The Blood God Legion's location was at an extremely high altitude, deep within a continuous mountain range. According to the requirements, one could only climb by physical means.
This naturally posed no difficulty for Su Ming. Although the environment from the mountainside upwards was covered in ice and snow, it was far better than the Extreme North.
After climbing for nearly a day and night, Su Ming finally reached the summit.
The entire mountaintop appeared as if it had been sliced flat, forming a massive platform. At the center of the summit sat a military camp, densely packed with barracks, its scale not small. There were guard posts around, but no watchtowers.
The altitude here was at least six thousand meters, fundamentally unsuitable for human survival. If one wasn't a Spirit Master, even normal living would be difficult.
In other words, virtually everyone in the Blood God Legion was a Spirit Master.
Su Ming sighed with emotion, composed himself, and walked towards this sacred legion, about which he couldn't really complain.
This legion guarded the Abyssal passage, protecting the continent for six thousand years. Soldiers sacrificed their lives in the fight against the Abyss every moment. This alone deserved the respect of all life on Douluo Star.
He hadn't gone far when a sense of warning rose within him. Twenty meters ahead, four figures holding special Spirit Ray Rifles emerged from the snow.
They approached Su Ming, didn't speak, patted him down with their hands for inspection, then demanded his letter of recommendation.
Su Ming smiled and handed over the letter.
Seeing Su Ming's letter of recommendation, the four soldiers exchanged glances.
For a moment, they were stuck in an awkward situation.
If it were a normal new recruit, the newcomer assessment rank likely wouldn't be higher than their own four ranks, so awkwardness wouldn't be an issue.
But today's recruit had some background.
Entering the legion as a Major from the start meant even with a poor assessment result, his rank would still be higher than theirs.
In the Blood God Legion, only military merit was recognized, because military merit also determined rank.
After exchanging glances, the four of them gave a military salute—right fist striking the chest, the Blood God Legion's unique salute.
Su Ming followed suit.
"Greetings, Sir."
Normally, newcomers couldn't perform the salute; they only qualified after passing the assessment.
But this was an abnormal situation. Unless Su Ming's assessment score was negative, and so negative that it could slash his Major rank all the way down below Third Class Private, he wouldn't be expelled.
That was basically impossible.
Su Ming entered the legion, escorted by a female officer with the rank of Major. She had a tall, slender figure and was very beautiful, exuding a heroic air ordinary girls lacked.
She led Su Ming to an entrance similar to that of a Spirit Ascension Platform.
"Your assessment will be similar to entering a Spirit Ascension Platform. The task is simple: protect me until the assessment ends."
"Let me remind you, you cannot use Spirit Power inside. You can only use the weapon in your hands. Understood?"
Long Yuxue narrowed her eyes slightly, offering Su Ming another chance.
"Right now, you still have the opportunity to choose a weapon again."
She looked at Su Ming's empty hands, indicating going barehanded wasn't allowed for the assessment.
Su Ming asked, "Can spiritual power also not be used?"
"You're adept at spiritual power?" Long Yuxue raised an eyebrow. "It can be used, but the consumption will be much greater, at least doubled. The deeper you go, the more spiritual power is consumed, and manipulating elements inside will be very difficult."
Su Ming shrugged, indicating that was sufficient.
Seeing Su Ming so confident, Long Yuxue didn't hesitate further. She first found a pod and lay down inside.
Su Ming followed closely.
The next moment, the world spun. Su Ming appeared at the camp entrance. Without a word, Long Yuxue immediately ran outside the camp towards the edge of a deep pit.
After Su Ming caught up, she directly jumped down.
Entering the pit, Su Ming carefully contemplated the changes in himself.
To allow assessees to personally experience the terror of the Abyss and achieve a perfect simulation, the Blood God Legion's simulation pods didn't completely block a Spirit Master's Spirit Power through programming. Instead, they genuinely invoked Abyssal power to suppress the assessee.
All the suppression effects were real.
"Examiner, it seems I can still use Spirit Power."
"Huh?"
Long Yuxue was stunned.
She turned around, saw the Spirit Power flickering in Su Ming's palm, and her pupils contracted sharply.
"How is that possible?"
She was dumbfounded.
Unbeknownst to both of them, their assessment footage was being broadcast live in the Blood God Camp.
Seeing the Spirit Power dancing in Su Ming's palm, not only was Long Yuxue stunned; most of the Blood Gods were too.
From Blood Two to Blood Nine, all eyes converged on the man who appeared to be around thirty years old at the head.
"His spiritual power has reached the Spirit Domain Realm, forming its own domain that can shield against the erosion of Abyssal energy in the simulation. Notify Long Yuxue to tell Su Ming he is not allowed to use Spirit Power," Cao Dezhi said.
The simulated Abyssal creatures were inherently limited in strength. For a Spirit Emperor who could use Spirit Power, dealing with them would be easy.
Although Cao Dezhi also wanted to see how many Abyssal creatures Su Ming could kill using Spirit Power, it was clearly unnecessary.
Because for Su Ming to become a Spirit Transmission Envoy, he must inherently possess Titled Douluo-level combat strength.
Placing that in a new recruit assessment would be a disaster.
Within the assessment.
Long Yuxue received the message, her expression turning grave.
She knew Su Ming's identity was special, starting as a Major. She hadn't expected him to be this special, to the point where even the Blood God Camp was monitoring in real-time.
"You cannot use Spirit Power."
Su Ming seemed thoughtful.
He released the spiritual protection over his Spirit Power, then allowed it to be suppressed by the Abyssal energy.
Seeing this, Long Yuxue breathed a sigh of relief.
"My spiritual power probably exceeds the suppression limit here. I'll try not to use spiritual power either later," Su Ming said calmly.
"Ah?"
Long Yuxue didn't quite understand what Su Ming was saying.
"If you don't use spiritual power or Spirit Power, how will you fight later?"
"Pure qi and blood power can be mobilized. That should be normal, right? Moreover, there are dangers here, presumably also supernatural creatures. Since supernatural power exists, there's no reason I can't master it."
Long Yuxue was speechless.
What kind of logic was that?
All supernatural power should be mastered by you?
Remembering her assessment task, she didn't continue idle chatter with Su Ming. Instead, she quickly ran deeper into the cave, beginning to create difficulties for Su Ming.
Ahead, noticing the commotion, a ferocious creature charged out.
By the faint light, Su Ming could make out its general appearance—a bat, but with six claws, each exceptionally fierce.
His gaze sharpened. Not giving it a chance, he launched a mental shock, then took two or three steps forward. His qi and blood erupted, directly suppressing this Six-Clawed Bat.
He grabbed it, sensing the Abyssal energy within.
The next moment, his eyes flickered. A surge of black energy emerged from the Six-Clawed Bat's body and entered his own.
"Roar!"
Su Ming let out a furious roar. Four additional arms materialized on both sides of his body, his form expanded, and his entire aura turned malevolent.
"What did you do? Stop it now!"
Long Yuxue's face changed dramatically.
***
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