Yun Ye felt his burden had grown much heavier. At the very least, forty-some people depended on him for survival. Looking at his bean sprout-like body, intensifying his training had become unavoidable. Living in ancient times meant he must follow the laws of this era—the strong and powerful were superior.

Cheng Chumo could casually draw a three-stone bow, and within a hundred paces never missed with an arrow. Even on the back of a galloping horse, he could achieve eight or nine hits out of ten. Yun Ye couldn’t draw a hard bow, and in the entire military camp, there wasn’t a soft bow with less than one stone of force. This became Yun Ye’s fatal weakness and subjected him to ridicule everywhere.

Over these four months, his body had grown much taller, barely reaching the threshold of one meter seventy. Old Cheng said this finally gave him a bit of the bearing of a Guanzhong man.

On the vast martial arts training ground, Yun Ye ran back and forth—rolling, climbing high, crawling forward, crossing ditches, climbing rope ladders, going through holes, walking balance beams, and vaulting obstacles. After just three rounds, Yun Ye was soaked through as if fished out of water, lying on the ground barely clinging to life.

Old Cheng and Niu Jinda had initially held a spectator’s mentality, watching Yun Ye perform like a monkey. But as they watched, the smiles on their faces vanished without a trace. They exchanged glances, walked through Yun Ye’s running sequence once, and without a word, passed by where Yun Ye was playing dead dog and casually picked him up to carry back to the command tent. Tossing him onto a wooden stump and pouring a cup of plain boiled water down Yun Ye’s throat, they waited until his breathing evened out. Then Old Cheng questioned him: “Boy, is this the body-strengthening technique you planned for yourself? What’s its purpose? This old man finds it somewhat interesting. Explain it to this old man.”

“This is a body-strengthening plan that my teacher specially designed for this young man after seeing that his body was weak. My teacher said: A person’s strength doesn’t come from being strong in one particular aspect, but from the strength of the body’s various functions throughout the whole body. You must run fast, jump high, have agile bodily reactions, coordinate your limbs properly, have good balance, and flexibility is also indispensable. Only then can you be called truly strong.” Yun Ye had no choice but to invoke his ethereal teacher as an excuse.

“Then why do you still look like a scrawny chick? Could it be that this set of things is specifically designed to turn strong men into scrawny chicks?”

Yun Ye really wanted to give Old Niu, this sharp-tongued man, a heavy punch. Considering the factor that he couldn’t win, Yun Ye decided to very magnanimously forgive this old fellow who had suffered stimulation.

“Uncle doesn’t know—after my teacher taught this young man this set of techniques, he secluded himself, saying he wanted to see what lay at the edge of heaven, and stopped paying attention to this young man. Living alone in the wilderness, after practicing it once, I threw it to the back of my mind. It was too exhausting.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, two large hands simultaneously landed on either side of his buttocks. Yun Ye let out an anguished cry, covering his backside as he scurried wildly around the tent. It hurt like hell! Both cheeks of his buttocks felt like they were being burned by fire. Only after rubbing them for a long time did he regain some sensation. Old Cheng and Old Niu were so angry their hands trembled, their whole bodies shaking.

“Wastrel! Wastrel! Recklessly wasting heaven’s gifts, recklessly wasting heaven’s gifts! Since ancient times, body-strengthening techniques have been closely guarded secrets not passed down outside one’s school. When Liu Bei obtained them, he had his White-Eared Army, who could traverse mountains and forests as if on level ground. When Gao Shun obtained them, he had his Assault Camp, which conquered cities and seized territory, unstoppable in all things. When Cao Cao obtained them, his Tiger and Leopard Cavalry roamed freely across the realm. Chen Qingzhi’s Beiwei Army was invincible wherever it went. All relied on body-strengthening techniques. Such divine techniques, and you actually discarded them like worn-out shoes! You’ve enraged this old man to death! This old man will definitely beat you to death today! Wah!”

Old Cheng went berserk. Subsequently, anguished screams from Yun Ye and roaring sounds from Old Cheng came from the command tent, making Cheng Chumo, who was eavesdropping outside the tent, turn pale as earth.

Yun Ye wasn’t beaten to death, but his buttocks were severely swollen. Sighing and groaning, he worked in the blacksmith’s workshop forging implements. Old Cheng had, following Yun Ye’s instructions, procured coal. While Yun Ye couldn’t produce high-grade alloys, as a technician there was no reason he couldn’t even make basic steel. Seeing the old blacksmith hammering the iron blank one strike at a time, Yun Ye’s head ached. At this rate, when would they finish making the needed triangular spikes, shackles, pulleys, flying claws, and entrenching tools?

He drove away all the blacksmiths and had Old Cheng provide several personal guards as assistants. After Old Niu found out, under the pretext that these were important military implements, he inserted several scouts from the Hundred Cavalry Division. Yun Ye didn’t care—Emperor Li’er had to know about these things anyway. There was nothing complicated about it. He sprinkled mineral powder into the molten iron and stirred continuously. When the flames on the iron water turned blue, he stopped. One pot of steel water was successfully made. Poured into prepared molds, the initial sample blanks were completed. The triangular spikes only needed grinding and quenching. The shackles, pulleys, and flying claws needed toughness—they just needed to be ground smooth. The entrenching tools were more troublesome and required blacksmiths to hammer them out stroke by stroke.

When Cheng Yaojin saw the first military spike, he gasped. Three sharp cutting edges flashed with blue light, and three thick blood grooves led straight to the handle. Old Cheng stabbed backward, easily piercing through a one-inch-thick table. The streamlined blade edge minimized resistance. Using pigs and sheep as test subjects, no matter which part was stabbed, the only result was death by blood loss. Old Cheng and Old Niu looked at each other in dismay and sighed. Once again, several fast horses carrying military spikes and the steel-making method galloped toward Chang’an.

Cheng Chumo was nearly dead—truly. Both legs were swollen like elephant legs, his knees and elbows bloody and torn. Every day at meals, personal guards needed to feed him. Fortunately, he still soaked in hot baths daily, or even sleeping would be problematic. He just needed others to carry him to bed because this fellow would fall asleep while soaking.

Yun Ye felt that with Young Cheng’s physique, he shouldn’t be in this state. After questioning the personal guards, he learned that Niu Jinda had privately increased the training intensity by three times, and everyone still had to carry full equipment. Good heavens—the armor alone weighed thirty or forty pounds, not to mention horizontal swords and arrows. One fellow’s pair of chain hammers alone weighed thirty pounds. Adding armor and such, Yun Ye silently mourned from the bottom of his heart for these one hundred warriors.

Mourning aside, Yun Ye’s mood was still good. Holding a bowl of shaved ice in the shade, laughing at the spectacle of Cheng Chumo and the others, his joy turned to sorrow. Niu Jinda, in full armor, appeared before him, his thick finger pointing toward the training ground.

Yun Ye stood on the training ground wearing leather armor and carrying a horizontal sword on his back. Greeting him were strange laughs from one hundred large men. Looking at the filthy water pits and gazing at the high brick walls, Yun Ye finally understood what it meant to be caught in a trap of one’s own making. He pounded his head several times hard, regretting why he had added so many training subjects. This was completely special forces training methods! A kick landed on his buttocks, and Yun Ye began his tragic special forces career.

Previously, the personal guards only needed to carry Young Cheng. Now they also had to carry Lord Yun and continuously splash water on Lord Yun’s face, or else the lord would faint again. Poor lord—when his epileptic seizure occurred, Vice Commander Niu cured it with a gold needle. That thick gold needle stuck in the lord’s buttocks instantly cured Lord Yun’s epilepsy, and he ran even faster than the young master.

Once he fainted, the two military physicians immediately gave him a full-body massage, wiping his entire body with wet hemp cloth. Upon waking, he’d drink some water and continue running. The personal guards had originally been full of envious feelings toward these heaven’s favorites. Having witnessed such a miserable state, they felt being a common soldier was pretty good after all. One hundred of them! One hundred military officers! Under Old Niu’s big stick, there were those who wept bitterly, those who begged for mercy, those who feigned illness—but not a single one who resisted. Who would dare resist under Niu the Devil King?

Cheng Chumo and Yun Ye lay naked in two large wooden tubs. Beside them were ninety-nine identical wooden tubs, likewise containing ninety-nine naked military officers. Military physicians continuously added black medicinal liquid to the wooden tubs, which was said to have miraculous effects for eliminating fatigue. After soaking for half an hour, they were fished out by their respective personal guards. A mass of pale white bodies lay sprawled on beds, receiving full-body massages from newly trained medical orderlies.

“Young Ye, when will our brothers’ bitter days end?”

“Endure it. This is just the beginning. Once our sinews and bones become strong and we meet the great commander’s requirements, we’ll start wilderness survival training. That’s when it’ll really be fatal. Not only will they not give us food, there will be heavy troops pursuing us for the kill. We have to evade the pursuit, complete missions, and not suffer excessive casualties ourselves. Only then will these soldiers be considered half-trained. You also have to learn combat—the kind where one strike means death. Learn to hide, learn to ambush, learn to disguise yourself, be able to complete missions in impossible situations—only then can you be considered fully trained. Anyway, for now, just don’t consider yourself human.”

Throughout the camp tent, there was a chorus of wailing.