The Magistrate: Chapter 71 (Patreon)

Chapter 71

General Knowledge

Tobias didn’t want his own army. He was perfectly happy to let The Three Kingdoms sort itself out. But that didn’t mean he hadn’t planned for what he would do if he had one. How the Great Clans and sects were going to respond to his techniques and spells had never been clear to him. They were not terrible people from what he had seen. They did not wish for others to suffer needless, but they placed their clans and their sects first to everyone else’s detriment.

Perhaps that would change when the Han Clan fell, but Tobias was no longer willing to leave that to chance. Not because he didn’t want to, but because Field Marshal Kang wouldn’t let him. The man had seen Tobias’s vision for a better future and decided it was his life purpose to see it fulfilled.

He’d also been keeping secrets.

Three months after he swore his loyalty to Tobias’s vision, hundreds of core realm generals began showing up at the fortress’s gate with their most loyal high-ranking officers, having plundered everything they could from their armies or posts before they left. Their ransacking of treasuries left the other armies at a significant disadvantage, causing the groups to be chased all over The Three Kingdoms before they could make their way to the Shattered Fortress.

Tobias was aware that Field Marshal Kang was known for his forethought and strategy. Historically, he had always been where he was needed. However, no one had realised this was because he had the most elaborate spy network of any of the field marshals.

When Tobias asked Field Marshal Kang how he’d achieved such an impressive network, he explained it was the reward of surviving where others hadn’t. During the Great Plague, he’d nurtured a generation of officers, teaching them the skills they needed to survive, helping them live through battles they shouldn’t have. Every one of them owed their life to him and had spent lifetimes repaying that debt in secret.

Loyalty like that was unshakable, which was why most militaries in Tobias’s old life had done away with allowing officers to remain in one place for too long.

These thoughts brewed in Tobias’s mind while he walked before the latest arrivals, examining their cultivation. The imperial army practiced a cultivation method which attuned them to metal chi. This allowed them to reinforce their weapons and armour through techniques, but it also made them rigid in their thinking.  

Tobias was grateful Field Marshal Kang had listened to his advice and broken with tradition. Officers who had become initiate realm cultivators due to their own skill had been stripped of their rank and moved into elite units where they received the same pay. This allowed Field Marshal Kang to properly leverage their skills without angering too many, as most only wanted the rank for the pay increase.

Tobias stopped before a general and placed his hand over the man’s core, sensing what lay beneath, through his armour. He stepped back. “Have you practiced my exercises before, General?”

The general stared at Tobias’s shoulder as he stood at attention. “I have not, Sage Knowledge.”

Tobias motioned for his nearest disciple. “The standard imperial cultivation method is unsuitable for this man. Test how he progresses through each realm of exercises and then deliver your findings to me.”

The general cupped his hands and bowed. “May I know what the issue is, Sage Knowledge?”

“You experience pain when cultivating spiritual energy after you perform your most powerful techniques, correct?”

A slight widening of his eyes was his only sign of shock. “Yes, Sage Knowledge.”

“This pain is caused because you cannot perform the cultivation cycle correctly. This is not enough to prevent you from cultivating, but it is enough to cause damage over time. Centuries of improper form has accumulated in your meridian network. A different method will allow your meridian network to recover. How often do you practice your strongest technique?”

“Every few days.”

Tobias wanted to groan but didn’t. “The good news is that this means you’re not doing as poorly as I feared. You should make a full recovery, but until you do, outside of combat, you are not allowed to perform techniques that require more than half your chi capacity.”

The general cupped his hands and bowed.

“Please follow Professor Pang and listen to them as they guide you through my exercises.”

The general walked off with Professor Pang, and Tobias continued down the line.

There were twenty-three new generals for him to teach his techniques and spells to, and over half of them had some issue that needed to be addressed before they could learn. Tobias was left with only ten new disciples.

Today wasn’t about teaching them his techniques and spells; it was about showing them they needed to practice the exercises that he wanted them to practice. Core realm cultivators could learn significantly faster than others, so they would rush through his lower realm exercises in short order, but only if he gave them a reason to.

Tobias cupped his hand behind him as they stood at attention. “You have undoubtedly heard that I have developed new, more lethal techniques and spells. You have also undoubtedly heard that I will not teach you these techniques and spells until you have mastered the same exercises as your juniors are practicing. What you have not heard is that you can ignore that training if you show me that you can defend yourself from my techniques and spells when I limit their strength to the foundation realm. Those who wish to prove their ability step forward.”

As one, they all stepped forward.

The surrounding generals that Tobias had already taught howled with laughter. The generals who had stepped forward immediately understood they had made a mistake.

Tobias leapt backwards so he would not be injured by his own spells. “Defend yourselves.”

While still laughing, the surrounding generals raised barriers, preventing any passing junior officer from being injured. The moment they were in place, Tobias began throwing chi grenades. He was significantly stronger and faster than when he was a foundation realm cultivator, so he could launch almost six chi grenades a second. The glowing orbs shot across the space between them as barrier techniques appeared around the generals.

The generals’ trepidation at the other generals’ laughter was soon proven well-founded when they immediately began to struggle under the onslaught. Tobias had long since figured out how to make the hardened chi around his chi grenade shatter only on one side, allowing the following grenades not to be triggered by the shrapnel. This meant the generals were facing the equivalent of half a dozen talented foundation realm cultivators at once.

Tobias moved down the line, hitting each barrier enough that shrapnel could pass through and nick their skin, but not enough for them to break. He was here to prove a point, not injure them. However, he gave each of them several passes to drive home the lesson.

They needed to understand in their bones that they could now easily be killed with foundation realm techniques and spells.

Tobias stopped only after the last one began to show fear.

He then marked each one with his tracking technique. “Dodge.”

The generals immediately took to the air.

Tobias changed from his chi grenade spell to his chi missile spell, launching small balls of chi after them. The balls moved like corkscrews, following them around like they were magnets. One or two weren’t an issue for the generals, but as the seconds passed, more and more joined the chase, until they began having to throw up barriers to intercept them, because they were coming from too many directions at once.

The numbers eventually grew too much for them, and they dropped out of the sky to focus purely on defence.

Tobias motioned for those who had landed to come back while he focused on bringing down the others. Eventually, they all stood before him, breath heavy and eyes wide with the fear of death having only been a second away.

“This is the new nature of warfare, gentleman,” Tobias said calmly. “You will need to learn to think and react differently. You will need to be more capable than you currently are. The training you will undergo before learning my techniques and spells is essential to your survival. I expect you to perform that training to the best of your ability. I expect you to treat my disciples with the same respect and attention that you would me. They have studied my teaching and can answer any question I pose to them on the subject. If I cannot find fault in them, you will not either, but you are welcome to try. They will answer any related questions you might have.”

The generals who had already gone through Tobias’s training nodded their agreement. It had become a sort of game to see who could stump his disciples. Only one had been successful, but that success had been short-lived when another disciple smacked the head of the one who couldn’t answer and answered for them. 

Tobias had sent the failed professor to teach the initiate realm cultivators as punishment for lowering the standards of his academy. The others had complained that she got off too lightly. Tobias disagreed, but only because the question was obscure enough to justify it. Had it been something fundamental which could have gotten a general killed in battle, she would have received much more than a public shaming.

Tobias motioned to the waiting disciples with his fan. “Please follow your new instructors. I look forward to training you when you are ready.”

The generals cupped their hands and bowed before filling out.

Tobias thanked the assistant generals for their help and then went off to teach his classes. Shortly before midnight, he ended his day. The constant explosions all across the fortress had prevented the mortal soldiers from getting sleep, so Field Marshal Kang had ordered training to stop between midnight and dawn.

Tobias checked on his professors, making sure they had everything they needed, before heading to the general mess. There were always several hundred core realm cultivators in an imperial army, so the generals mess was the fortresses banquet hall. With the arrival of hundreds of additional generals, the banquet hall had grown crowded.

Tobias received passing nods from various generals that he had trained as he made his way to the head table and joined Field Marshal Kang taking a seat beside him.

“How are my generals shaping up, Sage Knowledge?” Field Marshal Kang asked, while adding meat and side dishes to Tobias’s bowl of rice.

It was the same question he asked Tobias every day. Today, Tobias had a question instead of his usual answer.

“Have you considered having the most talented generals form an elite unit?”

Field Marshal Kang blinked. “You want to treat generals like soldiers?”

“I want to treat the best of your generals like the living weapons they are. As an elite unit, they could roam the battlefield hunting down the khans’ generals as they please. The khans would be forced to enter the battle or withdraw.”

“Your techniques and spells cannot kill me, so they cannot kill the khans.”

“My techniques and spells can tear apart your body and force you to pull it back together. How vulnerable would you be in that state to another nascent soul realm cultivator?”

Field Marshal Kang paused.

The entire room was still talking, but both men could tell they were focusing on every word.

Field Marshal Kang leaned in closer. “I would find it incredibly difficult to defend myself under those conditions. If I did not expect it, I might even lose my life.”

“And how would the khans respond to such an event?”

“They would withdraw. However, their hordes would go into a mad frenzy. They’re raised from birth to consider them gods.”

“The hordes we can manage.”

Field Marshal Kang nodded, agreeing with his agreement. “I’ll look into the matter.”

“To answer your first question, another seven of your generals have mastered my techniques and spells and returned to their duties. They are as lethal as I can make them. Any further progress is due to their own efforts.”

Tobias picked up his chopsticks and started eating.

As a core realm cultivator, he could go for weeks between meals. His body treated those gaps like hours, sustaining itself with chi. However, doing so made it harder for him to remain tied to the mortal world. Since ascending, he had discovered something cultivators didn’t talk about. Much of their daily routine was spent reminding themselves that they were still people.

The act of sharing a meal with others kept him grounded. It reminded him of who he had been and made it easier for him to fight the temptation to step back from the world and live disconnected. The temptation to find a nice cave somewhere and live alone, connected to the world around him, was very real, and when his family wasn’t present, it was much harder to fight.

It made him regret some of his condemnations of the Great Clans and sects. In his months at the fortress, he had discovered how much he depended on his connection to his family and friends. How much they kept him present. If this was what their elders had lived with for centuries, it was no wonder that they were so focused on seeing their families and sects prosper at the detriment of others. It was one of the things stopping them from giving up on the world entirely.

Whatever their motives, it didn’t change the results of their actions. Tobias had no interest in obliterating them, but he would destroy their hold on power.