66: Chapter 67 The Step Towards Perfection

As soon as the bell for the qualification match rang, the Old Training Team 3 held nothing back, immediately pressing their first row of heavy beasts forward!

No probing, no holding back, not even a moment to gauge the caliber of the new team—they opened with a kill move, clearly intending to end the fight quickly and cut off the new Team 4's qualification for the forward station immediately!

In the center of the Duanfeng Simulation Field, half of a burnt training post was stuck diagonally in a pile of rubble, with only three old grooves barely capable of lighting up remaining on the post. The rules of the qualification match were simple and cruel: whoever ignited the training post first and held it for eighty breaths would secure the official forward station quota. Even worse, the terrain of the simulation field was rugged, with a collapsed front slope, a deep left trench, and a half-broken bridge hanging on the right side—it was almost identical to the real forward station ruins, with a lethal trap hidden at every step.

The Black-Armored Instructor stood on the high platform, his gaze sweeping across the arena, and he coldly dropped a single sentence: "Fight as if it were a mission." Having said that, he fell silent, merely watching this life-and-death struggle with a cold eye.

Just as Lu Jin placed his hand on the simulation console, the youth with the black spear on his back across from him lifted his head first, his gaze like iron, piercing straight over. The man had broad shoulders and back, his aura as heavy as if it were pressed down by lead, standing at the very front of Old Training Team 3, looking exactly like an immovable iron post—the phrase "on the edge of Apprentice Perfection" on the leaderboard referred to him.

"Xie Zheng!" Qiao Ye gritted his teeth, his voice tight. "He's the ruthless character who survived to the end of last year's joint training! I heard he's only one step away from securing a spot in an official frontline team!"

The Line-Marking Nail in Wen Zhao's hand was already hooked into his fire sac belt. His eyes sank instantly, and his tone was grave: "He isn't here to guard the training post today; he's here to cut off your upgrade window and keep you pressed outside the door of Apprentice Perfection!"

Ning Yanqiu didn't reply. With a flick of her fingertips, four small mirrors flew straight into the air. The cold white mirror light instantly split into four, sweeping across the broken bridge, the front slope, the left trench, and the top of the training post, instantly mapping out all the traps in the arena.

"Heavy pressure on the front slope, spikes hidden in the left trench, and ambushers waiting to close the trap on the right bridge." She spoke extremely quickly, every word clear: "They want to force us to exhaust our strength on the front, then seize the post while we're vulnerable!"

Lu Jin responded, his commands crisp and decisive, without a hint of hesitation: "Qiao Ye, hold the front, no greedy charges! Wen Zhao, seal the back half of the right bridge first, don't burn it all, leave a line-of-sight gap to bait them into revealing themselves! Ning Yanqiu, keep your eyes locked on Xie Zheng; report to me the moment he moves on any line!"

"Understood!" The three of them responded in unison, instantly entering combat mode.

The simulation console suddenly lit up, and the phantom image of the Furnace Cave Fortress instantly unfurled within Lu Jin's Sea of Consciousness: the dark fire of the Priest Well rolled gloomily, the white slurry of the Brood Nursery Court surged turbulently, the six Post Station fire bricks on the outer ring tightly pressed down the sub-nest slope entrance, and the half-bundle of hollow wing bones on the high eaves emitted a faint, fine sound in the wind—city, troops, sacrifice, nest, all were fully prepared.

Only the five newly formed Spore-Plague Explosive Rats were still being kept by Wu Fu in the innermost layer of the deep nest.

Wu Fu's voice came from the depths of the Sea of Consciousness, sharp yet steady: "Don't release them this match; the qualification match hasn't reached the point of shedding blood or tearing down gates yet. Let's secure the official seat first!"

Grey Pupil spoke right after, his tone firm: "Bone-Armor Furnace Guards go first, Red-Eyed Rat Tide presses the second layer. I'll stabilize the fire sequence for you; I won't let you get distracted!"

Lu Jin didn't divide his attention to respond—the first wave of attacks from Old Training Team 3 had already reached them!

Xie Zheng raised his hand and pressed down; three black-armored Tusk Rhinos roared as they charged down from the top of the front slope. Their target wasn't the burnt training post, but the front position Lu Jin had just set up, clearly intending to forcefully smash through their defensive line! Behind the Tusk Rhinos followed a row of grey-armored hook-wielding soldiers, pressing forward while dragging the hidden spikes from the left trench toward the center line, trying to force them to fight with enemies at their front and back.

Xie Zheng's fighting style was simple yet lethal: no flashy tricks, no taking risks, relying entirely on the experience and depth of strength honed over years of missions, specializing in the most uncomfortable, fatal strikes!

"Good strike!" Qiao Ye let out a violent shout and charged forward first with the Shield Bear. This time, he didn't charge in recklessly like usual; he stuck firmly to the narrowest position on the front slope, sank his shoulders, and using the momentum of the slope, slammed fiercely into the chest of the first black-armored Tusk Rhino! Two Bone-Armor Furnace Guards followed on the left and right, their ash-fire bone shields colliding violently with the rhino horns. The ground of the simulation field shook, vibrating with the impact, and the dull thud echoed throughout the arena.

As soon as the first collision sound died down, Ning Yanqiu's positioning report sounded promptly, with a hint of urgency: "Don't look at the left trench! Someone in the second row is deliberately exposing a gap; it's a fake path to lure you into a trap!"

Qiao Ye had already aimed for that seemingly loose gap on the left, but upon hearing this, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to pull back his half-step charge—he had almost stepped into the trap!

Almost at the same instant, the two Line-Marking Nails in Wen Zhao's hand nailed into the broken beam of the right bridge. The ash-fire jumped with a "poof," burning only the outer edge of the broken bridge, deliberately leaving the center of the bridge unsealed. The next second, three grey figures hiding behind the bridge were forced to deviate from their route, completely exposed in the firelight, with nowhere to hide.

"Three people on the right bridge, they're not using full force." Wen Zhao's voice remained steady, yet carried a hint of coldness. "They're waiting for you to go over so they can flank you from behind and lock you inside the gap!"

Qiao Ye turned his head and cursed, his tone full of lingering fear: "These bastards are truly devious!"

Wen Zhao retorted without any courtesy: "If you had chased any faster, you would have become their living target right now, filling the gap for them!"

"Shut up! I can hold it!" Qiao Ye was stubborn, but his hands were not careless in the slightest. He slammed the Shield Bear fiercely between the legs of the second Tusk Rhino, no longer chasing blindly, just guarding that narrowest slope entrance firmly, resisting the frontal impact—the front-pressing gap position wasn't about charging around wildly; it was about delivering that fatal blow when it was time to strike!

This time, he truly stood his ground in his position!

But Xie Zheng didn't give them any chance to breathe. As soon as the front-row Tusk Rhinos pinned down the Bone-Armor Furnace Guards, he charged down from the center line, carrying his black spear. The spear tip played no tricks, it was all hard, point-blank thrusts! The first strike smashed onto the shoulder of the leftmost Bone-Armor Furnace Guard, cracking a large opening in the ash-fire shoulder armor on the spot; the second strike went straight for the center-line sacrificial pattern projection, the goal not being to inflict damage, but to force Lu Jin to divide his attention to control it, disrupting their rhythm!

Ning Yanqiu's eyes sharpened, and the four small mirrors turned abruptly. The cold white mirror light slashed down diagonally, heading straight for the tip of Xie Zheng's spear! Xie Zheng flicked his wrist, and the mirror light slid off, grazing the spear shaft, but it still left a layer of thin frost on the sleeve armor of his left arm, the chill penetrating straight to his skin.

"He's testing you!" Ning Yanqiu spoke even faster. "He's not in a hurry to seize the post; he's testing how many lines you can suppress simultaneously, forcing you to lose your footing!"

Lu Jin understood clearly—he was now just one final step away from stepping into Apprentice Perfection! The Military Court could see this, and veteran team members like Xie Zheng, who had been struggling on the front lines for years, could see it even more clearly! The opponent was clearly not here to drag him into a positional war today; they wanted to force the Furnace Cave Fortress, the rat tide, the Sacrificial Fire, and the brood nursery all into a high-pressure state, to see if he could truly stand his ground or if he would fall short just before the gates of Apprentice Perfection!

On the simulation console, the consumption values soared layer by layer: the Bone-Armor Furnace Guards continued to withstand the impact, their wear and tear constantly increasing; the Red-Eyed Rat Tide remained still, waiting for a bloody opening; the black fire of the Priest Well had already pressed to the second circle of the outer ring, the fire growing fiercer; on the Brood Nursery Court side, Wu Fu was also constantly pushing newly replenished rat swarms forward, and the consumption of nest slurry was increasing sharply.

Wu Fu's voice sounded again, with a hint of tongue-clicking: "I can replenish one more round of rat swarms, but any further, both the nest slurry and the fire will be severely drained, and I won't be able to hold out for too long!"

Grey Pupil's voice followed closely, his tone firm: "I can push the fire sequence forward by another half layer, but any more, and the black fire of the Priest Well will begin to backfire on your divine sense, which is extremely risky!"

Lu Jin didn't make a choice immediately—the true difficulty was never "which line could still add power," but rather that these lines had been four independent lines from start to finish, each exerting force, but failing to truly twist into a single rope!

Xie Zheng, obviously, had also spotted this point!

The third wave of attacks was even more ruthless and fierce than the first two! Xie Zheng raised his spear and pointed to the left; the hidden spikes in the left trench flipped up instantly, forcing two Burrowing Spear Rats to reveal themselves prematurely; on the right bridge side, three Old Training Team members pressed down simultaneously, charging out from the bridge shadows and the gaps in the broken beams, heading straight for Wen Zhao's fire line gap; on the front slope center line, the Tusk Rhinos exerted force again, forcefully knocking Qiao Ye and the Bone-Armor Furnace Guards back by half a step, the defensive line in precarious danger!

"Qiao Ye, step back half a step, don't let it drag you off balance, just hold the slope entrance!" Wen Zhao shouted out immediately, his hand already gripping the third Line-Marking Nail.

"I'm not off balance!" Qiao Ye was stubborn, but his feet obediently stepped back half a step—but it was precisely this half step that the grey-armored team member on Xie Zheng's right immediately and deliberately exposed a middle-section gap, appearing as if the defensive line hadn't held, luring Qiao Ye to charge in!

This was an obvious hook, and even more so, the trap that Qiao Ye was most prone to falling for!

Qiao Ye's eyes lit up, and he instinctively lunged forward with the Shield Bear—he wanted to break open the gap too much, he wanted to prove himself too much!

"Don't go in!" This time, the one who spoke first wasn't Ning Yanqiu, but Wen Zhao! The third Line-Marking Nail in his hand had been buried during the first two test pressures. At this moment, as the fire line lit up, a deeply hidden recovery line behind the broken bridge was instantly exposed—what the opponent wanted wasn't to open a gap at all; they wanted to lure Qiao Ye between two flanking lines and lock their strongest front-pressing position in one bite!

"He has ambushers behind him! If you go in now, you absolutely won't be able to return within three breaths, and the front-pressing position will be ruined!" There was urgency in Wen Zhao's voice for the first time.

Qiao Ye had already charged out half a body length and was about to step into the trap when Ning Yanqiu's mirror light suddenly slashed down diagonally from high above, landing exactly half a foot in front of his feet! Ice-white cracks exploded with a "crack," like an invisible barrier, forcefully intercepting him from his charge!

"Watch the path!" There was anger in Ning Yanqiu's voice for the first time, her tone sharp, shocking Qiao Ye into coming back to his senses instantly.

A layer of cold sweat instantly broke out on Qiao Ye's back—the next moment, two long-buried locking hooks sprang up from the front of his original position, nailing fiercely into the empty ground! If he had been even one step slower, those two locking hooks would have nailed his legs!

Qiao Ye's expression sank to the bottom instantly; this time it wasn't because of anger and shame, but because he was truly frightened—he had almost ruined the entire team!

"Remember this moment." Lu Jin's voice came from behind, steady and powerful, carrying unquestionable authority. "You are responsible for crashing, not for greed. Holding your position is the greatest contribution."

Qiao Ye gritted his teeth and responded fiercely: "Understood!"

At this moment, Qiao Ye's front-pressing gap position was finally truly established; he was no longer that hotheaded rookie who only knew how to charge and crash blindly!

The Old Training Team 3 also seized this momentary gap, pushing their entire front defensive line to the deepest point!

Xie Zheng flipped his black spear, the butt of the spear smashing directly into the foremost bone shield. The Bone-Armor Furnace Guard on the left, whose shoulder armor had already been cracked, was finally forced to one knee, its grey fire dimming slightly.

The gap at the front slope loosened, and the swarm of grey-armored hook-wielding soldiers behind surged forward, on the verge of breaking through the defensive line.

On the other side, someone on the right bridge charged down while hard-pressing against Wen Zhao's line of fire, forcing him to burn two fire lines in succession, thinning out his own reserved retreat route and leaving him in a precarious position.

Ning Yanqiu's four small mirrors rotated at high speed, but her voice was as cold as ice: "He's going to seize the pillar! Xie Zheng is coming from the center line, those two on the right bridge are a feint; the real ambush force to close the gap is still behind, waiting for us to lose focus!"

Lu Jin stared fixedly at the deduction board, his divine sense sinking layer by layer. Within his Sea of Consciousness, all the fire lines of the Furnace Cave Fortress were roaring: the black fire of the Priest Well, the fire of the outer ring Post Station bricks, the ringing of the high eave wing bones, and the rushing sound of the white slurry from the Brood Nursery Court all slammed into the entrance of his Sea of Consciousness at once!

That barrier blocking the door to Apprentice Perfection had originally been only a thin line—at this moment, this line was being fiercely pushed by the pressure of the entire battlefield!

Lu Jin finally raised his hand, his five fingers pressing down hard, his commands ringing out with authority: "Grey Pupil, open the second layer of fire sequences! Wu Fu, bring up all reinforcement lines, regardless of consumption! Qiao Ye, defend the main gap to the death, not a single step back! Wen Zhao, lock onto the retreat line of the right bridge; whoever tries to close the gap, burn their feet first! Ning Yanqiu—"

Ning Yanqiu responded almost simultaneously, her tone resolute: "I'll give you three breaths of a straight line to block all of Xie Zheng's retreat routes!"

As her voice fell, her four small mirrors converged simultaneously toward the center line. Three Mirror Frost Crows swept past overhead, and the cold white mirror light ceased its scattering, instead condensing into a sharp, straight line, locking onto the shortest path of advance between Xie Zheng's right shoulder and the Residual Fire Calibration Pillar—three breaths, fleeting in an instant; this was their only chance!

Lu Jin's divine sense sank violently. In his Sea of Consciousness, Grey Pupil tapped his ritual staff, and the second layer of black fire surged up on the spot! This fire no longer just guarded the Priest Well, but pressed forward along the grey steps, the outer ring, and the rat tunnels, forcibly twisting the rhythm of the entire Furnace Cave Fortress into a single strand!

In the Brood Nursery Court, Wu Fu plunged both hands into the white slurry. This time, she didn't send reinforcements in batches, but instead pushed the Work Rats, Hard-Shelled Rats, and Red-Eyed Rats all forward along the same nest vein! The white slurry surged, the nest vein lit up, and even the Red-Eyed Rats waiting to fill positions behind the front slope gap saw their eyes turn a uniform shade of red, their ferocity skyrocketing!

Above the high eaves, the half-bundle of hollow wing bones vibrated in unison, the fragmented sounds converging into a force that reined in all the scattered wind—the fortress, the troops, the sacrifice, and the brood; only at this moment were they truly twisted tight and fused into one!

Deep within Lu Jin's Sea of Consciousness, that barrier of rank that had been stuck for too long was finally smashed open by this immense power! It wasn't slowly ground away; the entire Furnace Cave Fortress surged forward together, forcibly cracking and shattering that final threshold!

The black fire in Lu Jin's eyes deepened, and when he lifted his gaze again, his entire aura had completely changed—calm, steady, integrated; there was no superfluous radiance, but it carried an overwhelming aura! Apprentice God Realm Controller, Perfection!

The changes on the deduction board were direct and shocking: the grey patterns on the shoulders and backs of the three front-row Bone-Armor Furnace Guards scorched deep, and while the cracks in their shoulder armor remained, their bone fire was more than twice as thick! They were no longer passively resisting; their front claws hooked forward in unison, actually forcefully bracing the charging Tusk Rhinoceros, holding it completely motionless!

As for the group of Red-Eyed Rats in the rear, they were no longer scattering and biting randomly—with Grey Pupil's staff pressed down, they became an unstoppable rat tide, surging forward along the bloody gap Qiao Ye had defended, their speed and ferocity completely different from before!

What was even more lethal was that Lu Jin's control over the entire deduction field had instantly improved by a level: which section of the front slope would collapse, where the hidden spikes in the left trench had just turned, which retreat line on the right bridge was easiest to burn through—everything was clear and obvious within his Sea of Consciousness!

But the cost followed—the consumption rate of fire, nest slurry, and faith was more than twice as fast as before!

Wu Fu was the first to notice and clicked her tongue: "It worked, but this consumption is way too expensive!"

Grey Pupil only replied with two words, calmly: "It's worth it."

Lu Jin did not waste this hard-won power of Perfection, his tone cold and urgent: "Qiao Ye, now!"

Qiao Ye had been waiting for these words! This time, he was not lured by the feint; he and the Shield Bear, one on the left and one on the right, smashed fiercely into the center line of the front slope, targeting specifically the Tusk Rhinoceros in front of Xie Zheng that was being braced by the Bone-Armor Furnace Guards! The moment they collided, both Bone-Armor Furnace Guards lifted their shoulders to push upward, forcibly tilting the black-armored heavy beast and revealing a fatal gap! The gap had finally been truly smashed open!

"Wen Zhao, seal the right bridge!"

Wen Zhao didn't look up to see the results, throwing out three fire sacs almost simultaneously: the first burned the base of the bridge, cutting off the opponent's recovery line; the second burned the side seam of the beam, sealing the position where people were hiding; the third was not thrown at anyone, but instead nailed fiercely onto the most stable retreat route Xie Zheng had for withdrawing—the firelight flared up, the retreat route was cut off, and the faces of the two people on the right side of Old Training Team 3 turned pale instantly!

Wen Zhao's voice wasn't loud, but it carried unquestionable confidence: "You cannot retreat anymore."

As this sentence fell, his position as the reinforcement closer was firmly established; he was no longer that "fire-box carrier" who only dared to hide in the back and mark lines!

Ning Yanqiu's mirror light pressed down fiercely at this moment, the straight line condensed by the four mirrors perfectly blocking Xie Zheng's attempt to swing his spear and return for rescue! The cold white mirror frost climbed along the spear shaft, forcing his wrist to pause slightly—this pause was a fatal flaw!

Lu Jin moved!

He didn't compete with Xie Zheng in spear technique or play tricks; he only utilized the three-breath straight line provided by Ning Yanqiu, followed the gap smashed open by Qiao Ye, stepped into the center line in one stride, and pressed his palm directly onto the Residual Fire Calibration Pillar on the deduction board!

The black fire of the Priest Well, the fire bricks of the outer ring, the Red-Eyed Rat Tide, and the front row of Bone-Armor Furnace Guards all converged and twisted onto the central calibration pillar in that instant!

The long-dormant old grooves of the Residual Fire Calibration Pillar lit up on the spot; immediately after, the second and third, in the breath before Xie Zheng could swing his spear back to kill, ignited with a "boom" into raging flames—the calibration pillar was fully lit!

"Pillar defense: eighty breaths!" On the high platform, the referee's count rang out in time, echoing throughout the arena.

Xie Zheng's expression truly darkened for the first time, his eyes filled with gravity. He shifted his spear stance, holding nothing back, and with the heavy pressure of someone on the edge of Apprentice Perfection, smashed fiercely toward the center line—if Lu Jin hadn't broken through, he would likely have had to dodge this strike, unable to meet it head-on!

But now, it was different!

Lu Jin kept his palm on the pillar, and with his other hand raised forward, the two Bone-Armor Furnace Guards simultaneously turned their shoulders, forcibly bracing this lethal strike outside the center line! The force on Xie Zheng's spear was extremely heavy, causing the bone fire of the Bone-Armor Furnace Guards to tremble, but in the end, they did not let the opponent cross even half a step in front of the pillar!

In the rear, the Red-Eyed Rat Tide had already surged through the bloody gap and bridge seams into the side line of Old Training Team 3; the two people on the right whose retreat route had been burned off by Wen Zhao were too late to return and reinforce; Ning Yanqiu's four mirrors rotated in the air, fiercely suppressing every attempt by Xie Zheng to adjust his side position; Qiao Ye guarded the frontmost position with his life, not retreating a single step, and even though his shoulders were numb from being grazed by the Tusk Rhinoceros, he still kept the Shield Bear pressed against the main gap, hard-resisting all impacts!

"Thirty breaths!" "Forty-two breaths!" "Fifty-five breaths!"

The counting from the high platform grew faster and faster; Old Training Team 3 fought with increasing anxiety, their moves gradually losing their structure; while Lu Jin's side fought more smoothly, their coordination becoming increasingly tacit—it wasn't that they were suddenly more experienced than the opponents, but that after Lu Jin broke through to Perfection, he finally became the backbone of this team, and all their strength was twisted into a single strand!

Xie Zheng clearly realized this too; he smashed out one final, fierce spear strike, forcing one Bone-Armor Furnace Guard back half a step, and used the momentum to retreat, his gaze landing on Lu Jin's face with genuine seriousness for the first time—in those eyes, the previous calculation and contempt were gone, leaving only solid, genuine recognition.

This newly formed Team 4 was truly capable of fighting now.

"Seventy-eight breaths!"

Qiao Ye's face was flushed red, and he roared through gritted teeth: "Two more breaths! Hold on!"

Wen Zhao retorted coldly from behind: "Don't shout, save your breath, don't drop the chain at the very last moment."

Qiao Ye was so angry he wanted to curse, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly—they were really going to win!

"Eighty breaths—reached!"

The bell on the high platform rang again, shaking the entire deduction field! The central Residual Fire Calibration Pillar shuddered violently, and the flames in the three old grooves rolled upward together, slowly turning into a deep red that represented successful defense—the Qualification Battle, won!

Old Training Team 3 slowly retreated, and Xie Zheng slammed his black spear onto the ground, not continuing to tangle. He looked at Lu Jin, was silent for two breaths, then spoke with a calm tone: "This match, no regrets. You are more capable of enduring than I imagined."

After speaking, he turned and left. Although the expressions of his team members behind him were ugly, no one was unconvinced—those eighty breaths just now were them being faced squarely and endured, and they were willing to accept the loss.

On the high platform, the black-armored instructor finally closed the roster, his voice loud and clear, spreading throughout the arena: "Zhuixing Academy newly formed Team 4, pass!"

As these five words fell, Qiao Ye instantly exhaled, his entire body's strength seemingly drained, yet a burst of wild joy exploded instantly, and he smashed his fist hard onto the Shield Bear's back, roaring: "We made it! We really made it into the front station!"

Wen Zhao shook off the red marks on his fingers scalded by the fire lines, and a genuine smile finally appeared on his face: "Alright, today's lines weren't marked in vain."

Ning Yanqiu retracted her mirrors and descended from the high place. The moment her feet touched the ground, her first glance wasn't at the lit calibration pillar, nor at the leaderboard, but directly at Lu Jin.

She watched him for two breaths before speaking slowly, the coldness in her tone fading significantly, replaced by a touch of certainty: "You passed."

Lu Jin nodded, his breath still not fully recovered, but his voice was unusually steady: "Passed."

The corners of Ning Yanqiu's mouth moved very slightly—it wasn't an obvious smile, but that layer of coldness that had been constantly stretched across her face finally loosened by a thread, and a trace of imperceptible softness even flashed in her eyes.

"Then the path ahead can truly be walked."

Before Lu Jin could respond, the Military Court temporary token in his sleeve suddenly transmitted a violent heat—not the faint residual warmth from before, but a scorching touch, clear enough that it was impossible to ignore.

He lowered his head and took out the temporary token. On the front of the black iron short token, where originally only the bright surface passage fire patterns were lit, a long-darkened old fire pattern near the edge was now lighting up very slowly, yet very steadily, the lines ancient, carrying a sense of the weight of time.

It was as if an old road that had been sealed for a long time had suddenly acknowledged its master within this temporary token, slowly awakening.

Lu Jin stared at the lit-up old fire pattern, a trace of gravity flashing in his eyes—he had never seen this pattern before, yet he inexplicably felt that behind this, a massive secret was hidden, one that was even tightly connected to his own background and the past of the Furnace Cave Fortress...