Everyone knew without thinking that what had happened today meant his wealth had been exposed. A mere auxiliary soldier buying meat again and again in such a short time was bound to arouse suspicion.
Now that he thought about it, even if he had continued buying meat from Gou Buyi, the man would definitely have found some pretext to extort him within the next few days. Nothing more than the fact that the auxiliary soldiers' training was about to end, and they would soon be dispatched to the border.
If they did not make a move now, they would have no chance later.
Fortunately, the Sacrifice Heavenly Stele possessed the ability of a Sumeru mustard seed. Otherwise, if he had been caught red-handed today, no one would have believed him even if he claimed he had bought it with silver.
Rootless and adrift, there would be no one to stand up for him.
Because auxiliary soldiers were worthless.
As snores gradually rose around him, Jiang Che waited until he had confirmed that the nearby auxiliary soldiers were all fast asleep. Then he lifted the bedding, got out of bed, and tiptoed out of the tent.
He needed to find a quiet place to perform the sacrifice.
Not to mention that he would be sent to the border in a few days, he had also offended Gou Buyi, Scarface, and their gang over the past few days. Without enough strength to protect himself, danger could strike at any moment.
And placing his hopes on Commander Liu was not in his nature.
Besides, he and Commander Liu were neither acquainted nor related. How could the man possibly keep standing up for him?
The stables.
Jiang Che looked around a few times. Seeing that no one was paying attention, he vaulted over the fence. Pinching his nose and waving away the lingering stench, Jiang Che sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.
Within his mind, a mysterious stone stele over a zhang tall, covered in blood-red patterns, emerged from the gray mist. Pork, pig blood, and other offerings were piled beneath it, while several lines of small writing appeared on its surface.
Sacrifice target: Strengthen physique.
Sacrifice cost: Two jin of blood, ten jin of bones, twenty jin of meat. Sacrifice?
Sacrifice!
Without the slightest hesitation, Jiang Che immediately willed it.
The next instant, the blood-red patterns on the Sacrifice Heavenly Stele seemed to come alive, flashing continuously. A moment later, a strand of gray light emerged from the stele and enveloped the pork offerings. Then, those offerings vanished without a trace in an instant.
The light on the stele continued to gleam, sinister and mysterious. After another moment, a streak of red light flashed from the stele once more. Like a tiny snake with a spirit of its own, it burrowed straight into his chest.
Immediately afterward, a warm and strange force surged from within his chest, gradually spreading through his limbs and bones.
Who knew how much time had passed before Jiang Che slowly opened his eyes? Then his pupils abruptly contracted. A brownish-yellow horse's head had drawn close, its exhaled breath reeking foully.
Seeing him awake, the horse was slightly startled and instinctively lashed out with both hooves.
Jiang Che hurriedly acted. His hands clamped around the horse's legs like iron pincers, forcibly pressing them down.
Astonishment!
He knew exactly how strong a horse was. In the past, if those hooves had landed solidly on him, he would have needed to rest for days. Yet now, he had pinned them down directly.
Was this the power gained through sacrifice?!
Though the horse had only been mildly startled, previously he could never have raised a hand and held it down.
This strength...
After carefully soothing the horse, Jiang Che left the stable and silently returned to the tent.
That night, he slept exceptionally soundly.
The next day, at the training grounds.
A crowd of auxiliary soldiers underwent their group training with numb expressions. They were not merely laborers responsible for escorting provisions. In truth, they were also reserve recruits for the border army.
That was precisely why their casualty rate remained so high.
Jiang Che blended into their ranks without attracting the slightest attention. He did not grow arrogant simply because his strength had greatly increased. He remained as low-key as ever, unwilling to draw anyone's notice.
As for the reason—
He planned to desert on the journey to the border.
Going to the border meant nine deaths for every chance at life. The danger was too great. Yet he possessed the Sacrifice Heavenly Stele. As long as he could obtain enough offerings, his strength could grow without limit.
Why risk his life?
Even becoming a bandit in the wilderness and being wanted by the authorities would be better than throwing his life away.
That was why he had risked attracting greedy eyes to buy meat from Gou Buyi.
Half an hour later, the morning training ended. The auxiliary soldiers groaned and complained as they lined up to receive their food. By the usual routine, they should have continued doing odd jobs afterward.
But today seemed different.
Perhaps because they were about to depart, or perhaps this was the usual process for auxiliary soldiers in previous years, but in any case, after eating, everyone was once again forcibly assembled at the training grounds by Deputy Commander Liu.
At the other end of the training grounds stood a group of old soldiers in paper armor, lounging about lazily. Their eyes burned as they stared at the auxiliary soldiers, like wild wolves that had gone hungry for a long time and finally found prey.
"In a few days, you will head to the border. By custom, there will be a sparring match before departure. Whoever can defeat an old soldier will be allowed an extra piece of meat at noon and may even have the chance to be assigned to the regular camp and receive military pay."
Deputy Commander Liu stood before the crowd, pointing at the group of old soldiers in the distance as he spoke loudly.
Logically, with rewards on offer, everyone should have been delighted. But in reality, most faces were filled with fear.
This was hardly surprising.
Auxiliary soldiers ate twice a day, one thin meal and one solid meal. Filling their stomachs was already difficult. The old soldiers of the regular camp, however, ate three meals a day, and some elites could occasionally even eat meat.
Moreover, most of them had seen blood, and in every respect, they far surpassed these auxiliary soldiers who had only recently entered military service.
This was a beating they could see coming.
Jiang Che even felt this was an unspoken rule of the army camp—to thoroughly grind down the auxiliary soldiers' temperaments before they departed, making them fearful and terrified, too afraid to resist, so that they would obediently head to the border.
"Enough. Starting from the first row, begin."
After casually saying a few words, Deputy Commander Liu withdrew from the center of the training grounds and returned to the side of the commander of the Auxiliary Barracks to await orders.
The dozen or so auxiliary soldiers in the first row looked at one another, none daring to make the first move. Some even hurriedly lowered their heads. But the old soldiers opposite them had no intention of remaining deadlocked.
They advanced slowly, while the Auxiliary Barracks soldiers from the second row onward tacitly retreated more than ten meters, leaving space for the fight.
Just as expected, the dozen auxiliary soldiers were beaten senseless. They had no ability to fight back at all. In just a few moves, the old soldiers knocked them down and pinned them to the ground for a brutal pounding.
The second row,
The third row,
Dozens of auxiliary soldiers were knocked down in succession. Their injuries varied, though they were mostly superficial wounds. Even so, the fear in the people around them could be clearly felt.
But fear was useless.
At last, it was Jiang Che's turn. More than a dozen men slowly made their way to the center of the training grounds.
On the other side, just as the old soldiers were eagerly preparing to make their move, one of them grabbed a soldier who was about to step forward and grinned.
"Old Wang, switch with me."
"Fine."
Scarface nodded, his cold gaze fixed tightly on someone ahead. A sneer curled at his lips. Meeting Jiang Che's eyes, he twisted his wrists, then cupped his fists in greeting as his knuckles cracked loudly.
He was clearly prepared to teach Jiang Che a proper lesson.