Swallowing the Stars: Only in my later years did I come to the life-spending panel.

Twenty days later, the peak training camp.

As dawn breaks, golden sunlight spills across the vast complex of buildings, which covers 300 square kilometers.

The towering alloy wall gleamed coldly in the sunlight, and the numerous energy cannons on the wall all pointed into the distance, like a steel behemoth that could awaken at any moment.

In front of the main building, the huge square was packed with people.

Thousands of young people stood in neat rows, a dark mass stretching to the end of the square.

They come from all over the world, including top students from the Extreme Martial Arts Academy's elite training camp, geniuses cultivated by the Thunder Martial Arts Academy, promising talents recommended by the Chinese military, and even genius martial artists from other base cities in North America and Europe.

Despite their different skin colors and backgrounds, everyone's gaze was drawn to the same thing.

Above the dark main entrance of the building, a colossal creature coils upwards.

That was a real dragon!

It is over 100 meters long and covered with bluish-black scales, each scale the size of a door panel, gleaming coldly in the morning light.

Its enormous head drooped slightly, its mouth half-open, revealing its menacing fangs, and its scarlet eyes looked down at everyone below.

Sculptor Lin Lei spent half a month using his superb skills to fill the keel with muscles and reshape the body.

Coiled around the main building, its body meanders upwards, its tail drooping to one side. Layers of dark blue scales overlap, its muscles are smooth and powerful, and its posture is lifelike, as if it will unleash a deafening roar at any moment.

The terrifying pressure that belonged to a top-tier king-level monster was perfectly preserved.

In the crowd, people occasionally felt their legs go weak and cold sweat beaded on their foreheads.

Some trainees with weaker willpower only glanced up and felt short of breath, involuntarily taking a half step back.

"This is... the Azure Dragon of the East Sea?" a knowledgeable student asked in a trembling voice.

"This sculpture is so lifelike, I keep feeling like it's staring at me..."

"That creature that's been entrenched in the East China Sea for decades? Even Thor, the world's second strongest warrior, couldn't kill it?"

Someone swallowed hard. "I heard that last month, it was killed by some unknown being who surpassed even the God of War. I never expected..."

"Isn't that Chief Instructor Zhou Mu?!"

A murmur of discussion arose, and the gazes of everyone looking at the sculpture shifted from initial shock to awe, and then gradually ignited with fervor.

Just then, a bolt of deep purple lightning descended from the sky and landed on the steps in front of the main building.

As the lightning dissipated, Zhou Mu's figure was revealed.

Today he was dressed in a dark-colored outfit transformed from the Black God Set, his white hair was casually tied behind his back, and his aura was restrained to the point of being almost nonexistent.

But the more this is the case, the more the trainees below can feel an invisible sense of oppression, which stems from the suppression of life levels, the instinctive trembling of the weak when facing the strong.

The entire audience of over three thousand people fell silent instantly.

Zhou Mu's gaze slowly swept across the audience.

These faces ranged from youthful to composed, from tense to excited, and some even looked somewhat familiar, but every pair of eyes burned with the same flame of desire for power.

"I am Zhou Mu."

His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears: "Your future head instructor."

The audience was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"You come from all over the world, recommended by your respective factions."

Zhou Mu raised his hand and pointed to the Azure Dragon sculpture coiled around the main building behind him.

"Did you see this?"

"A few months ago, it was still stirring up trouble in the East China Sea, launching a beast tide and killing countless humans. Now, it's just a corpse, lying here for people to admire."

Why?

"Is it because he's weak? No, he's a top-tier King-level monster, stronger than all of you."

"Because it encountered someone stronger!"

Zhou Mu's gaze swept across the audience again, and this time, a flash of lightning seemed to appear in his calm eyes.

"Here, I don't care whose son or daughter you are, or how talented you were in the past."

"I only care about one thing: can you become stronger? Can you contribute to humanity?"

"Yes, I will teach you everything I know."

"No, then you'd better get lost now."

After he finished speaking, the entire room fell silent.

A moment later, a trainee standing in the front row suddenly clenched his fist and shouted, "Chief Instructor, we understand that we are determined to shed our last drop of blood for humanity!"

This shout broke the silence, and more than three thousand young martial artists cried out in unison: "We will shed our last drop of blood for humanity!"

The sound was deafening, and even the Azure Dragon sculpture on the main building seemed to tremble slightly.

Zhou Mu nodded slightly.

"Very well. Now let's get down to business."

He stood with his hands behind his back and said calmly, "The first cohort of students in the Peak Training Camp enrolled 240 people. But today, there are a full 3230 people standing here."

"That means more than 90 percent of the people will be eliminated in today's assessment."

These words caused an uproar among the crowd.

More than 3,200 people were only charged 240?!

The acceptance rate is less than 10 percent?

"I know that some of you are already high-ranking generals, and some of you even have physical abilities that have reached the level of war gods."

Zhou Mu's gaze swept over the exceptionally composed figures in the crowd. "You might be wondering, I'm already a War God level expert, so why would the forces behind me still want you to participate in the Peak Training Camp?"

He said calmly, "Because in the Peak Training Camp, the God of War is just the starting point! My goal is to cultivate more martial artists at the God of War level or above!"

At this point, Zhou Mu's gaze sharpened: "But the prerequisite is that you can pass today's test! If your willpower is weaker than that of martial artists with lower physical abilities, and your combat performance doesn't match your level, ranking below 240, you'll still be eliminated!"

The assessment is divided into three stages.

"The first test is a physical fitness test. Punching power, speed, and reflexes must all reach the intermediate-level warrior standard. Those who fail to meet the standard will be eliminated immediately."

Many people in the audience turned pale. The intermediate-level warrior level was a higher threshold than they had imagined, directly barring those who had come to try their luck at the beginner-level warrior level from entering.

"If you pass the test, you will proceed to the second stage: a practical assessment." Zhou Mu continued explaining the rules. "You will enter a virtual space and complete a C-level practical assessment. Your physical abilities will be standardized to the level of a beginner warrior, and you will need to kill 100 beginner beast general-level raging bulls within one hour. The degree of completion of the challenge, your combat performance, and the time taken will all be converted into points. This stage has a maximum score of 100 points."

"In addition, martial artists who score full marks can choose to continue challenging higher levels and will receive extra points."

"The final test: a test of willpower."

Zhou Mu paused, a meaningful smile playing on his lips. "This hurdle is both the simplest and the hardest. You only need to do one thing: persist in my domain as long as possible!"

"hiss--"

A collective gasp rippled through the audience.

field?

Or is he a top expert who can easily kill the Azure Dragon of the East Sea?

"Of course, I won't go all out. The intensity will gradually increase, giving you time to adapt."

"The longer you persist, the higher your score. The maximum score is still 100 points. The scores from the second and third rounds are added together, and the top 240 will be admitted to the camp."

"Did you all understand?"

"Understood!" the entire audience of over three thousand people answered in unison.

Zhou Mu raised his hand and waved, "The assessment begins!"

The main entrance of the building burst open, revealing a massive testing facility behind it, with dozens of passageways opening simultaneously, enough to accommodate thousands of people for testing at the same time.

Zhou Mu turned around and vanished in a flash of lightning.

"I'll be waiting for you at the training camp. Only the 240 who stay will be qualified to call me the head instructor."

......

Among the crowd, a black-haired boy carrying a battle sword stood quietly, his gaze passing over the crowd and landing on the azure dragon sculpture that coiled around the main building.