“Thank you, elder.”

Fang Yun thanked him and walked to the bronze mirror. He found that his facial features were more rugged, and his skin was slightly darker than usual. Even though only minor details were changed, he looked like a completely different person. Probably only Yang Yuhuan could recognize him at first glance.

During the process of the elder’s drawing, Fang Yun only felt a gentle breeze on his face. He didn’t expect the change to be so drastic.

Fang Yun speculated in his heart that this elder must have at least the strength of the third realm in painting, and might even have reached the fourth realm.

“Little Mo likes you very much,” the old man said, looking at the Ink Woman in the ink.

The Ink Woman seemed a bit shy, she slightly submerged, her nose entered the ink, only her eyes were exposed. Then she gently blew air, and the ink in front of her bubbled up, making Fang Yun smile slightly.

The old man sighed lightly and said, “If you have an ink turtle, take Little Mo with you. It’s a pity for Little Mo to stay with me.”

The Ink Woman turned her head to look at the old man, blinked her eyes, seemingly not quite understanding the old man’s words.

“Thank you, elder.” Fang Yun didn’t know what to say, because the ink turtle was a rare treasure on the same level as the Ink Woman. Among the four treasures of pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, except for the saint page that can be mass-produced, the old pen, Ink Woman, and ink turtle are all rare treasures of heaven and earth, and there are not many in total.

These treasures are only held by All the Saints or the Prominent Families of the Saints. Some of the Prominent Families of the Saints even have to give them away because these treasures need to be “nurtured”, otherwise they will slowly degrade and eventually completely disappear. A few of the Prominent Families of the Semi-Saints can’t even afford to nurture these treasures.

At this moment, Fang Yun only has the saint page, and he doesn’t have the other three treasures. It’s a pipe dream to have an ink turtle now, and it’s even more difficult to nurture two treasures at the same time. Not to mention him, even the Great Scholar might be bankrupted by the treasures.

The old man took out a document, but he didn’t use the ink of the Ink Woman, instead, he used ordinary ink to draw Fang Yun’s portrait.

“This is your enlistment document, take it.” The old man casually threw it, and the enlistment document flew to Fang Yun.

Fang Yun took a look, the upper half of the enlistment document was his current portrait. The lower half was his information, everything else remained the same, only his status had changed to Child Scholar. Fang Yun nodded, it didn’t matter if a Child Scholar was called Fang Yun. But if an Accomplished Scholar was also called Fang Yun, it would definitely attract a lot of attention, and it would be too conspicuous for an Accomplished Scholar to be an ordinary soldier.

Fang Yun said, “The student takes his leave.” Then Fang Yun waved to the Ink Woman, originally just casually doing so, but the Ink Woman was extremely happy. She immediately waved back to him, then scooped up the ink with both hands and threw it at Fang Yun.

Fang Yun instinctively stepped back to dodge, but the ink turned into a small black stone in mid-air. Fang Yun reached out and caught it, took a closer look, it didn’t dirty his hands, it was just a small black stone.

“This is the Ink Woman’s ink ingot, which can be directly used by dissolving it with talent energy, much better than Li Wenying’s dragon blood ink ingot. Hmph.” The old man seemed a bit reluctant to part with such a good thing.

Fang Yun put away the Ink Woman’s ink ingot, smiled slightly at the Ink Woman, and said, “Thank you, Little Mo.”

Little Mo shook her head repeatedly, indicating that there was no need to thank her, and then shyly submerged into the water, only revealing her little head.

Leaving the room, Fang Yun felt the outside was incredibly bright. He turned back and saw the three vague characters ‘Ya Shan Ju’ on the dark plaque.

Fang Yun took another look at Ya Shan Ju, in the dark little house, an old man was sitting on a bamboo chair slowly sipping tea, and a little Ink Woman was only revealing her little head, blowing bubbles in the ink.

Fang Yun was in a good mood.

With a relaxed stride, Fang Yun arrived at the station of the Dinghai Army.

The military system of the Ten Nations was divided from small to large into squads, companies, battalions, regiments, and armies. A squad had five people, a company had fifteen people, a battalion had fifty people, a regiment had five hundred people, a brigade had three thousand people, and an army had at least ten thousand.

With his enlistment document in hand, Fang Yun quickly entered the recruitment camp of the Dinghai Army and met the clerk in charge of soldier registration. The clerk had no rank, he was at the bottom of the army but had a little power.

The clerk glanced at the enlistment document, then looked at Fang Yun, and said, “Fang Yun? Are you also from Dayuan Prefecture? Tell me your situation in detail.”

Fang Yun immediately briefly explained his situation.

“When did you become a Child Scholar?” the clerk asked.

“I became a Child Scholar last year. Because I feel that my talent is limited, I decided to come to the army for experience first,” Fang Yun said.

The clerk said, “Oh? Do you want to be a clerk, or do you want to be a soldier?”

“Jianmei Gong also started as a soldier, he is my role model,” Fang Yun said.

The clerk showed a kind smile and kindly advised, “Grand Academician Li is naturally extraordinary. You should know that there are not many Child Scholars in our Jing Kingdom’s army, but there are many Child Scholars in the armies that face the Demon Barbarians directly. For example, our Dinghai Army has a total of ten thousand people, and there are three thousand Child Scholars. Most of these Child Scholars are much older than you, and they have no hope of becoming Accomplished Scholars in their lifetime, so they contribute to the human race in this way. You are so young, do you really want to be a soldier?”

“Yes,” Fang Yun said.

“Well then. Let me think, the third squad of the first battalion of the second brigade is short of people, you go there.”

Fang Yun walked outside the door, looked at the afternoon sky, smelled the sea breeze blowing from the East Sea, and looked down at the wooden temporary soldier’s badge in his hand.

“From now on, I am a member of the third squad of the first battalion of the second brigade of the Dinghai Army. According to the custom, I can say that I am a soldier of the 213 squad of the Dinghai Army. In a few days, I can replace this wooden one with a real iron soldier’s badge. The Child Scholars of Jing Kingdom really live up to the title of scholars, there are nearly three thousand Child Scholars among the ten thousand Dinghai Army, this ratio is too shocking. These people are silently guarding the human race, they are all respectable people.”

Fang Yun held the soldier’s badge and slowly walked forward.

The buildings here were simple and neat, they were rows of bungalows that looked no different, separated by some trees.

There were patrolling soldiers everywhere, Fang Yun took a quick glance, there were more than a dozen squads of soldiers patrolling in his field of vision. Even in the hot weather of June, they were wearing armor and holding spears, sweating and on duty.

Through the gaps between the houses, several large drill grounds could be seen, and many soldiers were training on the drill grounds.Fang Yun knew that the average quality of soldiers on ancient Earth was poor, with only a small number of elite soldiers being physically strong. However, the Holy Origin Mainland was rich in natural energy, and there were many scholars. Tasks such as drought relief, flood control, disaster relief, and grain production were all very convenient. Agriculture and animal husbandry were quite developed, so the soldiers here had excellent food and were very strong.

Fang Yun glanced around and found that the military training of the ten nations was divided into four parts, just as he had learned from the books. First was physical training, second was weapon training, third was formation training, and fourth was coordinating with Presented Scholars or Imperial Scholars to practice The War Poetry for combined attacks.

The most complex part was coordinating with Presented Scholars and Imperial Scholars for combined attacks. Next was the continuous practice of formations. In Fang Yun’s view, this was similar to the practice of marching in later generations, enhancing the obedience, cooperation, and discipline of the soldiers. It was a very good way of training.

The weapons were also very complex, including swords and shields, long spears, throwing spears, bows and crossbows, horse archery, and catapults. The simplest part was physical training, which involved lifting stone locks and forced marches.

Fang Yun had long known that the military strategists of the Holy Origin Mainland were very powerful. Although their training methods had flaws, the overall direction was correct, and they were constantly improving.

Before long, Fang Yun arrived at the station of the third team. It was a row of bungalows with four rooms, three large and one small. A dozen soldiers were chatting in front of the door, either sitting or standing. A few old soldiers were smoking dry tobacco from their pipe pots.

These people were laughing and chatting, only turning their heads when they saw Fang Yun approaching.

Fang Yun stood tall and raised his military token, saying, “New recruit Fang Yun reporting for duty, requesting to see Captain Shi!”

The crowd burst into laughter.

“Where did this little soldier come from? He hasn’t trained or fought yet, why is he so formal? Relax a bit.”

“Look at his delicate skin and tender flesh, I’m afraid he’s in for a hard time.”

“Hehe, come to our squad, let me train you well.”

“Is it Yun as in luck, or Yun as in rhythm, or something else? What’s your relationship with that top Accomplished Scholar Fang Yun?”

Fang Yun remained calm, knowing that these people were not bullies, just old soldiers teasing new recruits. But he had seen the grandeur of the Holy Selection, so naturally, he wouldn’t lose his composure in front of a few old soldiers. He fearlessly scanned the crowd and said, “Child Scholar Fang Yun requests to see Captain Shi.”

The expressions of the crowd were no longer as casual as before. Although a Child Scholar was the lowest rank and didn’t mean much in the Dinghai Army, he was still a Child Scholar. A young Child Scholar willing to join the army, even if it was just due to youthful passion, was worthy of praise.

“Not bad. You didn’t disgrace us Child Scholars!” The old soldier who had previously commented on Fang Yun’s delicate skin and tender flesh praised him with a smile.

Another old soldier with a big beard said, “Good seedling, needs to be trained well!” After saying this, he looked Fang Yun up and down. Although there was a hint of teasing, it was different from the previous mockery.

An old soldier who was also a Child Scholar laughed and said, “When I joined the third team, I lasted three days before collapsing. How long do you guys think this new recruit can last?”

“He’s so young, much younger than when we joined the army. He’ll probably collapse in two days at most.”

“A day and a half!”

Fang Yun smiled slightly. This was just the old soldiers’ way of intimidating the new recruits. They would undergo a period of high-intensity training to prevent the new recruits from being careless and getting killed by the Demon Clan in the future. He thought to himself that it wouldn’t be too conspicuous to exercise for a while instead of writing poetry or articles.

The big-bearded old soldier waved at Fang Yun and said, “Come on, let’s go find Captain Shi and get you assigned to our squad! I’m Hong Cheng, the squad leader of the first squad.”

“Thank you, Squad Leader Hong!” Fang Yun said.

Hong Cheng laughed and said, “By then, you won’t be thanking me, you’ll be cursing me.”

Afterwards, Fang Yun met Captain Shi. Captain Shi was a serious man. After checking Fang Yun’s temporary military token, he instructed Fang Yun on some matters. Finally, with a hint of sympathy, he sent Fang Yun out of his barracks.

As Fang Yun walked out of the barracks, he saw thirteen neatly dressed old soldiers standing in a line outside the door, all looking at him. Nearby, dozens of old soldiers were laughing and chatting.

Hong Cheng patted Fang Yun on the shoulder and said with a smile, “These thirteen are all brothers from our first squad, but…”

Suddenly, Hong Cheng’s expression changed, and he shouted, “Military orders are as heavy as a mountain! Return to your squad immediately and run around the east city! The first three to fall behind are not allowed to eat!”

Without hesitation, Fang Yun quickly ran to the end of the line, his head down and a faint smile on his lips.

“I just ate a Demon Tortoise egg, it’s a good time to test whether it’s useful or not.”

“Run!” Hong Cheng stood at the front of the line, leading the way.

One of the onlookers shouted, “Newbie, how long can you last? If you can last half an hour, I’ll wash your clothes for a year!”

Fang Yun turned to look at the old soldier and said with a smile, “Then remember to come and get my clothes tomorrow morning.”

The crowd burst into laughter, not expecting this new recruit to be so bold.

The old soldier wasn’t angry either, laughing and saying, “If you can’t last half an hour, you’ll wash my clothes!”

“That won’t happen.” Fang Yun said.

The old soldiers laughed even harder.

“This new recruit is quite arrogant. Brothers of the first squad, if you can’t outrun him, don’t eat dinner tonight. Don’t disgrace us old soldiers!”

(To be continued.)