Chapter 233: Honest to a Fault

The moment Yue Qianshan finished speaking, a stir went through the crowd, and many began to whisper among themselves.

“Which noble’s son is this, coming to our Fuhu Camp just to pad his record?”

“None of the six Dukes are named Lu.”

“Could be a fake name, too.”

“He must have some serious backing. Just got dropped in here and starts as a Captain.”

“There’s no precedent for this in the Huben Army. I wonder who made the call.”

Lu Bai looked far too young.

Standing before this pack of wolves, these men of the Huben Army, he looked like a greenhorn.

But since their own general had personally brought the man here, no one dared to defy the order, despite their discontent. They only grumbled under their breath.

“These ten men are the Centurions under your command.”

Yue Qianshan called Qian the Youngest and the others over, introduced them one by one, then said to Lu Bai, “If you have any questions about the Fuhu Camp, just ask them.”

“Understood.”

Lu Bai nodded, cupping his fist toward Qian the Youngest and the others. “My name is Lu Bai. Greetings, brothers.”

“Heh heh.”

Hearing this, several of the Centurions burst out laughing.

The way Lu Bai spoke was a clear attempt to sound mature, tinged with the airs of the Jianghu.

‘Still wet behind the ears, and he’s calling us brothers?’

‘He’s just relying on a privileged birth, nothing more.’

“Greetings, Captain Lu.”

It was Qian the Youngest who stepped forward with a wide grin and bowed.

Of the ten Centurions, a few others followed suit and offered their salutes.

But several others remained expressionless, not moving an inch.

Gao Ling, Qi Feng, and the others, though seemingly disrespectful, were actually testing Yue Qianshan’s limits, wanting to see how the General Huben would react.

Yue Qianshan turned a blind eye, not getting angry or reprimanding them. Having delivered Lu Bai, he simply turned and left the Fuhu Camp.

“Xiaofei.”

Back in his own tent, Yue Qianshan summoned his personal guard and ordered, “Go find out about this new arrival, Lu Bai. What’s his background, and what crimes did he commit?”

“As you command.”

The personal guard named Xiaofei departed swiftly and vanished.

—

Seeing Yue Qianshan leave right after dropping Lu Bai off, Gao Ling and the others knew what it meant.

They exchanged a look and were about to step forward when Qian the Youngest caught their eye and gave a slight shake of his head.

Having knocked around together for years, they understood each other without a word.

Gao Ling and his group held back for the moment, watching coldly from the sidelines to let Qian the Youngest probe the new guy’s background first.

Qian the Youngest stepped forward, a broad smile plastered on his face. “Captain, you look awfully young. You can’t be twenty yet, can you?”

“Yeah, I’ll be eighteen at the end of the year.”

Lu Bai nodded.

Qian the Youngest looked astonished and exclaimed in admiration, “Not even eighteen, and you’ve already reached Innate Realm Perfection! Captain, your future is truly limitless!”

Lu Bai replied, “Not Perfection. I’ve only opened the Innate Nine Meridians.”

Hearing this, Gao Ling, Qi Feng, and the others grew even more displeased.

In the Fuhu Camp, someone who had merely opened the Innate Nine Meridians could serve as a Centurion at most.

And that was only if they had sufficient military merits to their name!

With just a few sentences, Qian the Youngest had pried out Lu Bai’s age and Cultivation, and he couldn’t help but feel a sliver of contempt.

‘This kid is just too green,’ he thought.

Qian the Youngest sneered inwardly but didn’t let it show. He glanced around, leaned closer, and asked in a low voice, “Captain, I’m just dying of curiosity… what’s your relationship with General Yue? You can rest assured, my lips are sealed. I’ll never breathe a word of it.”

Lu Bai replied honestly, “I didn’t know General Yue. Today was the first time we’ve met.”

Qian the Youngest chuckled. “I get it, Captain. If it’s not convenient for you to say, then just pretend I never asked.”

“I really don’t know General Yue.”

Lu Bai said, “I committed a crime back in Jing State. I’m a convict, exiled here to serve out my sentence in the army.”

Upon hearing this, Gao Ling, Qi Feng, and the others frowned deeply.

‘A convict exiled to the army, a young punk who’s only opened the Innate Nine Meridians, has come to be our superior?’

Even the smile on Qian the Youngest’s face faded. He couldn’t be bothered to keep up the act.

“Have you ever been in a military camp?” Qian the Youngest asked.

“No.”

“Do you know what kind of tasks the Fuhu Camp usually handles? What we do?”

“I don’t.”

“Do you know how to perform the most basic, yet most central, Fist Technique of our Huben Army, the *Tiger Subduing Fist*?”

“I do not.”

Many of the Huben Army soldiers watching the scene couldn’t help but erupt into jeering laughter.

“Where’d this idiot come from? He’s completely clueless.”

“And someone like that wants to be Captain of our Fuhu Camp? I, Yuan Tong, am the first to say I won’t stand for it!”

“Innate Nine Meridians… heh. That’s just average, even among the Centurions.”

With General Yue gone, the Huben Army soldiers began to speak freely, without any restraint.

Qian the Youngest looked toward Gao Ling and Qi Feng and gave a slight shrug.

‘Forget us Centurions. How many of the regular Huben Army soldiers would accept him?’

Lu Bai’s expression remained composed, neither anxious nor angered.

Chen Shihu had already warned him that he would face a scene just like this.

Qian the Youngest sized Lu Bai up and down.

‘This young man obviously has no experience in the Jianghu. He’s hopelessly honest. All I had to do was probe a little, and he voluntarily revealed his entire background.’

‘His Cultivation Realm is average, he has no powerful backer, and on top of it all, he’s a convict.’

‘Did General Yue shove him over here hoping the Fuhu Camp would teach this kid a lesson?’

The only thing that gave Qian the Youngest a slight pause was this: the stares and murmurs of thousands of Huben Army soldiers were converging into an unimaginably immense pressure. Anyone else would have already crumbled.

But Lu Bai seemed utterly unaffected.

“Little brother,” Qian the Youngest said. “Since you’re the Captain of our Fuhu Camp, you ought to have some skills. But you don’t even know the Tiger Subduing Fist. That’s a little hard to justify, don’t you think?

I wonder, what other abilities do you have? Why not show the brothers a move or two, let us see what you’re made of?”

“You mean you want to fight,” Lu Bai stated with a slight smile. “You could have just said so.”

“Alright!”

A man leaped out from the crowd and shouted, “A straightforward one, little brother! I’ll take you on!”

“And you are?”

Lu Bai asked, sizing the man up.

The man cupped his fist. “My name is Yuan Tong, a Centurion of the Fuhu Camp. I’m also at the Innate Nine Meridians. Our Cultivation Realm is the same, so this ain’t me bullying you!”

Sparring to compare skills was a common affair in the Fuhu Camp.

The men in the military camp were all hot-blooded and full of vigor; arguments that started over a few words were settled with fists and feet.

As Yuan Tong stepped out, the crowd quickly parted to clear a wide, open space.

If this Lu Bai couldn’t even defeat a single Centurion from the Fuhu Camp, then not even General Yue could justify keeping him as their Captain.

“You’re no match for me. Have one of the other Centurions come forward.”

Lu Bai glanced once at Yuan Tong before his gaze landed back on Qian the Youngest, Gao Ling, and Qi Feng.

“You wet-behind-the-ears brat! How dare you look down on me!”

Enraged, Yuan Tong let out a furious roar. He shot forward like a tiger pouncing down a mountain, leaping high into the air to lunge at Lu Bai!