79 Chapter 79 (1/2)
The pocket dimension had its own light source in the distance, no one knew if it was real or an illusion because if you left the small rock formation you would quickly run out of air. Every platoon was gathered outside the dorm building, each officer was standing in front of their squad while another member of the Zhang Clan was in the middle.
”By the order of the Patriarch, I will be your 'Drill Sergeant'. From now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be 'Sir.' Do you maggots understand that? If you do, reply with ”Sir, yes Sir!”
The Drill Sergeant was a middle-aged man, with a military-like haircut and scars all over his face. The man was trying to keep a straight face as this was ordered by the Patriarch himself. He had written down some mean sounding quotes to him and told him to use them while training the juniors. The foundation establishment elders wouldn't be part of the training drills, so they were free to train on their own accord for now. The formation training would be practiced later, first came the physical drills and some sparring among the youths.
”...Sir yes, Sir!”
The kids shouted out, some of them feeling a bit dejected at the treatment.
”If you juniors leave this island, if you survive the training, you will be a weapon. You will be a minister of death, praying for war. But until that day, you are nothing but unorganized pieces of amphibian excrement.”
Question marks could be seen above the youth's heads when the 'amphibian' was mentioned, from the context they somehow knew that it wasn't anything good. While the foundation establishment elder was belittling the new soldiers, he was exuding an aura that was making the Qi condensation juniors buckle under the strain. Everyone in the surroundings was starting to feel pressured, this clearly wasn't going to be easy. After some shouting they finally left for a run, the robes they were carrying had a function to decrease and increase the weight just for this. The juniors quickly found themselves sweating profusely under the increased weight of their enchanted clothing.
The first one to fall behind was Zhang Hong, due to his increased bodyweight he wasn't really fit for cardio all that much and collapsed. The drill sergeant instantly was on him, shouting and even kicking his rear end to get a move on, some of his fellow platoon members helped him up and they all started moving once more. The Sergeant looked at the fatty wobble away, now remembering a certain instruction that he got. The clan leader had told him, that if there was someone that started falling behind the others, he should let up on him just a bit, even more, if he was overweight. He wasn't sure why, but he would follow orders to not be so hard on Zhang Hong.
The drill Sergeant pulled out a jade slip, on it he had all the lines that the Patriarch gave him. He looked at it, his eyebrows twitching slightly while he sighed inwardly. Orders were orders and he would follow them to a t, he moistened up his lips and started talking while the youths were jogging around the compound. The Patriarch kind of told him to try to sing this part, he wasn't sure about that though. He also didn't know what the 'Totally original Patriarch lyrics, plz don't steal :)' at the end meant.
”Let's get down to business, to defeat our foes. Did they send me servants, when I asked for cultivators?”
”You're the saddest bunch I ever met, but you can bet before we're through. Junior, I'll make a cultivator out of you!”
The training switched to hand to hand combat, the platoons competed against each other as they were learning some basic teamwork. Most of the time they were bumping into each other though, the 9th platoon wasn't doing all that well as Zhang Peng liked to solo everyone, letting his muscles do the talking. Zhang Ai liked to hang in the back while spamming ranged attacks, just using her teammates as meat shields. This resulted in her hitting Peng in the back of the head with a water serpent technique while he broke of defensive formation to attack an enemy. Some semblance of teamwork could be seen between the two pairs of siblings, the twins along with Xue and Liu were somehow not getting into each other's way.
”Tranquil as a forest but on fire within. Once you find your center, you are sure to win. You're a spineless, pale, pathetic lot
And you haven't got a clue. Somehow I'll make a cultivator out of you.”
A week had passed now, the members were still not doing that well as they were slowly learning the ropes with the formation arts. You could see the formation's blue lights all over the place as everyone tried to make the shield appear. Some of the platoons were succeeding while some were nowhere near finished, their shields breaking and the people suffering cultivation backlash from the rampant spiritual energies in the area.
”I'm never gonna catch my breath, say goodbye to those who knew me...”
Zhang Hong said while collapsing, his robe all sweaty from the constant running and physical training that he was being forced to do by the drill sergeant.
”Boy, was I a fool for not preparing more, Now I really wish that I didn't come here.”
Said Zhang Teng as he suffered a hit to the face from a clan member during a mock battle against the 7th platoon, his team members just looking at him as he ate dirt.
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”Be a Zhang! We must be swift as the coursing river. Be a Zhang! With all the force of a great typhoon
Be a Zhang! With all the strength of a raging fire, Mysterious as the dark side of the moon!”
Which of the moons did the drill Sergeant even mean, thought the youths while their physiques were getting better and better. Their understanding of the two formations was increasing as they didn't blunder so much anymore. There were even close to moving on to the next step of every clan member forming a giant formation together.
”Time is racing toward us till the Patriarch arrives, Heed my every order and you might survive Even if you're unsuited for the rage of war, Don't pack up and be through because I'll make a cultivator out of you!”
Three weeks in the juniors were showing promise, they were all working together with each other. You could see a large muscular man together with a wide chubby youth standing side by side while shielding their teammate from attacks while she charged up a finishing move. The team mentality was slowly clicking together as even the unlikable Zhang Tai was seen working together with a smaller junior, pummeling away at some other platoon people. Everyone was slowly singing the catchy tune that the drill instructor repeated each day, it started getting integrated into their minds.
”Be a Zhang! We must be swift as the coursing river. Be a Zhang! With all the force of a great typhoon
Be a Zhang! With all the strength of a raging fire, Mysterious as the dark side of the moon!”