Atlas of Heaven and Earth
Chapter 517: Training Examination

After Chen Bitong finished speaking, he looked at the five people in the field, including Chen Chuan, and said, "If no one withdraws, then the Examination will begin now."

All five of them had serious expressions and stood still.

Of course, no one would withdraw. Those who could get to this point, although not necessarily the most outstanding, always had some strength and ample confidence in themselves.

Moreover, being able to participate in the training class's Examination was a significant addition to one's resume. Even if one didn't pass, making it this far was enough to demonstrate strength, surpassing many other students.

Chen Bitong waited for a moment, and seeing no one speak, he nodded and said, "Let's begin then."

As he spoke, Chen Chuan saw the surrounding scenery gradually dissolving, transforming into a wilderness.

He glanced around, finding himself standing on a mudflat with almost no tall vegetation. There were quite a few low, scattered shrubs around, allowing him to see far into the distance.

He had experienced many scenes during his training, but they were always complex terrains with dense vegetation. Such a venue was rarely seen, indicating that this Examination was particularly different.

Chen Bitong stood not far in front of him and said, "Captain Chen, you are different from others. You were the first to enter the training class and have persisted until the end, so my Examination for you will be more stringent.

I will let you enter a simulated area where you won't know what will appear beforehand.

Some of them you've seen in previous training, and some you've never encountered. I will score you based on the choices you make and the creatures you eliminate.

I said it before, and I'll remind you again, the Ministry of Defense is paying attention to this simulation, so I hope you take it seriously.

Because the reality of this simulation is very high, it may cause you some harm, so if you want to give up halfway, just announce your withdrawal."

Chen Chuan responded earnestly, "Master Chen, I understand."

"Then let's begin now," Chen Bitong turned around and looked in one direction. "Walk along this direction, and don't stop until the scene simulation ends."

After speaking, his figure disappeared.

Chen Chuan glanced forward and walked along the soft, sticky mudflat.

The golden light shone on the wet, winding mud, which was mixed with various grasses, scattered mud, and gravel, looking like an overturned palette.

After only a few steps, he suddenly noticed countless black dots appearing in front of him, accompanied by a buzzing sound. It turned out to be a large flock of ferocious-looking birds coming towards him.

He glanced at them and understood in his heart. No wonder they chose this open space with a muddy ground that was difficult to move through, so he couldn't easily escape. If he didn't admit defeat, he had to stay here and deal with these things.

"Then let's give it a try."

He thrust the Snow Emperor Blade into the mud. With a clang, the blade came out of its sheath as his body moved, reflecting a sharp, cold light under the sunlight.

Half an hour later.

Gu Haiting and two other students walked out of the training field and came to the waiting area outside.

This Examination was indeed quite difficult, and they only lasted this long.

Gu Haiting sat down on the sofa, asked the waiter to pour him a cup of tea, and sipped it leisurely.

Although he came out a bit early, he didn't feel much regret. He came here not only to learn something, but also to communicate with Chen Chuan.

Currently, both of these things were going smoothly. He had reached a cooperation with Chen Chuan, and he had made it to the final Examination in the training.

He glanced at the training field. Now only Yu Lie and Chen Chuan hadn't come out yet.

He wondered who could last until the end.

Although Chen Chuan's strength was stronger than Yu Lie's, it was not difficult to hear from the conversation of the two students opposite that the content of this Examination was different for everyone, tailored to each person's situation, which made it very difficult to say.

While waiting, two hours passed in a flash.

Gu Haiting was a little surprised. This had exceeded the daily simulation time. Presumably, for this Examination, the city government had allocated a little more resources.

It seemed they really valued it.

After a while, Yu Lie walked out from inside. He glanced around and, seeing that Chen Chuan was not among those present, he scoffed and went to sit aside and wait.

In the simulation scene, Chen Chuan was still trudging forward. Along the way, he continuously slashed and killed all kinds of ferocious creatures that attacked.

And the terrain had changed many times, all of which were designed to increase the difficulty for him.

At this moment, he felt that he had already passed the normal time limit, but there was still no sign of stopping.

Suddenly, a few tiny insects floated beside him. He didn't ignore them but turned his eyes to observe them carefully.

The creatures in the Convergence Zone seemed to have no clear growth boundary. Some individuals in the group possessed the characteristic of infinite growth.

Those huge creatures, you don't know what they were initially. They might just be a small bug that you could step on at any time. But after many transformations, they could become something unimaginable.

And this was even more vividly demonstrated in the simulation scene. Currently, anything he encountered could undergo unknown transformations. He had already experienced no less than twice when he came over.

There were also some things that would not directly transform, but if slightly disturbed, could attract a large group of their kind. So he couldn't relax his vigilance for a moment and needed to pay attention to the sudden changes around him at any time.

In fact, according to Chen Bitong's usual saying, the reality of the Convergence Zone might not be so intense, but if you delve into the uncharted territory, the degree of danger might not be less than what's in front of you.

As he continued to move forward, at this time, he suddenly felt a slight vibration on the ground. He immediately stopped moving, and about twenty meters ahead, a piece of ground arched up.

He focused his gaze there. It seemed like a big one was coming this time.

With a bang, the soil exploded, and a hard-armored worm with disheveled fluff on its body crawled out from underground.

Its overall appearance was gray-black, and eight thick limbs supported its heavy body. The transparent membranous wings were firmly attached to the side and rear. Its body length looked about four meters. Below the cold compound eyes were huge pincer-like mouthparts.

And when it appeared, the surrounding soil stirred, and more similar-looking small worms crawled out. Looking around, there were such movements appearing within a few kilometers.

He had never seen this kind of thing before, but he could see that this was a worm lord, a mutated being that had evolved from a clan.

According to the resource time estimate, this might be the last Examination focus.

He knew nothing about the attack methods and characteristics of this type of creature. If it were in the real Convergence Zone, the best way would be to retreat, but this was an Examination, and there was no option to retreat, so he could only choose to face it directly.

He inserted the Snow Emperor Blade into the ground, reached into his pocket, took out a handful of pebbles, paused slightly, flicked his hand, and threw them out!

The pebbles smashed against the outermost hard shell and shattered into pieces, leaving only a few shallow marks, which showed how hard the worm's carapace was.

However, his throw was not to harm it, but to make a simplest judgment on it through the traces of the collision, so that he could formulate reasonable tactics.

This method was not taught by Chen Bitong, but was summarized by himself after fighting with various creatures these days.

At this moment, after those small worms crawled out of the mud, they fluttered their wings and flew towards him, seemingly to give him a more intuitive feeling. Some plants on the ground were instantly eaten clean when these worms passed by.

This kind of group is the most difficult to deal with. Not only is there a large worm lord, but there are also countless groups. A little carelessness in dealing with them will lead to failure and elimination.

Chen Chuan's eyes were calm, and with a hug, his Essence Blood filled up, tightening the mutated tissue all over his body.

With a whoosh, the swarm of insects surrounded him densely, covering him completely in just a few breaths, only vaguely seeing a human figure.

The remaining worms continued to surge up. Before long, they piled up into a thick insect ball, and this ball continued to expand.

When more and more insects came, and the later insects could no longer cling on and were about to fall, there was a vibration inside.

It was as if a ripple spread out, and then these constantly crawling and clustering insects suddenly stopped, and then, like a collapsed sand pile, they all fell down with a rustling sound, revealing the figure inside.

Chen Chuan reached out and flicked off the last few scattered insect corpses from his body.

His eyes were bright, and there was not a trace of injury on his body. The hat and protective clothing he was wearing were not broken either.

This was a completely simulated reality, so if it was not bitten by these insects here, it meant that it would be the same in reality.

This method of attracting swarms of insects and then killing them all at once was taught to him by Chen Bitong.

Because killing insects one by one was inefficient and wasted energy, so attracting them together and then killing them all with internal energy was the most efficient, but the premise was that the Martial Artist himself could withstand it.

If the "center blooming" was not played well, then it could only really bloom.

But at this time, he saw the worm lord in front of him making a posture. Its membranous wings spread to both sides, and the membranes on both sides of its chest and abdomen stretched out and trembled sharply.

At the same time, he felt a strong sense of danger, and then it seemed that an invisible wave was transmitted, and for a moment, he felt as if countless thin needles were piercing towards him, not only the surface of his body, but even the internal organs and mutated tissue inside his body were trembling, as if they were about to be torn apart.

And those small insects that had gathered nearby were now falling down in pieces, eventually forming a huge fan shape, and this area was full of insect corpses stacked into a thickness of several fingers.