Older Brother

"It's over. It's all over."

After pressing for details, Li Lei finally confirmed that Fang Yan and the others really didn't know where Gu Han and Li Xuan were.

With Li Xuan's explosive temper, it probably wouldn't be easy for Gu Han to keep his life.

Li Lei's legs went weak, and he felt as if his future had gone dark.

"Senior Li, what should we do now?"

Ma Tie swallowed nervously. At a time like this, he had no idea what to do.

Gu Han had gotten into trouble while he was with them.

If Gu Han's older brothers took their anger out on them for abandoning Gu Han and running away, they'd have no excuse at all!

Li Lei let out a deep sigh too and said helplessly,

"You guys keep looking for a place to hunt. I'll go back and inform Gu Han's older brothers."

He had no idea how things would unfold from here.

Ma Tie and the others exchanged glances, then could only keep working toward passing the Logistics Soldier assessment.

But without Gu Han's help, the four of them were far less efficient at hunting.

Still, they doubled back and, relying on Li Lei's influence, took the Green Wolf's corpse back from Fang Yan and the others.

Fang Yan and the others turned ashen, but didn't dare protest.

They were afraid Li Lei would turn around and come after them.

So they could only swallow their anger and hand the Green Wolf over to Ma Tie.

Li Lei returned to camp, distracted, intending to look for Gu Han's older brothers at the Warrior Camp.

But the Warrior Camp was still training, and he was stopped at the entrance.

He could only give up for now and wait until training ended to decide what to do.

At the Warrior Camp's training ground.

Several new-recruit instructors watched the recruits' training with satisfaction.

"The border clashes between Sword-toothed Country and our country are happening more and more often. War could break out at any moment. We have to speed up the recruits' training."

"This batch of recruits is pretty good. Four of them are Fourth-Order Martial Disciples. With proper training and a few more resources, they'll surely become Martial Artists in time."

"They weren't cultivating properly before they came here. They're bound to make rapid progress now."

"Alas, there's just too little time. We don't have enough time to let them grow."

"War is the best place to temper a Martial Artist. Only after being tempered by blood and fire can they grow quickly."

Even so, the instructors all sighed deeply.

Though they were soldiers, none of them wanted war to break out.

Once fighting began, no one knew when it would end.

No one could guarantee they'd survive a war, let alone these green recruits.

"What's the point of worrying about all that? Whether we go to war is for the powerful people at court to decide."

A dignified, powerfully built middle-aged man strode over from a distance and said solemnly,

"Our job is to strengthen ourselves and the soldiers as much as we can, so we have a better chance of surviving a war."

The instructors immediately clasped their fists and saluted him in unison.

"Greetings, Head Instructor Guan."

Their New Recruit Camp had nearly a thousand newly arrived War Soldiers in all.

There were ten instructors and one Head Instructor.

Guan Shan was the Head Instructor of their camp.

Guan Shan nodded.

"Are there any outstanding newcomers this time?"

"Yu Qitian, Gu Chen, Wan Ke, and Jin Kai had already reached the Fourth-Order Martial Disciple level before arriving here, and they have decent combat experience."

The instructors chimed in,

"There are also a few Third-Order Martial Disciples, like Gu Lin. They're doing pretty well too."

Guan Shan nodded, then went to observe the recruits who were sparring.

Seeing was believing. He needed to learn about the recruits' specific abilities for himself.

"Today, every Fourth-Order Martial Disciple recruit will receive two Blood Tempering Pills, and every Third-Order Martial Disciple recruit will receive one."

"Anyone who performs well in sparring will receive double!"

"Second-tier Martial Apprentice recruits who perform well will also receive one Blood Tempering Pill."

One of the instructors' expression changed.

"Head Instructor Guan, has something happened?"

In the past, when new recruits arrived, rewards were only given to outstanding performers after the weekly drills and monthly exercises, to encourage them to train.

Handing out so many Blood Tempering Pills as soon as the recruits arrived was unprecedented.

Guan Shan glanced at him and said calmly,

"Don't ask questions you shouldn't. I told you, these orders come from the big shots above. I can't give you any explanation either."

The man shuddered and hurriedly fell silent.

But the instructors exchanged glances, each with their own suspicions.

Their New Recruit Camp was just one of more than a dozen such camps at the Mushan City garrison.

There were at least several thousand recruits at the Third-Order Martial Disciple level across all those camps!

Blood Tempering Pills weren't grade-ranked medicinal pills, just the most basic kind of pellet, but this was still a considerable expense!

And this was only the first day's reward!

If nothing serious had happened, there'd be no need to do this.

War was probably close at hand!

As the sun sank toward the west, the Warrior Camp's sparring training soon came to an end.

An instructor stepped forward and called the recruits who had performed well to collect their Blood Tempering Pills, immediately exciting all the soldiers.

Those who received rewards were overjoyed, while those who didn't were filled with fighting spirit, vowing to do well in the next training session and earn a reward.

Gu Chen and the others, their faces bruised and swollen, received ten Blood Tempering Pills in total.

Gu Chen had reached the Fourth-Order Martial Disciple level, and with his outstanding performance, he received four Blood Tempering Pills.

Gu Lin and Gu Hang, both Third-Order Martial Disciples, received four between them.

Gu Fan and Gu Jing had performed a little worse, receiving just two Blood Tempering Pills.

"There are ten Blood Tempering Pills here. Let's split them evenly among us brothers."

Gu Chen took out the two extra Blood Tempering Pills and handed one each to Gu Fan and Gu Jing.

Gu Fan was tempted, but quickly turned him down.

"Brother Chen, you're the only Fourth-Order Martial Disciple among us. You have to keep your lead and try to surpass the other three Fourth-Order Martial Disciples."

Gu Jing nodded, agreeing with Gu Fan.

"This is only the beginning. This is when your Cultivation will make rapid progress, Brother Chen. If someone leaves you behind, it won't be easy to catch up."

Blood Tempering Pills were excellent pellets that helped Martial Disciples cultivate and temper their Blood Qi.

They didn't produce immediate results, but they still benefited Martial Disciples greatly.

For the sake of long-term gains, it was clearly better to keep Gu Chen ahead of all the other soldiers.

"Since you're both refusing, I'll give the two Blood Tempering Pills to Gu Han instead."

Gu Fan and Gu Jing both refused, and Gu Chen couldn't force them to accept. After thinking for a moment, he remembered Gu Han, who hadn't yet become a War Soldier.

"Sounds good. If Gu Han keeps serving as a Logistics Soldier, he'll be wasting too much time, and the gap between him and us will only grow."

This time, no one rejected Gu Chen's suggestion.

"Come on, it's almost mealtime. Let's see how Gu Han did today."

Gu Chen chuckled and headed out of the camp first.

"And we can give Gu Han a surprise while we're at it."