If you die, I will be able to inherit your cultivation.

The young lady didn't keep Zhou Ming waiting for long.

She placed the teacup on the table, stood up, smoothed the wrinkles in her cuffs, and uttered a few words in a low voice:

"Let's go, you come along too."

Zhou Ming was stunned for a moment.

Where are we going?

Before he could even ask a question, Su Mingyue had already walked past him and out of the flower hall, with Chunlan and Dongmei following closely behind.

Zhou Ming had no choice but to swallow his questions and quickly followed.

Stepping out of the Marquis's mansion, Zhou Ming was once again taken aback by the scene before him. Qiu Ju, Xia He, and the others were already waiting on horseback.

These personal maids all rode tall horses, with short swords hanging at their waists and crossbows and quivers hanging on the sides of their saddles.

Behind them followed a group of about twenty guards, all clad in armor and armed with weapons. Even the horses were covered in thin armor, and the horseshoes made a crisp sound as they clattered on the bluestone slabs.

Judging from this, the decision to leave the manor was made long ago, not on a whim.

Before Zhou Ming could figure out what was going on, a guard led a chestnut gelding to him and shoved the reins into his hand.

Zhou Ming looked down at the reins in his hand, then looked up at the horse.

The horse was a full head taller than him, looking down at him with its big, wet eyes, and blowing hot breath from its nostrils, which smelled of hay.

The original owner's horse riding skills were not bad, after all, he had accompanied Su Mingyue to practice riding and archery since he was a child, and had been thrown off countless times before he became skilled.

However, Zhou Ming himself could count on one hand the number of times he had actually ridden a horse in his two lifetimes.

Su Mingyue boarded the carriage, the curtain was drawn, Chunlan gave a hand signal, and the convoy began to slowly head towards the east gate.

Following the horse riding techniques from his predecessor's memories, Zhou Ming squeezed his legs tightly around the horse's belly, loosely holding the reins in his hands, and rode steadily.

After leaving the city, the caravan traveled west along the main road for about thirty miles before turning onto a side road.

After walking for another half an hour, a village appeared ahead.

The estate was quite large, surrounded by vast fields where tenant farmers were working.

Hearing the sound of horses' hooves, they all looked up. Upon seeing that it was the young lady's caravan, they immediately put down their farm tools and knelt on both sides of the road, their foreheads almost touching the ground.

Zhou Ming noticed that the way these people knelt and bowed was extremely natural, as if they had rehearsed it countless times, rather than acting on the spot.

The convoy did not stop in the fields, but went straight through the village and arrived at the outside of a huge house.

This house was completely different from the exquisitely decorated and ornate mansions of the Marquis's residence; its walls were high and thick.

The four corners were also built with simple arrow towers, and the main gate was two thick wooden doors covered with iron sheets. From the outside, it looked like a small military fortress.

The gate was already wide open, and two rows of fully armed soldiers stood at the entrance, holding spears and carrying scimitars at their waists. Their armor gleamed coldly in the sunlight.

Su Mingyue got off the carriage and led everyone into the house.

Zhou Ming followed behind, but as soon as he stepped over the threshold, he froze on the spot.

The interior of the mansion was an extremely spacious training ground, many times larger than the martial arts training ground in the Marquis's Begonia Garden.

In the very center of the training ground stood a neatly arranged team of armored soldiers wielding spears. Zhou Ming glanced at them and counted at least four or five hundred men, each with a thick chain of cause and effect on their head.

Their armor was uniform in style, with identical patterns engraved on their breastplates, and the tips of their spears formed a bright silver line in the sunlight.

Hundreds of people stood together in complete silence, the only sound being the rustling of spear tassels in the wind.

Upon seeing Su Mingyue enter, the entire formation immediately knelt on one knee, the clanging of armor striking each other resounding in unison, followed by a deafening shout.

"Greetings, General!"

Zhou Ming was so startled by the scene that he stumbled and almost lost his footing.

General?

What general?

When did the young lady become a general?

He stared wide-eyed at Su Mingyue, only to see her remain unfazed, clasping her hands in a fist salute to the soldiers, her voice clear and crisp:

"All soldiers, please rise."

Hundreds of people stood up in unison, and the armor clattered loudly once again.

Su Mingyue turned to the leading armored soldier and gave the order:

"Organize the troops and prepare to depart."

The man who looked like a general clasped his hands in response and then turned to relay the order.

Su Mingyue led the group across the training ground and into the main hall of the house, which faced the gate.

The furnishings in the hall were equally simple and practical. In the center was a huge sand table, on which the undulating terrain of mountains and rivers was piled up with sand and densely packed with small flags.

Instead of calligraphy and paintings, large maps were hanging on the walls, marking the passes, cities, garrisons, and supply routes throughout Youzhou.

The weapons racks on both sides were neatly arranged with swords, spears, halberds, and daggers, each one polished to a shine, clearly indicating that they were regularly maintained.

Su Mingyue stopped and said to Chunlan, Dongmei and the others, "Go change your clothes."

Then his gaze fell on Zhou Ming, paused slightly, and looked him up and down.

His gaze was as if he were assessing a piece of furniture that wasn't quite the right size, and he concluded by saying:

"You don't need to change, just wait here."

Zhou Ming thought to himself, "Why should I change? I was dragged out of the kitchen by you at the last minute. I didn't even bring a change of clothes. Where am I supposed to change?"

He didn't dare ask, so he could only stand obediently in the corner of the hall and wait.

In no time, everyone filed out from the back room.

Zhou Ming looked up and his mouth involuntarily gaped open.

Chunlan, Dongmei, and several other maids had all changed into a set of jet-black armor.

His breastplate was engraved with the same patterns as those of the soldiers outside, a long sword hung at his waist, and he held a silver spear in his hand.

The silver spear was entirely white, its tip gleaming with a chilling light in the sunlight streaming in from the window. Fine patterns were engraved on the shaft, making it appear both dashing and sharp in their hands.

The last one to emerge was Su Mingyue.

She was also wearing a set of black armor, the plates of which clung to her slender and upright figure, with the shoulder armor slightly raised, making her look like a narrow sword just drawn from its sheath.

Her black hair was all tied up and secured on top of her head with a silver hairpin, revealing a section of her fair and slender neck.

A longsword, slightly longer than Chunlan's, hung at her waist. The scabbard was dark black and undecorated, with only a tiny emblem engraved on the hilt.

The silver spear in her hand was a bit longer than the others', and the cold glint of the spear tip paused slightly in her hand before coming to a steady stop at her side.

Zhou Ming stared wide-eyed, his mouth opened twice, but he couldn't utter a single word.

Su Mingyue didn't give him time to be lost in thought.

She gripped her silver spear, put on her helmet, and strode out of the hall, followed closely by the crowd, including Zhou Ming.

Outside the house, rows of tall horses were neatly lined up on both sides of the road. The hundreds of soldiers who had been on the drill ground earlier had also mounted their horses and lined up. The entire procession was silent, with only the horses occasionally snorting.

Everyone seemed to be used to such a scene. As soon as they left the house, they mounted their horses with the same ease and naturalness as eating and drinking.

Zhou Ming looked around, but it seemed he didn't have his own horse.

I was hesitating whether I should find an excuse to stay here and watch the house.

A burly man who looked like a soldier quickly walked over, leading a horse, handed him the reins, then turned around, ran back, and mounted his own horse.

Su Mingyue spurred her horse to the front of the group, raised her silver spear in the air, its cold gleam drawing a silver arc in the sunlight, and shouted loudly, "Let's go!"

Hundreds of men and horses simultaneously spurred their reins, the sound of hooves forming a muffled rumble of thunder as they galloped eastward along the official road outside the village.

Zhou Ming was stuck in the middle of the group, his legs tightly gripping the horse's belly, his hands gripping the reins tightly. He was being tossed around by the horse, feeling dizzy and disoriented, and the bowl of noodle soup in his stomach was almost thrown up.

He struggled to steady himself while screaming inwardly.

Where are we going? What are we going to do? Miss, could you please tell me in advance?