…
Right now, Song Chunfeng wasn’t just unable to get up—even moving a single finger was a struggle.
He didn’t even know how many punches he’d just taken from Lu Ding.
How many kicks.
Just look at his face—
eyes that didn’t look like eyes, nose that wasn’t a nose, mouth that wasn’t a mouth.
All puffed up and swollen, mashed into one unrecognizable ss.
His lips twitched weakly, but no sound ca out.
In that state, even reading his lips wouldn’t help—Lu Ding had no clue what he was trying to say.
So he straightened up and walked out the gate.
Bai Hen followed, glancing down as he passed. His eyes swept up and down Song Chunfeng’s body—
he didn’t say anything,
but it was obvious: he was cursing him out, filthy and raw.
Song Chunfeng was so angry, he coughed up another mouthful of blood and passed out cold, legs twitching.
Outside the blood pool’s main gate, the counselor caught up, calling after them.
“Lu Ding! Bai Hen!”
The two stood at attention and called out in unison,
“Hello, Counselor!”
Counselor: ………
Okay, this is too much.
I can’t keep up with these two—this personality switch is whiplash.
He organized his thoughts and began,
“So, here’s the deal. Given your special circumstances—
Lu Ding, you’ve mastered a wide variety of techniques.
Bai Hen, you’re half-human, half-corpse, with Yin Domain Overlap.
And now that you’re both in the Divine Palace Realm,
the Head Instructor has decided to give you a rest period. The exact length—you two can work that out yourselves.”
“Once you’re rested, you can skip the study phase and go straight into the ‘Scout the Winds and Slay the Dragon’ mission.”
This was a serious exception to the rules—
after all, barely any first-year intern investigators ever break through to Divine Palace Realm in under a year.
Even those rare few who did,
never had combat power like this.
Exhibit A: the crumpled heap that was Song Chunfeng.
And on top of that—their teamwork was flawless.
So honestly, whether it was spells, synergy, or combat understanding,
they didn’t need to study anything.
Might as well let them rest.
Upon hearing this,
Lu Ding’s eyes shifted. He clearly started thinking.
Bai Hen looked over.
Then Lu Ding said:
“We’ll just go straight there. No need to rest.”
Bai Hen nodded imdiately.
“Mm.”
Rest?
Rest for what?
Song Chunfeng wasn’t dead yet.
Better to get going right now—give him so real recovery ti.
By the ti the two of them ca back—
Bai Hen might change, sure, but Lu Ding was certain:
he’d be way stronger again.
And if Song Chunfeng tried anything when they ca back?
It’d just be another beatdown.
Bet you didn’t expect that, huh?
I leveled up again.
Sticking around just to waste ti while the guy healed?
That’d be brain-dead.
The counselor stared at them.
Now this was so serious work ethic.
No wasted downti. Straight to business.
If every trainee were like Lu Ding…
On second thought, that might be a nightmare.
Too intense. Too much pressure.
Yeah, a few of these types were good.
Any more, and they’d all be overworked into early retirent.
“Alright then… how about this—you co with and take a look at the mission profiles?”
The two followed the counselor to the archive room.
The counselor pulled out an electronic device and synced it with both their phones.
“Alright. Your phones are now authorized to access the training ground’s mission archive.
You’ll be able to check the details on there going forward.”
“For now, I’ll just give you the summary.”
“At the mont, based on my personal judgnt, there are three missions I think would suit you two.”
“Honestly, no one expected you to break into Divine Palace this fast—let alone have this much combat power.
Normally, reports for ‘Scout the Winds and Slay the Dragon’ don’t co in this early.”
After all, feng shui dragon veins weren’t found just anywhere.
And not every one of them needed to be severed.
So needed to be preserved—for city developnt, local economies…
They could be quite beneficial.
Only when a dragon vein was completely out of control—uncooperative, causing chaos, and
generating anomalies—would it need to be culled and harvested.
This ti of year, local governnts all over the Han Dynasty were preparing to do land surveys, census work, etc.
Not just to gather information—
but to offer fresh, real-world practice targets to training ground graduates.
The data wasn’t even officially submitted yet.
These early missions only ca in because the situations got out of hand before the process started.
The counselor pulled out the first file.
“Alright, let’s look at the first one—”
[Ba'er Mountain Railway Tunnel Construction Project]
Requires mountain tunneling and forest clearing.
Delayed: 2 months.
Reason: ‘Golden Toad Nesting on an Egg’ feng shui formation blocking the route.
…
[Jinshan City New District Redevelopnt]
Requires relocation of old city zones.
Delayed: 6 months.
Reason: Kou Family illegally occupying land for ancestral tombs.
Refusing to move, retreat, or compromise.
They’re draining half the city's feng shui and earth Qi, forming a ‘Dragon Raising the Coffin’ formation to hoard wealth and luck.
Currently in long, drawn-out talks with the local 749 Substation.
…
[Minshan City Water Diversion Dam Project]
Requires blasting mountains and altering terrain.
Blocked by the Min Clan’s Ancestral Burial Grounds.
Ten-mile graveyard, guarded by a giant ghost in a thatched hut.
Ford a ‘Thousand Corpses Honoring the King’ formation.
If it made it into this list, it was no pushover.
If these were truly too difficult, the upper ranks would’ve already sent stronger teams.
The fact that they were still here ant:
they were saved as live targets for training ground trainees.
Lu Ding gave the list a glance and picked casually.
“Let’s go to Jinshan City first?”
“Sure. That’s up to you. Oh—right—this gourd,” the counselor said, holding it out,
“can store the dragon veins you break. Bring it back and turn them in—you’ll get a reward.”
The counselor handed over a purple-skinned gourd, no larger than a thumb.
Lu Ding took it—
and the gourd imdiately transford into a ring, wrapping neatly around his pinky finger.
“Alright, thank you, Counselor. If there’s nothing else… we’ll head out now.”
The counselor blinked, surprised.
“So soon? The sky’s not even light yet. Why don’t you wait until morning?”
Lu Ding glanced at Bai Hen beside him.
“Are you tired? Need to rest?”
Bai Hen shook his head.
Lu Ding turned back to the counselor.
“I’m not tired either. No need to rest.”
Counselor: ………
Makes perfect sense, d*mn it.
Not tired, no need to rest—then what’s the point of hanging around here?
There’s nothing to study, the place is just mountains and forests.
Nothing to play with, nothing to look at.
Honestly, not even Lu Ding and Bai Hen wanted to stay.
If it weren’t for work, even the counselor himself didn’t want to be here.
That said…
he still felt sothing weird about all this.
He’d never dealt with trainees like this before.
Yunhai 749…
You guys really hit the jackpot with this batch.
So eager, so talented, so powerful, and they even respected their superiors.
Tch…
The counselor felt a little sour in his heart.
Why couldn’t these investigators have co from his district?
“…So you’ll be going down the mountain on your own?”
This place didn’t even have proper roads.
“No problem. We’ll get down ourselves,” Lu Ding said casually, waving goodbye.
Then he and Bai Hen walked into the darkness.
Who would’ve guessed—
Lu Ding had just arrived at the training ground, and he’d already cleared half the course.
His butt had barely ward the seat, and now he was heading down the mountain again.
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