"General." Chen Mo bowed toward General Sun before him and saluted.
"Mm." General Sun waved for him to rise.
Chen Mo straightened. The barracks he stood in was quite spacious, its floor laid seamlessly with one square bluestone slab after another.
There were no excessive decorations or furnishings inside the barracks, only a few weapon racks scattered about. Clearly, this was a martial training hall.
With his arrival, two more guards were brought here one after another by orderlies.
Chen Mo knew both of them. Among the newly recruited guards, those who could obtain an A-grade assessment were few and far between.
What was especially rare was that the three of them had never practiced martial arts before. This showed that their talents were far beyond ordinary.
Although the two of them had not achieved an A-grade assessment in their first month like he had, they had caught up this month.
"The three of you have decent strength now, but none of you possesses any inherited martial arts."
Sun Shouren's gaze swept over them as he slowly began to speak.
"Today, I will teach you a set of military martial arts, so that you may cultivate it to strengthen your bodies.
"If you can master it, then when you follow me to the battlefield in the future, establishing meritorious deeds will be well within your grasp."
Chen Mo's eyes lit up. He had known for a long time that martial dao existed in this world.
Martial dao practitioners could refine their qi and blood. Once their cultivation succeeded, they could wield several thousand jin of strength and charge through enemy formations.
He had heard Mo Hu say that General Sun was also a martial artist whose cultivation had succeeded. His strength might not be unrivaled among the three armies, but within Xingyuan Prefecture, he had no equal.
"Thank you, General!" Chen Mo bowed and saluted again.
Martial arts techniques were not cabbages growing in the fields. In this era, they were absolutely more precious and secret than books.
Although military martial arts might circulate more widely, and the chances of obtaining a martial arts technique in the army were much higher than among the common people,
even so, not everyone had the chance to practice one.
Perhaps this was meant to increase the strength of the elite soldiers under his command, allowing them to fight more valiantly in battle.
Regardless of the reason, since General Sun was willing to teach him, he had to accept this kindness.
Seeing this, the other two also came to their senses and hurriedly bowed to offer their thanks.
"The martial art I'm teaching you is called the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist. The three of you can now lift stone wheels weighing four to five hundred jin, which is enough to cultivate this technique."
Sun Shouren assumed a stance and carefully introduced the technique to the three of them.
The advantage of military techniques was that they were simple to learn, quick to improve with, and sufficiently lethal. So long as one met the basic cultivation requirements, there were no high demands for aptitude or comprehension afterward.
Even an illiterate, stupid pig could learn it after practicing for a while, provided it met the cultivation requirements.
The drawback was that it was too lethal. Those with insufficient foundations or weak qi and blood would injure themselves before they could injure their enemies.
At first, one would merely suffer depleted qi and blood, which could be remedied by recuperating properly for a few days. It was not a serious problem.
But if one continued to forcefully practice, the damage would first reach the tendons, bones, skin, and flesh, then the internal organs, and finally become terminal, ending in death.
The technique would not yet be mastered, but the practitioner would have trained himself to death first.
If not for this hidden danger, he would have taught the technique to all his guards long ago, strengthening his soldiers as much as possible.
After all, this military technique was not particularly secretive and had always circulated widely throughout the army.
To ordinary civilians and soldiers, it was indeed difficult to obtain. But anyone with even a little authority in the army—even a mere colonel—would have no trouble getting it.
Chen Mo and the others now possessed four to five hundred jin of strength, meeting the basic cultivation requirements of the technique. That was why he dared to teach it to them.
"But remember this well: if your qi and blood become obstructed while cultivating, do not force yourselves to continue. Come find me, and I will personally treat and regulate your bodies."
General Sun's expression was stern and solemn, and his tone was almost a severe warning.
He did not tell the three of them that when their qi and blood became obstructed during cultivation, it actually meant their bodies could no longer endure further improvement from the technique. Continuing to cultivate would damage them.
If they wanted to continue cultivating, they would have to spend time practicing other internal techniques to slowly recuperate their bodies.
But internal techniques were too slow and too weak. They leaned toward cultivating the body and nurturing the spirit. Ten years of practice might not bring a martial artist as much improvement as one year of this military technique.
If he told them all this, someone might chance their luck and conceal the fact that their qi and blood had become obstructed, continuing to force themselves to practice.
That was because the improvement this military technique brought was simply too great and too rapid. It was exceedingly difficult for anyone to give it up lightly.
Every year, there were always people who gambled on their luck. Although their qi and blood had clearly become obstructed, they still wanted to practice for a while longer.
At the beginning, depleted qi and blood only required a few days of recuperation. If they could endure at that stage and stop cultivating,
they could enjoy the benefits of the technique's further improvement at an extremely low cost.
But most people simply could not hold back. They would gradually sink deeper and deeper until they utterly damaged themselves.
If they were lucky, they could recover after resting for a year or two. If they were unlucky, plenty of people practiced until they dropped dead.
By telling them simply to come directly to him if something went wrong during cultivation, anyone who encountered a problem would surely seek him out. He could then understand the situation at once and urge them not to continue practicing.
Every guard he trained had cost him painstaking effort and countless resources.
Every loss caused him immense pain.
More than three hundred guards had been lost in a single battle at the frontier. In truth, he still had not recovered from it even now, but he had never revealed this to the people under his command.
As the commander of an army, he absolutely could not collapse. If he collapsed, everyone would collapse along with him.
Losses on the battlefield were an unavoidable act of helplessness.
But now, he absolutely did not want to lose another person!
"If there is anything you do not understand about the technique you are cultivating, you may ask me, or ask anyone else in the Guard Camp who practices it." Sun Shouren carefully instructed them.
Aside from the small number of guards who possessed inherited martial arts or had once practiced martial arts techniques under other martial artists, most of the rest in the Guard Camp practiced this military technique.
Even so, fewer than twenty people in the Guard Camp currently knew this technique.
One reason was that too many guards had been lost last time. More importantly, although this technique had no aptitude requirements for cultivation,
meeting its cultivation threshold was no easy matter.
Four to five hundred jin of strength was not something just anyone could achieve. Aside from the few who were born with great strength or divine strength, most ordinary people might not reach this requirement even after bitter training.
"You absolutely must not teach this technique to anyone else. If you dare pass it on in secret and I find out, don't blame me for showing no mercy!"
General Sun's tone suddenly turned stern. A fierce, murderous aura spread unconsciously with his words.
Chen Mo instinctively drew in his neck, and his entire body tensed in an instant.
The other two nodded in fearful agreement, but their bodies remained relatively relaxed.
General Sun raised his brows slightly, mildly surprised. He had not expected Chen Mo to sense his killing intent.
Killing intent sounded mysterious, but it truly existed. Yet it was not something an ordinary person could easily perceive.
Unless one had been chased by someone wielding a blade, or had lived for a long time in an environment where every day was precarious, it was difficult to sense the existence of such a thing.
Take the other two, for example. Even if someone revealed killing intent while trying to kill them, unless they actually chased them with a blade, they might not react at all.
However, he had no intention of asking Chen Mo about it on the spot. Instead, he planned to observe him later.
If Chen Mo performed well from here on and he intended to make heavy use of him, then whether he investigated him or directly asked about his past experiences would both be possible.
When employing someone, it was not necessary to know them heart to heart, but one had to know their roots and understand their background to some extent.
If his performance was merely average, however, there would be no need to waste too much energy on him.
"Come. The three of you, practice with me." Sun Shouren spoke solemnly and began teaching them the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist.
I forgot to update while I was out today, so the update is a little late. Please forgive me.
Before you continue