From a slave to the Great Qian Martial Saint

"You mean...?"

Feng Qi frowned instantly, his expression turning serious.

"Although I don't like that kid, and even hate him a bit, our great victory this time was indeed due to his intelligence. It would be unethical to turn around and deal with him now."

"You're still so old-fashioned!"

Nangong Caiyun's gaze darkened, and he gave a disdainful snort.

"He was a candidate for the civil service examination, while we were candidates for the provincial examination; we were enemies. As enemies, it's a matter of life and death. My choice to kill him last was already an extra favor to him."

"But……"

"No buts. I said I would wipe out the entire conscripted army!"

"……All right."

Feng Qi opened his mouth, but ultimately nodded.

He knew this was a knot in Nangong Caiyun's heart, and no one could persuade her otherwise.

"Set off."

With a soft shout, Nangong Caiyun led the group straight to the location of the 'bait'.

Whoosh!

Deep in the mountains, a hundred military puppets constantly changed formations, and the atmosphere of killing intent within the formation grew stronger.

"Blood energy? No, that's not right..."

Chen Shi stood on a blue stone, directing the troops with a command flag, his face solemn as he watched the surging energy on the battlefield.

As the first formation in the Eight Trigrams Formation, the Serpent Coil Formation is not a simple magic formation, but one that can connect the blood energy of all the soldiers in the formation, just like the blood energy military formation used by the elite troops under the Jing'an Marquis's Mansion and the Dingyuan Marquis's Mansion.

Compared to ordinary formations, where soldiers merely rely on each other physically, the Blood Qi Formation connects with the blood qi, making it ten or even a hundred times more powerful. However, correspondingly, the difficulty of training it is also ten or a hundred times greater.

If even one person in the formation makes a mistake or loses their balance, the entire formation could collapse.

This is why blood-and-energy formations often have relatively few members; as the number of members increases, so does the difficulty.

But the problem now is that Chen Shi is controlling wooden puppets, not real people. Where does a bunch of wooden blocks of wood get blood and energy?

"Is it simply a matter of Qi?"

Using the Qi-gazing technique, Chen Shi observed carefully once again.

It is not blood or qi, but a kind of energy that exists in all things.

But that's even more wrong.

Everything has a vital energy, but it is more subtle and restrained than the surging vital energy of blood, especially the vital energy of inanimate objects. How can they be connected?

"Zhuge Liang was indeed a master craftsman."

After a moment of contemplation, Chen Shi couldn't help but sigh.

The wooden military puppets were created by Zhuge Liang. Although these are now simplified imitations by later generations, the basic principles remain the same.

According to Chen Shi's previous speculation, these wooden military puppets were originally intended for practice in conjunction with the Eight Trigrams Formation.

Since the Eight Trigrams Formation is composed entirely of blood and qi military formations, it is reasonable that the qi of these wooden figures can be connected, thus simulating the connection of blood and qi.

But the ability of Zhuge Liang, who created these wooden military figures, to do so is truly astounding.

After a moment of reflection, Chen Shi let out a soft sigh.

"I wonder if they're done playing."

Before he knew it, it was already dawn. Chen Shi looked around and muttered to himself.

It should be over.

After all, Zheng Bisheng already had a detailed troop deployment plan. If they still couldn't handle this, then Nangong Caiyun and Feng Qi would be utterly useless.

Now that the battle is over and Zheng Bisheng has been eliminated, what's next?

There are only fifty spots on the list, but there are seventy or eighty candidates for the Imperial Examination. Are they going to fight amongst themselves? Or will they hold a vote and directly select fifty people to be on the list?

"ridiculous."

Chen Shi couldn't help but laugh; it was like children playing house.

That makes sense, it's just an exam, not a real battlefield.

Chen Shi decided not to think too much about it. He was quite tired after training all night. He stopped for the moment, took out the dry rations that Lian'er had prepared from his pocket, and ate a simple breakfast.

"Um?"

Chen Shi suddenly stopped eating halfway through his meal.

There was some noise.

Splash!

The next moment, a large number of wooden dummy soldiers rushed out from all directions.

He is a recommended student!

"That bastard surnamed Feng, he's coming after me!"

After stuffing the dry rations into his pocket, Chen Shi jumped up from the rock, immediately waved the command flag, and led his troops to charge in one direction.

The enemy had clearly come prepared and had already surrounded him, so naturally, the sooner the better for him to break through.

"Stop him!"

It seemed that Chen Shi was about to break through. A loud shout rang out, and the soldiers in front, who were being trained by the educated students, immediately formed a battle formation to block him.

"A bunch of blockheads."

Facing the wooden dummy soldiers who were ready for battle, Chen Shi smiled slightly, a foot-long sword already in his hand.

In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of him, and without the slightest hesitation, he slashed down with his sword.

boom!

A deafening roar, like rolling thunder, sent wood chips flying everywhere. Let alone a hundred puppets, even real people, even if they were all ninth-rank martial artists, would not be able to withstand Chen Shi's strike.

Unless, of course, they can also form a blood-based military formation.

With unstoppable momentum, sweeping away all obstacles, as if entering an uninhabited land!

Easily piercing through the wooden dummy formation, Chen Shi led a hundred soldiers straight out to the astonished gaze of the scholar.

"What's going on!"

Nangong Caiyun and the others rushed over and asked a question in a deep voice.

But before the student could speak, Nangong Caiyun saw the broken wooden dummy on the ground and frowned.

Although they are puppets, in terms of strength, they are not much weaker than real people. A hundred of them arranged in formation, regardless of their offensive power, are roughly equivalent to a wall in terms of defense alone.

But Chen Shi broke through so easily.

"I knew that guy wouldn't be so easy to deal with."

Feng Qi stood to the side and chuckled helplessly.

He had fought Chen Shi, or more accurately, he had witnessed Chen Shi in action. Even his arrogant second brother dared to confront him head-on; one can imagine the extent of Chen Shi's martial arts skills.

How could a mere hundred or so military puppets possibly stop him?

"I underestimated him."

Coming to his senses, Nangong Caiyun said in a low voice.

The so-called Spring Examination tests the ability to arrange troops into battle formations. The students are the generals in command, and the actual battles are carried out by the military puppets.

Even Nangong Caiyun fell into this mindset.

But Chen Shi didn't do that; he took matters into his own hands and chopped down all the military puppets.

It left people feeling both helpless and speechless.

"Chase!"

Immediately regaining his senses, Nangong Caiyun let out a loud shout.

Although Chen Shi's martial arts skills exceeded her expectations—after all, he was known as the "Invincible General"—he was ultimately just one person. Even the strongest person has their limits. He could split apart a hundred military puppets, but could he withstand five thousand?

"Let's see where he can run to!"

Immediately afterwards, Nangong Caiyun led the group to give chase.

Although Chen Shi was highly skilled in martial arts, he was not proficient in operating military puppets, since he had not had the opportunity to touch them in the past six months.

Therefore, if he doesn't want to be caught up, he has no choice but to abandon the military puppets. If he abandons the military puppets, what's the point of discussing troop deployment? He's already lost this assessment.

"Um?"

But as he continued his pursuit, Nangong Caiyun realized something was amiss.

too fast.

Chen Shi ran too fast.

Leading a hundred soldiers was like a mother hen leading a brood of chicks, running wildly through the mountains and forests!