Chapter Forty-Eight: Touched Everywhere

As soon as the words fell, a metallic clamor rang out.

All the trainees summoned their guardian spirits at once, entering the demonized state. Several dazzling beams of light erupted, creating a rather magnificent spectacle.

They raised their arms, aiming at the top of the cliff.

With a series of sharp whooshes, a dozen steel cables shot toward the rock at the summit. Accompanied by the hiss of compressed air, the trainees were yanked upward at incredible speed, hurtling toward the cliff’s edge.

Only at that moment did everyone finally understand why Instructor Chang insisted on only two teams per session, and kept them separated by at least three meters.

The scene was truly a mess.

The two trainees who launched first—perhaps moving too quickly out of fear, or forgetting that the device required the switch to be held down—abruptly stopped retracting their lines halfway up. With a pair of heavy thuds, they crashed into the cliff, left dangling like two spiders in the act of spinning silk.

Other trainees, in the process of being pulled up, began to swing wildly, triggering a pendulum effect that nearly caused them to collide and tangle with their teammates.

One unfortunate trainee even missed the mark with his cable entirely...

“Come on, Wu!” Tan Hai and a few others cheered quietly from below.

Wu Ming, one of the first to receive a reward for his demon spirit, had been diligently practicing with Du Huaishan using the flying apparatus. Barely managing to steady himself, Wu Ming did a faceplant at the summit, but at least he made it up—and was the first to do so!

One trainee beside Wu Ming wasn’t so lucky; his grappling hook slipped free, leaving him no time to react before he toppled backward and plummeted out of control.

“Aah! Help—”

Before he could even finish his scream, there was a muffled thud as he landed on the mats at the foot of the cliff.

By the end of the first round, only Wu Ming had succeeded.

Zhou Zhongai shook her head. “Remember the key points and sensations from your daily training. Don’t panic in midair!”

“Second and third training teams, get ready!” Instructor Chang Suian called out.

Perhaps his warning was effective. The second round went noticeably better, with four trainees completing the climb.

As each team took their turn, it finally came to the seventh and eighth teams—those of Xing Zhenhao and Du Huaishan.

The metallic clang sounded.

Du Huaishan instantly entered a four percent demonization state.

With his heart pumping and his muscles and bones enhanced, the once-heavy sandbags and armor now felt much lighter.

He lifted his arm and pressed the launcher.

A flash of silver shot from his arm guard, anchoring itself to the rocky summit.

Retract!

The moment he pressed the cable retraction switch, Du Huaishan felt as if he were being dragged by an ancient warhorse—or better, by a sports car—ripped from the ground by a force so sudden he had no time to react.

In a split second, the world blurred at the edges of his vision, wind roaring past his ears, his feet searching in vain for purchase.

A shadow loomed suddenly—someone careening toward him!

No wonder so many had failed, nearly crashing into each other in the process.

As the cable zipped him upward, his attention was laser-focused straight ahead, with the scenery flashing by in his periphery—the “tunnel effect,” just like in a speeding car, forcing his awareness forward and blinding him to the sides.

Fortunately, Du Huaishan had trained his dynamic vision from the start.

As the shadow shot toward him, he used his left arm for leverage and twisted his body, barely skimming past the other trainee.

The twist altered his entire flight path. His vision shifted, and dizziness swept over him!

Gritting his teeth, he relied on his balance training from the swings and his sense of direction from the activity wheels, maintaining a calm mind.

The cable was nearly fully retracted—his orientation had changed mid-flight, so the hook was bound to detach a little early!

His view was now completely upside down; he would need to exert an upward force, using his core to roll backward.

With a thought, he pulled down with his left arm—click!

At that precise moment, the hook released, smoothly returning to its housing in his arm guard. Using the last bit of momentum, Du Huaishan contracted his core, kicked his legs upward, and executed a flawless backflip, landing—wobbling only slightly—on the snowy summit.

“Well done!” Wu Ming and another member of the eighth squad cheered from below.

Those watching had been on edge; from the moment Du Huaishan left the ground, a mistake from a seventh team trainee nearly sent them crashing together. Thanks to Du Huaishan’s quick reflexes, he dodged aside.

But that twist flipped him upside down, making it much harder to gauge distance—especially flying headfirst.

Just as everyone feared he’d slam his helmeted head into the cliff or fall from the summit, Du Huaishan’s beautiful backflip landed him safely on top, dazzling everyone.

Were this any other day, Zhou Zhongai might have been just as shocked as the others. But after trying out those mysterious devices the previous day, she knew full well that Du Huaishan’s sense of spatial orientation now outstripped his peers by a full level.

Yet he wasn’t the best.

The first to reach the summit was Xu Yuan.

She landed without so much as a wobble, her movements sharp and crisp—a perfect replica of Zhou Zhongai’s style.

Du Huaishan noticed the blue-gray glow in her eyes, and was certain she was benefiting from her guardian spirit—a blue-gray, double-headed giant bird with tiger claws.

Unlike Guo Tingyu’s bluebird, Xu Yuan’s guardian spirit was winged, likely providing her with enhanced spatial awareness.

She nodded politely at him, saying nothing. This girl always seemed cool and distant, making her hard to approach.

In the next instant, Li Anqi and Tan Hai tumbled up as well.

Of the seventh team, only Xing Zhenhao and Guo Tingyu managed to reach the summit.

Sun Tian, unfortunately, misjudged the unhooking distance and fell from the summit.

What surprised Du Huaishan most was that a new girl on his team, in the final moment, collided with the cliff’s edge. Yet instead of falling, she managed to cling to the ground, struggling to climb up.

Seeing this, Du Huaishan hurried over and pulled her up.

“Thank you, thank you,” she said softly, her gentle features and refined manners reminiscent of a noble lady. Shy, she thanked him twice and quickly withdrew into the team.

If memory served, her name was Lin Sizhi.

The entire morning passed in this fashion, the trainees repeating their special drills around the cliff. The usual physical and theoretical classes were moved to the afternoon.

The most daunting challenge awaited them: running cross-country, armored and armed.

Not on the flat parade ground, but up and down the hills, burdened by the mobile cable gear—making them the most heavily loaded of all new recruits.

Even Du Huaishan nearly fell behind in the grueling pace.

Let’s not forget, he was still carrying an extra eighteen pounds of sandbags.

After three days of intensive training, all the trainees finally mastered the use of the mobile cable. Now it was time for Chang Suian to take over, teaching them how to wield weapons while moving at high speed.

The demonized state endowed them with superhuman strength, and combined with the cable’s momentum, allowed their red marrow sabers—harder than diamond—to deliver devastating strikes.

Gradually, the training ground shifted from the fixed cliff to the dense forest beyond the hills.

The tightly packed trees offered more points for anchoring, but also increased the risk of collision. Add in the occasional blizzard, and the trainees were forced to hone their reactions under extreme and complex conditions.

With a whizz and a flash of steel, two figures shot through the snowy woods, blades flashing as they struck a metal target strapped to a tree.

It was Du Huaishan and Xu Yuan.

“Haha! Huaishan, you were a step slower than Xu Yuan again!” Li Anqi called out, close behind.

“Don’t get cocky, Li Anqi. Huaishan’s cut was deeper than Xu Yuan’s!” Tan Hai perched on a nearby tree, examining the battered target, noting one particularly deep slash.

Du Huaishan watched Xu Yuan’s lithe, agile form.

Her sense of direction was flawless—she could attack from any angle with uncanny precision, moving so fast and nimbly it was impossible to react in time.

I wonder if, without the extra sandbags, I could keep up with her?

“You’re all amazing. At this rate, our team is sure to take first place in the assessment next week,” Lin Sizhi said, flying over to watch them with admiration.

“Aww, Sizhi is just the sweetest—you never offend anyone,” Li Anqi teased, throwing an arm around her and pinching her milk-pale cheek, making Lin Sizhi blush scarlet and duck her head.

“Hey! Li Anqi, bullying Lin Sizhi again. Looks like you’ve touched every girl in Huaishan’s squad—when are you going to let someone return the favor, huh?” Wu Ming from the first squad called out as he passed.

“Get lost, you jerk!”

Just then, as everyone was laughing and joking, a sudden drone of rotors filled the sky above.

“Look! It’s a plane!”