Chương 35: The Summons

The peaceful rhythm of the village shattered beneath the cry of a horn. A deep metallic note rolled across the valley, echoing off the surrounding mountains before returning a second later, heavier than before. Every veteran stopped moving. Conversations ended and training halted as the relaxed atmosphere vanished as if someone had drawn a blade through it. Leon looked up, tracking the echo.

"... That doesn't sound routine." Lyra's expression became serious.

"It isn't." Almost immediately, hurried footsteps approached. A young soldier wearing the crest of the frontier army ran across the training grounds before stopping in front of General Kaelen, striking his chest with a clenched fist.

"General!" Kaelen's eyes narrowed.

"Report."

"The eastern border has requested immediate reinforcement," the messenger panted.

"The neighboring kingdom has begun large-scale troop movements. Scouts report unusual military activity across multiple forts, and command believes the border may become unstable. We've been ordered to return immediately." Silence settled over the courtyard. Kaelen nodded once, accepting the reality without another question before he began issuing rapid orders.

"You three, prepare the mounts. The rest gather the border detachment. We leave within the hour." The veterans dispersed instantly with practiced efficiency. Kealen walked over to a nearby spear, hoisted it into a throwing stance, and hurled it with such immense velocity that the weapon seemed to vanish instantly. The ground where he stood shattered from the recoil, and the resulting sonic boom sent a blast of wind pressure that blew Leon back several steps.

"Just sending a message," Kaelen grunted, rolling his shoulder.

"If those sneaky rats from the east know I'm returning, they will slow down and think again." Kaelen turned toward Leon, folding his arms.

"So. There might be a war. Want to come?" Leon blinked, entirely caught off guard.

"... Already?" Kaelen shrugged.

"You wanted experience." Leon thought for a moment before shaking his head, looking out toward the horizon.

"I don't mind fighting beasts, but fighting intelligent people is different. Right now, there isn't a conflict involving me. I'd rather not throw myself into someone else's war simply because it's happening. My cultivation has only just begun, and I don't want to keep getting dragged into side quests and lose focus on what actually matters." Kaelen stared at him for several seconds before his booming laughter echoed across the training ground.

"A side quest. I've never heard someone describe war like that." A few nearby veterans chuckled along with him before Kaelen's smile slowly faded.

"Still... you're only half right." Leon waited for the explanation. Kaelen placed a heavy hand on his shoulder, his tone dropping into a serious register.

"Cultivation isn't something you polish by sitting inside a room forever. Real combat tempers both body and soul, forcing every instinct you've built to work together. Your reactions sharpen, your understanding settles, and your body becomes more responsive to Qi. I've seen plenty of geniuses, and the fastest among them often make the same mistake: they become afraid of risking their cultivation. So they hide, they meditate, they study, and they avoid battle. For a while, they advance quickly. Then one day...

they stop." This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Leon listened quietly, absorbing the logic.

"They've accumulated knowledge and they've accumulated Qi, but they haven't accumulated themselves," Kaelen smiled, giving a firm pat.

"Balance—that's what you're aiming for. Fight when it's worth fighting, rest when it's time to rest, and cultivate in between. None of those can replace the others." Leon nodded.

"I'll remember that."

"Good," Kaelen removed his hand, turning away toward his waiting mount.

"And don't disappear while I'm gone. I'd rather not return to hear you've accidentally broken another cultivation record." Leon smiled.

"I'll try my best to disappoint you." Kaelen laughed one last time. Within minutes, the heavy village gates groaned open. Mounted soldiers assembled into formation, the veterans climbing onto their massive beasts with quiet, practiced movements. The atmosphere carried none of the excitement young recruits typically imagined when thinking about glory; it held only the heavy weight of responsibility.

Kaelen gave one final glance toward the village before the column departed, leaving the training grounds feeling distinctly quieter. Lyra walked over, her silver feathers shifting.

"Feels strange without him, doesn't it?"

"A little," Leon replied, his gaze remaining fixed on the distant road.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"How are the kingdom's strongest actually arranged?" Lyra smiled, adjusting her cloak.

"Already thinking ahead?"

"I like understanding the board before making my next move."

"A very Leon answer," she folded her arms.

"Beyond foundation come the major realms in order. First the Qi Condensation realm, followed by the Blood Condensation realm. I'm currently in the third major realm—the Tendon Transformation Realm—which is usually equivalent to Grade Three beasts. The General is in the fifth. This is considered the peak combat power on the continent. Originally, he was stationed at the Eastern border, but due to some detected fluctuations a few days before you arrived, he came here quickly in case of a beast tide.

Nothing has happened until now and the fluctuations ceased, so it could have just been a beast breaking through rather than a tide stirring." Leon raised an eyebrow, finding a discrepancy in the defense grid.

"So why isn't someone stronger protecting the border between the kingdom and the beast territory?"

"Because they have more important jobs," she gestured toward the east.

"The strongest cultivators are stationed along the borders between human kingdoms. Human wars are unpredictable; a powerful enemy can appear with almost no warning, so our best people stay where they're most likely to be needed." Leon nodded slowly.

"What about the Demonic Beast territories?" Lyra crouched and drew a rough map in the dirt.

"The deeper you go into beast territory, the denser the Demonic Qi becomes. As you travel farther from those regions, the Qi gradually weakens. High-grade beasts rarely wander far from environments suited to them because the weaker the surrounding Qi becomes, the less attractive the area is to them. So villages deeper inside the kingdom don't require Fifth Realm experts standing guard all year. Our borders with other kingdoms are a different story.

Cultivators don't always follow logic; politics change, kings change, but greed doesn't." Leon studied the drawing, his thoughts racing. Well, I knew about the Qi density thing for beasts, but still... what if they go hungry and want to snack on the kingdom's people? So the kingdom distributed its military strength according to statistical probability rather than prestige. It made sense: protect the areas where disaster was most likely to strike, and handle the rest as it unfolded.

He memorized the physical layout before the wind swept across the yard, erasing the map from the dirt. Lyra stood up, dusting off her armor.

"Training resumes tomorrow. Until then... try not to terrify the veterans again."

"I make no promises." She laughed before walking back toward the barracks, leaving Leon alone. The road ahead was empty now. Kaelen had left, meaning the mentor who had guided his first volatile steps in this world was gone. There would be no one correcting his structural mistakes, no one regulating his pace, and no one pulling him back from his reckless experiments. Leon looked toward the jagged, distant mountains, then quietly turned back toward the safety of the village.

Tomorrow, his cultivation would continue, and so would his journey. * In the distance, near the heavily fortified Eastern border, a massive spear smashed directly into a landmark hill, obliterating the stone structure entirely. Both sides of the military line instantly went on high alert. The Feather Kingdom side quickly broke into grins, recognizing the signature weapon, while the opposing army's ranks grew violently tense. The Eastern Border Commander was coming home.