While everyone had reason to believe Si should have declined the opportunity, Si himself possessed a thousand reasons to seize it.
The first concerned accommodation. Within the military, soldiers moved and fought in small units that formed parts of a greater whole, allowing coordination and efficiency to flourish. Members of each group typically shared quarters, two to a room, while the squad leader alone enjoyed a chamber to himself.
The second reason was far more important. He needed Tengen Qiang under his command, no matter the cost.
In his previous life, this monstrous man had been among the rare few who earned their freedom through military achievement. On the battlefield, he resembled a raging tornado, tearing through allies and enemies alike, cutting down anything that crossed his path without hesitation or distinction.
He later joined the Yunhe Kingdom military and rose swiftly through its ranks, eventually becoming a three thousand man commander before Si's revolt. Their armies had clashed amid the chaos of war, and the two had exchanged blows at the very heart of carnage. Si had attempted to recruit him numerous times, yet the man whom others called a mindless beast proved fiercely loyal, choosing death on the battlefield rather than betrayal.
In the end, Si emerged victorious, yet the triumph tasted bitter. He had seen Tengen Qiang's immense potential, but had been forced to kill him because he was too dangerous to leave alive. His greatest regret at the time had been his failure to bring this man under his banner.
Many failed to understand that even for a general, the true strength of an army did not lie in the figure at its head, but in the many officers who commanded its smaller divisions. The greater the quality of each commander and official, the more efficient and devastating the army became.
Si's greatest flaw in his past life had been his solitary nature. He had forged no deep alliances with the talented individuals he encountered. He had believed he needed no one but himself, and that arrogance had returned to wound him time and time again.
Now, he had the chance to correct that mistake. How could he retreat?
An arena was cleared upon the training ground, and all three thousand soldiers gathered to witness what they believed would be a one sided execution.
On one side stood a towering man clad in filthy rags. His unkempt hair draped over his face, a thick mustache concealing his lips. He stood over six and a half feet tall, barefoot upon the earth, three sabers hanging at his side. Each time his chest rose and fell, a low, animalistic grunt escaped him involuntarily, causing those nearby to instinctively keep their distance.
On the opposite side stood a pretty faced youth dressed in neat sackcloth, bearing the calm and graceful temperament of a noble. His hands were clasped behind his back. He carried no weapon, only a confidence many would mistake for delusion.
How could they not be worried?
"Begin!" Weijie's hand fell, yet silence answered him.
Neither combatant moved. Their cold gazes locked upon one another, the air between them stretched taut like a drawn bowstring. Then Qiang moved. With unsettling casualness, he unsheathed all three sabers, gripping two in his hands while tucking the third beneath his arm, assuming a strange and unnerving stance.
"It's that stance again!"
"He is using it right away again?"
"This bastard has no shame. He is over twenty five and he is going all out against a fifteen year old!"
"I can never respect the thirty first squad with this savage as the leader!"
"God, why did the old squad thirty one get wiped out? Now we have to deal with animals!"
No one voiced support for Si. Their resentment toward Qiang was just as evident. They waited for Si to assume a battle stance, yet he did not. With his hands still clasped behind his back, he strode forward calmly and without hesitation.
Is he crazy?!
Alarm rippled through the crowd, including Weijie himself. They watched as Si advanced until he stepped directly into Qiang's striking range. Only then did Qiang act.
Thud!
With a violent stomp, Qiang's body twisted deceptively as though he would dart to either side. Instead, three flashes of steel erupted simultaneously from the left, the right, and above, converging in a lethal, pronged assault.
Qiang's style was brutally simple. He overwhelmed his opponents with relentless frontal aggression. His greatest strength was his monstrous stamina, which allowed him to exhaust his foes through continuous assault. Yet against someone like Si, such an approach was ineffective.
Ossuary Guard!
Contrary to all expectation, Si did not retreat. He clenched his fists as extreme Yin qi surged into his bones, their density increasing in an instant.
Peng!
Peng!
Peng!
Each saber was intercepted by his fists, which struck precisely against the dull edges of the blades, diverting their paths with calculated force. Unlike Yan Cheng's technique, which relied on overwhelming speed, Qiang's attack velocity remained well within the limits Si could handle.
Tengen Qiang did not relent. Neither did Si.
Hearts pounded. Several soldiers rose abruptly to their feet, fists clenched tight, yet none dared to speak. Before them unfolded a spectacle no one had anticipated.
A youth deflecting the blades of a savage with nothing but his bare hands.
Occasionally, droplets of blood splattered across Si's side of the arena, yet his expression remained calm, cold, and unwaveringly composed. His dead bones restricted his speed, but his vast combat experience and uncanny ability to read and adapt to patterns compensated for that weakness.
Tengen Qiang felt nothing, thought nothing, said nothing. Si had proven capable, but he was not the first to parry his blades, nor would he be the last. The true question was how long he could maintain it.
Yet Qiang gravely underestimated the Divine General of Death standing before him. There was a reason he had fallen to Si in the previous life, and history was poised to repeat itself.
Once Si had fully deciphered Qiang's attack pattern, he advanced.
One deliberate step forward.