"Ca..captain!" Shung Kai blurted out in surprise as he looked at the new comers garnering the attention of the entire camp.
"Why does he look different?" he thought as he continued staring at his previous captain, trying to find out why he was different from the last time he met him.
"I'm getting the same I usually get when facing the commanders," a lower-stage male youth soldier said as he stared at the middle-stage middle aged man on a brown colored plain robe.
"Isn't that the previous captain of Ravage Unit? He has returned from his journey with a powerful cultivator accompanying him?" an upper-stage male youth muttered as he focused between Shung Yun and the hired guard.
Halting their meeting after hearing the disturbance from their soldiers, the higher ups of Byui Village present in the war camp walked out from the huge tent before moving towards the center of the commotion.
"Shung Yun?" commander Jian looked doubtful as he moved his gaze away from the upper-stage dantian unsealing realm stranger and onto someone familiar, "has he given up on seeking for a cure to his problem?"
Leaping down from Haru's back, Shung Yun bowed his head and cupped his fists towards the village chief and the rest of higher ups, "junior greets seniors."
"As courteous as ever," chief Weng said with a smile as he looked at Shung Yun, "how was your journey?"
"Not as I expected," Shung Yun said with a sad look in his eyes before swiping it away with his follow-up sentence, "it seems like fate has something else in store for me."
"I'm glad you're able to accept the arrangement of fate," chief Weng said before looking at the hired guard, "can I know the name of your companion?"
"He's Mr. Zui," Shung Yun said as he introduced the middle-stage middle aged hired guard, "he's in charge of my security within a period of time."
"Welcome, Mr. Zui. It's an honor to have you in our village," chief Weng said as he welcomed the upper-stage dantian unsealing realm cultivator.
"I'm also honored to visit the village of the five[5] brave warriors who held back the forces of the Tanji and Hyuji family during the Bleak War," the middle-stage middle aged hired guard said as he responded courteously to chief Weng.
"I didn't expect anyone not from our village to still have knowledge of our ancestors," chief Weng sounded surprised as he said to the middle aged hired guard.
"My apologies to keep you both standing. The both of you must be tired from your journey," he said before instructing four[4] soldiers to prepare two[2] separate tents for Shung Yun and his hired guard, "we'll discuss after you've rested."
"Alright," Shung Yun said before leading his hired guard towards the location of their temporary lodge.
Each taking their respective tents, the contractor and the contracted guard went about their different businesses with the tent shrouding them from spying eyes.
Seated cross-legged on the bed prepared for him, Shung Yun looked at Mangro as he gave him instructions to give to Ubei.
"Tell Ubei that he should get within the range of communication and prepare his subordinates for battle," he said to the black scaled snake wrapped around his left wrist, "come back immediately after you've given the message."
"Yes, my king," Mangro answered as he tongue flickered before receding back into his mouth.
Watching Mangro leave, Shung Yun contemplated ways to escalate the ongoing war in order to seize control of Quing Village.
"If the death toll of the soldiers from both sides reaches a certain extent, that will prompt the elite soldiers to step forward in order to give the surviving standard soldiers the chance to withdraw from the battlefield," he thought as he took out a plain paper from his storage before slowly shaping into a paper boat, "and if the same thing happen to the elite soldiers, then I'm sure even the elders will get embroiled in it."
Continuing on with his plan, he came to a stop after having several paper boats, jets, boxes, shurikens and cranes.
"Having my mind drift in thoughts is really a way to lessen the impact the voices have on me," placing the paper crane in his hand on the bed, Shung Yun said before focusing on increasing his comprehension of the strength aspect of beast essence.
Stopping his comprehension due to the voice at the other side of his tent's entrance, he extracted himself from the state of meditation as he left his tent to answer the summoning of the village chief.
Entering the tent used to plan out battle strategies for the war, Shung Yun saw the village chief beckoning him to come forward.
"I heard you've made a name for yourself in Yuhan Town," commander Jian said after Shung Yun stopped beside him.
"It's all thanks to the goddess," Shung Yun said as he switched back to being a believer of the tree goddess.
Saying nothing after Shung Yun's response, commander Jian focused back on the stone table a few inches from him.
Holding a cane of about two[2] feet in his right hand, commander Nai said to the higher ups in the room, "let's begin."
Looking at the map of a battlefield covering more than half of the stone table in front of him and the tiny stone carved figurines separated into two[2] sides of the battlefield, Shung Yun watched as commander Nai gave several analysis and strategies from the information gathered in the past four[4] weeks since the war began.
"The tactics of the soldiers of Quing Village has always been to storm through the defenses of our soldiers in order to deal a massive damage at the initial confrontation of a battle and avoid a drawn out battle that will put them at a disadvantage due to battling in our home ground," commander Nai said with his cane pointing at the figurines on the battlefield map, "if we form a circle around them after surviving their initial charge, we can get the archers on the wall and the towers to focus on the middle of the battlefield, thereby, dealing damage to the soldiers of Quing Village while doing no harm to our soldiers at the peripheral of the battlefield."
"Using your tactics will give the soldiers of Quing Village easier access to destroy our gate and storm into the village, while also putting the lives of our soldiers obstructing the escape path of the Quing Village's soldiers at risk due to the Quing Village's archers directly behind them," commander Jian said as he pointed out the disadvantages of commander Nai's tactics.
"I've considered that," commander Nai said calmly without bothering about the disadvantages pointed by commander Jian, "the first issue can be solved by arranging our finest standard soldiers to directly face the storm of Quing Village's soldiers' attack, holding them back as long as they can, while the soldiers at the flanks and behind the Quing Village's soldiers quickly kill their way into their midst. The second issue cannot be avoided. With the battlefield being in our home ground, we can assign more archers to make it easier to quickly kill off the Quing Village's soldiers surrounded by our soldiers."
"That's a huge sacrifice. It will be left at a last resort," chief Weng said as he refused commander Nai's strategy.
"That isn't actually the case," Shung Yun said as he immediately felt several gazes on him, making him the center of attention.
"Does he have a way to deal with the issues in commander Nai's tactics?" commander Tian thought as he gazed differently at Shung Yun.
After the news of his acquisition of a large inscription company and his ongoing building of a huge estate both backed by the Flowing River Sect reached the village, his status was immediately transformed.
"Not only does he have a seat at the council running the affairs of the entire village, but he's also given the right to choose anyone of his choice to enter the Flowing River Sect as an outer sect disciple for the next ten[10] years," he thought as he felt both envious and amazed at Shung Yun's transformation.
"Do you have a solution to deal with the issue of commander Nai's tactics?" chief Weng asked after he went through a few self-generated thoughts.
"Yes," Shung Yun said as he looked at chief Weng, "but it requires a certain prize."
New Chapter.....
Have a cool day.....
The Lord's grace upon the works of your hands.....
Thanks for your time and patience…," Author_X