I Only Stomp on Weaklings

The Qianyuan Hall was in complete chaos.

The Emperor’s face was utterly solemn. He could already feel the gaze cast over from behind the curtain behind him, a gaze that pressed heavily on his shoulders.

He seemed to hear a silent reproach: you can’t even handle something this small—what face have you to rule personally?

His hand hidden in his sleeve clutched the armrest of the dragon throne in a death grip as he considered how to clean up the mess of tonight’s affair.

Just now, first the meritorious scions who had fallen in the Merit Pavilion failed to return; then even the images on the screens vanished. Naturally, this had caused immense panic.

The scene had immediately fallen into utter disorder.

Over at the Heavenly Master Mansion, it seemed a great upheaval had also occurred. The Heavenly Master’s Yang Spirit had left his body; no one knew where he had gone.

The Merit Pavilion had always been delegated to the management of the Heavenly Master Mansion; it had been so ever since the founding of Great Jin.

Now that something had happened to the Heavenly Master and the Merit Pavilion was having problems, for the moment they could not even find anyone to clean up the aftermath.

"Your Majesty, please save your servant’s grandson..."

"Your Majesty, that is this minister’s only grandson, the sole seedling of three generations..."

"Your Majesty..."

The lamenting pleas of those old ministers below made the Emperor feel as if he were sitting on pins and needles. At this moment, everyone present was waiting for him to make a decision.

Yet what decision could he make?

The previous generation’s Heavenly Master had long since passed away. Among the current Heavenly Master’s fellow disciples, some were in seclusion courting death, others roaming the world; they simply could not be found.

Though there were many experts within the Inner Palace, when it came to resolving this affair, not a single one came to mind.

The Empress at his side understood his mood and cast him a concerned look, causing a trace of warmth to rise in his heart.

"Attendants—"

However, the Emperor could not simply sit there and do nothing. In a situation like this, he had to do something—anything.

Just then, a flash of light burst in the hall, and several dozen people appeared out of thin air in the center of the great hall—it was precisely those who had fallen during the trial.

At this, the Emperor’s heart eased slightly. They had finally returned!

On the surface he still had to maintain an air of calm indifference, but in truth his palms were slick with sweat.

At the same time, images reappeared on the curtain.

Those who had failed the trial all looked dazed; when questioned by their relatives, they answered everything with "I don’t know." They too had no idea what had happened.

In any case, being able to return with bodies intact was a great blessing.

Many burst into tears of joy.

The others were focused on the battle on the fourth level playing out on the curtain, wanting to see how the trial would proceed after this upheaval.

A eunuch sought instructions from the Emperor, "Your Majesty, shall we continue?"

The Emperor was also watching the scene on the curtain. After pondering for a moment, he said, "Let us watch a bit first."

The trial shown on the curtain seemed not to have been affected in the slightest. The Four-Symbols Grand Formation on Great Wei’s side had already charged up to the camp’s front and broke through the gate in a single assault.

The remaining ten trial-takers, each with only a thousand-man unit, faced four ten-thousand-man units forming the Four-Symbols Grand Formation and appeared incomparably insignificant.

Anyone could see that they were doomed to defeat.

The only suspense now was: who would obtain the highest merit?

The Emperor subconsciously glanced at the central rankings; the top three were precisely Wang Jinhu, Duan Sijue, and Ling Qingying.

As for Gu Xianyu’s name, it was in ninth place, with an enormous gap compared to the top five.

He had originally wanted to tell his imperial younger sister, "You’ve lost this wager," but he restrained himself.

After such a major incident had just occurred, saying such things would seem frivolous and improper.

Sure enough, the armies of those trial-takers on the curtain were crushed one after another, utterly unable to resist. Once these men died, the trial-takers were transported back to the great hall.

Before long, Wang Jinhu, Duan Sijue, and Ling Qingying were all brought out as well.

It’s over!

The Emperor thought, and glanced at the rankings. The first place was indeed Wang Jinhu. A faint smile surfaced on his face, and he was just about to have someone announce the end of this trial when he suddenly heard a cry, "Look, that man actually withstood the Four-Symbols Grand Formation!"

What?

The Emperor was somewhat taken aback. Fixing his gaze, he saw that within the encirclement of four ten-thousand-man formations, there was still a small unit struggling on, like a nail driven firmly into the ground. No matter how the Four-Symbols Grand Formation slammed into it, it could not be crushed.

How was this possible?

Who was so incredibly valiant?

He subconsciously looked toward the central rankings and quickly noticed that one name’s merit points were still climbing, and at a very fast speed, soon surpassing those above.

That name was Gu Xianyu.

It’s him!

The Emperor was greatly astonished. Looking more carefully, he saw the image on the curtain begin to enlarge, focusing on that thousand-man unit.

He finally discovered the key: this youth’s strength was extraordinary, his Body Technique astonishingly fast. With every strike, he could claim the life of one officer.

Once the leading officer died, that thousand-man unit’s formation naturally suffered, its power drastically diminished.

It was precisely by such means that they withstood wave after wave of assaults.

At this moment, nearly everyone had their eyes drawn to the battle on the curtain.

"How strange. Since when did your Duke Jingguo Manor obtain such a world-shocking Body Technique? You’ve really been hiding it well."

"With such a Body Technique, even a First Grade expert might not be able to keep up..."

"With a peerless Body Technique like this, Duke Jingguo Manor becomes all the more formidable."

"..."

All kinds of discussions rang out in the great hall, some of them dripping with yin-yang sarcasm.

Gu Haochuan’s eyelids twitched wildly when he heard that, and he immediately spoke up to refute the rumors, "This Body Technique was obtained by Xiaoqi purely by chance. Other than him, no one else can learn it."

Of course, whether others believed this explanation or not was another matter entirely.

...

As time went on, the soldiers under Gu Xianyu’s command kept being whittled down. Even if they really were nails hammered into place, grinding away like this, they’d still end up being pried out.

Just then, with the sound of a majestic horn, dust clouds appeared along the skyline.

Someone exclaimed, "It’s reinforcements from Great Jin."

"The Founding Ancestor’s Black-Scale Iron Cavalry!"

"I never thought in this lifetime I’d actually get to see the Black-Scale Iron Cavalry in all their glory!"

"..."

Amid the excited chatter all around, the reinforcements finally arrived. Over ten thousand armored riders charged into the Four-Phases Formation, and with just a single charge, they shattered it completely.

Before long, they split, encircled, pursued...

In the end, they annihilated the Great Wei army to the last man.

The Emperor watched, blood boiling, thinking this was the true invincible mighty host of his Great Jin—just like back then when they galloped across the world, sweeping all before them.

If the Black-Scale Iron Cavalry of the forebears were still around, how could the Northern Border Countries be allowed to run wild like this?

At this thought, he couldn’t help but feel a bit bleak and sorrowful.

Suddenly, the Eldest Princess beside him said, "Royal Brother, according to the rules, anyone who passes the fourth level can be granted a title, right?"

These words pulled the Emperor back from his thoughts. He nodded and said, "Correct. Since this Gu Xianyu has passed the fourth level, by precedent he should naturally be ennobled. Men, draft the decree—"

"Wait, Royal Brother." The Eldest Princess cut him off. "Why not wait until it’s all over before drafting the decree? It won’t be too late then."

The Emperor was taken aback. Could it be that she thought this Gu Xianyu could actually make it through the fifth level as well?

In the five hundred years since Great Jin was founded, not many people had made it past the fifth level.

The fifth-level trial did not just test strength and military formations anymore.

He was very curious why his imperial sister had such great confidence in this Gu Xianyu.

"Very well."

The Emperor continued to watch patiently.

On the fifth level, Gu Xianyu became the magistrate of a small border city. One day, an enemy nation’s army came to besiege the city. Inside the city, the people were panicking.

At this critical moment, Gu Xianyu raised his arm and rallied both soldiers and civilians to resist the invading enemy, even cutting down the superior officer who tried to abandon the city and flee.

Afterwards, he successfully held this perilous city, repelling the enemy’s assaults again and again, killing one Martial Dao expert after another who broke into the city.

When reinforcements arrived, he even led troops out of the city. With a pincer attack from inside and out, they routed the enemy army. In the end, he personally chopped off the head of a prince of the enemy nation, earning great merit.

...

When the Emperor watched this Gu Xianyu pull all sorts of maneuvers and actually clear the fifth level, his eyelids couldn’t help but twitch a few times.

A thought rose in his heart: if it were in a time of chaos, this boy would definitely be a warlord-level figure.

One had to know, the trials of the fifth level all drew from real events back then. This battle had originally ended in a disastrous defeat for Great Wei, opening the prelude to Great Wei’s downfall.

Yet this Gu Xianyu actually helped Great Wei turn the tide of the battle. Such methods were truly out of the ordinary.

...

Chen Ming had no idea how people outside were evaluating him. If someone asked him why he was able to accomplish such grand feats—

Don’t ask. If you ask, the answer is: he was recommended straight in!

He now understood what the Nine Nether Demon Venerable meant by helping him with "a small favor."

This was basically escorting him to first place!

When he inexplicably passed the fifth level, he muttered under his breath, "Senior, this should be about enough, right? My military merits are definitely already ranked first."

The Nine Nether Demon Venerable did not respond.

Then came the sixth level.

In this level, he became the vanguard of an army, leading three thousand cavalry deep into the northern border grasslands to harass the enemy’s rear lines.

Then he discovered that he had become the incarnation of the Champion Marquis, racing a thousand miles, striking straight at the enemy capital, annihilating four countries in a single campaign, and earning unparalleled military merit.

"So my talent lies in commanding troops! The God of War is actually me?"

Chen Ming could barely believe he was capable of such things.

There’s no such thing as a recommendation this excessive, is there?

No, Senior Demon Venerable, can we just stop here, all right? If this keeps up, the Emperor is going to get suspicious of me.

Unfortunately, it was as if the other party hadn’t heard him at all.

By the seventh level, he had become the commander-in-chief of an army, and his Cultivation was also raised to First Grade. He began to drill troops.

Drill troops?

How the hell would I know how to do that?

So he just followed the pattern of military training drills.

In a flash, several years passed, and he led this fifty-thousand-strong army campaigning north and south, with no enemy able to withstand their edge.

By this point, Chen Ming already understood that these so-called trials were basically a movie, with the script written by the Nine Nether Demon Venerable. He didn’t have to do anything; the plot would advance on its own.

No matter how much he slacked off, it wouldn’t affect the final result.

Then came the eighth level.

This time, it was on a whole other level—he became a Prince!

PS: Two Chapters done, asking for monthly votes.