Chapter 22 - Enlistment

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

While eating, the imperial consort drank wine and glanced at Wu Ning from time to time. Today was Wu Ning’s tenth birthday, and she wanted to tell him everything.

He was already ten years old, and it was time for him to take some responsibility, such as avenging his father’s death by killing the rebel leader King Yan.

However, looking at her son’s youthful face, the imperial consort’s face showed a trace of reluctance. Her son was still so young, yet he had to bear the responsibility of reviving a kingdom.

For a ten-year-old child, this seemed impossible. However, she had no choice. Wu Ning was the last remaining hope for the kingdom.

After the feast, the imperial consort called Wu Ning into her study. The group of people outside the house all looked at the tightly shut door with heavy expressions. Their hopes were placed on this prince.

When Wu Ning came out again, he had a calm look on his face. There was no joy of knowing that he was the prince or anger of shouldering the tragedy of the country on his shoulders. It was as if he still did not know anything.

Everyone looked at Wu Ning’s expression and looked at each other. In the end, the guard was the first to kneel. “Your Highness!”

Everyone followed the guard. “Your Highness!”

Wu Ning nodded and asked them to stand up. “In the past, I did not know my identity. Now, I will bring you back to the imperial palace and take back everything that belongs to me and you!”

The guard was the first to show his loyalty again. “Whatever Your Highness desires, I, Huang Zhong will do it as you please!”

Wu Ning nodded in satisfaction. All these years, he learned martial arts from Huang Zhong, and Huang Zhong was like a teacher to him.

Although Wu Ning knew his identity in the Otherworld right from the beginning, he would pretend not to know and follow the path they had planned for him, if nobody revealed the truth.

Now that they had told him and placed all their hopes on him, he didn’t want to disappoint them. It was nothing difficult, seizing control of a country, Although, it might be as difficult as ascending to the heavens for them.  

But for Wu Ning, who had already cultivated to the limits of this world, it was as easy as flicking a finger. 

But now, Wu Ning still had to cooperate with them, study hard, and then ally with his father’s old subordinates to gain their trust and support.

In the next few years, the imperial consort brought Wu Ning to travel around the world, lobbying the former emperor’s old subordinates to support Wu Ning in his quest to take back the throne. 

In the past ten years, because of the frequent conflicts in the imperial court, the civil and military officials had no interest in court politics. As a result, local governments became dictatorial, with families ruined and children sold.

The people were seething with resentment. Every year, plenty of people who’d have enough rise up into a rebellion, only to be quashed in the end.

Gradually, the emperor, who was sitting on the dragon throne, became even more engrossed in wars. The generals who assisted him in ascending to the throne in the past had their powers were frequently reduced.

Some generals saw that the emperor was about to become greedy, so they directly handed over a memorial to return to their hometown. When they returned to their hometown, they would take the gold and silver that the emperor had given them and retire in peace.

Some of them held power in their hands and were unwilling to hand it over or give it up. The emperor executed them using a few flimsy accusations.

Some of them had their military power stripped away by the emperor and were left idle in court.

As for the imperial consort and the prince who had escaped back then, the current emperor was not bothered because he could not find them and also because he felt that he was getting stronger.

He sent merely a few people on a search. In his opinion, the imperial consort was just a woman, and the little prince was a brat who was far from mature. He wasn’t concerned with their capabilities.

His arrogance indirectly allowed the imperial consort to travel with Wu Ning by her side, convincing the generals to switch sides.

The imperial consort persuaded the generals, but she did not directly raise her troops. Instead, she left Wu Ning to train in a military camp.

On this day, the imperial consort and the general hid in the shadows and looked at Wu Ning, who was training with everyone. The general said with a complicated expression, “Your Highness, is this really a good idea? No matter what, he is still a little prince.”

The imperial consort said with determination, “It is precisely because he is the little prince that the responsibility on his shoulders does not allow him to be weak. Although my son is not weak and incompetent, he has always lacked real war experience. When he confronts that damned emperor in the future, he will not show mercy just because he is the prince. Therefore, I would rather he suffer now so that he can shed less blood on the battlefield in the future.”

The general saw the imperial consort’s determined expression and did not say anything else. He became even more determined to support the little prince’s mission to restore the fallen dynasty.

Although Wu Ning was currently training, his mind was completely immersed in the system. In the past few years, as long as Wu Ning convinced a general, he would receive 10,000 comprehension points.

It turned out that in the Otherworld, restoring the previous dynasty would give him comprehension points. This was also why he had no comments when the imperial consort left him in the military camp. Instead, he was delighted, as he would get 20 comprehension points after every hour of training in the military camp.

Wu Ning listened to the system’s voice in his ear. “Ding! Master has received 20 Comprehension Points for an hour’s training.” 

He felt great and could not wait to train every day.

The intensity was very tiring for the ordinary people of this world. However, it was not a problem for Wu Ning, who had the ultimate cultivation base of the Heavenly Dragon Realm in this world.

With Wu Ning’s two-year training and the persuasion he made previously, he had a total of more than 700,000 comprehension points, but these comprehension points were far from enough.

Now, if Wu Ning wanted to upgrade the Nine-Level Soul Palace, he could only purchase the Dark Dragon Pill, worth one million points, from the system store. Previously, he needed only three pills to upgrade his Soul Palace from Level 3 to Level 7.

However, with his soul getting stronger day by day, he needed many comprehension points. Now, three Dark Dragon Pills could only upgrade his Soul Palace by a level.

After descending to the Otherworld for fifteen years, Wu Ning went out to war with his army for the first time. An impoverished region, where the people could not stand the harsh regime anymore, stood up and rebelled.

This time, the emperor had personally appointed the general of Wu Ning’s military camp to go on a personal expedition with him. The general had specially brought Wu Ning along to see just how much Wu Ning, who had trained with the soldiers for two years, had grown.

After Wu Ning joined the army, the imperial consort and the group of guards settled down in the village near the military camp. Occasionally, when Wu Ning did not train, he would go visit them.

Now, Wu Ning was sitting in the small courtyard of the imperial consort’s house. The palace maid was busy cooking meals in the kitchen for him while the guards and imperial consort sat beside him.

The imperial consort said, “My son, when you are on the battlefield, it is important to fight bravely, but also very important to take care of yourself. I’m not teaching you to run, but with everyone placing their hopes on you, you must return safely.”

“Actually, you don’t have to go on this war. I need only to tell the general and you’ll remain in the camp, training in safety. However, you will have to experience all of this in the end. It is better to experience it early and gain some so that the generals who support you can rest assured that the young prince they support is a real and capable person.”

Wu Ning nodded. He understood the imperial consort’s intentions.

The guard then told him some techniques for fighting enemies and how to protect himself on the battlefield..