Chapter 114: Teng Yun Hai
Translator: KurazyTolanzuraytor Editor: Lucas
Hearing this caused Duan Ling Tian to frown.
It wasn’t unexpected to him that Vice Commander QIao Qing Shan would summon him. After all, he did kill a member of the Iron Blood Army.
"Duan Ling Tian, we’ll go together and bear witness for you!" Xiao Yu and the other stood up.
"There’s no need for that. Since the Vice Commander sent someone to summon me and not detain me, it means that he has definitely found out the ins and outs of the matter. I’ll be back in a short while." Duan Ling Tian lightly smiled.
"You have a point." Xiao Yu nodded. He wasn’t a rash person and was just slightly disordered from worry.
Duan Ling Tian walked out of the tent and greeted the soldier outside. "Big brother, I’m Duan Ling Tian."
The Iron Blood Army soldier gave Duan Ling Tian a deep glance. The shock in his heart was unparalleled.
This youth around the age of seventeen was the Duan Ling Tian that killed Yu Hong?
He heard that the youth that killed Yu Hong had a cultivation at the fifth level of the Core Formation Stage.
Not even seventeen, but at the fifth level of the Core Formation Stage…. Just the thought caused his scalp to go numb.
Duan Ling Tian was led by the soldier and walked into Vice Commander Qiao Qing Shan’s tent before long.
However, Duan Ling Tian noticed that the tent was empty after entering it.
"What’s going on?" Duan Ling Tian asked the Iron Blood Army soldier that led him over.
"The Vice Commander might have left at the last moment. You’ll have to wait for a bit."
After getting a reply to his question, Duan Ling Tian started looking around and sizing up Qiao Qing Shan’s tent as he waited.
As expected of the Vice Commander’s tent, it was an entire three times larger than the tent he stayed in. Presently, only half of the space in the tent was before his eyes, as the other half was blocked out by a screen.
That other half was probably the resting area.
After ten minutes, Duan Ling Tian slightly frowned. "That Vice Commander sent someone to summon me but then vanished. What’s going on?"
Just at this moment, Duan Ling Tian’s ears lightly twitched as he perceived movement from outside. Two steady and deep sets of footsteps were walking over towards the tent he was in.
"The sound of the footsteps on the left has a deeper and steadier sound than the other…. The one on the left should be the Vice Commander. Could the one on the right be a Captain?" Duan Ling Tian guessed in his heart.
Swish!
The tent’s door curtain was lifted upon by the person on the right.
"Vice Commander, Sir!" Duan Ling Tian looked at the one who lifted the door curtain and couldn’t help but be stunned.
Never would he have imagined that among the two people standing before him, the one with weaker strength in comparison would actually be Qiao Qing Shan.
Then the other person was…
"Haha! Duan Ling Tian, sorry for the wait!" Qiao Qing Shan laughed heartily as he walked in before raising the door curtain to allow the other person to enter.
The person that entered was a refined middle-aged scholar. The middle-aged scholar had a light smile on his face which felt like a spring breeze washing over anyone who saw it.
"Commander, Sir!" Duan Ling Tian hurriedly saluted.
The middle-aged scholar was stunned, and so was Qiao Qing Shan, who had just let down the door curtain.
"How did you know?" The middle-aged man, also known as the Iron Blood Army’s Commander Teng Yun Hai, looked at Duan Ling Tian with interest.
"Isn’t it obvious? Who else could make the Vice Commander personally raise the tent’s door curtain and emit such a respectful posture?" Duan Ling Tian lightly smiled.
In his heart, however, he was slightly surprised, as he originally thought that based on Vice Commander Qiao Qing Shan, the Commander of the Iron Blood Army would most definitely be a burly man…. Never would he have imagined that he would be a refined scholar with an extraordinary temperament.
It was impossible to discern based on his appearance that he was the Iron Blood Army’s Commander, a man who galloped across the battlefield and bathed in the blood of his enemies.
"It probably shouldn’t only be this that allowed you to guess my identity, right?" Teng Yun Hai glanced deeply at Duan Ling Tian. His wise gaze seemed as if it could discern everything.
Duan Ling Tian laughed embarrassedly. "Looks like I can’t conceal it from the Commander. You’re right, I got an inkling from the sound of your footsteps. I originally thought that the one walking on the left would be the Vice Commander, and the one on the right would be a Captain."
Qiao Qing Shan couldn’t help but be moved.
Teng Yun Hai nodded with a smile. "You were able to discern the difference in our cultivations based solely upon the sound of our footsteps… I have to say, kid, you’re really extraordinary!"
"Commander, Sir, you’re too kind." Duan Ling Tian moved aside and welcomed the two commanders in.
Teng Yun Hai and Qiao Qing Shan sat down one after the other.
Qiao Qing Shan looked at Duan Ling Tian as he asked, with a smile, "Duan Ling Tian, since you’re so good at guessing, then can you guess why I summoned you here?"
"All I know is that Vice Commander didn’t summon me here to denounce my crimes." Duan Ling Tian smiled confidently.
"Haha… interesting."
Qiao Qing Shan laughed heartily before looking over to Teng Yun Hai. "Commander, what do you think?"
"Not bad." Teng Yun Hai nodded in satisfaction.
"Huh?" Duan Ling Tian was dazed and had a feeling that he was being played.
As he expected, Qiao Qing Shan once again directed his gaze at Duan Ling Tian before slowly saying, "Duan Ling Tian, many people witnessed the scene of you killing Yu Hong, and since it was he who was the one who struck with an intent to kill first, his death was warranted."
"Vice Commander probably hasn’t finished saying what you want to say, right?" Duan Ling Tian asked with a smile.
"You really are a grinch. Our Iron Blood Army won’t make it hard on you in terms of the matter of killing Yu Hong, but Yu Hong is a disciple of the Yu Clan after all. The Yu Clan’s status isn’t the greatest, but it isn’t low either… If you’re willing to join our Iron Blood Army and follow by the side of the Commander, the Commander will be able to protect you and your family from any harm, while also being able to foster you into the next Commander of the 10,000 elite soldiers of the Iron Blood Army." Qiao Qing Shan had an expression of complete control over Duan Ling Tian as he spoke.
Teng Yun Hai, on the other hand, noticed that Duan Ling Tian’s expression didn’t change from start to finish, and his heart twitched.
"Vice Commander, Sir!"
Duan Ling Tian smiled at Qiao Qing Shan. "First of all, I thank you and the Commander for thinking so highly of me. Secondly, a mere Yu Clan is nothing to me. Finally, what I want to say is… My aspirations are not within the Iron Blood Army, nor are they within the Crimson Sky Kingdom!"
Qiao Qing Shan was stunned before saying, with a frown, "Duan Ling Tian, don’t look down on the Yu Clan. The Yu Clan is a large clan of the Swallow Mountain County after all; their ability isn’t something you can imagine."
Duan Ling Tian slowly shook his head. "Thank you for your concern, Vice Commander. However, I’ve made up my mind!"
"A man’s aspirations should be far and great. I believe you will definitely be able to leave the Crimson Sky Kingdom and walk towards a stage of your own." Meanwhile, Teng Yun Hai spoke as if he wasn’t one bit angry that Duan Ling Tian had rejected to remain within the Iron Blood Army.
"Thank you, Commander, Sir!" Duan Ling Tian hurriedly expressed his gratitude.
"OK, you can return now and have a good rest tonight. Tomorrow, the Vice Commander will announce the training regime for the next period of the Genius Camp. Your true training is about to begin!" Teng Yun Hai waved his hand in dismissal.
"Commander, Vice Commander, I’ll be taking my leave now." Duan Ling Tian directly left.
Inside the tent.
Qiao Qing Shan looked at Teng Yun Hai with a puzzled expression. "Commander, I’ve investigate that Duan Ling Tian, and his records are clean. With his natural talent and ability, he would absolutely be the best candidate for being the future Commander of the Iron Blood Army. You’re really letting him go like that?"
"Qing Shan, do you think that with his reaction from earlier, he would remain if we continued to waste our breath?" Teng Yun Hai asked.
Qiao Qing Shan went silent.
Duan Ling Tian’s attitude earlier was extremely obvious; he wasn’t willing to remain in the Iron Blood Army.
"If he doesn’t remain in our Iron Blood Army, even if he really obtains the qualifications to study at Paladin Academy, he will probably be dealt with by the Yu Clan before he even enters Paladin Academy. I really can’t bear to see such a talent go to waste." Qiao Qing Shan sighed, as what he said came from the heart.
"Didn’t he say earlier that he thought nothing of the Yu Clan?" Teng Yun Hai shook his head.
"Commander, don’t tell me you didn’t notice that that was just something he said to evade from accepting our offer…. What? Commander can’t really have believed what he said, right?" Qiao Qing Shan had an astounded expression.
Teng Yun Hai lightly smiled. "I can tell that he was completely confident. A person can speak lies, but their eyes would absolutely be unable to lie. When he mentioned the Yu Clan, that gaze of contempt told me that he was really confident and not just talking rubbish."
"Commander, how could this be possible? I’ve already investigated his background; he’s a member of Aurora City’s Li Clan, and he is originally from the Li Clan’s Branch Family in Fresh Breeze Town." Qiao Qing Shan didn’t believe him.
"Then do you know who his father is?" Teng Yun Hai’s eyes narrowed as he asked.
"His father? I wasn’t able to investigate anything about this…. Could it be that his father is someone extraordinary?" Qiao Qing Shan’s finally got his head around the matter.
"I have an old friend with an appearance 60% or 70% similar to Duan Ling Tian’s. If I’m not wrong, that old friend of mine married a woman from a remote small clan… That woman was also surnamed Li," Teng Yun Hai said slowly.
"Who is it?" Qiao Qing Shan was curious, as he had followed the Commander for a very long time.
If it was an old friend of the commander, he should know of him.
"Do you remember the person from the Imperial City’s Duan Clan that went missing 15 years ago…?" Teng Yun Hai’s eyes flickered as he spoke.
"Commander, are you talking about… Duan Ru Feng?" Qiao Qing Shan’s pupils constricted, and in an instant his expression emitted a sense of heartfelt reverence.
Duan Ru Feng, a peerless genius that shook the entire Crimson Sky Kingdom…. A figure that people from their generation had to look up to.
After leaving the Vice Commander’s tent, Duan Ling Tian didn’t dally around and directly returned to his own tent.
"Duan Ling Tian, what did the Vice Commander summon you for?" Meng Quan’s eyes emitted a sense of curiosity when he saw Duan Ling Tian return.
"Nothing much. He just wanted to tell me that the real training of the Genius Camp will begin tomorrow." Duan Ling Tian shook his head as he spoke in a slow manner.
"What?!" Meng Quan was shocked.
"Shhh… softly," Luo Cheng said in a low voice.
"Huh?"
Meanwhile, Duan Ling Tian noticed Xiao Yu sitting cross-legged on his bed. He was cultivating. "It’s so early in the day; why is Xiao Yu already cultivating…?"
"Definitely because of being provoked by Yu Xiang."
Meng Quan shook his head and sighed. "In Aurora City, Xiao Yu was a figure his peers needed to look up to after all. Being humiliated by a peer like Yu Xiang caused him to be unable to bear it…. Working hard because of this isn’t strange."
"Meng Quan, I noticed that you have a lot to say." Suddenly, Xiao Yu’s eyes opened, and his cold gaze descended upon Meng Quan.
"Think of it as if I didn’t say anything, I didn’t say anything…" Meng Quan waved his hand embarrassedly, like a child who was caught stealing candy.