Without any warning, one morning, what should have been the instructor-led martial arts practice suddenly turned into a lecture hall session.
This class had nothing to do with the Imperial Heaven Scripture they used to recite; instead, the instructors taught them very practical training techniques.
For instance: breathing methods to conserve stamina; techniques for exerting force using the correct muscles; methods to protect joints, and so on.
Most of them were somewhat bewildered. Having all survived the long flight across the Northern Frontier, they each had their own understanding of how to conserve energy and protect themselves.
What could it possibly mean for Xuanming Village to teach these most fundamental techniques with such solemnity?
—What did it mean? It meant the good days were over!
Only a small fraction of the people, including An Jing, grew vigilant, recognizing this as a signal. An Jing earnestly memorized every technique taught by the instructors. Even if he had already learned them before, it didn't matter; by checking for omissions and filling in the gaps, there was always something new to be gained.
That very afternoon, everyone, including An Jing, learned the hard way just how brutal "formal training" could be.
The leader today was none other than the One-Eyed Instructor: "Our Xuanming Village has always upheld the creed of selecting the best among the best. The formal disciples granted our heritage are valued for their quality, not their quantity. Physical strength and endurance are the foundation of our lineage's martial arts, so a complete physical conditioning session to test everyone's limits is crucial."
"Now, up and down the mountain ten times, starting with a run."
With that, he took the lead, setting the pace at the front of the line. As the default leader at the head of the formation, An Jing had no choice but to stride forward and keep up.
At this, he finally understood: the relaxing half-month prior was merely meant to let their batch of youths recover their bodies, restore their spirits, and build an initial sense of camaraderie.
In essence, it was just laying the foundation, lest they cough up blood the moment they started training or drop dead from sudden cardiac arrest the second the intensity was ramped up!
To be honest, having survived the ordeal of the Frost Calamity and having been specially selected by Xuanming Village, most of these Children of Calamity possessed good innate talent, formidable endurance, strong willpower, and certainly no lack of physical strength.
The half-month of recuperation hadn't diminished their stamina; on the contrary, it had greatly enhanced it.
The physical fitness of these selected youths actually surpassed that of ordinary adults.
However, Xuanming Village was nestled deep in the mountains, and the paths leading up and down had a gradient of around twelve to twenty degrees, with some sections growing nearly steep.
The round trip spanned over five miles of rugged, wildly uneven terrain.
With such formidable difficulty, running it ten times... no matter how one looked at it, this intensity was a bit exaggerated.
More importantly, they had to keep pace with the instructor without slowing down; falling behind meant dropping out.
Sure enough, before even four rounds were through, some people were already dropping their speed, or even falling behind and unable to run.
By the sixth or seventh round, more than half of the people had collapsed.
"The passing standard for the test is probably just managing to run half the distance, right?"
At this point, An Jing still had plenty of stamina to spare.
After all, he had practiced martial arts; fifty miles of mountain roads would at most leave him a bit tired, and the breathing techniques and skills he had mastered were enough to help him hold out much easier than the others. He even had the leisure to look back and observe his fellow trainees who showed "potential."
Taking a glance, he spotted several familiar faces.
First, there were two people from An Jing's dormitory: one named Zhang Ying, and the other Ye Xiuyuan.
Zhang Ying's family used to be mountain hunters, and he had spent his childhood running through the mountains with his parents, so his stamina was naturally quite respectable. Although he looked out of breath, his pace remained quite steady.
He was a rather simple-minded fellow who had once been quite unconvinced by An Jing's status as "eldest senior brother" and "leader." On the second day at the manor, he had challenged An Jing to a test of strength, only to be pressed down with one hand until his legs nearly turned to jelly and he knelt. Ever since, he had accepted An Jing as his boss, trailing closely behind him.
Ye Xiuyuan's family had a scholarly background. His personality was rather gloomy, but he was very clever.
An Jing knew that before Zhang Ying came to challenge him in strength, he had spoken with a group of people, and the leader of that group was none other than Ye Xiuyuan.
Having tested the waters through Zhang Ying, Ye Xiuyuan had also directly acknowledged An Jing as his boss. Had it not been for the fact that Ye Xiuyuan frequently took the lead in declaring that everyone should listen to "Big Brother" An Jing—acting as a plant to bolster An Jing's authority—An Jing might not have secured his position as the "eldest senior brother" so easily.
Ye Xiuyuan's physical stamina was mediocre, and after half a month of recuperation, his build remained quite slender. Yet, he had earnestly memorized every technique imparted by the instructors, spending the time before and after lunch exploring and experimenting with them. Miraculously, he had managed to hold on, keeping right behind An Jing.
Aside from these two, there was also a young girl following An Jing.
Her name was Gu Yeqi, a fellow hometown native of An Jing's—specifically the one whose chilblains had been cured. She was a year younger than An Jing, and having witnessed him bargain with the One-Eyed Instructor and sell himself into servitude for his mother, she held him in extreme admiration, shadowing his every step no matter the occasion.
Gu Yeqi's family had once belonged to a large clan, the entire household serving a medicinal estate. They possessed a set of family martial arts which, though not formidable, had solid foundations. Much like Zhang Ying, although her breathing was unsteady, she was still able to persevere.
Noticing An Jing's gaze, she flashed a wide smile.
Among these three, Ye Xiuyuan rolled his eyes and passed out as he ran the seventh and a half round. Gu Yeqi held out until nearly the ninth round. As for Zhang Ying, had he not tripped over his own feet, he could have finished the run alongside An Jing, but taking a tumble at that stage was essentially tantamount to fainting.
At that very moment, they fully understood why the manor was named "Xuanming" (Hanging Life).
An hour later, out of the more than two hundred people, only fourteen were still standing after completing the full distance.
"So many?"
The One-Eyed Instructor was also quite astonished. He hadn't run slowly, and had even picked up the pace toward the end. Covering over fifty miles of mountain road in under an hour, with half of it uphill and half downhill, this speed and difficulty undoubtedly exceeded the limits of ordinary people in Dachen.
Only truly "special" children could complete the entire course.
He couldn't help but laugh: "You lot really do have good talent; most of you ran half the distance, and there are still fourteen who have stamina to spare—take all the batches of disciples from the past ten years combined, and they still don't amount to as many as you this time."
Yet, with a rather "troubled" expression, he continued: "But in that case, how are we supposed to choose the leading elite?"
As soon as those words were spoken, An Jing's posture remained unchanged, though his brow twitched slightly and his expression turned subtle. Meanwhile, the other thirteen youths who had completed the full course all turned their heads simultaneously, their gazes converging on him.
The One-Eyed Instructor also looked at An Jing, the corners of his mouth curling up as he waved his hand: "Continue! Back to the manor, lift the stone locks two hundred times!"
Lifting the stone locks brought three more people down, but next came two hundred repetitions of wielding the long staff, two hundred horse-stance punch strikes, and two hundred in-place stone lock squats... Before collapsing, An Jing fell into deep contemplation: "Surely we aren't going to have to train like this every single day from now on, are we?"
Even he, faced with this primitive workout method that was far more terrifying than modern leg days, felt a trace of panic.
However, An Jing soon had no time to ponder such things.
For on the third day, a total of ten people submitted requests to challenge An Jing for the position of "eldest senior brother."