Ten Golden Edicts, Forced into Battle!

[Fifteenth year, thirty-two years old.]

[Starting term extraction...]

[Extraction successful!]

["Badminton Master" (White): Your right arm was twice as strong as your left arm, and its circumference was twice as large as well. If you were left-handed, the reverse applied.]

[Adjust term?]

[Yes/No]

"This White Term was pretty useful. Combined with 'Serious Punch,' it meant I could throw a punch with twenty times my normal strength!"

However, Chen Yi glanced at the terms he currently carried. It seemed none of them could be replaced.

The "Simulator" had to remain equipped, or the simulation would stop.

"Low-Grade Bone Structure" had to remain equipped, or he would be unable to cultivate.

"Eidetic Memory" was the MVP of this run. It definitely could not be removed.

"Serious Punch" guaranteed his combat strength.

The only one he could replace was actually "Effort Will Be Rewarded," but compared to "Badminton Master," Chen Yi still hoped the former would continue to work, however little its effect might be.

[In the blink of an eye, you spent another ten years in the military camp.]

[With the help of a mountain of pills and crystals, your cultivation had soared like a rocket compared to before. You had already reached the peak of the Ninth Stage of Body Refining, just one step away from Spirit Gathering.]

[But you had been unable to take that step even after two years.]

[Sun Cheng'en said there was a pill called the Spirit Gathering Pill that could help people with poor Root Bones like yours break through to the Spirit Gathering Realm.]

[You reckoned it was something similar to a Foundation Establishment Pill in cultivation stories.]

[But war had been unceasing these past two years. The large-scale wars launched by Dashiguo in the Southern Border came one after another, and the Suzhou border troops were busy fighting.]

[Sun Cheng'en casually found a pretext to request Spirit Gathering Pills from the quartermaster's office, but none had ever been delivered.]

[Perhaps they had been sent, but with flames of war raging across the border, no one knew where they had ended up.]

[Now, you no longer had the time to think about breaking through your realm.]

[Suzhou, Yan Pass.]

[Sun Cheng'en and his remaining twenty thousand border troops were trapped here by Dashiguo's Savage Elephant Army.]

[This was a small fortress city, with high walls and deep moats, easy to defend and hard to attack.]

[But it was not very large, and there were few civilians within the city.]

[There was a large granary here, with enough food inside to last more than half a year.]

[At the General's Mansion, armored generals surrounded a sand table, discussing the battle situation.]

[As the soul of the entire army, you were naturally here as well.]

["General, those Southern barbarians are shouting outside the city again. Let me go out and fight them!"]

[Many military officers were hot-tempered and could not tolerate even the slightest provocation.]

[Sun Cheng'en remained calm and composed.]

["If you want to go, go by yourself. I won't stop you, but don't take our brothers with you."]

["No, General, this..."]

["Dashiguo's Elephant Army holds fifteen-meter-long Spiritual Artifact spears and rides six-meter-tall Savage Elephant Exotic Beasts. Though they have only a few hundred riders, they are enough to clash head-on with tens of thousands of our infantry. Haven't our soldiers suffered enough at their hands?"]

[With Sun Cheng'en's cultivation, he did not fear these elephant riders.]

[But neither could he fight alone. Aside from the Elephant Army, the enemy had countless conventional troops, as well as high-realm Martial Artists holding the line. They would not give Sun Cheng'en the chance to slaughter his way through them.]

[You voiced an observation you had made.]

["The elephant riders wandering below the walls have become fewer these past few days. Even those who come to curse at us have Savage Elephants that look listless. I suspect these Exotic Beasts may be unable to adapt to the climate of the Central Plains and have fallen ill."]

[Sun Cheng'en nodded.]

["But we must also beware that this is a ploy to lure us out. Dashiguo's army has now penetrated deep into Suzhou. Their supply line is stretched extremely long. As long as we hold fast and refuse to leave the city, they will have to retreat sooner or later..."]

[Just as you were discussing the military situation, a soldier suddenly rushed in.]

["Report—an imperial envoy has arrived with a golden edict! By imperial command, Sun Cheng'en, commander of the Suzhou border troops, is ordered to immediately leave the city and engage Dashiguo's forces, retaking the lost territory!"]

[The soldier presented a crimson command plaque with both hands. Inscribed upon it were the words: Imperial command, not to be delayed.]

[Sun Cheng'en sighed and accepted it.]

["This is already the tenth golden edict urging us into battle..."]

[The Deputy General was indignant.]

["What is wrong with the Emperor?! All he knows is how to urge us into battle. Not a single reinforcement is in sight!"]

[Sun Cheng'en looked beyond the government office, at the gray and murky sky.]

["Traitors hold sway at court and deceive His Majesty. His Majesty likely believes that the loss of more than ten cities in Suzhou was because we border troops feared battle and deliberately surrendered them."]

[One of the bold men present spoke bluntly.]

["Usurper!"]

[You secretly relished hearing it, but you also admired these generals. They truly had guts.]

[Sun Cheng'en once again defied the imperial edict.]

[He was caught between a rock and a hard place.]

[He wanted to be a loyal subject, yet he could not stand by and watch his brothers march out to their deaths.]

[Though he was a Martial Artist of profound strength in the prime of his life, white strands had crept into his hair.]

[Sun Cheng'en's dilemma finally came to an end two months later, when the imperial envoy arrived at Yan Pass.]

[The enemy forces besieging the city heard that the imperial envoy had come to urge Sun Cheng'en out to battle. On the spot, they sent him in on an eight-bearer sedan chair, along with fine clothes and rich food.]

[A bunch of uncivilized barbarians had suddenly started caring about etiquette.]

[Once the imperial envoy entered the pass, the defenders knew why he had come and gave him no welcome at all. This infuriated the minister so badly that he repeatedly cried, "Our own people understand propriety less than outsiders!"]

[The imperial envoy read out the imperial decree, ordering that if Sun Cheng'en still refused to fight, he would be held accountable and executed!]

[At this point, Sun Cheng'en had no other path to take.]

[That night, in the study, he summoned you, Sun Cheng'en's Deputy General, and several trusted confidants.]

["Tomorrow, we will open the South Gate. I will personally lead the personal guard into battle. Dashiguo has offered the title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households for my head. So long as I appear, the enemy will certainly swarm toward me.

When that time comes, the rest of the soldiers will disguise themselves as civilians and leave through the North Gate with the people inside the pass!"]

[The Deputy General roared on the spot.]

["General! The Emperor is forcing you to your death—why remain loyal to him? Rebel!"]

[The other trusted generals all echoed him.]

["Rebel, General!"]

["General, you are a hundred times wiser than that dog Emperor! Why can't you sit on the imperial throne?"]

["Fortune's wheel turns for all! We are willing to follow the General unto death!"]

[You watched from the side without speaking.]

[Normally, whenever these generals cursed court officials or cursed the Emperor, Sun Cheng'en would stop them. This time, however, he did not.]

[Sun Cheng'en looked at you. "Military Advisor Chen, why aren't you saying anything?"]

[You gave a bitter smile. "Because I know the General's character. You would rather die than become a rebel."]

[What you understood even more clearly was that, in this world, rebellion was difficulty on a hellish level.]

[This was a world of Martial Artists. Without control of the top Martial Artist forces, success was impossible.]

[And the most powerful Martial Artist force was precisely the Dagan Imperial Family.]

[You continued, "But General, even if you do not rebel, there is no need to knowingly march to your death. There are other paths—for instance, that imperial envoy..."]

["Say no more. My mind is made up!"]

["General..."]

["I remember you once said that there are some things... that one must do even knowing they cannot be done!"]