Chinese Generals Summoning System

Chapter 18: Five Summoning Opportunities

Le Yi rode back on horseback with Liu Ji and soon returned to the village where they’d encountered the bandits. By then, the bandits had already left with the merchant caravan and their cargo wagons. Outside the village’s earthen ramparts, however, they’d left a field of corpses behind—even the bodies of their own fallen comrades were left there, exposed to the elements in the wilderness. The bandits of the Great Jin Dynasty were ruthless toward the common people and government troops, but they were just as ruthless toward their own kind. Often, when a bandit died, his comrades would simply take whatever belongings he had on him; as for the body, unless he was a close associate, it would be left to be devoured by wild dogs and jackals, with no one to bury him after death. Liu Ji quickly circled the main gate of the village’s earthen enclosure and found that everyone in the Zheng family’s merchant caravan had been killed. Combined with the dead bandits, this allowed Liu Ji to absorb 355 soul points at once. Adding this to his previous 213 soul points brought his total to 568—enough to summon a second-tier general once, which requires 400 soul points. However, Liu Ji’s current martial prowess stood at only 11 points, and the success rate for summoning a second-tier general was one in sixty-four. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to temporarily settle for summoning a third-tier general, which had a success rate of one in thirty-two. He was currently in Wan Province, where bandits and outlaws ran rampant. For safety’s sake, he needed more manpower. Although second-tier generals were formidable, if the summoning failed, the 400 Soul Points he had worked so hard to obtain would be wasted instantly. It would be better to wait until he had collected more Soul Points before attempting to summon a second-tier general—or even a general with higher Martial Power! After collecting 355 soul points, Liu Ji immediately had the system consume 100 soul points to summon a third-rate general. The result was the very message he dreaded hearing most. “User, we deeply regret to inform you that this summoning of a third-tier general has failed! 9527 kindly reminds you that it is best to first increase your own martial prowess to improve the summoning success rate.” Undeterred, Liu Ji had the system consume another 100 Soul Points to summon a third-tier general once more. His face darkened even further when the summoning failed again. Liu Ji then had the system attempt to summon a third-rate general twice more, but both attempts failed, leaving his face ashen. Could it be that all his luck for the day had been used up summoning Yue Yi? Looking at his remaining 168 Soul Points, Liu Ji gritted his teeth and used his final summoning opportunity. “Congratulations, user. You have successfully summoned You Tong, a third-rate general from the Sui and Tang dynasties, with a Strength of 69, Intelligence of 63, and Leadership of 67. You Tong, whose courtesy name was Jun Da, was an early commander at Wagang Fortress and once served as the leader of the Shandong Green Forest bandits. Among the 46 sworn brothers of Wagang Fortress, he ranked seventh. He later followed the Wagang Fortress forces in surrendering to the Tang Dynasty, where he repeatedly distinguished himself in battle. After subduing various rebel lords, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Yulin Pass and enfeoffed as the Duke of Xing.” “You Tong’s implanted identity is that of a warrior the user once rescued in his hometown—one who was saved at the same time as Yue Yi and has since become the user’s disciple.” At last, the summoning had succeeded—otherwise, 500 Soul Points would have been wasted. As for the rather far-fetched identity, Liu Ji had grown accustomed to it. However, upon hearing that it was You Tong, ranked seventh among the “Forty-Six Brothers of Wagang Fortress,” Liu Ji couldn’t help but ask the system in puzzlement: “9527, aren’t the ‘Forty-Six Brothers of Wagang Fortress’ just from a novel? Could this actually have happened in history? I thought You Tong was a fictional character?” “Data missing; cannot answer!” Hearing the system brush him off with that line again, Liu Ji couldn’t help but shake his head in resignation. He stopped trying to figure out why he could summon fictional historical generals—after all, as long as he could summon these highly skilled warriors, that was all that mattered. He knew this Chinese General Summoning System was already fantastical enough; even summoning fictional historical generals from novels wasn’t all that strange. Not long after Liu Ji successfully summoned You Tong, the figure of a general appeared in the distance. He, too, was clad in iron armor and wore an iron helmet, with a double-edged sword—featuring a blade at both ends of the hilt—and a bow and arrows strapped to his back. “My Lord! It really is you! And you’re here too, Yue Yi—this is truly wonderful. My Lord, you had previously instructed You Tong to return home to attend to family matters. When You Tong finished those matters and returned to Pingyuan County to find you, he learned that you had left with your family for Yongzhou to stay with relatives. So You Tong traveled south all the way to follow you. Thank heaven for its mercy—it has finally allowed You Tong to find you!” As he spoke, You Tong hurried forward to stand before Liu Ji and knelt on one knee. Le Yi, standing nearby, said with a smile, “Brother You, you’ve arrived just in time. My Lord and Mr. Liu were separated from each other after encountering bandits, and my Lord is currently short-handed!” Liu Ji, also smiling, helped You Tong to his feet and said, “It’s good to have you here! In a moment, I’ll introduce you to two other personal guards under my command. Like you and Le Yi, they’ve all become my disciples, and their martial arts are quite impressive. One is named Gong Du—his skills are on par with yours—and the other is Liu Pi, whose skills are only slightly inferior to yours.” Le Yi, standing nearby, nodded and said, “Gong Du and Liu Pi are indeed skilled fighters. Now that You Tong has returned, we have absolutely nothing to fear from ordinary bandits or marauders.” To put it mildly, the marauders had left the battlefield thoroughly cleaned out. The Zheng family’s caravan had been almost completely stripped of its goods; not even the weapons and armor of the dead had been left behind, let alone any horses. Consequently, Liu Ji, Yue Yi, and You Tong had no choice but to lead a single warhorse as they made their way to where Liu Pi and the others were waiting. Of course, Liu Ji, as their lord, was given preferential treatment; he remained seated on his warhorse the entire time. Yue Yi and You Tong were both burly men; if the two of them shared a single warhorse, along with their armor and weapons, it would be a strain for an ordinary warhorse to bear—let alone with Liu Ji as well. Moreover, the warhorse that Yue Yi and Liu Ji had been riding previously was of a rather ordinary quality. It took Liu Ji and his two companions a little over half a shichen to catch up with Liu Pi and the others. When the twin sisters saw Liu Ji returning, accompanied by an additional warrior—who, judging by his respectful demeanor toward Liu Ji, must have been one of his personal guards—they couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. As long as he wasn’t part of the Zheng family’s merchant caravan, that was fine. The twin sisters then had a maidservant step out of the carriage to invite Liu Ji inside to discuss a matter. Having overheard the young ladies’ plans, the maidservant realized that this young Master Liu before her would likely become their head of household in the future, so she, too, treated Liu Ji with great respect. Liu Ji, however, didn’t think much of it. Upon hearing that the twin sisters wanted to speak with him, he immediately approached the carriage. Just then, another maid emerged from inside the carriage and stood respectfully beside it, while the wooden door at the rear of the carriage remained closed. Liu Ji climbed into the carriage and pushed open the wooden door. He smiled as he looked at the twin sisters, but in that very moment, he was left completely speechless.