After they left, the soldier turned and walked back through the main gate. He emerged a moment later and spoke to Li Yan's group of a dozen or so youths. "Line up in your current formation and follow me. Once inside, there will be no wandering, no idle chatter, and no whispering amongst yourselves. Otherwise, you will be eliminated immediately. If your actions anger the general, you can expect a taste of the military cudgel. Do you understand?" As he spoke, he swept his gaze over them. The look sent a chill down their spines. Although he was just an ordinary soldier, he had clearly killed his share of men.
The murderous aura he exuded was not something a group of greenhorns like them could withstand. Li Yan felt the hair on his skin stand up as that gaze passed over him. 'What a fearsome look,' he thought. He only knew the gaze was terrifying, but he didn't understand that it was the killing intent of a veteran who had faced life and death on the battlefield.
After asking his question and seeing the meek, compliant expressions on the young men's faces, the soldier said no more. He turned and led the way. The group followed obediently, walking with extra care, afraid that a heavy footstep might make a sound.
Upon entering the main gate, Li Yan and the others finally got a clear view of the courtyard. To call it a courtyard was an understatement; it was more like a vast square where one could gallop a horse at full speed. They were at the entrance to the square. Further ahead stood a high platform with a desk and chairs. Along the edge of the platform, large banners were planted every few steps, fluttering and snapping in the wind. As the banners rippled, one could vaguely make out characters like "A," "B," and "C" embroidered on them, while others bore totems of fierce tigers and flood dragons.
'This must be what people call the drill grounds,' Li Yan thought.
At that moment, about a hundred and ten men were standing on the grounds, divided into three lines. The first line, on the far right, had about five or six people. After Li Yan's group entered, they followed the soldier to the back of this line, bringing its total to seventeen or eighteen. The middle line had about forty to fifty men, and the line on the left was the largest, with about seventy or eighty men.
Several soldiers stood in front of each line, managing the men. The perimeter of the square was lined with neat rows of armed soldiers, their armor gleaming and their bearing proud. They stared straight ahead, enclosing Li Yan's group within the grounds, presumably to maintain order.
On the high platform, behind the desk, sat a burly man in a large chair. Even seated, he was taller than an average adult. His face was sallow, and his head was bald. The sunlight pouring from the sky cast a faint yellow glint on his scalp. He had a broad face with a light stubble, and a long scar ran from his right temple down to the corner of his mouth. The flesh of the scar was twisted outwards, like a colorful centipede crawling on his face. He sat with his back straight, exuding an aura that seemed to press down on the entire field.
His gaze was fixed on a corner of the platform to his left, where a tent was set up. This tent was directly in front of the line where Li Yan and the others were standing.
Li Yan stole glances at the field and the platform. He was at the very back of his line, which was situated on the edge of the drill grounds, so his view of the high platform was not very clear. He could only make out the desk and the bald man sitting in the large chair behind it.
Just then, the soldier who had led them in hissed in a low voice, "Be careful. On the platform is Marshal Hong himself. Do not look around. Wait for the person in front of you to come out of the tent, then the next person will enter in turn."
The soldier paused, a strange expression on his face. He then pointed to the middle line of forty or fifty men. "After you come out, go and stand at the back of the middle line to await the assessment. Those who pass the final assessment can go stand over there," he said, pointing to the largest line of seventy or eighty men on the far left.
"If you fail the assessment, you are eliminated. You can leave directly through the side gate at the back. Someone will explain the details to you when the time comes." After saying this, he nodded to the few soldiers at the front of the line and turned to walk back towards the gate.
Standing at the back of the line, Li Yan heard the soldier's words and felt that something didn't add up, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He frowned in thought for a moment and then it hit him. The soldier had said that their line had to enter the tent first, and only after coming out could they join the middle line for the assessment.
Directly in front of the middle line was an area enclosed by a tall wooden fence. They couldn't see inside the fence, but from the high platform, one could overlook the entire field and see everything within it. The assessment must be taking place inside that fence. As for the content of the assessment, Li Guoxin had told him on the way here that it would likely involve lifting stone locks, running, and some simple martial arts. Li Yan was confident that with his physical fitness from years of hunting in the mountains and the basic fighting skills he learned from the village hunters, he would have no problem with these.
But that wasn't what Li Yan was considering. He was pondering, 'That soldier said after we go to the middle line, we can be assessed. The successful ones go to the far left line, and the eliminated ones leave through the side gate. So the large line on the far left must be those who have already been selected, and the middle line is for those waiting to be assessed. Then what is this line I'm in now for? Registration? But the soldier only said to enter the tent and then go to the middle line. And he had a strange look on his face when he said it.' Li Yan had been staring at the soldier while he spoke, afraid of missing any important details. Now, thinking back, he found it all very confusing.
As Li Yan stood there pondering, a voice suddenly rang out in his ear. "Hey, you, the one at the back! What are you standing there for?" Startled out of his thoughts, Li Yan realized that the line had moved a considerable distance forward as people continuously entered the tent. Lost in thought, he had forgotten to follow. Since he was at the very end, there was no one behind him to nudge him along. Now, he stood alone, conspicuously detached from the line. A soldier had walked over to reprimand him.
Hearing the shout, the other young applicants in the line turned to look. A few of them chuckled softly. This recruitment for the Aegis Guard was only for one hundred and fifty positions. To them, everyone else here was a competitor. Since they couldn't directly undermine their rivals, mockery served as a form of attack.
Li Yan quickly gave the soldier an apologetic smile and hurried to catch up with the line, pretending not to hear the soft laughter. The soldier glanced at him, snorted, and said no more. As he passed by the few who were laughing, he barked sternly, "Do you want to be eliminated immediately? If not, then shut your mouths." At his words, the faces of the laughing youths instantly turned pale. They hurriedly lowered their heads, not daring to look at the soldier again. Seeing this, the soldier withdrew his gaze and walked back to the front of the line.
Reaching his spot at the end of the line, Li Yan thought, 'This must be the registration point. But it's so stingy. On such a large drill ground, setting up a dozen tables in a row wouldn't be difficult. Wouldn't that make registration faster?'
As he thought this, he belatedly recalled what the soldier had said earlier: "Marshal Hong." Yes, Marshal Hong. The one on the high platform was Marshal Hong, a man who was like a god of war in these parts, having repeatedly defeated the enemies from the State of Meng. Although he had only heard stories about Marshal Hong, in the young boy's heart, he had already become a legendary figure.
He secretly raised his head to look at the high platform. He had moved much closer now and could basically see the person on the platform clearly. He thought, 'So this is what Marshal Hong looks like. So domineering. No wonder he can strike fear into the hearts of those enemy scoundrels.'
When a person makes up their mind about someone or something, they tend to be influenced by their preconceptions, forming either a very positive or a very negative impression. To a normal person, Marshal Hong's appearance would seem fierce and menacing. But in Li Yan's mind at this moment, he didn't see a villain, but an embodiment of extraordinary dominance.
After watching the platform for a while longer, Li Yan noticed that Marshal Hong seemed very concerned with their line. He rarely watched the assessments happening inside the high fence where the middle line was going. Instead, he mostly sat sideways, observing the tent on their side. Every time someone entered or exited, his eyebrows would twitch, as if deep in thought.