A Chapter Whose Title No One Knows What to Call

While enjoying the two ferocious beasts who had reached Internal Qi Separation, everyone couldn't help but grow curious about the newcomer, Sun Wu.

Chen Xi most of all.

As far as he knew, there shouldn't be any great military strategists wandering around at this point in time who wouldn't even reveal their names.

Could he be a fellow transmigrator?

But if he really was, why hadn't Qi Fei told him?

The thought made Chen Xi itch with curiosity.

Just as Chen Xi was about to ask Qi Fei about it, Sun Wu, who had been watching him, spoke up:

"Zichuan, did you have something to say to me?"

Sun Wu was just as curious about Chen Xi.

From their earlier conversation, the young man's ability to govern seemed even greater than Zihong's. He wondered how good Chen Xi was at commanding troops.

"Sir, Zihong and Lord Xuande have both praised your abilities. It's hard not to be curious."

Chen Xi spoke frankly.

He had seen what Qi Fei could do. For Qi Fei to say he'd been completely outclassed...

"In that case, would you like to give it a try?"

Sun Wu promptly invited Chen Xi to test himself against him.

"I have a technique that can use dreams to simulate a real battlefield. If you're interested, Zichuan, why don't we play a match?"

"There's really a Secret Art like that?"

Chen Xi immediately accepted.

He wasn't yet the slacker fox who had completely given up on his ability to command troops.

Especially after getting a taste of what it was like to be a mighty warrior through Qi Fei, his dream of becoming both a general and a statesman had been reignited.

"Sir, might the rest of us watch?"

Liu Bei asked on everyone else's behalf.

"Of course."

Sun Wu was eager to demonstrate his abilities, so he naturally didn't refuse.

With that, he used a Secret Art, and everyone present entered the dream.

They used the same rules as in Qi Fei's match against Sun Wu.

This time, having learned from his previous defeat, Sun Wu didn't underestimate his opponent. He trained his troops in earnest, gathered intelligence, and even tried to develop his territory along the way.

Even Liu Bei would have called his efforts a mess, but for someone from the Spring and Autumn period like Sun Wu, they were just about adequate.

At least he could outfit his troops with a few more sets of iron armor.

At the same time, Sun Wu noticed that all the scouts he had sent into Chen Xi's territory had been wiped out, just like when he had faced Qi Fei.

"Are intelligence operatives useless? I really can't afford to underestimate him."

Sun Wu's expectations for Chen Xi rose.

The two sides continued developing until winter.

Chen Xi's side still hadn't made a move, so Sun Wu simply took the initiative and attacked.

Sun Wu mobilized thirty thousand soldiers at the single-talent limit, along with thirty thousand laborers to handle logistics.

Only then did Chen Xi, who had been quietly focused on development, finally make his move.

"Just as I expected, all thirty thousand soldiers can be outfitted with iron armor. But why are there no Metal Dumplings?"

Sun Wu studied Chen Xi's army, puzzled.

Did the armor require special production conditions?

Curious, Sun Wu looked through the records of the earlier dream.

Then he saw Qi Fei squeezing time out of every spare moment, personally making plate armor to fit the soldiers.

(Qi Fei: What else could I do? With so little time and so few people, our production capacity just wasn't enough.)

"..."

Once again, Sun Wu realized just how much Qi Fei had prepared to defeat him.

He would go back and review the entire course of Qi Fei's development. It would be a good reminder to himself.

Then the battle began.

The powerful crossbow volley Chen Xi had prepared had no effect whatsoever.

Sun Wu began with a forced march, rushing to attack Chen Xi's main camp as quickly as possible.

Without a talent to help them lock onto their targets, the powerful crossbows were useless in a situation where friend and foe were mixed together.

Then Sun Wu realized something felt off.

Why wasn't he encountering any resistance?

He didn't even need to break through the enemy formation. The vanguard he had prepared simply cut straight through Chen Xi's front line.

That wasn't right. He remembered giving his soldiers Muscle Defense this time, too.

Sun Wu even began to wonder if he had assigned the wrong talent.

But even as he questioned his own judgment, his soldiers continued to follow their earlier orders as usual.

Without any real-time commands, the thirty-thousand-strong army still routed Chen Xi's forces.

Afterward, everyone else, who had just witnessed Sun Wu's strength for the first time, was left questioning reality.

Chen Xi, the one who had lost, was remarkably calm.

"I knew I was going to lose the moment I got the enemy's intelligence. Going onto the battlefield was just a way to confirm it."

After all, his ability to command troops was nowhere near Qi Fei's. Wasn't losing under these circumstances only to be expected?

"Zichuan, you should focus on governing from now on."

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

He'd seen that Chen Xi's territory was well stocked with all kinds of supplies and had a good road network. Some of the cities had even begun building new walls.

It was no exaggeration to say his governing skills far surpassed Qi Fei's.

As for his ability to command troops... Well, better not mention it.

"Mhm, from now on, I'll leave everything to you and Zihong."

With the slacker mindset once again taking over his brain, Chen Xi readily accepted the expert's advice.

"I can't take care of everything. My era has passed, after all."

Sun Wu smiled and declined.

"What era? You're right here with us now, aren't you?"

Chen Xi studied Sun Wu closely.

He didn't look that old.

"Zichuan, Dream of the Yellow Millet is a Secret Art passed around among the recluses. They aren't very willing to interfere directly in the current world."

Tong Yuan sent Chen Xi a mental message.

"I see."

Chen Xi was a little surprised, but he could accept it.

With Internal Qi and mental energy around, it made sense that there would be recluses with extraordinary abilities.

"In any case, matches like the one just now are fine. But I'd rather not get directly involved."

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

He was willing to spar, and would even deliberately slow down his commands so Qi Fei and the others could learn from him. But they shouldn't expect anything more.

"Sir, your willingness to instruct us has already made me immensely grateful. How could I ask for more?"

Liu Bei thanked Sun Wu.

Having Sun Wu as an opponent would be a great help to any general's growth.

"Come to think of it, Zihong also had a match against you, right? Who won?"

Chen Xi suddenly thought to ask.

Liu Bei had known how capable Sun Wu was, so he must have seen him in action. Before that, Qi Fei had been with Liu Bei.

"I lost."

Sun Wu answered frankly.

"?"

Chen Xi stared at Qi Fei in surprise.

He wasn't the only one. Everyone else looked just as astonished.

Was their brother really that amazing?

"He let me try every strategy I could think of, and that's how I managed to scrape out a single win. I didn't actually beat the expert at commanding troops."

Qi Fei immediately clarified Sun Wu's statement.

"What a shame we didn't get to see it."

Guan Yu said regretfully.

Even that last match had taught him a great deal.

A contest between Qi Fei, who was more skilled at commanding troops, and this gentleman would surely have shown them much more.

"Actually, my master developed a Secret Art that can play back scenes from one's memories."

Zhao Yun spoke from beside them.

"Oh? How difficult is it? Is the footage clear?"

Chen Xi was very interested in this Secret Art.

Wasn't this basically a movie player powered by Internal Qi?

Everyone from the modern world knew how useful films could be for cultural outreach and teaching people to read.

"It requires someone at Internal Qi Separation to use. The images should be reasonably clear."

Tong Yuan didn't know exactly what Chen Xi was looking for, so he could only answer that way.

"That's a pretty high requirement."

Chen Xi stroked his chin.

Even with Qi Fei's Mental Talent, they couldn't provide every village with someone at Internal Qi Separation anytime soon.

"In that case, why don't I do it?"

Liu Bei volunteered.

As the judge at the time, he could show the two men's abilities more clearly.

Tong Yuan then explained to everyone on the spot how to use the Secret Art, while also accepting a task from Chen Xi to simplify it.

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

There wasn't much worth watching in Sun Wu's early performance. He hadn't done as well as he had in his recent match against Chen Xi.

So the focus was on Qi Fei.

Then they watched Qi Fei handle production, train soldiers, develop generals and civil officials, and even make his own equipment...

"You know how to do all this?"

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

Why were all his colleagues such ridiculous talents?

"I learned from Zichuan."

Qi Fei immediately passed the buck.

"Zihong, come on. You're helping me repair the Steel Furnace."

Chen Xi gave Qi Fei a thumbs-up.

"Brother, didn't we agree back then that production was your problem?"

Qi Fei immediately tried to refuse.

Come on. I chose military strategy so I wouldn't have to work as much. If you drag me off to repair the Steel Furnace, won't that make the choice pointless?

"But we really are short on Steel Furnaces."

Chen Xi stared wide-eyed at Qi Fei, trying to convey his sincerity.

"Use some of the time you spend slacking off, and you'll make up the shortfall in Steel Furnaces in no time."

Qi Fei was unmoved.

"Besides, it's not the furnaces we're short on. It's skilled workers."

The iron and steel industry couldn't run just because someone had built a Steel Furnace.

Without enough skilled workers in all the different trades, the furnaces would just sit idle.

"Then I'll leave the production of talent to you."

Chen Xi fixed his gaze on Qi Fei.

What could be better for training people than a talent that let him share knowledge?

"I can share the relevant knowledge with others, but that only saves them the time it takes to study the material. They'll still have to get the necessary practical experience."

Qi Fei clarified in advance.

All he could do was put knowledge into other people's heads. If they couldn't understand and absorb it, the sharing would be pointless.

"It's better than nothing."

Chen Xi said eagerly.

"Fine, then."

Sharing knowledge didn't take much time, so Qi Fei agreed.

While Chen Xi and Qi Fei talked, Liu Bei had figured out how to fast-forward and skip ahead on his own. He had already reached the critical part.

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

The onlookers went through four stages: surprise, shock, awe, and numbness.

By the end, they couldn't even enjoy their meal. They just had no appetite.

The banquet had to be cut short.

The next day.

Ma Chao eagerly challenged Sun Wu.

Sun Wu was delighted, then wiped out the headstrong young man's entire army. It was even worse than Chen Xi's defeat.

After getting trounced in command, Ma Chao went to spar with Qi Fei.

Then the Nine Phoenix Sword beat him up.

Of course, Ma Chao wasn't discouraged at all. After resting for a few days, he challenged the two of them again.

Perhaps Little Ma's energy had inspired him, because Fa Zheng also took the initiative to seek Sun Wu's instruction in the art of war.

Sun Wu naturally didn't refuse.

He didn't just teach Fa Zheng. He sparred with and instructed the others as well, rapidly improving everyone's military strategy.

Of course, the person Sun Wu sparred with most was Qi Fei.

After all, dreaming didn't take much time, so Qi Fei never turned down Sun Wu's invitations.

Sun Wu also thought highly of Qi Fei's potential, so he prepared all sorts of different lessons for him.

Things like coordinating ten thousand laborers to charge a regular army of ten thousand; pretending to surrender to lure the enemy, only for them to turn the tables, then figuring out how to fight your way out; regrouping scattered troops after a crushing defeat and making a last stand with your back to the river...

In short, Sun Wu kept finding new ways to crank up the difficulty for Qi Fei.

As a result, Qi Fei's command skills improved rapidly.

While Qi Fei was leveling up, the other talented men drawn by the Edict of Recruiting the Virtuous continued to arrive.

Guo Jia, who thought the Edict of Recruiting the Virtuous suited him perfectly.

Xi Zhicai, who was sure Guo Jia would come and had tagged along to see the show.

Liu Ye, who thought his fellow clansman had a lot of nerve.

Man Chong, whom Liu Ye had brought along...

A team far more impressive than the original Twelve Elders was taking shape.

Besides these civil officials, quite a few generals came as well.

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

Apparently, he had heard about Cai Yang's son, so he'd brought his own son along to ask for medicine.

Not long after Huang Zhong arrived, the admiral Gan Xingba showed up too, causing a bit of a misunderstanding.

Fortunately, Qi Fei acted quickly, so nobody else mistook Gan Ning for someone who had come to attack the city.

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

The message went roughly like this:

You have your own ideas, and your father is glad. But you left without saying a word, and your father is furious. When you come home, remember to bring a wooden stick. Your father is going to beat you.

Ma Chao didn't care in the slightest. That very night, he got Pang De drunk and used the opportunity to talk him into joining Liu Bei.

By the time Pang De sobered up the next morning, the letter he'd written the night before had already been sent.

Pang De could only accept, in tears, the fact that he'd been lured away by his own lord's son.

Zhang Xiu also came from Xiliang, bringing a large number of family members with him when he defected.

According to Zhang Xiu himself, his uncle had told him to come.

Presumably, Zhang Ji knew he didn't have long to live. He'd also heard that Tong Yuan, Zhao Yun, and Hua Xiong, who had a good relationship with him, were here, so he'd sent Zhang Xiu over.

Qi Fei didn't care about that at all.

All he knew was that he could finally put his old idea into practice.

On a sunny morning, many generals, including Zhang Xiu and Tong Yuan, were invited to watch Qi Fei break through the Qi Boundary Breaker realm.

After a blinding flash of purple light, Qi Fei successfully sent every general present flying into the sky, where they could stand shoulder to shoulder with the sun.

Of course, afterward, Qi Fei took the initiative to invite the generals to a feast and apologize.

While the others ate their fill and regretted agreeing to come, Zhang Xiu wore a thoughtful expression.

And so, some time later, Tong Yuan, Zhao Yun, and Hua Xiong took to the sky once more.

After that, no one ever dared accept an invitation to watch someone break through.

Especially not when it came to the Qi Boundary Breaker.