Chapter 364: Chapter 333: Unrivaled by Ten Thousand People

For Lin Qianxuan, the hardest part of conquering the world isn’t the fighting stage, nor the management stage, but the preparation stage.

With his martial power, theoretically, no force can stand in his way.

But after the battle is over, organizing people to govern and incorporating them into his rule is the most troublesome part.

Power is something that must be shared to be considered power.

Moreover, he must ensure the people he delegates to are trustworthy and will act according to his vision.

On this matter, he can only rely on Zhu Junhao.

Zhu Junhao, an older man, might lack in certain areas, but he indeed has a wide network.

His disciples, the oldest in their fifties, each have their own connections; those in their thirties or forties are also doing quite well.

This time, as long as Lin Qianxuan intends to start something, gathering manpower will be easy.

Zhu Junhao originally wanted to use his birthday as an excuse to gather the senior brothers, but Lin Qianxuan refused.

Those who are willing to come, let them come; those who aren’t needed need not come.

If worst comes to worst, he’ll start building his foundation from scratch.

He isn’t bad at teaching; achieving a few more milestones, it may be hard to find outstanding talents, but there will be plenty of middling ones to maintain operations and precisely execute his orders.

With him, the top-notch leader at the helm, those average individuals who perfectly carry out his orders can also achieve the effect of outstanding talents.

In just over three months, Lin Qianxuan successfully assembled a group of people.

Not many, only five hundred; more would be too much trouble for Lin Qianxuan.

At the same time, he also secured the help of many senior brothers.

This was mainly thanks to the milestone “Persuasion +1” he earned by persuading a hundred students at the academy.

With a bit of personal charm and the future he depicted, these senior brothers were quite moved.

The county remained peaceful, with no one knowing that Lin Qianxuan’s intention was to march out to conquer the world, as the head of Baiyang County was Lin Qianxuan’s senior brother, and had long become one of Lin Qianxuan’s own people.

As a founding member, he is destined to leave a significant mark in history.

With five hundred men, Lin Qianxuan spread out, gathering more people as he went. In Xiaojiang Prefecture, it was just a formality, mainly to clear out remaining bandits, and to reinforce his senior brothers’ rule by dealing with those uncooperative aristocratic families and local gentry.

He would take their resources to appease the people and consolidate rule.

In just one month, Lin Qianxuan’s flag had gained quite a reputation.

In two months, Lin Qianxuan had cleaned up the entire Xiaojiang Prefecture, bringing it all under the control of his senior brothers.

At this point, he had established a substantial base for development.

He also had more than two thousand troops.

Even two thousand was too many for Lin Qianxuan.

Many times, when he assaulted a power, it was the large numbers that slowed down his operations.

So most of the time, these large numbers were just for show; often, he’d single-handedly carve a path through, bringing no more than a hundred people to clean up afterward.

In Lin Qianxuan’s hand was a refined iron staff over ten feet long, sweeping through the battlefield without match.

If he activated the milestone [Fighting Five Hundred Alone], it would be no different from unleashing invincibility.

In half a year, Lin Qianxuan brought the two prefectures neighboring Xiaojiang Prefecture under his command, until he reached the heart of the turmoil in Qi, already shaking the foundations of the rebellious king.

On the other side, the rebellious king Ji Hetong, who once entered the Capital Region and seized the Imperial Palace, now found himself quite perplexed.

He had the support of numerous northern aristocratic families, defeating all opposing forces along the way, incorporating them under his command, and even entering the Imperial Palace without any resistance, an effortless feat.

But since he ascended to the throne, nothing had gone smoothly.

Suddenly, from a small county in the Southwest Land, a volunteer army emerged, marching under the banner of reorganizing the Universe. He initially dismissed them.

Only when they had leveled the entire Xiaojiang Prefecture did he start to take them seriously.

This volunteer army continued to gradually devour the surrounding territories, seemingly never encountering any resistance. As they pushed into Qi, he realized something was amiss.

On his desk was a pile of urgent letters, many containing just one line.

“Danfu has fallen! Chi Lin has fallen! Taiyue has fallen…” Ji Hetong stared in disbelief at the stack of letters, saying, “So many cities, and you can’t even delay him a bit? Huh? Are you all useless?”

He became somewhat angry, shouting at the generals below.

“Your Majesty, it’s not that we are unwilling, but rather that the chief of the Xiaojiang army, Xu Zhi, is like a celestial being descended to earth, possessing extraordinary martial prowess, impervious to blades and spears, unharmed by water and fire, with immense strength, able to break through city gates under a rain of arrows, and even easily leap over ten-foot-tall walls to slaughter the defenders…” A general reported based on the information obtained.

Though he spoke these words, he himself was skeptical, let alone Ji Hetong.

This kind of propaganda strategy they had once used themselves.

After taking a city, they would often proclaim themselves as chosen by destiny, blessed by the gods.

Others may not know, but Ji Hetong knew very well what kind of person he was.

Since that was the case, he fully understood what kind of person the opponent was.

Merely an excuse for losing the city.

“Enough, where is Cheng Yang?” Ji Hetong looked down and said.

“Here, Your Majesty.”

The soldier named Cheng Yang stepped forward from the crowd, saluting Ji Hetong at the head.

“Quickly gather fifteen thousand soldiers and go to Changyi Pass. You must not let the rebels cross this place,” Ji Hetong instructed.

“I accept the order!” Cheng Yang replied.

Only after everyone left did Ji Hetong feel slightly at ease.

In his view, if fifteen thousand men, primarily focused on defense, couldn’t hold the place, it would be truly laughable.

…

Two months later.

Lin Qianxuan led his troops to Changyi Pass.

Here, high mountains flanked either side, with a slightly narrow pass in between, and a vast plain ahead where a city was situated.

This place was essentially a dividing line.

It was an easily defensible, hard-to-attack strategic point for military forces.

However, for Lin Qianxuan, it was all the same.

In the era of cold weapons, where were there so many places that were easy to defend and hard to attack?

Even without relying solely on his martial prowess, he could think of a way to handle it.

“Ye Rui, go deliver a message to them and tell them to surrender,” Lin Qianxuan said to his subordinate.

“Understood,” Ye Rui nodded.

A letter was delivered by Ye Rui and his men to the other side, but the response was the usual stubborn resistance.

Lin Qianxuan couldn’t achieve the milestone of persuading them to surrender, feeling slightly disappointed.

However, he quickly changed his plan and prepared to besiege the city.

As always, he would first break through the city to demoralize the opponents, then let the army enter to take control over it.

Lin Qianxuan was accustomed to this style of battle, as it minimized casualties while allowing his men to sharpen their skills.

Without enduring hardships, there was no meaning.

Grabbing his “Purification Staff” which was over three meters long, Lin Qianxuan rode his horse straight toward the fortress.

As he approached the opponents’ firing range, Lin Qianxuan leaped off his horse, quickly running towards the city.

The horse turned its head and ran back.

“Quick, shoot the arrows!”

A massive rain of arrows fell, but Lin Qianxuan easily dodged them in a few agile movements. If he didn’t want to dodge or couldn’t avoid them, he simply swept them away with his staff.

Arriving at the base of the wall, he dodged the thrown logs, tossed his Purification Staff against the wall, and it stuck right in the center.

Then Lin Qianxuan used the staff as leverage to vault himself up onto the wall.

A punch was thrown, sending a person plummeting off the wall.

That guy had exerted the most strength when tossing logs earlier and even tried to pour molten metal on him, utterly malevolent.

“Attack, he’s alone, kill him!”

One of the defending soldiers shouted, but Lin Qianxuan showed no fear. In hand-to-hand combat, no one was his match, and soon he pulled out his Purification Staff, swinging it to continue slaying foes as he advanced towards the city gate.

However, as soon as he neared the gate, Lin Qianxuan sensed something amiss.

Barriers were everywhere, accompanied by numerous spikes.

Far off, burning logs rolled, obstructing the path.

Beyond these obstacles, Lin Qianxuan could see from afar, behind the blockade, a large number of troops.

Rows of archers were already poised to attack.

“Ambush?”

Lin Qianxuan realized it but didn’t panic.

He had encountered such situations before.

This time, it was just that there were more people.

“Follow my command, shoot the arrows!”

The arrow officer commanded, sending countless arrows towards Lin Qianxuan, who was blocked near the city gate.

At this narrow spot, Lin Qianxuan had nowhere to hide.

Lin Qianxuan’s Purification Staff danced, forming a tight barrier that knocked down the massive volley of arrows, then he charged forward, braving the spikes and barriers, straight towards the troops.

“Kill him, he’s alone!”

“Whoever kills him will be rewarded with ten thousand gold, and be granted the title of a thousand households!”

“Attack!”

Countless people swarmed like a tide, the area around the gate became clogged with human traffic.

Numerous weapons aimed at Lin Qianxuan, intent on killing him there.

Faced with this battle, Lin Qianxuan was not frightened but rather joyful.

The number of ambushers far exceeded expectations, potentially yielding a decent milestone.

He swung the Purification Staff; weapons clashed with his own but were sent flying instantly. Those who touched his staff fared worse, none escaping unscathed.

Hands breaking upon clash, feet breaking upon clash, if waists, chests, or heads clashed, they were utterly destroyed.

His staff swung, human bodies seemed like paper, several in front swept away in a single motion.

This valiant prowess surpassed ordinary imagination.

Though struck, none were beyond yielding a slight blink or turn of the head. As long as his eyes weren’t hit directly, his armor might be pierced, leaving a mark on his skin was difficult.

Seeing this scene from a high vantage, Cheng Yang’s expression froze.

He was a veteran at battle.

Though he always felt Lin Qianxuan’s legends were a bit exaggerated, this time he was fully prepared, setting ambush here.

Once Lin Qianxuan easily reached the city wall, Cheng Yang felt fortunate for not underestimating him.

Even as Lin Qianxuan got surrounded, Cheng Yang remained proud of his strategy.

Until what unfolded before him, he was completely shocked.

“Is this human?”

Is he human?

Could he be a celestial god descended from heaven?

Lin Qianxuan swept away a wave, filth and blood everywhere, he became more blood-stained, and the Purification Staff turned dark as well.

By now, he had killed hundreds.

At that moment, surrounded soldiers backed away rapidly as Lin Qianxuan advanced.

“Did morale break that quickly?”

Lin Qianxuan shook his head slightly, sensing a lack of quality in the opponent’s troops.

Not saying to fight to the last, at least morale shouldn’t break until around a tenth have fallen?

His thought was simple, yet facing such a method of slaughter, how many could muster the courage to resist?

Step by step, Lin Qianxuan reached Cheng Yang without hindrance, and Cheng Yang did not dare flee.

At this moment, Cheng Yang understood the tides of fate.

“The criminal Cheng Yang, unaware of destiny’s decree, mistakenly trusted treacherous men, committed wrongs… I sincerely hope Celestial Monarch will forgive and I vow to follow Celestial Monarch with loyalty henceforth!” Cheng Yang knelt and saluted.

[Prompt: You have won a battle against thousands alone, earning the “One Among Thousands” level milestone [Quantity is meaningless].]

[Quantity is meaningless: Martial Power +10. (Note: You have already possessed martial power beyond mortals.)]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep