Chaotic Times and Disasters: I Hunt Down Martial Arts Masters and Become a God

Mr. Wu put the white piece back into the chess box.

"The first path is to use someone else to do the dirty work. My lord has been doing business with Huyan Tu, the chieftain of the Tieye tribe of the Di Kingdom, for three years, exchanging Jing Kingdom's weapons and armor for warhorses on the grasslands."

"Huyan Tu owes you twelve suits of iron armor, which you haven't settled yet. This time, you can give him the armor for free, on the condition that he sets up an ambush on the grassland."

"Fu Qing is now a centurion in the scout battalion. It's only a matter of time before he leaves the city to carry out a mission. Huyan Tu's cavalry can ambush and kill a centurion on the grassland without any problem."

He moved his finger to the center of the chessboard.

"Secondly, there are several squad leaders in the border army who have always been dissatisfied with Fu Qing's rapid promotion. One of them is named Ma Hong, who is at the fourth level of Body Tempering. He joined the army with Fu Qing during the Battle of Black Stone Ridge. Later, when Fu Qing was promoted to squad leader, he was still a common soldier."

"Use a little incentive to get him to sabotage Fu Qing, such as by passing on false information, tampering with the marching route, or revealing Fu Qing's whereabouts to Huyan Tu's men."

After listening, Duan Tieshan remained silent for a moment. He picked up the few remaining chess pieces from the board one by one and put them back into the chess box.

"Go and make the arrangements. I need to see his head!"

...

A month passed quickly, and his daily life was very regular. He would get up before dawn, practice a set of boxing in the yard to warm up his muscles, and then go to the military camp.

I go home for lunch, then go to the military camp in the afternoon, and return before dark.

He lived a simple life, even more punctual than the old man who rang the night watchman's bell in the market.

Sixty percent of his hundred-man squad are now newly recruited soldiers.

These new recruits were all recruited from various villages and towns. Their cultivation levels were generally around the second level of Body Tempering, and some had even just reached the threshold of the first level of Body Tempering.

When they first arrived, they were a disorganized mess, their ranks crooked and their swords drawn at varying speeds. Han Yue came to observe once, standing by the training ground for the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, then shook his head.

"Your hundred men are less effective than fifty old scouts in a fight."

Fu Qing molded them into an iron plate in just half a month.

His training methods are quite different from the traditional routines of the border troops.

The old method of the border army was to make new recruits stand on stakes, chop wooden stakes, and run drills, repeating the same three things over and over again.

Fu Qing divided the hundred men into ten squads of ten men each, with a veteran as the captain of each squad. The squads took turns training, practicing formations and tactics in the morning, two-man and five-man teamwork in the afternoon, and night combat and following orders in the evening.

The drills involve practicing formations, evolving from a long, single-file line to a triangular assault, and from a square formation for defense to flanking maneuvers...

Fu Qing stood in the center of the training ground and blew a bamboo whistle. Each whistle signaled a formation, and within ten whistles, the hundred men had to regroup from the skirmish line into a defensive circle.

The first three days were chaotic, with eight out of ten people going to the wrong positions. By the fifth day, they could barely keep up with the whistle, and by the tenth day, they were able to get to their positions on all ten whistles.

Watching from the side, Xiao Lu muttered to himself, "I've trained for three years and I haven't learned as much as they have in ten days. Maybe I should just follow Boss Fu and learn from him..."

The new recruits complained in private, but no one dared to utter a sound in front of Fu Qing.

Because Fu Qing not only stood by and shouted the commands, but he also practiced along with him.

He was always at the front of the pack when the new recruits ran drills. He chopped more wood than anyone else when the new recruits were chopping wood stakes. When the new recruits practiced combat, he took turns sparring with ten captains, and each captain was defeated in less than three moves.

The most grueling training was the weight-bearing exercise. Fu Qing had someone bring over a stone weight from the armory. That thing was used to weigh down military tents; it was a solid bluestone, weighing at least several thousand kilograms.

Seven or eight veterans, each weighing five or six pounds, couldn't lift it even with their combined efforts, but Fu Qing grabbed the iron ring of the stone lock with one hand, lifted and flipped it onto his shoulder, and walked a whole circle around the training ground. He didn't even pant when he came back.

"Is a centurion even human?"

"Even if I trained my whole life, I still couldn't lift that thing, right?"

"You'd be lucky if you could withstand half of that in your entire life."

From that day on, the new recruits privately called Fu Qing "Centurion" instead of "Boss Fu".

No one complained anymore, because their leader trained even harder than them, so what right did they have to complain?

...

One ordinary evening, Fu Qing was returning from the military camp when he was stopped by Han Tie's weapons shop.

Han Tie was standing at the shop entrance when he saw Fu Qing approaching. He put the sledgehammer he was holding on the anvil, wiped his hands with his apron, and

"Centurion Fu, come in here for a moment, I have something for you."

Fu Qing followed him through the shop and into the blacksmith's workshop at the back.

Han Tie squatted down and pulled out an oilcloth package from the crack in the stone slab under the stove. He opened the oilcloth and found a soft armor to wear underneath.

The soft armor was folded neatly, and when unfolded, it could be seen that it was in the style of a vest, which just covered the front, back and sides.

Han Tie placed this item in Fu Qing's hand; it was nearly 30% lighter than ordinary leather armor.

"Give it a try."

Han Tie took down the machete hanging on the wall and handed it to Fu Qing, "Make a cut."

Fu Qing laid the soft armor on the anvil, drew the sword from his waist, and slashed down.

With a "clang," the blade sprang up. He lifted the soft armor to look at it, and only a shallow white mark remained where the blade had cleaved.

Fu Qing looked at Han Tie in surprise, "Why?"

Han Tie leaned against the furnace, watching Fu Qing inspect the soft armor.

"I still remember the last time you had your knife stolen by Duan Peng at our entrance. The knife was stolen from my shop, and I feel really bad about it."

"I spent almost half a month making this soft armor. The hundred-linked steel wire was hard to pull, and I broke more than a dozen of them before I could pull out this net. It's a gift for you, no money required."

"That won't do..." Fu Qing shook his head, about to refuse.

"Let me finish."

Han Tie raised his hand to interrupt him, "You're the one who broke Duan Peng's leg, right...?"

As he spoke, Han Tie threw a piece of coke into the furnace.

"The Duan family has forced me to buy things from them more than once or twice. Duan Tieshan has never given me a kind look. I never charge him for making knives for his son..."

"Breaking Duan Peng's leg is like avenging everyone in this market who has been bullied by him, just as it did for me. This soft armor is my way of thanking you."

Fu Qing glanced at Han Tie for a few moments, nodded slightly, folded the soft armor, and put it into the oilcloth bag.

"Thank you, Brother Han!"

Old Han waved his hand, "Kill a few more Di bastards, and that'll be your way of thanking me."

...

More than a month passed peacefully.

Song Yawei's belly is starting to show; her waist was originally very slim, but now her lower abdomen is slightly protruding.

Every morning, she would carry a bamboo recliner to sit under the jujube tree and bask in the sun, sewing little clothes and shoes. She even sewed two sets for Song Nini's unborn child, treating them equally with the same materials, just in different colors.

Song Nini's reaction period has passed, and her appetite has returned immediately.

I used to feel nauseous at the smell of oil, but now I can eat two bowls of rice in one meal and then drink a bowl of pork rib soup.

They spend all day arguing with her sister about what foods are good for the child—Song Yawei says fish makes children smarter, while Song Nini says walnuts make children have more hair...

Song Yawei said that walnuts are too oily and make her feel nauseous, while Song Nini said that she should eat black sesame seeds instead, as black sesame seeds can also help with hair growth.

At the height of their argument, the two turned around and shouted at the same time.

"you say!"

Fu Qing sat on the doorstep sharpening his knife, not even looking up. "Eat it all."

...

That morning, Fu Qing had just finished leading the morning exercises when Zhou Tie called him in.

"Something's not quite right in the Di Kingdom lately. In previous years, after spring started and new grass began to grow on the grasslands, the herders would drive their cattle and sheep to the northern pastures, and the Di Kingdom's cavalry would usually be quiet for a while."

"But since the end of January this year, the activities of the Di cavalry have not decreased, but have become more frequent. Several border outposts have discovered traces of large-scale cavalry movements, ranging from dozens to hundreds..."

Zhou Tie unfolded a newly drawn border map, which marked seven or eight locations where Di cavalry had recently appeared. One of the marked points was less than two hundred miles from Ironblood City—Wolf Fang Village.

Zhou Tie pressed his finger firmly on the mark.

"According to scouts, Wolf Fang Stronghold has recently been reinforced, with approximately five or six hundred cavalrymen stationed there, commanded by a fourth-rank centurion and his deputy..."

"Five or six hundred cavalrymen are no joke. I sent three groups of scouts to investigate. Two returned safely, one went missing, and Lao Zhao was one of the scouts who went missing in the third group. It's been five days now."