Truly Mighty

"Bang... bang..."

"Come out!"

"Everyone out to the main courtyard for assembly!"

"Line up by squad, and behave yourselves!"

"The King will be here soon! Move it, you little brats!"...

Three days had passed in the blink of an eye. Early that morning, Li Dingguo heard shouts outside the door, along with the constant thud of clubs striking the wooden door.

Over the past three days, Li Dingguo and the several hundred orphans had eaten and drunk their fill every day. Their lives could not have been more comfortable.

Compared with their former lives, where they never knew if they would survive from one morning to the next, it was like heaven and earth—utterly beyond comparison.

These orphaned youths were all very young, and their powers of recovery were strong.

After three days of good food, drink, and rest, their little faces had mostly regained their color.

Their Essence, Qi, and Spirit were completely different from before.

The panel in Li Dingguo's Sea of Consciousness showed that none of his attributes had changed except his Constitution, which had risen from three points to four.

Clearly, this was the healthy state of this body.

Li Dingguo did not dare delay. He hurriedly got up and followed everyone at a brisk pace to the main courtyard before the large storehouse.

"Line up!"

"Get your damn lines straight, now!"

"No talking! Keep quiet!"

"Whether you get to eat rich food and drink fine liquor from now on, or return to your former lives, depends on your luck!"...

Under the shouted commands of more than a dozen soldiers, the several hundred beggar orphans quickly formed ten lines.

They also looked far more orderly than they had three days ago.

Over these past three days, they had not simply been eating without doing anything.

During the three days just gone by, aside from meals and rest, they had spent their days learning how to assemble and form ranks.

This was indeed necessary.

On the one hand, it could train these youths' discipline and obedience.

On the other, it gave them exercise after they had eaten their fill, so they would not be spoiled into uselessness.

Although they had undergone only three days of preliminary training and recuperation, tempted by the promise of ample food, none of these beggar orphans dared disobey.

Nor did anyone dare cause trouble. They feared being driven out and returning to their former lives, where they might eat one meal but have no idea where the next would come from, surviving one day at a time.

These beggar youths had managed to survive tenaciously despite the ever-worsening natural disasters and human calamities. None of them were fools; otherwise, they could never have lived to this day.

Indeed, because of their own miserable experiences, they were far more sensible than the young masters of wealthy families.

"Clip-clop..."

Just as Li Dingguo and the others finished lining up, a burst of hoofbeats approached from the direction of the courtyard gates.

A moment later, the gates swung open, and three riders slowly entered the courtyard on tall, powerful horses.

These three horses looked exceptionally tall and robust, far more magnificent than any horse Li Dingguo had seen in his previous life!

Most bizarrely, beneath the hair on their necks, heads, bellies, backs, limbs, and even hooves lay a thick layer of scales!

The scales matched the horses' colors and had actually grown from their own skin!

Li Dingguo's original body had seen this kind of warhorse a few times.

But even in all of Dingbian City, there were said to be only a dozen or so in total.

That was only because several wealthy gentry families lived in the city.

This was the standard mount of elite cavalry in this wondrous great world: the Flood Dragon Scale Horse.

Even if ordinary people acquired such Spirit Beast Warhorses, they could not afford to raise them.

They ate not only ordinary grass, soybeans, and other common fodder, but also regularly required Spirit Rice, Spirit Beans, spirit grass, and more.

The resources needed to raise one Flood Dragon Scale Horse were enough to cultivate a rather capable Martial Artist retainer.

Whether Spirit Beasts or Martial Artists, their daily consumption and cultivation needs could not be met by ordinary food alone. They also needed all manner of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, spirit grass, and spirit roots to sustain their cultivation and steadily advance their strength.

Wild Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, spirit grass, and spirit roots generally grew in places occupied by Demons and Monsters, making them extremely dangerous to gather.

Thus, officials and gentry, aristocratic families, great clans, and royal houses mostly possessed their own Spirit Fields and Spirit Beast Gardens.

Spirit Fields varied in grade and could grow Spirit Rice, spirit grass, and spirit roots of all grades.

Spirit Beast Gardens were much the same, serving as bases where they raised all kinds of Spirit Beasts, especially Spirit Beast Warhorses.

Because Spirit Beast Warhorses were the most practical, nearly everyone focused primarily on breeding them.

It was said that above the Flood Dragon Scale Horse, there was an even more formidable Dragon Scale Horse!

However, Li Dingguo's original body had never seen one.

According to legend, there were no more than a thousand Dragon Scale Horses in the entire Great Ming Dynasty.

But the barbarians Beyond the Pass were different.

Beyond the Pass, Flood Dragon Scale Horses could be seen everywhere, and even Dragon Scale Horses were not particularly rare. Nearly every major tribe possessed several.

It was said that the Later Jin barbarian clan entrenched in Liaodong possessed no fewer than three thousand Dragon Scale Horses.

The fundamental reason for this enormous disparity was that the vast majority of Spirit Grass Pastures lay Beyond the Pass, while the Great Ming Dynasty had lost nearly all of its Spirit Grass Pastures Beyond the Pass.

The size, number, and grade of Spirit Grass Pastures directly determined the quality and quantity of Spirit Beast Warhorses.

Whether Flood Dragon Scale Horses or Dragon Scale Horses, they possessed considerable combat strength themselves and could even contend with Demons and Monsters of the same level.

Their intelligence was high, no less than that of human children, and they possessed innate skills. Once they unleashed their might, even Martial Artists of the same level found it difficult to defeat them.

Therefore, with the rider and horse becoming one, coordination with a Spirit Beast Warhorse came easily.

It would be more accurate to say that every Spirit Beast Warhorse was worth far more than ten ordinary Martial Artists combined.

Eight Great Kings Zhang Xianzhong had now captured a county town, and it was even a strategic border location, yet his spoils amounted to only a dozen or so Flood Dragon Scale Horses.

In fact, within the Great Ming Dynasty, ordinary cattle, sheep, and horses were countless in number.

Only Spirit Beast Warhorses were exceedingly scarce.

The reasons needed no explanation. On one hand, there were not many Spirit Grass Pastures within the present-day Great Ming Dynasty, and the vast majority were of poor grade.

On the other hand, cultivating Spirit Beast Warhorses consumed simply too many precious resources.

Even wealthy gentry whose riches rivaled nations and ancient families that had lasted a thousand years could not raise many of them.

After all, Martial Artists' cultivation likewise consumed vast amounts of precious resources.

Any force had to prioritize nurturing its own outstanding talents, lest a break in succession form and they end up making wedding clothes for another, only to be swallowed by others without even scraps left behind.

Ordinary horses could not be used as war mounts mainly because there were too many Demons and Monsters in this world. Once they encountered one in the wilderness, they would shit themselves on the spot, or be so terrified that their souls fled their bodies and they scattered in all directions.

Zhang Xianzhong and his companions arrived riding those mighty, majestic Spirit Beast Warhorses. The eyes of the several hundred beggar orphans all lit up as they stared fixedly at the three Flood Dragon Scale Horses, their gazes brimming with extreme envy.

There was no helping it. Such magnificent warhorse Spirit Beasts were simply too eye-catching. Especially for these youths—who would not want one to ride around for fun?

Their status might be low, but what youth did not harbor a dream in his heart?

Even if it was overestimating themselves and divorced from reality, it did not stop them from yearning for it in their hearts.