Qi Zhimu resigned from his teaching position at the Academy and returned to the Cloud Knights.
In this era of war, the Cloud Knights suffered extremely high casualties, and the rate of rotation was startlingly fast.
A few hundred years was enough to completely change the faces within an army.
When Qi Zhimu stood behind General Teng Xiao clad in armor, none of the Cloud Knights on the field recognized him anymore.
Teng Xiao introduced Qi Zhimu briefly, making no deliberate mention of the Qi Family, and simply announced an appointment.
"From this day forward, Vanguard Qi Zhimu will serve as the Chief Swordsmanship Instructor and Chief Physical Training Director for the entire Cloud Knights army."
The appointment was brief, yet it stirred undercurrents within the ranks, though essentially no one questioned it.
Everyone understood that at this critical juncture—when the Jade Dwelling Xianzhou had divined an omen of great calamity and Azure City was in full combat preparation—
Anyone capable of shoulder such a heavy responsibility was certainly no ordinary individual.
Qi Zhimu naturally offered no explanation, letting his actions speak for him instead.
He threw the Qi Family's closely guarded secret physical training regimens at the three armies without reservation.
Even for Long-lived Species, such special training could be described as purgatory.
The basic training of long-distance running at fifty kilometers per hour while carrying a load of Five Jun was merely an appetizer.
The programs that would make one tremble were still to come.
After passing the most basic training, there was mobility training.
This involved moving at high speeds through obstacle courses while dodging attack props that could appear at any time, as well as traps along the way.
After passing mobility training, there was unarmed combat, physical flexibility, attack precision, force control, physical tempering, and more.
For instance, physical flexibility required one to curl themselves into a perfect ball.
Terrifying, isn't it?
In attack precision training, every strike had to accurately hit a designated area within 0.2 seconds.
How large was the designated area?
About the width of a straight line drawn with a pen.
In force control training, one had to strike with the exact required power, with an error margin not exceeding 0.1.
After all the above, it was finally time for the most fearsome part: physical tempering.
Burning, soaking, lightning strikes... after a series of such combinations, the Cloud Knights wailed in agony everywhere, yet they were also reborn.
Those Cloud Knights who once thought it difficult to improve their strength found that under Qi Zhimu's pressure, their combat power was actually skyrocketing at an incredible speed.
The swordsmanship training involving the whole army was, conversely, the project the Cloud Knights found most gentle.
The Cloud Knight Swordplay had been passed down for many years, and everyone was familiar with it.
After the special training, they found themselves even more proficient in using the Cloud Knight Swordplay in battle.
This couldn't help but make people sigh that sometimes, if you don't push yourself, you'll never know where your limits are.
In this manner, eight months passed quietly, and the annual Military Camp Tour arrived as scheduled.
This was a Xianzhou tradition, aimed at letting Academy students experience military life in advance through tours and practical training.
Back then, during his own tour, Qi Zhimu had achieved specific conditions to defeat dozens of active-duty Vanguards, becoming famous in a single battle.
Now, the youth of the past had become an active-duty Vanguard himself, testing the young generation.
When he received the list of Academies he was responsible for, Qi Zhimu's gaze paused slightly.
"Zhenshan Academy?"
Jingliu, the only daughter of his good friend Yu Huai, was among them.
In his impression, she was a gentle and dignified wealthy young lady upon whom her father had placed high hopes of inheriting the family business.
Qi Zhimu had not hidden his return to the army from Yu Huai, and the latter had privately begged him to look after his physically weak daughter and stop her from overexerting herself.
On the day of the tour, Qi Zhimu appeared before the Zhenshan students dressed in military uniform.
"I am the person in charge of this tour. You may call me Guard Qi."
Jingliu, standing in the crowd, was stunned.
She never expected that the gentle and refined teacher she had met a few times would undergo such a massive change in temperament after donning military attire.
"The Cloud Knight camp has strict discipline. I hope you all remember the instructions given by your Academy teachers before the trip and do not violate them."
Qi Zhimu was solemn, his voice carrying a faint authority. The students, only in their teens, didn't even dare to breathe loudly.
"Therefore, if anyone still has doubts, you may raise them immediately."
As his voice fell, the scene became so quiet that a pin drop could be heard.
After waiting several breaths, no one responded; clearly, they all knew what to watch out for.
"Very well, follow me."
Jingliu suppressed the astonishment in her heart and, following the group, changed into a military uniform to officially step into this once-in-a-lifetime Military Camp Tour.
Qi Zhimu first took the many youths to observe the ongoing attack precision training.
In the center of the training ground, projected silhouettes of Abominations of Abundance had black lines as thin as hair marked on their vital points.
Cloud Knight soldiers needed to complete an attack within 0.2 seconds and hit the black line without the slightest error.
Watching the training Cloud Knights fail repeatedly, the students looked at each other in dismay.
Jingliu raised her hand to ask: "Teacher Qi... Guard Qi, that black line is as thin as a thread. Can someone really achieve a seventy to eighty percent hit rate?"
"Naturally, there are."
Qi Zhimu said no more. He took a training longsword in his left hand and used a black cloth to cover his eyes with his right.
Seeing this, the training Cloud Knights subconsciously stopped their movements.
"Don't blink."
Sword light suddenly erupted.
Qi Zhimu's body didn't move, but his wrist flicked lightly, the sword's edge carving afterimages into the air.
As the Abomination silhouettes continuously refreshed, the sword seemed to have eyes of its own, locking onto the vital black lines every single time.
Ten strikes in one second, all hits.
The slow-motion replay on the screen showed zero error.
The field was silent for a moment before a shocked uproar broke out.
"Just now... did the sword move?"
"I couldn't see Guard Qi's movements at all!"
"That black line is as thin as a hair, and Guard Qi could still do it while blindfolded. So strong..."
Not to mention the students, even the Cloud Knights observing from the side were shaken.
They knew well the difficulty of those ten strikes; it was beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Especially Sleeping Snow and Clear Cold.
Their training content for today was attack precision, and they hadn't expected to witness Qi Zhimu taking action.
Now they finally understood why the General wanted them to seek out this Academy teacher.
Truly, one cannot judge a person by their appearance.
Jingliu stared blankly at Qi Zhimu's back as he held the sword, her heartbeat quickening for some reason.
Since childhood, she was used to seeing her father interact with merchants and literati, but she had never witnessed such sharp and precise sword skills with her own eyes.
This gentle teacher actually hid such a side.
"The Cloud Knights guard the Xianzhou; we do not allow for the slightest error."
Qi Zhimu looked at the students, his tone solemn.
"If you cannot kill with one strike, the Abominations on the battlefield, with their terrifying recovery abilities, will not easily give you a second chance."
The boys and girls held their breath in silence.
Some eyes quietly burned with fervor, while others found it hard to imagine... just how terrifying were the enemies that forced the Cloud Knights to undergo such high-difficulty training?