Heavenly Jewel Change
chapter-154-2

Chapter 154 Evolving of the Peerless Battalion! (2)

The Peerless Battalion training was not in the actual campsite. Everyday, they would all head out of the camp, running twenty kilometres to a empty space for their training.

For other units, if they were to move out without consideration like that, they would definitely draw the attention and criticism from the headquarters. However, ever since Shen Ji knew about the presence of Long Shiya, it was as if the Peerless Battalion had gained a permanent green light, and they had no problems in doing such training daily.

The first time these new recruits saw the Peerless Battalion soldiers in their titanium alloy mail and all of them having a Consolidated Bow, they were truly shocked to the core.

The current Peerless Battalion was far different from what it had been when Zhou Weiqing had first arrived at the old Ruffian Battalion, in terms of cultivation, equipment, power, even confidence. Naturally, it was much easier to ‘conquer’ the hearts of these new recruits as compared to previously.

Looking at the ‘old’ Peerless Battalion soldiers using their Consolidated Bows to continuously destroy targets at an impressive distance of a thousand yards, then witnessing the impossible sight of the Peerless Battalion Air Force lift off… If one were to say that these new Peerless Battalion soldiers were not highly tempted, it would definitely be a lie.

The ‘brainwashing techniques’ that Zhou Weiqing had brought up was also of critical effect. Hearing all the miracles that had happened over the past six months, the great stories of growth and strength… slowly the new ruffians grew to accept the Peerless Battalion.

Against such people, just beating them down alone was definitely not enough. After all, being sent to the Ruffian Battalion, which of them weren’t scoundrels and rogues, old experienced hands? Only with the addition of being lured by the promise of profit and gain, power, a slow methodical guidance to bring them onto the right path… only this would bring about the effect that Zhou Weiqing hoped for.

The facts proved themselves once more. Everything that Zhou Weiqing had done was extremely successful. After barely a month, the new Peerless Battalion was basically basically integrated.

After the ‘Battalion wide competition’ that was held, the five thousand three hundred soldiers of the Peerless Battalion were finally fused together as one unit.

Five thousand three hundred men. Ten large main Companies and a unique ‘Commando’ Company.

This ‘Commando’ Company was specially selected and led by the seven Heavenly Bow Unit God Archers. As for the original ten Company Leaders of the main Companies, four of them had actually changed after the large competition.

Amongst the three thousand seven hundred new ruffian soldiers, there were some powerhouses who were much stronger than the original Ruffian Battalion the Peerless Battalion had consisted off. Most of these powerhouses came from the strongest of the northern armies, the Central North Army, with some of them even originating from the Ghost Demon Horse Cavalry Troop.

Amongst them, the most valiant and impressive was a fellow called Lei Zi. Lei Zi was twenty seven years old this year, and was originally the Battalion Commander from the Central North Army Ruffian Battalion. Indeed, the Battalion Commander. As a Heavenly Jewel Master, he was actually already at an impressive Six-Jeweled stage… at only twenty seven years old! Even in the Great Saint Lands, that was already considered a very good result. Yet, he was a free cultivator not belonging to any Clan.

Lei Zi’s Elemental Jewel Attribute was that of Earth, while his Physical Jewel Attribute was Strength. Ordinarily speaking, with such attributes, even if he weren’t an ultimate Defense type like Lin TianAo, most would still focus on defense as the main.

However, this fellow acted in the totally opposite manner. His aspirations were towards offense, chasing after the strongest attacks possible, even choosing the rarer offensive Skills amongst the Earth Attribute. Although he still did not have Consolidated Equipment, he had already finished Storing all his Skills. More importantly, he had been able to use his own control and understanding to develop two Skills of his own. Such a talent… it was truly impressive.

Such a talent like himself should have had a glorious career ahead of him, but the reason he had been exiled to the Ruffian Battalion was because he offended someone.

This Lei Zi was originally part of a specially created Battalion in the Central North Army, consisting totally of Jewel Masters, and he had been one of the top in that unit as well, reaching the rank of Company Leader in that Battalion. Alas, he had killed that Battalion Commander’s little brother, and had thus been sent to the Ruffian Battalion. Being able to stay alive despite that was only because of all the military exploits and merits he had earned over all the previous years.

Such a person, when he entered the Peerless Battalion, naturally his natural talent would shine forth brightly. Lei Zi himself never dreamed that he would have another chance, leaving a special Battalion consisting totally of Jewel Masters, and ending up in yet another such Battalion. Furthermore, from the surface of things, though the Peerless Battalion’s individual soldier strength might not be comparable to his original special Battalion, in terms of numbers it was far superior.

In the Battalion Competition, Lei Zi cut a conspicuous figure, defeating all of his opponents, even some of the older Company Leaders who had been personally taught by Shangguan Fei’er, and had been extremely arrogant.

He requested to take over as Battalion Commander, to become the Battalion Commander of the Peerless Battalion. After winning the championship of the Battalion Competition, he challenged Zhou Weiqing to a fight.

At that moment, all the new recruits were extremely excited. They wanted to see for themselves how strong their Battalion Commander was. However, all the old Peerless Battalion soldiers all said a silent prayer for Lei Zi. The reason was simple - to gain the right to challenge the Boss, he had to first get past the ‘Lady Boss’... and was she that easy to deal with?

Very quickly, Lei Zi learned why the flowers were so red[1. A chinese phrase that means getting beat up terribly. Ie. Beaten up until you know what the feeling of bleeding means / the blood stains the flowers red. This phrase actually was a song lyric from an old movie, originally depicting the ardour of rebellion and war. Later on in popular culture it started to be used for the reason of violence, especially in dialogue (ie. people threatening each other before a fight), until it took over as the de facto meaning]. In front of Shangguan Fei’er, he was like a little child, not standing a chance at all. Both were six Jewels, but Shangguan Fei’er easily beat him up without breaking a sweat.

At first, he had not been satisfied with that loss, thinking that the only reason Shangguan Fei’er could win was because she had God Tier Consolidated Equipment. However, she just kept all of her Consolidated Equipment, and without even using her Elemental Jewel Stored Skills, just depending on her ferocious close combat skills, she defeated him time and time again. At last, Lei Zi had accepted his loss.

As such, Lei Zi had taken over Mammoth’s original position, becoming the Main Company Leader of the First Company, with Mammoth becoming his Vice Commander. Mammoth was also not unsatisfied. After all, he had lost.

At the same time, Lei Zi was still harbouring some doubt in his heart; after all, being convinced of Shangguan Fei’er’s strength did not mean he could easily be convinced by Zhou Weiqing so indirectly.

After all, since the new recruits had come, Zhou Weiqing had not even made an appearance.

There were three others in a similar state as Lei Zi. All of them were Heavenly Jewel Masters, though not as high a cultivation level as Lei Zi, they too had defeated some of the old Company Leaders and taken over their positions.

After this Battalion Competition, Shangguan Fei’er’s prestige grew even higher. Not only because of her sheer strength and power, but also because of the gratitude the older soldiers held for her. It could be said that if not for Shangguan Fei’er teaching them close combat skills, perhaps even if not all of the Company Leaders would be swapped out, at least eight of them would be knocked out of the running. It was Shangguan Fei’er’s selfless teaching and the half year of tough training that had allowed them the chance to defeat their opponents and keep their rank and status.

At the same time, this Battalion Competition was also a big alarm bell to the entire Peerless Battalion. No one had an absolutely guaranteed rank and status, and only strength and power was the most important, the most consistent thing. This type of meritocracy was the fairest way of doing things - who held the greatest power could ascend in rank. This also gave all of the Peerless Battalion soldiers further incentive to train harder, to protect their rank or to advance further.

Besides all of that, the Peerless Battalion spared no effort in gearing up the new recruits. Although they did not currently have any military merits or awards, each of them had a record, and the equipment would be given to them first and they would ‘pay back’ later.

Perhaps at this point in time, these new recruits did not realise what this debt truly meant. After all, with their ruffian soldier nature, many of them did not even plan to pay back. Alas for them, in the near future, when Zhou Weiqing returned from his closed door cultivation, they would soon understand that not returning was not an option for them.

…

Just like that, two months passed by swiftly as if in a blink of an eye. The entire Peerless Battalion had gone through these two months of training and equipping, and could now be said to be armed to the teeth. At the same time, the various Companies had also gone through several different rearrangements according to their combat strength.

The main lack was the Consolidated Equipment Wings, which were not so easily finished. Although Yun Li and Little Miss Muddle were getting much more familiar with creating them, it still took considerable time to create these Consolidating Equipment Scrolls due to their sheer complexity and the fact that two were needed for the complete wing set. As such, in a short period of time, it would be impossible to fully gear the entire Peerless Battalion with them.