Chapter 4: Slay and Strike as a Soldier, Wield the Soldier-Commanding Register!

Silence!

A breath of turbid air escaped his lips, and Li Yuan's heart leapt into his throat, restless and uneasy.

Did it work?

The Patriarchs wouldn't actually know I didn't manage to "read through a hundred scriptures," would they?

Give me some reaction!

After the span of a few breaths, just as Li Yuan felt his sweat was about to drip down, a piercingly shrill sound suddenly rang in his ears.

That sound was like a steamboat's whistle, yet countless times louder; the instant he heard it, Li Yuan could no longer feel his own existence.

Hmm~

Hmm~

Hmm~

……

That sound rang in his ears one after another; Li Yuan felt his vision go black, yet faintly, it seemed as though he could sense something.

As if an incomparably colossal giant were whispering, telling him something, awaiting his response—and because there was no response, it seemed to be growing angry?!

But……

"I can't hear it! I really can't hear it…"

Li Yuan strained desperately to make out that sound, yet he felt like a lone boat in a raging storm, on the verge of capsizing at any moment.

Hmm~

He did not know how long it had been; just as Li Yuan's spirit began to scatter, that tremendous sound finally faded away.

He opened his eyes in a daze, only to see countless colors churning violently all around—one glance was enough to make one want to retch.

But in a flash, all the colors had faded completely; Li Yuan looked around in a daze, as though he had fallen sitting in the void.

No, that's not right!

He suddenly lowered his head.

Beneath him, there suddenly lay a scroll he could neither see clearly nor make sense of—so vast it seemed boundless!

This is……

"A Talisman Register?!"

The instant this thought surged into his mind, Li Yuan watched in shock as the void collapsed and contracted, as that endless ancient scroll rolled back up, sweeping him within.

Bang!

Li Yuan heard bowls and chopsticks fall to the ground, and his second brother's startled cry—then Yu Yu Xuanji knew nothing more.

"Ugh~"

He did not know how long it had been; Li Yuan slowly came to, feeling as though his head were splitting apart with terrible pain, and could not help but let out a muffled groan.

"Third Brother, wh-what's wrong with you?"

Li Lin sat before the bed, his face taut with worry.

"I'm fine, Second Brother, I-I'm fine…"

Li Yuan propped himself up on the bed to sit; his gaze was still somewhat scattered, his ears ringing badly. After a good while, he finally saw his own second brother—

And the woman leaning against the wooden door with her hands on her hips.

That woman was just past twenty; though she wore no powder or kohl, one could still make out a few hints of beauty—only now she was glaring at him with displeasure.

She was the wife Second Brother had been betrothed to since childhood…

"Sister-in-law?"

Leaning on his second brother for support, Li Yuan stood up. He could see his sister-in-law's displeasure, and with matters weighing on his mind, he left the half-catty of pork he had bought and departed the alley, ignoring Li Lin's attempts to detain him.

"Hah!"

Outside the alley, Li Yuan braced one hand against the wall, the other clutching the three qian of loose silver his second brother had pressed into his bosom, his expression complicated.

At his ear, he could faintly hear his second sister-in-law's shrill voice:

"As if you're the only one with feelings! You earn only six qian of silver a month at the Firewood Gang—without this old woman's help, the debt collectors would've thrown you brothers into Clearwater Lake long ago…"

"The money Second Brother used to get me into the Weapon-Forging Shop was borrowed?! How much?"

Li Yuan clenched his teeth, yet he did not turn back to escalate the conflict between brother and sister-in-law.

He closed his eyes, and once again saw that talisman register with its intricate patterns—and this time, he perceived far more.

"The Soldier-Commanding Register!"

The ritual really worked!

But I didn't go back—can I not go back?

Joy and bitterness welling up in his heart at once, Li Yuan even felt a trace of lingering fear—was this ritual truly so dangerous?

In his past life, had he died during this very ritual?

"The Soldier-Commanding Register!"

After a good while, Li Yuan suppressed the tangled emotions in his heart and began to sense this 'Register Bestowed by the Heavens.'

Faintly, he even came to understand the tremendous sound he had heard and the colors he had seen after the ritual.

That was this Soldier-Commanding Register communicating with him in shifting ways, and finally, in a manner he could comprehend, transforming into the form of the talisman register he now beheld?

Li Yuan gained a measure of insight.

But……

'I still can't read it…'

The half-baked hedge Daoist Priest Li Yuan felt a touch of shame—his training was shallow, the hundred scriptures were unmastered, and he had never truly studied talisman registers.

Hmm~

As if sensing his thoughts, Li Yuan heard another thunderous crash—but before fear could take hold, his perception shifted, and he could only stare in stunned silence.

【First Granting of Talisman: Command of Troops Talisman】!

【First-Rank Commander of Troops, Li Yuan】

【Number of Troops Under Command: 1】

……

I#

Are the Ancestors really this cool?!

Li Yuan was stunned.

Compared to the earlier thunderous crash and the talisman, what he now saw was not merely simple and clear?!

"First-Rank Commander of Troops? Offer one thousand jin of raw iron, one hundred liang of silver, and one liang of gold to advance to Second-Rank Commander of Troops?"

Li Yuan closed his eyes, and again felt the stars shift and the heavens turn.

After a moment of dizziness, he found himself standing in a dim, lightless, nameless space.

At this moment, he stood upon a small gray platform no larger than his feet, surrounded by a hazy, gray expanse—strange and dangerous.

Above him, the massive Command of Troops Talisman resembled a dim star chart,

and at this moment, only one star on the chart glowed.

Looking at this talisman, a flood of information surged into Li Yuan's mind, as if memories he had once learned and later forgotten had suddenly returned.

"Warfare is the way of life and death!"

"Use it, and act; set it aside, and conceal. Those who wield it advance without obstacle; those who hold it stand mighty!"

"All who claim the title of warrior may command!"

……

"Weapons!"

When he opened his eyes again, Li Yuan's fingers trembled; he barely restrained himself from snatching weapons from nearby passersby.

He looked down at his palm, where the Command of Troops Talisman shrank to a fraction of its size, a dizzying swirl of patterns at first glance.

He had never felt such an urgent desire to wield a blade or sword—but he could only clamp down hard on the impulse.

"Even the lowest-quality sword or knife costs one liang of silver. I'm poor…"

Clenching his fist, Li Yuan vanished into the crowd. Though he longed to familiarize himself with the Command of Troops Talisman, the sky darkening forced him to return to the forge shop.

Being late means losing a day's pay—that would be too much of a loss.

"Such a strong reaction—the forge shop is truly the perfect place for me!"

After weaving through alleyways and streets, Li Yuan still struggled to suppress his inner restlessness as he stood before the forge shop.

Having taken a day off, now standing before the door, his mood was utterly transformed.

"Is this what confidence feels like?"

Li Yuan pondered his shifting mindset, feeling as if the once-dark path ahead had been ripped open, letting light pour through.

"Must be cautious…"

He warned himself inwardly, returning to the forge shop, his peripheral vision constantly drifting toward the shopfront and the connected forges.

How many weapons must this two-hundred-year-old forge have accumulated?

Feeling the Command of Troops Talisman vibrate, Li Yuan's heart burned hot.

……

……

Passing through the front courtyard, he found many apprentices already standing in post in the training ground before the middle courtyard; even the diligent Niu Gui was absent—clearly, the middle courtyard's chores weren't finished.

Li Yuan glanced briefly, having no intention of returning to the middle courtyard; his eyes fell instead on the wooden-handled iron hammers piled at the edge of the training ground.

"A hammer… will do too?"

Li Yuan couldn't be sure, for the tremor from the Command of Troops Talisman had never ceased since he first felt it.

"Master Qin!"

As Li Yuan's attention wavered, heavy footsteps sounded behind him.

The apprentices from the front courtyard followed Qin Xiong to the training ground; apprentices from the other courtyards soon gathered as well.

Without instruction, all apprentices instantly fell into formation, not daring to make a sound.

"The Bai Yuan Cloak Hammer has inner and outer aspects: the inner is the post, the outer is the hammer! Within, there are three unions; without, three unions. When all six unions are fully connected, mastery is achieved!"

Qin Xiong strode forward like the wind, arriving before them.

Li Yuan's vision blurred—Qin Xiong's massive, palm-like hand landed on Niu Gui's shoulder, who stood farthest to the left.

Pata!

Just one strike, and Li Yuan couldn't help but flinch, feeling as if a monstrous bear had risen on its hind legs and slammed down.

"Ahh!"

Niu Gui screamed in pain.

With just one slap, Niu Gui's legs flew apart, his hip joint cracking with a sharp "crack"—making teeth ache.

"Your stance is unstable—you strike iron weakly… you strike people weakly!"

Qin Xiong moved Niu Gui like a bundle of straw, reshaping him into a posture resembling a great ape hanging its arm low; the latter's face flushed red, teeth bared in agony.

"This… is the Bai Yuan Post!"

The apprentices all stared, each mimicking the stance; Qin Xiong strode among them, his palm-like hand tapping down like willow branches.

"Tighten your thighs!"

"Relax your shoulders and arms! Are you dead?!"

"Haven't you ever seen an ape? Don't stand like a dead stake—your eyes have to move, and your ears have to move too!"

"..."

"Force rises from the ground, your steps must be heavy, your body like a spirit ape, your frame must be loose! The Bai Yuan Stake is the foundation—if you can't even stand steady, don't even think about learning the Cloak Hammer!"

Qin Xiong strode like the wind, weaving among the several dozen apprentices, his speed very fast and extremely agile.

Every single apprentice took a slap.

"This strength..."

Li Yuan took one as well, nearly blacking out on the spot, barely managing not to topple to the ground.

"The Bai Yuan Cloak Hammer is the foundational Wu Gong passed down in my Forging Shop for two hundred years. The art is divided into four layers: Entry, Proficiency, Minor Mastery, and Great Mastery!"

"If you want to enter the inner court, you must train this Wu Gong to the first layer—Entry—before the year's end!"

Qin Xiong's voice was thunderously loud; Li Yuan, standing at the very edge, also felt his ears ring.

"Lift your hammers, take the stance!"

Li Yuan's ears were somewhat 'buzzing', but he also caught the words 'lift your hammer', and couldn't help a slight tremor in his heart.

Before long, an iron hammer had been passed to his hands by an apprentice from the middle court, and before his eyes, a patch of grey also welled up.

【Eight-Pound Training Hammer (Unranked)】

【This is the training hammer used by generations of apprentices in the Forging Shop to practice the Bai Yuan Cloak Hammer, stained with the blood and tears of over a hundred apprentices...】

【Control Requirement: None】

【Control Effect: Cloak Hammer Art—Proficiency!】

(End of chapter)