Snatching People

About an hour after Wei Yong and his men were summoned to the Captain's Mansion for questioning, a thick stack of documents was placed on Zhou Hongling's desk.

"Their accounts are all consistent. According to these records, Lu Yuan's strength should be at the Body Tempering Realm, but his saber techniques, archery, and grasp of military formations have reached at least the Great Completion stage, if not perfection."

Zhou Hongling spoke softly, the joy in her eyes steadily spreading.

"Ahem, actually, what's most shocking is his cultivation at the Body Tempering Realm. This shows that his body tempering is at least at the perfection stage, and he must have practiced some kind of body-refining technique to be able to go head-to-head with a Tendon Refining expert.

"Hiss, fighting two realms above his own—this boy's talent and comprehension far exceed my expectations. He already possesses the potential of a fierce general," Zhou Ming exclaimed.

Zhou Hongling kept her head down, saying nothing. She had naturally realized this herself, but she didn't want to voice it. Initially, she had wanted Lu Yuan to apprentice under her uncle so he could learn the art of military formations.

Now that he had mastered military formations on his own, there was no need for him to apprentice under her third uncle.

After all, once he became his disciple, there was a risk he would be transferred away. She had only cared about short-term results before, so it hadn't mattered, but that wasn't the case anymore.

She was a Captain now; she truly needed a capable subordinate.

Seeing that Zhou Hongling had no intention of responding, Zhou Ming spoke again, "Ahem, Hongling, Yun Mo is injured and will need some time to recover.

"If you don't mind, I'll do you a favor and take Lu Yuan under my wing to train him."

"Third Uncle, I think we should let it be. He has earned so much merit this time that I'm planning to promote him, and we are currently in a standoff with the Northern Barbarians.

"He doesn't have the time for training; let's discuss it later." Zhou Hongling rejected her third uncle's request without hesitation.

At the same time, she was already thinking about how to arrange Lu Yuan's future.

"Hongling, you're wasting talent by keeping him here. Such an outstanding individual—if I were to train him, his future would be absolutely limitless."

Zhou Ming now thoroughly regretted his hesitation and dropped the act, preparing to demand the man directly.

But Zhou Hongling still shook her head. "Third Uncle, you can't say it like that. I know a thing or two myself, and didn't he achieve such great things without anyone teaching him?

"You already have Yun Mo. If I were to send Lu Yuan to you as well, you would inevitably be distracted, and that would be the real waste of talent."

By now, she had new plans for Lu Yuan and wouldn't let her third uncle get his way.

"You—you girl, how can you turn on me so quickly? I'll trade you ten elite veterans at the Bone Forging Realm for him."

"Not even a hundred would do. Don't bring this up again." Zhou Hongling stood her ground.

To push such a talent to someone else's camp would be foolish.

It was one thing when she didn't know Lu Yuan's talent, but now that she did, there was no way her third uncle was taking him.

Then, as if thinking of something, she looked at Zhou Ming and said, "Third Uncle, I have things to attend to, so I'll be going. Yun Mo seems to be able to walk already; why don't you take him back to Crouching Tiger Sai City?

"It's quite improper for you to have been away for so long."

After saying this, Zhou Hongling hurried away.

Zhou Ming sat where he was, sighing and lamenting. He never expected that he would miss out on such a promising seed.

However, he had no intention of giving up.

The little girl wanted to chase him away? Then he simply wouldn't leave.

On the other side, Lu Yuan was unaware of all this. After taking a bath, he took out a "Tiger Soul Pill" and swallowed it.

The most important thing right now was to break through.

If he could reach the Bone Forging Realm, he was confident that if he encountered that Iron Sparrowhawk centurion again, the man wouldn't last ten moves against him, let alone have a chance to escape.

The moment the pill entered his stomach, Lu Yuan felt as if a giant tiger were crouching within him.

The muscles across his body twitched, his chest and abdomen rose and fell, and his breathing emitted a sound like rolling thunder.

At the same time, he could clearly feel the potent medicinal energy surging wantonly through his body. It was a sensation he had never experienced before, and it felt incredibly comfortable.

He didn't know how much time had passed before the medicinal energy subsided and he finally regained his senses.

He glanced outside; the sky had already darkened.

After his training, he felt quite hungry, but he couldn't be bothered to cook.

He took the leftover dry rations from his trip outside the city, toasted them over the stove, ate a bit, and then continued to take another "Tiger Soul Pill."

Logically speaking, it was the limit for a normal person to take one such pill every three days, and some even needed ten days between doses. But Lu Yuan had no such concerns because he had the system, which allowed him to convert the medicinal properties into proficiency at the fastest possible speed.

Moreover, his absorption rate was one hundred percent. One had to realize that even for a top-tier genius, absorbing sixty percent was considered excellent, while ordinary people could manage at most thirty percent.

Therefore, Lu Yuan could consume these heavenly treasures without any hesitation, never worrying about side effects.

The next moment, another pill was swallowed.

Now that he finally had cultivation resources in his hands, he was determined to break through as quickly as possible.

Once again, he felt the medicinal energy spreading through his body.

Lu Yuan's muscles and bones hummed once more.

At this moment, he couldn't help but marvel at the sheer power of the medicine.

This feeling was something he had never experienced before.

In a single night, Lu Yuan had consumed three medicinal pills.

Although he hadn't slept, he felt more comfortable than ever.

Early the next morning, just as he rose from bed.

A knocking sound came from outside.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

As the sound rang out.

Lu Yuan was somewhat surprised; who would be coming over so early in the morning?

After stepping out to open the courtyard gate, he found it was Old Huang. His eyes were bloodshot, suggesting he hadn't slept all night.

As soon as he entered, he closed the gate and pulled Lu Yuan into the house.

He said anxiously, "After you left yesterday, Wei Yong and the others were taken to the Captain's Mansion. We were questioned separately about the process of killing the Iron Sparrowhawks. I was worried our stories wouldn't match, so I told them everything I saw.

It won't affect you, will it? After we came out, I discussed it with Wei Yong and the others, and our accounts were mostly the same.

Everyone entrusted me to come and give you a heads-up today."

Clearly, these subordinates had been completely won over by Lu Yuan.

He waved his hand and said, "It's fine. Just tell them exactly what happened; it's no big deal. Have the silver for the brothers who died in battle been distributed?"

"It was sent out overnight. Although the men are gone, with that silver, their families should be able to hold on for a while. As long as it doesn't affect you, that's good. I'll be heading off now; I haven't even been home yet."

Old Huang rubbed his hands together and said.

Lu Yuan nodded, "Alright, you go on back. Rest for a couple of days, and I'll call for you when it's time to head out of the city."

"Got it." Old Huang acknowledged and then left.

Lu Yuan took out his dry rations, preparing to heat them up before eating.

He had no intention of hiding his strength. This was a military camp, where everything was determined by power. Only if you had strong talent and high ability would you not be treated as cannon fodder.

Only then would you have value.

Furthermore, there was another point: with the system, his strength improved rapidly. For instance, while others currently believed his strength was only at the Great Success or Perfection stage, he had already entered the Momentum stage.

Was this not, in itself, a hidden trump card?

Seeing Old Huang leave, Lu Yuan immediately opened his system panel to check the results of his night's cultivation.