~~~

Three days later, Liu Jin wakes up early in the morning and goes outside the walls of Cloudburst City.

One hundred men wait for him there.

“It would be boring if you just went and wiped out the bandits all on your own, so I’ll put you under three restrictions. Number one, your title will not be for show. I will give you a hundred men, and you will make them listen to you.”

The hundred men are arranged in ten rows and ten columns. They are overall a sorry-looking lot. Brutish, unwashed, and wearing old, second-hand armor that looks five good hits away from falling apart.

Their cultivation is nothing to speak of either. The strongest among them are in the Nascent Realm. Murong Bang certainly did not give him his best. In fact, he might have just given him his worst. Fools that were not expected to survive their first mission.

They are all Liu Jin has.

“Number two, all the fighting will be done by your soldiers. You will not join unless you face someone in the Spirit Realm or higher. The same restriction applies to those who came with you, meaning there is no reason for you to take them. Since I am a kind and generous man, I will allow three to go with you. The two pieces of trash you picked up and the failure of the Lei Clan will not be counted towards that number. Other than that, the rest stay here. Consider them collateral.”

Liu Jin takes a deep breath. He has already discussed what he plans on saying to these men with Lu Mei and the others, but speaking before large crowds is not something he enjoys.

“Does anyone have a problem with my promotion to Hundred-Man Commander?”

His tone is neither too harsh nor too light. The question is delivered in such a perfectly neutral voice that it leaves the soldiers unsettled and confused. Some turn to each other in bewilderment. Others have the sense to keep their eyes forward and their backs straight.

“I would not think less of you if you do,” Liu Jin continues in the same neutral tone. “I am an outsider. I do not wear your colors. I was not born in Murong Bang’s lands or even in this country. Yet, within days of arriving here, I was given a position many of you covet. Your jealousy would not only be natural but expected.”

He pauses. The men sweat.

“Again I ask, does anyone have a problem with me being your commander?”

“No, sir!”

The cry is neither unanimous nor simultaneous. About a dozen or so are quick enough to shout the answer they think he wants to hear. Others are a second or two late. Some somehow manage to stutter their way through the two words. A few just never open their mouths at all, either to make a statement or because they are afraid that they missed the timing to do so.

“I see,” Liu Jin says, nodding slowly. “Let me rephrase the question then. Who wants my position?”

The silence that answers him is deafening.

“No one?” Liu Jin asks, his gaze moving from one face to another, making the soldiers avert their eyes. “Really? Should I talk to General Murong and tell him that he does not need to worry about ever promoting anyone here because not a single one of you ever wants to be a Hundred-Man Commander? Is that what you are saying?”

“NO!”

This time, the shout is nearly unanimous. A few add a sir to their nos. Most don’t. It doesn’t matter.

“I see,” Liu Jin says, nodding to himself. “In other words, you all harbor hopes of becoming Hundred-Men Commanders one day. That is understandable. It is a position that comes with luxuries none of you have enjoyed.”

Liu Jin fights back a grimace as he says the last part. The “luxuries” Hundred-Men Commanders enjoy are more akin to basic privileges. Coveting them or bragging about them would be laughable nearly everywhere else. A pity that this is the land created by Murong Bang. Here, even basic living necessities cannot be obtained without spilling someone’s blood.

“How would you like to take my position right now?”

Once again, the hundred men go silent. There is unease in their stances, nervousness in their eyes, and sweat on their brows.

“If a single one of you can land a hit on me before the sun goes down, I will immediately give that person my position,” Liu Jin says. “This is no lie or trick. I will promote that person on the spot.”

Liu Jin’s words provoke neither eagerness nor hope in the soldiers but rather anger and despair. Even the least skilled among them can tell Liu Jin is a foe beyond them. To them, his offer is nothing but an insult. He is taunting them by dangling what they want just out of their reach.

“I can tell you have doubts,” Liu Jin says. “You do not believe yourself capable of defeating me. That tells me you have some sense. However, consider this.”

Liu Jin gestures at himself with his one good arm. His other arm is in a sling. There are numerous bandages visible on his person and bruises on his skin. His jaw is held together only by his Qi. His ribs are still healing, and his shoulder burns with every breath he takes.

It is not the worst state he’s been in, but he has certainly seen better days.

“As you can see, I am wounded. I cannot possibly fight at my best like this,” Liu Jin says. “In fact, I will allow all of you to attack me at once. The one hundred of you against the wounded me, and I will moderate my Qi so I am never using more than what would be available to someone in the Nascent Realm. Is that still not enough encouragement? Are you all so gutless that you will not take the opportunity before you? If so, I can tell you right now that you will go your whole military careers, however brief they might be, without ever getting another chance like this. You simply aren’t talented enough to warrant it.”

That gets a reaction. Many bristle and frown and gnash their teeth. Shining examples of self-control, these men are not.

“Think about it. If you were worth more, you wouldn’t be in front of me. Your talents would have already been noticed during your training. Instead, you are here, deemed little more than trash.”

Their Qi spikes. Anger rolls from them waves.

They just need a little push now.

“Are you angry because you feel insulted? Or are you angry because you know my words are true?” Liu Jin asks them. “You wake up every morning aware of your own mediocrity. You go through your days trying to ignore the worthlessness of your lives. You go to sleep telling yourselves that you can still achieve something. Such foolishness will only end with you lying in a pool of your own blood, realizing you have accomplished nothing and gained nothing.”

Liu Jin spits to the side. It is colored red with blood.

“Have you resigned yourselves to that path? Or will you take a step and prove me wrong?”

They charge.

It is not a unified charge. Not even remotely. One soldier lets his anger get the better of him and dares to come at him with a clenched fist. Two others are right behind him, having come to the same decision only half a second later. Four follow their example. Then five. Then dozens. By the time the last men join the charge, the thought of being the ones who stood by as everyone else fought and tried to gain something is instinctively repugnant.

Liu Jin waits for them. He sees all one hundred men coming at him and does not change his expression or posture in the slightest. He watches as that first fist inches ever so close to his face.

[Art of the Roaming Thief]

The soldier’s fist hits nothing but air. It takes the man a moment to realize what has happened. By then, it is already too late. All those charging behind him crash into him when he tries to slow down, trapping him under a pile of bodies.

“Quick! Hold him down!”

“He’s not here!”

“I don’t see him!”

“Get off me, you idiots!!”

“What happened?”

“That was very disappointing,” Liu Jin says as he appears beside the soldier furthest at the back. The man pales as he lays eyes on him. “I suppose using movement techniques against you is a little too much. I’ll refrain from using them from this point onwards.”

“He’s here! Everyone, he’s here!” The man shouts, raising his hand and pointing at Liu Jin with the other one.

Liu Jin sighs.

A soldier throws himself at him. Another dives for his legs to hold him down.

“It was good of you to warn the others,” Liu Jin comments to the soldier as he dodges the attempts to grab him. “However, that you have yet to try anything betrays your fear.”

The soldier flinches at the rebuke. In the time it takes him to draw his sword and come to Liu Jin, four more men are already attacking as well.

A sidestep. A push. A backstep. A shove.

Liu Jin barely moves from his spot, yet none of the men get close to touching him. Their swords whistle through the air and hit nothing. Their limbs end up tangled with each other, and their faces meet the ground.

“Slow. Sloppy. Uninspired,” Liu Jin comments as he keeps walking between the hundred men without trouble. Sometimes, he even stops them from accidentally hurting each other. It is not that he is moving much faster than they are. He is just reading their movements and acting accordingly. He sees every possible permutation and always takes the safest path.

To these men, he might as well be a ghost.

“Is this really all you have?” Liu Jin asks them.

The hundred men roar in defiance and renew their efforts.

By the time the sun sets, all hundred soldiers are lying on the ground exhausted, and Liu Jin remains untouched.

~~~

“I believe I quite liked watching that,” Lu Mei says. She is sitting around a table with Liu Jin and a few others.

“Those fools did not stand a chance against Senior Brother Qing,” Ten Zichun says, nodding eagerly.

“There was never any doubt of that,” Lu Mei says. She smiles and looks at Liu Jin. “Did it work?”

“I believe it did,” Liu Jin says, crossing his arms. “Of the hundred, I believe I have narrowed it down to four, maybe five possible suspects.”

Ten blinks. “So few?”

“It is not as if planting more would do them any good,” Lu Mei says, shrugging her shoulders. “All of them are trash. Increasing their number won’t make them more competent. Less is more, in this case. That said, it is a little surprising that you have already narrowed it down by so much.”

“It was not hard,” Liu Jin says. “When people fight, it becomes hard to disguise their aura, especially if they’re angry, and I made sure they were very angry at me.”

Taunting people weaker than himself and goading them into a fight they had no chance of winning is not something he enjoys. However, Liu Jin did not do it for personal enjoyment. The fight served two purposes.

One, it established the hierarchy of strength. It is one thing for his men to know he is stronger than them. It is another for them to experience that strength first-hand. They will think twice about challenging him from now on.

Two, and far more important, it revealed to Liu Jin which soldiers had been put into his ranks to spy on him or perhaps more.

It is just like Lu Mei told him the other day. In his weakened condition, he is vulnerable. People like Han or maybe even the Lei Clan will not let the opportunity to strike while they are away from Murong Bang’s sight escape them. What better way to keep an eye on him than by sneaking some of their pieces into the hundred men given to him?

“I made sure to feel out their auras as we fought,” Liu Jin says. “Three had well-developed killing intent. Not something you’d see in new recruits. Their movements were too sharp to have been thrown in with the rest of this lot.”

“Oh? And the other two?’

“Their weapons and armor were a little too high-quality. Perhaps, it was the payment for their services,” Liu Jin says. “I might be wrong, but I believe this gives us a place to start. Lei Kong?”

His servant nods with a grave expression on his face. “I will be sure to keep an eye on them, my lord.”

“Good.” Liu Jin’s gaze moves to the person beside him. “Brother Ten? What’s your opinion on the unit?”

“Their equipment is mostly trash,” the disciple of the Armory says, crossing his arms. “To be honest, the thought of working on it is insulting, and even if I did, it’d take too long. Unless buying them all new equipment is an option…”

“It isn’t,” Liu Jin says. He had checked.

Ten frowns. “Then, as a blacksmith, my honest assessment is to let them keep their bad equipment and just focus on training them while we march to Rainstorm City. Maybe make them fight some Spirit Beasts.”

“I see,” Liu Jin says. He had imagined he’d say that. “Thank you for your expertise.”

Ten preens at his praise. For the next two hours, they talk about their plans and the potential problems that might arise on their way to Rainstorm City.

According to Murong Bang, a group of bandits calling themselves the Brotherhood of Thunder have been attacking cities and villages down south. They have even started attacking military patrols, which is why Murong Bang is finally doing something about them. Since not a single person at the table is willing to take Murong Bang at his word, they all know gathering information will be one of their first priorities when they get there.

Hours later, when all their plans have been made and nearly everyone has left, Liu Jin turns to the one person at the table that has remained quiet all this time.

Lady Bai Wen.

The day before, Liu Jin had asked if she would stay in Cloudburst City to protect those left behind. However, the disciple of the Divine Frozen Palace rejected his plea. She did this not out of callousness but rather because it is no longer possible for Lady Bai Wen to stay near Murong Bang anymore.

“I have forced my Dao as long as I could,” she told him. “The more I stay here, the harder it becomes to justify my actions. It is unfortunate, but I cannot stay here without doing something reckless or incurring a great injury.

Liu Jin wonders if that is why Bai Wen has spent nearly all her time in the border territories. He also wonders if the person who sent Bai Wen to the Storm Dragon Empire knew she’d face these sorts of challenges and did so to expose her to them.

“Big Sister Bai, if there is any wisdom you can offer me, I am willing to hear it,” Liu Jin says.

She thinks for a second before speaking.

“There might not be any need for me to say this, but Murong Bang is trying to influence you,” she tells him. “For what reason, I cannot say. Regardless, you cannot take this lightly. As someone who wields Poison Qi, you should know better than anyone that sometimes all it takes is one drop.”

Her words cause a shiver to go up Liu Jin’s spine. The thought of being tainted by Murong Bang is unpleasant.

“I thank you greatly for your wisdom, Big Sister Bai.”

“It is freely given,” Bai Wen says. In a gentler tone, she adds. “Do not be afraid. Your foundation is not so easily shaken. The restrictions Murong Bang placed on you are a way to make you hesitate and panic. Do not let him.”

Liu Jin frowns and nods.

Defeating bandits. It sounds so simple. So easy.

Unfortunately, the restrictions Murong Bang has placed on him will make this task far harder than it needs to be.

“As for the last restriction. You are not allowed to return from your mission unless you bring me the heads of every single bandit and every person who collaborated with them. However, as I am not an unreasonable man, I’ll give you an alternative. If you can use gold lightning when you come back, I will overlook how you choose to deal with the rats.”

Gold lightning or carnage.

A quick and easy solution or a waste of valuable time trying to reach the pinnacle of lightning mastery while the Death Fashioning Scripture and General He build up their forces.

There is only one thing Liu Jin knows for sure.

He really doesn’t like Murong Bang.

~~~