Have You Ever Killed a Person?

Chen Mo stood with a posture as steady as a resting boulder, unmoved by blowing wind or driving rain.

As the old saying went, martial arts training began with stance work, and the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist was no exception, possessing a set of matching stances specifically tailored for it.

Or rather, this martial art was purely stance-training kung fu, and there were barely a few moves in total genuinely used for offense and killing.

Military martial arts did not focus on hand-to-hand combat and striking.

Because once someone truly reached the battlefield, nobody would go empty-handed; they all used weapons.

The Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist was merely a technique used to refine vital energy and blood, increasing a martial artist's physical strength.

Chen Mo had been practicing this technique for a mere half-month now, yet his physical strength had increased by a full hundred catties.

Of course, this was mainly because he had just begun practicing this technique, and his initial progress was bound to be massive; as time went on, the rate of progress would gradually slow down.

The further along he got, the harder it would become to improve even a little bit.

After entering the Guard Camp, Chen Mo had privately and carefully tested his physical strength, discovering that under his full explosive force he could lift a six-hundred-catty stone wheel.

This wasn't his limit, but a seven-hundred-catty stone wheel was something he couldn't lift.

From this, it was evident that his physical strength lay between six and seven hundred catties, which matched the level he had originally anticipated without much deviation.

After undergoing further training in the military camp, he could indeed manage to lift a seven-hundred-catty stone wheel.

Yet Chen Mo understood that this wasn't because his physical strength had suddenly improved.

Instead, it was because through practice, when lifting the stone wheel, he was able to better unleash his inherent physical strength, which was why he managed to lift it.

Meanwhile, practicing the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist truly enhanced one's physical strength, and this effect was indeed extremely swift, making it utterly addictive.

Of course, practicing this technique also had a drawback, which was that it would continuously consume vital energy and blood during practice, slowing down the progress of the Mortal Transformation Pearl in accumulating vital energy and blood.

Yet ever since he started practicing this fist technique, Chen Mo's biggest sensation was that he could eat much more, far surpassing his previous appetite.

Originally, at most he used to eat one large bowl of vegetables and ten steamed buns per meal.

Now he ate fifteen steamed buns per meal, along with an extra heaping sea-bowl of vegetables, and his appetite showed signs of climbing steadily day by day.

Eating more meant that the total amount of blood and vital energy he ingested daily would increase.

General Sun even had medicinal soups sent to them to supplement their vital energy and blood, ensuring the progress of their training.

Martial arts cultivation techniques were certainly important, but the medicinal soups used to nourish the body were even more precious.

Otherwise, practicing martial arts incessantly could easily lead to a depleted body.

Even if one eventually managed to achieve mastery, once past their prime fighting years, the severe sequelae brought by the decline and decay of vital energy and blood would be extremely grave.

A bowl of body-nourishing medicinal soup every day could supplement a vast amount of vital energy and blood for him, and coupled with eating more.

Therefore, even with his martial arts training now, Chen Mo's progress in accumulating vital energy and blood was not only left unhindered, but actually saw a slight improvement.

Originally, he had anticipated needing over two months and more, but now it seemed two months would suffice, and perhaps it would be even faster.

As the stances of the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist were continuously practiced by Chen Mo, he could already sense a surge of vital energy and blood gathering within his body.

This was the vital energy and blood condensed through a martial artist's stance training, and a single wispy thread could be condensed with every single session of practice.

When the practice session ended, these wisps of vital energy and blood would disperse, enhancing the martial artist's physical body.

Despite its flaws, the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist could not be denied as a top-tier external hard Qigong.

The improvement gained from a single year of practice surpassed ten years of bitter toil in internal kung fu techniques.

Aside from becoming increasingly harmful to the body the further one progressed, it could be said to have zero faults.

Therefore, martial artists practicing this technique would, upon reaching a certain realm, transition to internal kung fu techniques in order to preserve their health.

Finishing a set of fist forms, Chen Mo slowly withdrew his stance. He could sense a ball of vital energy and blood in his lower abdomen gradually dispersing.

The Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist was divided into seven layers in total, with the first layer capable of increasing a martial artist's physical strength by a hundred catties.

The second layer by two hundred, the third by three hundred, the fourth by six hundred, the fifth by twelve hundred...

By this analogy, completing all seven layers could enhance a total of nine thousand six hundred catties of vital energy and blood force. Coupled with the physical strength the martial artist originally possessed, it was no exaggeration to say they carried the strength of ten thousand catties.

Yet even though this technique was simple, wanting to cultivate it to the seventh layer was no easy feat.

It was easy to learn but hard to master, much like military spear techniques.

One could definitely learn to execute the moves, but reaching which specific layer depended entirely on individual destiny.

Chen Mo had only just entered the first layer and had no idea when he would manage to cultivate the second layer.

The highest level among the other guards in the camp was only the third layer, while as for the layer General Sun cultivated to, nobody knew for sure, but it was definitely above the third layer.

The practice session concluded. Even though it was already winter, a thin layer of sweat still covered Chen Mo's body.

"Chen Mo," Mo Hu gently rapped on the door frame and called out.

To avoid being seen by those guards who hadn't started training while practicing the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist, Chen Mo either went to the martial arts hall or stayed inside his own room when training.

"What is it, Fifth Brother?" Chen Mo opened the door and asked with a smile.

"The general is calling for you. There's good news," Mo Hu said, winking and blinking as if a great show was about to unfold right before his eyes.

Chen Mo's eyes lit up. If the general wanted to see him, there was an eighty percent chance it was truly good news.

"Where to?" He stepped out of the room and asked.

"Head to the kitchen first, and round up all your fellow recruits," Mo Hu instructed before heading off to notify the other new recruits.

Chen Mo immediately sprang into action as well, calling upon a few relatively familiar recruits to help notify the rest.

In less than a moment, dozens of new recruits gathered in the kitchen.

The tables were laden with meat dishes that were rarely seen on ordinary days, their lavishness no less than a monthly reward banquet.

Although the New Year festival was still a long way off and he didn't know why the general had suddenly prepared such a fine meal, this didn't deter Chen Mo's intention to stuff himself.

Aside from needing to eat more to accumulate vital energy and blood, it was also because he had just practiced the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist and was indeed very hungry.

"Everyone take a seat first, and eat your fill. But you've got work to do afterwards, so no drinking alcohol," General Sun said, smiling as he looked toward the crowd.

These new recruits had already been training for two and a half months now. While their individual combat skills were passable, their coordination was lacking.

In addition, they had one major flaw: they had never killed a person nor witnessed scenes of flesh and blood flying everywhere. If they were thrown straight onto the battlefield right now, these recruits would probably fail to even grip their weapons tightly.

With just a couple of their nearby comrades dying, most of these recruits would undoubtedly suffer an uncontrollable rout.

There was no easy solution for this; he simply had to find an opportunity first to let these guards kill someone to temper their nerve.

For this matter, over the past few months he had expended considerable effort managing relationships just to keep some criminals in Xingyuan Prefecture—awaiting execution after the autumn assizes—until today, so they could serve as practice for his subordinates.

Letting them hack at criminals to temper their nerve first, and then waiting for spring in the New Year to lead them out to encircle and suppress the wandering bandits within Xingyuan Prefecture.

Of course, deaths were hard to avoid during the process of suppressing bandits, but nothing could be done about that.

As the commanding general, he could only train them more and provide better equipment, doing his utmost to ensure they suffered fewer casualties.

Training them like this for a year or two, and once he supplemented enough to reach four hundred men, he could request once again to head out to the borderlands for battle.

Though they still didn't know what task lay ahead, how could those ravenous recruits care about that? One by one, they let loose and heartily devoured a magnificent, filling meal.

As for the bones piling up in front of Chen Mo, they grew at a rapid yet steady pace.

It was just a pity they weren't drinking alcohol this time, and since he still had work to do afterwards, he had no way to smuggle some dishes back to slowly eat tonight.

Until the cups and plates on the table were left in utter disarray and the numerous guards successively laid down their chopsticks, Chen Mo spat out two sheep bones and stopped eating as well.

Even though he could still eat a bit more, since everyone else had stopped, for him to continue eating would inevitably feel somewhat inappropriate.

Seeing that everyone had ceased eating, General Sun gave a gentle smile, stood up, swept his gaze across the numerous recruits, and asked in a low, chilling tone, "Have you ever killed a person?"