Back on the marching route, Wang Ergou showed no surprise at all over Wang Qi's earlier disappearance... They were neighbors, after all. Wang Ergou had long since grown used to Wang Qi's annoying habits.
In the past, he had found Wang Qi’s bad habits unbearable, wondering how anyone could be so fussy.
Now, though, they only felt familiar and comforting... because they were the only familiar things he had left.
Wang Qi, on the other hand, felt much more alert. He held his waterskin without drinking from it, simply carrying it along as he looked forward to learning the Water-Cleansing Spell later.
Learning some combat techniques might have been better under the circumstances... but his guiding principle had always been to stay in the middle of the pack. Wouldn't learning combat techniques make him stand out again?
Besides, maintaining a minimum standard of living was extremely important to him. There were some things he simply could not tolerate.
They continued in silence. He carefully regulated his stamina, never trying to drink even when the mountain springs looked clear... He knew a certain Bear Grylls, after all, and had "seen with his own eyes" how the man often spent an entire night with diarrhea after drinking seemingly clear water.
A person had to treasure his life. Especially in an era like this, he had to learn to look after himself.
Wang Qi and the others marched on, eventually following a small river.
It seemed the army camp had been set up upstream.
Others stopped to draw water from the river along the way, but Wang Qi had gone the whole afternoon without drinking a single mouthful.
He had been using his internal qi to regulate his metabolism, expelling excess body heat through his breath rather than cooling himself by sweating.
Every breath he exhaled was therefore scorching hot, but he had kept his fluid loss well under control and was not particularly thirsty yet.
He did not know whether others could do the same with their internal qi. As far as he was concerned, this was probably another peculiar effect brought about by First Yang Arises.
Sure enough, after marching a while longer, they reached the camp built beside the river's upper reaches.
Wang Qi carefully examined the camp's location. It stood high on the riverbank, where even a flood would never affect it. A short distance downstream lay a stretch of shallows suitable for fishing and hunting, with plenty of waterbirds and fish.
Heading upstream would take them into the mountains. It was the perfect season for an autumn hunt, and the wild game in the mountains was plump with fat... What a wonderful location.
Wang Qi's hands began to itch. The choice of campsite suited him all too well.
His fellow villager Ergou, of course, had no such reflections. He was so exhausted that he panted like a dog, his tongue almost hanging out.
Fortunately, they had reached the camp. As soon as they entered, they saw the group that had arrived ahead of them feasting off to one side...
Cooking pots had already been set up in the camp, and the food looked plentiful.
At the sight, Wang Ergou wanted to head over too, but Wang Qi caught him and looked in the other direction...
On the other side-or rather, a little farther in, directly opposite the camp gate-stood four men who looked like officers.
Wang Qi had not noticed them at first either, but then he spotted Xu Sanlang, the Military Marquis of their Archer Company, among the four officers.
He hurriedly pulled Wang Ergou, who kept swallowing his saliva, over toward them...
As they approached, Wang Qi continued studying the four officers. It was easy to pick out the refined man in brocade who stood in the military camp holding a feather fan and wearing a bright silver mask...
It was not merely that the other three seemed somewhat meek and deferential toward him. More importantly, simply standing there, the silver-masked gentleman made Wang Qi feel as insignificant as someone facing a towering mountain.
This was a perception of qi. The man's internal qi was unimaginably vast.
Yet just then, whether it was his imagination or not, the masked man seemed to sense Wang Qi watching him and glanced his way...
Wang Qi hastily withdrew his gaze and dragged Wang Ergou into place before the four men, not daring to utter a single unnecessary word.
The silver-masked man, however, spoke first. "Have you trained your qi?"
Wang Qi was still hesitating over what to say when Military Marquis Xu answered ahead of him. "Commandant Lin, this is the adopted son of Wang Dashan, the former military commandant of the northern lands."
Commandant Lin nodded behind his silver mask. "That explains it."
Then, unexpectedly, he said nothing more.
Wang Qi found that rather strange. Was the old geezer back home really that famous?
Still, he thought the important part was probably "military commandant"... Like a commandant, that was already a high-ranking military post.
He stood there without betraying anything and said no more.
Wang Ergou, meanwhile, felt rather uncomfortable... He sensed an oppressive weight from those above him. Before these four officers, especially Commandant Lin, he did not dare put on the slightest airs.
Commandant Lin's cultivation had reached a level where it exerted pressure on Wang Ergou, who was still an ordinary person.
More people arrived after them. Seeing the people feasting on one side and Wang Qi and Wang Ergou on the other, they froze at the camp gate, unsure what to do.
At that point, another officer beside Commandant Lin laughed and scolded them. "You little brats still want to go over there and stuff yourselves? Get over here and stand in formation! Commandant Lin hasn't even spoken yet!"
They hurried over and stood in place.
There was no real formation, of course. None of them had ever properly stood in ranks before.
Those who arrived afterward followed their example and came over to stand with them, making the people gorging themselves at the food-serving area stand out all the more.
Then another recruit approached... but Military Marquis Xu Sanlang suddenly spoke. "Go eat over there. You don't need to come here."
The man froze, suddenly feeling that something had gone terribly wrong.
Those who had been eating their fill earlier froze as well. One after another, they hurried over, hoping to rejoin the ranks without a word...
But Military Marquis Xu had already barked, "Halt! Once you've finished eating, you can leave on your own."
The men were shocked. One Wandering Swordsman who was clearly their leader demanded loudly, "Why? We brothers came here to enlist! You officers already accepted us, so why are you driving us away now?!"
Military Marquis Xu sneered. "Where are the weapons issued to you? Where is your armor?"
"This is an army, not your backstreet marketplace... How do you expect to fight the enemy after losing your weapons and armor?"
"So leave. If the Divine Archer Battalion won't take you, you can still serve in the Northern Army. They aren't picky."
The wandering bravos were furious, feeling that being treated this way was utterly unfair.
"This is outrageous!"
Their leader even felt he had been humiliated. Raising a fist the size of a clay pot, he prepared to show these soldiers what he could do... Wandering bravos were that reckless. At the slightest disagreement, they wanted to "reason" with their fists.
But just then, Commandant Lin, the silver-masked gentleman, softly chanted a few short syllables, then casually pressed his feather fan forward...
The next instant, a fierce current of air surrounded the troublemaking recruits... It spun rapidly, finally becoming a whirlwind that shot into the sky!
The wandering bravos, still nursing their grievances, were immediately swept into the air... Then the whirlwind raced toward the camp gate, carrying them all the way outside before the wind finally dispersed.
With the world spinning around them, the wandering bravos crashed to the ground and could not get up for some time... Even once they did, they would not dare utter another word.
For Commandant Lin of the Divine Archer Battalion was, unmistakably, a sorcerer of no low rank...
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