The next day, before dawn had even broken, an urgent bell ringing suddenly echoed across the large vessel. Wei Yuan awoke from his meditation, leaped to his feet, and raced toward the battle preparation hall immediately. The urgent bell ringing signalled an emergency assembly, and everyone was required to report to the hall within thirty breaths.

The atmosphere in the battle preparation hall was quite tense. It was also packed full of supplies. On the left side of the hall lay mountains of boxes, and the right side lay stacks of standard-issue armaments.

The Trueman guarding the vessel, Trueman Liu, usually wore Daoist robes. But today, he had put on a set of armor. His demeanor had changed from refined and genuineness to murderous as well. Once everyone had arrived, he waved his hand and summoned a gigantic, incredibly detailed map behind him. It displayed nine counties and over a hundred scattered villages. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

“Our ship is responsible for defending the western sector of Baining Commandery, which encompasses five hundred thousand households and five thousand border troops. These are the defense zones you’ve been assigned to. Memorize them well.”

A dense amount of information appeared on the map, and Wei Yuan quickly found his defense zone. It encompassed three villages that formed a triangle on the map. Border villages were usually protected by walls, so they counted as fortified villages. Wei Yuan also memorized everyone else’s defense zones, and vice versa. Everyone who finished tempering their spirit basically possessed a near eidetic memory.

“It is time for you to collect your supplies. To your left are military provisions—each person may carry three boxes. To your right are the armaments. You may pick whatever you need. Now then, this old Daoist is going to make a personal remark. If you’re not from an aristocratic family, it would be in your best interest to swap out your robes for armor. Save for the absolute finest robes, most are not as useful as a plain set of armor on the battlefield. Besides, what’s the point of dressing up on the battlefield—do you want to paint a target on your backs?”

After grabbing his military provisions and armaments, Wei Yuan returned to his room and put on his armor. An hour later, when the bell rang again, he went down to the hold below the deck. Several small flying boats were parked in the hold. The rest of the clearings were filled with young cultivators wearing armor and carrying backpacks. Several armored cultivators were barking orders and shoving the young cultivators into the smaller boats. It was incredibly noisy.

Wei Yuan looked back and saw Zhang Sheng standing in the shadow outside the exit, watching him in silence. He gave him a strong wave before carrying the three bound military provisions on his back and walking toward his flying boat.

An armored Daoist with a brawny stature kept yelling, “Faster! Don’t dilly-dally! The Liao barbarians aren’t going to wait until you’ve arrived to take action!”

The door to the flying boat was half a zhang away from the floor. Wei Yuan was about to jump inside when he found himself floating in the air. As it turned out, the armored Daoist had grabbed him and shoved him through the door.

The flying boat was less than five zhang in length and extremely cramped. As everyone was wearing armor and carrying backpacks, there was little to no room to move after just ten cultivators or so. There was a youngster in the boat who didn’t wear armor. He resembled a helpless fish stuck between an ever-shrinking wall of metal. His face was beet red with frustration and anger, but at least he knew better than to lose his temper.

Wei Yuan squeezed his way over to a corner and sat next to the cabin wall. The environment wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t stand it. Suddenly, the vessel shook and flung everyone to the back end of the boat. It was immediately followed by a sense of weightlessness. The youngster wearing a mystic robe rolled a couple of times in the air before finally throwing up. Luckily, a surge of Dao power appeared out of nowhere, caught the smattering of filth, and threw it outside the window.

The flying boat moved like an unbroken horse, jumping up and down and torturing everyone inside of it. The cultivators with poor tempers couldn’t handle it any longer and started complaining about it. Suddenly, a boorish voice boomed inside the cabin, “The enemy will shoot us down in less than three breaths if I dare to fly in a straight line! Do you think that the Liao’s giant bows are just decoration? Don’t like it? Endure it anyway! This is the battlefield, not your back garden! If you really can’t stand it, then you can get the hell off my ship this instant!”

No one said a word. Even those who were complaining fell silent. Traditionally, there was nothing a disciple of the Palace of Absolute Beginning feared more than being called a coward and a mollycoddle.

The flying boat eventually landed. It was almost a vertical fall for a hundred zhang before it hit the ground with a bang. Still, a landing was a landing.

The door opened, and Wei Yuan jumped out of the vessel behind his fellow cultivators. The flying boat was parked at a military drill ground, and judging from the surroundings, they were probably at the encampment. According to the prearranged plan, the flying boat carrying Wei Yuan would land at the army camp in Quyang County. Of the eleven aboard, five of them would be stationed in Quyang, while six would be stationed in the neighboring county, Pingyang.

The moment the last man stepped off, the flying boat shot skyward as if kicked by an invisible giant. It vanished so quickly it was as if the pilot could not stand waiting even a second longer.

The six Palace of Absolute Beginning disciples heading for the neighboring county conferred briefly. Then, the youngster wearing mystic robes produced several talismans and tossed them into the air, causing several fine steeds to appear. The six mounted at once and hurried toward Pingyang.

Meanwhile, Wei Yuan and his four companions filed into the central command tent—though, it really was just a few mud huts with dimly lit tallow candles. Several soldiers stood inside the tent, and a commandant with a double chin sat behind a desk. As soon as he saw them, he immediately got up to his feet and saluted them, saying, “You’re finally here, upper immortals of the Palace of Absolute Beginning! With you overseeing this battle, the barbarians cannot possibly stir up any trouble!”

A young cultivator replied with a frown, “Save the chatter. We need to head to the defense zone before our time is up! Your name is Wang Delu, right?”

“That is me!”

“Some of my subordinates will be arriving at a later time. When they do, issue them the necessary pass documents.”

Wang Delu immediately put on a smile and replied, “No worries! It will be done!”

“I’ll be taking my leave then!” The young cultivator turned to leave without hesitation.

“Upper immortal, wait! We haven’t distributed the troops and provisions!”

“Unnecessary!”

Wang Delu awkwardly sat back down and asked, “Do the rest of you have your own private servants and soldiers as well?”

One disciple replied, “I have ten private soldiers. They’ll be arriving tomorrow.”

“Got it. Everything will be ready.”

The disciple nodded before leaving the tent.

The remaining two disciples exchanged a glance with each other before replying, “We don’t have private servants or soldiers. Do assign us some capable troops.”

They then placed two sticks[1] of immortal silver on the desk.

Wang Delu’s face remained perfectly natural as he swept his sleeve across the immortal silver. They were gone just like that. It was a movement he had executed with consummate skill and smoothness. He then picked up a copper-colored command arrow and handed it to one of his personal guards, ordering, “Take the upper immortals away to select their soldiers!”

Now, only Wei Yuan was left. He had seen what his fellow cultivators did as a matter of course, but he did not have even half a tael of immortal silver on his person. Zhang Sheng had never said anything about this, and besides, he was here to guard the borders of Western Jin. It made no sense that he had to pay to perform his duty.

Wei Yuan walked up to the desk and saluted. “I am Wei Yuan of the Palace of Absolute Beginning. I have come to collect my assigned soldiers.”

Wang Delu waited for a bit but neither saw a hint of immortal silver nor any mention of a private servant or soldier. His face chilled, and his eyes settled on the three boxes behind Wei Yuan’s back. He intentionally dragged out his sentence, “Upper immortal, about the boxes behind your back….”

“They’re the Palace’s military provisions meant to be used by the garrison.”

Again, Wei Yuan showed no sign of putting down the boxes. His expression turned ugly, and he handed a wooden command arrow to another one of his personal guards, ordering, “Take the upper immortal away to select his soldiers!”

Wei Yuan followed the personal guard to a side camp. According to the regulations, Wei Yuan could collect twenty auxiliary soldiers from the auxiliary camp and a hundred militia to form his basic defense force. Per the law of Great Tang, all auxiliary soldiers must be at the flesh-tempering stage at least. If someone managed to reach the blood-tempering stage, then they qualified to become a squad leader and gained the right to join the Nine Armies of Great Tang. The feudal states also followed the same regulations. Finally, only a cultivator who had formed their Dao Foundation qualified to become a commandant.

Wang Delu was a Dao Foundation cultivator, but his aura was insubstantial, and his flesh was loose and feeble. His Dao Foundation could not be too high, and he must have indulged in wine and women to the extent where his physical state was deteriorating.

Two rows of low earthen huts stood in the side camp. Many of them were hanging laundry outside. The weapons and armor were haphazardly piled about the premises, and the training ground was riddled with potholes, clearly neglected for years. Two carts sat abandoned in a corner of the camp, each missing a wheel.

The personal guard shouted, “An upper immortal is selecting the troops! Come out!”

1. Sticks, not taels. Remember the sticks Wei Yuan got when he was still a new disciple? But generally speaking, it’s always taels unless it’s specified such as per this case. ☜