A Chapter I Don't Know What to Call

While enjoying the two beasts that had reached the stage of Internal Qi Separation, everyone could not help but feel curious about the newcomer, Sun Wu.

Especially Chen Xi.

In his impression, there shouldn't be any grandmaster of military strategy whose name couldn't be revealed wandering about at this stage.

Could it be that he was a fellow transmigrator?

But if he really were a fellow countryman, why wouldn't Qi Fei tell him?

This made Chen Xi feel an itch of curiosity he couldn't suppress.

Just as Chen Xi was preparing to find Qi Fei to understand the situation, Sun Wu, who had been observing Chen Xi all along, spoke up:

"Does Zichuan have something to say to me?"

Sun Wu was equally curious about Chen Xi.

Based on their brief exchange just now, this young man's level of governance seemed to be even higher than that of Zihong, and he wondered how his ability to command armies fared.

"The master's skills have drawn endless praise from both Zihong and Lord Xuande; it is truly intriguing."

Chen Xi stated directly.

He had seen Qi Fei's abilities, and for Qi Fei to admit that he was completely crushed...

"In that case, would you like to test it out?"

Sun Wu decisively issued an invitation to Chen Xi.

"I possess a Secret Art that can simulate a real battlefield within a dream. If Zichuan is interested, why not play a match against me?"

"There is actually such a Secret Art?"

Chen Xi accepted the invitation immediately.

He was not yet the slacking fox who had completely given up on his own ability to command troops.

Especially after getting a taste of what it felt like to be a fierce general thanks to Qi Fei, Chen Xi's dream of becoming a general and a minister had been reignited once more.

"Master, I wonder if we might observe?"

Liu Bei asked this question on behalf of the others.

"Naturally, you may."

Sun Wu happened to have the intention of showcasing his own abilities, so he naturally would not refuse.

Following that, with the activation of a Secret Art, everyone present entered the dreamscape.

The rules used were the same template as the match against Qi Fei.

This time, having learned his lesson, Sun Wu did not grow careless; instead, he began to train his troops and gather intelligence in earnest, and he even attempted to manage development along the way.

Although this would be considered a complete mess even in Liu Bei's eyes, for Sun Wu of the Spring and Autumn period, it was barely sufficient.

At the very least, it allowed his side to produce a few more sets of iron armor.

At the same time, Sun Wu also noticed that the scouts sent to Chen Xi's territory had been wiped out, just as they had been when facing Qi Fei.

"Are intelligence personnel useless? As expected, he cannot be underestimated."

Sun Wu raised his expectations for Chen Xi even higher in his heart.

Then, both sides continued to develop until winter.

Chen Xi's side made no moves, so Sun Wu simply took the initiative to strike.

Thirty thousand soldiers at the limit of a single talent were mobilized by Sun Wu, along with thirty thousand laborers to serve as logistics.

It was only then that Chen Xi, who had been silently focusing on development, began to take action.

"Just as I expected, all thirty thousand-plus soldiers are clad in iron armor, but why are there no Metal Dumplings?"

Sun Wu looked at Chen Xi's military formation with some confusion.

Could it be that those armors had some special production requirements?

Sun Wu curiously flipped through the records of the previous dream.

Then he saw that Qi Fei had squeezed time from everywhere, personally taking the field to produce Plate Armor according to the soldiers' measurements.

(Qi Fei: What else could I do? With this little time and population, the production efficiency just wasn't enough.)

"..."

Sun Wu realized once again how much preparation Qi Fei had made just to defeat him.

He would have to look back at Qi Fei's development process in its entirety later; he would treat it as a warning to himself.

Subsequently, the battle began.

The heavy crossbow offensive prepared by Chen Xi failed to produce any effect.

Sun Wu immediately forced a march, raiding Chen Xi's main camp at the fastest possible speed.

Without talents to provide locking capabilities, heavy crossbows were useless in a situation where the enemy and his own forces were now intermingled.

Immediately following this, Sun Wu discovered that the feel of the battle was a bit off.

Why couldn't he feel even a shred of resistance?

Without even needing to dismantle the opposing formation, the vanguard prepared by Sun Wu had pierced straight through Chen Xi's front line in a single breath.

That's not right; I clearly remember the talent I prepared for the soldiers was Muscle Defense, right?

Sun Wu even began to doubt whether he had applied the wrong talent.

However, even as he questioned his life, his soldiers continued to execute the previous military orders as normal.

Just like that, the army of thirty thousand routed Chen Xi's forces without any real-time command.

After coming down, the others who had witnessed Sun Wu's strength for the first time were also questioning their own lives.

On the contrary, Chen Xi, who had lost, was very composed.

"The moment I received the intelligence on the opponent, I knew I was doomed to lose. Going onto the battlefield was merely to confirm that result."

After all, his own command ability was far inferior to Qi Fei; wasn't it only natural to lose under such circumstances?

"Zichuan, you should focus on political affairs from now on."

Sun Wu patted Chen Xi on the shoulder and said earnestly.

He had just taken a look; not only were the various supplies within this man's territory complete, but the road networks were well-managed, and some cities had even begun constructing new walls.

It was no exaggeration to say his administrative ability far surpassed that of Qi Fei.

But as for leading troops—well, let's not even mention it.

"Mm-hmm, I'll leave it to you, Great Master, and Zihong from now on."

Occupied once again by his slacker mindset, Chen Xi accepted the Great Master's suggestion without hesitation.

"Leaving it all to me won't do; my era has passed, after all."

Sun Wu smiled and refused.

"What era or not? Aren't you standing right here, old man?"

Chen Xi observed Sun Wu carefully.

He didn't look that old, either.

"Zichuan, the Dream of the Yellow Millet is a Secret Art passed down among those reclusive groups; these people are not very willing to directly intervene in the current situation."

Tong Yuan transmitted his voice to Chen Xi.

"So that's how it is."

Chen Xi was a bit surprised, but he could accept it for now.

With both internal Qi and spiritual power existing, it was reasonable for reclusive individuals with some tricks up their sleeves to appear.

"In short, playing games like the one just now is fine, but direct intervention is out of the question."

Sun Wu was also making his stance clear to Liu Bei.

Playing games was fine; Sun Wu would even deliberately slow down his command process to make it easier for Qi Fei and the others to learn, but they shouldn't expect anything more.

"For you to be willing to offer guidance, Sir, has already filled Bei with immense joy. How could I dare to ask for more?"

Liu Bei expressed his gratitude to Sun Wu.

Having Sun Wu as an opponent would be of great benefit to the growth of his generals.

"Speaking of which, Zihong also faced off against you once, right? What was the outcome?"

Chen Xi suddenly remembered this question.

Liu Bei had been able to confirm the man's abilities earlier, so he must have witnessed it firsthand, and before this, the one staying with Liu Bei was Qi Fei.

"I lost."

Sun Wu said candidly.

"?"

Chen Xi looked at Qi Fei in surprise.

It wasn't just Chen Xi; the others wore the same expression.

Was their brother actually that impressive?

"He took all my schemes head-on the entire time, which is the only reason I barely managed to win one round. It wasn't that I actually surpassed the Great Master in commanding troops."

Qi Fei immediately clarified the Great Master's statement.

"What a pity, we had no chance to witness it."

Guan Yu said with regret.

Even the match just now had made him feel he had gained a great deal.

If it had been Qi Fei, who was more skilled at leading troops, sparring with this gentleman, he imagined they would have been able to see much more.

"Actually, my master developed a Secret Art that can project images from one's memories."

Zhao Yun said from the side.

"Oh? How is the difficulty? Is the content clear?"

Chen Xi was very interested in this Secret Art.

Isn't this equivalent to a version of movie playback powered by Internal Qi?

Any modern person knows how powerful movies are in terms of cultural propaganda and literacy education.

"It requires Internal Qi Separation to use, but it should be quite clear."

Tong Yuan didn't know Chen Xi's specific requirements, so he could only answer this way.

"The requirements are a bit high."

Chen Xi said while stroking his chin.

Even with the Mental Talent of Qi Fei, it would be impossible to equip every village with an Internal Qi Separation expert in the short term.

"In that case, why not let me do it?"

Liu Bei offered proactively.

As the referee at the time, he could better demonstrate the skills of both men.

Immediately, Tong Yuan began to explain to everyone on the spot how to use this Secret Art, while also taking over the task of simplifying the Secret Art from Chen Xi.

After Liu Bei tried a few times, an image began to unfold.

There wasn't much to see on Sun Wu's side in the early stages; his performance wasn't even as good as the match he just had with Chen Xi.

Therefore, the focus of the image was on Qi Fei.

Then they saw Qi Fei engaging in production, training troops, cultivating generals and officials, and even producing equipment himself...

"You actually know how to do so many things?"

Fa Zheng looked at Qi Fei, then turned his head to look at Chen Xi.

Why were his colleagues all such heaven-defying existences?

"Learned it from Zichuan."

Qi Fei shifted the blame without hesitation.

"Zihong, let's go, come with me to repair the Steel Furnace."

Chen Xi gave Qi Fei a thumbs up.

"Brother, we discussed this back then, production should be your problem, right?"

Qi Fei immediately wanted to refuse.

Are you kidding? I chose military strategy back then specifically to do less work. If I get caught by you to repair the Steel Furnace, wouldn't that choice have been in vain?

"But we really are short of Steel Furnaces."

Chen Xi stared at Qi Fei with wide eyes, trying to make him feel his sincerity.

"If you set aside the time you spend slacking off every day, the missing Steel Furnaces could be filled very quickly."

Qi Fei remained completely unmoved.

"Moreover, what we lack isn't Steel Furnaces, but skilled workers."

The steel industry isn't something that can operate just because you build a Steel Furnace.

If there aren't enough various technical workers, even if the Steel Furnaces are built, they will just go to waste.

"Since that's the case, the production of talent will depend on you."

Chen Xi stared at Qi Fei.

What could be more suitable for cultivating talent than a shared talent?

"I share the relevant knowledge with others, but that only temporarily saves the time spent on rote memorization; the necessary practical experience still cannot be skipped."

Qi Fei stated in advance.

All he could do was pour knowledge into other people's brains. If the person themselves couldn't understand and absorb it, then this sharing would be meaningless.

"It's still better than nothing."

Chen Xi said with great interest.

"Alright then."

Anyway, sharing knowledge didn't take much time, so Qi Fei simply agreed.

While Chen Xi and Qi Fei were talking, Liu Bei, who had self-taught how to fast-forward and skip, had already played the video to the critical stage.

The great battle between the two cheaters, Qi Fei and Sun Wu.

The expressions of the onlookers went through four complete stages: surprise, shock, amazement, and numbness.

By the end, the food didn't even taste good to everyone; they really had no heart for it.

The banquet had to be brought to a hasty end.

The next day.

Ma Chao excitedly challenged Sun Wu.

Sun Wu was very happy, and then he gifted the iron-headed lad a total annihilation of his army, even more miserable than what Chen Xi had dealt him.

After being abused in terms of troop command, Ma Chao went to spar with Qi Fei in martial arts.

Then he got beaten up by the Nine Phoenix Sword.

Of course, Ma Chao had absolutely no thoughts of being discouraged; after resting for a few days, he continued to challenge the two of them.

Seemingly stimulated by the vitality of Little Ma, Fa Zheng also took the initiative to ask Sun Wu for advice on military strategy.

Sun Wu naturally would not refuse.

Not just him, Sun Wu also sparred with and instructed the others one by one, causing the military strategy standards of everyone to improve rapidly.

Of course, the person Sun Wu fought the most was still Qi Fei.

Anyway, dreaming didn't take much time, so Qi Fei never refused Sun Wu's invitations.

And since Sun Wu valued Qi Fei's potential, he prepared many different courses for him.

Things like commanding ten thousand laborers to forcefully charge ten thousand regular troops; or feigning surrender to lure the enemy only to be countered, then finding a way to break out of the encirclement; or reorganizing routed soldiers after a crushing defeat to fight a battle with their backs to the river...

In short, he was constantly finding new ways to increase the intensity for Qi Fei.

This caused Qi Fei's troop command level to improve rapidly.

And while Qi Fei was leveling up, other talents attracted by the Edict of Recruiting the Virtuous were constantly arriving.

Guo Jia, who felt the Edict of Recruiting the Virtuous was very much to his liking.

Xi Zhicai, who felt that Guo Jia would definitely come, so he came over to watch the fun.

Liu Ye, who felt that his clansman brother was very bold and resolute.

Man Chong, who was dragged over by Liu Ye...

A team even more formidable than the original Twelve Elders was taking shape.

Besides these civil officials, quite a few military generals also arrived.

Huang Zhong, whom Qi Fei had been looking forward to, arrived.

It seemed he had heard about the matter regarding Cai Yang's son, so he brought his own son to seek medicine.

Not long after Huang Zhong arrived, the Admiral Gan Xingba also arrived, and even caused a bit of a misunderstanding.

Fortunately, Qi Fei acted quickly, so he didn't let others mistake Gan Ning for someone coming to lay siege to the city.

Next was Pang De, though he came to deliver a message from Ma Chao's father.

The general gist of the message was:

You have your own ideas, and Father is very happy, but you left without saying goodbye, and Father is very dissatisfied. In the future, when you come home, remember to bring a wooden stick yourself; Father is going to beat you.

Ma Chao didn't care about this at all, and that same night he got Pang De drunk, taking the opportunity to trick him into defecting to Liu Bei.

By the time Pang De sobered up the next day, the letter written the previous night had already been sent off.

Pang De had no choice but to tearfully accept the fact that he had been abducted by his own lord's son.

Also coming from Xiliang was Zhang Xiu, who brought a large group of family members to defect.

According to him, it seemed his uncle had told him to come.

Thinking about it, it should be that Zhang Ji himself felt his lifespan was running out, and having heard that Tong Yuan, Zhao Yun, and Hua Xiong, who had a good relationship with him, were here, he had Zhang Xiu come over.

Qi Fei didn't care about this at all.

He only knew that the idea he had back then could finally be realized.

On a bright and breezy morning, many military generals, including Zhang Xiu and Tong Yuan, were invited to observe Qi Fei breaking through to the Qi Boundary Breaker.

After a burst of blinding purple light, Qi Fei successfully helped all the military generals present fly into the sky, shoulder to shoulder with the sun.

Of course, afterward, Qi Fei took the initiative to invite the generals to a feast as an apology.

While the others ate to their hearts' content and regretted having attended, Zhang Xiu revealed a thoughtful expression.

And so, after a period of time, Tong Yuan, Zhao Yun, and Hua Xiong were launched into the sky once again.

From then on, no one dared to accept an invitation to watch others break through.

Especially for the Qi Boundary Breaker.