## Chapter 24
The death of a Meridian Condensing Realm Thousand Commander was like the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Already battered by Chen Qing's frenzied charge through their formation, the Northern Mang vanguard's morale plummeted. Once their commanding general died, they completely lost both command and fighting spirit. The surviving soldiers scattered like headless flies; under the increasingly ferocious slaughter of the Vanguard Camp, entire units began to collapse and surrender.
What had originally been a desperate blocking battle with a vast disparity in strength had been forcibly turned into a rout by Chen Qing alone!
When Northern Mang's main force arrived afterward, all they saw was a battlefield in utter chaos, corpses strewn everywhere, and defeated soldiers fleeing back in a daze, like birds startled by the mere twang of a bowstring.
"Trash! All of you are trash!" Inside the Northern Mang central command tent, a burly man draped in a golden wolf-fur cloak, whose aura resembled a primordial beast, flew into a rage and smashed the hardwood table before him to pieces with one palm! He was Wuwei, the Left Virtuous King, a trusted general of the Blood Wolf King Wuzhuchi and commander of this Northern Mang army.
Eighty thousand vanguard troops had actually been defeated by twenty thousand ragtag Great Yan soldiers, and even their vanguard general had been slain in the enemy formation! This was simply the greatest humiliation!
"Marshal, it was not that the men failed to fight with all their strength. It was truly... truly because a Fiend Star emerged from the Great Yan army!" A Thousand Commander who had narrowly escaped knelt on the ground, trembling as he described Chen Qing's terror. "That man's Killing Intent soared to the heavens. Blades and spears could not harm him, his recovery was astonishing, and he even broke through to the Meridian Condensing Realm in the midst of battle. He slew several of our Hundred Commanders in succession. Even... even Thousand Commander Tuoba died beneath his blade!"
"A Fiend Star? A Meridian Condensing Realm cultivator?" Wuwei's gaze turned sinister. "What is his name?"
"It seemed... seemed to be Chen Qing! Those Great Yan soldiers all called him the 'Fierce Tiger'!"
"Chen Qing... Fierce Tiger..." Wuwei chewed over the name, killing intent laid bare in his eyes. "Pass down the order! A reward of ten thousand taels of gold and the rank of Thousand Commander to whoever takes Chen Qing's head! Promotion by three ranks!"
"Yes!"
* * *
In stark contrast to the fury within the Northern Mang camp, the Great Yan defensive line was filled with the jubilation of survivors after a calamity.
Defeating the strong with the weak and routing Northern Mang's eighty-thousand-man vanguard! This news was like a shot of stimulant, instantly injected into the heart of every defending soldier.
And the greatest contributor to it all was undoubtedly Chen Qing—the man who had slain the enemy general amid ten thousand troops and steadied the battle line like a pillar holding down the sea!
"Fierce Tiger! Fierce Tiger! Fierce Tiger!"
When Chen Qing withdrew from the front lines, still covered in blood that had yet to dry and carrying even denser Killing Intent, soldiers from both the Vanguard Camp and other camps voluntarily stepped aside wherever he passed. They watched him with reverence and fanaticism, their cheers shaking the heavens.
His fearsome reputation and his Killing Intent were no longer symbols of terror at this moment. They had become symbols of victory, guarantees of confidence!
Captain Zhou Han personally greeted him at the camp gate. Looking at Chen Qing, whose aura had become even more unfathomable, he felt endless emotion. This youth had truly come into his own; he was no longer someone Zhou Han could casually control.
"Squad Leader Chen... no, General Chen!" Zhou Han changed his form of address, his tone more solemn than ever. "Your merits in this battle are tremendous! I have already sent the battle report to the commander's tent by urgent dispatch to claim credit for you. I recommend promoting you to Camp Commander, granting you command of a camp within the Vanguard Camp's ranks. What do you think?"
Camp Commander! Commanding a camp alone, with five hundred to a thousand men beneath him! This was already the threshold of a high-ranking military officer!
Chen Qing's expression remained calm. He did not place much importance on official rank, but a higher position meant more resources and greater autonomy, which would help him obtain more "proficiency."
"Thank you for the promotion, Captain."
"You deserve it." Zhou Han patted his shoulder and lowered his voice. "But the tree that rises above the forest will be destroyed by the wind. You are drawing too much attention now. Northern Mang has already placed a heavy bounty on you, and within the army... not everyone will necessarily be a friend. You must be careful."
Chen Qing nodded. Naturally, he understood this principle. After this battle, he had thoroughly entered the sight of every faction. Trouble would only increase.
"Understood."
When he returned to the newly assigned, far more spacious Camp Commander's tent, Old Niu, Sun Quezi, and the others had long been waiting there, every face brimming with excitement and pride. Their status had risen with the tide as well; Old Niu and Sun Quezi had been promoted by Chen Qing to new Squad Leaders.
"General!" Everyone saluted in unison, their eyes burning with fanaticism.
Chen Qing waved a hand, his gaze sweeping over the brothers who had fought through life and death beside him. He said in a deep voice, "Though we won this battle, Northern Mang's main force remains, and the true war is far from over. Use the time to rest, replenish our troops, and drill our formations. There are still hard battles ahead."
"Yes, General!"
The men accepted their orders and departed.
Chen Qing remained alone in the tent, taking stock of his gains from the battle.
His cultivation had stabilized at the initial stage of the Meridian Condensing Realm. The range of his Fierce Tiger Domain had reached one zhang, his Black Tiger Fist and saber skills had both reached the realm of consummate mastery, and the proficiency of Fierce Tiger Iron Body had also surged by a considerable amount.
He could feel that he had seemingly touched upon a certain bottleneck. Cultivation after the Meridian Condensing Realm seemed to require more than mere accumulation of energy; it also demanded a deeper comprehension of "intent" and "domain." And the foundation of it all seemed to point toward the ancestral Black Tiger martial arts.
"Shattering Void..." he murmured, a trace of confusion and searching flashing through his eyes.
Just then, a personal guard came to report, "General, someone is requesting an audience outside the camp. He claims to be from the Imperial Capital and says his surname is Han."
The Imperial Capital? Surname Han?
Chen Qing's gaze flickered. What was meant to come had come at last.
"Bring him in."
Before you continue