One nameplate equaled three hundred points and anyone who lost their nameplate would be eliminated.
However, whoever killed an opponent would have to be punished with their life. As a result, no one would dare to kill the other participants in the assessment unless they didn’t want to live anymore.
The assessment was scheduled for six hours, and each student’s final score at the end of the assessment would determine their ranking.
In the end, one of the two campgrounds would be scrapped, and the thirty most outstanding students would remain and the rest would be eliminated.
Those were the rules of the monthly assessment.
There were a total of sixty-three students from the 39th and 40th campgrounds participating in the assessment, but only thirty would remain in the end. In other words, more than half of the students would leave Blood Kill Camp after the assessment.
The assessment was undoubtedly brutal. No student would want to be eliminated.
……
Lin Xun hadn’t left the swamp.
He returned to his original hiding place. The girl whose throat had been slit was nowhere to be seen, but traces from the battle still remained.Any student who passed by there would no doubt realize that an extremely dangerous surprise attack had happened from the remaining traces.
Lin Xun intentionally didn’t remove the traces and only carefully wiped away his footprints. He then lurked in the same spot again.
A trap usually could only be used once, but sometimes, it would make people lower their guards.
Lin Xun had no intention of searching for opponents within the hundreds of miles of Poisonous Scorpion Ridge because the terrain was too complicated and danger could be lurking in every corner. He could easily expose his tracks if he actively attacked other people.
Instead, it was better to stay where he was and wait for an opportunity to come!
The length of the assessment was six hours and almost two hours had passed. There were still around four hours left. If he wanted to persevere to the end and save his energy, it was best to wait!
It would be stupid to rashly make a move.
Lin Xun knew very well that there was no easy target among the students able to last until now in the Blood Kill Camp. In the assessment, not only his strength and ability were tested but also his mind and courage against intelligent people.
Lin Xun was well aware of his own battle strength. Although he possessed aeth power comparable to that of a cultivator at the pinnacle of the ninth layer True Martial Stage despite him being only at the True Martial seventh layer, he wasn’t at an advantage.
More than half of the students at the Poisonous Scorpion Ridge were at the pinnacle of the True Martial ninth layer. Furthermore, Ning Meng, Shi Yu, and Qi Can had suppressed their strength at that cultivation stage for years. It was easy to imagine how terrifying their strength was.
In terms of martial arts cultivation, Lin Xun was at most regarded as average, even though he had the Six Word Blade Art and had mastered the Marching Army Fist Art to the perfect realm.
It couldn’t be helped. The other students had impressive backgrounds and had been practicing secret techniques and cultivation arts prepared specially for them since they were young. The power of those secret arts could easily be imagined.
Compared with them, the Marching Army Fist Art, which Lin Xun had mastered to the perfect realm, and the Six-Word Blade Art, which he had grasped to the precise realm, weren’t particularly remarkable; however, they also weren’t considered weak.
The only advantage that Lin Xun had over them was his extremely powerful spirit sense and his weapon, the Jade Ripple Blade.
Like the Explosion Blade, the Jade Ripple Blade was also a lower human-grade aeth tool found widely on the market.
However, unlike the other Jade Rippling Blades on the market, the one he made was twenty percent stronger than usual!
A similar situation had happened when he created the Explosion Blade, and later, the Explosion Blade was given a new name—Flame Blade.
He experienced the same situation with the Jade Ripple Blade.
However, in terms of attributes, the Jade Ripple Blade had water attributes while the Flame Blade had fire attributes. They both had their unique quality in power.
Lin Xun chose the Jade Ripple Blade over the Flame Blade because, after several battles, he found that the Flame Blade, which was wilful and berserk, didn’t match his fighting style.
However, he could freely display his fighting power with the Jade Ripple Blade.
Water had no constant state and was ever-changing. It could turn into mist or freeze into ice. It could be boundless like the ocean, endless like the Yellow River, hang upside down like the milky way, and could engulf the eight wastelands like a whirlpool.
Water was said to be the most merciful thing in the world. It could be silent or surge up violently. It could be both strong and gentle, and it could accommodate all things in the world.
Its style was most in line with Lin Xun’s state of mind. He could be tough when needed and overcome any difficulties, but he could also be silent and still when he wanted. He could change indefinitely in the face of enemies.
Lin Xun’s decision showed the progress he had made on his cultivation road. He had begun to consciously choose his own fighting style and path.
……
Time passed by but the swamp was still quiet and only an unpleasant smell and fog filled the air.
It wasn’t a pleasant feeling to lurk in the swamp. Lin Xun had to hold his breath and could only take a breath here and there.
Only a cultivator at the Spirit Dipper Stage or above could use their body of qi to regulate their breathing rate.
Before long, Lin Xun instantly captured the sound of approaching footsteps with his spirit sense. His heart fluttered and he was ready to act.
A short and chubby youngster stood at the edge of the swamp. His skin was dark and his eyes were small. He looked very ordinary.
He was panting for breath and seemed to have been running for a while. He had only stood at the edge of the swamp for a short moment, but he had already sensed that a tragic battle had happened there.
“This is a pretty good hiding spot.”
The chubby teenager rolled his eyes and beamed, “Anyone can tell that this place is good for an ambush, and also, a fight has already taken place here so no one would expect another one here…”
Although he mumbled quietly, Lin Xun caught everything he said with his sharp hearing. His heart trembled uncontrollably. This guy is smart. Could he have already seen through my plan?
Screeeech!
Just as this thought popped into his mind an ear-piercing noise rang like a sharp whistle piercing the world.
A strong feeling of imminent danger enveloped him. He bolted out of the swamp without any hesitation and threw himself to one side.
Boom!
A blinding beam of cold light narrowly brushed past Lin Xun’s shoulder before shooting into the swamp. A deep hole was blasted into the bottom of the swamp and muddy water splattered tens of feet in all directions.
Lin Xun felt a chill in his heart. He would have been critically injured, if not killed if he was a little slower.
It was only now that he noticed the short black crossbow in the chubby teenager’s grip. It was engraved entirely with petal-like runes and was an enchanting blood-like color.
Armor Piercing Blood Crossbow!
A standard Armor Piercing Blood Crossbow in the empire could be loaded with twelve specially-made rune arrows. Each one had terrifying destructive power and could pierce through even ordinary aeth tool armors.
The most terrifying thing about the crossbow was that it was only an arm-thick and half a foot long, so it could be easily carried around and required little aeth power to kill an opponent. Furthermore, it could release terrifying destructive power with a pull of its trigger.
An Armor Piercing Blood Crossbow like that could be sold for a high price of eight hundred silver coins on the market!
“Hey friend, you have a fast reaction.” The chubby young man grinned as he put away the crossbow. Then, he drew a sharp scimitar.
It was the Whale Bone Blade, which exuded a more mysterious and fierce aura than ordinary battle blades. It could tear multiple cracks into an opponent’s skin, making it difficult to heal.
Boom!
Unhesitatingly, the short, chubby teenager charged toward Lin Xun.
Although he had a smiling countenance and a short, and unthreatening figure, his moves were ruthless and resolute and he was swift as lightning.
“Hmph!” Lin Xun snorted coldly, swung up his Jade Ripple Blade, and charged over to meet the chubby teenager head-on.
His ambush had been seen through and it had turned into fierce hand-to-hand combat. And in this sort of head-to-head clash, bravery and fierceness as well as combat skills were the most important.
In this regard, Lin Xun wouldn’t shrink back.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The two repeatedly clashed in the swamp, resembling two hungry wolves fighting for their survival.
Very quickly, Lin Xun realized that the chubby teenager possessed a cultivation base of the ninth layer True Martial Stage and had a deceptive and fierce fighting style; he was no doubt a formidable enemy.
In particular, his blade art was mysterious, swift, and cunning like a poisonous venom-spitting snake. It clearly was a type of extremely powerful combat technique.
Lin Xu had run into an expert from the 40th campground!
But that only ignited Lin Xun’s fighting spirit. Ever since he had broken through to the seventh layer True Martial Stage, he hadn’t had a chance to truly display his new strength to its fullest.
His exchange with Xin Wenbin the previous day had been utterly tormenting to him and didn’t feel like a true fight.
Die!
Lin Xun’s eyebrows were sharp like blades and his jet-black eyes were flashing like lightning. He had an intense look of concentration and calmness on his handsome face. In his hands, the Jade Ripple Blade displayed the essence of the Six Word Blade to its fullest.
However, the battle had only begun when the short chubby teenager leaped out of the battlefield, shouting, “My friend, how about we stop fighting? Both of us would be wounded in the end and the others would only take advantage of our situation.”
Lin Xun ignored him and continued to charge forward. He couldn’t be sure whether the chubby teenager was scheming something, so he had to continue fighting to avoid creating more trouble for himself.
“Fudge!”
The chubby teenager cursed out loud, spun around, and darted away. He was surprisingly nimble and was already dozens of feet into the distance in the blink of an eye.
Lin Xun was only then certain that the chubby teenager indeed had no intention to continue fighting because the distance between them was already too far for the Armor Piercing Blood Crossbow to strike.
“My friend, your blade art isn’t bad. After this monthly assessment, let’s continue to learn from each other!” The chubby teenager’s voice echoed but he was already nowhere to be seen.
“Learn from each other? Next time I see your fat face, I’m going to kill it first!” Lin Xun coldly sneered, but he inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. He also knew that they both would inevitably be wounded in their battle and that others would take advantage of the situation afterward.
“It seems that I have to change to another hiding spot.”
Lin Xun scanned the swamp. He knew that it wouldn’t be effective to hide in the same spot anymore.
However, one thing still puzzled him; he still didn’t know how the chubby teenager had found him in the first place.