Advancement

The next day, before training, Lei Ke stood before the ranks.

"To be honest, I was very disappointed with yesterday's bandit suppression battle. Other than Lin Jin and a few others, not one of you satisfied me."

"Where's your fighting spirit? You cowered before a few bandits. If you went onto a real battlefield like this, you'd be scared to death before the enemy even reached you."

"So the training from now on will be doubled!"

As spring turned to winter, Lin Jin had unknowingly been in the army for a year.

Once the new recruits' adjustment period ended, Lin Jin and the Taxi Soldiers who had enlisted alongside him were assigned to a place called Rock Fortress.

As the forward outpost of Iron Blood Pass, Rock Fortress's defense line stood on the front line against the Star Luo Empire.

Over the past year, relying on a steadiness far beyond his peers and the astonishing strength he occasionally displayed, Lin Jin remained taciturn, but his comrades no longer dared provoke him lightly.

The Tenth Squad he belonged to was led by an experienced veteran who took fairly good care of Lin Jin.

However, the cruelty of war never shifted according to anyone's will.

At the darkest hour before dawn, a shrill horn tore through the cold silence.

"Enemy attack...! Those Star Luo dogs have snuck up on us."

Torches immediately lit up the walls, and shouts of killing, clashing weapons, and explosions from soul skills erupted all at once!

Countless black shadows surged from the darkness below the fortress like a tide, frantically climbing upward with grappling hooks and crude scaling ladders.

The Star Luo Empire had launched a carefully planned nighttime raid!

"Hold the line! Hold the damn line!" the Captain roared himself hoarse, swinging his saber and hacking a Star Luo soldier who had just poked his head up off the wall.

Lin Jin gripped his Standard Longsword tightly, his gaze sharp.

This was the first time he had experienced a battle on such a massive scale.

Blood, severed limbs, wails from those on the verge of death... it all battered his senses.

Yet the Immortal Demon Armor within him gave off a faint thrill, as though this was where it truly belonged.

With his exceptional reactions and strength far beyond ordinary people, he cut down several Star Luo soldiers attempting to climb the wall in succession.

But his individual bravery seemed so insignificant before the collapsing battle line.

The Star Luo Empire had deployed a team of Soul Masters!

Several Agile Attack System Soul Masters with Beast Martial Souls such as wolves and leopards leaped onto the battlements like Gui Mei. Their Soul Rings flashed as claws and soul skills instantly tore through the hastily formed Defense Line of the Empire's Soldiers.

"Watch out!" The Captain shoved Lin Jin aside, but was struck across the chest by a shadowy claw attack. Blood sprayed out as he crashed heavily to the ground.

The Star Luo Soul Master who had landed the blow had one white and one yellow Soul Ring circling his body. He was clearly a Soul Grandmaster-level Scout Captain.

He licked the blood from his claw blades, his savage gaze sweeping over the chaotic battlefield before finally landing on Lin Jin, who had been shoved away.

"Does Heaven Dou have no one left? They're even sending babies onto the battlefield?" he sneered, his body flashing forward as he lunged at Lin Jin, sharp claw blades aimed straight for his throat!

He intended to casually crush this little bug that looked completely harmless.

"Then die too!"

Just as he was about to succeed, Lin Jin shattered the Fine Iron Saber in his hand. In its place appeared a dark cyan longsword.

A violent Killing Intent crashed into him in an instant.

"What?!" The Scout Captain was startled, but it was already too late to retreat.

What greeted him was Lin Jin's simplest, most direct, most brutal horizontal slash.

Crack.

The Scout Captain blocked the slash head-on with both claws, and the flesh of his palms was instantly mangled.

"How could a Soul Master with sixteen levels of Soul Power possess such Strength?!"

The Scout Captain realized that there was also a gap between himself and this baby in terms of Martial Soul and Soul Rings.

Realizing this, he was about to retreat when Lin Jin's First Soul Ring lit up.

"First Soul Skill: Demon Blade Assault!"

The dark cyan Light Blade instantly passed through the Scout Captain's body.

The Star Luo Scout Captain's movements completely froze, and his forward momentum came to an abrupt halt.

One strike! Another strike—Lin Jin had once again slain a Soul Grandmaster-level Soul Master against the odds.

"Captain! Kill him for me!" Seeing this, the nearby Star Luo Soldiers immediately rushed toward Lin Jin.

Lin Jin met the challenge head-on. Rather than retreating, he advanced and charged into the mass of Star Luo Soldiers.

Slash after slash fell beneath the city wall.

"Good kid!" An angry roar came from the side. Lei Ke, the blood-soaked Centurion, charged over like a War God. His Giant Axe swung out, instantly sending several rushing Star Luo Soldiers flying.

"Tenth Squad! Follow Lin Jin and take this section of the wall back for me!" Lei Ke's roar was filled with exhilaration.

"Take back the wall!" The surviving Heaven Dou Soldiers' morale surged. They roared in fury and followed Lin Jin, coordinating with him as they launched a countercharge toward the lost section of wall.

Lin Jin drew a deep breath, suppressing the frenzied desire for slaughter from the Demon Armor within him.

"Kill!"

His voice was cold, yet it carried an unquestionable force. Leading his comrades behind him, he pounced upon the enemy like a Wolf Pack.

The battle lasted until dawn. The Star Luo Empire's raid was ultimately repelled, leaving behind corpses and devastation everywhere.

Rock Fortress had held.

After the battle, the Tenth Squad that Lin Jin belonged to had suffered over half its members killed or wounded, and the Captain had died in battle.

On the walls of the fortress, Lei Ke stood before all the surviving Taxi Soldiers. His gaze finally fell upon Lin Jin, filled with praise.

"I announce that from today onward, the Tenth Squad of the Vanguard Camp will be taken over by Lin Jin. He is promoted to Captain!"

He patted Lin Jin's shoulder and said in a low voice, "From now on, you'll be called 'Young Wolf'! I want to see just how great a name you, this Wolf Cub, can make for yourself in the Northern Border!"

"Young Wolf!"

"Young Wolf!"

The Taxi Soldiers around them shouted as well, their voices filled with relief at surviving the disaster and awe for the strong.

"Thank you, Centurion!" Lin Jin immediately clasped his fist in salute.

As for the nickname "Young Wolf," Lin Jin did not care. It was only a nickname, after all.

A year later, Eagle Beak Ravine.

Eight-year-old Lin Jin lay behind a rock above the ravine, his gaze as sharp as an eagle's.

The ten-man squad under his command lay silently in ambush, with piled Rolling Logs and Rolling Stones beside them.

"Captain, Star Luo's Supply Team has thirty men. They're well equipped, with five Soul Masters leading them," the Scout reported in a low voice.

"Good. Block them for me. We absolutely cannot let them deliver those supplies to the front line!"

"On my command, release!" Lin Jin immediately ordered.

"Yes, Captain!"

"Rumble!!!"

Massive logs rolled down, and boulders collapsed from above, instantly cutting the Star Luo Supply Team into several sections.

"Kill!" Lin Jin immediately released his Martial Soul, took the lead in charging, and leaped into the crowd.

Because of this, Lin Jin was promoted another rank, becoming a Fifty-Man General.

Nine Years Old, Iron Chain Bridge.

This was the bottleneck through which the Main Army was retreating.

Lin Jin led the fifty-man unit he had built with his own hands, a unit tempered through several small-scale battles, and received the order to hold the position to the death.

The enemy was a reinforced hundred-man unit. Their leader was a Soul Elder with three Soul Rings circling Zhou Shen!

"Form ranks! Our comrades are behind us. Not one step back!" Lin Jin's voice still carried childishness, yet it was steeped in iron and blood.

Lin Jin completed the mission once more, successfully covering the Main Force's retreat.

For his merits, Lin Jin was promoted to Centurion, and his unit was granted the name "Blood Blade."

He and the unit that had crawled out of a Sea of Corpses and Blood had gained an official fearsome name—Blood Blade.