Huai Yongge waved his hand, about to signal that Fang Chen could leave, but suddenly remembered something and stopped him. “Right, one more thing.”

His gaze fell on Fang Chen. “According to regulations, the Demon Crystal you extracted from the Tier-2 Cyan-faced Fox you killed is your spoil of war. We won’t take it back.”

Fang Chen’s heart stirred slightly, but his face remained impassive.

Huai Yongge continued, “However, I’d like to purchase it from you in an official capacity at market price. The military needs this kind of material. Eighty thousand yuan, how about it?”

Fang Chen didn’t answer immediately. He pondered for a moment, seemingly weighing his options, before looking up. “Inspector Huai, thank you for looking out for me. But… I happened to find out previously that the market price for a complete Tier-2 Demon Crystal seems to be between one hundred fifty and one hundred eighty thousand. Heh…”

Hearing this, Huai Yongge wasn’t annoyed at all. Instead, a flash of appreciation crossed his eyes, and he smiled. “Good kid, you’ve got some worldly knowledge. It seems you don’t just bury your head in Martial Dao practice. Alright, I won’t shortchange you. To tell you the truth, your Demon Crystal came from a beast that had just broken through, and it was even interfered with by our staff. Its energy is unstable, so its quality is considered the lowest tier.

“After we recycle it, we still need to purify and stabilize it before it reaches normal usage standards. There are costs and losses involved in this process. Naturally, the price has to be a bit lower.”

He held up two fingers. “How about this? One hundred twenty thousand, final offer. What do you say?”

Fang Chen thought rapidly, “Huai Yongge makes a fair point. This kind of semi-finished Demon Crystal is indeed hard to sell in Jinchuan City, mainly because no family has the processing capabilities to refine it after buying it.

“In larger cities, it wouldn’t fetch a high price anyway. Rather than holding onto it, it’s better to exchange it for cash.

“One hundred twenty thousand, plus my previous savings, will be enough for me to figure out a way to flip a few Qi Blood Needles for a profit once I reach Cyan Yang City. That’s a much safer bet.”

Having weighed the pros and cons, Fang Chen hesitated no longer and nodded readily. “Alright, we’ll do as you say, Inspector Huai. One hundred twenty thousand.”

“Good!” Huai Yongge nodded in satisfaction. He took out twelve stacks of cash and handed them to Fang Chen.

Fang Chen took the money, stowed it away securely, and bowed to Huai Yongge again to take his leave.

As he turned to leave the tent, Fang Chen’s mind rapidly replayed the entire process of Huai Yongge opening the metal cabinet and retrieving the items, including the placement and general types of objects inside.

“Aside from things like the Qi Blood Needles and Realm-Breaking Pills, there doesn’t seem to be anything new or useful to me in the cabinet. There’s no need to waste a Time Stop,” he concluded, dismissing the idea.

Clutching his newly acquired reward, he returned to the small, single-person tent assigned to him by the camp. The interior was very spartan, furnished with nothing but a cot and a small lamp.

Fang Chen couldn’t wait to take out the two Tier-2 Spiritual Crystal Stones, examining them closely under the light. Compared to the fingernail-sized Tier-1 crystal he had before, these two Tier-2 crystals were significantly larger, roughly the size of pigeon eggs. They were entirely translucent, with liquid energy slowly circulating inside, emitting a soft and pure glow. Upon touching them, he could clearly feel the pure and majestic energy contained within, far beyond what a Tier-1 crystal could compare to.

Fang Chen first removed the original Tier-1 crystals from his weapon and Combat Suit, then respectively slotted the new Tier-2 Spiritual Crystal Stones into the corresponding grooves and activated them.

HUM.

The moment they were activated, both the longsword and the Combat Suit let out a low, vibrating hum.

He gripped the longsword tightly. He didn’t swing it, but simply stood in silence, feeling the terrifying power contained within. He had a strong premonition that if he were to face that Tier-2 Cyan-faced Fox again now, with this weapon buffed by a Tier-2 Spiritual Crystal Stone, he could cleave it in two without even using his full strength! With this guarantee, he felt much more confident.

Fang Chen was in a great mood. Right now, even when compared to the Direct Lineage youths heavily nurtured by major families, he probably wouldn’t fall behind in terms of crucial combat hardware. He might even hold an advantage in technique by relying on his Transcendence Level Martial Skills.

Next, he installed the two swapped-out Tier-1 Spiritual Crystal Stones onto the newly redeemed purple-and-white women’s Combat Suit. This Combat Suit didn’t come with crystals, so he could put them to good use. When he returned to Jinchuan City, it would be perfect for Fang Min to use for self-defense.

By the time he finished all this, the noise outside the tent had gradually quieted down. Fang Chen blew out the lamp and lay down on his cot. With heavy treasures on his person and the sense of security brought about by his increase in strength, he soon fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, the sound of a bugle awakened the camp. The thirty students who passed the assessment assembled and boarded the sole bus. Many had been eliminated, but everyone who remained was brimming with excitement and thrill.

They originally thought the assessment boded ill, but they unexpectedly passed just by blindly following Fang Chen! The key point was that, looking back, they didn’t seem to have done anything earth-shattering. Most of them had just followed the group and, under the protection of Fang Chen and the other True Martial Artists, completed gathering tasks, provided support, or assisted on the sidelines during a few battles.

“We really… rode the right coattails!” someone murmured emotionally, drawing a wave of deeply empathetic nods.

However, beyond the excitement, a few clear-headed individuals also realized a pending problem.

“I heard the second stage of the exam won’t be a team mode…”

“Yeah, we’ll have to rely on ourselves then.”

“Sigh, the good days are over…”

The bus gradually fell silent as grave, thoughtful expressions appeared on many faces. In the first stage, they could rely on the strong, but they would have to face the second stage entirely alone. The disparity between the two made their newly relaxed nerves pull taut once again.

Escorted by military vehicles, the bus set off once more. It drove onto a much wider, yet noticeably more desolate road.

The scenery outside the window was completely different from the surroundings of Jinchuan City. The mountains were more treacherous, and the forests were ancient and dense. They could even spot massive, roaming beasts in packs on distant ridges, their chilling gazes fixed on the human convoy.

The atmosphere inevitably grew tense. Without a military escort, their group of thirty students would likely struggle to take even a single step in this wilderness. Fortunately, the convoy traveled smoothly without any real danger.

After a bumpy ride that lasted most of the day, as the sky neared dusk, the silhouette of a massive city finally appeared on the horizon ahead. The towering city walls, the dense clusters of buildings, and the faintly visible energy shield hovering over the city all declared a scale and atmosphere completely different from Jinchuan City.

They had arrived at Cyan Yang City.

Upon entering, Fang Chen’s most intuitive impression was that the urban construction was much more modernized. If Jinchuan City felt like a county town on Earth from the 1970s or 1980s, then Cyan Yang City was like a prefecture-level city in the 1990s. Not only was the architecture grander and more aesthetically pleasing, but some of the hardware was also far more advanced. He could even occasionally spot pedestrians on the street pulling out communicators to chat.

The vehicle drove through the city for half an hour before finally arriving at the final destination of this trip: Cyan Yang Martial Arts Academy.

However, what Fang Chen hadn’t expected was that upon arrival, he would see the main entrance…

“Is that a gang fight?”

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