Level Up in Martial World

Chapter 167: Creating an army

Huang Li swiftly exited Lu Zhen's palace, leaving the Lu Manor with countless pairs of eyes watching.

"How dare these women try to escape from our young master," a man wearing the classical uniform of the Lu family elder, with a verdant tree symbol, was about to strike Huang Li from the shadows. However, he was stopped by another man who was wearing the same uniform, with a peculiar goatee.

"Wait, I have received instructions that the young master let her go?"

"What, really?" The man stopped his hand, and his eyes widened with disbelief.

"Yes." The man who stopped the other also had disbelief in his eyes.

"No matter how much of a monster he is, after all, a youth who is inexperienced in the ways of the world is easily swayed by beauty," the man shook his head with disappointment evident in his eyes.

"Sigh," the man with the goatee also sighed with disappointment as both of them watched the figure of Huang Li leave the Lu Manor, disappearing into the distance with pity.

….

Lu Zhen looked at the children, aged between six to fourteen, in front of him, who trembled under the gaze of his crimson eyes.

"Why aren't they trained yet?" He turned to his side, seeing the twins Lu Zhi and Lu Qing with bitter expressions.

"Young master, they are too afraid."

Lu Zhen frowned when he heard this, looking at them as if they were idiots.

"Then what am I keeping you guys for?" He said coldly, directing his gaze at Lu Zhi. The latter's expression changed to one of horror, rendering him unable to utter a single word, completely frozen.

"Eh, what happened to my brother?" After Lu Zhi came back from visiting Lu Zhen's palace, he had been acting strange, causing Lu Qing to sense that something suspicious was going on. However, she immediately dismissed the notion since her brother mentioned that Lu Zhen wanted them to do a good job or they would face dire consequences.

Lu Qing found this to be quite natural, but deep down, she felt a little disappointed in her brother. He seemed so afraid of death that he couldn't even make his thoughts coherently.

"Sigh, useless," Lu Zhen grumbled as he moved to the center of the group of children.

"Kids, do you know why your father and mother died?"

"Because bad guys carrying knives killed our father and mother, burned our houses, stole our food, and took us with them. They even ra…" a thirteen-year-old with distinctive black short hair said, stepping forward among the crowd of children. The fire burned in his eyes, capturing the attention of all the children, as their stories seemed to mirror his.

Lu Zhen's eyes lit up, seeing the fire of vengeance in the child.

"So, do you want to take revenge?" he asked with an expressionless face.

"Yes!" The child roared loudly, his sentiment echoing with many children.

However, Lu Zhen just shook his head. "You are just a weakling. What can you even do?" He casually tossed a heavy sword to the ground.

Bang!

The heavy sword directly penetrated the ground, making dust fly into the air. After a short time, the dust settled, revealing the sword embedded at least 15 inches (38 cm) deep.

"What is this?" The boy was a little shocked and stunned as he looked at the giant sword lodged in the ground.

"If you have enough strength, pick this up," Lu Zhen said with a cold tone.

The commanding voice of Lu Zhen compelled the boy to follow it. He gulped down his saliva as he gathered his courage to pick up the sword. Realistically, he didn't have much hope; after all, he was just a feeble child. How could he lift such a long sword embedded in the ground?

"Well, it won't hurt to try," he thought to himself, imagining a miracle that would allow him to lift the sword. After all, he was just a kid who still believed in children's stories.

However, reality was cruel.

The boy tried to grip the sword and pull it out of the ground, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't do it. Pulling from left or right, attempting to dig under the soil—everything proved too taxing for his malnourished body with noodle-like arms to even dig through the hard, rock-like soil and retrieve the sword.

No matter what he did, he couldn't free the sword from the ground.

The crowd of children had mockery in their eyes as they observed the boy struggling to pull out the sword.

"I knew that the boy was just acting like a hero similar to those stories my mother used to tell me. However in reality, he's just a loser who can't do anything."

"True, initially, I thought he was strong as well, but he's just a monkey..." a boy who appeared the tallest among the malnourished children snickered.

Some children mocked the boy, while others remained silent, looking at him with a still-hopeful expression.

Lu Zhen silently observed all of this with an emotionless expression. Internally, however, he shook his head.

"The children who mocked the boy need some more training." It was a common trait of human nature to be cowardly at times. When someone rises against the tide and norms, standing up, people at the bottom tend to mock and try to pull them down to their own level as they are jealous, envy of the person who could stand out.

However, if that person can handle the pressure from the masses and fight against all odds until they can win, they will undoubtedly become an extraordinary figure, built differently from others and stand out among the flock of sheeps who only know how to bow their head.

The twins frowned upon hearing the murmurs of the children. However, since Lu Zhen wasn't taking any action, they also refrained from intervening. The scene continued, each child reacting differently to the unfolding events.