The Revenge of the Reborn Supreme Sovereign-Chapter 303 - 296: Countdown, Safe and Sound! (6)

Outside the Ningchuan Grand Hotel, more than a dozen soldiers and Qin Fan waited in their cars. He had given Tie Niu an hour, as the rest was now a matter between the siblings.

Tie Niu didn't use the entire hour Qin Fan had given him. He emerged forty minutes later with Cui Ru, his eyes wet with tears.

"Brother, goodbye! I'll listen to you. I'm heading back to our hometown right away!"

With that part of her memory wiped clean, Cui Ru's smile was as bright as a flower. She waved cheerfully as Tie Niu stepped onto the military vehicle. She felt no reluctance, for she knew this was the life of a soldier—the very kind of soldier she so admired.

"Tie Niu, do you want to see your sister off?" one of the soldiers asked.

"No need. Some paths she has to walk by herself. I might be able to protect her for a time, but I can't protect her for a lifetime," Tie Niu said, shaking his head with bitter self-mockery. After this incident, he finally understood just how naive he had been. He now saw how ludicrous his so-called protection was within the great, corrupting dye vat of city life.

"Alright, your brother is leaving now. Take care of yourself!" Forcing a smile, Tie Niu turned and waved to Cui Ru. Then, turning his face away, he gritted his teeth, strode onto the military vehicle, and slammed the door shut.

VROOOOM!

As Tie Niu took his seat, the military vehicles started their engines in unison.

In the rearview mirror, Cui Ru was still waving, a radiant smile on her face. Two streams of clear tears burst uncontrollably from Tie Niu's eyes. He clutched his head with both hands, burying it deep between his knees.

Tears and snot mixed freely as he choked out, "Cui Ru, I'm sorry! It's my fault! I'm useless! I couldn't protect you!"

They say a man does not shed tears lightly, but that is only because the pain has not yet struck deep enough to break him. Each of Tie Niu's pained, self-reproaching murmurs signaled the collapse of half the world inside his heart.

Inside the vehicle, no one made a sound. Infected by Tie Niu's raw emotion, every soldier's eyes grew misty as they clenched their teeth.

「Returning to the Northwest Military Region」

Qin Fan acted as if nothing had happened. He immediately gathered the soldiers.

"To learn to be invincible, you first have to fucking learn to take a beating! Come on, let's continue today's training! Same old rule: we don't stop until every last one of you is down!" Cracking his Hemp Vine Whip against the ground and stirring up clouds of dust, Qin Fan shouted.

"Yes, Instructor!"

After yesterday's session exposing their weaknesses, the miraculous recovery Elixir, and today's display of boundless protectiveness, Qin Fan's image in the soldiers' eyes had skyrocketed. Any previous resentment they held had vanished, replaced by boundless admiration and reverence. To put it bluntly, if Qin Fan asked them to die right now, they would probably do so without hesitation.

With a single, throat-ripping cry, the seventeen soldiers held nothing back, swinging their fists and feet with abandon. The dull thuds of flesh meeting flesh echoed ceaselessly as the fight descended into a white-hot frenzy amidst roiling clouds of dust and sand.

This life-or-death struggle continued for five consecutive days. Any uninformed observer would have assumed they shared some irreconcilable hatred. Was this a sparring session? No, this was a fight to the death!

No one cried out anymore. No one complained of fatigue. And certainly, no one felt like they were being tortured. They knew that what awaited them on the other side of this painful price was a reward that was absolutely worth it.

On the tenth day, Qin Fan's tenth day as their instructor, everyone arrived just like before, all on crutches. It wasn't that they were being dramatic; they were genuinely unable to walk.

On this day, he didn't have them fight. Instead, each man received a notebook and one of the Dan Pills. The books detailed all the new flaws and openings that had appeared in their fighting styles. After tossing out the Dan Pills, Qin Fan called for their dismissal and departed with his usual flair.

While the soldiers took their Dan Pills and returned to their quarters to contemplate and correct their flaws, Qin Fan sat in his well-equipped, somewhat luxurious office. Spread across his desk were sheets of rough paper filled with text and simple diagrams of various stances.

Letting out a soft breath, Qin Fan put down his pen and stretched lazily.

"The first nine forms of the Cangqiong Body Tempering Technique," he mused with a laugh. "Even on the Cangqiong Continent, these are formidable physical techniques for any ordinary person. As long as these youngsters' aptitude isn't completely rotten, dominating the so-called combat tournament will be a piece of cake!"

After speaking, Qin Fan gathered the rough papers and made seventeen copies.

As the precursor to the Cangqiong Refining Body Decision, the Cangqiong Body Tempering Technique was undoubtedly many Grades inferior, but that was only for Cultivators. For ordinary people, especially these soldiers, just the first nine forms were incredibly powerful. If they could even string together the first five, they could easily defeat most opponents. As for executing all nine in a combo… well, he wouldn't get his hopes up. In any case, if they still couldn't win the championship with these first nine forms, it would be a massive slap in the face to him, an instructor who had returned with the might of Cultivation!

On the eleventh day, although Qin Fan had prepared the first nine forms of the Cangqiong Body Tempering Technique, it still wasn't time to distribute them. He wanted every one of their moves to be free of any glaring flaws; only then could the technique's effects be maximized. Otherwise, it would be a complete waste.

Based on this, the physical torment of his young charges had to continue.

Another ten days passed.

Qin Fan, who had never once nodded in approval, offered them a rare smile and a nod.

"Starting tomorrow, this ordeal, which I'm sure has felt demonic to you, can finally end," he announced, standing with his hands behind his back on the patch of ground saturated with their blood and sweat.

"Instructor, you mean we don't have to keep fighting to the death anymore?" a soldier asked, his eyes wide with surprise.

Over the twenty days, their daily duels had grown from a few minutes to over an hour. The initial pain had given way to pure exhaustion. By the last few days, none of the seventeen soldiers were being beaten down anymore; they simply fought until they collapsed from draining all their energy. Even though they could feel their strength advancing by leaps and bounds, they couldn't contain their surging excitement at his words. This kind of training was exhausting, not just for the body, but for the mind. They all swallowed nervously, waiting for his confirmation.

"The duels have become meaningless," Qin Fan announced. "I'm not bragging, but if I sent you to that bullshit combat tournament right now, avoiding last place would be a guarantee. But that's not the result I want! I have a simple principle: either I don't do something, or I do it to be the best. From the moment I agreed to Han Rongguang, my goal was never just to escape last place. It was for you to thrash the so-called 'King of Soldiers' from the other military regions! The next ten days will be your opportunity to learn how to trample all over the other regions' top soldiers! I hope you all treasure and seize it. My time with you ends in these ten days. So, take care of yourselves. Dismissed!"

With that, Qin Fan turned and strolled away, his figure receding into the distance as the seventeen soldiers watched him go.

P.S. This is a transition chapter. We're about to end this arc and welcome the university arc and the female lead, Yinuo. I'm quite excited just thinking about it.