Chapter 857: Vanguard Regiment (1)
Su Yu was feeling very gloomy.
The Sunmoon in black armor was very strong. This could very well be the general of the Vanguard Regiment. Even if he wasn't, he was most likely a deputy general or something like that.
The Vanguard Regiment was separated into multiple units, such as Sunmoon Unit, Mountainsea Unit, Cloudbreach Unit, and Skysoar Unit. It was filled with experts, and all the people here were ruthless individuals. The person leading the entire operation was most likely a spectacularly capable individual. Even the deputy generals of such an army would be incomparably capable.
After all, they were fighting at the outermost frontline. In a place like this, one wouldn't be able to lead the difficult individuals in the army without enough strength. And one most certainly wouldn't be able to face the attackers without enough strength either.
These powerful individuals were currently surrounding Su Yu. He was left with no choice but to raise his hands in surrender. Meanwhile, the Mountainseas and Sunmoons around him were looking at him like hungry wolves.
In fact, they were actually quite polite toward him. Most of the time, weaponsmiths were a lot more popular than pillmasters. After all, one could still survive as a cultivator without pills, but one could not survive as a cultivator without a proper weapon. Failing to maintain one's weapon properly could very well lead to a loss of life.
They started escorting Su Yu back. The Mountainsea who had shouted at Su Yu to leave earlier came over and laughed, "When I told you to leave earlier, you refused. Now, you won't be able to leave even if you want anymore."
Su Yu had an ugly expression. But that was understandable. Any other weaponsmith would also have the same expression after being caught by the Vanguard Regiment. The newly arrived Mountainsea did not mind the ugly expression. He took off his helmet, revealing an exhausted face. He looked at Su Yu again before smiling. He actually looked quite old.
"I'm Hong Du, a deputy general of the Mountainsea Unit."
After introducing himself, he said, "Master Cui, we'll be troubling you for now. Try to repair our weapons as soon as possible. These days, battles have been very frequent. A lot of our brothers have been forced to fight before they could recover from their previous injuries. Due to the poor condition of our weapons, we don't even dare to use our weapons that much anymore. Because of that, our casualties have been very high recently."
Su Yu looked around at the greatly exhausted soldiers and their wounded bodies. He said nothing. This was the Vanguard Regiment. Everyone here was a criminal. But that was not absolute. For example, two of his teachers, Liu Wenyan and Bai Feng were once sentenced to serve in the Vanguard Regiment as well. But were they sinners? Su Yu did not think so.
Of course, there were definitely some people who had been sentenced there for some heinous crimes. Thus, not everyone sentenced to the Vanguard Regiment was equal. For example, Xu Bin, the master of disguise he knew would probably end up in the Vanguard Regiment if Great Ming had decided to prosecute him. He was indeed a criminal, but his crime was not bad enough to warrant execution.
Su Yu looked at the ravine and the corpses sprawled everywhere again. He sighed with sympathy but still spoke sternly, "This won't work if you try to force me. When I said three days, I meant it. I can help you with your weapons for three days. But if anyone tries to stop me from leaving after that, I'll mess with your weapons and have them explode the moment you start fighting. Let's see if you'll still want me as your weaponsmith after that."
Hong Du had a helpless expression when he heard that. He said, "Master Cui, please calm your anger. We're only doing this because we're out of options."
These people were capable of changing their attitude very quickly. Just moments ago, all of them were still shouting at him. But now, they were respectfully addressing him as Master Cui.
Su Yu could not be bothered to say much to them. He turned to look at Liu Wenyan and snorted, "I can't do anything to Mountainseas, but that's not the case for Skysoars. This little guy was very loud earlier. I won't be repairing your weapon."
"..."
Liu Wenyan blanked out. Little guy? How old was this fellow? But when he compared their strength, he could only shut his mouth helplessly. Damn it! He was actually weaker than a brat! This was too sad.
Hong Du and the other experts couldn't help but laugh. With a smile, Hong Du made an introduction, "Master Cui, you probably know this person. At the very least, you must have heard of him before. This is Great Xia's Liu Wenyan."
"Hmm?"
Su Yu exclaimed in astonishment, "Him? According to the records in Great Ming, Liu Wenyan is supposed to be graceful, elegant, and carefree. Countless beauties are smitten by him. General Hong, are you sure you're not joking?"
After saying that, he started looking Liu Wenyan up and down with a look of disbelief. Liu Wenyan snorted and put his robe on properly, covering his hairy legs. What? Was he not elegant and graceful? He refused to believe that he was no longer elegant.
Su Yu clicked his tongue and laughed as he removed his gaze from Liu Wenyan. Looking at Hong Du, he said, "General Hong, looks like I can't stay in this Vanguard Regiment for long. If I become someone like him one day, I might as well die. You see, I care a lot about my reputation."
Hong Du laughed when he heard that. Su Yu continued, "By the way, can I know the name of that general earlier? If you don't mind, please do tell me his name. That way, I'll know his name when I complain about him to the Invincibles in the future."
"Yes." Hong Du explained, "Of course, apart from the merit points for killing enemies, they won't be entitled for any bonus rewards. This has always been the policy of the Vanguard Regiment. After all, the people here are all criminals meant to atone for their crimes through combat."
Su Yu nodded, "I saw that some of the people have been here for many years. They must have slain a lot of enemies. Why are they still here?"
"Some of them...are unwilling to leave." With a complicated look in his eyes, Hong Du explained, "After getting used to the carnage here, a lot of people will commit more crimes once they return to the Human Realm. Some of the people here are too violent to return to the regular society. Thus, some of them decided to stay even after serving their sentence."
"Not everyone here is a criminal." Hong Du sighed, "Some of them are here to vent their desire to kill. Some have served enough to atone for their crimes, but it is too hard for them to return to a peaceful life. The other armies will occasionally recruit some of them, but these people are all too difficult to control. They can't get along well with the regular soldiers in the various armies. Many of them would eventually return here and fight until they breathed their last."
Su Yu's emotions turned heavy as well. Were these people still criminals? Perhaps they were originally criminals, but they had served enough to atone for their crimes. Alas, the excessive violence here made it impossible for them to return to regular society. Thus, they all returned here.
While Su Yu was thinking about that, the door before him swung open. A youth walked out with his head lowered in thought. When he sensed that some people were in front of him, he looked up. He nodded at Hong Du and asked, "Deputy General Hong, do you need anything here? We can try to repair your peak profound weapon, but my master can't guarantee success. We won't be responsible if your weapon ends up breaking apart from the attempt."
"Sorry for troubling you, Master Wang."
Hong Du introduced, "Master Wang, this is Master Cui, a pseudo earth weaponsmith. He is here on Deputy General Cao's invitation. He will be staying for three days and help us with some of the weapons that are more difficult to repair."
"Master Cui?" The youth looked at Su Yu. When he saw how young Su Yu was, he asked doubtfully, "Who are you?"
"Cui Lang!"
"Cui Lang?" After a long while, the youth finally recalled the name. He exclaimed, "Cui Lang? Great Ming's Cui Lang? What scam are you pulling this time? When did you become a pseudo earth weaponsmith? Aren't you a yellow weaponsmith? Even in the event of an advancement, you won't be able to go beyond the early profound grade in such a short period of time. Is this a joke?"
"..."
Su Yu curled his lips. This guy was right. Even if Cui Lang had grown, he shouldn't have been able to go past the early profound grade at this point. But he wasn't Cui Lang.
"Believe whatever you want." With a smug expression, Su Yu said, "Little Wang, learn to be polite when speaking. You see, in weaponsmithing, both luck and talent can be very important. If I really manage to forge an earth weapon, will you kneel down and apologize to me? Learn to shut your mouth if you don't want to embarrass yourself and all the other weaponsmiths in existence."
That rebuttal left the youth somewhat speechless. He said, "Do what you want. Cui Lang, if you're really here to scam, be aware that this place is filled with a bunch of psychopaths. Be careful lest someone cuts you down. Don't court death or nobody will be able to save you."
Hong Du hurriedly said, "How is that possible? Master Cui is someone with real ability. This has been proven by the recent news from the Human Realm."
"Is that so?"
The youth did not seem to believe that. Whatever. Cui Lang would be the one to suffer if this whole thing was a lie. It was none of the his business.
"In that case, I'll take you to my teacher. Cui Lang, my teacher is a high profound weaponsmith. He will be able to see if you're really that capable. Don't think that nobody here can expose your scam just because this place is filled with brutes."
"Little Wang, if you don't apologize to me later, I'll have Deputy General Hong cut you down."
The youth rolled his eyes and said, "Sure. If you're really a pseudo earth weaponsmith, I'll definitely apologize. That is the right thing to do."
He still didn't believe in Cui Lang. In fact, he met Cui Lang once many years ago. But it had been so long that he could barely recognize Cui Lang anymore.
They were never close, but he knew that this guy wasn't a dependable person. At times, this guy would start bragging after drinking too much. Had he been bragging so much that people were starting to believe his bullshit?
He did not harbor any malice toward Cui Lang. Rather, he only wanted to remind this fellow that the people here were crazy. This was not the Human Realm. Bragging here would have grave consequences. People like Deputy General Cao were all murderous individuals. This guy needed to be careful lest he ended up dead.