Chapter 44: The Black Blossom Spear

In the Trial Valley, no matter the time or place, it is strictly forbidden to remove the black armor or the voice-altering mask.

You can seize golden five-pointed emblems from others, or be robbed of your own. Defeating an opponent allows you to claim one emblem from them; if you lose, one is taken from you. You're not allowed to take more than one per fight. If you have four or more emblems or are left with none, you may exit the trial by stepping onto the wooden walkways scattered throughout the valley.

If a participant exits the valley five times with five golden emblems, they will be awarded one academic credit.

Real military weapons are scattered throughout the valley—but you must find them yourself.

…

Lin Xi had been listening carefully from the start. Since the rules of the Trial Valley were not complicated, he was able to recite all the key points with ease and accuracy.

Seeing that Lin Xi hadn't missed any important details and showed no signs of disrespect, the wrinkled black-robed old man's expression softened slightly. He turned and opened the door.

The temple-like structure was dim and winding. When the old man pushed open another heavy stone door, a beam of bright sunlight immediately poured in, illuminating both him and Lin Xi.

This door led to the Trial Valley. A silver cable anchored to the wall beside the door extended out into the forested valley.

Lin Xi saw that from this large door alone, hundreds of similar silver cables stretched in various directions into the forest below.

The old man pointed to one of the cables and said quietly, "One last piece of advice—just like on a real battlefield, there is no such thing as absolute fairness in the Trial Valley. While most students enter through these silver cables, there's no guarantee that others won't be lying in wait nearby with weapons already in hand. So be ready to fight the moment you arrive."

Lin Xi gave the old man a respectful bow. "May I ask your name, teacher?"

The old man glanced at him. "Luo Houyuan."

Lin Xi, clad in silver mask and black armor, said no more. He turned and zipped down the silver cable at high speed.

"Though our Yunqin Empire values respect for teachers, to show such courtesy to a guide who's old enough to be buried soon and still only holds a lecturer's post… Vice Dean Xia, your chosen candidate is indeed different," Luo Houyuan murmured as he watched Lin Xi vanish from sight.

Any Gold Spoon youth attuned to status and privilege would likely see this worn-robed old man and think his glory and future had long passed. But those familiar with the academy knew what kind of person he truly was.

Qingluan Academy housed many kinds of talents. As the one-eyed black-robed lecturer Tong Wei once said, everyone had their own ambitions and differing views. And yet, the academy made room even for people like Luo Houyuan—those who hid away among the academy's mountains and rivers, shunning fame and glory. Only when the academy was truly in peril would they act.

They were true hermits. In classified external documents, such individuals had a special designation: "Academy Guardians."

…

Compared to the earlier cables, this silver cable from the temple structure wasn't very long. Within a dozen breaths, Lin Xi saw the end.

It led to a rundown pavilion surrounded by towering wild cherry trees.

Clad in still-awkward black armor, Lin Xi landed heavily inside the pavilion. He glanced around quickly, and a wry smile formed beneath his silver mask.

There were no ambushers nearby. But from the pavilion's vantage, he could see all of Qingluan Academy's peaks behind him—which meant this valley was outside the bounds of the academy itself. The landscape around him was a vast, undulating forest stretching beyond sight. Though he was certain instructors were watching students in secret, he could see no trace of the wooden walkways mentioned by Luo Houyuan.

In other words, although those walkways must exist for participants to withdraw, they were few and scattered. Even while trying to exit the battlefield, one could easily run into more opponents and be forced into another fight.

Knowing his top priority was to leave the area, Lin Xi picked a direction and began running swiftly.

But after just a few dozen steps, he slowed down.

When he wasn't moving much earlier, the black armor felt merely heavy. But once he started running, he realized the warm flow of energy in his dantian was being suppressed by the chilling aura of the armor itself.

It seemed the suppression of cultivation in the Trial Valley came from the black armor—just as Instructor Mu Qing had said.

While carefully moving through the woods, something dark amid a cluster of rocks caught Lin Xi's eye.

It was a black longsword.

He took a deep breath and stepped forward. The moment he picked up the weapon, he instantly recognized the wide, subtly curved blade, the natural forging patterns like loose grain, and the deep blood groove. It was unmistakably a standard-issue Yunqin Empire frontier army longsword—just like the one Tang Ke had carried.

These military blades were forged from triple-layered steel. To prevent snapping when caught in enemy armor, the blade core had a cold iron strip, the edge was layered with black cloud steel, and the blade was repeatedly quenched with a mix of over ten mineral powders and the purest black coal. Forged and tempered for three days, only then would it be durable enough to cleave through heads and armor without chipping or breaking.

The only differences with this sword were the lack of a sheath and the absence of the thick cloth wrapping around the grip that frontier soldiers used to prevent slippage.

Gripping this weapon—still a bit heavy for him—Lin Xi immediately felt more secure. Just as he was about to test its edge on a withered tree nearby, a sudden "crack" of a branch snapped him alert.

Someone was coming!

Startled, Lin Xi spun around—and tensed up the moment he saw the enemy and their weapon.

The silver-masked, black-armored figure wielded a black spear.

The faint green gleam of the trident spearhead and the lacquered blackwood shaft confirmed it—this was also a real military weapon. The "Black Blossom" spear.

The shaft was made from specially treated black vine wood—hard to cut, light, and extremely flexible. In skilled hands, it could whip into spear blossoms or even arc like a crescent moon, using its elasticity to smash foes. Once the trident head pierced flesh, it bloomed—into blood.

The Black Blossom spear was taller than Lin Xi by a full head. His first thought was that he was clearly at a disadvantage in reach.

Worse yet, the opponent's armor had three golden emblems on the right shoulder and one on the left, showing that they had already won at least one battle.

Lin Xi glanced at the other's chest: the emblem of a black rose.

His opponent also looked at his chest—where the silver fox insignia was visible.

"You…" Lin Xi began to ask which department the person was from.

But the moment he opened his mouth, the opponent acted.

A rock came flying at his face.

The black-spear wielder had kept their left hand behind their back—now it flung a stone the size of half a head directly at Lin Xi, then immediately gripped the spear with both hands and charged.

"So devious!"

Lin Xi instinctively dodged the flying stone, but the spear had already arrived, slamming into his lower abdomen.

The black armor was extremely durable and not penetrated. But the Black Blossom spear bent into a crescent between them, then rebounded with massive force, sending Lin Xi crashing backwards and rolling across the ground.

Though unharmed thanks to the armor, the sheer impact knocked the wind out of him.

"Pfft!"

The second strike came down without mercy—but Lin Xi's tumble had moved him just enough for the blow to miss, stabbing deep into the soil beside him.

That gave him a moment's reprieve. Fighting back the nausea, he rolled several more times and forced himself upright.

But the opponent simply pulled the spear free and swung it like a club, slamming it into Lin Xi's left shoulder. The blow was so heavy it drove him down again, and he cried out in pain.

Yet the pain triggered something in him—his ruthlessness.

They were now close. As the enemy thrust again for the kill, Lin Xi didn't dodge.

Instead, he raised his sword and hacked straight at the other's head.