At dawn, Xu Cihang’s voice echoed throughout the entirety of the Sharp Vigor Battalion. “Come here! Come here! Wake up, all of you! I’ll count to ten, and whoever doesn’t come here shall be flogged ten times!”

　　However, the men who had just entered the military encampment ignored this. As prisoners on death rows, they were obstinate and indifferent by nature, thus they did not make a move.

　　“Ten…nine…eight…seven…six…one!”

　　After Xu Cihang’s voice resounded across the area, he rushed inside each and every tent and threw everyone out of their respective tents.Then, he held his stick and began to beat them.

　　As a result, the acupuncture points of these men were blocked and their backs received ten firm whips from the stick. With their flesh splitting apart, they fell flat on the ground of the martial arts field.

　　Fan Yang rolled up his sleeves and laughed while he stood aside to watch. Chu Li was also standing aside as he observed those people. He wanted to choose some better ones to train and nurture so that he could put them to good use when the need arose.

　　Xu Cihang had delivered ten whips. Apart from causing the flesh of the prisoners’ backs to split open, he had also unblocked their acupuncture points in the process. The prisoners could not get up and instead, they laid on the ground and moaned.

　　“Stop moaning!” Xu Cihang’s face was stern. Brandishing his stick, he whipped and yelled at the same time, “You moan like a bunch of sissies! Do you even call yourselves men? If you react this way after a few beatings, what will happen when you enter the battlefield? When you get slashed by blades and pierced by spears, you’ll then realize that your current situation is nothing. Shut the hell up and whoever moans again will receive ten more strokes!”

　　Immediately, the moaning ceased and everyone kept their mouths shut.

　　The only sound left on the field was the sound of a stick rapping against the backs of the men.

　　Once Xu Cihang was done with the beating, he announced with a stern expression, “This is the lightest punishment. Tomorrow, those who do not come out after I count to five will endure twenty strokes of my stick. I’d rather beat you to death here than to let you die on the battlefield!”

　　Everyone shuddered in fear.

　　Chu Li turned around and returned to his tent while Fan Yang comforted the crowd with a smile and told them that this was for their own good. Without strict discipline and the right amount of training, these men would surely perish on the battlefield.

　　It was better for them to get hurt here than to give their lives away in vain in a battle.

　　After enduring the punishment, the twenty prisoners had to suppress their resentment, less they got beaten again.

　　From the second day onwards, Chu Li instructed Fan Yang to place twenty logs on the martial arts field. Each log was as tall as a man and as thick as one’s thigh in which one could stand on it with two legs. So, he ordered the crowd to stand on the logs and walk on them.

　　Everyone had to walk at the same time. When the previous person began to walk, the following person had to follow suit. If anyone walked too fast or too slow, he would be the one who would cause everybody else to fall.

　　On top of that, Fan Yang and Xu Cihang stood aside with whips in their hands. Whoever made a mistake would get whipped.

　　Meanwhile, Chu Li cultivated in his tent.

　　Ever since his meridians and Dantian has expanded and became stronger, his cultivation level had improved greatly. Hence, he needed time to get used to it. At the same time, he also scrutinized Yang Ping’s mind in order to comprehend his thoughts and the current state of the battlefield.

　　Yang Ping’s action stymied Chu Li. If Chu Li failed to gain merits, not only would he not leave the Sharp Vigor Battalion and the Soaring Eagle Cavalry, but he would not be able to return to the Holy Church of Light too.

　　Once this battle ended, he would not have the opportunity to make a contribution.

　　Moreover, the next opportunity for him to gain merits would be the war with the Ji Dynasty.

　　He did not feel a sense of belonging to the Ji Dynasty. After all, he grew up in the Autumn Temple and disliked King An as well as the Emperor. Instead, he did everything for the Public House.

　　If Ji Dynasty fell, the Public House would then struggle to exist. Furthermore, if the throne was successfully captured, the Ji Dynasty would no longer be an outsider.

　　Chu Li refused to believe that Yang Ping could suppress him forever. The Qiu Dynasty’s cavalry was tough. At the moment, the Li Dynasty had the upper hand because it had set up a large formation back then to block the cavalry of the Qiu Dynasty.

　　However, there were a lot of talented individuals in the Qiu Dynasty. Surely, a formation master would be present. Once the formation was broken, it would be the most intense time. The Soaring Eagle Cavalry had to go to war and the Sharp Vigor Battalion had to follow them too.

　　Thus, he did not want to rush things and he would rather focus on training the twenty prisoners instead. If he wanted to gain merits once they went to war, he needed their help.

　　After much consideration, Chu Li came up with a set of techniques and formations. He then allowed Xu Cihang and Fan Yang to train the prisoners on his behalf while he cultivated the Earth Matrix and Reincarnation Scripture in his tent.

　　Earlier, when he cultivated the Earth Matrix and Reincarnation Scripture in the Yinyang Cave, he had witnessed a great improvement in his boundary. Yet, since everything happened too quickly in the Yinyang Cave, Chu Li had to calm himself down to sort through the knowledge learned and transform it into something that he could remember forever.

　　…

　　All of a sudden, things became tense in the Soaring Eagle Cavalry.

　　After reading Yang Ping’s mind, Chu Li learned that the formation outside of Falling Autumn City had been broken. The Qiu Dynasty’s cavalry was near the city and was planning to attack them.

　　The Qiu Dynasty’s cavalry was widely known to be experts in attacking cities. This made the people of Falling Autumn City pessimistic about their future as they throught that they were no match for the Qiu Dynasty’s cavalry and the Falling Autumn City would meet its end soon.

　　Zhang Fengping laid on his bed. Panting hard, his face was pale from the pain.

　　He was lanky with a handsome face. At twenty-three, he was a Perfected Innate Master and also a rare expert in the martial arts world. His sister was killed by the Third Young Master of the Ma Family in the city. So, in return, he killed the Third Young Master which Zhang Fengping was consequently arrested and became a prisoner on death row.

　　As he shared a close bond with his sister, he had lost all hope in life when she died. To revenged her, he killed the Third Young Master and was even prepared to murder the entire Ma Family.

　　Nonetheless, the Ma Family had an expert to protect it. In the end, Zhang Fengping was defeated as he was sent to jail and was nearly executed. Yet three days before his execution, he was sent to the Sharp Vigor Battalion and gotten his life back.

　　He did not feel any sense of happiness. He merely thought of killing a few soldiers of the Qiu Dynasty for fun once he entered the battlefield so that he could die a swift death.

　　There was another young man on a neighboring bed and his name was Huang Hu. A tall and thin man, his face was covered in pimples and his eyes gleamed with vigor.

　　Zhang Fengping was whipped three times whereas Huang Hu was whipped five times. Both of them were clenching their teeth in pain.

　　“What kind of training is this?” Huang Hu gasped for air. “If this goes on, my body is going to break!”

　　Before his old wounds had time to heal, fresh wounds appeared which resulted in a bloody mess on his back. He laid face-down on his bed every time he went to sleep and eventually made it a habit.

　　Zhang Fengping laid on his bed in silence.

　　Huang Hu asked, “Old Zhang, how long do you think we can live?”

　　“Less than a year,” Zhang Fengping replied wanly.

　　Huang Hu let out a sigh. “Yeah, we’ll die for sure if we go to war. If I can gain some merits before dying, I can at least get some money for my family.”

　　He had just become a Perfected Innate Master when he was sentenced to death for stealing from the rich. However, he stole from a wealthy family in order to feed his own.

　　Huang Hu had returned from the mountains after he had learnt some martial arts. When he noticed how poor his family was, he resorted to stealing.

　　However, he had underestimated the guards in that wealthy family and was detained after killing two of them. Then, he was thrown into jail and he was waiting to be executed when he was sent here.

　　“Sigh… It’s a fate worse than death. It would be better if I was executed on the spot!” Huang Hu shook his head and sighed. “What a horrible fate!”

　　“It was just ten whips and ten beatings of the stick!” Zhang Fengping said calmly.

　　Huang Hu said, “Old Zhang, I have always been fearful of pain. I’d rather have my life end instantly than to live like this in agony. I’ve spent the whole day walking on that log, I even have dreams about it recently! It’s so tiring!”

　　Zhang Fengping spoke, “You can’t fight against those who are stronger than you.”

　　“I heard it was Master Zhao’s idea.” Huang Hu turned towards Zhang Fengping and lowered his voice. “I heard Master Zhao is no ordinary man.”

　　“He’s a disciple of the Holy Church of Light,” Zhang Fengping muttered.

　　Huang Hu sucked in a deep breath. “The Holy Church of Light!”

　　“We’ll be using a formation known as the Military Formation,” Zhang Fengping said. “It will protect our lives.”

　　“Really?” Huang Hu found it hard to believe. “It sounds tedious. Is it really possible?”