Chapter 13:

Chapter 13:

The greatest strength of a nation’s military is it’s logistics, because everything else requires it. Good morale? A good sword and a hearty meal helps with that. Weapons? They’re a part of logistics? Bodies to throw at the enemy? Believe it or not logistics handles that and more.

This is so because logistics at its core is the art of gathering supplies and sending them where one needs them and the easiest way armies in pre-industrial times have found to deal with it is to get the soldiers to carry as much of it as they can. They’re the ones using them after all.

The best way to carry something as a soldier is with a backpack, but there’s a secret to it you see? Because everything you carry has weight and there’s two types of weight, static weight and moving weight.

Static weight is for when you merely lift and object or carry it for a short distance, but moving weight? That’s what I have to deal with.

‘Moving Weight turns one jin into four and my backpack is heavy.’ I thought with a grimace.

The backpacks Bao and I were wearing were heavy and filled with things for the road and the five others had similar, if fewer things on them.

I had most of a Banner Warrior’s kit on me while they had something more akin to a hunter’s kit.

“We’re close to the sect grounds young ones.” The old looking cultivator chipperly observed.

It was probably nothing but it was a chance

“You seem in a far better mood than back in town honored one.” I replied.

These were the first words he told us in five days of constant walking, with only a few breaks for sleeping and to allow us to resupply and rest a bit in the evening. I don’t know how the soldiers can march for months like this, I’m close to calling it quits after less than a week.

“I prefer being outside if I am to be surrounded by people, and to be surrounded by good conversation if I am inside. In your town I had neither of those and I was miserable, especially as you provincials bungled the easy test so horribly.” The old man answered.

That test was only easy to those that could read, had knowledge of cultivation and have been given a bit of a critical mind, in other words it was nigh impossible to pass for the vast, vast majority of people in the villages and town.

Hell, just knowing how to read and write was a hard bar to clear for most of us.

“Do those in the cities do better?” I asked.

The old daoist took a minute to think about that.

“It would be incredibly surprising if they didn’t, that test was made with them in mind to find it easy to pass, and for you to be hard to pass. The next one is easier for you to pass and harder for them to pass.” The man revealed.

“How so?”

The man chuckled and I could feel everyone else in our little convoy perk up at that. If I didn’t have their attention before I had it now.

“The written test is insultingly easy for those living in cities and the ninety seats are all easily filled. They compete fiercely to be let into the test rooms and do far harder tests. There getting anything but a perfect score is a reason to not let them in while for you getting a seven out of ten is required to get anyone in some years.” The man answered drolly.

I could feel my knuckles turning a bit white, but the cultivator did not seem to notice or care.

“They however don’t handle the road well, or the physical test. By the end of it, the provincials ,generally speaking, outnumber the city dwellers in the sect.” The cultivator continued.

I chuckled at that.

“This is not easy honored one.” I answered.

He nodded kindly at that which was certainly the most surprising thing I’ve seen from him. Seeing the man that threatened to rip someone’s limbs off acting like a kind grandfather made my skin crawl.

“I know, but your lifestyle made it expected that you would succeed, maybe not easily, maybe not cleanly and most certainly not painlessly but provincials can handle this level of physical exercise the same way city dwellers can handle written tests, as it is expected of you to do so. The Blazing Fist Sect needs to make sure that it tests its Applicants in the ways they are not used to, to judge their chances of advancement.” He said.

That made a disturbing amount of sense.

In the cities there’s always someone awake, someone to watch for posters and inform the social networks of changes in what’s going on as well as propriety of what can and can’t be in a given room. We don’t do this sort of thing in the provinces, morning is related to training or work and social life starts at noon and few people can even read, let alone watch for any posters later at night which is why we only got into one test room and couldn’t even fill it.

If one needed to test you for how you handle yourself in situations you are not used to

“Ah, we’re getting close young Tai Su, the camp is in front of us. I’ve pushed you hard today to leave you an hour or so to get tested for your Meridians and rest a bit before the sect master throws you straight into the next test.”

So that’s why we were moving faster today.

“We thank you for your kindness honored one.” I said as I bowed slightly.

Bowing with a backpack on your back is hard, doing so as you walk and are tired is even harder, but knowing that the man in front of you pushed you hard for your own benefit has a way to put that nonsense to the side

“We thank you honored one.” I and those behind me said.

The man smiled at that but remained silent.

None of us spoke as we approached the small settlement in front of us.

The buildings were clean and made out of wood, carved stone and even had glass windows. This sort of wealth for something with less homes in it than my own village looked strange but I suppose this is the sort of wealth sects have. There was even a tall wall made out of painted rocks I assumed had some cultivator ability on them.

Paint doesn’t normally glow during the day after all, but I did not recognize the symbols on them which told me that they must be some other language.

There was strangely nobody at the gate that we could see which felt odd.

“Follow me, we’ll get you appraised then you can rest for a bit.” The honored one instructed.

Nothing changed, we followed him before and we follow him now, but now instead of following him through the wilderness we follow him through the small outpost.

We reached the furthest building from the gate, it was surprisingly modest, as in it had no glass windows, compared to the other buildings and the cultivator entered it without a bother.

“How do you think we’ll be appraised?” Bao asked in a whisper.

“I don’t know, maybe they’ll test our blood?” I answered.

Teacher Hao Wen did not tell us how one can test their meridians, only that to cultivate without knowing what type of Meridians you have can cripple you. I will be nice to find out how they do it.

The others remained silent as we walked. None of us knew each other, we were not a part of the other’s social networks and we each knew we might have to compete against one another and so we did not bother talking.

Life on the frontier is harsh and the one thing that those that have to live it is that the most important thing you can have is your community, and those outside of it are a threat until proven otherwise.

“Is that a sword in a stone?” The only other girl in our group besides Bao asked.

And I had to try and clean my eyes because I saw it too and it felt jarring, especially as it looked like a scimitar as opposed to the straight blades I’ve seen in this life.

“Yes, this sword is an ancient thing, from before the Continent was ruled by the Empress in the Age of Darkness when the spider clan ruled it. This sword is not that good, but it and those like it have the ability to react differently depending on the Meridians of its wielder.” The cultivator said as he showed it to us.

He put his hand on it and two of four gems on it light up.

“I am a foundation establishment cultivator and as such I have Water Meridians. so only two of these gems light up. All you need to do is touch it and wait a bit and they will light up.” He continued.

He proceeded to move to the side and the gems stopped glowing.

“I’ll go first.” One of the other men declared.

He was thin, thinner than we started even and he wasn’t that bulky then either. He had the least luck finding food and never asked for any from the rest of us, so he lost the most weight.

He went to the sword in stone and put his hand around the handle and tried to pull it.

The cultivator chuckled at that

“Don’t bother, you need to be a Nascent Soul to pull that off, just relax and wait for a minute or two.” He said with amusement.

The bastard took my chance to do it, I wanted to try that too even if it was useless.

Who doesn’t want to pull out a sword from stone?

One gem light up after he held the sword for two minutes as opposed to the instant light of the cultivator.

“Light Meridians, which is normal, you can go to the first house on the left to rest.”

The thin man did just that and left.

“I can’t wait to go rest, my back is killing me.” Bao whispered softly to my ear.

“Go then, I’ll go after you, not like we’re in a rush.” I answered back the same way.

While we talked the other woman went there and touched the sword in stone.

Minutes passed and no light went out.

“Your meridians are not active I am afraid, unless you possess the money for a Meridian Activation Pill, I am afraid you must leave the village. The pill costs 2500 golden taels” The cultivator said sadly.

He was genuinely sad for it.

“I.. I’ll go.” The woman said despondently as she prepared to leave.

She would have to brave the wilderness back home alone it seems.

“How horrible can fate be, but tradition is tradition, I can only protect aspirants on the way in, if that wasn’t in place you would have had to come here alone without me to protect you.” The cultivator replied airily once the woman left.

“I’ll go.” Bao said as everyone else were left looking at the entrance.

She went and put her arm around the handle and the gem almost immediately lighted up.

“Ooh, high quality Light Meridians, you might turn them into Water Meridians before your Dantian reaches the second tier with some hard work, congratulations Bao Xiaoli.” The old man observed with a faint smile.

Bao froze for a few seconds as the weight of what just happened hit her. She quickly turned towards the cultivator and bowed.

“Thank you honored one!” Bao said sincerely.

The old man nodded at her but did not answer and Bao returned.

“Congratulations Bao!” I exclaimed happily.

The woman just hugged me silently, and I hugged her back.

That’s one bit of her self-confidence issues handled, now let’s hope my own appraisal goes just as well.

Another man went to the sword and in a minute he too was proven to have Light Meridians.

“My turn.” I declared

I disentangled from Bao and went to touch the sword.

I felt something connect with me, no not with me but something inside of me. It was a disturbing experience as if to do so was wrong and I could do nothing but let it do that.

“I’ll be damned, Water Meridians, you are the seventh in the sect’s history to start with them without cultivating. You might make it to the second tier in years if you pass the final test.” The old cultivator exclaimed.

I was left speechless at that, it’s that rare? I’ll process this later, now I really need to rest.

“Thank you honored one.” I replied with a bow.

I went back to Bao and she hugged me once again as we left to rest before the final test.

AN: One Jin is roughly ¼ of a kg. And the prologue is done.

In Forsaken there were multiple Acts in the first volume due to how I structured it, but here things will be a bit shorter. What was once an Act will become a volume and there will be three of them, each volume describing the underlying ambition of the MC for it.

Next chapter I’ll reveal the name of the first volume.