Time passed and tomorrow came.
The night was still and quiet after the retreat of the attackers. The battlefield was now a graveyard with the wounded groaning in pain and the dead lying still. Heng looked around, feeling numb as he tried to process what had happened. He had never experienced anything like this before. The adrenaline rush was now gone, leaving him exhausted and empty. He turned his head towards where the man with the black mask who had killed the commander's horse, but the man was now gone, disappeared into the darkness of the forest. Heng wondered who he was and what he wanted, as had a feeling that this wasn't the last time they would see him.
The commander on the other hand quickly gave orders to his soldiers, and they started to tend to the wounded and count the dead. Heng mechanically followed the orders given to him, helping where he could, but his mind was still in shock. As dawn approached, the soldiers started to pack up and move out, and Heng felt relieved that they were leaving this gruesome place behind. As he walked around, he saw the blonde man again. The man was now cleaning his sword, his face stoic and emotionless.
Heng approached him cautiously, not knowing what to expect. The man looked up and nodded at him, acknowledging his presence. "You fought well," the blonde man said.
Heng nodded in response, not knowing what else to say.The blonde man smiled, sheathed his sword and started to walk away. Heng watched him leave, feeling a strange sense of respect towards him.
......
The sun was high up in the sky at the moment making it hot and uncomfortable, the insects making it loud, and the sleeplessness making it irritating, but no one was saying a word of complaint.
They all had just been figuratively been slapped in the face by someone unknown, and managed to get a slap of their own in, but now they looked at themselves they found out the hand that slapped them was covered in shit.
'Those fuckers....' internally said Heng as he was carrying one of the wounded soldiers on his back, not unlike many of the other soldiers, but that wasn't what he was complaining about. After the skirmish, and after tending to the wounded they were given the order to roll out, but there was one problem once again. During the many arrows fired by the enemy, some of them had hit their wagon horses and killed them. This didn't seem like much of a problem as they were only horses...but who was to pull the carriages full of foodstuffs and equipment in this dammed terrain? No one, that's who...
"Tch.....
This made Heng angry as he looked all around, trying to find somewhere to expell his anger , but all he saw was pessimism. All his comrades seemed beaten, not only physically, but also psychologically. 'This is not good. We haven't even arrived at our destination and were already low on morale. If we are attacked once more right now we will definitely crumble.....hopefully it'll not happen....
........
Time passed and after two days of grueling marching Heng and the others arrived at their destination, the New Plain settlement. Thankfully for them they weren't attacked anymore.
"So this is it...."mumbled Heng as he looked a the expansive wooden houses, barracks, and watchtowers. They looked strange whith their different colours, like rings of colour.
"Strange colour...
"It's probably because of the age of the wood used. This region is abundant in wood, so the logical thing is to use it as much on everything, but the reason of the colour is because the trees used to build the interior change colour after about 80 years of growth. " interjected someone from the side making Heng turn towards him.
"Wu Tao...."were Heng's only words as he saw Wu Tao's tired face. The feeling and the memory of childish revenge on him looked so far away that it felt like years had passed. There only remained a feeling of tiring emptiness.
"Haaaaaa.....I really want to push you right now..." half jokingly said Heng, and Wu Tao just extended his face forward. Seeing this Heng did a sisy punch, something wouldn't even hurt a child.
"Ouch,that hurt.....
"Heehh...I bet it did....
.....
Several days had passed since they had arrived at the settlement, and things had somewhat calmed down. The soldiers who were wounded were resting and recuperating from their wounds, while the able bodied one's were training even harder than usually. Now they were truly part of the army of the Xu kingdom so they would have to be more disciplined.
From martial arts training, to military drills and marches, they didn't have much time to think, something Heng actually quite enjoyed. As one of the distinguished soldiers of the ambush he and several others had received some money , and more importantly some low grade vitality pills.
A vitality pill was one of the many magical wonders of this world, albeit one of the most mundane ones that even a commoner would buy one. Still, even though it wasn't rare it could only be concocted by an alchemist and cost about a week's of Heng's salary. It mainly was used by normal people who were sick to recuperate more quickly, or help with some diseases, but Heng and the other soldiers weren't using it in that way.
As they practiced the 'Roaring Tiger' technique the pill made them able to cultivate their vital Qi more quickly and efficiently. Usually the Vital Qi would be extracted from the food they consumed, slowly filling their body and accumulating to the point of condensation so they could achieve the next stage of cultivation, but the pill made it easier as it held a concentrated form of Vital Qi. Of course Heng would use this pill to enhance his cultivation, but as he consumed his first one he found out something strange.