"Ah, I see…" the soldier replied while still standing there unsure if he should fight an unequipped man or not.
Seeing that he was of mixed opinion, Xuan Yueji immediately stated, "You have three seconds to think for I will be attacking you in three seconds."
Counting down, one… two… three… Xuan Yueji speedily ran up and kicked the man. Immediately, the man fell off the stage. In pain, the soldier stared at him with shock but still stood up and bowed in respect before entering the ranks with the others again.
"Who is going to fight me?" Xuan Yueji asked.
Normally, it was supposed to be the winner challenging someone from the ranks. That person who had been challenged could not refuse and only accept the challenge. It was the first time to go the opposite way.
However, this did not stop some from claiming that they would fight Xuan Yueji. If they were common men, they would have already yelled with bitterness that he was a cheater by attacking an unprepared man even if he gave him three seconds. Of course, since they were soldiers, they understood that there was no such thing as time in the battlefield and one had to think fast so, there was no fault or guilt in him at all.
In fact, many soldiers admired Xuan Yueji for his honesty and straightforwardness so they strengthened themselves to go up and fight him even though there was already a mass of others on the floor from being defeated. At this point, there were only a handful of soldiers left that had yet to fight Xuan Yueji. There were still some that did not want to fight and some that felt weak at seeing the pile of soldiers on the floor even though they were only hit once by Xuan Yueji.
As Xuan Yueji saw that no one wanted to come up anymore, he announced, "Seeing as no one else wants to fight, I shall proclaim myself as the winner then. That means, from now on, I'm your new shuzhu."
(A/N: Shuzu is garrison commander. It's just that I'm too lazy to write the two words and I found shuzhu shorter and quicker to write. I know that I could add to the wordcount with the garrison commander, but… the easier, the better.)
Upon hearing his statement, all the soldiers sitting on the floor in rest stood up and gave a deep bow while shouting, "Congrats to shuzhu!"
Normally, they would shout shuzhu along with his last name, but since they did not know Xuan Yueji's name, they could only call him shuzhu for now. It was not as though he would punish them anyway since no one told them his name. Not even the general who came out to announce Xuan Yueji's position in the military.
At the same time, they were still questioning why General Zheng would say that Xuan Yueji held more power than himself. Whether it was physical or position, the general should have more power. Could it be that he was from the royal family?
Although Xuan Yueji knew what everyone was thinking, he did not care to explain himself. However, he did make sure to spread his name. After all, he was now a shuzhu and not just a normal soldier.
"Though General Zheng came out to introduce me, he never told you guys my name," Xuan Yueji started before giving a deep bow to say, "It is nice to meet you all. My name is Xuan Yueji. Xuan as in black and Yueji as in rose."
All the soldiers accepted Xuan Yueji's introductions. However, they also made fun of his name inside. Who would name their son after a rose?
It was too feminine. What a shock. To think that their shuzhu had a beautiful name.
However, it seemed that Xuan Yueji did not care about their inner thoughts and instead prepared himself to fight. Immediately after introducing himself, he disappeared as fast as the wind. He left no traces of him being there other than the soldiers who could still remember him.
As soon as Xuan Yueji entered the general's tent, General Zheng said, "You're now a shuzhu. You can't possibly join every active battalion."
"I'll attack at night," Xuan Yueji replied. "I will return during day time. Just make sure it is passed around so that no one thinks of me as a spy. I dislike being misunderstood."
Sighing, General Zheng said, "Even if you are physically strong, your body is still a human's. Humans need sleep. Do you plan to self-collapse?"
"You don't have to worry. I know my body," Xuan Yueji responded. "Where is my tent?"
"I knew that you would ask that. Honestly, despite all the warning that Grand Advisor Chen told me, I am still in shock. You truly do not behave your age," General Zheng sighed. "Your actions are like that of a child, but your wisdom is like an old man's who has experienced all the harshness of life."
Laughing to himself, Xuan Yueji gave a deep and meaningful sentence, "That is not too far from the truth."
Xuan Yueji did not explain himself, but immediately left Zheng Ruogang's tent. Leaving the old man in confusion to think about what his last sentence meant. However, even after a long time of thinking, he still could not make out what Xuan Yueji was trying to tell him.
When Xuan Yueji left the tent, he did not go to his own place designated for him but to a place farther from the capital. He had gone to western borders to invade the enemy bases belonging to the Xue Empire.
Since the beginning of time and since the continent was named Lang, there had been two establishing empires, three kingdoms, and three states. The two empires were the Lin Empire and the Xue Empire, while the three kingdoms were the Kingdom of Gang, Kingdom of Shi, and the Kingdom Hui. The three states were the Xu State, Yi State, and Su State.
Each country was set to balance each other and this was why although there were wars, it was never too much that despair was everywhere. Only once had there been a recent huge war, though the only affected ones were the Lin and Xue empires as they fought each other. The war was not over territory as many people had suspected but over the current empress as each emperor sought for the beauty.
In the end, it was the Lin Empire that won and the empress did not have to move far away from her home country, but to enter the royal palace of the Lin Empire. Of course, not many people knew this and it was kept secret from everyone but the two current reigning emperors. It was strange that though the empires fought and competed against each other, they also knew to work together.
It was due to this that the empires remained strong while the kingdoms continued to lose strength. As for the three states, they did not change. They did not get stronger, nor did they get weaker.
Actually, it was unknown as to how the three states came to be. There were no historical texts that stated the creation or union of the states. When looking at the texts, there were only recounts of the actions of the three states.
When the emperors tried to spy on one of the states, their men did not make it out alive despite the multiple tries or they did not manage to enter the borders of the states at all. It was a huge mystery as to what was in the states and no one knew who owned the states. The continent only knew that three states would be there when war was ongoing to stop destruction from continuing to ensue.
Many citizens looked up to the states and many kingdoms respected the states, but that was not to say that there were no suspicions. Being so mysterious, many people have tried to enter the states including nobles and the men of the jianghu alike. Though, they all failed in the end with some losing their lives, some did make it out with stories to be told.
For now, the battles at the borders were small and only there as a farce for outsiders to see. It was more so for training each other. This was how the emperors tested each other to see the strength of the other.
(A/N: How collaborative. Imagine if 1000 years ago, we did the same thing.)
As of now, Xuan Yueji left for the western borders which was far from the capital. The capital was at the east with a port for trade and situated next to the sea whereas the western borders were about five thousand miles away from the capital. If he wanted to reach the border, it would take days.
However, Xuan Yueji did not have the time he needed to travel even if he used his qinggong. Even if he used qinggong, it would still take him multiple days. Though it took him only fifteen minutes to travel five hundred miles, that was if he was going at full speed.
Xuan Yueji knew that he could not possibly travel at full pace for long periods. Five thousand miles would take him at least three hours to travel if he went at full speed. However, he would be exhausted thirty minutes in due to the exertion.
He admitted that he was a strong and powerful man, but even he had his limits. Aside from that, Xuan Yueji did not have the fast qinggong like Bai Shuixian. Xuan Yueji had to admit that when it came to martial arts, he was stronger than her, but when it came to qinggong she was much better than him as she could travel a mile in a second.
It was like she was teleporting instead rather than flying. As long as she knew where she wanted to go, she would go there at lightning speed scaring not only him and the alternates, but even Zhu Jin who had a sensitive nose. If Bai Shuixian was not sleeping now, it would only take her about an hour and forty five minutes to travel to the western borders and she would not be exhausted.
For some reason, when it came to running, he was essentially weak whereas she was strong. Only when it came to fighting was he strong. Xuan Yueji sighed at this problem despite already knowing that he was superhuman for being able to travel a mile in a minute.
At the same time, Xuan Yueji complained about the two empires, especially the Xue Empire. Why did it have to share only one border with the Lin Empire and have to be in the west? Why could it not be in the north and only be about a thousand miles away?
Though Xuan Yueji was yelling at the empires internally, he also had his way to cheat. Naturally that cheat was Lu Lianhua. Lu Lianhua was an old alternate that had lots of power and magic that did not like to be at the front unless Bai Shuixian called for him or if they needed help, which they rarely did.
"Lu Lianhua, I'm tired. Teleport me the rest of the way there. I'm sure you know the way there considering your old age," Xuan Yueji said as he closed his eyes to take a rest after traveling for about a few thousand miles.
Though Lu Lianhua wanted to reject, Xuan Yueji had already pushed him to the forefront, so he could only do as Xuan Yueji asked. It was not as though teleporting took him that much effort anyways. A few thousand miles was a piece of cake compared to the million miles that he had to teleport back then.
It had taken him even a second and the body had already found its way into a secret spot in the base of the Xue Empire. This made Xuan Yueji especially satisfied and he laughed while taking over the body. At the same time, he was jealous of Lu Lianhua wishing that he would age in power just like him but stay looking young.
"Don't disturb me again. I'm taking care of Xiao Xian," Lu Lianhua coldly told him before disappearing.