Chapter 63: Jebe Joins

But the next words from Golden Wheel Dharma King were like a bucket of cold water poured on them:

"However, the second layer is twice as deep as the first, requiring 【three to four years】. The third layer is twice as deep as the second, requiring 【seven to eight years】. Thus, the difficulty doubles with each step, making progress harder and harder the further one goes."

After hearing Golden Wheel Dharma King's speech, everyone instantly understood: for an ordinary person cultivating this art, the first layer takes two years, the second four, the third eight; that is, the cultivation time required for each layer of the Elephant Prajna Art doubles.

"This old monk cultivated through bitter study for over thirty years to reach the eighth layer, intending to continue hard cultivation to achieve the ninth layer."

"I intended to attain the unprecedented power of ten dragons and ten elephants within my lifetime, but I never expected to suffer this calamity. With that young man's strength, even if I had cultivated to the ninth layer possessing the power of nine dragons and nine elephants, I would still not be his match, let alone those two young men."

Speaking to this point, Golden Wheel Dharma King could not help but sigh; those two young men both possessed peerless skills, and he estimated that only by cultivating to the legendary tenth layer of the Elephant Prajna Art could he possibly match them.

Temujin heard this, lowered his head, and asked Golden Wheel Dharma King:

"Great Master, from what you just said, does cultivating each layer of the Elephant Prajna Art add one dragon and one elephant, meaning an extra hundred jin of strength?"

"Exactly."

Golden Wheel Dharma King nodded in response.

Temujin, overjoyed after hearing this, proposed to Golden Wheel Dharma King: "If Great Master's entire legacy cannot be passed down, it would be a pity. Why not have Great Master widely select people of good aptitude within our tribe to teach?"

In Temujin's view, the Elephant Prajna Art of Golden Wheel Dharma King had absolutely no cultivation threshold; even someone with the worst aptitude could gain an extra hundred jin of strength after cultivating for one or two years, let alone those with good aptitude.

After all, the Golden Wheel Dharma King before them had only spent over thirty years to reach the eighth layer; if someone with poor aptitude wanted to cultivate to the eighth layer, it would probably require over two hundred years.

By then, if Golden Wheel Dharma King could cultivate several individuals capable of defeating ten thousand enemies for him, he would have gained a great deal; by then, facing those two young men, he would not be as passive as he is today.

Thinking of those two young men, Temujin could not help but feel a headache; those two young men were absolutely his future great enemies, and he did not know what actions they were taking now.

However, today they fought such a great victory; at this moment, they should be holding a victory celebration, Temujin thought thus.

But Temujin was wrong; although Guo Jing and the others defeated them today and even gained a great general like Jebe, as long as there is war, casualties are inevitable.

This time, although they caught the enemy off guard while they were leaderless, they were still facing an enemy three times their size, and moreover, Temujin's troops were no pushovers.

They also paid a price of one thousand lives; after bringing back the bodies of the fallen soldiers, the first thing they did was not how to celebrate, but to lead the entire tribe in holding a memorial service to mourn the dead warriors.

Because they all sacrificed themselves for the tribe, after Guo Jing led everyone to properly bury the dead, he led people to hold a memorial service.

Looking at the thousand new graves before him, Guo Jing's expression was somewhat sorrowful; this was the greatest loss of life he had suffered since going to war.

Previously, when annexing those small tribes, they usually collapsed with a single strike, so there was never such great loss of life; it was only dozens to over a hundred people, never a loss of one thousand.

The scenes of them tasting mare's milk wine and chatting together before were still vivid in his mind; who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, they would be separated by life and death.

Although he had prepared himself in his heart and knew that war would certainly cause deaths, every time he saw people he had spent day and night with in the past die, he could not help but feel heartache.

More critically, Guo Jing understood that this was merely the beginning; in future battles against Temujin, the number of dead would be even greater, with hundreds of thousands or even millions possible.

Seeing Guo Jing's sorrowful expression, Jebe, who had just arrived, found it incredible; because such things were unheard of to him. According to the style of the Taichiwu tribe in the past, at this moment they should have been celebrating joyfully.

Because in the eyes of those slave masters, it was simply not worth the effort to go to such great lengths to bring back the bodies of the dead for burial, to carve a tombstone for each person, to inscribe their names one by one, and finally to lead the families of the dead and the tribe members together to hold a memorial service.

After leading everyone to finish the memorial service, Guo Jing and Nie Huaishang comforted the orphans of the dead; to these people, Guo Jing said guiltily:

"If you encounter any difficulties in life in the future, you can come to me; as long as I am alive, I will not refuse."

Hearing Guo Jing's words, the families of the warriors, each bringing their own children, hurriedly stepped forward to bow and thank him, saying:

"Thank you, my lord."

Watching them bow and thank him, Guo Jing felt a pang of heartache for a moment.

They had all lost the sole support of their families because of him; how would they live in the days to come? Thinking of this, Guo Jing felt he must undertake the obligation to raise them.

It would still be handled according to past circumstances: the families of the dead would receive a pension from the tribe on time every month; the orphans of the dead would be raised by the tribe itself, and personally trained by Guo Jing and Nie Huaishang.

Guo Jing secretly vowed in his heart that as long as he was alive, he would definitely undertake these obligations, forever unchanging.

Jebe, who had struggled on the grasslands for these years, had never seen such a kind-hearted person; to speak honestly, if he had died fighting for the Taichiwu tribe, his old master probably would not have even had the mood to collect his body.

After all, on the grasslands, when a person died, it meant they had no value; for many people, after death, everything about them was like the wind blowing across the grasslands, leaving no trace.

No one would remember them; Jebe, who had been cold for many years, now felt a touch of emotion; this place was actually quite good.

After Guo Jing and Nie Huaishang finished the memorial service and the affairs of comforting the families of the dead, they led everyone to hold a welcome ceremony for Jebe.

"Come, let us together welcome the divine archer of the Taichiwu tribe to join our tribe."

Guo Jing raised the cup of mare's milk wine in his hand, toasted Jebe, and drank it in one gulp; everyone present also drank the mare's milk wine in their hands.

Watching Jebe raise his cup and drink heartily, Guo Jing and Nie Huaishang were very happy in their hearts; as the saying goes, a thousand gold is easy to obtain, but a general is hard to seek.

As one of the Four Dogs of the future Mongol Empire, Jebe was absolutely one of the most famous generals of the age.

In the process of following Temujin south to attack the Jin Kingdom, reaching Zhongdu, which is today's Beijing, he annihilated the Central Asian hegemon Western Liao with only twenty thousand men.

However, the current Jebe was only a defector who had just surrendered from the Taichiwu tribe; Nie Huaishang and Guo Jing decided to let him start as the captain of their personal guard company.

After all, Jebe was new here and had not yet established any merit; rashly granting him a high position would probably make everyone feel resentful.

However, Jebe had no objection; indeed, in his view, Guo Jing's arrangement for him was somewhat too high, after all, he was only a surrendered general returning from the Taichiwu tribe.