Chapter 27: Foster Father is Above, Please Accept a Bow from Your Child

Chen Mo looked at the eight-hundred-catty stone wheel before him; at this weight, even within the Personal Soldier camp, only a sparse eight or nine people could lift it.

Even the other two Personal Soldiers who, like him, had received a Grade A evaluation, could at most lift six hundred catties now—perhaps a little more, but they absolutely could not lift seven hundred catties.

Seeing him walk up to such a heavy stone wheel, the others who were taking the assessment with him could not help but cast side-glances.

"Can you lift it? Don't throw out your back," Mo Hu asked with a slight frown, his tone carrying a hint of concern.

Chen Mo did not say much, merely nodding slightly; he took a deep breath, gripped the stone wheel tightly, exerted force through his arms, and lifted it up with ease.

His strength now was far beyond this eight hundred catties; the heaviest stone wheel used for the assessment was twelve hundred catties.

Chen Mo had tried it privately yesterday and could lift it easily, still possessing some reserve strength.

Looking at it this way, his strength was at least fifteen hundred catties or more, and in all likelihood, it would only be higher.

"Hiss!" Seeing him lift the eight-hundred-catty stone wheel, Mo Hu could not help but gasp.

He spent a lot of time with Chen Mo and knew the other man was definitely not one to make empty claims, yet he still had not expected that Chen Mo could truly lift this eight-hundred-catty stone wheel.

One had to know that even he himself could only barely lift a thousand-catty stone wheel now; how long had Chen Mo been in the camp, yet he could already lift an eight-hundred-catty stone wheel—the speed of this strength improvement could be called quite rapid.

It was not just him who was astonished; the other Soldiers who saw this scene all cast side-glances in shock.

At a weight of eight hundred catties, ordinary Personal Soldiers could not lift it, and among the dozens of new recruits, it was even more like a scorpion's dung—a one-of-a-kind rarity.

"Chen Mo lifts the stone, eight hundred catties, Grade A-plus!" the old man responsible for recording the assessment results shouted aloud, his tone seemingly carrying a trace of excitement.

Hearing this, Chen Mo slowly set down the stone wheel and let out a long, turbid breath.

"Did your Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist break through recently?" Mo Hu immediately leaned over and asked.

"Yes." Chen Mo did not deny this; this was the result he had wanted all along.

Mo Hu looked thoughtful and nodded with a smile, "Alright, go ahead and proceed with the other assessments."

After speaking, he did not stay here long and departed with a brisk stride.

Chen Mo's expression remained calm as he walked to the shooting range to prepare for the other assessments.

The veteran soldiers who had seen him lift the eight-hundred-catty stone wheel earlier all smiled and greeted him.

They understood that Chen Mo being able to lift an eight-hundred-catty stone wheel was a rare occurrence even within the Personal Soldier camp.

If nothing unexpected happened, Chen Mo would surely be valued by Sun Jiangjun; he was still just a common soldier like them now, but it would be hard to say after another period of time.

Only those new recruits who had not been in the camp for long had not yet reacted, and a few were even pondering how they could surpass Chen Mo.

Yet they did not know that an eight-hundred-catty stone wheel could not be managed by simple hard work; it required talent.

The other assessments went without surprise; only the spear technique was Grade B-plus, while the rest were all Grade A.

In the final comprehensive evaluation, he was still Grade A.

"Come with me, Foster Father wants to see you." Mo Hu also walked over at this moment.

He did not use Sun Jiangjun's official title, but instead used the term "Foster Father"; it seemed the following matter was definitely a private affair, not an official one.

"What does the General want with me?" Chen Mo followed closely behind him and asked in a low voice.

"You have caught Foster Father's eye this time; it is definitely a great thing." Mo Hu's smile was mysterious, and he appeared exceptionally happy.

Chen Mo had a quite good relationship with him, and more importantly, they were in the same faction.

Compared to the Clan Faction and the Fellow Townsman Faction, the weight of their Neutral Faction in this Personal Soldier camp could truly be called quite weak.

Being able to add a Personal Soldier with such excellent strength like Chen Mo was an absolute boon for them.

This was also the reason why he had immediately gone to report to Sun Jiangjun after seeing Chen Mo display his strength; if it had been someone else, he wouldn't have bothered.

Chen Mo did not ask any further and followed him to the martial arts arena; not long after, Sun Jiangjun also arrived at the arena.

"To what level has your Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist been cultivated?" Sun Shouren got straight to the point without any superfluous chatter.

"Reporting to the General, it has been cultivated to the second level of perfection, and I am preparing to break through to the third level," Chen Mo said, reciting the draft he had prepared.

He could lift a five-hundred-catty stone wheel before practicing, and after practicing to the second level of perfection, he could just manage to lift eight hundred catties.

Furthermore, saying this could also pave the way for his future breakthrough to the third level, at which point he could then ask for Sun Jiangjun's Internal Martial Arts.

"Then your talent is indeed quite good; even if it isn't innate Divine Power, it isn't far off," Sun Shouren nodded in praise; Chen Mo's speed of cultivation was not much different from his own back in the day.

"However, it is impossible to cultivate Inner Qi through the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist, even if your talent is good; remember this well." Sun Shouren then thought of the matter Chen Mo had asked him about two days ago and exhorted him repeatedly.

In his view, Chen Mo might have asked this question precisely because his talent was considered quite good.

But no matter how good his talent was, cultivating Inner Qi using the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist was simply not something a human could accomplish.

"This subordinate understands," Chen Mo nodded and said.

"Since you have such talent, have you ever thought about your future?" Sun Shouren changed the subject and asked suddenly.

Chen Mo had talent, so of course he should be cultivated vigorously.

But cultivating a person required spending money and energy, and perhaps even calling in favors; these were not small amounts.

They were neither kin nor acquaintances, so why should he cultivate Chen Mo? Wouldn't it be better to cultivate some disciples from his own clan?

Even if those disciples did not have Chen Mo's talent, they were, after all, closer to him in relationship.

"Reporting to the General, this subordinate only wishes to take orders under the General's banner; if I can perform meritorious service on the battlefield in the future and manage to secure an official position, that would be best," Chen Mo answered honestly.

"You kid, you don't put on an act; you speak the truth," Sun Shouren laughed repeatedly.

Chen Mo's words were quite to his liking; if he had only said he wanted to perform meritorious service with him and nothing else, Sun Shouren would have instead felt his words were somewhat fake.

On the contrary, Chen Mo saying he wanted to secure an official position after performing meritorious service showed that he was speaking the truth.

"Hehe." Chen Mo grinned, revealing a smile; when dealing with others in the Personal Soldier camp, sincerity was the ultimate trump card.

Because reporting false military intelligence on the battlefield could truly get everyone killed, people who liked to tell lies would be ostracized among the Personal Soldiers and could not survive at all.

In reality, it was not just the entire Personal Soldier camp; even looking at the world, no one liked people full of empty talk.

It was not that one had to tell the truth every single time, but in most cases, telling the truth had a much better effect than telling lies.

"Performing meritorious service on the battlefield is easy to say, but doing it is not that simple; furthermore, since I am currently training troops in Xingyuan Prefecture, I am afraid I will be unable to return to the Border Army in the short term."

Sun Shouren spoke slowly.

Chen Mo did not interrupt and listened quietly; since Sun Jiangjun had told him the difficulties, it proved that he must have another path for him to choose, otherwise he would not have said these words.

"If you want to perform meritorious service on the battlefield to become an official, I'm afraid it's not that easy right now, but you could take another path." Sun Jiangjun deliberately kept him in suspense.

"I ask the General to instruct me!" Chen Mo bowed and asked.

"That is to take the Military Examination; with your current strength, I wouldn't dare say you could become a Recommended Scholar, but a Cultivated Talent is definitely no problem," Sun Shouren said with a chuckle, not continuing to keep him in suspense.

"However, to take the examination for an official title, you must have someone willing to guarantee you. Do you know any other officials or people who already hold an official title?"

The Great Gan has the Imperial Examination, but an official title is not something any peasant can just take an exam for.

If there is no official or person with an official title to provide a guarantee, you wouldn't even be able to enter the examination hall.

"If you don't know anyone, I could help you, but we are not related, so why should I, the General, help you?" Sun Shouren spoke, raising a rather realistic question.

The time he had spent with Chen Mo was not long; the two could only be considered acquaintances, not even familiar with each other. For no reason at all, why should he act as this guarantor for Chen Mo?

"Hurry up and pay respects to your foster father!" Mo Hu tugged at Chen Mo's sleeve and said in a low voice.

Sun Shouren saw all of this; the reason he had also called Mo Hu over was precisely so that there would be someone to remind Chen Mo when the time came.

After all, it was not easy for him to bring this up himself; someone had to open this topic for him.

"Foster father is above, please accept your child's bow!" With someone to remind him, even if Chen Mo were simple and honest, he now knew what to do.

He had actually been mentally prepared for this; given his status and background, if he wanted to get ahead in the military camp, acknowledging Sun Jiangjun as his foster father was an indispensable part of it.

Moreover, acknowledging Sun Jiangjun as his foster father was definitely not a loss; it meant that he was going to truly start cultivating him with care.

(End of this chapter)