Chapter 17: Chapter Seventeen: Mutual Flattery

When Ning Ze opened his eyes again, everyone was surrounding him outside, staring. Ning Ze thought: Could it be that besides me, everyone else passed? How perverted — there are even immortals in the military camp, how could we possibly win? Thinking of this, Ning Ze lowered his head, quite dejected.

Mr. Xiang was quite speechless. In the end, the two rich young masters were eliminated before they even finished killing a cavalry squad, while only Ning Ze was still bouncing around inside, until finally an immortal appeared — this had completely exceeded the standard of their trial. The protagonist came out still looking downcast. What are you thinking? Could it be that you, an un-cultivated person, still want to kill an immortal?

The others didn't know what Ning Ze was thinking. Seeing that Ning Ze was so formidable yet could still lower his head and be humble, they all felt some admiration in their hearts. Only the fortune-telling old Daoist saw clearly, but he didn't come out to explain, his expression strange, happily watching the spectacle.

"Stop looking, come with me, proceed to the next test." Mr. Xiang said impatiently.

On the table was a huge sand table, exhaustive in detail, containing everything. Before they could even marvel at the wonder of creation, Mr. Xiang explained to Ning Ze and the others: "This is the War Strategy Sand Table. You can project your minds into it to simulate war. This time it's simple — enter the sand table and do battle with me."

The sixteen people looked at each other in dismay — who could pass this trial?

Mr. Xiang understood what they were thinking, and pointed out fourteen people, adding: "Right, you fourteen have the qualifications to enter the War Strategy Sand Table. I will only split off a wisp of my mind to battle you all simultaneously. Begin."

Regardless of whether everyone was ready, Mr. Xiang directly pulled the fourteen people's minds into the sand table. The remaining two were quite embarrassed, and helplessly bowed to Mr. Xiang to take their leave. Unfortunately, Mr. Xiang didn't even look at them properly. Leaving the courtyard, the two revealed fierce light in their eyes, fists clenched tight, teeth grinding with a creaking sound, resentment welling up spontaneously. One of them was precisely the person who had spoken rudely in the city.

Ning Ze surveyed his surroundings — he was currently in the central army command tent. His mind clearly knew everything about the military camp, even the sand table's terrain and rules. Fourteen against one, or one on one? Ning Ze was actually guessing the direction of Mr. Xiang's test. His group had never touched military strategy, never fought a war. This time should be to test everyone's talent, so the room for maneuver was very large.

As the saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win a hundred battles. First, one must know the battlefield information. On a small hill, Ning Ze led a squad of scouts to observe the enemy army across from them. Mr. Xiang's army was just to the south, the surrounding terrain hilly. The scouts discovered no other armies — it was clearly a one-on-one trial. How could he win against Mr. Xiang?

Mr. Xiang's camp was built against the mountain, occupying the high ground, forming a position easy to defend and hard to attack, with a water source nearby — completely unafraid of siege. Wanting to lure them out to fight, but unable to beat Mr. Xiang's frontally commanded army, Ning Ze held his head, looking somewhat depressed. Not this kind of bullying. In fact, besides him, the other trial-takers were all in groups of two or three. Perhaps because Mr. Xiang saw Ning Ze's performance in the trial ground, he was specially "looking after" him.

Mr. Xiang had long since discovered Ning Ze gathering intelligence. He didn't want to bully a youth, so he wouldn't use full force against him. For some reason, he always felt Ning Ze's performance deserved a beating, wanted to teach him a lesson — probably because Ning Ze made him unhappy when leaving the trial ground.

Ning Ze returned to the central army tent. He felt attacking was impossible to break through, but defending should still be possible. Soldiers value speed. He immediately arranged for the main army to march up the mountain, backs against a sheer cliff. Several thousand soldiers felled trees and cut wood, enclosing a small stockade, digging trenches all around. The mountain pass was heavily guarded with elite troops, filled with traps. In half a day, the mountaintop had become an impregnable fortress. By the time Mr. Xiang received the intelligence, it was too late to mobilize the army to attack — he could only think of another way.

Sand table night. Taking advantage of the pitch black, several people quietly entered Ning Ze's stockade. Having learned from the previous trial ground, the stockade had sentries every ten paces, and they quickly discovered those people's presence.

"Which unit are you from? The pagoda suppresses the river demon."

The infiltrators were dumbfounded. What kind of ghost countersign was this? The scouts hadn't even gotten near the command tent before they were captured. The next day, Mr. Xiang, having received no news for a long time, was provoked by Ning Ze. Ning Ze's cavalry threw the scouts' corpses at the entrance of Mr. Xiang's camp, and wildly hurled insults, the gist being: Mr. Xiang is a coward, a poltroon, doesn't dare come attack himself, only knows how to send scouts to their deaths.

Mr. Xiang naturally wouldn't pay attention to Ning Ze's petty schemes. Calm and composed, he continued sending scouts to probe Ning Ze's movements. Ning Ze also knew he wouldn't take the bait, so he dispatched large numbers of cavalry to pursue and kill scouts — just not attacking. After killing scouts, he'd throw them at the enemy camp entrance and insult them again.

After several rounds, Mr. Xiang knew he couldn't let Ning Ze attack his heart/morale anymore, or the army's morale would collapse. He wanted to return the favor, but discovered Ning Ze hadn't even sent scouts. Mr. Xiang wasn't polite either — immediately using scouts as bait, he ambushed and killed several of Ning Ze's units. The sand table went back and forth like this for five days. Ning Ze never showed any willingness to attack. The others had all finished their trials, and once again only Ning Ze remained. Mr. Xiang's face was somewhat hard to maintain. Plus, after days of being insulted by Ning Ze, he faintly had a thread of anger — he wanted to give Ning Ze a taste of his own medicine.

On the fifth morning, Mr. Xiang personally led his army to the foot of the stockade mountain. These past days he hadn't been idle either — scouts had still thoroughly investigated the intelligence outside the stockade. The horn sounded. Mr. Xiang commanded his army to attack, first engaging in a tug-of-war at the mountain pass. For assaulting a mountain and taking a stockade, Mr. Xiang had long been prepared. Catapults destroyed the pass traps, crossbows suppressed, sword-and-shield soldiers advanced for close combat, minimizing the defenders' advantage at the pass. Coupled with the gap in command between the two sides, the pass defenders couldn't hold out for long.

Only the stockade before them remained. Ning Ze's army here was in critical danger. Facing Mr. Xiang's commanded army, Ning Ze's defense — not to say it was crushed like dry weeds — could be said to have no power to fight back whatsoever. Mr. Xiang didn't go easy on Ning Ze. Riding the momentum, he pursued. Outside the stockade, a siege formation was quickly set up. Siege ladders crossed the trenches, shield bearers picked up battering rams to smash the gate, vying for control of the stockade gate.

When Mr. Xiang broke through the stockade gate, he discovered Ning Ze had built a second stockade wall inside, forming a square-shaped defensive formation. Soldiers had already poured in along the stockade walls. The number of resisters grew fewer and fewer. Mr. Xiang sensed something was wrong — the number of resisters inside the stockade didn't seem right. And where had Ning Ze's people gone?

Soon, a raging fire blazed up in the stockade. Wood plus fire oil — the soldiers who had charged in were crazily devoured by the great fire.

"Kill! Follow me up the mountain to kill!" At the mountain foot, Ning Ze was leading an army charging up the mountain. Seeing Ning Ze, Mr. Xiang instantly understood Ning Ze's stratagem. A trace of a smile appeared on his refined face. In so many years, no one had made him suffer a loss. This time, it was a twelve-year-old boy. Ning Ze fought fiercely. Mr. Xiang's army was caught in a pincer attack, caught between advance and retreat. Just as they were about to be wiped out, Ning Ze's vision went black again.

It turned out that from the very first intelligence gathering, Ning Ze had begun implementing his scheme. He built layer upon layer of stockades on the mountain, showing weakness to the enemy. He let Mr. Xiang mistakenly believe he would defend to the end, relying on terrain to refuse the enemy. Then he prevented scouts from probing intelligence inside the stockade, crazily hunting down scouts, confusing Mr. Xiang's eyes and ears. After disrupting the battlefield's intelligence sources, Ning Ze had already secretly opened a small mountain path, covertly transferring most of his army out — openly repairing the plank road while secretly crossing at Chencang. To put it plainly, the stockade was just a decoy to attract attention. Combined with Ning Ze's morale-attacking scheme, Mr. Xiang couldn't possibly keep dragging it out with Ning Ze, or it would be too embarrassing. Thus Ning Ze determined Mr. Xiang would definitely attack his stockade. When Mr. Xiang consumed his army attacking up the mountain, the square-shaped stockade prevented the army from easily retreating. The stockade with fire oil pre-buried directly trapped and killed large numbers of soldiers. Finally, Ning Ze's transferred army came out again to encircle them like wrapping dumplings, deciding the victory in one stroke.

Outside the sand table, Mr. Xiang was looking at Ning Ze with a smile. He actually quite appreciated Ning Ze. Ning Ze, on the other hand, was very depressed — he didn't get to enjoy the final moment before being pulled out of the sand table battlefield. As for Ning Ze coming out of the sand table last, everyone was very curious what he had done inside.

"Go take a look. There's a projection crystal inside. I'll wait for you in the living room." Mr. Xiang understood the little guy's thoughts, and immediately left the building together with the fortune-telling old Daoist. Under the rich young masters' guidance, Ning Ze and the others examined the projection crystal, their minds entering once more.

Only then did Ning Ze discover he had been played. Turns out he had received special treatment — truly wanting to cry but having no tears. After reviewing the sand table battles, only Fatty and Han Xian had performed commendably on his side. Wang Pangdun was grouped with Han Yu and Han Shan. Their army was three times Mr. Xiang's. Don't look at Wang Pangdun's simple and honest appearance — on the sand table battlefield, using Han Yu's army as bait to attract Mr. Xiang's main force, then continuously sending troops to trade losses, even exchanging many for few, he stubbornly traded them down. Unfortunately, Mr. Xiang's strategy was one step higher. He didn't completely bite on Han Yu, instead turning the tables, keeping a reserve force during the exchanges. In the end, with extremely few troops remaining, he defeated Wang Pangdun.

Han Xian was very lucky to be grouped with the Han Da and Han Er brothers. The three brothers were just one word: "reckless." The three led three times the troops, slaughtering on the battlefield. Every time, all three led from the front. No matter how Mr. Xiang divided his forces or used schemes, relying on high morale they continuously pierced through Mr. Xiang's arrangements, making Mr. Xiang's army unable to effectively execute tactics, forced into a chaotic melee. It fought Mr. Xiang to the point where he couldn't come up with any good solution for a while. In the end, he relied on constant guerrilla warfare on the battlefield, exhausting Han Xian and the other two.

The two rich young masters actually fought with quite some method. One look showed they had received systematic instruction — much better-looking than their wild untrained ways. Unfortunately, they both lost too. Actually, after watching, Ning Ze discovered that in a one-versus-fourteen situation, Mr. Xiang had only used very little strength. Everyone basically couldn't resist. This Mr. Xiang's strength was unfathomable. The little pride from just winning vanished without a trace in an instant.

After a round of secret self-reflection, Ning Ze was surrounded by the people around him, their eyes mixed with curiosity and admiration.

Liu Lv'er even came over and touched Ning Ze's head, muttering: "The head doesn't seem any different either!" Then the other Back Azure Village companions came up one after another to touch him, making Ning Ze not know whether to laugh or cry. He could only scold them not to mess around, and only then did everyone stop fooling around.

"Hello! I'm Fu Qing. This is Yuan Li. May I ask how to address you, brother?" The two rich young masters clearly saw Ning Ze's talent, and had a hidden intention to make friends, so they stepped forward to ask.

"I'm Ning Ze. Please forgive me — it was too rowdy. Brother's command in the sand table truly makes this younger brother admire." Ning Ze said with a sincere face, his tone quite admiring.

"Ning Brother, you shame me. In Mr. Xiang's trial, only your performance was best. Your performance in the sand table opened Fu Qing's eyes wide. Schemes linking one after another, finally counter-killing Mr. Xiang — truly refreshing." Fu Qing bowed with hands even lower, shaking his head.

"Where, where. It's still Fu Brother who performed well. Commanding troops with method, fighting Mr. Xiang back and forth."

……

The others could tell these two were mutually flattering each other, shamelessly so. They simply ignored them directly. A group of youths left with arms around each other's shoulders, leaving the two here to mutually flatter alone.

Seeing this, Ning Ze and Fu Qing — with no audience, the flattery lost its meaning. Their faces were quite awkward. In the end, they were still youths. The two looked at each other, couldn't help feeling full of fun, and then laughed heartily together. The two also hooked arms and left.