First Victory

Chapter 46

"Huh?"

"Li Dingguo has a strong grasp of the bigger picture!"

Zhang Xianzhong, who had secretly followed behind this team of young Martial Artists to observe them carefully out of concern, was stunned by Li Dingguo's brilliant performance. "This little fellow is practically a born commander!"

"Compared with the others, Li Dingguo is head and shoulders above them in this regard."

He had not expected that Li Dingguo, who was usually already astonishingly gifted, possessed not only exceptional talent in martial arts but also an even more outstanding aptitude for leading troops into battle!

Now, it seemed that bringing this team of young Martial Artists out for practical combat training had truly been a wise decision.

From Zhang Xianzhong's earlier covert observations, Li Dingguo's every action since climbing the mountain had displayed a rare grasp of the overall situation, as well as a maturity beyond his years.

Even if Zhang Xianzhong had arranged things himself, he could have done no better.

Seeing Li Dingguo, Ai Nengqi, Liu Wenxiu, and Zhang Huier—four monstrous geniuses—swiftly wipe out the leaders of this group of Demon Beasts and their three strongest adult members, Zhang Xianzhong knew that this practical combat training had already achieved complete success.

After all, of the remaining twenty-odd Demon Beasts, only one was at the middle stage of Level One, while all the rest were at the initial stage of Level One. They simply could not withstand the encirclement and slaughter of the young Martial Artists, who held an absolute advantage in numbers.

At this moment, under Zhang Xianzhong's watchful eye, the two middle-stage Level One adult Demon Beasts fighting Liu Wenxiu and Zhang Huier were also killed by the two of them in succession.

The sixty young Martial Artists who had already charged into the small basin ahead had formed a Small Three Talents Array with three of their genius youths, trapping the sole remaining middle-stage Level One adult Demon Beast and coordinating their attacks to kill it.

The remaining young Martial Artists, under the command of nine genius youths, formed ranks to block the remaining twenty-odd Iron Tusk Pigs. Amid flashing blades and thrusting spears, Demon Beasts were constantly beaten to death within the encirclement.

Victory was already assured.

Just as Zhang Xianzhong had expected, about a quarter-hour later, the last Demon Beast was stabbed to death in a chaotic flurry of spears by these young Martial Artists, who had gradually found their rhythm in battle. The fight officially came to an end.

The entire process of this practical training exercise might not have been soul-stirring, but it had certainly risen and fallen in waves.

Fortunately, thanks to Li Dingguo's outstanding performance, no one had been injured or killed. It could be considered a complete success.

"Boss, that Iron Tusk Pig leader you just killed was enormous!"

After the battle ended, Tang Guangqiang strode back to Li Dingguo with a broad grin. Staring at the dead Iron Tusk Pig King on the ground nearby, he clicked his tongue in amazement. "Good heavens!"

"This big fellow must weigh at least a thousand jin!"

"It's at least nearly half again as large as those other Iron Tusk Pigs!"

"If all sixty-plus people in our squad ate it, even eating three to five jin each per meal, two meals a day, it would last us two or three days!"

As he spoke, he stared unblinkingly at the enormous Demon Beast and could not help smacking his lips, clearly already thinking about how to cook it.

He was not overthinking it. The King had said earlier that as long as they wiped out this herd of Iron Tusk Pigs, half the spoils would be given to them.

So, there was no doubt that they would be eating Demon Beast meat today.

As for whether they could eat meat from this Pig King, that was another matter.

Tang Guangqiang looked at the huge black pig on the ground, then at Li Dingguo, his eyes full of admiration.

Indeed, Li Dingguo's combat strength was far greater than his own, considering he had killed this Iron Tusk Pig leader alone in such a short time.

Tang Guangqiang reckoned that if he faced this Demon Beast leader himself, let alone killing it, he would already be thanking heaven and earth if he managed to escape with his life.

"Aqiang, stop standing around in a daze!"

Li Dingguo glared at Tang Guangqiang, then looked at Cao Yongxiang, who had just come over beside him, and ordered them both, "Xiangzi, you and Aqiang will direct our squad members to clean up the battlefield immediately. Bring every Demon Beast killed here over to this exit!"

"It's already noon. We need to carry these Demon Beasts down the mountain as quickly as possible, so we don't delay our return journey!"

"If everyone hasn't returned to Dingbian City by evening, it'll be very troublesome!"

"The King said earlier that all of us must return to the county seat before evening."

Li Dingguo understood very well that under ordinary circumstances, military orders could never be disobeyed.

Otherwise, these young soldiers of theirs would never be able to become a truly elite and powerful army.

"Got it, Boss!"

"Oh, oh... I'll go right away."

Cao Yongxiang and Tang Guangqiang hurriedly acknowledged the order and left.

"Come over! Everyone from our squad, gather up!"

"Boss's orders—clean up the battlefield quickly! Then hurry and get all these big black pigs down to the camp at the foot of the mountain, load them onto the carts, and take them back to the city!"...

The two of them shouted as they directed their squad members, and the area immediately became a flurry of activity.

Seeing Li Dingguo's squad begin the cleanup work, Ai Nengqi, Liu Wenxiu, and Zhang Huier exchanged glances. Not daring to slack off, they immediately ordered their own team members to carry out battlefield cleanup and follow-up work under the command of those Genius Martial Artists.

Li Dingguo did not remain idle either. He first walked over to the Demon Beast leader he had killed and pulled out the spirit weapon arrow still embedded in its eye socket.

Then, using dirt and leaves from the ground, he wiped it clean and returned it to the quiver on his back.

With spirit weapon bows and arrows, not only was the bow itself a spirit weapon, but the arrows were matching spirit weapons as well, and were extremely valuable.

After using such spirit weapon arrows, they naturally had to be recovered whenever possible.

Spirit weapon arrows were not easily damaged. After victory in most battles, they could be retrieved and used repeatedly.

That was one of the vast differences between spirit weapon bows and arrows and ordinary bows and arrows.

After recovering the arrow, Li Dingguo looked around, and his eyes suddenly lit up. He rose and went to a large rock nearby, tearing down several vines growing over it.

Then he swiftly braided them into a simple vine rope and carried it back to the Iron Tusk Pig leader he had killed. Bending down, he began tying its four limbs with the vine rope, then bound them together and knotted them.

He grasped the other end of the vine rope and gave it a tug to test its toughness, finding it quite suitable.

With his current strength, he could easily drag this nearly thousand-jin black pig along. Only then did he straighten up and nod in satisfaction.

The nearby young Martial Artists, who had just finished clearing the battlefield and dragging all the slain Demon Beasts to the exit of this small basin, saw Li Dingguo's method and their eyes immediately lit up.

They hurriedly copied him, tearing down vines from nearby and weaving simple vine ropes. Laughing and chattering, they tied up each Demon Beast's four limbs one by one, then bound all four limbs tightly together just as Li Dingguo had done.

Some even came up with vine ropes that could be pulled from both ends, allowing several people to exert force together and making it easier to drag the massive Demon Beasts.

"Let's go!"

"Let's hurry down the mountain, load the spoils onto the carts, and go back to eat meat!"...

After Li Dingguo finished discussing matters with the three squad leaders, all sixty-four members of the squad divided up the work and set to it together, dragging the Iron Tusk Pigs back along their original route...