Creak creak ——
The horse carriage moved forward on the streets of Qingmu City, heading straight for Green Wood Camp, which was set up inside the city walls to guard against emergencies.
As they traveled along, there were more and more armored soldiers marching in neat formations.
“Hmm…”
Little Li sat inside the carriage, deep in thought.
“Brother Li, are you thinking about how to deal with my army formation later? Are you nervous?”
Zhong Zhenyue sat boldly, his hands propped on his knees, grinning as he spoke.
In front of him lay a military formation diagram.
Since Brother Li had been so serious and heavy-hearted all along, he felt he should take it seriously too.
“Uh, it’s not just because of the formation.”
“Oh? What else could make Brother Li so nervous?”
Zhong Zhenyue raised an eyebrow, quite curious.
“The Ice… Cold Fairy you’ve met.”
“Ah, naturally.”
“She looked at me this way this morning.”
Li Mo squinted his eyes, tilted his head up with his eyes lowered, mimicking Ice Chunk’s expression. It was about three-tenths similar.
“Cold Fairy glaring at Brother Li” Edition.
“Hmmph…”
Zhong Zhenyue leaned back dramatically, spilling his hot tea all over his pants.
“According to your experience with women, what do you think it’s about?”
“But I don’t have such experience, Brother Li.”
“…”
Recalling the times Zhong Zhenyue drooled after being tricked by a seductive woman who didn’t even use any enchanting skills…
Well, it was pointless asking him.
This guy probably had “fight and fun” on his mind all the time, just like the gang from the Gourd School.
Not long after, they arrived at Green Wood Camp. As the heavy gates opened, the two of them stepped down and walked in, immediately seeing soldiers practicing various forms of martial arts.
Some of them, newer recruits, were mostly at the vitality realm and practicing basic stabbing techniques.
Others at the peak vitality realm were fighting bare-chested, grappling like big bears.
Sweat, muscles — real man 1v1 battles…
The most elite among them were the archers, at least at the internal energy condensation stage.
Several of them with appearances different from those of Da Yu natives were probably recruited locally from South Border.
“How many troops are under our Green Wood Camp? Can you tell me that?” Li Mo looked out at the vast camp ground.
“Why don’t you take a guess, Brother Li.”
“Three hundred thousand?”
Li Mo, having watched TV shows where armies of hundreds of thousands were casually mentioned, thought the camp was big enough for it to be a safe guess.
“Haha, it’s eighty thousand.”
Zhong Zhenyue entered the camp, his voice carrying a bit more authority: “Three hundred thousand troops, that’s more like what Nan Pass City had. Nan Pass used to have a million mighty warriors.”
Li Mo nodded.
He’d heard his old man talking when drunk, saying there used to be no Qingmu City; Nan Pass was the only barrier Da Yu had in South Border.
Back then, the disaster beasts were so violent that Nan Pass was endangered multiple times.
“By the way, the Lu Yi I promised to look for hasn’t been found yet. It’ll likely take two or three days.”
“That’s fast. It’d be great if all the defense armies in other places were as orderly as Green Wood Camp.”
“Our king has good intentions but no power.”
Zhong Zhenyue understood Li Mo’s meaning and after a moment of silence said,
“The Emperor doesn’t take Nan Pass as seriously as before. Maybe we don’t need to.”
Li Mo seemed to understand and after a brief pause responded with a smile,
“It means it’s harder to have wars in South Border, which is good.”
“Right, Brother Li, please.” Zhong Zhenyue also smiled as they approached his personal guard camp.
On the spacious parade ground were heavily armored soldiers, numbering around three to four hundred, practicing formations. Every one of them was fierce and spirited.
And the one commanding them was an elegant female general, holding a precious bow in one hand and a banner in the other.
“These personal guards are all elite veterans, with an indomitable killing spirit.”
Li Mo felt a small internal tremble.
It was somewhat similar to the aura he felt from the Ya Zi true spirit.
“Why don’t we have a little bout before your training ends?”
Zhong Zhenyue was clearly itching for a match.
“Of course, no problem.” Li Mo drew out the Crimson Sky Sword.
He hadn’t wielded a sword in a long time, and after coming into contact with the Ya Zi true spirit all night, Sword Master Little Li was itchy for a fight.
The Ya Zi true spirit was in charge of blades and enjoyed a good fight.
After engaging in a brief sparring match, Young Master Zhong showed significant improvement. Not only were his skills better, but his experience was also more cunning than before.
Li Mo only used his sword techniques, and it took over eighty moves before Zhong Zhenyue showed signs of defeat.
After awhile,
Little Li heard a familiar system notification tone in his ears.
【Congrats, Host! You’ve successfully invested in ‘Zhong Zhenyue’ and helped him discover a martial arts flaw.】
【Investment Return: Hundred-Strong Army Formation (Black Scale Formation)】
Military formation techniques?
Little Li thought to himself that he wasn’t in the army.
He wondered how this formation compared to the Zhong family Iron Formation of the King of the Southern Border.
“Given time, once I reach the inner landscape, I will surely rid myself of the ‘Eight-Armed Young Dragon’ nickname.”
Zhong Zhenyue was drenched in sweat, leaning on his spear with bright eyes. He had lost, yet made significant progress.
“So, can nicknames change?”
“Of course. What was Brother Li’s nickname again?”
“Um, Lonely Unique Sword!”
Li Mo emphasized seriously.
As they were chatting, Li Mo’s ear twitched, but he showed no movement.
Snap!
An arrow struck three inches away from him, the feather quivering violently.
The female general’s voice called out from the command platform:
“The eleventh prodigy on the Qianlong List couldn’t even dodge a cold arrow? Could it be all your achievements are due to…”
“Your wife’s luck?”
Li Mo: “…”
The little black pot left unboiled, yet this one’s boiling?
Zhong Zhenyue glanced at Brother Li’s sleeve, seeing he still held his hammer, and let out a sigh of relief. Then he feigned a stern look and scolded:
“Zhong Ling, how could Brother Li not dodge your arrow? He merely didn’t wish to argue with you. Apologize before he takes out his sword.”
Judging by age, General Zhong Ling, who was called that, should be Zhong Zhenyue’s sister.
“Hmph.”
Zhong Ling shot a glare at Zhong Zhenyue then looked pointedly at Li Mo and said,
“You wanted to challenge our Zhong family military formation, right? I’ll be the commander and Zhao Yue will be the vanguard. Dare you, O Heir to the Qianlong and Sky Flood Dragon, to take me on?”
“Exactly what I had in mind.”
Li Mo put away the Crimson Sky Sword.
He originally intended to use the army’s killing aura to temper himself, allowing him to better accommodate the Ya Zi true spirit.
Zhong Zhenyue: “!”
How did it become I’m the vanguard?
I didn’t say anything!
Although Zhong Ling was somewhat fiery-tempered, she wasn’t usually capricious. What’s her deal today?
“Oh, let’s place a bet, shall we?”
“Sure. If you lose, you have to act as a cook for the guards in the army.”
Zhong Ling looked like she’d been thinking of this for some time.
“No problem.”
“If you lose, you must never call me a ‘lucky husband’ again!”
Li Mo took off his shirt, revealing a lithe, muscular upper body. His muscles brimmed with strength, and dark light swirled around them, accompanied by fierce killing auras.
Behind him, the outline of a ferocious beast faintly appeared.
Ya Zi!
Zhong Zhenyue: “…”
Is it still possible to withdraw now?
Online, waiting desperately.
