Chapter 144: Thunder Sky Drum
It had to be said that the shocking power of a Kingdom Knight was great.
Especially among the young elites present. Who didn’t want to make great contributions to be made into a noble?
Kingdom Knight was the starting point for everyone. But some people might never reach this starting point in all their lives. Now, Yi Yun, a kid shorter than them by a head was a Kingdom Knight.
Suddenly, many eyes were cast on Yi Yun.
Especially the six youths behind Liu Big Ear, who looked at Yi Yun with glittering eyes.
Without words, there wouldn’t be martial arts. In this world where strength mattered the most, no one seceded from each other.
“This kid came out of the vast wilderness as a recruit and was already conferred the title of Kingdom Knight. I chose from so many geniuses in the large family clans and they were only Jin Long Wei elites!”
“Hmph! You are just picking a general among dwarfs. In the vast wilderness, the warriors are generally of low standards, so the occasional talent isn’t odd. Even if they were astounding, with our standards, we could easily sweep them up in the Cloud Wilderness.”
“This Kingdom Knight conferment must be child’s play!”
The people used Yuan Qi to discuss privately. Due to the difference in status between the nobles and the commoners, they did not dare to question Yi Yun.
In the Cloud Wilderness, most of the people in the Kingdom’s selection was just to make up the numbers. Most of them were eliminated after the first round.
But in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, all the young talents participated in the Kingdom’s selection. Most of them were nurtured by big family clans, and were all considered elites. The selection’s battles were elating scenes, with rounds of fighting, competition and tragic outcomes!
So the young talents that stood out among the large family clans had especially great superiority complexes.
They felt that they were better than others.
In fact, their superiority wasn’t unfounded. Under normal circumstances, the young talents from the vast wilderness could not be compared to the talents from the central plains.
“I see so this kid is from the Cloud Wilderness. What’s your name little brother?” Liu Big Ear touched his stubble and watched with a smile at Yi Yun.
“I’m Yi Yun,” Yi Yun cupped his hands.
“Oh… Yi Yun” Liu Big Ear nodded. “Interesting, little kid, in the future we will be competitors!” Liu Big Ear said without any niceties.
By the side, Zhang Tan said, “This might not happen. Shallow waters cannot hold a dragon. After Yi Yun passes recruit training, he is unlikely to stay under me. I don’t think I can keep him.”
The outstanding warriors of the Jin Long Wei had special arrangements. Those that stood out to the point of alarming the Jin Long Wei commander would be given special appointments by the commander. As such, Zhang Tan would not be able to keep Yi Yun under him.
Liu Big Ear could tell what Zhang Tan meant, as he shook his big ears and looked at Zhang Tan with an incredulous look, “Old Zhang, you sure are confident!”
“Hahaha! You too!” Zhang Tan’s words were full of pretense, making Yi Yun speechless. While in the Tao tribal clan Zhang Tan appeared extremely serious, but now in the Jin Long Wei’s camp, in front of his rival, he was also pretty good at shamming.
It seemed like when soldiers get together, they liked to brag, expressing their troops’ or their own strength.
But this bragging would arouse the competitiveness of others. Liu Big Ear was extremely disgruntled. He said to Yi Yun, “Little Bro, take a look around. It will be a while before General Yan arrives”
Liu Big Ear patted Yi Yun on the shoulder and gave him a meaningful glance.
The Jin Long Wei square was large, covering a distance of more than three hundred meters.
The most conspicuous item was the large drum in the middle of the square. The drum’s surface was black. It needed about seven to eight men encircling it before they could carry it.
The drum was placed on a bracket and the bracket was ten meters tall and made of black iron. The metal legs were deeply buried into the ground!
In front of the drum, was a raised platform. A person could stand on the platform to hit the drums. The drumstick was a purple beast’s leg bone and one end of it was connected to the drum’s bracket with a metal chain.
This drum was very impressive!
Liu Big Ear noticed Yi Yun’s interest in the drums and said by his side, “This is the Thunder Sky Drums! I’m not sure if you have seen the battles between armies. Soldiers will line up in a row and wait. When the order is made to charge, a specialist drummer will drum on it. This is what it means by rousing the spirit with the beat of the drum! And when the soldiers are withdrawn, a drummer will beat the gongs, hence the saying, beat the gongs and withdraw the army.”
“This Thunder Sky Drums is our Divine Capital Jin Long Wei’s war drum! During a war, it is brought to the front lines. When it is drummed, it will cause the heavens and earth to tremble. When our soldiers charge, they will gain strength from the drum beat, giving them greater morale and multiply their battle power!”
“So this is a war drum!” Yi Yun touched his cheek as he carefully looked at the drum.
In the era of cold metal, wars needed drums. One reason was to give the signal to charge, the second reason was to boost the morale of the soldiers. For armies, the importance of having a good drum mattered greatly.
Liu Big Ear carried on, “This Thunder Sky Drum’s drum skin is made of Heaven Ox’s hide. This Heaven Ox has the bloodline of the divine beast, Kiu Ox. It can be considered a primordial desolate beast. Its hide is impervious to swords and resistant against fire! Back in the day, the Divine Capital city’s city lord killed a Heaven Ox. He soaked the leather in solution for ten years, and after ten thousand trashes, this hide was used as the war drum skin.”
“Every beat on this Thunder Sky Drum will result in a vibratory force in response. Warriors without a solid base would not dare beat it, because the aftershock can tear them apart!”
The divine beasts’ Kiu Ox looks like an ox but it only has one leg and it has a deafening roar. Records indicate that an ancient emperor used its hide for a drum and used a Thunder beast’s bone, which created a sound that could be heard throughout Heaven and on Earth, impressing the whole world.
Liu Big Ear slapped the Thunder Sky Drum’s bracket and said proudly, “How is it? Do you feel the drum’s magnificence? When the Jin Long Wei is not at war, this Thunder Sky Drum is kept in the square. The members of the Jin Long Wei who are undergoing training will find pride by beating it!”
“Usually, an early stage Purple Blood warrior can barely beat it once or twice and find himself exhausted after. The rebound shock can really tear you apart!” Liu Big Ear said with an expressive smug look.
After listening to the introduction, Yi Yun had a surge of hot blood rising. No one knew what sort of desolate bone that heavy and thick drumstick was made from. It made Yi Yun want to pick it up and give a try at knocking it.
“Look there,” Liu Big Ear pointed to the side. “The Thunder Sky Drum tests a warrior’s body’s resilience and strength, while that array over there tests a warrior’s movement!”
Yi Yun looked in the direction that Liu Big Ear pointed at and noticed that beside the Thunder Sky Drum was a vacant ground. On the vacant ground, there was a large array painted.
This array looked a huge heptagon. Above the array floated a dozen burning flame balls.
These round balls were red and not connected to anything. It could fly around freely in the air, which interested Yi Yun.
“Haha, these balls are called Frost Metal Blood Balls. In the deep sea trenches, there are huge Blood Oysters. These Blood Oysters are fierce beasts and can swallow a shark! The Blood Oysters will absorb the frost metal dust in the ocean and merge it within itself to form a metallic pearl called a Frost Metal Blood Ball! A Frost Metal Blood Ball the size of a fist weighs more than a hundred pounds and can be used to make weapons and other magical objects. It’s worth a fortune!”
“Look at those Frost Metal Blood Balls. A rune has been engraved on each of them. Using the array’s power, the Frost Metal Blood Balls can fly in the air at extreme speeds. If one hits your body, it will cause a serious injury! If you are unlucky, you can even die!”
With Liu Big Ear’s introduction, Yi Yun looked wistfully at the dozen Frost Metal Blood Balls.
There were rumors that under a full moon, a giant oyster will float on the sea surface, and borrowing the moonlight to temper its body, would condense a pearl.
This was the so-called “Bright Moon over the Sea Shedding Tears”
This pearl was an amalgamation of the giant oyster’s essence. If it was picked and brewed with herbs, drinking it down would be great for one’s body.
Yi Yun did not expect that the Jin Long Wei camp used such a treasured pearl in an array to test a person’s movement skills.
Looking at the empty ground’s heptagon array, Yi Yun understood the principles of the array. A warrior would stand on the empty ground and attempt to avoid the attacks of the Frost Metal Blood Balls. Whoever had better movement speeds would avoid them better.
A Thunder Sky Drum and a Frost Metal Blood Balls array were tests that covered the two basic aspects of a warrior. Just from this, it could be seen that the Jin Long Wei’s camp had a great heritage. Both the Thunder Sky Drum and the Frost Metal Blood Balls array were extremely expensive. In the Cloud Wilderness, they would have been labeled treasures.