Chapter Fifty-Eight: The Uncle

Tang Tian soon parted ways with Amory and the others. Nobody found it particularly strange, as it had already been mentioned that Tang Tian was headed for the Outer Camp. In everyone’s eyes, although Tang Tian was going to the Outer Camp, now that Lord Kong valued him so highly, he would surely be given special attention and training.

They all resolved inwardly to work hard during this period; the next time they met, they must not let this madman-like youth widen the gap even further. To be psychologically scarred by this guy would truly be embarrassing.

Tang Tian boarded another carriage, but compared to Lord Kong’s flying horse-drawn military coach, this one could only be described as shabby.

Tang Tian wasn’t sent alone; accompanying him were seven other youths, all around thirteen or fourteen years of age. Their moods seemed sour, their expressions gloomy, and none spoke a word.

Tang Tian didn’t bother to strike up a conversation; he simply didn’t have the time.

The soldier’s superhumanly harsh training left Tang Tian struggling in agony, barely hanging on to life.

“Haven’t eaten, have you? Let me tell you, if any of my subordinates dared train like this back in the day, I’d beat them until they spilled their guts!” The soldier’s voice thundered down from above, stern and ruthless, echoing in Tang Tian’s ears.

The soldier became even more relentless, as though transformed—tormenting Tang Tian seemed to unleash a thousand years of pent-up passion in an instant. The previous dullness and reticence were nowhere to be seen. Once tight-lipped, he now loved nothing more than roaring and shouting, and if Tang Tian’s performance slipped even slightly, the rebukes were fierce and merciless.

It was as if, overnight, the soldier’s body had finally found its soul.

Unfortunately, that soul belonged to a bloodthirsty madman.

“Raise your head! Useless! Ten days, and you’ve only improved this much? Could you be any more stupid? Of the forty-six thousand three hundred and sixty-nine recruits I’ve trained, every single one was a hundred times stronger than you! At this level, you’re not even fit to be a janitor in the corps.”

Hovering in midair, the soldier crouched down, spitting as he shouted over Tang Tian’s head.

Tang Tian didn’t flinch, keeping his hands moving swiftly and retorting, “Ha! I thought you were some big shot back then, turns out you were just a little nobody training recruits!”

“A nobody training recruits…” A black line flickered like a wave across the blank board above the soldier’s head.

“Come on! Let this godlike youth show you, little nobody, what it means to be a genius!” Tang Tian shouted without fear, his hands moving at lightning speed.

His Eagle Talon technique, honed through these days of torment, had become razor-sharp. His ten fingers hooked like claws, trailing scarlet flames and emitting piercing shrieks.

Compared to his previous hard practice, this hellish training was far more effective.

The soldier watched the flurry of claw shadows in the sky, secretly astounded. He had always observed Tang Tian’s earlier training from the shadows, but in his experience, Tang Tian’s efficiency was only average—because Tang Tian’s talent was exceptionally poor.

To call it poor might not even be accurate—it was abysmally bad, the worst the soldier had ever seen.

Yet Tang Tian’s unyielding willpower left the soldier deeply impressed.

Previously, he hadn’t considered opening a new recruit training camp, but when Tang Tian asked if he had anything he wanted to do, it truly touched him. After sleeping for so long, with all his comrades turned to terracotta shards, only he remained, body transformed, soul awakened.

The soldier didn’t understand why the Corps station had fallen into Tang Tian’s hands.

But once Tang Tian began the recruit training, the soldier was shocked—not by Tang Tian’s perseverance (he’d always believed Tang Tian could complete the training, just perhaps needing more time), but by his astonishing progress.

As a chief instructor who had trained over forty-six thousand recruits, the soldier’s estimation of training progress was unparalleled.

Yet Tang Tian’s improvement far exceeded his expectations!

On the very first day, Tang Tian endured until dawn, only failing at the last moment.

From the second day on, the soldier quietly increased the difficulty. Tang Tian didn’t know, but his training was already considered extremely tough even by the standards of the Southern Cross Corps era.

By the ninth day, his training had reached the highest level of difficulty.

The Eagle Talon technique honed under such terrifying intensity had already surpassed ordinary perfection and reached a higher realm. Tang Tian’s Eagle Talon was now no less than a typical fourth-grade martial skill. The greatest progress, however, was in his Crane Qi Formula. Though the soldier was seeing it for the first time, he immediately discerned its strengths and weaknesses.

The so-called “taking a beating” method wasn’t some idle whimsy.

Tang Tian’s true power had reached the third grade, but in the soldier’s eyes, while the quantity was there, the quality still needed improvement. Moreover, the Crane form was far from being freely controlled—it suggested that his cultivation wasn’t fully mature. So the soldier decided to continually attack, “tempering” Tang Tian’s Crane form from within.

If it weren’t for Tang Tian, he wouldn’t have devised such a method.

Only someone this tenacious could survive such insane training.

Tang Tian’s arms moved at blinding speed, filling the air with shrieks; the light sphere before him collided as if with a wall of fire, its power rebounding again and again.

“Genius youth?” The soldier said coldly, “No one has ever dared call themselves a genius youth in front of me.”

His tone was calm, but his presence overwhelming.

Tang Tian was unfazed, laughing loudly: “Looks like you really are ignorant, old man! Let this godlike youth broaden your horizons, and show you the boundlessness of the world and the endless fighting spirit of youth!”

“Old man…” Three black lines appeared on the soldier’s blank face.

“Are you still trying to act young? Hey, old man, one must be self-aware. Even if you don’t want to admit it, next to a youthful, radiant, godlike youth, your weathered, aged appearance can’t be hidden!” Tang Tian continued, knocking light spheres aside and shouting loudly.

“Weathered old man…” The soldier’s face was streaked with black lines.

“Ah-ha! Boo-hoo-hoo, weathered soldier uncle, weathered soldier uncle, yo yo yo, he’s a little weathered, he’s a little sad, a little weathered, a little sad, oh weathered, oh sad…” Tang Tian belted out a song in a terribly grating voice.

The soldier in the sky froze, then after a moment, his face twisted into a sinister smile: “Let’s see who’s weathered, who’s sad!”

In the endless wilderness, every sphere of light suddenly halted. Each one sprouted a pair of blood-red eyes.

All the light spheres turned in unison, gazing at Tang Tian’s position.

Like a tidal wave, the spheres surged toward Tang Tian.

His song cut off abruptly, replaced by a scream that shook the heavens.

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“What bad luck! Every time I come to this godforsaken place, my heart races with fear!” In the driver’s cabin at the front of the carriage, a crew-cut man wearing a white martial uniform complained. The uniform was embroidered with a black line, marking him as an official Black Iron Warrior in the Martial Association.

Black Iron Warriors were the lowest rank; after passing the rookie assessment, newcomers automatically became Black Iron Warriors. Of course, if their abilities were strong enough to pass the Bronze Warrior exam, they could advance to a higher rank.

Beside him, another bearded Black Iron Warrior consoled, “We’re lucky, it’s just one trip. Those rookies have it tough.”

“That’s true,” the crew-cut man said, grateful. “Glad I wasn’t sent to this dump back in the day.”

“You never offended anyone, so why would you be sent here?” the bearded man shook his head. “Usually, you have to cross a big shot to end up here. These people will never become Black Iron Warriors—they’re doomed to serve here for life.”

“I don’t get it—why did the higher-ups build an Outer Camp in this godforsaken place?” the crew-cut man wondered aloud.

“You don’t know the story.” The bearded man bragged, “Years ago, the higher-ups detected a secret treasure here. They searched for half a month but found nothing—the leader was a Silver Warrior.”

“Silver Warrior!” the crew-cut man exclaimed. “Could it have been the Minister?”

The head of the Martial Association’s Perseus Division was a Silver Warrior.

“Not likely,” said the bearded man. “That was long ago—I heard about it from a senior. Because the energy density here was so high, it felt wasteful not to use it, so the higher-ups built an Outer Camp. But the environment is so harsh and dangerous that no one wants to come. It was half-abandoned until an incident occurred.”

“An incident? What happened?” The crew-cut man was puzzled.

“About twenty years ago, a pack of powerful Star Soul Beasts suddenly appeared in Perseus. The losses were severe. Investigation revealed the beasts originated here. The higher-ups feared another disaster like a beast tide, so they decided to restart the Daling Outer Camp as a forward outpost,” the bearded man explained.

“No one wants to come to a place like this,” the crew-cut man said, baffled.

“Exactly—no one wants to, but someone must. So you see, it’s basically an exile.” The bearded man shrugged.

“No wonder!” The crew-cut man suddenly understood. “I always wondered why the Outer Camp was built in such a haunted place!”

“There are some perks, though,” the bearded man said. “The higher-ups know most people don’t want to come. Anyone sent to Daling Outer Camp—even if they never become a Black Iron Warrior—after three years, as long as they stay, they’ll enjoy the same treatment as Black Iron Warriors. Many rookies who aren’t very strong find it decent—though it’s a tough life.”

“That’s true!” The crew-cut man nodded. “The Black Iron exam is hard—if your skills aren’t enough, go there and get Black Iron benefits. The family won’t have to worry.”

“Exactly…”

As the two chatted, the ground below began to reveal clusters of honeycomb-like holes, dense and stretching as far as the eye could see.

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PS: There will be another chapter tonight.