The First Volume Chapter Three: The Black Dragon Horse

  The next morning, I set out on my journey to Longcheng. To avoid unnecessary trouble, I brought my bamboo hat with me again. It's just too handsome, what can I do?

  The Longshen Empire is much stronger than the Beastman Nation, after walking for 5 days, not a single bandit has been encountered, no wonder the Longshen Empire can contend with the other two major powers.

  The gradually warming air reminded me that it was already noon, and my stomach had no more stored food. Just in time, there was a small restaurant by the roadside ahead. Since coming to the Dragon God Empire, I have been particularly fascinated by the local cuisine, which is simply worlds apart from what I experienced in the Beastman Country. As soon as I entered the small restaurant, the aroma wafting out was overwhelming, making my mouth water. Although it's not luxurious here, it's very clean and has a good atmosphere, with about 60-70% of the tables already occupied by customers.

  I found a relatively quiet table by the window and sat down. The waiter came over, handed me a menu, and asked: "Sir, what would you like to order?"

  I flipped through the menu, casually picked a few dishes I had never eaten before, and ordered 1 catty of mantou. Soon, all my dishes were served, I held the mantou in my left hand, picked up chopsticks with my right hand and started devouring. At this time, the number of customers in the restaurant gradually increased, and soon it was fully seated.

  A young warrior walked in from outside, about 1 meter tall, wearing a white martial arts uniform, looking very robust, carrying a long sword on his back, a spirited young man.

  He came in and took a look, seeing that there were no empty tables left, so he walked over to my table and politely said: "Excuse me, sir, since there's nowhere else available, may I sit here with you?"

  I sat at a table for four, alone by myself, I nodded slightly and continued eating with my head down.

  The warrior shouted: "Waiter, bring me a catty of good wine, and two small dishes, one catty of steamed buns." After ordering the dishes, he said to me: "This big brother, you look like you're going on a long journey."

  My conical hat was not removed, but my veil had been lifted, otherwise how could I eat? Are all humans so passionate? I raised my head and gave him a cold look, then nodded slightly. He saw my handsome and cool face and was startled in his heart. I continued to eat my own food, no longer paying attention to him.

  He bumped into a nail, smiled awkwardly, waited for his dish to arrive, I had already finished eating, I casually put down a silver coin, stood up, swung the package over my shoulder and walked out of the restaurant in big strides.

  I found that in the Dragon God Empire, many people are riding horses, and they seem to be very fast. I also want to get one to try it out, so I should be able to arrive at Longcheng a bit earlier, right?

  I grabbed a passerby and asked, "Excuse me, where can I buy horses?" The person I grabbed first frowned, but seeing my tall stature didn't dare say anything, pointed forward with their hand and said, "At the next intersection ahead, turn left, walk about two kilometers, there's a horse farm where you can buy horses."

  I nodded at him and walked in the direction he pointed.

  The scale of the horse farm is really large. In the center, there is a racing track with an area of about 1,000 mu. On the left side, there are places selling horses and some corresponding accessories.

  I came to the place where horses are sold and asked the horse dealer: "Which horse is for sale here?"

  The horse trader took one look at me and knew I was an outsider who didn't know horses, and with a scornful smile said: "As long as you can afford it, all the horses you see here are for sale."

  I let out a sigh and began to look around, hoping to find a horse I liked. Suddenly, I noticed that everyone was gathering on the west side of the arena, and I had no idea what was going on. I quickly grabbed someone and asked them what was happening. It turned out that the owner of this place had brought back a wild horse with many people a few days ago, and it was so fierce that no one could tame it - they had to use a blowpipe with anesthetic to catch it in the first place. Now, today, the owner had invited several well-known horse trainers to try and tame the horse.

  I really want to take a look at this fine horse. I followed the crowd to the horse training ground in the west, and it was already packed with people. Although I stood relatively far back, my tall stature still allowed me to see the center of the field. There were six or seven people there, all dressed neatly, surrounding a black stallion. Even though I don't know much about horses, I could tell that this one was exceptional. Its shiny black coat glistened like silk, and it held its head high, snorting repeatedly as if impatient and full of hostility towards the people around it.

  The sky gradually darkened, with large clouds gathering above, although there was no longer sufficient sunlight, I did not feel cool, but instead felt more sultry.

  The people surrounding it tried to lasso it with a rope and then onto his horseback, but the black horse was very agile, dodging the trainers' attacks again and again.

  The people around started discussing and said that this time it's probably over, at this moment, a middle-aged horse trainer suddenly threw out a lasso, and unexpectedly caught the black horse's neck. The black horse instantly became furious, its two front hooves lifted high, letting out a clear and long neigh. The horse trainer's skills were quite good, using the force of pulling to flip onto the horse's back, tightly hugging the horse's neck.

  "Good job, hold on, hold on." The crowd around began to cheer.

  The black horse was constantly jumping up and down, trying to shake off the person on its back. Due to its violent movements, it had driven all the other trainers to the periphery, and now only the trainer on the horse's back was struggling alone.

  The black horse shook its body for half a day, seeing that it couldn't shake off the trainer on its back, and gradually became gentle, no longer bucking. The surrounding crowd shouted loudly at the name of the trainer, who was actually the son of the arena owner. He proudly raised his hands high on the horse's back.

  At this moment, a sudden change occurred, and the black horse suddenly fell to the ground, startling the trainer, who quickly jumped off the horse to check on it, not wanting to hurt such a good horse.

  He had just jumped off the horse, and the black horse suddenly stood up again, with its front hooves supporting itself on the ground, and a pair of powerful hind legs heavily kicked the chest of the middle-aged horse trainer. Even though I was so far away, I heard the sound of the trainer's ribs cracking. He let out a long, mournful cry as he was kicked far away, and it seemed like he wouldn't survive.

  It was just the blink of an eye, and the crowd around suddenly became chaotic. The other trainers in the arena quickly pulled the kicked trainer to one side.

  A man in magnificent attire rushed out from the side, shouting angrily: "Return my son's life to me, kill this fierce horse for me." It seems that he is the owner of the ranch, and his son's death has confused his mind.

  Many ranch hands immediately ran out, holding various weapons to kill the horse. The black horse in the arena still held its head high, completely unaware of the fate of death that was about to befall it.

  I don't know why, but when I first saw this handsome black horse, I had a strange affection for it. It seems that it's my turn to take the stage now.

  "I shouted loudly: 'Wait a minute.' I pushed through the crowd in front of me with both arms and walked into the arena. Thousands of eyes on the scene turned to me, I walked up to the host who was crying on his son's body. First, I bowed my head to take a look at his son's injury. He had stopped breathing, blood flowing from all seven orifices, his chest completely caved in, and I couldn't help but shake my head."

  "Give me a chance and let me tame this horse."

  The host said with tears streaming down his face: "No way, I want to use its corpse to mourn the death of my son."

  I frowned and said coldly, "What's wrong with the horse? If you hadn't tried to tame it beyond your abilities, this wouldn't have happened."

  The boss was furious: "Who are you, dare to come here and be so arrogant? Come on, get him out of here!"

  I snorted in disgust, no longer bothering with him, and turned to walk towards the black horse. I had only taken two steps when I was surrounded by people from the ranch. I took off my hat and hung it on my back, saying coldly, "Don't force me to hurt someone."

  These workers immediately swarmed up when they heard my arrogant words, and four or five of them grabbed me. However, they didn't use any weapons, seemingly just wanting to beat me up to vent their boss's anger.

  How could their skills be seen in my eyes, and with a sudden burst of strength, I threw them all out. Seeing that they still wanted to come up, I let out a loud hum, my eyes gleaming with anger, and shouted: "Do you want to come up and die?" With a heavy punch, the ground shook, and amidst the flying dust, a hole with a diameter of 1 meter and a depth of half a meter appeared on the flat ground.

  I patted the dust off my body, ignoring the stunned crowd, and walked straight towards the black horse.

  The black horse may have also sensed danger, staring at me with a pair of big eyes, constantly scratching the ground with its left front hoof.

  I walked to a place two meters away from it and stood still, giving it a contemptuous smile, with the strength that I could tear tigers and leopards apart, I was not afraid of it. I don't know if it understood my smile or not, but it let out an angry roar, stood up on its hind legs, and heavily stepped towards me with its front hooves.

  I sank my waist and grasped the horse's hooves with both hands, feeling a great deal of force as it tried to trample me. My arms were pushed backward, but I quickly used my strength to stop them, causing the people around me to gasp in surprise.

  "What great strength! He can actually withstand a horse's kick."

  "Look at the big hole he just punched out, he must be a high-level martial artist."

  "Is he even human? Can a person have such great strength?"

  Sorry, I'm really not fully human at least in terms of strength.

  I exerted force in my waist, and with a flick of my arm, I sent the black horse flying outwards. It was thrown to the ground, rolling over and letting out a pained whinny. After struggling for a few moments, it got back up again. I walked forward once more, staring into its eyes, and said in a cold voice: "Do you yield? With your strength, it's impossible for you to contend with me."

  It seemed to understand what I was saying, and nodded its head, looking at me with big, pitiful eyes. It slowly walked up to me, nuzzled my chest with its head, and I gently patted it on the head, a rare smile spreading across my face.

  "From now on, you'll be my best partner. How about I call you Black Dragon?" The black horse let out a happy neigh, seemingly approving of the name I had given it.

  I turned my head and shouted loudly, "Boss, sorry about this, I'm taking this horse!" Without caring about their reaction, I pulled out a bag of gold coins from my pocket, roughly 50 pieces, and tossed it over. Then I leaped onto the horse's back. Only after mounting did I realize that I had never ridden a horse before (how could a beastman ride a horse?). Never mind, I didn't care about it. My legs tightly clamped around the horse's belly, my hands grasped its long mane, and Black Dragon didn't need me to urge it on - it galloped out quickly. When we reached the fence, I chopped down with one palm, shattering the top two bars. The horse leaped high into the air, clearing the fence, and carried me, a master who couldn't ride horses, flying away at full speed.

  The sky gradually started to drizzle with fine rain, although my clothes were getting wet, the cool feeling made me feel especially comfortable. For the first time riding a horse, at first I was a bit nervous, but after a while, this feeling disappeared. Sitting on Hei Long's back was very stable, with only a slight bumping sensation. The scenery around me whizzed by like lightning, and I leaned my body against Hei Long's back. Gradually, I discovered that as long as I tilted my body to the left, it would run to the left, and if I tilted to the right, it would run to the right. It was really fun, after all, I was only 16 years old, and I just played around, forgetting about the direction we were heading in until the sky was almost dark. I realized that I had gotten lost, surrounded by dense forests. Luckily, this was a small path, otherwise, I wouldn't have even known which way to go. Oh well, let's just head in this direction and ask for directions when we find someone.

  Like this, I rode the black dragon along the small road for another two hours before arriving at a town. I pulled back on the reins and the black dragon gradually slowed down, entering the town. I jumped off its back and found that my pants had been soaked through by the black dragon's sweat. I patted its large head sympathetically and walked inside.

  The town was quite large, with all sorts of shops lining the streets and filling the air with vitality. Hei Long followed closely behind me as I found an inn and a servant rushed out to greet us, smiling obsequiously and saying, "Sir, please stay at our humble abode! We have complete facilities, low prices, and attentive service..." I raised my hand impatiently to stop him from continuing.

  "Find me a place and stable my horse."

  The waiter looked at the black dragon behind me and said sincerely: "You really have a good horse, but why don't you have a saddle?"

  "Saddle and bridle? What's that?" I thought to myself, but didn't ask. "Do you have them here? I was just thinking of putting them on."

  "We don't have it here. Look, there's a store over there that specializes in saddles and bridles. You can go there. They have good quality and reasonable prices."

  "Take me there, I want the full set."

  The waiter looked embarrassed and said: "But I'm still on duty here, you see..."

  I sneered and tossed him a silver coin, saying: "You're not in a hurry now, are you?"

  The waiter, with a smile on his face, said: "Wait a minute, wait a minute." He then ran back into the store and gave a shout to the other waiters, before excitedly running over and leading me into the saddle shop.

  I spent 10 gold coins to get the best saddle, bridle and horseshoes for Black Dragon, but I didn't buy a whip because I thought it was unnecessary. With this new gear, Black Dragon looked even more majestic. The shop assistants all praised it, and what's worth mentioning is that except for me, Black Dragon wouldn't let anyone else approach it. I had to hold its head before those assistants could barely help put on the equipment.

  I followed the hotel's servant to send Hei Long to their stable, personally groomed it and fed it some high-quality hay before returning to the hotel to rest.

  After resting for a night, I figured out the direction of Longcheng, found my location on the map, and set off again. Fortunately, I wasn't walking in the opposite direction, although I had deviated somewhat, but after correcting it, I quickly got back on the right road.

  With the saddle and bridle, riding on the black dragon is even more comfortable. I relaxed my grip on the reins, adjusted the direction, and let the black dragon run freely. When there's no one around, the black dragon maintains a moderate speed, but as soon as it sees its own kind, it immediately accelerates, determined to overtake them. Who knew horses had such a strong competitive spirit?

  After getting the Black Dragon, the speed increased by several orders of magnitude. The 3000-kilometer journey only took more than 10 days to complete, and this was still a result of me being gentle with it and running slowly.

  Finally arrived at Longcheng, although it looks not as tall and majestic as our Beastman Imperial City, but also very magnificent. The city wall is high and thick, all made of solid granite, with various dragon carvings on top. The national flag of the Dragon God Empire hangs high above the city. Maybe because this place is already inland, the defense is very loose, without going through any checks, I easily entered the city. Longcheng is really big, several times bigger than our Beastman Imperial City, and it took me three days to walk around roughly.

  Tiandu College is very famous here, and you can know its location by asking around casually. I first registered at Tiandu College and learned that the exam would not start until more than a month later. Since there was plenty of time, I decided to stay for now. There are many hotels around Tiandu College, and I chose one that is relatively clean.

  Every morning I practice my Heavenly Thunderbolt, in the afternoon I take Black Dragon out for a stroll, sometimes we sneak out of the city to get some exercise, otherwise it'll just get fat from eating and sleeping all day. At night, I intensify my training in Heavenly Demon Arts, in this enemy's territory, it's better to quickly reach the strength of Two-Winged Fallen Angel, so even if my identity is exposed, I'll have a fighting chance.

  More than a month has passed, and although I've worked hard, the Tianmo Cultivation is still only in the later stage of the second layer. It's still far from transforming, as it seems that completing the third layer is necessary for transformation. Looks like being impatient won't do any good, I can only talk about it again when I get to Tiandu College.

  After more than a month of living here, I have found that there are many warriors and magicians in Longcheng. Although I haven't fought with any magicians yet, several times I've met mages wearing magic robes, and I vaguely felt their terror. The level of the warriors also seems to be very high. Indeed, it's a powerful country. Originally, I was full of confidence, but after this period of observation, I'm also feeling a bit apprehensive.

  In the Dragon God Empire, warriors are divided into ten levels: novice warrior, primary warrior, intermediate warrior, advanced warrior, swordmaster, great swordmaster, earth knight, light knight, sword saint, and war god. From swordmaster onwards, each level is further divided into upper, middle, and lower ranks. Mages are also divided into ten levels: novice mage, primary mage, intermediate mage, advanced mage, great mage, magic conductor, great magic conductor, magic master, great magic master, and holy magic master. Similarly, from great mage onwards, each level is also divided into upper, middle, and lower ranks.

  I roughly estimated that if I were to use my current human body's abilities, I would be at most a lower-ranked swordmaster. However, with my powerful physique and super defense capabilities, I should at least be able to rank as a lower great swordmaster. The average dragon knight should be around middle-ranked light knight (excluding the dragon itself), while the average fallen angel should also be around lower-ranked light knight, which is equivalent to middle-ranked dark magic conductor.

  Currently, my abilities are probably on par with an ordinary demon's power (not in a frenzied state). I'm only equivalent to a lower great swordmaster, and that's still far behind them. No wonder we need over 2,000 demon warriors plus more than 30 fallen angels just to match up against those hundred or so dragon warriors.

  Tomorrow is the day of the exam, I don't know if I can successfully enter Tiandu College. I must continue to strengthen my own strength, otherwise our beastman tribe will have no future. With a nervous heart, I start the last training of Tianmo Gong before the exam.

  Actually, I didn't know that the Dragon God Empire also had its own troubles. Although the dragon knights were very powerful, they weren't like Bam who was born with extraordinary strength and only needed some training to join battles when he grew up. On the other hand, cultivating a dragon knight was extremely difficult. The Dragon God Empire spent countless resources and effort just to barely maintain a force of around 100 dragon knights. This was also why he didn't dare to recklessly attack the two countries of Magic and Beast, because once his dragon knights were all killed, he would lose his advantage and would inevitably be defeated by the combined forces of Magic and Beast.

  I woke up from my cultivation and changed into a brand new warrior attire, after a hearty meal I arrived at the destination of this trip - Tiandu College.

  As soon as I arrived at the entrance of the college, I was stunned. How could this be? There were so many people, densely packed with several thousand in attendance. But last time I heard from the admissions office that they only accepted 300 students, which means it's almost a ten-to-one competition.

  I held the admission ticket I received when I signed up - a wooden sign with 1 written on the front (of course, it was number 1 since I came to register more than a month ago), and the words "Tian Du College" engraved on the back. As I walked into the college, the playground here is quite large, with plenty of empty space to accommodate so many examinees. The exam time has not arrived yet, and the examinees are chatting in twos and threes, probably guessing what questions will be on the test.

  "A clear voice rang out: 'Attention all examinees who have come to take the exam, please quiet down and line up in order of your admission ticket from east to west, 50 people per row.'"

  I hastily looked around for someone to talk to, what a loud voice it was, who had such strong power. Later I found out that this was a magical broadcast made through an amplification magic stone, which can amplify the sound dozens or even hundreds of times.

  I've looked for half a day and couldn't find it, forget it. I'll just line up first. I'm number 1, so I should be the first one in the first row.

  "Attention all examinees who have come to take the exam, please be quiet and line up from east to west according to your number plate, 50 people per row."

  After three rounds, the team was finally formed. I roughly counted that there were more than 60 rows and more than 3,000 people. It's really one in ten! The Tian Academy is indeed very famous, and the entrance examination is so difficult.

  (The leaders of the Dragon Empire are almost all graduates from the four major academies, especially the Dragon Knights. The Dragon Knights now symbolize not only strength but also honor and power. In the Dragon Empire, Dragon Knights have great power, with the lowest title being Viscount. The three Marshals have the title of Duke as they are the pillars of the empire. For a commoner to become a noble, becoming a Dragon Knight is the best choice, and the four major academies are the most solid stepping stone.)

  "Alright, everyone move forward, backward, left and right to create some distance. About 1.5 meters apart is fine." Before long, all the examinees on the scene had rearranged themselves according to the requirements.

  At this time, more than 20 people came, looking like invigilating teachers, and it was unclear what they were going to test.

  "From now on, all candidates are not allowed to move, maintain a standing posture, and do not allow any movement until they cannot support themselves. The last 1000 remaining candidates will enter the next round." As soon as this sentence came out, the entire playground immediately boiled over, and all the candidates began to discuss it in an uproar.

  "What kind of exam is this? It's simply a punishment."

  "Wow, I've never heard of a station standing exam before."

  "What kind of school is this? I wouldn't have come all the way here if I had known."

  I also thought in my heart, this is too easy, what's the big deal about just standing there, forget it, I'll just stand then.

  "Candidates, please remain calm. Standing is a test of physical strength and willpower. Whether it's learning martial skills or magic, without good physical strength and firm willpower, it won't do. If there are candidates who are dissatisfied with the college's examination method, they can withdraw at any time."

  It's really awesome, worthy of a university student, standing tall. Although they were arguing loudly just now, after hearing this speech, not one of them is willing to give up, after all it would be too embarrassing to quit before showing off their own strength.

  At first, everyone felt relatively relaxed, although it was summer, the morning was still quite cool. However, as time slowly passed, the sun gradually climbed to its peak, and the temperature on the playground also rose sharply.

  Sweat dripped down my face, although it wasn't too uncomfortable, the stifling feeling still made me feel miserable. Fortunately, I was wearing a light-colored martial uniform today, or else it would have been even more unbearable. I took a sneak peek at the other examinees, and their quality was indeed very high, from morning till now, over two hours had passed, yet not a single person had dropped out.

  The invigilating teachers were divided into two groups, each group supervising for about an hour before switching to rest. At this time, a female examinee made a slight movement and was immediately discovered by a middle-aged invigilating teacher. He pointed at her with his hand and said, "You, out." It's really very strict, not even allowing a slight movement.

  Two more hours have passed, and the temperature has gradually dropped with the setting sun. However, after a day of not eating or drinking, and fighting against the scorching weather, my stomach had long since stopped listening to me. The sound of "gurgling" noises kept coming from the playground. Not eating was still somewhat bearable, but sweating all day without drinking water was really making me uncomfortable. By now, more than 200 examinees have already dropped out, not even one-tenth of the total number. How long do we need to stand here?

  Time passes so slowly, it's not easy to get through the evening. The gentle breeze blows by, making me feel much more comfortable. Practicing Tianmo Gong every night has become a habit, anyway I'm standing here, might as well cultivate some skills. I glanced around and almost all the examinees were closing their eyes and fighting against their own bodies.

  I also closed my eyes and quietly began to circulate the dark energy within my body. The first stage of Tianmo Gong wouldn't leak out during cultivation, so I wasn't afraid that someone would notice from the outside. I felt the dark elements around me gathering towards me, a cool sensation spreading into my meridians through my skin, then slowly circulating along my internal pathways. It was such a comfortable feeling, as if all the fatigue of the day had vanished. My need for food and water also wasn't so strong anymore. It seemed that Tianmo Gong had this benefit too. I urged the Tianmo Gong to circulate along its fixed pathway, my spirit gradually concentrating, entering a meditative state.

  When I woke up from the fixed-point, it was already dawn. Except for a little hunger, my body didn't feel uncomfortable at all. I took a look around and saw that although not many people had left, all the examinees looked like they were on the verge of collapse, with pale faces. I took a light breath and closed my eyes.

  It's noon again, and today is still a good day, the sun is hanging high in the sky, but for us examinees, this is not a good thing.

  With the experience of last night, I quickly brought out the dark energy. Although it was daytime and the effect of practicing Tianmo Gong was much worse, it gave me a cool feeling, which made it easier to cope with the hot weather than yesterday.

  In the afternoon, candidates began to leave in batches, and most of them were carried out. The sun gradually set, and the clouds on the horizon became so beautiful under the reflection of the sunset.

  "All candidates have worked hard, the first round of exams is now over. Please take your own number plate to the invigilating teacher for registration, and then go back to rest. Come again tomorrow for the second round of exams."

  Originally, only 1,000 people who had been eliminated were left. All the examinees simultaneously let out a sigh of relief and sat down on the ground with a thud. I was no exception, although my physical strength was slightly better than theirs, but after two days and one night without moving my limbs, they had long since become stiff. I sat on the ground, lightly exercising my numb body.

  "Attention, candidates! The invigilating teachers are now coming to you one by one for registration, please cooperate. As expected, more than 10 invigilating teachers dispersed and began registering the remaining candidates. Of course, I was the first one. I handed over my number plate and said: "I'm No. 1." The invigilating teacher looked at me with a smile and said: "You're quite sturdy, young man!" I just smiled and didn't respond."

  At this time, many people wearing chef uniforms came from somewhere, carrying many trays covered with cloth, as well as some large buckets and bowls. Are they here to deliver food for us?

  As expected, the clear voice said: "This is the porridge and buns prepared by the college for you. Please finish eating and return to rest as soon as possible." It's really edible, I took advantage of my position in front to rush forward first, grabbed a large bowl from the bucket, scooped out a bowl of porridge and drank it down hastily. Comfortable, it's really comfortable, I've never felt that porridge is so delicious before. Taking advantage of everyone not yet fully surrounding me, I drank three more bowls, then filled another bowl with three buns and ran to the side to enjoy them.

  My stomach is settled and my energy has recovered a lot. Ah, right, it's already been two days, and I haven't fed Black Dragon yet. I need to hurry back, it must have an opinion about me by now. Returning to the inn, I quickly got some fodder and ran to the horse shed. Black Dragon saw me and let out a happy whinny, using its large tongue to lick my face nonstop. "I've made you suffer, eat quickly, this is all high-quality fodder."

  I bid farewell to Black Dragon, I was really too tired and fell asleep on a pile of dry hay in the horse stable.