Ten Golden Orders, Forced into Battle

[Year 15, Age 32.]

[Beginning Trait Extraction...]

[Extraction Successful!]

[ "Badminton Master" (White): The strength in your right arm is double that of your left, as is the circumference. If you are left-handed, the reverse applies. ]

[Adjust Traits?]

[Yes/No]

"This White trait is actually quite useful. Combined with 'Serious Punch', it equates to unleashing twenty times my normal punching force!"

However, Chen Yi glanced at his currently equipped traits; it seemed none could be replaced.

"Simulator" must be equipped, or the simulation stops.

"Low-grade Root Bone" must be equipped, or he cannot cultivate.

"Photographic Memory", the MVP of this run, definitely cannot be removed.

"Serious Punch", the guarantee of his combat power.

The only one replaceable was actually "Effort Yields Results", but compared to "Badminton Master", Chen Yi still hoped the former would continue to play a role, however small.

[In the blink of an eye, you have spent another ten years in the military camp.]

[With the help of massive amounts of pills and crystals, your cultivation has skyrocketed compared to before. You have reached the peak of the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering, just one step away from the Spirit Gathering realm.]

[However, you have been trying to take that step for two years without success.]

[Sun Chengen mentioned a pill called the Spirit Gathering Pill, which can help someone with poor root bones like you break through to the Spirit Gathering realm.]

[You figure it is probably something similar to the Foundation Establishment Pill found in cultivation novels.]

[But wars have been incessant over the past two years. The Dashi Kingdom in the southern borders launched large-scale wars one after another, keeping the Suzhou border army busy fighting.]

[Sun Chengen found a random excuse to apply for the Spirit Gathering Pill from the Quartermaster, but no one has delivered it.]

[It might have been sent, but with the border in flames, who knows where it ended up.]

[Now, you all have no time to consider breaking through cultivation realms.]

[Suzhou, Yan Pass.]

[Sun Chengen and his remaining twenty thousand border troops are besieged here by the Dashi Kingdom's Barbarian Elephant Army.]

[This is a small fortress city with high walls and deep moats, easy to defend but hard to attack.]

[But the area is small, with few civilians inside.]

[There is a large granary here with enough food to last over half a year.]

[In the General's Manor, generals clad in armor gathered around a sand table discussing the war situation.]

[As the soul of the army, you are naturally present.]

["General, those southern barbarians are shouting outside the city again. Let me go out and fight!"]

[Many military officers have explosive tempers and cannot tolerate the slightest provocation.]

[Sun Chengen remained calm and composed.]

["If you want to go, go alone. I won't stop you. Just don't take the brothers with you."]

["No, General, this..."]

["The Dashi Elephant Army holds fifteen-meter-long spirit artifact giant spears and rides six-meter-tall Barbarian Elephant beasts. Although there are only a few hundred riders, they are enough to charge head-on against tens of thousands of our infantry. Have the soldiers not suffered enough at their hands?"]

[With Sun Chengen's cultivation, he does not fear these elephant soldiers.]

[But he cannot fight the war single-handedly. Besides the elephant army, the enemy has thousands of regular troops and high-level martial artists holding the line. They will not give Sun Chengen a chance to slaughter them freely.]

[You voiced the phenomenon you observed.]

["The elephant soldiers wandering under the city walls have decreased in the past few days. Even when they come to curse at us, those Barbarian Elephants look a bit listless. I estimate these exotic beasts cannot adapt to the climate of the Central Plains and have contracted diseases."]

[Sun Chengen nodded.]

["But we must also be wary that this is a ploy to lure the enemy. The Dashi army has penetrated deep into our Suzhou hinterland, stretching their supply lines very thin. As long as we hold fast and do not go out, they will eventually have to retreat..."]

[While you were discussing military intelligence, a soldier suddenly rushed in.]

["Report—An envoy from the Imperial Court has arrived with a Golden Decree, ordering Sun Chengen, Commander of the Suzhou Border Army, to immediately leave the city and engage the Dashi army to recover lost territory!"]

[The soldier presented a red token with both hands, inscribed with: Imperial Words, No Delay at Stations.]

[Sun Chengen sighed and took it.]

["This is already the tenth Golden Decree urging us to fight..."]

[The lieutenant general was indignant.]

["What is wrong with the Emperor! He only knows how to urge us to fight, but we haven't seen a single reinforcement!"]

[Sun Chengen looked outside the government office at the gray sky.]

["Traitorous officials are in power, deceiving the Emperor. His Majesty probably thinks that the loss of a dozen cities in Suzhou was due to our border army being cowardly and intentionally letting them fall."]

[The strong men present spoke bluntly.]

["Incompetent Ruler!"]

[You listened with secret delight but also admired the audacity of these generals.]

[Sun Chengen once again disobeyed the decree.]

[He fell into a dilemma.]

[He wanted to be a loyal subject, but he could not watch his brothers go out to die.]

[Despite being a martial artist with profound internal power in the prime of his life, white hairs had crept onto his head.]

[Sun Chengen's dilemma finally ended two months later when the Imperial Envoy arrived at Yan Pass.]

[When the besieging enemy forces heard the Imperial Envoy was here to urge Sun Chengen to fight, they carried him in on an eight-person sedan chair and even gifted him brocade clothes and fine food.]

[A bunch of uncivilized barbarians suddenly started paying attention to etiquette.]

[After the Imperial Envoy entered the pass, the defenders knew what he was there for and gave him the cold shoulder, infuriating the minister into shouting that "outsiders understand manners better than our own people."]

[The Imperial Envoy read the Imperial Decree, ordering that if Sun Chengen did not march out to battle, he would be charged and executed!]

[Matters having reached this stage, Sun Chengen had no other path to walk.]

[At night, inside the study, you, Sun Chengen's lieutenant, and a few trusted aides were summoned by him.]

["Tomorrow, open the South Gate. I will lead my personal guards to meet the enemy. The Dashi army has placed a reward of a Ten-Thousand-Household Marquis title for my head. As soon as I appear, the enemy will surely swarm over. At that time, the rest of the soldiers will disguise themselves as civilians and leave through the North Gate with the people inside the pass!"]

[The lieutenant roared on the spot.]

["General! The Emperor is forcing you to your death, why stay loyal to him! Let's rebel!"]

[Other trusted generals echoed in unison.]

["Let's rebel! General!"]

["General, you are a hundred times wiser than that Dog Emperor! Why can't you sit on that throne!"]

["The wheel of fortune turns! We are willing to follow the General to the death!"]

[You watched from the side, saying nothing.]

[Usually, whenever these generals cursed the high officials or the Emperor, Sun Chengen would stop them. This time, he did not.]

[Sun Chengen looked at you. "Military Advisor Chen, why aren't you speaking?"]

[You gave a bitter smile. "Because I know the General's nature. You would rather die than become a traitor."]

[You knew even better that in this world, the difficulty of rebelling was hell-level.]

[This is a world of martial artists. Without controlling a top-tier martial artist force, it is impossible to succeed.]

[And the most top-tier martial artist force is precisely the Great Qian Imperial Family.]

[You spoke again, "But General, even if we don't rebel, there is no need to go out to fight knowing it is certain death. There are other paths, for example, taking that Imperial Envoy..."]

["Say no more. My mind is made up!"]

["General..."]

"I remember you once said, there are certain things... that one must do, even knowing they are impossible!"