Do I Have to Beg You, Little Brother?

Meng Wu silently nodded and praised him. "Not bad."

But he thought to himself that, though the lad was strong, he was still a new recruit. He'd trained for too short a time and was nowhere near ready to join the Central Cavalry.

After all, even a powerhouse capable of lifting a thousand jin would be doomed if his skills were lacking and he got trapped in enemy ranks on the battlefield.

My second brother is still a little naive. He thinks I'll agree to stuff someone into the Central Cavalry just because of this.

Still, with strength like that, getting into an Elite Battalion would be easy enough.

As Meng Wu thought this, Zhao Cheng picked up the Ebony Bow slung across his back. The bow was black all over, and its color had blended with his armor earlier, making it hard to notice. Now that he held it in his hands, its thick, curved body and taut string revealed its formidable strength.

Meng Wu's gaze sharpened. At a glance, he recognized it as the top-quality bow in Meng Wei's collection. He hadn't expected the man to go so far as to lend the boy his prized bow.

Zhao Cheng did not move to the area in front of the moving targets. Instead, he stayed where he was, nearly two hundred paces away, and immediately nocked an arrow and drew the bow.

The bow curved like a full moon. With a thunderclap, the arrow vanished, tearing through the air with a sharp whistle. It pierced the head of a moving human-shaped target with a hiss, then continued on and embedded itself in the earthen wall!

The arrow struck with a thud.

Two more whistles rang out in quick succession. The other two swaying human-shaped targets were each pierced through the exact center of the head, and the two arrows buried themselves side by side in the earthen wall beside the first.

The three arrows had flown with almost no pause between them, one after another as smoothly as flowing water. Their accuracy was terrifying, and their force was just as astonishing.

On the high platform, Meng Wu shot to his feet, eyes wide as he stared at the boy who had put away his bow and was walking toward the horses.

"What a divine shot!"

Meng Tian was even more shocked. He swallowed and said in disbelief, "That's a distance of at least two hundred paces!"

"Two hundred paces, moving targets, and all three arrows hit the exact center of the head. Even the Central Army has no archer like this."

"Uncle, you said he's a new recruit who only enlisted a month ago?"

Such archery was unmatched across the entire Great Qin!

Those who shot accurately couldn't match his range; those who shot far couldn't match his accuracy.

Meng Wei could barely suppress the corners of his mouth. Forcing himself to sound calm, he said, "He just turned sixteen. If not for the conscription edict a month ago, how could he have been registered and enlisted?"

Meng Tian was at a loss for words, his mouth gone dry.

Meng Wu's eyes shone as he watched Zhao Cheng vault onto a horse, and boundless anticipation welled up in his heart.

This lad might well be the young god of war my second brother found when he was little and has been training ever since!

If—if his horsemanship and mounted archery are just as good, I can't even imagine what a peerless Elite Soldier he'll be!

But he's still so young. Expecting so much of him would be far too harsh. As long as his horsemanship is decent, I can put him in the Assault Cavalry Battalion, just as my second brother suggested!

But the moment Zhao Cheng mounted, his effortless ease was almost tangible. He seemed even freer on horseback than he had on the ground!

The horse galloped like the wind, and so did he.

What was the point of holding the reins in one hand? He didn't need reins at all. The horse followed his every intention, as if it were an extension of his body, moving with fluid grace.

In the space of a breath, the horse could stop sharply and change direction several times. Its nimble, unpredictable movements opened everyone's eyes.

After a turn, Zhao Cheng lightly squeezed the horse's flanks, and it instantly broke into a desperate sprint. When it reached top speed, the fierce wind swept his hair backward. Then, at that very speed, he suddenly swung himself off the horse!

"Hey!"

Meng Tian jumped, thinking Zhao Cheng had fallen.

But Zhao Cheng brushed a hand across the ground. The instant he closed his fingers around a coin, the horse twisted its body, and a strange force flung him onto its back. The whole maneuver was fluid and graceful; Zhao Cheng himself barely seemed to exert any effort.

Meng Tian stared, completely dumbfounded!

You can ride a horse like that?

The horse seemed to know what its master was thinking and could cooperate to such an extent. What kind of fine steed was this?

He carefully studied the horse, but no matter how he looked at it, it seemed like an utterly ordinary animal.

The only explanation was that the boy's horsemanship had reached the point of perfection!

But he was only sixteen! Compared to him, Meng Tian's own riding was complete trash!

As for archery, there was no point even mentioning it. He wasn't one ten-thousandth as good!

For a moment, Meng Tian began to question his whole life. He was the son of a military family, after all. Had he spent the past twenty-odd years living like a dog?

Meanwhile, Zhao Cheng kept galloping straight toward the dense field of wooden posts. His speed was so frightening that everyone watching feared he would crash headlong into them!

Yet when the horse reached the posts, it seemed to know the steps of a martial art, darting left and right through the tightly packed obstacles.

The sight of a tall, powerful horse flitting among the posts like a butterfly was utterly bizarre. An indescribable feeling spread through the hearts of everyone who witnessed it.

Zhao Cheng raced through the dense posts, then, without slowing, raised his bow and fired from horseback. While galloping, he shot four or five arrows at the moving human-shaped targets two hundred paces away. Every arrow pierced straight through the head!

Only after he had completed every test did he swing down from the horse and stand in the middle of the field. His upright figure was like a long spear pointing straight at the sky. His bright, starry eyes turned toward Meng Wei. He bowed solemnly to the platform, then silently returned to the rear and stood with his eyes lowered.

In motion, he was as swift as thunder; at rest, as still as Mount Tai.

He knew when to advance and retreat, and was neither proud nor impatient.

Such a temperament only deepened Meng Wu's silence.

I'm stunned!

There was no exaggeration in Meng Wei's letter at all. Every word was from the bottom of his heart!

This boy has the strength to uproot mountains and lift tripods, the skill to pierce a willow leaf from a hundred paces, and the speed of a tiger or leopard and the leaps of an eagle or falcon. If he isn't a born god of war, what is he?

Thinking that he had just refused to take the boy when Meng Wei wanted to assign him to his command, Meng Wu wanted to slap himself.

What did I say about the military system not being abandoned? What does the military system matter in front of a talent like this?

"Um..." Meng Wu tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword, then asked awkwardly, "Meng Wei, has the boy been registered in the army yet?"

Meng Wei nodded. He had marked Zhao Cheng as having passed the tests in the military register, but had not assigned him to a branch.

"Now that he's passed all the tests, he'll naturally be registered in the army. But he's only been enlisted for a little over a month, so he's still a new recruit. I think he's promising and should first spend a year guarding the county and get some more training."

More training?

He's already at the peak!

Is there even any room left for him to improve?

Meng Wu scratched his cheek and spoke with some difficulty. "Well... I think the lad's skills are already top-notch in every respect. He's more than qualified for the Central Army's Assault Cavalry Battalion. He should go with the army to the battlefield, kill the enemy, and win merit. What do you think?"

Meng Wei hurriedly replied, "The military system must not be abandoned, elder brother. To join the Central Army's Assault Cavalry Battalion, he should go through the proper rounds of selection. Let him advance through the ranks according to the military system. Then, no matter whose command he ends up under, at least it'll all be according to the system..."

He had only made it halfway through his sentence when Meng Wu finally flew into a rage and couldn't resist kicking Meng Wei in the backside.

"My words don't carry any weight with you anymore? Do I have to beg you?"