My name is Wei Qing, and I want to fight the Xiongnu.

Is this the real battlefield?

Is this the power of military spirit?

No wonder... no wonder those veterans who returned from the northern battlefield said that the training grounds were just a place for children to compete, and only by personally experiencing the cruelty of the battlefield could one understand the horror of war.

"boom!"

With a loud bang, the town guarding Pengcheng, which Liu Piqiang controlled, was smashed to pieces, without making a single move of resistance from beginning to end.

Standing outside the training ground, the young noble sons were bewildered and couldn't help but complain, "Are those Chu soldiers idiots? Why did they summon their garrison but just stand there and let them fight?"

Upon hearing this, Xiahou Ci sighed and said, "Even mice are often frightened by a cat and forget to run away. The military spirit is the true military spirit, but the one who controls and guards it... is not a true iron-blooded commander."

The two sides had only exchanged blows for a moment, but Xiahou Ci knew that the war was over.

When the spirit of the Han army bursts forth with a murderous aura that fills the sky, the commander in charge of guarding Pengcheng must be someone who has actually been on the battlefield to withstand the offensive of this spirit.

However, this so-called Ninth Elite Legion of the Chu Army has never personally experienced the cruelty of the battlefield. How can it calmly cope with the intimidating power of the army's spirit?

This is the gap between elite soldiers and new recruits, which cannot be bridged simply through training.

It's somewhat understandable that Wei Qing could summon the spirit of the army; indeed, there have been some unparalleled geniuses throughout history who could summon an incredibly powerful military spirit even before personally experiencing the battlefield.

But the question is, where did Wei Qing's overwhelming killing intent come from?

Chapter Thirty-One: Marquis of Ruyin, Xiahou Ying

As Xiahou Ci had predicted, the war quickly turned into a one-sided affair.

As the town guards controlled by Liu Piqiang were smashed, the remaining four town guards also fell one after another.

Faced with the fighting spirit and murderous aura emanating from the military spirit, these rookies who had never truly experienced the battlefield showed that they were still too young from beginning to end.

Moreover, the strength of the garrison is greatly affected by the type of troops, and the Chu army's troops provide too little support to the garrison, so the other four garrison commanders are like lambs before the army's spirit.

With all five guardians defeated, the martial arts arena delivered its verdict.

There's no need to watch anymore. Five against one and they still got killed. I'm just short of asking if they even know how to play.

Wei Qing undoubtedly won.

After leaving the martial arts arena, Wei Qing stood in the martial arts world, his eyes still holding the same cold indifference as before, much like when he had just woken up.

It was around ten o'clock by then, and the martial arts world was much more lively than before.

The pedestrians passing by Wei Qing couldn't help but shiver. When they turned to look at Wei Qing again, they instinctively took three or five steps back, distancing themselves from him, before sneaking away like thieves.

Wei Qing didn't care about what others were doing. He directly opened the jade slip in his hand, which recorded the battle record between the Han army and the Ninth Elite Legion of the Chu army. At the end, a big "Victory" was written in red ink.

Besides that, there were countless challenge invitations. In just over an hour, more than fifty legions had issued challenge invitations to Wei Qing.

Wei Qing glanced at the group and saw that humans made up 70%, other races made up 25%, and the Xiongnu barbarians were the fewest, with only two legions.

With a single thought, the jade slip vanished.

Although Wei Qing wanted to continue sparring with others, he had more important matters to attend to; Xiahou Ci was waiting for him.

Wei Qing withdrew from the martial arts world, and Xiahou Ci sighed softly, saying to the nobles around him, "Let's leave too."

"Leaving? Aren't you going to see Wei Qing anymore? Or has it ended on his end?"

Xiahou Ci: I'm... speechless!

"It's over. Wei Qing has won."

Xiahou Ci left a curt remark and then exited the martial arts world.

The martial arts world will not cause any physical harm to people, nor will it invade people's minds.

The battlefield is like a chessboard, the troops are like chess pieces, and the two sides fighting are like chess players.

The administrator can cheat with the board and pieces, but cannot use the board or pieces to harm the players.

However, I was surprised.

How did Liu Yangxin get in?

Isn't it forbidden for women who have never been to a battlefield to enter this place?

And who is that elderly man next to her?

A few seconds after Wei Qing woke up, Xiahou Ci also exited the martial arts world. Looking at the elderly man who had appeared, he quickly bowed and said, "Grandfather, what brings you here?"

Grandfather?

Upon hearing this title, Wei Qing quickly guessed the old man's identity: the true master of Ruyin Prefecture, Marquis Xiahou Ying of Ruyin!

Xiahou Ying looked energetic, but he also looked like he was in his seventies or eighties, which shows that he was far inferior to Cao Can in terms of strength.

It was clear that Xiahou Ying was invited by Liu Yangxin, and Wei Qing had been in the training ground for too long.

Normally, the process should be completed in a quarter of an hour, let alone half an hour. However, after waiting for half an hour without any results, Liu Yangxin was worried that something had gone wrong.

So he called a servant in to check the situation. The servant said that there was neither Wei Qing nor Xiahou Ci in the training ground. Instead, a table inside had been knocked down, and writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones were scattered all over the ground and no one had cleaned them up.

Upon hearing this, Liu Yangxin knew that something must have happened, and that a fight might have broken out.

In desperation, he had no choice but to go and visit Xiahou Ying.

Xiahou Ying heard that Wei Qing and Cao Can had a close relationship, so he came over in person. After all, he and Cao Can had been friends for hundreds of years. If Cao Can's nephew had a problem in his own home, he would have no face to face his old brother.

Xiahou Ying immediately locked onto Xiahou Ci's aura upon entering the training ground and led Liu Yangxin into the "training" room.

Liu Yangxin was not qualified to enter the training ground, but Xiahou Ying simply said "It's alright" meaningfully, and then led Liu Yangxin indoors.

Liu Yangxin had never been inside the martial arts training room, but that didn't mean he had never seen "martial arts training." When he saw Wei Qing enter the martial arts world and saw the ink stains on Xiahou Ci's body that hadn't been washed off, he guessed what was going on.

But considering that Xiahou Ying was there, she wisely chose to keep quiet and see how Xiahou Ying would handle the situation.

Xiahou Ying looked at Wei Qing with some surprise. Unlike the younger generation like Xiahou Ci, Xiahou Ying was a veteran who accompanied Emperor Liu Bang in conquering the world. He had braved countless dangers and faced life and death almost every day.

Even Liu Bang himself had nearly lost his life several times, let alone his charioteer who served as Liu Bang's bodyguard.

He was very familiar with Wei Qing's eyes; after every bloody battle, everyone's eyes were pretty much the same.

Even when they win and celebrate, their eyes remain cold, and they exude an aura that makes people feel suffocated.

But where does this young man get such an aura from at such a young age?

In recent years, I haven't heard of any bloody battles breaking out between the north and foreign tribes.

Just as Xiahou Ying was about to speak, he suddenly saw a familiar sword hilt, paused slightly, and then said to Wei Qing, "There's no need to look at me like that. Speaking of which, you call Cao Can 'Uncle Cao,' and Cao Can and I are sworn brothers, so it's only natural for you to call me 'Uncle,' isn't it?"

Xiahou Ci was devastated when he heard his grandfather's words. "With just one sentence, you've given me the title of 'uncle'?"

Previously, Wei Qing used his relationship with Cao Can to suppress Xiahou Ci, but in the end, they each did their own thing.

Now that Xiahou Ying had said this, Xiahou Ci truly began to consider himself a junior when he met Wei Qing.

Disrespectful to elders, is this confirmed?

Wei Qing didn't understand what Xiahou Ying meant, but he knew it would be foolish not to take advantage of the situation. After calling him "uncle," he knew that in the entire Chang'an royal city, apart from a few old fogies, no one could use their status to intimidate him.

"Qing pays respects to Uncle Xiahou."

As Wei Qing spoke, he respectfully performed the junior's salute, leaving Xiahou Ying with no choice but to acknowledge it.

Xiahou Ying accepted it without hesitation. Since he was a young man valued by Cao Can, it was only right that he should be given some support and care in normal times.

As for the rumors about Liu Yangxin being a jinx to his wife, Xiahou Ying didn't take them to heart at all.

Xiahou Po was Xiahou Ci's favorite youngest son, but Xiahou Ying had at least thirty great-grandsons, if not fifty, and Xiahou Po was just one of them.

......

PS: A setting has been modified. The original setting placed the protagonist's timeline five hundred years after the establishment of the Han Dynasty. This has been changed to place the protagonist's timeline around four hundred years after the establishment of the Han Dynasty.

You can try to guess the purpose of this setting; there's no prize for guessing correctly.

Chapter Twenty-Two: All I Want Is for You to Leave This Sword Behind

Xiahou Ying looked at Xiahou Ci, feeling more regret than anything else about his grandson.

When Xiahou Ci was young, he also hoped to change the Han Dynasty's complacent and pleasure-seeking status quo through his own efforts, and hoped to lead the human race to counterattack the Xiongnu barbarian territory. For this reason, he entered the Imperial Academy at the age of fifteen. In the blink of an eye, twelve years of unremitting efforts were all in vain.

The art of commanding troops still relies too much on talent.

Without talent, no amount of effort will help.

In the end, Xiahou Ci chose to give up and go with the flow.

From that ambitious young man who dreamed of counterattacking the Xiongnu barbarian lands, he has become someone who constantly refers to the Xiongnu as a sacred race, having lost all his vigor and become a parasite of the times.

Perhaps deep down, a spark of passion still remained, but the cold reality poured onto that passion, building an ice wall around it.

Xiahou Ying looked at Xiahou Ci and asked, "How is it?"

Xiahou Ci dared not look at his grandfather, but only secretly glanced at Wei Qing out of the corner of his eye, and murmured, "Can the military spirit be summoned?"

Xiahou Ying nodded, not entirely surprised.

In his view, even if Wei Qing does not have a military spirit now, he will definitely be able to easily summon it in the future, otherwise he would not be carrying that sword.

Xiahou Ying walked up to Wei Qing and said, "May I take a look at these two swords?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Qing looked down at the two swords on his waist, wondering what Xiahou Ying meant.

What's so interesting about two broken knives?

However, he did not refuse, and took off his machete and old sword, handing them to Xiahou Ying.

Xiahou Ying first drew out the nicked cleaver, examined it for a moment, and said, "This cleaver is stained with a lot of blood from the Xiongnu barbarians. Humans may not be able to see it easily, but the Xiongnu barbarians can smell the blood of their own kind from more than ten meters away."

"Wouldn't that be even better?"

Wei Qing grinned maliciously and said, "If I could, I would string together the heads of the Xiongnu barbarians and carry them around in front of the Xiongnu barbarians in Chang'an every day."

The nobles felt a toothache upon hearing Wei Qing's words.

Do you really want to start a war?