Mortal aspiring immortality.

Year 1052 of the Kun calendar.

It is called as such since the Kun family took power from the Jiang Sect. Both were always competing to get the power but in their last clash, the whole clan was destroyed. Leaving a single young boy that was thrown down a raging river.

His name is Jiang tubei, He is 9 years old. He is the sole survivor that got taken under care from a kind uncle. He showed him how to farm, hunt, fight, practically everything that Jiang knows is because of this Uncle Han.

They live in a small village where fishing is the primary source of income. The people that farm are in charge of feeding the village. The more Jiang grew up, the less fish there was and the soil grew dry. The harvests were sparse and there was almost not enough food to nourish everyone.

It has been 9 years since Jiang fell from the river, he has learned to love this village. He has not forgotten what happened to his parents. But he does not know what he can do to avenge them.

Bringing him out of his thoughts, his uncle Asks 

''Jiang can you please head to the river and get water for our soup?''

''Yes uncle, I am heading there right now!''

Jiang brings 2 wooden bucket and walks for around 5 minutes, gathers water and stops to enjoy the scenery, it has always calmed him down when he felt frustrated. Taking the time to look at nature always helped him maintain his cool.

As he is about to head back he sees his best friend since he came here, Cho Meng. He always likes to compete in various competitions, it can vary from who can run the fastest to who can eat the most fruits in 5 minutes. Every time without exception, he wins. 

''Hey Jiang, how are you doing? Doing another chore for your old man?''

''oh hey Cho, I'm doing good, yeah otherwise he won't let me hear the end of it!'

They both look at each other and then start laughing together, they both bid their farewell and leave.

After about 10 minutes of relaxation Jiang heads back to the village to see his uncle talking with what looks like a soldier. He heads closer to them and hears them talk.

''What? You can just take people to fight for you! We barely have enough hands to manage the land we have!'' says his uncle

''This is not up for debate. The emperor has ordered that we bring him as many young men as we can.''

''But-''

''No but. Bring them here now or there will be consequences. This is a direct order from this emperor, would you really dare disobey?'' 

''No sir...'' looking dejected, Uncle looks up to see Jiang right in front of him trying to give him signals but the soldier turns around and sees him.

''This would do a fine recruit! I won't leave unless I have 2 more. Consider this my generosity.''

Seeing no one moving, the soldier gives the signal to the others to start looking. They break doors if no one opens them, move everything around. Creating disorder. after a while you can see 6 soldiers bringing back 4 young men.

''Found them captain. One was hiding near the docks and the others tried to run as soon as they saw us.''

as Jiang looks at who got captured he sees his best friend and three more of their age.

''Alright, thank you Mei, Looks like some of you will stay here today! We will decide this very easily, There will be two fights to determine who will stay here. Since this young man here *Points at Jiang* Got found first, he will join us.''

As Jiang looks at them, He can tell that none of them are worse than the others in terms of physique. One was short, another had big eyebrows and the other one had a big scar on his face. Of course, the last one was his best friend.

''To determine who will stay here and who will leave, the person to lose can decide! This is going to be a sword fight, of course, since we don't want to kill you guys they will be wooden swords. Okay you two *Points at Cho and the short one* you will fight first.''

''Why is the person to lose the one to decide? Shouldn't it be the winner?'' asks Uncle han

''We believe that the person to win is the one with the most potential, That is a fact. If that person doesn't have any will to actually fight, we won't like it. So we give the chance to the loser, if he wants to stay, he can, but if he wants to change his future, we will also allow him to do so.''

This was bad, He knew that his best friend had never fought before. They always liked to parkour and do physical activities, but it never included sword fights! He hoped he would make it. He didn't want hist best friend to be forced to enroll.

as they both head to the Captain to get their sword you can see the soldiers forming a circle readying to watch a good show. as they both head to one side of the circle, the Captain says 

''There is two ways to win. you either push them out of the circle, or you make them declare defeat. No one will interfere. Know when to give up. Start!''

Cho looks a lot insecure about whether or not he should fight him, but the short one doesn't hesitate. He starts running towards his best friend, they were only a couple of feet apart, so he quickly made up the distance. he swings the sword overhead directly towards his neck.

He barely manages to move out of the way, he still manages to get hit on his arm. Before he can retaliate the young man has already made another move, swinging his sword right on his waist, not wasting any time. As he tries to get his footing back the hit comes and he falls to the ground, the short one not wasting any time and hitting, again and again.

''STOP you win!''

The young man doesn't seem to hear him, a Sergeant had to step in and stop him.

''Well, seems like we got our loser. What do you want to do?'' Asks the Captain.

''Ugh.. I will ... Join. I never want to feel that powerless again.'' says Cho.

''Okay and you young man? The choice is yours.''

''I won't. I have my mother to take care of, she's sick she needs me.''

''Whatever, Alright both of you, on the stage take the swords.''

They both head to the circle and the fight is pretty close, they manage to exchange more then 15 blows before one of them gets hurt. The young man with the big eyebrows is the one to emerge victorious, to the surprise of everyone, they both join.

''Okay everyone pack things up we're going. You four, follow me.''

as they head to a carriage the captain talks while walking

''You might be wondering why we need you guys. It may sound weird, the fight is pretty close and you may have never felt the war with *them* and that is intentional. We are here to protect the people from the horde.''

''The horde? What is that?'' Jiang asks.

''I said too much. just follow us for now. we will accommodate you when we head there, give you food, proper training and cultivation methods.''

''Do you offer multiple types of cultivations?'' asks Zou Gao, the scarred one.

''You will see.''

Entering the carriage, they can already see around ten men around their age waiting in silence. They all sat near each other since they were familiar with each other.

After three days of travel, they finally arrive at their destination. A military training camp near the border. They can hear the sound of training from hundreds of meters away. While they were travelling, Jiang talked with the others and learned their names, Zou Gao was already introduced earlier, the one with thick eyebrows is named Sun Hei.

He has learned that Zou had a brother in the army, hence why he knew a thing or two. The only reason Sun won was because he was the blacksmith's apprentice and was a lot stronger than his peers.

''Hello Captain Kun Hao, bringing new recruits I see?'' Asked one of the two guards next to the entrance.

''Yes, I have promising ones'' He responds handing them his identification plate.

''That's good news! Go on right ahead, good day to you.''

Walking inside Jiang and the others can see some buildings that looks like big semi-cylinder shapes.

''Those are the barracks, you will mostly sleep there, you will all share rooms with 3 other members, everything will be arranged by the secretary. Up ahead is the headquarters, you cannot head inside unless you have a permission to go in.''

They see a building two blocks high rectangular shaped, that looked ancient.

''You will mostly eat here, there is enough place to accommodate more than twice the numbers we have. You guys have mostly seen what you need to see for now. Stay right here, I will get the secretary that will arrange the clothing and resting place.''

As they were waiting, they could hear people training, turning around, they could see all kinds of ways to go about their training. There were some people using bows, others were using swords, sabers, there was even clubs and Warhammers. It opened their views, thinking it stopped at swords and bows.

Bringing them out of their stupor, they hear someone speaking to them.

''Ah, I see you guys are looking at how they're training! Do not worry, we will let you have the chance to choose what kind of path you want to take, we have a variety of choices. My name is Kun Luo and I will bring you get some new clothes. Follow me.''

As they follow the secretary, they can see that they are going right next to the headquarters.

''This is the armory, we keep the ordinary clothes, armors and all the weapons you could need. If you make enough contributions, that is.''

''Hello secretary, are those the new recruits?'' Guo tang asked, the shopkeeper,

''Yes, bring out classic recruit equipment please.''

''A moment''

Before they can wait longer than five minutes they can see him come out of behind the back store with enough equipment for everyone.

as they all get a piece of equipment, they see the shopkeeper and the secretary just looking at each other.

''All right let's go everyone I will bring you to your dorms. I have already arranged the rooms; I made it so you would stick with the people you knew for most of you.''

heading towards the barracks, they see some people sparring between themselves.

''You will all fight next week. there is a recruit competition every month to see who made the most progress, since it is next week you guys will most likely not participate. You will get your weapons and cultivation methods to train first and foremost.''

Inside, the secretary tells them to get sleep as soon as they are inside, the next day will be packed.

the first room the secretary called out 4 names that Jiang didn't know. the other room, it was the turn of Jiang and his group.

''I didn't expect this, this is kind of scary, have you heard about that ''Horde'' thing? I hope this isn't too bad.'' says Jiang.

''Yeah, even my brother didn't say anything about that, I wonder why.'' Zou Gao responds.

''We should stick together. We don't know what we're going up against, it would be unwise to go with people we don't know.''

''Yeah, I agree'' says Cho Meng

The others also agree with him.

''Good night, good luck tomorrow.'' says Sun Hei.

They all respond in affirmation.