Devil-Style Troop Training Method

The commanding general himself is leading from the front, so what excuse do these soldiers have to slack off? Besides, the last hundred won't get any food, and the first hundred get chicken legs. The rewards and punishments are ridiculously straightforward.

"Run! For the chicken legs!" someone shouted.

"We can't be the last hundred! I don't want to starve!"

The crowd stirred, complaints vanished, and one by one, gritting their teeth, they picked up their heavy pace and followed.

Sun He watched Wei Zhe's receding back, his expression incredibly complex. He had expected Wei Zhe to be like other generals, standing on a high platform, just talking. He never imagined he would use such a "stupid" yet effective method to manage his troops.

He gritted his teeth and roared, "What are you all standing around for, you idiots! Run! Anyone who dares fall behind, I'll whip them myself!"

With that, he too started running.

This ten-mile cross-country run was like a hellish ordeal for these pampered veterans. Many were gasping for air halfway through, feeling like their lungs would explode. But whenever they felt like giving up, they would look up and always see that figure, carrying a hundred pounds of weight, still running steadily at the very front of the pack.

Even the chieftain was doing this, so how could they have the face to complain?

Finally, when everyone dragged their leaden legs back to the camp, they almost all collapsed on the ground, panting like dead dogs.

However, this was only the beginning.

Without rest, Wei Zhe immediately began the second training exercise.

"Everyone, listen to my command, strike this pose!"

Wei Zhe struck an extremely bizarre pose in front of everyone. It wasn't quite a horse stance, nor a bow stance, his body twisted at an awkward angle, while his hands were raised upwards, as if holding up an invisible mountain.

"What the hell is this?" a soldier couldn't help but mutter softly.

"Stop the nonsense and do it!" Hu Lei prowled through the ranks like a ferocious leopard, a leather whip in his hand. "Anyone who doesn't do it properly gets a lash!"

The soldiers dared not delay, only managing to grimace as they mimicked Wei Zhe's movements.

At first, they didn't feel much, but after only a few dozen breaths, everyone felt something was wrong. They felt all their muscles being stretched and compressed in strange ways. Soreness surged like a tide, and sweat beaded on their foreheads.

"Now, breathe with my rhythm!"

Wei Zhe began to guide them in a specific breathing technique. Inhale, pause, exhale, pause, the rhythm slow and deep.

Initially, they were flustered, but gradually, as they mastered the breathing method, something miraculous happened. They felt a faint warm current flowing through their limbs with each breath. The unbearable soreness was significantly relieved, replaced by a tingling itch deep within their muscles.

"This... this is..." Sun He was also doing it, and he felt it most clearly. He already had some foundation in internal energy, and he could sense that this strange posture and breathing method seemed to be tempering his body in a way he couldn't understand. Even his internal energy, which had been stagnant for years, showed signs of loosening!

A tempest raged in his heart!

Could this be... some kind of advanced body refinement technique?

He suddenly looked up at Wei Zhe, his eyes filled with shock. He was openly teaching such a secret technique to all the soldiers? What did he want to do? Who was he?

While Sun He was in shock, a soldier next to him, unable to endure it any longer, swayed and secretly relaxed his posture.

"Crack!"

A crisp whip crack. Hu Lei's whip had accurately struck his backside.

"The chieftain's orders! Anyone who slacks off will receive twenty military rods by the side!" Hu Lei's voice was cold and ruthless.

The soldier shivered in fear, quickly resumed the correct posture, and dared not move again.

An hour later, when Wei Zhe called a halt, almost everyone was exhausted and collapsed on the ground. They felt as if all their bones had been taken apart and reassembled, lacking the strength to even lift a finger.

"Chieftain... what... what kind of training is this? It's more tiring than fighting the Xiongnu..." a soldier asked weakly.

Wei Zhe walked up to him and smiled, "It's right that it's tiring. If it's not tiring, how can you gain strength?"

He pointed to a thick hardwood training post, as thick as an adult's thigh, next to them, and said to the soldier, "You, come here, and punch it with all your might."

The soldier stood up with a pained expression, "Chieftain, I don't have any strength left..."

"Just punch it when I tell you to!"

The soldier dared not disobey, so he gritted his teeth, mustered all his strength, and punched the wooden post.

"Bang!"

The wooden post only trembled slightly, a shallow fist print left on it.

"Now," Wei Zhe said, "use the breathing method I just taught you, adjust for three breaths, and punch again."

The soldier was skeptical but did as he was told. He closed his eyes and took three deep breaths following the peculiar rhythm. When he opened his eyes again, he was surprised to find that a new surge of strength had appeared in his sore and weak body.

He let out a roar and punched again!

"Boom!!!"

A muffled sound much heavier than before!

"Crack!"

The hard wooden post actually split open in the middle with a clear crack!

"I... holy shit!"

The soldier looked at his fist, then at the cracked wooden post, completely stunned.

The soldiers around were also dumbfounded. They all got up from the ground, gathered around the wooden post, their faces filled with disbelief.

This... is this real? After training for such a short time, their strength increased so much?

"What I'm teaching you isn't some flashy, fancy stuff. It's real skill that will let you keep your lives on the battlefield and kill more enemies!" Wei Zhe's voice was filled with an infinite, magical power at that moment.

"The harder you train, the stronger your bodies will become, and the greater your chances of survival on the battlefield! Do you want to be like me, able to send a Xiongnu flying with a single punch?"

"Yes!" This time, the response was deafening, and a wolf-like green light flashed in everyone's eyes.

"Then train like your lives depend on it!"

The first day of devilish training ended amidst the soldiers' groans and excitement.

That evening, as Sun He, dragging his exhausted body, lay in his tent while his personal guards applied the blood-invigorating and bruise-reducing ointment given by Wei Zhe, several of his trusted subordinates gathered around him.

"Boss… this kid is too ruthless. This isn't training soldiers, it's purely torturing people to death! Are… are we really going to follow him like this?" one subordinate said with a pained expression.

Sun He didn't answer immediately. He looked at his own hands, which trembled slightly from the training, and felt a long-lost sense of power slowly growing deep within his body. Then, slowly, but with extraordinary firmness, he uttered two words.

"We are."

He paused, then added, a light flashing in his eyes that even he found unfamiliar.

"Not only are we going to do it, but we're going to do it better than anyone else! I have a goddamn feeling that by following this kid, we… might actually make a name for ourselves!"