"Li Dingguo, these successive rounds of selection and elimination were indeed rather cruel."
"But that can't be blamed on the Eight Great Kings. Even with cultivation resources and martial arts manuals provided, most of those orphaned youths still couldn't become Martial Artists!"
Before long, everyone arrived at the large courtyard ahead. Seeing dozens of young Martial Artists already waiting there, Ai Nengqi swept his gaze around with a complicated expression and sighed to Li Dingguo beside him.
The half-month deadline had long since passed.
Including gifted youths like Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi, only sixty-four of the remaining one hundred and eighty orphaned youths had ultimately been allowed to stay.
Aside from the four monstrous geniuses—Li Dingguo, Ai Nengqi, Liu Wenxiu, and Zhang Huier—only sixty youths had ultimately broken through to become Martial Artists.
One had to know that Zhang Xianzhong had originally ordered nearly six hundred orphaned beggar youths gathered together!
After round after round of selection, only around ten percent of the orphaned youths had successfully remained.
And that was with the Eight Great Kings, Zhang Xianzhong, providing everyone with cultivation manuals and ample cultivation resources, nurturing them with all his strength.
This showed just how slim the odds were for an ordinary person to become a Martial Artist.
Within the Great Ming Dynasty, the vast majority of common folk at the bottom of society did not even have such an opportunity to try becoming Martial Artists.
Compared to them, orphaned youths like Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi, who had become Martial Artists and possessed everything they now had, were already exceptionally fortunate.
"Alas!"
Li Dingguo sighed, feeling somewhat emotional as well. "There's no helping it. That's fate!"
"If they couldn't become Martial Artists and fight the enemy, they would simply be going to their deaths! The Eight Great Kings considered that point, which was why he wouldn't pad the ranks with useless numbers. That was perfectly normal."
He was no saint, nor did he currently possess enough ability to worry about such troubling matters.
"Enough, let's not talk about that."
He waved a hand, then changed the subject with Ai Nengqi. "Yesterday evening, after we finished practicing the Tiger Roar Fist, the Eight Great Kings said he had something to announce today."
"I think our nearly month-long stretch of peaceful, head-down cultivation is about to end."
With the established course of history from his previous life as a reference, his breadth of vision far surpassed that of ordinary people. Combining it with the current situation, he formed a few guesses after only a little thought.
"Clip-clop..."
Before Ai Nengqi could question him further, a burst of hoofbeats came from the direction of the courtyard gates.
A moment later, as the great wooden gates reinforced with bronze at the front of the courtyard opened, three riders entered at an unhurried pace on their warhorses.
The man at the front had a sallow face and a long beard. Within his slightly sunken eye sockets, a pair of hawk-like eyes flashed with divine light. He was none other than the Eight Great Kings, Zhang Xianzhong.
Accompanied by two trusted subordinates, he rode to the foot of a raised platform at one side of the courtyard and leapt down from his horse.
Then he sprang into the air. In the next moment, he had already landed atop the platform, looking down at the sixty-four young Martial Artists who had formed ranks below.
These freshly minted young Martial Artists, led by Li Dingguo, Ai Nengqi, Liu Wenxiu, and Zhang Huier, stood tall in four neat little squads.
Besides Li Dingguo and the other three serving as captains, each squad had fifteen members.
Several days earlier, when the half-month deadline arrived, those orphaned youths who had failed to break through and become Martial Artists had been swept out the door. Under Zhang Xianzhong's orders, the remaining young Martial Artists had then formally formed squads for daytime joint training.
The squads had been evenly distributed. They could first form their own teams, after which any undersized squads would be adjusted and filled out.
By a remarkable coincidence, all fifteen orphaned young Martial Artists under Li Dingguo had once been underlings in his little beggar group!
Among them were even two gifted youths living in a side room within the inner residence, members of the twelve geniuses Zhang Xianzhong was focusing on nurturing.
It was not only Li Dingguo. Ai Nengqi, Liu Wenxiu, and Zhang Huier, those three monstrous genius youths, had also once been leaders of different little beggar groups in Dingbian City.
They had each had a group of orphaned beggars under them.
Therefore, with everyone allowed to form their own squads, those familiar faces from before naturally chose to join the squads of their respective former leaders.
This method of forming squads was actually highly beneficial for strengthening each team's cohesion.
Because most members of these four young Martial Artist squads were familiar with one another and followed their former leaders, they possessed a natural advantage in obedience and unity.
In this regard, those adult Rebel Army soldiers could not compare to these four young Martial Artist squads.
"You little brats, listen carefully!"
Zhang Xianzhong's gaze was stern. Seeing that the orphaned youths he had painstakingly cultivated were now usable, he could not help nodding before shouting, "I gathered you little brats here today to tell you that cultivating martial arts behind closed doors is no good!"
"Without unceasing battles between life and death, it is impossible to become a martial arts master!"
"The core essence of a Martial Artist is battle!"
"Only through constant combat and tempering can you truly master and blend together the various martial arts and skills you have learned, becoming a qualified Martial Artist."
"Especially in these chaotic times, if you possess only cultivation but lack sufficient combat experience, then once you encounter a life-or-death crisis, you will be no different from lambs awaiting slaughter!"
"You little brats all have your own miserable pasts. When you were beggars, just how bitterly did you live? Every one of you knows it in your heart!"
He shouted harshly, "In this world, whether they are officials and gentry, aristocratic families, powerful clans, or Demons and Monsters, they are threatening your lives at every moment. If you want to survive, and live better than you do now, it won't be so easy!"
"This is a cruel world!"
"If you do not want to be killed and eaten by enemies or Demons and Monsters, then you must use the blades and spears in your hands to cut off their heads without hesitation!"
"I announce that starting tomorrow, your four young Martial Artist squads will begin real combat training!"
"A towering tree will never grow inside a greenhouse!"
"Starting tomorrow, every few days I will issue you a training task that must be completed. Any squad that fails to finish on time will immediately have all cultivation resources cut off, and they will not be restored until you complete the task twice over!"
"The martial path also has its order of priorities and stresses balancing work with rest. Burying your heads in hard training alone is no good!"
"Therefore, I announce that all of you will have the day off today!"
"You young soldiers have not relaxed and played around for a long time. Today, as an exception, you may go out into the streets and enjoy yourselves to your hearts' content, but you may not leave the city without permission!"
"Our Rebel Army soldiers have already swept through Dingbian City several times. There is basically no danger left within the city. You may stroll around and take a look, relax your minds, but do not go looking for trouble!"
"Tomorrow morning, at the first quarter of the hour of the Dragon, every squad will assemble here on time. No lateness!"
Having said that, Zhang Xianzhong waved to everyone and dismissed them.
The young Martial Artists stood there dumbfounded for a moment. After Zhang Xianzhong rode away, a burst of uproar suddenly erupted, and cheers filled the air.
A short while later, everyone gathered in groups of three or five, chattering noisily without end, discussing where on the streets they should go to have fun during this rare day off.
It had already been more than twenty days since the Eight Great Kings, Zhang Xianzhong, had taken them in.
To be honest, these orphaned beggar youths had kept themselves tightly wound this entire time, and most of them had been stifled half to death.
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