Military Martial Arts, Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist

"General." Chen Mo bowed respectfully to General Sun before him.

"Mm." The general waved his hand, signaling him to rise.

Chen Mo straightened up. The barracks he stood in were quite spacious, the floor covered seamlessly with square slabs of green stone.

The room had little decoration or furnishings—only a few weapon racks scattered about. Clearly, this was a training hall.

As he arrived, two more personal guards were brought in by orderlies.

Chen Mo recognized both of them. Among the newly enlisted guards, those who could achieve a Grade-A evaluation were exceedingly rare.

What made it even more remarkable was that the three of them had never trained in martial arts before. This spoke to their extraordinary natural talent.

Though these two hadn't matched Chen Mo's first-month Grade-A rating, they had caught up this month.

"All three of you now possess decent strength, yet you have no family martial arts traditions."

Sun Shouren's gaze swept over the men before him as he spoke slowly.

"Today, I will teach you a set of military martial arts, allowing you to cultivate and strengthen yourselves.

If you can master it to its fullest, then when you follow me onto the battlefield, achieving merit and establishing your name will be well within reach."

Chen Mo's eyes lit up. He had long known that this world possessed the path of martial arts.

Martial artists could condense blood and qi. Those who achieved success could bear the strength of several thousand jin and charge through battle formations.

He had heard from Mo Hu that General Sun himself was an accomplished martial artist. While his strength might not be unmatched across the entire army, within Xingyuan Prefecture, he had no equal.

"Thank you, General!" Chen Mo bowed again in gratitude.

Martial arts techniques were not cabbages growing in a field. In this era, they were far more precious and secret than books.

Granted, military techniques had a wider circulation, and the chance of obtaining one in the army was much higher than among common folk.

Even so, not everyone had the opportunity to train in such techniques.

Perhaps the general's intent was to boost the strength of his elite troops, making them fiercer in battle.

But regardless of the reason, since General Sun was willing to teach, Chen Mo owed him a debt of gratitude.

The other two snapped to attention and followed suit, bowing in thanks.

"The technique I am passing on to you is called the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist. All three of you can now lift a stone wheel of four to five hundred jin, which is sufficient to begin training in this art."

Sun Shouren assumed a stance and began explaining the technique in detail.

The advantage of military techniques was their simplicity—easy to learn, fast to improve, and highly lethal. As long as one met the basic training requirements, further progress demanded little in terms of talent or comprehension.

Even an illiterate fool, as long as they met the standards, could learn it after some time of practice.

The drawback was that the technique was too lethal. Those with insufficient foundation or weak blood and qi would harm themselves before they could harm the enemy.

In the early stages, it only drained one's blood and qi. A few days of proper rest would suffice—no major issue.

But if one stubbornly pushed forward, it would first damage the bones, sinews, and flesh, then the internal organs, and finally lead to an incurable condition and death.

The technique would remain unmastered, and the practitioner would die first.

If not for this hidden danger, he would have taught this technique to all his personal guards long ago, to strengthen his troops as much as possible.

After all, this military technique was not particularly secret—it had long been widely circulated in the army.

For common soldiers and ordinary folk, it was indeed rare. But for anyone with even a little power in the military—even a mere captain—obtaining it was not difficult.

Since Chen Mo and the others now possessed four to five hundred jin of strength, meeting the basic training standard, he dared to pass it on to them.

"But remember this well: if your blood and qi encounter obstruction during training, do not force it. Come to me, and I will personally regulate your condition."

General Sun's expression was stern and serious, his tone almost harsh in its warning.

He did not tell them that blood and qi obstruction meant their bodies could not handle further advancement in this technique, and that continuing would harm them.

If they wished to continue, they would have to spend time cultivating other internal techniques to slowly build up their constitution.

And internal techniques—too slow, too weak. They leaned toward nurturing the body. Ten years of practice might not bring as much improvement as one year of this military path.

If he told them all this, someone might gamble on luck, hiding the fact that their qi was obstructed and forcing themselves to continue.

Because this military technique offered too much, too fast. It was hard to give up.

Every year, there were those who, despite obstructed qi, tried to push a little further.

In the beginning, the qi depletion only required a few days of rest. If one could stop at that point, they could enjoy the benefits of the technique at a low cost.

But most could not stop. They sank deeper and deeper until they ruined themselves entirely.

With luck, a year or two of rest might restore them. Without it, many ended up dead.

By simply telling them to come to him if problems arose, anyone with issues would seek him out. He could then assess the situation and order them to stop.

Every personal guard he trained cost him effort and resources.

Losing even one pained him deeply.

In the last battle at the border, he had lost over three hundred personal guards. Even now, he had not fully recovered from that blow—though he never showed it to his men.

As the commander of an army, he absolutely could not collapse. If he fell, then everyone would collapse along with him.

Casualties on the battlefield were an unavoidable necessity.

But now, he was determined not to lose a single person more!

"If any of you have questions about the techniques you're cultivating, you may come ask me, or ask others in the camp who practice the same method." Sun Shouren instructed carefully.

In the Guard Camp, aside from the few who had inherited martial arts from their families or had trained under other martial artists, the rest mostly cultivated this military technique.

Even so, fewer than twenty people in the Guard Camp had mastered this technique now.

Part of the reason was the heavy losses among the guards last time, but more importantly, although this technique had no talent requirements for cultivation, meeting the threshold for practice was no easy feat.

Four to five hundred jin of strength was not something just anyone could achieve. Except for the rare few born with great or divine strength, most ordinary people, even with hard training, might never reach that requirement.

"You are absolutely forbidden from teaching this technique to anyone else. If I find out anyone has passed it on privately, don't blame me for showing no mercy!"

General Sun's tone suddenly turned stern, and a fierce, killing aura unconsciously radiated along with his words.

Chen Mo instinctively shrank his neck, his entire body tensing up sharply.

As for the other two, though they nodded in fear and agreed, their postures remained relatively relaxed.

General Sun raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised. He hadn't expected Chen Mo to be able to sense his killing intent.

Killing intent sounded mysterious, but it truly existed. However, it wasn't something ordinary people could easily perceive.

Unless someone had been chased with a blade or had lived long in a precarious environment, it was hard to detect such a thing.

For instance, the other two—even if someone exuded killing intent and wanted to kill them, unless they were actually being chased with a knife, they might not even react.

But on this point, he didn't plan to ask directly. Instead, he would observe later.

If Chen Mo performed well from here on, and he intended to promote him, then whether he investigated him or directly asked about his past experiences, either would do.

When employing someone, one didn't necessarily need to know their face and heart, but at least one should know their background.

And if his performance turned out mediocre, there was no need to waste too much energy on him.

"Come, the three of you, practice with me." Sun Shouren said firmly, beginning to teach them the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist.

I forgot to update while out, so today's update is a bit late. Please understand.