First place without a fuss

A cold wind swept in overnight; by dawn, hills and waters wore robes of silver.

That night, Wang Qi was caught off guard and "buried" by a heavy snowfall... Only when he woke in a mound of snow did he realize winter had truly arrived.

Heaven had refused to cooperate. Today was supposed to be the camp competition, and the night before, everyone had been rubbing their hands in anticipation, eager to show off their skills. None had expected a sudden cold front to leave them freezing all night...

Although the army had already issued winter clothing, they still shivered uncontrollably when they lifted their tent flaps that morning and went outside to assemble...

Normally, in weather this cold, they would have stayed tucked away at home. They really were not used to moving around in such bitter conditions.

But now they were soldiers, so they had to obey orders, leave their warm quarters, and demonstrate their martial skills on the Drill Ground amid the wind and snow.

Today marked the completion of their three months of recruit training. They would be ranked according to their individual performances, then assigned lower-level military posts directly.

After all this time, though, a few rumors had begun circulating in camp: the outstanding performers who qualified to become ten-man or five-man squad leaders would still have to take a written test assessing their grasp of various flag signals and commands.

No one knew the details, but apparently, excellent results could earn additional rewards.

In any case, everyone would be competing in the cold wind over the next three days...

Wang Qi naturally entered the archery competition.

Military Marquises such as Xu Sanlang, who had become familiar with him, already knew the strength of his archery skills. Everyone thought highly of his potential, too, so he did not play dumb too much this time.

Since he had earned a modest reputation among the officers, his name was called first, and he stepped forward to demonstrate his archery.

He looked at the target standing eighty paces away and the twenty arrows in a quiver...

Then he picked up a standard-issue war bow and unleashed a rapid string of shots.

He did not take any special care to aim. As far as he was concerned, making sure all twenty arrows hit the target would be enough.

Nor did he deliberately push his shooting speed to the limit. He simply maintained a steady pace of two arrows per breath.

Yet the accuracy and consistency of those casual draws and shots were astonishing. In the end, he had still subconsciously aimed at the red bull's-eye, so the twenty arrows were spread fairly evenly across the area closer to the target's center.

Not a single arrow missed the target, and not one even landed in the outer ring.

Of twenty shots, eleven struck the bull's-eye!

His performance left everyone thoroughly amazed.

Even in ordinary training, this would have been the best result of anyone besides the officers. Even some Team Commanders in the Archer Companies could not have done better!

For a moment, cheers erupted from everyone around him.

No one would look down on Wang Qi again... Of course, they no longer had any thought of competing with him, either. His talent was outstanding enough to be measured directly against the officers.

After that, the remaining men from the three Archer Companies continued their target-shooting competition in the cold wind.

They had watched Wang Qi loose twenty arrows in one easy stretch, but only when their own turn came did they realize just how difficult it was...

Their hands were trembling from the cold wind. How could they possibly hold their bows steady?

Their fingers were stiff, and even the drawing motions they had once performed so smoothly had become painfully awkward. How could their results be good?

On top of that, competing under so many watchful eyes inevitably made them nervous. Under those conditions, hardly anyone performed well.

In the end, among the six hundred men of the Archer Companies, no one besides Wang Qi managed to land every arrow on the target eighty paces away!

Wang Qi was stunned by the result. He had thought that shooting only at the eighty-pace target rather than the hundred-pace one would let him perform well enough without standing out too much. Yet he had actually taken first place?

There were clearly a few fellow soldiers whose talent and hard work allowed them to hit targets a hundred paces away accurately during training...

Was the north wind truly raising such a clamor?

Wang Qi had overlooked the weather, as well as how well his current physical condition allowed him to adapt to his surroundings. Of course, the most important factor was his mental composure.

So there was really nothing surprising about him taking first place, and it was exactly the result the officers had expected.

The Spear Soldiers and Sword-and-Shield Soldiers held their competitions at the same time, finishing one after another within the day.

But the competition was not over yet...

This competition did not merely have each branch demonstrate its own skills. Every soldier could also choose another skill to demonstrate!

Only then did everyone understand what those long stretches of free time each afternoon had meant... They were not just meant to improve their primary skills, but to give them opportunities to learn more!

Most had focused solely on improving their primary skills, and few had chosen to practice anything extra... Even Wang Qi had not thought of this.

But when he saw some soldiers step forward one after another to demonstrate additional skills, he realized that there were indeed plenty of clever people in this world.

Without a doubt, being able to handle several weapons properly would earn extra points.

Wang Qi merely watched. He had taken first place in archery, after all, so there was no need to concern himself with such things.

What he had not expected was for someone to "make arrangements" for him.

At that moment, Xu Sanlang thrust a ring-pommeled saber into Wang Qi's hands, then whispered in his ear, "Put on a good show. Commandant Lin is watching."

Wang Qi immediately felt utterly helpless. They were forcing him to show what he could do.

Wang Dashan had been right: it was better to keep a low profile in the army. Having his superiors constantly watching him felt truly awful.

But now he had been backed into a corner. He could only heft the long, straight-bladed saber to judge its weight, then begin demonstrating a set of saber moves.

This saber technique had no name. It was the "Grass-Cutting Saber Technique" that Wang Dashan had casually taught Wang Qi when he took him to the village to help with the autumn harvest during the busy farming season.

Its crude blade work consisted mostly of horizontal slashes, but its footwork was nimble and varied. After learning it, Wang Qi had even earned the flattering nickname "the saber wielder on the field paths" among the village youths.

Yet after he demonstrated this technique, Commandant Lin and those beside him all grew solemn... He recognized it as a saber technique suited to countering charges by the northern Hu People cavalry.

Judging from its sweeping, forceful cuts aimed exclusively at the lower body, this had to be a battlefield saber technique designed specifically to sever cavalry horses' legs... Perhaps "Horse-Slaying Saber Technique" would have been a more accurate name.

"What an excellent Horse-Slaying Saber Technique. His potential truly is limitless... Brother Zhao Ji, once we finish here today, have him come straight to me. I'll make other arrangements for him."

Zhao Ji, who was also Scribe Zhao, gave a slight nod at those words. He already understood Commandant Lin's intentions and thoroughly agreed with them.

Commandant Lin still had an elite force numbering fewer than twenty men. Even officers such as Xu Sanlang had been sent out from that force!

And now, Commandant Lin intended to speak with Wang Qi and ask whether he was willing to join that elite force... Anyone would feel the urge to nurture such a promising young talent.