~~~

The march to Rainstorm City is long.

The city is in the southern area of Murong Bang’s territory, much closer to the border with the Crimson Cloud Empire than it is to Cloudburst City. It is not the sort of distance Liu Jin’s soldiers can cross in one day or even one week. Their cultivation is simply too weak for a feat like that. Most of them aren’t even in the Nascent Realm.

Transporting them all in the Flame-Wheeled Wagons is not an option. They brought only four to Murong Bang’s territory, and they left two behind with those who stayed in Cloudburst City. Even if they had brought all four, there wouldn’t be enough space. Liu Jin briefly considers putting the soldiers in his spatial pouch, but that would be too dangerous. There is no telling what the men would stumble upon inside.

In the end, running is the only way.

Liu Jin, Lu Mei, and the others ride in the Flame-Wheeled Wagons while the soldiers are told to run. They might not like it, but it is good training for them, something they desperately need if they’re going to be useful. Remembering Colonel Peng’s advice on dealing with soldiers of weaker cultivation, Liu Jin makes sure they’re always given a full night’s sleep. He pushes them but never unreasonably so.

On the third day, he changes things up a little.

“Commander! Help!” one of the soldiers cries out in panic.

An ant the size of a horse has emerged from the ground. Its jaws click ominously as it attacks the unit. While some have begun to fight back, trying to stab the Spirit Beast with their spears, some are paralyzed with fear, and others are running away.

Liu Jin is not sure which of the last two is worse.

“What are you afraid of?” Liu Jin asks, using Qi to enhance his voice. “The enemy is one. You are a hundred. Do you fear it because of its size? Look beyond that and feel its Qi. This creature is in the early stages of the Nascent Realm and nothing more.”

The confidence, the certainty in Liu Jin’s voice, spreads through the troops. Those who are running stop. Those who are frozen snap to their senses. Those who are fighting find renewed purpose. The shock and uncertainty are peeled away from their minds, allowing them to see the giant ant for what it is. A mindless Spirit Beast, and nothing more.

“Group up in teams of five. Surround it. Attack it. Win. Those are your orders,” Liu Jin says.

“Yes, sir!”

Liu Jin watches carefully as the soldiers engage the enemy. Murong Bang told him that he could not fight. He did not say anything about him being unable to pull his soldiers out of a battle before they got killed, not that Liu Jin thinks it’ll get to that point.

It is just as he said. This giant ant should be a simple enough foe for them.

“I am curious,” Lu Mei says, sitting next to him on top of the Flame-Wheeled Wagon. “How did you arrange this?”

“It wasn’t that hard,” Liu Jin replies, his eyes still fixed on the battle. “Lei Kong and Brother Ten have been scouting ahead. They found a whole colony of ants a few miles away. It could have been dangerous for nearby towns, so I had them eliminate the colony. Most of it, at least.”

“And then you told them to bury one of the ants in our path? But then how would you arrange for it to…” She frowns, her red lips lightly pursed. “Did you poison the ant so it’d wake up at the exact moment we’d pass by?”

“You are half-right.”

Lu Mei raises an eyebrow and leans closer. “Oh?”

“I did poison the ant so it’d wake up when we were near.”

Working out the amount of poison needed to arrange that had taken more guesswork than Liu Jin is comfortable with. Still, he cannot argue with the results.

“But I didn’t poison just one ant.”

A second giant ant, a Pale-Faced Harvest Ant if Liu Jin remembers his lessons correctly, rises from the ground and starts attacking the soldiers.

“Impressive,” Lu Mei says.

“Commander!” one of the soldiers shouts.

“You all have your orders,” Liu Jin says, with Qi enhancing his voice. “It is just one more enemy.”

“Is it just one more enemy?” Lu Mei asks him in a conspiratorial whisper.

“For the next ten minutes or so, at least,” Liu Jin answers just as quietly.

Lu Mei laughs.

~~~

It takes some time, but the soldiers defeat two giant ants and the other three that emerged during the fight. They end up bruised and tired but victorious. Perhaps a more eloquent speaker than Liu Jin would have a speech ready about the feeling of victory. Alas, such things are beyond him.

Whatever his Dao is, it is not the Dao of public speaking.

Instead, Liu Jin makes them line up according to their injuries and heals them. A sizable dinner is served afterward. They will need it because the next day…

~~~

“Commander! It’s rats! Giant rants!”

“There are only six of them and a hundred of you. You know what to do. Group up. Surround them. Kill them.”

~~~

And the day after…

“Snakes! Commander! It’s snakes!”

“Avoid the fangs. Watch out for the tail. You should already know what to do without me needing to say anything else.”

~~~

Three days later, it happens.

“Commander! There is a group of giant boars approaching! They look hostile!”

This time, Liu Jin steps down from the wagon and walks to the front of his troops.

“Men,” He says. “Over the past few days, you have fought vermin. The ants were worthless, the rats were diseased, and the snakes were poisonous. They were simply not fit for consumption, a great tragedy as the flesh of Spirit Beasts is a great resource for cultivators.”

It is almost fun watching realization dawn on some of the soldiers. The smarter ones see where he is going with this, and their Qi thirst with anticipation. Liu Jin is glad they appreciate it. Concocting a lure had been an interesting challenge, but finding the boars had been far more difficult than he expected. Murong Bang’s territory is truly in a sorry state.

“That is not the case today,” Liu Jin says, his hands folded behind his back. The boars are a few hundred yards away now. “Today, you face something you can eat. The creatures before you are not foes. They are your next meal.”

He doesn’t even need to tell the men to charge.

~~~

The men feast that night. The campfires shine merrily under the stars, and the smell of roasted boar spreads to every corner. If there was any alcohol around, someone would have probably started to sing already.

There are only two gloomy faces to be seen.

“You seem quiet compared to the others. Is the food not to your liking?” Liu Jin asks Rust and Nail.

The beggars that Liu Jin saved from Murong Bang’s arena jump in fright. They had not sensed Liu Jin until he was right next to them.

“My lord!” The two cry out, immediately kneeling down. Lei Kong has undoubtedly been teaching them unnecessary things.

“Of course, we like the food,” one of them, Rust, says. “It’s the best we’ve ever had!”

Nail nods enthusiastically at that. Considering their backgrounds, they could very well be telling the truth.

“And yet, you didn’t fail to notice your portions were smaller than those of the soldiers’,” Liu Jin notes. He rolls his eyes when they both flinch. “Useless as it might be to say this, be at ease. I do not plan on punishing you for noticing things or having feelings. I am not unreasonable.”

As expected, his words do little to calm the men down.

“We get it, my lord. They killed the beasts, and we didn’t,” Nail says. This time, Rust is the one who nods enthusiastically.

“No, you do not get it,” Liu Jin says, making both men flinch. “The soldiers did not receive bigger portions because they did more. They received as much as they could handle and so did you.”

The two men look at him with more confusion than fear. Liu Jin takes that as a good sign.

“Eating the meat of Spirit Beasts can help someone grow stronger. However, you must be strong enough to take that meat.”

Usually, it is not much of a concern. Unless one is dealing with exactly dragon meat, cultivators don’t have many problems subjugating the meat of creatures in higher realms unless the difference is too extreme.

“You are still in the Foundational Realm,” Liu Jin tells them. “Had you been given more meat, your bodies would not have been able to handle it.”

Liu Jin is simplifying it for their sake. It is not just that they are in the Foundational Realm. Their bodies have various deficiencies due to the poor life they have led. The diet Liu Jin has them under has made them much healthier and stronger, but that is still not enough .

“Soon, you’ll reach the Inner Realm,” Liu Jin tells them. “When that happens, you will be able to eat as much meat as the rest.”

Their faces light up, and it occurs to Liu Jin that they might have thought they were doomed to be in the Foundational Realm forever. The thought causes him to experience a surge of anger towards Murong Bang which he does his best to squash down.

“Will we…” To Liu Jin’s surprise, Nail speaks up hesitantly. He visibly vacillates before finishing his question. “Will we be able to fight like they do?”

Nail asks the question expecting to be told no. It’s written all over his face. Both their faces. Just by watching the soldiers fight, they have already resigned themselves.

And yet, if Liu Jin were to reassure them that such a goal is easily reached, they wouldn’t believe him, but they wouldn’t dare question him either.

How… frustrating.

“Tomorrow, you will join the daily run, but only for three hours. You are not ready for more than that,” Liu Jin tells them. “Rest up. You will need it.”

“Yes, my lord!” the two cry out as he walks away.

“That was kind of you, my lord,” Lei Kong tells him, appearing at his side.

“Worrying is what it is,” Liu Jin says, rubbing his forehead. “I can try as much as I want, but they are right to fear me. They are so weak they might as well be made of glass. I have to keep reminding myself that, or else I fear I might shatter them by accident.”

“My lord worries where other men wouldn’t. It is a sign of my lord’s caliber, but I fear he worries needlessly sometimes.”

“Perhaps,” Liu Jin says, not entirely convinced. Still, there are more important matters at hand. “How have your other duties been?”

“I have not detected any unusual activities among the soldiers. No one has tried to sneak outside of the camp. Whether there are spies or not, it does not seem like they are in contact with anyone right now. That might change when we are in more populated areas.” Lei Kong frowns. “As you know, Rainstorm City is in Lei Clan territory.”

Liu Jin nods. Lei Kong told him that before they left. It makes bringing Lei Kong with them a bit reckless, but the alternative was leaving him within walking distance of Murong Bang.

No one in their group is that cruel.

“I have been able to confirm that the governor of Rainstorm City is one of my cousins, Lei Jihai.”

Liu Jin hums. “Interesting. Were you close?”

The look on Lei Kong’s face makes his following answer superfluous.

“I have many cousins, my lord. I was not particularly close to any of them,” he says. “After my… accident, those who called themselves my friends turned their backs on me.”

The fist on Lei Kong’s new arm trembles with rage. Liu Jin notices but does not bring attention to it. Instead, he gives Lei Kong a moment to compose himself.

“I apologize,” Lei Kong says, taking a deep breath. “I almost lost control of my anger. I assure you that will not happen in Rainstorm City, my lord.”

“I trust that it won’t,” Liu Jin says despite having already accepted that whatever reunion Lei Kong has with his clan will inevitably turn violent sooner rather than later. “You have more than enough time to mentally prepare yourself before we get there.” Liu Jin smiles. “I guess something good can come out of this trip taking so long. The soldiers have certainly benefited from it.”

Lei Kong frowns.

“My lord, I do not mean to overstep my boundaries, but you have been healing the men after every battle. Considering the circumstances, would it not be better if you restrained yourself?”

The circumstances being that Liu Jin is covered in entirely too many bandages to claim to be healthy.

“Despite the state of my body, my Qi has already recovered, and none of the injuries the soldiers have sustained have been serious,” Liu Jin tries to reassure Lei Kong. “Besides, I would not be able to push the men so much if I wasn’t healing them after every battle.”

The soldiers are not dramatically stronger than when Liu Jin first got his hands on them. However, they have gained confidence and experience fighting as a unit. There is a sense of order in them that wasn’t there before. Already some are distinguishing themselves as leaders, which will make Liu Jin’s job easier in the future.

“I might be a hypocrite for asking this, but is it wise to make men like these strong, my lord?” Lei Kong asks. “I know we have to depend on them right now, but...”

But they are Murong Bang’s men.

There is no need for Lei Kong to finish his sentence. Liu Jin understands well. When this mission ends, his soldiers will return to Murong Bang’s army and do whatever he orders. Most likely, kill, pillage, and plunder. It is not as if they will have many qualms about doing those things. Liu Jin has been paying attention to them all this time. He knows they are not paragons of virtue. Not even close to it.

In some ways, all Liu Jin is doing right now is training Murong Bang’s soldiers for him.

“It is probably not wise,” Liu Jin admits. “However, they cannot be weak. Even if it means giving them the power to be cruel later on.”

However, is that really the only possible outcome?

“If Murong Bang seeks to taint me, who is to say these men cannot be tainted by me?” Liu Jin whispers.

Lei Kong blinks. “My lord?”

Liu Jin smiles and shakes his head. “It is nothing. Don’t mind me. I was just thinking aloud.”

Just being overly hopeful.

~~~