Blood of the Army

by Tinalynge

  Xue Wei had gotten used to talking with Lan the last two weeks, but now he realized that he was all alone, yet he still spoke to himself slightly while getting ready to consume the medicinal pills.

  Xue Wei sat down with his legs crossed and his palms resting in his lap, one Rising Mountain Dewflower in one hand and half a stalk of Corpse Grass in the other.

  He then steadied his breathing slowly, closed his eyes, and found inner calm. He felt how his entire body slowly relaxed; all his muscles, which usually were taut and ready to spring into action at every moment, were now soft and relaxed.

  His breathing became steady and deep, and his body became heavy. It was not before he reached a stage just before entering a trance that he lifted the two herbs to his mouth and bit the petals of the Rising Mountain Dewflower and stuffed the half a stalk of Corpse Grass into his mouth.

  He felt how the flowers at first were coarse to chew on, but as he chewed on them, he felt them turn into a liquid stream of energy that entered through his throat and into his meridians.

  His entire body felt hot. Not a burning hot but a pleasant sensation. The Qi was white in color, yet as it roamed through Xue Wei's meridians and ended in his dantian, he could see with his inner eye how it gained an azure gleam.

  "The azure color must be because I am studying the Azure Dragon Scripture," Xue Wei mused. "Everyone else I have seen have white Qi, and the Qi that I consumed from the Rising Mountain Dewflower was also white. I guess the Azure Dragon Scripture truly is as rare as Uncle and Lan said."

  Having consumed one Rising Mountain Dewflower, Xue Wei felt a rise in his cultivation base. It was not amazing, but it was still rather good considering that this improvement had come about due to eating just one medicinal plant.

  "I shouldn’t eat more plants until I digest this fully," Xue Wei decided. "If I get too much outside energy without integrating it perfectly, then my foundations will become unsteady, and that is something I cannot afford to do."

  "I can consume one herb a day, but since I already consumed the herb for today, I guess it is time for me to contemplate the Kick of Forgotten Kings."

  Xue Wei began cultivating the Kick of Forgotten Kings. The first night was spent contemplating on the ability, and after that he spent every day at the martial arts training field practicing the ability on the Black Gold dummies.

  At the start, not many were interested in his training, but as time went on and they realized how magnificent the attack was, more and more came to watch him train.

  Xue Wei did everything he had been taught by Lan when training, and soon he was capable of fully controlling the ability.

  It was not before then that the other people in the Genius Camp realized that Xue Wei was a force to be reckoned with. The second and third layer Ordinary Warriors were all worried that now that he had learned such a strong skill, his next aim was to challenge them and take over their spots in the rankings.

  Fortunately for them, Xue Wei did not seem to have this in mind, and instead he went to find the commander.

  "Commander, sir," Xue Wei greeted the commander with his fists cupped. "I have learned a new skill and would like to train it against real enemies. Could it be possible for me to use a few enemies in the arena?"

  "A few?" the commander asked with surprise. Usually, one of their geniuses would only fight one opponent in the arena at a time, but it seemed that Xue Wei had something else planned entirely.

  He nodded his head, "I fought one before, but now I would like to fight a few stronger experts. I need to challenge myself. And if I want to truly gain some experience, then I have to go through life-and-death battles. There are no forests anywhere close to the camp where I can go and hunt Fierce Beasts, so my only option is to fight in the arena."

  Chapter 28 - Suicide

  "Are you sure that you don’t want to just challenge one opponent and then spend some time to digest and ponder on said fight, rather than start another battle right away?" the commander asked with some confusion, but Xue Wei shook his head.

  "I need something to pressure me, and to do that I would like to face at least a few people. I would like to face either four or five experts in a row, or have a fight against three opponents at once."

  "Three at once?! No – not an option at all!" The Commander was horrified. He was of the opinion that Xue Wei was clearly suicidal to even think about fighting more than one enemy at a time.

  Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders. "I got a lot of lifesaving abilities and treasures from Lan," he said casually, putting all the responsibility on Lan.

  "I learned quite a few abilities when he was here, and I should be able to hold my own against three Earth Warriors," he continued to explain, but the commander was impossible to sway.

  "Okay, since that is impossible, allow me to fight a few monsters one by one ," Xue Wei was also not just going to give up just like that. "I am sure that I will be able to survive."

  The commander started sweating. He could sense that Xue Wei was unbending in his request, but at the same time he understood that if he accidentally got Xue Wei killed, then quite a few people would come after him.

  "Why don't we do like this?" Xue Wei finally sighed. "I will fight one opponent. After that opponent dies, I will take a five minute break, and then I will say whether or not I am fit to continue fighting. If I am not in a good condition, I will stop; and if I am, I will keep fighting?"

  The commander's eyes started shining with light. "That is not a bad idea!" he exclaimed. "We will do it like that. You can enter the arena tomorrow morning; by then the opponents will have been prepared."

  Xue Wei nodded his head and cupped his fists. Although it was not exactly what he had wanted, it was not a bad solution, and he would be able to test his strength against real opponents in a proper life-and-death battle.

  Although it had only been Xue Wei and the commander within the tent discussing the possibility of Xue Wei fighting in a tag fight of opponents, the commander still had to tell the staff in the arena about the things that they had to do, and thus the rumor about his impending battle spread through the entire Genius Camp, stunning many.

  Some were apprehensive and filled with confusion as to why Xue Wei would fight so many people at once, while others nodded their heads and seemed to understand that Xue Wei was finally about to start shining. A small group of people looked forward to his misfortune as they did not believe in Xue Wei's abilities. However, as time had gone by, more and more saw Xue Wei as a mysterious figure with immeasurable strength.

  This was especially so for those who had seen him practicing the Kick of Forgotten Kings, alongside those who recalled how Lan had given him special attention and knew that the two of them had been training in the field for almost two weeks.

  "He has never actually displayed his strength," one of the experts said. "He had to display it to enter the Genius Camp, but none of us got to see it back then, and now, after entering the camp, he is at the lowest of positions, never challenging anyone, so we haven't seen his prowess."

  "It is as if we are to see a dragon emerge, see a genius being born," another expert said. "He will emerge victoriously and challenge three experts."

  "That's a load of crap!" another expert interjected, "he can at most handle two challenges in a row."

  "No, no, no. I believe he will prevail over five opponents!" More and more people pitched in their own opinions and thoughts of how long they thought Xue Wei could last, and a betting pool suddenly emerged.

  The pool only dealt with gold pieces, and you could not bet more than ten gold pieces.

  The more battles he won, the higher the odds were, and the more one would get paid out. Although some people thought he was able to win three battles, not many bet higher than that.

  The Arena was used around once every month, but not more than that as these geniuses tended to rather challenge other geniuses than jump willingly into life-and-death battles.

  As the morning broke, many experts gathere
d in the arena way before Xue Wei even arrived. The ones who had arrived first were all the third layer Warriors. Although they knew that their rank was above Xue Wei, none of them dared to take him lightly and wished to know exactly how strong he was.

  Then came the smarter ones in the lower ranks. The ones who could use their guesswork to deduct that Xue Wei was no ordinary individual and wanted to see his strength for themselves.

  Amongst these people came a few who wished to see him being torn limb from limb, but not many of those appeared at the arena as they had sensed the atmosphere and knew that something was amiss.

  Xue Wei casually did what he did every morning. He went to wash and consumed a Rising Mountain Dewflower alongside half a stalk of Corpse Grass.

  He then sat down until all the energy had been changed into a steady stream of Qi that permeated all of his body.

  Only then did he stop his meditation and head towards the Arena. By now, a tense atmosphere had covered the blood pits. They had never experienced something like this before; even many of the captains and the commander himself appeared at the Arena to oversee what was happening.

  As Xue Wei arrived, everyone noticed how calm and collected he was. He strode forward as if he had no care in the world, and his eyes were completely glued to the arena platform, as he ignored the roar of excitement that came from the audience.

  Xue Wei looked at the arena platform and slowly moved in through the formation that was integrated into the stage. He then noticed how all sounds were blocked out – all that he could hear was his own heartbeat and the sound of his feet hitting the ground before he came to a standstill.

  "I am here to test my abilities," Xue Wei muttered to himself. "Since that is the case, I will need to try out the Mind Infestation first. All I have done so far is making people fall asleep, but I need to remember what Lan told me: be careful with using Mind Infestation against Fierce Beasts."

  Xue Wei gestured to the staff overseeing the blood pits that he was ready. A moment later, the figure of a human appeared in front of Xue Wei. When Xue Wei looked at opponent, a snicker appeared on the youngster's face.

  A human! Just what Xue Wei needed. This human even seemed to be a simple criminal, a one layer Earth Warrior.

  "I guess they have decided to change the usual idea of having a random opponent, and instead start with the weakest," Xue Wei mused as the criminal locked his eyes on Xue Wei and snickered maliciously. "A mere one layer Earth Warrior wants to defeat me?!" he laughed.

  "I’ve killed multiple one layer Earth Warriors before – killing an inexperienced genius like you is simplicity itself!"

  Xue Wei said nothing and just stood there as he reached out with his senses.

  Mind Infestation!

  The ability was launched, and the charging criminal suddenly came to a standstill. His eyes were vacant, and his body suddenly slumped to the ground.

  "Let us try to see how it is to kill like this," Xue Wei contemplated and took control of the criminal’s body, compelling him to self-detonate his own dantian.

  The explosion of his dantian was strong. It was the dantian of a one layer Earth Warrior after all, and his entire body exploded into bits of flesh, blood, and bones that were strewn across the entire stage.

  The gory sight made many of the onlookers turn pale. "That's a Spiritual Technique!" someone finally exclaimed, and everyone suddenly remembered the rumor about experts randomly falling asleep in the middle of the camp.

  Seeing how this man had his dantian exploded, those in question suddenly felt very lucky that all they had experienced was falling asleep.

  "Such precise control!" the commander slammed his hand into the armrest of the chair on which he was seated, and his eyes shone with excitement.

  "He used a simple spiritual technique and managed to get rid of one person that fast," the commander praised him again, "so let us see how he does against a Fierce Beast."

  It was clear that Xue Wei had not used much energy in the final battle. The criminal he was up against was an ordinary opponent, so it was natural for him to not have a very strong soul.

  Five minutes passed, and Xue Wei gestured towards the staff that he was ready for the next opponent, after which a Fierce Beast appeared in front of them.

  This Fierce Beast was close to five meters long, and it resembled a lizard.

  It was green and had scales all over its body. Its four legs were sturdy and thick like logs. A slithering tongue left its mouth as if to taste the air.

  It had a spiked tail, which had seven different spikes on each of the sides, and they were very sharp.

  Its red eyes were glued to Xue Wei, and it was clear that this beast was ferocious, filled with anger and hatred towards humans for holding it captive.

  Now that a young person had appeared in front of it, the Fierce Beast was clearly ready to rip him to shreds, but Xue Wei also knew that it might not have the chance to do so.

  The beast was equivalent to the strength of a one layer Earth Warrior. However, although it had superior strength to its human equivalent, Xue Wei was cut from similar cloth. His body had a strength far superior to that of a one layer Earth Warrior.

  The beast did not waste any time; it rushed towards Xue Wei with its mouth open, displaying two rows of razor-sharp teeth.

  Xue Wei did not use the Mind Infestation against this beast. He was worried about what Lan had said. Instead, he too rushed forward. He wanted to see who would come out on top if they were to compare physical strength.

  This beast had no high intellect, but the closer it got to Xue Wei, the worse it felt. It was clear that it was filled with contradicting thoughts and emotions, but it did not stop its advance.

  Xue Wei sent out a palm that did not contain any special ability, just his raw strength. When it came into contact with the Fierce Beast, the Fierce Beast suddenly trembled and fear filled its ferocious eyes.

  The beast had used all its strength, but it tried to shrink back in that moment. Xue Wei could feel the fear in the Fierce Beast, and he could feel that this beast was trembling.

  Xue Wei frowned, but the beast retreated after their collision. It retreated further and further away from him as if it feared him more than anything else. Suddenly, when it saw the dangerous gleam in Xue Wei's eyes, it let out a wail and lifted its spiked tail and dragged it over its throat, killing itself in the process.

  Blood spilled down from the neck of the beast, and its eyes seemed to shine with a light of reverence before they dimmed.

  Everyone on the stage was silent. The Fierce Beast had committed suicide, a sight they had never before seen or expected to see. What was happening?

  Chapter 29 - Bloodlust

  Xue Wei had previously seen the fear in other Fierce Beasts' eyes and knew that they would avoid him when they had the chance, but to see one commit suicide right in front of him shocked him to the core.

  "What happened?" someone asked. "He must have used another Spiritual Technique and taken control of the Fierce Beast," someone answered hesitatingly.

  Even the commander was frowning, and finally he reached the same conclusion as the speaker from before.

  That Fierce Beast had committed suicide. It had to have been done by Xue Wei somehow.

  Xue Wei's eyes glittered. He knew that he had done nothing. "What is it that scares them to the point of killing themselves?" Xue Wei wondered to himself.

  "I don’t think Fierce Beasts are this horrified in front of a Primordial Beast even, so why are they so fearful of me? I have already been examined by a Diviner and a prophet – it’s clear that I am not a Primordial Beast, but what am I then?"

  Xue Wei shook his head and decided not to dwell on it too much. Right now, he was in a life-and-death battle. If he were too preoccupied, he would fall to enemies he usually did not hold in high regard.

  Having decided not to think about it any longer, Xue Wei's mind descended into complete concentration again. He sat down for five minutes and pretended to be restoring
his energy, but the truth was that he had not used any so far, and thus he just sat down and contemplated the fights.

  The third battle was about to begin, and Xue Wei looked at the figure that appeared in front of him. This time, it was a deserter, the same category as the enemy that Xue Wei had faced back when he had been taking the trial to join the Genius Camp.

  Xue Wei observed his opponent. So far, he had faced two opponents where both battles had had some sort of unknown factor to them.