Warrior Recruits, Formation Recruits

"This basic cultivation manual—go back and study it carefully. It would be best if you could memorize it beforehand; it'll help with the assessment."

After emphasizing this, Xu Bin pressed a hand to the saber at his waist and moved to leave.

Old Xu chuckled. "Bin, why not teach Little Stone a thing or two in advance? It'll help him handle things when the time comes."

Xu Bin frowned slightly, shot Chen Sanshi a glance, and said coolly, "I still have matters to attend to."

"You brat, you're all folks from the same village. What's wrong with lending a hand?"

Old Xu pointed at his son, ready to scold him.

"Uncle Xu, Brother Bin must have military duties to handle. There's no need to trouble him."

Chen Sanshi understood the situation perfectly.

He had no friendship with Xu Bin whatsoever. It was already decent of the man to offer him a few pointers—how could he dare ask for more?

"Hmph!"

On the donkey cart back to Poyang County, Old Man Xu said irritably, "Little Stone, don't lower yourself to my foolish son's level. Just because he's a Squad Leader, he really thinks he's some kind of official, walking around with his nose in the air all day!

"If he won't explain it, this old man will!

"The first three realms of martial cultivation are Blood Refining, Bone Refining, and Organ Tempering.

"With Minor Accomplishment in Blood Refining, one can serve as a Squad Leader. With major accomplishment, one can become a Banner Leader. Bone Refining qualifies one to become a Hundred Household Commander, while Organ Tempering qualifies one to become a Thousand Household Commander.

"Of course, those are only the approximate realms corresponding to each post. The real situation may be more complicated."

On the swaying donkey cart, Chen Sanshi asked earnestly, "What did Brother Bin mean earlier by warrior recruits and formation recruits?"

Old Man Xu explained patiently.

"Whether it's a sect or a martial arts school, they all have aptitude requirements for their disciples. Naturally, the military is no exception.

"Generally speaking, there'll be an assessment after you enlist.

"If you pass the assessment, you can become a 'warrior recruit.' Otherwise, you can only become a 'formation recruit.'

"Warrior recruits can continue cultivating martial arts, receive allocated resources, and retain the qualifications to be promoted into officers.

"Formation recruits, on the other hand, have limited talent and cannot cultivate martial arts. They receive unified training in military formations for group combat and have no qualifications to be promoted into officers.

"Archers and cavalrymen are both types of formation recruits, though their treatment is a little better."

"Heh, this old man had roots and bones too poor, so I was a formation recruit!"

Chen Sanshi nodded thoughtfully, understanding what it meant.

The status of a warrior recruit was like that of a college graduate from a military academy in his previous life—they had the possibility of rising higher. Ordinary rank-and-file soldiers, meanwhile, could only ever remain ordinary rank-and-file soldiers.

"I've told you everything I know."

Old Xu looked a little embarrassed. "As for cultivation manuals, I never understood them back then. Better not let me mislead you. Go back and study it carefully yourself."

Outside Poyang County Town, the two parted ways.

Chen Sanshi pondered in secret.

I absolutely have to become a warrior recruit. Otherwise, wouldn't enlisting have been for nothing?

I wonder how my talent for martial cultivation measures up!

When he returned home, the food was already prepared.

Ever since the family's circumstances had improved, they ate white rice and salted duck eggs practically every meal, with meat dishes often appearing as well.

Gu Xinlan no longer went out to do needlework. Instead, she stayed home full-time as a housewife.

At the dinner table, she brought up Qin Xiong with considerable surprise. "Shi Ge'er, did you know that the one surnamed Qin has gone missing?

"His younger brother has been asking around everywhere for his whereabouts lately. He's practically gone mad.

"Zhao San, who used to have a grudge against him, had one of his arms chopped off right in the street. I heard blood sprayed everywhere—it was terrifying."

Zhao San was also a notorious bully, though his usual turf was not around their area.

"Luckily, everyone in the village knows we made peace with the one surnamed Qin. Otherwise, they'd surely have come knocking."

Chopping off someone's arm in broad daylight?

Martial arts school disciples truly were arrogant beyond measure.

Fortunately, Chen Sanshi had acquired military household status. Even if Qin Xiong's younger brother suspected him, he would not dare commit murder in the street. At most, he would resort to dirty tricks behind his back.

Still, he needed to hurry and improve his own strength.

After eating, Chen Sanshi eagerly went to the open ground behind the house and began leafing through the Basic Spear Technique for Soldiers beneath the moonlight.

It was called a spear technique, but its contents were actually a kind of stance training, with nothing related to weapons at all.

Every page of the book contained lifelike illustrations representing a stance movement, with several lines of small text beneath them detailing the precautions and cultivation insights.

His Eidetic Memory finally came in handy. In barely over ten minutes, he had firmly memorized all thirty-six stances and begun practicing them.

Following the illustrations in the booklet, Chen Sanshi pointed his toes naturally forward, drew in his chest and straightened his back, sank his shoulders and dropped his elbows, held his head as if suspended from above, imagining something balanced atop it that he could not let fall, maintaining the proper posture.

The movements looked simple, but once he truly began practicing, he discovered they were nothing like they appeared on the surface.

After maintaining the illustrated posture for only a few breaths, Chen Sanshi felt changes begin to occur in his body.

Starting from the soles of his feet, then moving to his calves, torso, and arms, his entire body began to heat up. It was as though the stance training were some kind of starter, opening a hidden mechanism within the human body.

In this state, Chen Sanshi's strength and energy drained away at a tremendous rate. In less than half an hour, he was drenched in sweat.

After becoming proficient in archery, his physical condition had improved greatly. Among those who had never practiced martial arts, he would definitely have counted among the best. Yet even so, after practicing the fifth stance, he began to feel exhausted.

He gritted his teeth and persisted until he had learned exactly ten stances. Only then could he no longer hold on, his face turning deathly pale as he collapsed onto the ground.

"Good thing my physique improved after becoming proficient in archery. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn't have lasted until the tenth stance!"

"I just don't know whether my speed is fast or slow compared with others."

After practicing, Chen Sanshi's first sensation was hunger—the kind that made his vision grow dim.

"Shi Ge'er, I made something to eat. Would you like a little?"

A gentle female voice drifted into his ears.

Only then did Chen Sanshi notice that Gu Xinlan had not gone to rest at all. She had been waiting for him, and had even prepared a late-night meal.

Without another word, he rushed inside and wolfed it down, devouring five steamed white-flour buns and a bowl of rice mixed with lard in one go. Even then, he still felt somewhat unsatisfied.

Martial cultivation truly consumed an enormous amount of energy!

After eating, Chen Sanshi watched Lan Jie'er's back as she cleared away the bowls and chopsticks. He did not even have the slightest thought of that sort anymore. He was simply too tired!

It seemed he needed to eat meat.

Even though his family's circumstances had improved, they still could not bear to eat meat at every meal.

It looked like he needed to be more generous with himself. When he brought back game, he could not focus solely on saving silver.

Completely exhausted, Chen Sanshi lay on the bed while Lan Jie'er massaged him to loosen his body. Before long, he fell into a deep sleep.

Early the next morning, before they had even gotten up, they heard that Qin Feng had come to the village again at dawn to look for his brother. His attitude was visibly worse than before—clearly, he was growing anxious.

Chen Sanshi ignored him and went to report to the Military Camp after breakfast.

"Where is my elder brother?!"

Qin Feng gathered together all the street thugs and ruffians who had once served under his brother and questioned them one by one.

"Second Brother, we truly don't know!"

A sharp-faced, monkey-cheeked ruffian said, "The last time we saw Big Brother was seven nights ago.

"After dinner, he said he was going to have some fun in County Town and wouldn't take us along. Then we never saw him again..."

Another ruffian said cautiously, "Second Brother, the County Magistrate was assassinated that very night. Do you think it could have been those barbarians..."

"Impossible!"

Qin Feng said with absolute certainty, "Those barbarians would never slaughter ordinary civilians indiscriminately on this trip!"

He seemed to realize he had misspoken. After pausing, he changed his wording. "What I mean is, if they killed people indiscriminately, they would only expose more tracks!"

"Second Brother."

The ruffians wore helpless expressions. "We've also looked into Zhao San. Other than him, we really can't think of anyone else who would dare harm Big Brother."

Qin Xiong had made many enemies.

But they were mostly widows and orphans, lone widowers and daughters—easy targets. Where would they find the nerve to go looking for trouble?

"I do know of someone!"

The skinny ruffian said, "That scholar from the Chen family used to have a grudge against Big Brother."

"The Chen family?"

"Yes, that kid from Yanbian Village who's the best hunter around!"