Talking about the Trainees

A month passed since Xun Yu's visit and Yun was on the training ground outside the city finding his men training the recruits and the strategists that are being examined in their third exam.

Yun walks towards Dian Wei who was training his new men when he asks, "How are they doing?"

"Do you mean my men or the recruits that Pang Tong brought with him to be trained?" asks Dian Wei as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Both," says Yun looking at Dian Wei's recruits as they were trained by the Veterans of Dian Wei's Unit.

"Well, my boys are doing well. They might be rough around the corners but they follow my commands and are loyal," says Dian Wei proudly about his recruits as he looked over to Pang Tong's group.

"They, on the other hand, are quite terrible. The only one that I would recommend out of all of them would be the fellow named Xu Shu. He at least doesn't fall over after running around not like the other boys in his group," says Dian Wei criticizing the male strategists except for Xu Shu.

"Even the women can carry their weight far better than they do. Look at that Guo Jia," says Dian Wei as he points at him.

Yun looks over to Guo Jia and sees the poor young man throttling behind everyone else when Dian Wei points at the next strategist who is Zhuge Liang before he pointed at Huang Yueying.

"That man is holding the woman, are they a couple or something like that?" asks Dian Wei as Yun grins at Dian Wei.

"I can see that you can read the atmosphere around them. Yes, she is his wife. But you are saying the women are fitter than the men. Maybe I should employ them instead," says Yun joking about it when he notices Sima Yi running at the same tempo as Xu Shu.

"What about Sima Yi? He looks like he can keep up with Xu Shu," says Yun a bit proud of Sima Yi.

"Yeah, I have nothing against his stamina. It is his fencing skill that I have something against. He lets go of his sword too quickly," says Dian Wei as Yun smiles.

"Maybe he wasn't made to hold a sword but another weapon that is handier in his hands like a short sword or a dagger," says Yun as Dian Wei couldn't say anything back since he knew that everyone has his own weapon to find like he and his one-handed halberd and pike.

"So who will be staying?" asks Dian Wei as Yun looked at everyone running before smirking.

"I would like to keep them all but I can only employ four of them," says Yun looking at the selection that was running in front of him.

"But since you told me that the women are better than the men I will employ some more people. I can't have talented people leave or they will join our enemies and that is something we don't want," says Yun as he leaves Dian Wei's side.

He walks towards Pang Tong and looks at the list he is holding and says, "They must remind you of yourself when you started to train here."

"They do," says Pang Tong grinning as he looks at Yun and says, "Back then I was quite weak compared to now. But how do you say 'A Healthy Body leads to a Healthy Mind.' or something like that."

"Something like that," says Yun as he looked at the group running.

"So who do you want to keep without favoritism for your friend Zhuge Liang," says Yun as Guo Jia seemed to run out of energy completely when he says, "Give the poor boy some rest. He looks like he will die before completing the exam."

"Tell that to them. They are running voluntarily not because I am forcing them. They are on their thirty-minute break at the moment," says Pang Tong as he already told them to take a break.

Yun only sighs before looking at Pang Tong when he asks, "What are they thinking they are doing by continuing running like that. The body needs rest to grow strong it is vital since the body could break apart by overusing your muscles after they can't any longer."

Yun takes a step forward and stops Guo Jia and says, "Rest your body. It doesn't help to exhaust yourself further if you have to continue training afterward. Rather you should try to recover as much energy as possible."

Guo Jia seemed disappointed with himself because Yun pulled him out when Yun says, "I thought you all were strategists but it seems you all have lost your brain because I was watching you."

"I need strategists that know their limits and can surpass them but not at the cost of you burning your body up," says Yun as he points at Pang Tong and says, "Look at Pang Tong over there. Do you think he built his body in a mere month of training? He trained over years to achieve the body and stamina he has now."

"All of my men needed years to become one unit they didn't become strong instantly. We improve from day to day, with every breath we grow stronger because we don't give up but to become strong you need to start slowly making the body adapt to the exercise before doing the stuff that everyone else is doing," says Yun seriously to Guo Jia who seemed to have never trained in his life since he normally worked from behind a desk.

Guo Jia was laying on the ground breathing heavily while Yun pulled everyone else out as well giving them the same speech he gave Guo Jia before he looks them in the eyes and he says, "I will be honest with you all. I am looking for four strategists."

This made many faces flinch since four of them would be chosen to join Yun's army when Yun says, "But that has changed since one of my men told me something that made me laugh."

"And that would be?" asks Sima Yi as Yun looked at him seriously making Sima Yi add, "Sir?"

"That the women are performing better than the men which surprised me a bit but after thinking for a while I realized why that was the case," says Yun complimenting the female strategists as the male strategist were confused.

"Normally a woman builds more stamina than a man since they move their body more needing to hold a household together. They are doing everything at home while the man is only eating and drinking," says Yun as Pang Tong was hiding his smile behind the list he was holding.

"That's why I think it wouldn't be fair to only pick four female strategists and send the rest away. So I will look forward to who of you all is still standing tomorrow when the exam is over," says Yun since some of the strategists left halfway through the third exam since they couldn't endure the training.

"I will see you tomorrow then," says Yun as he turns around and leaves them since he came to the training ground to train and not to watch them.

Yun walks to the weapon rack and picks a spear from it. Before he stands on an empty field. He was staring at the air in front of him and many recruits were curious about what Yun was about to do.

Pang Tong sees that and says to the strategists, "Take a good look at the General and learn. Exercising your body is well and all but if you want to become strong you need to be able to do that."

Yun was standing still holding his spear for a while making everyone that didn't know what was going on feel nervous or look confused.

"What is he doing?" asks Zhuge Liang confused as Yun begins to sweat slightly.

"Why is he sweating? He isn't even moving," says Guo Jia seeing Yun sweat without even moving.

"He is moving all his muscles," says Pang Tong with a smirk on his face when they looked at him confused when he points his finger at his temple hitting it twice.

"He is fighting someone in his mind. If I have to guess it must be Lu Bu," says Pang Tong seeing it when Yun suddenly begins to move.

Yun wasn't fighting Lu Bu at the moment in his mind but Erlang Shen. He was imagining Erlang Shen in front of him.

He attacked first only to have his attack be deflected by Erlang Shen who attacks him by going for his chest.

Yun jumps backward trying to get out of reach only to find Erlang Shen jumping right after him not letting go of Yun who blocks the attack with his spear.

Erlang Shen uses the blunt end of his three-pointed spear to attack as it hit Yun's spear from below making Yun lose his guard before he could pierce Yun's chest with the tip of his spear.

Yun was holding his chest as the pain felt real even if it was imaginary and everyone was surprised to see Yun kneeling on one knee while holding his chest.

Yun began to laugh madly since he felt alive. It had been long since he had such an amusing fight and he stood back up.

He began to be covered by a light blue aura as he holds his spear with both hands before he goes back into position.

He imagines Erlang Shen again. Yun this time waits patiently like before while Erlang Shen was just standing there relaxed as if Yun was nothing.

Yun then moves first again using the same move again and Erlang Shen deflects it like before counter-attacking as before Yun did the same to answer but this time when the blunt end of Erlang Shen spear hits Yun's spear it didn't move upwards.

Yun was putting more strength in his arms so the spear wouldn't go up. Yun then used this opportunity to use the blunt end of the spear to hit the right side of Erlang Shen's body only to find Erlang Shen's spear blocking his attack before a smile appears on the face of the image as the real Erlang Shen would normally do.

Then a hand filled with Qi went for Yun hitting him on the chest sending him back by a few meters before he got ahold of himself when a similar aura surrounded Erlang Shen.

He closes the distance between him and Yun before he attacks with the tip again which Yun tries to deflect only to find out that Erlang Shen changed the trajectory evading Yun's spear before hitting him in the chest again.

Yun was sent flying and everyone was seeing it as he landed on his back. He was laughing out loud madly as he stands back up.

"I haven't felt this alive in a long time. Too bad that you aren't the real deal," says Yun out loud as his aura dissolves and all the recruits thought he went crazy while the veteran knew that he wasn't fighting Lu Bu at the moment but someone even stronger.