After the spiritual energy was restored: Goddess girlfriends came knocking.

Over the next few days, Jiang Yan gradually became familiar with the people in the tent.

Lu Fa was very talkative. After training, he would always drag Jiang Yan to the edge of the training ground to watch people spar. While watching, he would comment on their skills, saying that this person's leg technique was not good and that person's reaction was too slow, as if he himself could beat them.

Tu Shanye was a man of few words. When he saw Jiang Yan, he would still turn his face away, but he no longer took a detour. When they passed each other, he would let out a muffled hum as a greeting.

Three days later, they were assigned to a patrol team.

Border patrol is a mandatory course for every new recruit, in order to familiarize themselves with the surrounding terrain.

The leader was a fox clan centurion named Hu Yan, who was at the early stage of the Golden Core realm. He had been guarding the northern border for more than ten years and knew the mountains, roads, and valleys in this area like the back of his hand.

The team set off from the military camp and marched outwards along the border wall.

Every now and then, Hu Yan would stop and point out to the new recruits behind him which mountain peaks across the way had the Sirius outposts, which valley was the route the Wolf Riders often took, and which seemingly flat valley was actually full of swamps.

Lu Fa listened most attentively.

Tu Shanye walked at the very back of the group, glancing back every now and then at the way they had come.

Jiang Yan memorized the terrain along the way and occasionally asked Hu Yan a few questions.

……

On the fifth day of the patrol, the team arrived at a mountain hollow called the Pebble Beach.

The mountain walls on both sides are steep, with a narrow path in the middle. The loose gravel makes it slippery even for horses.

Hu Yan frowned, about to order a faster passage, when the sound of arrows piercing the air came down from above.

The first volley of arrows felled two soldiers in the front row.

Before the screams had even finished, dozens of gray figures emerged from the bushes on both sides of the gravel beach.

The Sirius soldiers, their leather armor covered with a layer of grayish-white wolf fur, held scimitars that gleamed coldly in the twilight.

The lead wolf was exceptionally tall, and its Golden Core stage aura spread out without any concealment.

"Scatter! Find cover!" Hu Yan slashed away two arrows with his sword, and his spiritual energy created a barrier in front of the group.

But the other side had far more people than them.

Wave after wave of arrows rained down, followed by a charge of cavalry.

Hu Yan stood at the forefront, his long sword clashing with the wolf general for seven or eight rounds. The opponent's curved blade, carrying a foul stench, slashed down, growing fiercer with each battle.

Hu Yan was unable to dodge in time and was slashed in the shoulder by a knife, causing blood to splatter.

He grunted and half-knelt on the ground, using the blade to brace himself, and roared, "Retreat! Retreat into the valley!"

The group was scattered.

Lu Fa, supporting a demon soldier whose leg had been shot through, staggered towards the depths of the valley. Tu Shanye blocked their way at the very back, his long sword flashing in a dense, impenetrable manner. After deflecting two arrows, a third grazed his ribs.

He cursed and continued to retreat, clutching his wound.

Everyone realized that this mountain pass was a dead end.

The mountain walls on both sides were too high and steep for horses to climb. There was only one exit, which was blocked by the Sirius cavalry.

Jiang Yan mentally reviewed all the terrain features.

Then he stood up.

"Tu Shanye, how's your archery?"

Tu Shanye turned around and paused for a moment.

"good."

"As long as you aim accurately," Jiang Yan said, pointing to a protruding boulder on the left side of the mountain wall. "See that rock? Can you hit the crack below it?"

Tu Shanye squinted at him and said, "Yes."

"Then help me distract them." After saying that, Jiang Yan picked up her sword and turned to walk away.

"Are you crazy?" Lufa grabbed his arm. "There are dozens of wolf cubs outside, and one of them is a Golden Core cultivator!"

Jiang Yan didn't turn around, and took out a second sword from her storage bag.

He held Liu Qingyi's old sword in his left hand and the Jiang family's ancestral sword in his right.

The moment the two swords were drawn, Tu Shanye felt that the kid's entire demeanor had changed.

When the wolf saw a human boy emerge from the mountain valley, a cruel smile spread across its face.

"Humans? Is Tushan so poor that it has to send two-legged sheep to fight?"

Several wolf riders around them burst into laughter.

Jiang Yan ignored it.

The Yin-Yang Dividing Light Sword Technique circulated within the body.

The two swords flew from his hands, transforming into two beams of sword light, one bright and one dark.

The ancestral sword, accompanied by a heavy whooshing sound, pierced straight at the wolf general's face, while the old sword silently slashed at his knee from the side.

His first move was the most lethal killing blow.

The wolf's smile froze, and he instinctively raised his sword to block the sword strike from the front.

The scimitar collided with the ancestral sword, but he couldn't defend against the second sword.

The old sword cut into his defensive gap at an almost bizarre angle, the tip grazing his thigh.

Blood splattered, and the wolf took a step back, the contempt on his face vanishing.

"Dual swords?" He stared wide-eyed.

Jiang Yan did not answer.

With a slight twitch of his fingers, the old sword spun in mid-air, drawing an arc straight towards the wolf general's nape. At the same time, he stepped forward, gripping the ancestral sword in his left hand and thrusting it out.

Just as the wolf had dodged the sword from behind, it was forced to retreat several steps by the sword strike.

With the tides turning and the tides shifting, Jiang Yan crossed his two swords, pinning the wolf general to the spot.

Seeing the situation was dire, the surrounding wolf riders tried to provide support, but an arrow pierced the air and struck the leg of the wolf rider at the very front.

The warhorse neighed and fell over, tripping its companion beside it.

Tu Shanye stood behind the boulder, wiped the dust off his nose, and nocked a second arrow.

"Well done!" Lufa shouted excitedly, grabbing his spear and blocking the entrance to the ravine. "Your archery skills are quite good!"

"Enough talk!" Tu Shanye shouted at Jiang Yan after firing his third arrow. "Hurry up and finish this!"

The wolf's movements became noticeably slower after injuring its thigh.

Jiang Yan gave him no chance to breathe, making a hand seal with his left hand and drawing his sword with his right, sealing off the wolf general's upper, middle, and lower routes.

The wolf roared and swung his sword to block, his Golden Core stage spiritual power being quite strong, managing to deflect one sword light. However, the second one had already cut into his left blind spot, penetrating straight into the gap between his ribs and waist.

His roar was stuck in his throat as he looked down at the half of the sword still sticking out of its body, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Immediately afterwards, the old sword pierced through his chest from behind.

The wolf slammed its knees into the gravel, its heavy body lurching forward and kicking up a cloud of dust.

When the remaining Sirius cavalry saw their leader killed, their formation immediately fell into chaos.

Taking advantage of the situation, Hu Yan cleaved the foremost cavalryman in two with a single blow, and roared hoarsely, "Charge out!" The remaining patrol soldiers swarmed forward and broke through the gap.

……

When the patrol returned to the camp, it was already dark, and the drill ground was full of people.

The patrol returned battered and bruised, and more than a dozen bodies wrapped in white sheets were carried back to the camp. The air was heavy.

But those who survived know that if it weren't for Jiang Yan, none of the entire patrol team would have returned.

The news spread throughout the camp.

Not only the Bingzi Battalion, but also people from several neighboring battalions squeezed over to listen.

Lu Fa stood in the middle of the crowd and recounted what had happened.

That evening, Pei Xiao summoned Jiang Yan.

The tent was brightly lit with candles, and General Tiger Head sat behind his desk.

"I heard about the patrol team." Pei Xiao looked at the human boy in front of him with satisfaction. "You single-handedly held off their Golden Core centurion, not only killing him but also leading the rest of the men to break through the encirclement."

"Good luck."

"Luck is also part of strength." Pei Xiao waved his hand. "From now on, you are a squad leader. You will choose five more from the original five in your tent. Give me the list tomorrow."

Jiang Yan nodded, pondered for a moment, and said, "I already have a candidate in mind. We'll choose from the patrol team and consult their opinions first."

Pei Xiao grinned: "You're quite efficient, kid. Fine, pick whatever you like."

Jiang Yan came out of the main tent and found that the five people in tent number seven were already waiting outside.

Lu Fa was the first to rush forward: "How is it? What does the general want with you?" Tu Shanye stood at the back without saying a word, but his fox ears stood up straight.

"From now on, I'll be the squad leader," Jiang Yan said. "The five of you will be in my squad."

"Team Leader!" Lufa's shout startled several soldiers passing by.

"We've produced a squad leader!"

The next morning, Jiang Yan opened her eyes.

The surging spiritual energy in his dantian could no longer be contained.

A crack appeared at the bottleneck of Foundation Establishment, and the threshold of the Golden Core stage was within reach.

He went to Pei Xiao to explain the situation.

Pei Xiao was silent for two seconds after hearing this, then took a deep breath: "Thirteen years old... I've never seen anyone form their core so quickly in all my years of cultivation. Go, to the meditation room on the east side of the training ground. I'll have someone guard outside."

Inside the meditation room, Jiang Yan sat cross-legged and began his seclusion.

A day later, the bottleneck shattered.

A powerful aura emanated from the meditation room.

When Jiang Yan pushed open the door and came out, there was a large crowd gathered outside.

Lu Fa and Tu Shanye stood at the front, while some others simply ran over to see what was going on.

"You've reached the Golden Core stage?" Lu Fa asked.

"He's reached the Golden Core stage," Jiang Yan said.

A buzzing sound erupted on the drill ground.

At thirteen years old, in the early stage of the Golden Core realm, he had already broken through to the Golden Core realm. Now, even more people knew the name Jiang Yan.