Sacrifice Success

You can tell from what happened today that he lost money. It's understandable why people would be suspicious of an auxiliary soldier buying so much meat in such a short period.

Thinking about it now, even if he continued to buy meat from Gou Buyi, the other party would definitely find an excuse to extort him within these few days. Why? Because the auxiliary soldier training was about to end, and they would be sent to the border.

If he didn't act now, he wouldn't have another chance.

Fortunately, the Heavenly Stele possesses the "Sumeru's Mustard Seed" ability. Otherwise, if he had been caught red-handed today, no one would have believed him even if he claimed he bought it with silver.

Being rootless and without connections, no one would stand up for him.

Because auxiliary soldiers are not valuable.

Hearing snores around him, Jiang Che confirmed that the surrounding auxiliary soldiers had fallen asleep. He got out of bed, tiptoed out of the tent, and quietly left.

He needed to find a quiet place to perform the sacrifice.

Putting aside the fact that they would be sent to the border in a few days, just offending Gou Buyi and Scarface's group in these past few days meant that if he didn't have enough strength to protect himself, he could be in danger at any moment.

And relying on Commander Liu was not his style.

Besides, he didn't know Commander Liu, nor was he related to him. How could Commander Liu continuously stand up for him?

The stables.

Jiang Che looked around. Seeing that no one was paying attention, he leaped over the railing. Holding his nose and fanning away the lingering stench, Jiang Che sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes.

In his mind, a mysterious stone tablet about ten feet tall, covered in blood-colored patterns, appeared from the gray mist. Below the stone tablet were piled pork, pig's blood, and other items. A few lines of small text were inscribed on the tablet's surface.

[Sacrifice Target: Enhance Physical Body.]

[Sacrifice Cost: Two pounds of blood, ten pounds of bone, twenty pounds of meat. Sacrifice?]

[Sacrifice!]

Without hesitation, Jiang Che immediately willed it.

The next moment, the blood-colored patterns on the Heavenly Stele seemed to come alive, flickering with light. After a moment, a wisp of gray light emerged from the stone tablet, enveloping the pork offerings. Then, those offerings vanished instantly.

The light on the stone tablet continued to shine, eerie and mysterious. After a while, a streak of red light flashed out from the stone tablet again. Like a sentient little snake, it burrowed directly into his chest.

Immediately after, a warm, peculiar strength surged within his chest, gradually spreading to his limbs.

After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Che slowly opened his eyes. His pupils contracted as a brown horse's head loomed close, its breath carrying a foul odor.

Seeing him wake up, the horse was slightly startled and instinctively kicked out with its hooves.

Jiang Che quickly reacted, his hands clamping onto the horse's legs like iron vises, forcefully pushing them down.

Astonishment!

He knew how much strength a horse possessed. If he had been kicked properly before, he would have been incapacitated for days. But now, he had directly pinned it down.

Was this the strength gained from the sacrifice?!

Although the horse was only slightly startled, he wouldn't have been able to lift his hand to pin it down before.

This strength...

After carefully calming the horse, Jiang Che left the stables and quietly returned to his tent.

That night, he slept exceptionally soundly.

The next day, the training grounds.

The auxiliary soldiers were numbly undergoing training. They were not just laborers escorting supplies; in fact, they were also reserve soldiers for the border army.

This was precisely why the casualty rate was so high.

Jiang Che, blending in, was unremarkable. He did not become arrogant due to his increased strength, maintaining his usual low profile and not wanting to attract attention.

The reason for this...

Was that he planned to desert on the way to the border.

Going to the border was a matter of life and death, with too much danger. But he possessed the Heavenly Stele, and as long as he could obtain enough offerings, his strength would grow without limit.

Why risk his life?

Even becoming a bandit and being wanted was better than going to his death.

It was for this reason that he had risked being coveted to buy meat from Gou Buyi.

Half an hour later, the morning training ended. The auxiliary soldiers, groaning and complaining, lined up to receive their meals. According to past practice, they would then continue with miscellaneous chores.

But today, something seemed different.

Perhaps it was because they were about to depart, or perhaps it was the usual procedure for auxiliary soldiers in previous years, but after eating, everyone was ordered by Deputy Commander Liu to gather in the training grounds again.

At the other end of the training grounds stood a group of old soldiers in paper armor, staring at them intently, like hungry wolves that had found their prey.

"You will be heading to the border in a few days. As per tradition, there will be a sparring session before you depart. Whoever can defeat an old soldier will be granted an extra piece of meat at lunch and will have a chance to be assigned to the main camp and receive pay."

Deputy Commander Liu stood before them, pointing at the group of old soldiers not far away, and shouted loudly.

Logically, with rewards offered, everyone should have been overjoyed. However, the expressions of most people were filled with fear.

This was not unexpected.

Auxiliary soldiers received two meals a day, one watery and one dry. It was difficult enough to eat their fill, while the old soldiers in the main camp had three meals a day, and some elites occasionally got to eat meat.

Furthermore, most of them had seen battle, making them far superior to these newly conscripted auxiliary soldiers in every way.

This was a predictable situation of passively taking a beating.

Jiang Che even suspected this was an unwritten rule of the military camp – to temper the auxiliary soldiers' spirits before departure, to make them fearful, terrified, and unwilling to resist, so they would obediently head to the border.

"Alright, starting with the first row, get to it."

After casually saying a few words, Deputy Commander Liu withdrew from the center of the training ground and returned to the side of the Auxiliary Barracks commander to await orders.

The dozen or so auxiliary soldiers in the first row exchanged nervous glances, none daring to make the first move. Some even quickly lowered their heads, but the veteran soldiers opposite them wouldn't hesitate.

They advanced slowly forward, while the auxiliary soldiers from the second row back onwards retreated ten meters with practiced coordination, leaving the space for the confrontation.

As expected, the dozen or so auxiliary soldiers were beaten soundly, completely unable to fight back. They were quickly subdued by the veterans, pinned to the ground and beaten.

The second row, The third row, Dozens of auxiliary soldiers in succession were taken down, sustaining varying injuries. Mostly flesh wounds, but the fear emanating from those around them was palpable.

However, fear was useless.

Finally, it was Jiang Che's turn. The group of a dozen or so slowly walked to the center of the training ground.

On the other side, as a group of veteran soldiers were about to enthusiastically begin, one of them pulled back another soldier who was preparing to act. A grin spread across his face:

"Old Wang, let's switch."

"Sure."

Scarface nodded, his gaze chillingly fixed on one person ahead. A cold sneer curled his lips as he twisted his wrist while meeting Jiang Che's eyes. He then made a fist-and-palm salute, cracking his knuckles with a series of pops.

He was clearly preparing to teach Jiang Che a lesson.