From a country cook to a master chef

As if aware that Yantan Pass was heavily guarded, no trace of Zhanbo's army was seen outside the pass for half a month after the death of Wusi Lu Xuan.

Time flies, and another half month has passed.

That evening, Lin Jue, having been summoned by Zhang Shiyou, had no choice but to leave the Langjue tribe and head to the salt flats training ground with his deputy commander Xi Ning and four junior officers.

Lin Jue sized up the four people and found that without exception, they were all martial artists at the early stage of the Divine Power Realm, each with an imposing presence and heroic bearing.

However, what surprised him the most was the waist tags on the four people, all of which had the words "Wolf Rise" engraved on the front and "Great Martial Arts" engraved on the back.

Seeing Lin Jue's curious look, Xi Ning smiled and explained to him:

"My lord, the Wolf Ridge tribe now has more than 2,100 men. Although these four are just junior officers, they were carefully selected by me. They are all brave enough to fight ten thousand men, and they are the perfect choice to be your personal guards."

"This humble general has assembled a hundred-man guard for you, sir. Each of them carries this token and obeys only your orders."

"They only obey my hundred personal guards?"

When Lin Jue heard this, he was slightly taken aback, but considering that this seemed to be a tradition in the Great Wu Kingdom, where every general had his own guard, he simply nodded and didn't say anything more.

Lin Jue rode "Grow Fast" straight to the barracks where General Zhang Shiyou was stationed, with five men following closely behind on horseback.

Soon, the group arrived at the training ground.

Two rows of soldiers stood at the entrance, all holding sharp spears, solemn and imposing, exuding a murderous aura.

Lin Jue and five others dismounted and walked into the training ground. Before long, they saw General Zhang Shiyou directing the drills.

Upon seeing Lin Jue, Zhang Shiyou smiled faintly, clapped his hands and ordered the soldiers to disperse. He then waved his hand, signaling Lin Jue and the others to come closer and speak.

"Lin Jue pays his respects to the General."

"No need for formalities. I was once a disciple of Tianwu Mountain, so you may simply call me Senior Brother."

Zhang Shiyou smiled slightly, looked Lin Jue up and down, stroked his long beard and nodded, saying, "Judging from Junior Brother Lin's aura, he has already reached the peak of the Divine Power Realm and is about to advance to the Divine Illumination Realm. This is truly a cause for celebration!"

"Thank you for your kind words, Senior Brother Zhang!" Lin Jue clasped his hands in a salute and said, "However, today is the military's triennial martial arts training day. Senior Brother, you summoned Lin Jue here, surely it's not just to congratulate me on my improvement in strength?"

From the moment he entered the training ground, Lin Jue noticed several unfriendly gazes directed at him. He was currently enjoying great success, and it was likely that someone wanted to take advantage of the upcoming martial arts competition day to spar with him on the training ground.

Especially the officers beside Zhang Shiyou, their eyes blazed with eager anticipation as they looked at Lin Jue, carrying an undisguised sense of challenge.

Seeing that Lin Jue had seen through his thoughts, Zhang Shiyou laughed and said, "Junior Brother Lin, don't misunderstand. This is not aimed at you. The tradition of martial arts sparring has a long history in Dawu."

Junior Brother Lin's ambush and killing of the Zhanbo Wizard has made him famous. These guys under my senior brother's command are constantly clamoring to spar with Junior Brother Lin, it's really getting annoying. Since it's martial arts training day, Junior Brother Lin might as well show them a few moves and let them know how powerful he is.

Upon hearing this, Lin Jue simply smiled and did not respond.

Zhang Shiyou had more than a dozen lieutenant generals under his command, all of whom were veterans of countless battles and most of them were late-stage Divine Power Realm martial artists.

Putting aside whether they can win or not, just the sheer number of matches would leave Lin Jue exhausted.

However, since Zhang Shiyou had already spoken, Lin Jue couldn't refuse and could only silently accept.

Seeing Lin Jue's tacit approval, Zhang Shiyou nodded in satisfaction and took a blue bamboo tube from the hands of a strategist beside him. Inside were twenty bamboo sticks.

"Alright, those who wish to spar with my junior brother Lin, draw a lot and begin the competition in descending order of the number. The winner will receive a prize of ten taels of silver."

Upon hearing this, Lin Jue, who had previously shown no interest in martial arts sparring, immediately brightened up. He hadn't expected to receive money for winning, and it was even ten taels of gold! He was filled with fighting spirit.

Winning against one person costs ten taels of gold; winning ten consecutive matches can earn you a hundred taels of gold or a thousand taels of silver.

Looking at the dozens of officers in the arena, Lin Jue couldn't help but lick his lower lip.

At this moment, the results of the lottery were announced. A dark-skinned military officer in his thirties, waving the number twenty bamboo slip in his hand, happily jumped into the training ground and shouted back to Lin Jue:

"My surname is Niu, Brother Lin you can call me Tie Niu. I don't recognize people if they don't listen to my fists, Brother Lin you better watch out."

Lin Jue glanced at the dark-faced man opposite him and couldn't help but smile slightly.

Although the opponent was only a mid-stage Divine Power Realm martial artist, he smiled with extreme confidence, seemingly not worried at all about losing to him, a peak Divine Power Realm martial artist.

"Junior Brother Lin, don't underestimate General Tie Niu. His iron fists once killed three Zhanbo Shamans in succession. He's incredibly fierce," Zhang Shiyou immediately reminded Lin Jue, who seemed a bit overconfident.

"Thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother Zhang. I will do my best."

After bowing to Zhang Shiyou in thanks, Lin Jue lightly touched the ground with his toes and instantly became as light as a swallow, using his agile movement technique to leap into the center of the arena.

"Brother Lin, be careful, I'm about to make my move."

The dark-faced man laughed loudly, raised his hand, and immediately stepped forward to engage Lin Jue in combat.

……

A moment later, looking at the dark-faced man who had fallen to the ground and was unconscious, Lin Jue remained calm, clasped his hands in a fist and said solemnly, "Thank you for your concession."

Upon witnessing this scene, many officers at the drill ground frowned in astonishment.

They knew their own strength best, yet they could only last less than thirty rounds against Lin Jue, which was truly unbelievable.

Is he really that strong?

"continue!"

Seeing the surprised looks on everyone's faces, Zhang Shiyou shook his head and gave a deep reminder.

As soon as he finished speaking, a young military officer carrying a spear stepped forward and entered the arena with bamboo slip number nineteen in his hand.

"Wu Chengying, a native of Jingzhou in Haoran Prefecture, serves as the Left Deputy Commander and Left Wing Commander under General Zhang Shiyou, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of Jing and Chu Prefectures. Please enlighten me!"

"Lin Jue, please!"

Seeing that the young man had finished speaking, Lin Jue was slightly taken aback and only responded with three words in a soft voice.

After exchanging blows for a while, Lin Jue was secretly shocked. This man was indeed much stronger than the black-faced man from before, especially his footwork, which was very difficult to defend against.

But after a short while, Lin Jue still emerged victorious. Relying on the solid foundation he had built with the Pine Crane Long Fist, no matter how the young man attacked, he could not shake Lin Jue in the slightest.

Upon hearing the result, the other generals were once again taken aback.

In the following rounds of competition, Lin Jue won every single time, as expected.

In the end, the remaining five or six officers all chose to avoid battle, which greatly disappointed Lin Jue. In this way, he would lose dozens of taels of gold.

Just when everyone thought no one else would challenge Lin Jue today, a burly middle-aged man slowly stepped down from the stage and walked into the center of the training ground. He clasped his hands in a salute to Lin Jue and smiled slightly:

"Junior Brother Lin, I am Du Cheng, and I was once a disciple of the inner court of Tianwu Mountain. Now I am a deputy general under Senior Brother Zhang. I would like to ask Junior Brother Lin for some guidance."

Before he finished speaking, Cheng Du shuddered, and his upper body clothes were torn to shreds, revealing his shoulders, which were as thick as mountains, with well-defined muscles as hard as rocks, giving him an imposing presence.

Seeing this, everyone held their breath, eager to watch the battle that was about to begin.

Lin Jue was also shocked when he saw this person's fate. As far as he knew, this person was nicknamed Shura and was a martial artist in the early stage of the Divine Illumination Realm.

After a brief greeting, Lin Jue chose to strike first, wielding wooden swords in both hands and unleashing the Zhao Family Blood Blade technique.

His swordsmanship was swift and precise, with controlled advances and retreats, drawing cheers from the crowd.

Only Lin Jue knew that what seemed like an evenly matched sparring match was actually his opponent holding back to test him. This match was nothing more than an old man playing with a child, and he had no chance of winning at all.

After nearly a hundred rounds of fighting, Zhang Shiyou, who had already seen through the situation, decisively stopped the two and announced on the spot that the deputy general, Cheng Du, was slightly better, giving Lin Jue a lot of face.

However, to Lin Jue's surprise, after the battle, Cheng Du actually found him and handed him a black jade slip.

When Lin Jue returned to his tent, he found that the jade slip contained various experiences and insights on how to cultivate the Six Harmonies Great Wilderness Hand.