47

Fort 413 took a whole week to recover from wounds and qi depletion, helped generously by their Emperor and his amazing meals.

The guardsmen who had lovers among the archers or the normal women in the garrison grew a rank during this relaxation week, and a rumour began spreading among the Guard.

"Hey, have you seen Spearman Shang Ti, he advanced to Core rank already..."

"And his wife in the archers did as well. Lucky guy!"

"No, it's the beast he killed, and the beast his wife killed with a lucky shot. If a couple kills something same day..."

"No way! It's too easy...gah, I don't have a wife to test it with"

"That petite girl from Tan 425 is still single. I'll go tell her the news!" a smarter spearman noticed, and took off at a run.

"Damn it, I liked that one too...hey. That human nurse is cute though..."

The miracle of post 413 didn't end yet. After the week had passed, the mangled men of the Guard who had been hidden in the basement began to emerge, all healed and a rank higher. Well, from Practitioner to the Core rank.

Dozens more Core Shieldmen advanced to Nascent Soul, from delivering spear hits to Earth ranked beasts, and assisting in the kill.

Then third lieutenant Yang Wen emerged two weeks later, his crushed shoulder restored, and his rank advanced from Nascent to Earth, in weeks instead of centuries. That man kept pushing the spearwall even in his pitiful condition, and killed five racoons, a fox and a bear. Well, the last ones were wounded, but then so was he.

He was already a Spirit rank when he was laid on a medical bed in the basement. But a kind nurse had been so impressed with his deeds that she gave him the highest gift, and the man was gently crossed over the peak.

Pef smiled kindly and gifted the man a Commander's storage ring and a copper one for his wife.

"Cherish the years you have together, Mister and Madam Wen. And may the General bless you with many children" The Emperor declared as he offered his gifts to the new couple.

The nurse had perhaps two decades more to live, being a neolithic woman and deprived of Legion vaccinations.

"I will give her my rations, sir. The maize would help..." the new Earth rank said with a plain tone.

"No need Commander. By my order, all married Guard couples will receive double rations. Any normal woman married to a Guard is now an asset, to be maintained at peak condition." Pef proclaimed in an official tone, and made a note to buy some fields across the canal, to grow the extra maize.

"That's amazing, young Emperor! You're really are kinder than any other Emperor I know of. Well, likely the same as Wixtal Xi...but he's your father" Wen replied with a thankful nod. His wife made a respectful bow, a bit amazed at her luck.

"Oh? Is this rule in effect, in the Wix province?"Pef asked curious.

The Commander looked around for spies, then answered in a whisper: "Well, not officially, but they do have double rations there." Pef nodded at that. His douchebag of a dad, did leave his family on Saint continent a small maize farm.

As the month passed the Guard of post 413 was nearly twice as strong in qi levels, and much better equipped, with both armor and weapons.

On the other side of the canal, a new trading town emerged, from thousands of merchants eager to buy cheap wood, and beast skins and bones.

Pef started a small business there, a smithy and a glass maker, and hired a dozen locals to work there. Importing copper mineral was possible now as a few mines had been opened by the Ang Xi emperor.

A maize farm was also set up, to provide extra rations to the increasing number of married couples.

Then one day a desperate call for help came from the nearby Han Kuang Province. A Sky ranked messenger flew along the Wall and left the message, then returned at speed to help.

Post 415 was under a major assault, and all nearby sectors were required to send any help they could.

"How far to post 415?" Pef asked Ren at once.

"About 30 kilometers sir. I can reach there in half an hour with most of the ranked Guard." the man replied at once.

"No. They sent a Sky rank to ask for help. Our Core ranks won't be of use. Assemble the Earth ranks and come at speed, me and Wu will go first" The Emperor decided, flying up and signaling Wu to follow.

Xie jumped and was caught by Pef in midair as he accelerated eastwards.

In about 3 minutes he reached the battle at his highest speed, and was horrified.

"This, why do other people get all the luck?" he muttered in a desperate manner.

Dozens of Sky ranked beasts filled the ground, and the sky. Thousands of smaller snakes crawled and slithered around, fighting the Xi Guard.

'Green Winged Pythons, Blue Strangling Boas, and a Purple King Anaconda at Emperor rank. The battle is lost' the glove decided after analyzing the battlefield for a second.

'No way! Soooo many high ranked snakes! We're storing them all!' Pef yelled inside, while flinging Xie towards the small snakes.

'Aspirant, you are not...' the glove started to say, as the probabilities began to change. It shut up and began helping a little, dodging or deflecting critical hits from the most dangerous foes.

Sky rank after Sky ranked snake was impaled through the brain and stored in the glove compartment,

and Pef jousted with his lance at near mach 1. His qi was draining fast, but so was the opposition.

In 10 minutes, the Emperor managed to salvage 22 Sky ranked snake skins, and he landed next to Xie to collect the lower ranked kills.

"Good job hubby, now stop and rest a bit. Our crew will arrive in 2 minutes" Xie said in a wild grin, twirling her maul and bashing a snake's head open.

"Sure, just...don't rupture the precious skins..." Pef replied while drawing deep breaths and fueled his Core with qi.

Xie spun around, and was ready to smash another snake when her eyes turned silver, and she ran away, hiding behind her husband.

A gigantic head appeared over the battlefield, the Purple King Anaconda.

Pef scratched his cheek while still sitting cross-legged and recovering.

'Can I even damage his skin?' Pef asked himself while thinking how to keep that skin intact.

'The eyes are the weak point, Aspirant' the glove suggested amused.

Pef nodded to himself, then flew up, right in front of the annoyed enemy leader.

He sped at maximum speed, in a descending hyperbole, and drew his lance out at the last second.

The snake Emperor blinked, and Pef felt like he hit a mountain, although it was only an eyelid.

He faked another attack, making the snake blink again, then attacked right after.

The lance struggled to pierce the matter in the snake eye, impaling itself too slow.

The Anaconda King shook his head, forcing Pef to leave the lance inside the eye and retreat.

But he wasn't finished yet. Another immelman turn, and our hero struck the other eye of the snake, this time with sword. A thin cut appeared on the snake Emperor eyelid, proof the sword qi worked.

Pef faked another hit and changed weapons again, drawing out his second Sky lance, since a Morse has two tusks. It was never revealed till now, kept as a surprise weapon.

And the Anaconda King was surprised. A hiss imbued with qi paralyzed the entire battlefield, even most of his allies, the snakes of other races.

Pef reeled and circulated more qi to recover, then flew away, leaving the Anaconda King to suffer with a pair of bleeding eyes. He flew by, to scoop the paralyzed Xie, and turned around looking for a helper.

Major Wu was barely staying afloat, locked in a slow motion fight with a Winged Python.

Pef scooped him out with his other hand, and flew a wide circle, using the Sky ranked breastplate of the Major as a hammer, and smashed the second lance in, like a nail in a coffin. The snake screamed in pain, the sound going for a dozen kilometers.

'I should invent nails, but they'd be too expensive...' the hero muttered to himself.

Then he dodged the beast's fierce bite, and grabbed the leg of his wife as another hammer, smashing her chest first into the butt of his Sky rank lance.

Xie groaned and spat blood, but Pef kept hitting the lance's end again and again. Xie did wear a Sky ranked breastplate which served well as a hammer, when wielded by an Emperor.

After a minute he stopped, as Xie's qi began growing and crossed over into Sky rank. The Heavens must have been amused at this reckless type of kill. The Emperor of snakes was dead, and the final blow was dealt by a mere Earth rank.

Pef rushed to collect the precious snake body into the glove, before it fell to the ground.

Xie spat another globe of blood as she started to heal and muttered a faint: "That's not how you use a woman's body, idiot.", then she fainted. Her chest was a mangle of crushed bone and muscles, so it was amazing she could even speak.