After descending from the city wall, Oliver Sheng saw the veteran!
With a smile, Oliver walked towards him.
The veteran frowned slightly as he looked at Oliver’s tattered battle robe and armor full of knife marks.
“You went up the wall to kill enemies again?”
“Killing enemies to serve the country is our honor!” Oliver replied with a grin.
“Be serious!” The veteran glared at him.
“Hehe, Uncle, a strong man can only grow quickly through battle!” Oliver said earnestly.
Serving the country was just a slogan to shout for others to hear. His real goal was to kill enemies to gain Kill Points and become stronger. Of course, this was his secret, and he wouldn’t reveal it.
“Well said. A strong man should indeed grow through battle,” the veteran nodded in agreement.
“Did you see General Yang’s battle with the two Hun Grandmasters today? His power was truly godlike,” Oliver said.
“I saw it. Grandmasters are indeed terrifying,” the veteran nodded admiringly.
“I will become such a strong man and dominate one side!” Oliver declared ambitiously.
“Good, you have ambition. I support you in spirit,” the veteran smiled and nodded, not discouraging Oliver.
“By the way, I heard you’re leading troops to the grasslands in a few days?” the veteran asked.
“Uh, Uncle, how did you know?” Oliver looked at the veteran curiously.
Few people knew about this, except for General Yang and the five Assistant Generals, and those selected. Others shouldn’t know.
This was supposed to be confidential to prevent Hun spies in the city from finding out.
“General Yang found me and asked me to go too, but I refused,” the veteran said.
“Is that so?” Oliver nodded.
“Go wash up and come find me after dinner,” the veteran said and left.
Oliver returned, and seeing him safe, Hunter Tang, Owen Hai, and others finally breathed a sigh of relief. Their Sergeant was truly a battle maniac!
“Sergeant, you’re finally back alive,” Owen said.
“What, you hoped I’d die so you could take my place?” Oliver looked at Owen dangerously.
This kid was eyeing his position, wanting to rise up?
“No, that’s not what I meant, Sergeant!” Owen quickly said, seeing Oliver’s dangerous look.
“Not? Dare you say you don’t want to be Sergeant?” Oliver stared at Owen.
Owen swallowed. His ambition was exposed. A soldier who doesn’t want to be a general is not a good soldier. A general who doesn’t want to be emperor is not a good general. How could he not want to be Sergeant? He dreamed of it.
“Um…”
Owen quickly shook his head, “Sergeant, you misunderstood me. Am I that kind of person? I’ll always be your soldier.”
“Really?”
“Truer than gold!” Owen said sincerely.
“I’ll believe you for now,” Oliver didn’t pursue the matter further.
“Sergeant, you’re really too reckless. Just back from the grasslands and you went up the wall to kill enemies again,” Hunter said with concern.
Seeing Hunter’s sycophantic look, Owen felt disgusted. A real man shouldn’t stay under others for long!
“Enough, stop talking. Go prepare hot water. I need a bath,” Oliver said.
“Yes, Sergeant, I’ll arrange it right away,” Hunter nodded quickly.
He didn’t forget to give Owen a provocative look, as if saying, “You want to take the Sergeant’s place? Dream on.”
Oliver’s blood-soaked appearance would give children nightmares for ten years. His subordinates felt the bloodthirsty aura around him grow stronger.
Soon, they prepared hot water for Oliver. After washing off the blood and bandaging his wounds, he ate dinner and went to the veteran.
“Uncle, I’m here!”
“Come in!” the veteran’s voice came from inside a barracks.
Oliver pushed the door open and saw Ian Zhang but not Tom Li. There were also a few unfamiliar faces, new soldiers under the veteran.
“Where’s Tom?” Oliver asked.
Ian looked at Oliver and slowly said, “Dead.”
The two words made Oliver pause. Tom was one of the first people he got to know in this world, and now he was dead. Jerry Li was severely injured and in the infirmary, with no idea when he’d recover. Now Tom was dead. One dead, one severely injured.
Now, the only familiar people left were the veteran, Ian Zhang, and Zane Wang. Zane was now under Oliver’s command.
“Life and death are fated. Don’t be sad, Brother Oliver. For us soldiers, dying on the battlefield is our destiny,” Ian comforted.
Oliver just nodded lightly. He had seen much death recently, but hearing about a familiar person’s death was still hard to accept.
“Come with me,” the veteran said, leading Oliver into another room.
“Uncle, what’s so secretive?” Oliver asked.
The veteran took out an ancient book from his chest.
“I bought this book from a beggar. The old beggar said it’s a cultivation method passed down by Martial Emperor Endless Sola, the ‘Great Sun Heart Sutra.’”
“I’ve studied it for half my life without making progress. Now I’m passing it to you, hoping you can cultivate something from it,” the veteran said.
Oliver took the book and saw the four big characters: Great Sun Heart Sutra. The characters were crooked and ugly, worse than a child’s scribbles. The whole book looked fake.
“Uncle, you bought this martial arts manual from a beggar?” Oliver asked.
“Yes, it cost me a tael of silver!” the veteran nodded seriously.
“And you cultivated it for half your life without any success?”
The veteran nodded, looking at Oliver with hope, hoping he could succeed and teach him.
“You have exceptional martial talent, so I’m passing it to you, hoping you can succeed and teach me. Otherwise, why would I give it to you? This is a Martial Emperor-level cultivation method. Outside, it would attract countless strong people,” the veteran said cautiously, afraid others would hear.
Oliver felt the veteran was tricked by the beggar. It reminded him of a movie where a boy bought a martial arts manual from a beggar with all his money. It was called something like Divine Palm.
“Uncle, are you sure you weren’t tricked?” Oliver asked, looking at the book.
“What, you think I’m stupid? So easily tricked?” the veteran glared at Oliver, looking dangerous.
Seeing the veteran’s angry look, Oliver wisely swallowed his words.
“Uncle, you’re extremely smart. No one could trick you,” he quickly praised.
“Alright, get lost. If you don’t want it, give it back. I didn’t want to give it to you anyway. It cost me a tael of silver,” the veteran said, looking at Oliver’s fawning face with disdain.
Oliver took the book and ran, afraid the veteran would hit him.
“Not staying for a bit?” Ian asked as Oliver ran out.
“Next time, Ian. I’ll visit when I have time,” Oliver said, running off.
“What’s with him, running like he’s being chased by a ghost,” Ian scratched his head.
“Who is he?” a soldier asked.
“He’s Oliver Sheng, from our unit. Now he’s a Sergeant, leading a hundred soldiers,” Ian said.
“Sergeant?!”
“Leading a hundred soldiers?!”
The soldiers were shocked. He was so young yet already a Sergeant.
“Work hard and kill enemies. You can be Sergeants too,” Ian said.
“We’ll work hard to kill enemies and earn military merit to become Sergeants,” the soldiers said, full of hope. Ian felt a bit guilty, wondering if they could swallow such a big, dry promise.
Oliver returned home and took out the martial arts manual.
“The handwriting is really ugly!”
He couldn’t help but complain, then started reading to see what it said.
…
The night was deep. Peace City was dotted with lights.
Calvin Yang looked at the city’s lights and the common people within. On the desk behind him was a piece of calligraphy.
It read:
“Speak not of titles and honors, for a general’s success is built on a thousand bones.”
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