Cruel Elimination

Chapter 7: Cruel Elimination

"Clop, clop..."

Three Flood Dragon Scale Horses strode forward with scattered hoofbeats, neither fast nor slow, heading toward the raised platform.

Before long, they arrived directly below the platform in the courtyard.

Whoosh!

Zhang Xianzhong and his two trusted subordinates sprang from their saddles, landing soundlessly on the ground.

He gave the two men a few instructions, then, under the burning gazes of several hundred youths, bent his legs and leaped!

The next moment, he had silently arrived at the center of the small platform, standing tall as he faced the crowd.

"You beggar boys, some of you are about to come into good fortune!"

Zhang Xianzhong did not waste words. After sweeping his gaze over the several hundred beggar orphans lined up below the platform, he looked straight ahead and said, "Today, I will select some of you to become key trainees of our Rebel Army!"

"Of course, this is only the preliminary selection for Martial Soldiers. Whether you can be chosen depends on your own performance!"

"For a soldier who eats the army's grain, courage is the most important thing!"

"Those with weak and cowardly temperaments are unfit to eat the army's grain!"

"Cowardly rats deserve to suffer all their lives. They are not worth anyone's sympathy!"

"Our Rebel Army now possesses abundant resources, but we will not let cowards enjoy them in the future!"

"Therefore, today's preliminary selection is meant to eliminate those cowardly rats!"

Zhang Xianzhong was perfectly clear-headed. He was now selecting the future trusted core of the Rebel Army. He had no need for weak and cowardly people who would only waste precious cultivation resources.

His past military career had already proven an ironclad rule through hard facts.

Even if some cultivators possessed exceptional innate talent and Qi and Blood, if they were timid and cowardly by nature, they were still nothing but trash, utterly beyond cultivation.

Such people were true wastes. Once they entered the army, not only could they not display the combat strength they ought to possess, they would also greatly drag down the officers and soldiers.

In some closely contested battles, these cowardly people were often the first to break and flee.

Once such a situation arose on the battlefield, the consequences would be unthinkable!

Zhang Xianzhong wanted to cultivate a truly high-quality force of trusted subordinates for his own use. Cowardly rats could never shoulder great responsibilities.

As his words fell, the entire scene became silent as a grave. Clearly, everyone had been shocked by this unusual method of selection.

"This Eight Great Kings Zhang Xianzhong really has a method to his way of doing things."

Li Dingguo stood solemnly below, his eyes lighting up as he thought, For him to think this far ahead proves that he possesses the inner ability to match his ambitions. He is somewhat different from the Eight Great Kings I imagined.

"In the history books preserved from my previous life in the twenty-first century, he was grossly twisted and slandered through fabricated falsehoods, made to bear the blame for the Qing Dynasty."

"Most of the historical records left behind in later generations probably are not true history. Nine times out of ten, they were altered."

This miraculous great world shared many similarities with the history of Li Dingguo's previous life.

So far, the main trajectory of its historical development was also broadly similar to that of the Great Ming Empire from his previous life.

Although this great world was far larger than Earth, and the historical development of every dynasty had lasted far longer.

Li Dingguo guessed that if he had not come to this world, the established course of history would probably not have changed much.

Thinking of this, he could not help gaining a new understanding of the legendary Eight Great Kings.

Indeed, how could the leader of a colossal bandit force who had stirred up towering waves in history possibly be as simple as the few lines written in historical records?

"All of you, listen carefully!"

Zhang Xianzhong suddenly raised his voice and shouted, "I will give you the time it takes to drink a cup of tea to adjust your state of mind!"

"In the coming first selection, those who can remain standing in place without retreating under the pressure of my aura will pass!"

With that, he stood motionless where he was, coldly watching the orphaned beggar youths as he waited in silence.

"Aura?"

"Could it be...?"

Li Dingguo's heart tightened as if he had guessed something. He hurriedly calmed his mind, adjusted his breathing, and did his utmost to prepare himself.

Although he was a transmigrator with a Cheat System, he knew full well that in a world where social classes were completely solidified, there were exceedingly few opportunities to change one's fate.

When an opportunity first arrived, if one failed to seize it, failed to scoop up that first bucket of gold and gain a foundation on which to stand, one would very likely be eliminated by the chaotic age itself.

As several hundred beggar youths waited in unease and alarm, the time it took to drink a cup of tea quietly passed.

At that moment, Zhang Xianzhong suddenly threw back his head. The Qi and Blood throughout his body boiled, merging into one with the true qi circulating within him, and he let out a furious roar!

Roar!

An incomparably miraculous scene appeared before the eyes of the several hundred youths. A dense plume of black-red Qi and Blood Wolf Smoke suddenly surged from Zhang Xianzhong's body!

The wolf smoke formed from that extremely dense Qi and Blood Power twisted only a few times before abruptly transforming into the phantom of a huge yellow tiger!

The moment this somewhat illusory giant yellow tiger took shape, it bared its fangs and claws, threw back its head, and roared!

Streams of dense bloody Baleful Intent, carrying endless killing intent, surged continuously toward all the orphaned youths below the platform!

"Damn!"

"What the hell is this thing? This is ridiculously insane!"

Li Dingguo was instantly shaken to the core. Before he could think further, he felt as though he had been cast into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood!

As wave after wave of violent killing intent swept over him, overturning Li Dingguo's worldview, his heart trembled with fear. An indescribably intense terror rose uncontrollably from within!

Fortunately, his mental fortitude was no ordinary person's. He immediately clenched his teeth, forcibly suppressed the fear in his heart, resisted with all his might, and desperately remained standing where he was.

"Ah! Don't come over!"

"No! I won't retreat!"

"No! Save me!"

"Waaah..."

In an instant, the scene descended into chaos, filled with cries and wails!

A considerable number of the orphaned youths had miserable backgrounds. They had heard of, witnessed, and even personally endured many human tragedies, yet the fear rising from the depths of their hearts still controlled their actions. They retreated again and again involuntarily, some even turning and running!

Quite a number of youths were so frightened that they pissed themselves, their bodies going limp as they collapsed onto the ground and wailed at the top of their lungs!

Fortunately, Zhang Xianzhong knew his limits. He controlled the projected phantom of his Martial Dao Avatar and withdrew it as soon as it was released.

"Men, drag out every piece of trash that has collapsed to the ground or left their original position!"

In the blink of an eye, Zhang Xianzhong withdrew his Martial Dao Avatar and fully reined in his aura. He shouted coldly at the two trusted subordinates and more than a dozen soldiers waiting below.

"No! Great King, don't drive me away!"

"Great King, I'm very obedient! Let me stay!"

"Great King, show mercy!"

"No! I don't want to leave!"...

Amid the cries filling the scene, a full incense stick's worth of time passed. Those orphaned youths eliminated in the first selection were all driven together with clubs by soldiers who looked as ferocious as fiends, then dragged out one after another by the hand and thrown beyond the main gate.

Their incomparably miserable cries did not stir the soldiers in the slightest.

Compared to the cruel elimination here, these soldiers had seen things a thousand times more tragic countless times. How could they possibly soften their hearts?

Besides, this sort of timid and cowardly trash was utterly unfit for important duties. They deserved to be eliminated one by one!

Although Li Dingguo and the other orphaned youths who had passed the first selection all felt as though it had happened to them personally, they did not dare say a word.

They had all lived through hardship and possessed their own miserable pasts and experiences. As long as they were not fools, they would not dare defy the Eight Great Kings, lest they too be thrown out.

Still, after the lingering fear faded, the youths who had fortunately passed the first round of Martial Soldier selection also felt immensely fortunate.

After enjoying several days of a good life without worrying about food or drink, how could they be willing to return to their former existence, where they ate one meal without knowing where the next would come from and could scarcely protect themselves from morning to night?

Moreover, as the Eight Great Kings had said, those orphaned beggar youths who had been eliminated were timid, cowardly, and beyond cultivation. They deserved this outcome!

Such people were not worth sympathizing with.