Banquet

The Flying Bear Army, Dong Zhuo's personal guard, was an Army Soul legion born from the Xiliang Iron Cavalry.

Their special ability was the free manipulation of gravity.

They could make heavy cavalry sprint at the speed of light cavalry, then revert to heavy cavalry the moment they crashed into the enemy.

Not only that, but this cavalry unit could also take flight directly by relying on their special ability.

They were the perfect unit that Chen Xi dreamed of in the original work.

And yet, this incredibly overpowered legion was completely wiped out by the Trapping Vanguard when Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu turned against each other.

This was mainly because the Flying Bear Army originated from the Xiliang Iron Cavalry.

Within the Xiliang Iron Cavalry system, warhorses were not mounts, but equipment that provided attribute bonuses.

Iron Cavalry with horses could gain a massive boost in attributes, which even included "style points."

The Trapping Vanguard, however, came from the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry and were normal cavalry who used horses as mounts.

At the same time, the Decathlon talent that developed in the late stages meant the Wolf Cavalry had a much lower dependency on warhorses.

Beyond the issue of horses, the special abilities of both sides had their own pros and cons.

The special ability of the Trapping Vanguard was a forced increase in the level of all members.

Internal Qi Condensation became Qi Solidification, and Qi Solidification was directly promoted to Internal Qi Separation.

In foot combat, this was much more convenient to use than the Flying Bear's gravity manipulation.

Therefore, when neither side had horses, the Trapping Vanguard could pin the Flying Bear down and beat them.

Thus, on the day Dong Zhuo met his end, the Flying Bear was also finished off by the Trapping Vanguard.

Qi Fei mentioning this to Chen Xi now was for the sake of preserving this unique special unit that could fly.

Moreover, it wasn't just the Flying Bear; he would do his best to preserve other Army Soul legions as well.

Normally, the birth of an Army Soul legion required a stable input of will to construct the Army Soul.

The source of this will was generally the Imperial Will.

--The Imperial Will was the result of the collective spirit of an empire. It took shape through the convergence of the people's hearts and would perish when that support dissipated.

It was precisely because of the special requirements of Army Souls that a normal empire usually only had room for two Army Soul legions.

But since there were normal ones, there were also abnormal ones.

For example, the Parthian Divine Cavalry in the original work.

When the Parthian Empire was destroyed, the Parthian Divine Cavalry forcibly attained the status of an Army Soul without the presence of an Imperial Will.

Then, the Divine Cavalry forcibly condensed an Imperial Will and instantly annihilated a Three-Talent legion.

Ordinary Miracle legions didn't have this ability; their strength was ridiculously high.

Yet, when Qi Fei was reading the book, he discovered something.

That was, during the time the plot of the book began, the Imperial Will of the Great Han Empire had already collapsed.

The embryonic form of the Yellow Turbans' Imperial Will had already been born back then, and an empire could not have two Imperial Wills.

(Although the Yellow Turbans' version was forcibly smashed to pieces by Huangfu Song.)

Therefore, the few Army Souls the Great Han Dynasty currently possessed had all forcibly attained their status without an Imperial Will.

The Flying Bear (Dong Zhuo), the Trapping Vanguard (Lu Bu), and the First Ascender (Yuan Shao) were all like this.

The Great Han Dynasty possessed these cool legions that only appeared later in the book during its early stages.

But no one realized this.

As a result, both the Flying Bear and the First Ascender were slaughtered by their own people.

Only the Trapping Vanguard was left, eventually crawling its way to the level of a Miracle.

Although Hua Xiong managed to lead a Divine Iron Cavalry out of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, stumbling their way to the level of a Miracle.

Li Jue, Guo Si, and Fan Chou also gathered together and led a Miracle-level Xiliang Iron Cavalry.

But in the end, they were no longer the Flying Bear.

So, sometimes Qi Fei wondered if the Great Han Dynasty could have originally possessed four, or even more, Miracle legions.

Their Army Souls were the result of forcibly attaining the path within the impossible.

Wasn't it only natural that they had the potential to become Miracles?

However, these things could not be told to Chen Xi for the time being.

Because Qi Fei really had no way to explain the source of his information.

"The Flying Bear... I'll have Zijian go fish them out later."

Chen Xi stroked his chin in thought.

It was indeed not easy to touch Dong Zhuo's personal guards right now, but it would be easy to make a move when Dong Zhuo met his end later.

"Zijian? Hua Xiong is here too? Why didn't I see him just now?"

Qi Fei asked with some confusion.

Only when Chen Xi mentioned it did he remember that in this world, Second Master did not behead Hua Xiong, but captured him instead.

Right now, Hua Xiong should be following Liu Bei.

"He's training the troops."

Chen Xi replied.

"Lu Bu brought such shame to the Xiliang Iron Cavalry previously, so Zijian has been putting them through extra drills lately. I simply sent him out to suppress bandits."

"You're suppressing bandits in Yingchuan; aren't you afraid the governor will flip out on you?"

The corner of Qi Fei's mouth twitched.

Letting a foreign army roam around one's own territory—even in modern times, not many people would dare to do that.

"No choice. In this day and age, if you don't show off your military might, people will always try to overreach."

Chen Xi spread his hands; he didn't actually want to do this either.

If it weren't for the fact that the troops under Liu Bei were disciplined reasonably well, there would be fewer horses in the camp by now.

"Besides, while we call it bandit suppression, in reality, they just run a couple of laps outside the camp every day."

Regardless of the perspective, Chen Xi couldn't possibly let these people actually take action.

Unless he wanted to start a war with the Yingchuan side.

"Come to think of it, they should be back soon, right? It'll be just in time for your Welcome Banquet."

Chen Xi estimated the time and said.

"Oh, then shouldn't we head out?"

Qi Fei said, wanting to withdraw his mental energy.

"Wait, have you thought about how to explain our relationship to them?"

Chen Xi held Qi Fei back.

The reactions of the two of them just now were seen clearly by Lord Xuande and the others.

At the very least, we should find a plausible excuse to gloss over it, right?

"Aren't we fellow townsmen? Can't you just say I'm a childhood friend you lost touch with?"

Qi Fei asked, somewhat puzzled.

For fellow townsmen and close friends like them to recognize each other through a poem—isn't that perfectly normal?

It even provides a reason for the loss of contact.

That's right, it's you, the one who broke up the lovers... that doesn't sound quite right, but anyway, it's you, the Chen Clan of Yingchuan.

"Don't you think it's a bit of a stretch for us to say that, given our ages?"

Chen Xi looked at Qi Fei, then pointed at himself.

The two of them—one is just over ten, and the other is not yet twenty.

Isn't a relationship of "long-lost best friends" a bit too absurd?

"I think it's perfectly normal for two child prodigies to have such a friendship."

Qi Fei retorted.

"Besides, although we aren't very old, the age gap isn't that large, so this reason fits perfectly."

If the age gap were any larger, it would be troublesome to make up.

"That actually makes some sense."

Chen Xi stroked his chin and said.

Thinking about it carefully, this reason is indeed passable.

Immediately, the two of them aligned their stories to avoid slipping up if someone asked questions.

"Any other issues? If not, I'm going to release the mental energy."

After aligning their stories, Qi Fei asked again.

"Yes. Are there many people like us?"

Chen Xi asked with a serious expression.

"I don't know about that. I only realized I wasn't the only one in this world when I saw you bringing Lord Xuande over."

Qi Fei actually wanted to say no, as there were no other transmigrators in the original book at least.

But that was impossible to explain.

"I see."

Chen Xi felt that he might be in trouble.

If there can be a second, there can be a third; and once there is a third, then a fourth, fifth, and sixth will naturally follow.

The world will be in trouble by then.

"Thinking so much is meaningless."

Seeing the change in Chen Xi's expression, Qi Fei could roughly guess what he was thinking.

"What we need to do now is seize the time to develop. Once we have developed and hold the momentum of the world in our hands, it won't matter what the others do."

Because he couldn't speak plainly, Qi Fei could only persuade Chen Xi this way.

"You are right."

A spark ignited in Chen Xi's eyes.

Even if there were other transmigrators, could he just raise his hands and surrender?

He did not want to easily hand over the future to others.

"Zihong, I will have to trouble you with military affairs in the future."

Chen Xi requested with a solemn face.

"Although Lord Xuande has great generals under his command, he lacks a commander who truly understands warfare; it can only be you."

One could see the gap between them and Qi Fei from the most basic level of understanding.

They only knew that special abilities existed among the soldiers, but they did not know the source of this ability or its future direction.

Yet Qi Fei could speak about it with perfect clarity.

The gap between them was clearly not just a little bit.

"Naturally."

Qi Fei nodded.

He came here specifically to do this.

"Then, do you need me to give Second Master and the others an explanation?"

Chen Xi inquired.

After all, Qi Fei was young, and Second Master and the others had never witnessed Qi Fei's abilities.

It would likely be difficult for them to place their trust in him.

"No need."

Qi Fei shook his head.

It was better to demonstrate his abilities and build his own prestige himself.

"If Lord Xuande recruits some commoners, let me train them for a period of time, and the results will naturally be clear."

If he were to split troops from the hands of others, it would inevitably cause dissatisfaction.

But recruiting and training new people was different.

At least in the early stages, the generals would not have any opinions about Qi Fei.

Unless Qi Fei proved with his strength that he was nothing but a fool.

"How many people do you need?"

Chen Xi asked straightforwardly.

"Two hundred."

Qi Fei estimated.

Beyond this number, it would not be something he could fast-track at his current level.

"Good, I will request this from Lord Xuande later, and then we shall see your performance."

Chen Xi said.

Although he could arrange this small number of people himself, the necessary procedures still had to be followed.

Immediately, Qi Fei withdrew his mental barrier, and the two walked out of the tent together.

The first thing they saw upon exiting was Liu Bei pacing anxiously not far away.

And he spotted them the moment they stepped out.

Noticing that there was no obvious conflict between the two, Liu Bei breathed a sigh of relief.

He then immediately hurried over to Qi Fei and Chen Xi.

"You two, how did the talk go?"

As Liu Bei spoke, he carefully observed their expressions.

"Very well."

Chen Xi and Qi Fei exchanged a glance, then both laughed together.

"That is good."

Liu Bei watched their reactions and chuckled along with them.

It was good that no conflict had arisen.

Following this, Chen Xi informed Liu Bei of the request made by Qi Fei.

After listening, Liu Bei immediately sent someone to handle it, without even asking about Qi Fei's motives.

It was clear that he placed immense trust in both Chen Xi and Qi Fei.

Afterward, Liu Bei led the two of them to another tent, where a cauldron had already been set up, with lamb stewing inside.

"Conditions in the army are harsh, so this feast is truly simple. I hope Zihong will not mind."

Liu Bei bowed to apologize to Qi Fei.

"How could I, how could I."

Qi Fei grabbed Liu Bei, preventing him from completing the gesture.

Although to a modern person, a pot of stewed lamb was nothing special—the only oddity being the use of a cauldron—it was considered the highest form of hospitality in this era.

In fact, for a group of their size to be using a cauldron was technically a breach of protocol.

However, thinking about how Liu Bei would later use bronze cauldrons to host even more people, eventually influencing the dietary preferences of Fa Zheng, Qi Fei felt an indescribable sense of amusement.

"Zihong, please."

Liu Bei then invited Qi Fei to take his seat.

"Lord Xuande, please."

Qi Fei hung back slightly, speaking with courtesy.

Liu Bei took two steps, then continued to invite Qi Fei forward.

Qi Fei, feeling a bit playful, simply insisted that Liu Bei go first, feeling quite like he was role-playing a scene from the classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

After a back-and-forth, while the two of them felt nothing, Chen Xi on the side was left speechless.

It was clear that neither of them actually cared about these empty formalities, yet they were being relentlessly polite.

It was enough to drive one mad.

"The two of you, stop being so polite and just take your seats."

Chen Xi reached out with both hands, grabbed them, and pulled them directly into the tent.

"If we don't go in now, Second Master and the others will probably lose their patience."

His actions left Liu Bei slightly surprised.

In the past, Chen Xi had never been so physically familiar with him; it seemed that his pleasant conversation with Zihong today was no exaggeration.

Liu Bei grabbed Chen Xi's hand in return and took the initiative to pull him forward.

Although Qi Fei regretted that the role-playing had ended prematurely, he followed the momentum and walked into the tent.

There were already four people seated inside the tent.

Besides Guan, Zhang, and Zhao, there was a stranger, who presumably must be Hua Xiong.

Subsequently, under Liu Bei's introduction, Qi Fei and Hua Xiong got to know each other.

As someone who had only recently broken through to Internal Qi Separation, Hua Xiong looked at Qi Fei with a face full of emotion.

If he hadn't broken through by slaying Pan Feng back then, he would be at the same level as this young man right now.

Following that emotion came enthusiasm.

By the time old timers like them couldn't move anymore, Qi Fei would likely still be in his prime.

By building a friendship now, perhaps his descendants would have an extra path to take in the future.

Thanks to this, the two of them quickly became close.

Before the banquet had even ended, they were already addressing each other as brother.

Chen Xi watched this with a face full of suppressed snark.

The welcome banquet lasted until midnight, and not only the others, but even Qi Fei had a rare, genuinely good time.

It served as a vacation for himself after being busy for several days.

The next day.

The personnel recruited by Liu Bei for Qi Fei had all arrived.

Qi Fei began his first official training of the troops.

It started with the simplest university-style military drills, using this training to give the two hundred men a preliminary sense of organization.

Leveraging this organization, Qi Fei began to further standardize their actions.

And in the process, he continuously used his mental energy to guide the will of the group.

Then, a layer of Cloud Qi successfully appeared above the heads of these two hundred men.

Although the scale was not as grand as the regular army under Liu Bei, it was far superior to those of ordinary miscellaneous soldiers.

"Zihong is truly a man of great talent."

Liu Bei, who was watching from the side, was filled with admiration.

It was not just Liu Bei; the other four martial generals were equally astonished.

If they had previously befriended Qi Fei because they valued his potential, then now, it was entirely due to Qi Fei's personal ability.