Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Direct Battalion of the Third Legion, which Xie Yan belonged to, was also called the Young Master Battalion.
They were arrogant and aloof. Everyone in the army hated them, but due to the power of their families, no one dared to say anything. Some people even tried to gain their favor.
When the others had heard a general of the seventh rank had given two of them a good beating by imposing punishments with a wooden plank in public, and that it had been the famous Xie Yan and Liu Yu, many of them found it hard to believe.
After confirming that this wasn’t false news, many of the members of the Third Legion felt it a pity that they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes.
Then they started to feel curious about that general, wondering who on earth he was.
“Haha!”
In the general tent of the Third Legion, Senior General Du Zhenfei laughed his head off when he heard the news. He laughed so much that he had tears in his eyes.
The rugged-looking man was rather straightforward and frank. His disposition was similar to Mu Xuan’s, but not exactly the same.
“Mu Xuan recruited him? Interesting,” Du Zhenfei exclaimed after he stopped laughing.
The general who had been at the scene of the affair asked curiously, “General, shouldn’t we do anything about it?”
“Do something? What can we do? Did that Jiang Chen do anything wrong?” Smiling, Du Zhenfei said, “The Direct Battalion is supposed to protect me, but they’re so fragile that anyone can give them a beating. All that crying and screaming… They expect me to do something? I don’t want to lose my reputation!”
The general beside him wasn’t surprised.
“And you, you didn’t stop them even though you were there. Wasn’t it because you hate those little b*stards, too?”
Gnashing his teeth, the general said, “The royal government is facing an unprecedented crisis, but the bosses won’t stop intervening in military affairs for even one minute. Everything they do is so superficial. General Mu Xuan has spent his entire life on battlefields. He has contributed so much to the dynasty, but in the end, he was demoted to rank one of the secondary class for one little thing. This has never happened to the Iron Dragon Army before!”
“If others hear you, you’ll be in big trouble,” Du Zhenfei said. It was hard to tell whether he was smiling.
The general had fear, but he didn’t regret what he had said.
“Xie Yan will definitely turn to Zhang Tianyi,” said the general.
“Let it be. As long as no one dies, I don’t want to get involved. If anything happens to the other side, I won’t have the right to do anything, either,” said Du Zhenfei.
…
On the other side of the camp, Xie Yan and Liu Yu had finally managed to walk by themselves after treatment, although they were crippled when walking.
They went to a cabin and knocked on the door. After going inside, they started to complain to the person in the cabin.
A handsome man was sitting in the center of the room, half closing his eyes and totally motionless, as if he had neither noticed that someone had come in nor heard what they had said.
After Xie Yan had stopped speaking, he opened his eyes. He said, “So, aware of the fact that you’re the son of the Baron of the Ning State, he still gave you a beating?”
“Yes, yes.” Reading between the lines, Xie Yan hurried to nod.
“A guy from nowhere has the nerve to ignore the dignity of the dynasty?”
What the man paid attention to wasn’t right or wrong. He wasn’t interested in how the whole thing had happened. He said in a cold voice, “Royal power is supreme. I won’t allow any rascal to stain it. I’ll attend to the matter in person and kick him out of the Third Legion!”
Xie Yan and Liu Yu glanced at each other. Both of them were excited.
With this promise, Jiang Chen would absolutely suffer.
They wanted to ask when he would act, but the man closed his eyes again, as motionless as a thousand-year-old pine tree.
All of a sudden, the air around him distorted. The shape of something like a dragon appeared.
Then the shape was tinted golden. It appeared to be a real dragon!
Xie Yan and Liu Yu turned pale and hurried to leave the room.
Standing outside of the room, the two couldn’t hide their excitement.
“Gosh! He has a flying dragon protecting him when he practices. So the rumors are true. Apprentice Brother Zhang has the strength of Venerable, he’s just working on his strength.”
“That Jiang Chen is dead meat!”
“When he’s kicked out of the Third Legion, I’ll show him that he’ll come to no good if he offends someone that he can’t afford to offend.”
…
The Red Flame Battalion was stationed on another warship. Not the whole ship was theirs, but their campsite was almost as big as a town.
Jiang Chen had followed the commander of the battalion here. The first thing he did after he had arrived was measure his armor size.
It didn’t take him long to notice the dull atmosphere at the campsite. All the soldiers were in low spirits.
There were almost 1,000 Reaching Heaven States, staying wherever they wanted with desperate looks, as if they couldn’t see any hope. Even those who were doing physical training looked loose.
“Where are the other lieutenants?” Jiang Chen asked curiously.
“You’re the only one.”
The commander of the Red Flame Battalion was called Qiu Yan. Glancing at the soldiers at the campsite, she was a little absent-minded.
Jiang Chen was struck dumb. He asked about the situation of the Red Flame Battalion.
At first, he had thought these soldiers had been forced to enlist. If their task was to be cannon fodder on the battlefield, it would be hard indeed to see hope. But then he learned that the Flying Dragon Dynasty wouldn’t force people into the army. Instead, they would give the soldiers good offers.
It was basically half-voluntary. These people just couldn’t see hope.
Jiang Chen didn’t know what to do. What he cared about at that moment was the dynasty’s promise, namely leveling up to Venerable.
“Everyone in the army has war merit points, which you can exchange for precious resources and martial arts bibles owned by the Flying Dragon Dynasty.
“When your war merit points achieve a certain number, you’ll get a promotion.
“You and the other new generals will start with 1,000 war merit points, which average soldiers can only gain through countless kills,” said Qiu Yan.
It dawned on Jiang Chen that these 1,000 war merit points were the way to become Venerables for him and the other 43 young generals.
Not until then did he realize the word game the dynasty was playing.
One thousand war merit points could be exchanged for the resources needed to become a Venerable, but of course, the success rate wouldn’t be a hundred percent.
Sometimes when one was stuck in a bottleneck, even if one used up all of their resources, it wouldn’t be of any help.
But at second thought, it was true that no one could keep such a promise to make anyone a Venerable.
“There are practice resources and equipment in the legion that you can use by paying war merit points. Just play it by ear.”
Qiu Yan meant that he could just do his thing for the moment without paying attention to the responsibilities of a lieutenant.
“Don’t you need any changes in the Red Flame Battalion?” Jiang Chen couldn’t help but ask.
Qiu Yan kept silent for a while. Then she said in a hoarse voice, “We’ve reached the limit.”
Not until then did Jiang Chen realize she wasn’t cold, but too sad to feel anything.
The deaths of fellow lieutenants and loyal subordinates would be a great blow for anyone, but as a general, she couldn’t show her sadness.
