that is usually a genius with heaven-defying comprehension."
"Yeah, everyone knows the Thousand Army Spear is powerful, but not many mentors would dare to have their students choose it, and even fewer students dare to learn it."
The students’ discussions were filled with anticipation for the upcoming battle.
On the screen above, the battle scene for Zhou Yu and Qin Feng had finished loading.
The countdown timer began to tick down slowly.
[5, 4, 3...]
"Oh? It’s you?"
The countdown hadn’t even finished, but Zhou Yu had already raised an eyebrow.
Qin Feng remained silent, tightening his grip on the standard-issue Long Spear in his hand. He recalled the first time he had entered the Imperial Arena, when he was beheaded with a single slash of a saber.
Back then, he hadn’t practiced any combat arts and couldn’t even comprehend the trajectory of that slash. Now, he wanted to see just how much he had improved since before he enrolled in the school!
How much progress had he made this past month!