Chapter 303: The Right Guess (2/2)

“What then? What’s the plan once they’ve completed this training?”

“Make me a battalion commander,” Lan Jue said off-handedly.

“Eh?” Lan Qing looked at his younger brother in stunned disbelief.

Lan Jue’s grin revealed rows of pearly white teeth. “I’ve always wanted my own team. I mean, my power has its limits but these kids are full of potential. I’m certain, in a few years, I could turn them in to an elite fighting force.”

“You. Join the Army.” Lan Jue just stared.

“Not now of course,” Lan Jue said. “If what the Clairvoyant said is true, I’ll come and find you when the enemy appears. I’ll be your errand boy, how’s that?”

“You believe these kids will continue to follow you?” the commander asked.

Lan Jue looked over the students gathered below. “Step by step, brother. Why do you think I brought them here? I’m certain they’ll never forget their days on An Lun, long after this month of training is over. In old China there was a saying, wasn’t there? ‘Only the father and son can win a battle.’ We don’t know who our father is, but when the enemy does show I want to be by my brother’s side.”

Lan Qing’s rock-solid face crumbled just enough to allow a small smile. He raised a hand and patted Lan Jue’s shoulder. “We’ve got to get stronger!”

“Yes. So if these kids do manage to pass muster and get selected, you’re going to owe me something.” Lan Jue said through a smirk.

The smile on Lan Qing’s face widened still further. “Everything you’ve said so far was building to this sentence.”

“Worthy of being known as the ‘God of Wisdom’,” Lan Jue said.

Lan Qing shook his head. “I didn’t guess. I knew because I’m your big brother. You’re never so nice as when you need something.”

Lan Jue brought his eyes back to Lan Qing. “If – when… when the day comes that I can, I’m going to beat the ever loving crap out of you.”

Lan Qing met his gaze. “I’m looking forward to it. Now let’s get going.”

“Go where?” Lan Jue asked.

“I’ve helped you train your Tai chi, and I see you’ve improved considerably. You have to keep it up.”

Lan Jue’s face scrunched in displeasure. “Don’t give me that. You just want to smack me around some more.”

“Of course.”

ζ

Fifty-one students stood in five rows. Their faces were still, devoid of expression. This, and their dark flight suits, lent to the faint aura of deadliness that had begun to follow them.

Lan Jue, in his golden masked, stood before them. Tan Lingyun, Wang Hongyuan, Mika and Xiuxiu where fanned out to his left and right.

“It’s been nearly a month since we’ve arrived. Soon we’ll be heading back. This means that the second portion of our overall training is complete. It’s time to leave An Lun.” Lan Jue’s voice was soft, but carried well.

The students stood in formation, absolutely still. No one dared move, or make a sound. They were like statues, dangerous statues. At the very least, they were much more disciplined than when they’d first arrived.

But there was more in their eyes; loss.

Their time here on this famed planet was – literally and figuratively – a world different than the live they’d lived on Skyfire. They didn’t even want to consider time during the first month of training. Every day was a battle against the pain that consumed them, to where they hardly wished to live. They didn’t even want to remember those awful days.

But here, on An Lun, things were different. Although they were weary, beaten down, and in pain, but they felt enriched. They were learning knew things every day, things they they lapped up like a thirsty man in the desert. They could all feel the vast improvements they’ve made since classes started.

The impractical and showy fisticuffs they’d shown up with were gone. They’d learned the proper way to fight, simple and direct without any unneeded flare. Efficiency, callousness, obeisance and fearlessness – that was who they were now. These were things they learned from the soldiers, things only the elite could understand.

Many were surprised to discover that they liked it here. Only those who fit in could see, could understand the industrious and hardworking life the soldiers had here, and why they liked it.

In this world of steel and iron, every one of them had grown tremendously. And not just in power, either. They’d arrived as boys and girls, but now they were men and women. Now they were on their way to being warriors.

And now it was time to leave? The last two months were all that was left in their memory, that torment and torture and surprise and elation. It was almost done. At the outset the number of students who’d wanted out were innumerable. But that fear and loathing were gone, now they were struggling with regret.

Those emotional, conflicted eyes followed their Demon Drillmaster.