Double rewards

One by one, the recruits stood hungry before Commandant Lin, smelling the food as they waited. They would have to wait until everyone arrived before they could eat together.

So far, twenty-six men had been expelled from camp for either handing their equipment to someone else to carry or trying to be clever by simply throwing it away.

After Commandant Lin summoned a whirlwind and tossed the troublemakers straight out through the camp gates, no one dared argue about it again.

After all, an army camp was no place for debate. What it needed was not men who fancied themselves clever, but soldiers willing to put their heads down and work hard.

Only after they had waited a full two hours did the remaining recruits finally arrive, one after another.

The march that had taken all day finally came to an end, and the officers recorded each man's physical condition... In fact, it did not matter if they had fallen far behind during the march. Anyone who persevered to the end with all his equipment was considered qualified.

After all, poor stamina was only to be expected at this stage. They could build it up through continued training.

But anyone who lacked character, liked scheming, and had no perseverance would be given one good meal before being dismissed.

And where there were punishments, there were naturally rewards. The first thirty men to finish this march were directly appointed squad leaders.

Commandant Lin promised this himself, and Scribe Zhao beside him promptly changed their name tags and entered them in the register...

Since Wang Qi had helped him along the entire way, Wang Ergou was naturally among them. Otherwise, after pushing himself so hard during the first half, he would surely have fallen far behind in the second.

Now, however, he was a squad leader.

Wang Qi, on the other hand, seemed to have received no reward for this... He had already been promised the position of squad leader, and this would not make him a leader of ten.

So, unlike those thirty excited men, he cared more about how good dinner would be... He thought he could smell meat.

Fortunately, although Commandant Lin was a lofty, brocade-clad spellcaster, he understood the soldiers' hearts very well.

After briefly explaining a few rules concerning rewards and punishments, he announced that everyone could go eat... That was a good thing. They were all ravenous. Who had the patience to listen to a long-winded speech?

At first, Wang Qi was not quite used to such a short "speech from the leadership"... But then he understood. Most of those present were illiterate country folk. Rather than trying to reason with them, it was more practical to tell them directly what they stood to gain.

Their thinking was simple, too. They only needed to know what they could and could not do... As far as most of them were concerned, everything else could be left to the officers.

Wang Qi followed the others to collect his food.

The meal was a little more generous this time, but most importantly, the bowl of vegetable soup had become a bowl of thin vegetable-and-meat soup!

Though it did not taste particularly good, at least he finally tasted meat in a meal.

Wang Qi did not turn his nose up at it this time. He happily finished all his food, then pondered how to approach Scribe Zhao for his Water-Cleansing Spell.

Fortunately, the thirty newly appointed squad leaders were all to receive their rewards after dinner, so they were led together to Scribe Zhao's tent to wait in line.

Wang Qi did not fight to be first, because he knew there was little point.

Sure enough, the men ahead of him went in and came out quickly, each wearing a gloomy expression, their joy mixed with worry.

Before long, Wang Ergou came out as well, and Wang Qi asked him, "What's wrong? Aren't you happy with your reward?"

Wang Ergou took out the reward he had received and showed it to Wang Qi before saying, "It's this, Blazing Sun Qi. But I can't read. How am I supposed to learn it?"

It was a sheet of paper, densely covered with nearly three hundred characters... This was an exceedingly simple and direct qi-refining method, but one particularly suited to military use.

There was one problem, however: most of the men here could not read.

Wang Qi said irritably, "That's what you get for slacking off when the old village chief was teaching us to read!"

Wang Ergou looked miserable and said dejectedly, "I thought reading was useless... Now I regret it to death."

Seeing that he was almost the only one left, Wang Qi hurried toward the tent as he said, "Don't worry. Since they're giving you a reward like this, they'll surely arrange for you to learn how to refine qi."

He lifted the tent flap and walked inside to find Scribe Zhao writing furiously.

Wang Qi said nothing and waited patiently to one side.

Scribe Zhao's brush raced across the page like a dragon or serpent. Once he finished the sheet, he tossed it to Wang Qi and said, "Since you already know how to refine qi, I'll just tell you how to use it."

"This is the incantation. As you recite it, gather your internal qi at the Jade Fluid, Golden Saliva, and Sea Spring acupoints. Recite the incantation a few more times, and you'll naturally learn how to use it."

His casual manner made it seem as though he was giving Wang Qi something utterly insignificant.

That was not wrong, either. After all, among a spellcaster's incantations, the Water-Cleansing Spell did not even qualify as a basic spell.

The dismissal was obvious, but when Wang Qi thought of the newly appointed squad leaders who had come out looking so miserable, he felt sure it could not really be that simple.

He quickly lowered his head to examine the writing on the paper... Well, he would call it writing for now. In any case, he could not understand it.

"Master Zhao, could you read this incantation aloud for me? Sorry for the trouble."

He knew he certainly could not do it himself, so he simply asked for guidance.

Scribe Zhao looked up at him, then said, "These are talismanic characters. If you don't know them, you can't learn incantations."

Wang Qi shamelessly persisted. "You only need to read it to me once, sir. Just once!"

Scribe Zhao had intended to put this obviously troublesome soldier in his place a little more and teach him the rules, but now his curiosity naturally stirred... Could this youth have such a good memory that he could remember the pronunciation of this entire talismanic incantation after hearing it just once?

So he cleared his throat and said, "Listen carefully!"

At once, a passage of obscure, difficult-to-distinguish sounds spilled from his mouth.

The incantation was not long, but its pronunciation was so strange and contrary to the logic of language that Wang Qi was momentarily bewildered.

Still, he reacted extremely quickly, knowing that if he tried to memorize it by sheer force, errors and omissions would soon creep in.

Without caring where he was, he pulled the little piece of charcoal he carried from his waist and began writing rapidly on the sheet of paper.

Scribe Zhao was very curious about this. What was the youth writing?

After quickly finishing the incantation, he leaned over for a look and discovered that Wang Qi had written a string of simplified characters at astonishing speed... Yet these simplified characters were, of course, not the incantation he had just recited. They could even be said to have no more to do with it than wind, horses, and oxen had with one another.

But with the little rising strokes, falling strokes, and horizontal marks above those simplified characters, Scribe Zhao suddenly realized that Wang Qi had plainly written down every sound of the Water-Cleansing Spell's incantation!

This lad has a spark!

He could not help marveling inwardly.

There were plenty of clever people, but most used their cleverness for petty tricks and shirking. Wang Qi's cleverness, however, truly showed an exceptional spark of ingenuity.

"Thank you for the demonstration, sir. I'll take my leave."

Having obtained what he wanted, Wang Qi said goodbye. He was already rather eager to try out the Water-Cleansing Spell and see how well it worked.

But unexpectedly, Scribe Zhao suddenly stopped him. "We're not finished with your business yet. Don't be in such a hurry to leave."

Wang Qi was surprised.

Only then did Scribe Zhao stroke his beard and smile, showing his teeth. "Though we can't appoint you squad leader twice, we can reward you twice... This is Commandant Lin's favor. The opportunity won't come again. You might say you've slipped through a loophole."

Wang Qi was delighted... So he was entitled to a reward for finishing among the first thirty, too!

Then he asked, "Can I learn another incantation?"

Scribe Zhao nodded slightly. "Since you've already cultivated internal qi, you may choose from some basic combat techniques and spells."

His appreciation for talent had stirred as well. The nimble ingenuity Wang Qi had just displayed had rather won him over.

Then Wang Qi said, "Then... is there a spell like a Clothing-Cleansing Spell?"

Scribe Zhao was still wearing his "kindly" expression when his face abruptly darkened, and he nearly choked on his own saliva.

He took another look at the youth, feeling that this little rascal was making fun of him!