Bang!
The race began as every racer sprung into action immediately. Wu Dong Yi lightly tapped his mount with the back of his heel as it bolted from its spot, reaching over two meters within a second.
Without needing to do much, his mount had long gotten ahead of the other racers which meant that he pretty much passed the horse-riding test without doing anything.
"This isn't right, I'm winning without doing anything, people won't call me out, right?" Wu Dong Yi thought.
When the race finished, he jumped off the horse and came to the instructor's side.
"I know what you want to say, don't you think that having a horse acknowledge you is your own ability? I'm sure everyone else here agrees." the instructor said.
Wu Dong Yi turned around as the others all nodded.
"When I got close to it, it sent me flying over twenty meters away without any mercy! It even let you ride on it, I have nothing to say." one of the applicants said.
When he did so, everyone else around him joined in to agree.
"Since that's the case, thank you, everyone." Wu Dong Yi thanked them.
"I'll see you another time, you don't need to participate in the tests anymore, General Gongsun said so himself." the instructor told him.
"I see… sorry for the trouble." Wu Dong Yi nodded as he held his token and went to find a place to settle down.
***************
After half a day, the tests were finally completed. Everyone who applied to participate lined up just as they had at the beginning of the day.
"Now that everyone is gathered here, congratulations, you have all passed." Gongsun Zhong said.
"Today's tests were simply to find your talents, just by coming here today, you have all become my brothers and sisters already." he continued.
Hearing this, everyone roared in happiness as they cried out, 'General Gongsun!' multiple times. It wasn't until they were told to stay silent did they calm down and stayed quiet once again.
"Since you have all passed, let us head off right now." Gongsun Zhong said. Just as someone was about to ask how, within the blink of an eye, multiple large cranes appeared beside him.
Each crane was massive, just by looking at it, one could tell that even one could carry dozens of people on its back at once. With multiple cranes, it was simple for everyone to fit.
As everyone got onto its back, Gongsun Zhong and the instructors all took flight on their own. According to Wu Dong Yi's knowledge, those that have reached the Core Formation realm were able to use their Spiritual Qi for flight.
Since all of the instructors were able to fly, it was obvious that they were all at least at the Core Formation stage.
**************
Deep within the clouds, Wu Dong Yi who was sitting on the back of a crane crossed his legs and began to train within his mind. To be specific, he was doing image training to image the most amount of outcomes and the ways in which he would have fought and responded to the battle that took place today.
While he was immersed in his own world, Gongsun Zhong observed him for a brief moment using his Divine Will before minding his own business.
Hours later, Wu Dong Yi opened his eyes and found that it was already day time. They were also about to arrive at the borders which were hundreds of kilometers away from the kingdom.
Despite their large size, the cranes could fly at great speeds, it had only taken a few hours to reach their destination.
Coming down from the clouds, he could see a large wall with soldiers stationed and patrolling every nook and cranny. Behind the wall, were large footholds and storage rooms as well as soldiers.
As they drew closer, the soldiers that were stationed opened the gates to allow them in. Once they landed, they got off the large cranes that disappeared in an instant as though they had never been there in the first place.
Wu Dong Yi walked in an orderly fashion with the new military clothing that he had received before they set off for the borders. As he was amongst the strongest of the new recruits, he was standing in front of dozens of recruits that were of a lower cultivation base than himself.
Following Gongsun Zhong, Wu Dong Yi arrived within the stronghold shortly. There, Gongsun Zhong announced that he would leave them here and went off on his own.
Meanwhile, the instructors remained behind to give them instructions. "Now that we are here, it is time for all of you to rest within your own camps."
"Since all of you are now part of a regime, you will follow your regime leader to their area." the sword instructor that Wu Dong Yi had fought against said sternly.
Wu Dong Yi didn't say anything. Before he had set off, he had also chosen to join the infantry unit, not only did he do so, the two women of the Qi Condensation stage had also joined the infantry unit.
Despite the recommendations of the other instructors, the three of them had chosen to join the infantry. Especially in Wu Dong Yi's case, since he had done well in every test he had taken, every instructor wanted him in their unit and even offered for him to become a Lieutenant straight away.
That was how much they wanted him in their unit. Even the only female instructor who was in charge of archery, she had offered for him to become a Vice-general if he agreed to join.
Unfortunately, Wu Dong Yi refused and wanted to gain more practical experience on the battlefield.
Since they couldn't convince him, they could only give up even if only temporarily.
As the other units left, Wu Dong Yi's unit remained behind. The general of the infantry unit was the sword instructor's master, who is an old man with a long white beard. With the age of cultivators being extremely long in this world, Wu Dong Yi had no idea how old the old man really was.
Arriving at base camp, the old general spoke using his Divine Will. "It's good to see new blood in the infantry unit. I am glad to see that you all have decided to join this unit which is considered as the most dangerous unit of all."
In front of him, including Wu Dong Yi and the two young women, there were only twenty or so men and women of the Body Tempering realm who had joined them.
"Question, does anyone know what our regime's motto is?" the general asked.
When he did so, everyone was silent. One of the men behind Wu Dong Yi gave his answer. "To fight for the kingdom?"
"Bwahahahahahahahaha!!!!"
The general burst out in laughter as if he had heard the world's funniest joke. When his laugh stopped, his eyes became serious as though they could shoot lasers at people.
"Wrong! It is to live and fight for another day!"
"Only if you live, can you fight for the glory of our kingdom, protecting your loved ones."
After that, the general said some cringey lines that Wu Dong Yi had no interest in. He waited for the general to finish his speech patiently without uttering a sound.
"Now then, amongst you, this gentleman will be your squad leader." the general said as he hinted at Wu Dong Yi.
"The twenty or so of you will be a small squad led by him, voice your objections if you have any. Please, also introduce yourself."
Wu Dong Yi stepped forward and turned around. He cleared his throat as he had already thought of an alias to use.
"I am Qi Jian, it is an honor to be your squad leader." Wu Dong Yi introduced himself.
"Since no one has any objections, that's the end of that. Your instructor will show you to your camp, I will be taking my leave now." the general spoke again.
Everyone including Wu Dong Yi bowed as the general returned to his own camp. The sword instructor began to lead the way to his squads' camping area.
A short while later, the group arrived. There, multiple large tents were already stationed and prepared to be used by them immediately.
"Squad leader Jian, sort your troops into groups, once this is done, get ready to come to the training grounds." the instructor said as he too left the area.
By the time he had turned around, amongst the troops that he would lead, most of them were already familiar with each other and had already separated themselves into groups.
Wu Dong Yi let the small groups choose their tents first as only his small group which included the two rich daughters and two young men. He recognized one of the young men, who was at the Body Tempering stage six and had been allowed to stay by Gongsun Zhong previously.
As for the other young man, it was the first time he had seen him, hence he didn't say anything. "Looks like the four of you are with me, go on a pick a bed, I'll take whichever one is left over," he told them.
The two rich daughters went in first and chose beds that were opposite to each other, while the other two chose their beds as well. Looking at the remaining bed, Wu Dong Yi's expression darkened.
The bed was right in between the two rich daughters who seemed to be at each other's throats. "I won't get caught up in their feud now, will I? This will be troublesome." he thought as he shook his head.
Walking up to his bed, he felt the pillow and jumped on the bed to test it out. Even though it was a bed, it was rough and only hey were used to cover the surface. For a blanket, a large piece of torn fabric was placed gently on top of the bed.
"With such a rough bed, no wonder soldiers all look at you like you owe them money. I should try to improve the conditions here later." he thought.
He then got up and walked outside the tent, waiting for the others to come out. When the four came out, the rest of the recruits were already lined up in front of Wu Dong Yi.
Wu Dong Yi didn't say anything as he began heading to the training area. While they were flying down to land earlier, he had already memorized the layout of the entire stronghold as well as every piece of rock and trees in the surrounding area within a 5km distance.
When his squad arrived, Wu Dong Yi noticed other squads led by other leaders stood next to each other in a uniform manner. He led his squad to stand in the missing space as he noticed that one squad was made up entirely of females, the squad leader was also a beautiful young woman who had a cultivation base at the Qi Condensation realm.
Looking forward, the general was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a middle-aged man stood in the middle with his arms crossed.
"Now that all of you are here, we will begin immediately. News of a bandit gang has been reported to us this morning, every squad is to head out and wipe out every single bandit. The more heads you bring back, the more contribution points you will receive."
"We were informed that all of the bandits are below the Core Formation realm, hence this mission will be suitable for you all. According to the information, the bandit leader is at the Qi Condensation stage seven while his vice leaders are all at the beginning of the realm."
"Everyone else is of the Body Tempering realm, you will be able to identify them due to the colors of their bandanas in this order; red, blue and black from the lowest to the highest. Their most recent sighting has been reported to be 3km away from Death Valley, all troops are to head there immediately." the middle-aged man spoke in one breath.
"General, what are contribution points?" a member of one of the squads raised his voice.
"Good, contribution points can be used to exchange for martial techniques, weapons, armor, and anything those lines. They can be earned through doing missions as well as completing military exercises." the general replied.
"Any more questions?" he asked.
Every squad stayed in silence.
"Then go, you all have a time limit of ten days to complete this task." the general spoke before his figure disappeared from his spot.
Turning to face his squad, Wu Dong Yi began thinking. From what he knew of the Death Valley, it was an extremely dangerous place for anyone below the Golden Core realm, most who venture into their below that stage have never returned to tell the story.
If the bandits were spotted around Death Valley, then something must be up. Since they were bandits, why would they expose their locations so easily? Knowing that there were powerful cultivators of the Core Formation and above, there was no way that they would reveal themselves like this.
As he thought of this, Wu Dong Yi frowned.
"Squad leader, what's wrong?" the young man of the Body Tempering stage six asked.
"Nothing, first I want you all to introduce yourselves before we head off," he replied.
The young man introduced himself first, "Lin Huang, 16, Body Tempering stage six, I am the only one left in my family."
"Huo Guanting, Body Tempering stage eight." the other young man spoke.
"Su Ming, 15, Qi Condensation stage one." the younger of the two girls said.
"Ying Yu, Qi Condensation stage eight." the elder of the two rich daughters said last.
Looking at the four of them, Wu Dong Yi shook his head. All of them were still kids if they were on Earth. The remaining members of his squad introduced themselves, but they are just cannon fodder so their names don't matter.
"We will head off, bring back as many heads as you can, but most importantly; come back alive." he reminded everyone.
His squad members all nodded seriously as Wu Dong Yi started leading his squad outside the stronghold.