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Chapter 161: Chapter 161: How Did This God Arrive!
The man before her was her Deputy General in her past life, the disgraceful Huang Gun!
Huang Gun was notoriously thick-skinned, shameless, and self-absorbed.
Zhan Lan lost count of how many times she could not help but kick him, but he seemed to enjoy it every time.
However, when it came to his friends, Huang Gun was the most loyal, and Zhan Lan exchanged a knowing look with Xiao Chen standing beside her.
She could hardly contain her joy.
It was great that she had met Huang Gun so early in this life!
In her previous life, they met in the army camp.
Zhan Lan still remembered when the Zhan Family was falsely accused of treason, Huang Gun never betrayed her to the very end, eventually being hanged on the city wall.
As her thoughts tumbled, she suppressed the excitement in her heart; Huang Gun did not recognize her yet, and she needed to plan for the long term.
While Zhan Lan was observing Huang Gun, a sinister and probing gaze fell upon her face.
Ouyang Qingming thought to himself: So this is Zhan Lan, even in such ordinary practice clothes, her exquisite figure is outlined to perfection, and her stunningly beautiful face made Ouyang Qingming almost reluctant to kill her.
Such a beautiful woman, wouldn’t it be so much better to have her for a bit of fun instead of killing her?
His gaze turned to the two beside him, both from the Heavenly Slaughter Sect, there to assist him.
The three had already devised a battle strategy, planning to make their move during the first melee.
After all, with three of them, as long as they were quick, they could eliminate Zhan Lan.
But as Ouyang Qingming observed Zhan Lan’s radiant face, he swallowed hard, feeling it was such a pity.
He liked women with fine figures and stunningly beautiful features like Zhan Lan, who, despite being in her teens, could not hide her peerless elegance that could make one fall at a glance.
But, to his chagrin, the women the Great Elder captured for him were always vulgar and could not be shown in public.
If his father hadn’t taken silver from Zhan Xincheng, he certainly wouldn’t want to kill such a beauty.
To spend a passionate night with her would be worth dying for!
No one noticed Ouyang Qingming’s licentious gaze, but Zhan Lan caught a glimpse from the corner of her eye.
It seemed someone wanted her dead; in her rebirth, she had already shed too much blood.
The Zhan Xincheng family hated her, Asi Han hated her, Zhan Xuerou hated her...
There were no shortage of people who wanted her dead, which was why Xiao Chen joined the competition, in case someone teamed up against her later.
While confident, Zhan Lan was also preparing for all possibilities.
She looked towards the audience, Zhan Hui waved to her, with Zhan Beicang beside him, and Zhan Xuerou holding a hand warmer, along with Qin Shuang, who looked worried Zhan Xuerou would get cold.
It was tough for Zhan Xuerou to come and watch the competition in such cold weather.
The Li family didn’t come today, but if her body was chilled again, she feared she would be bedridden for months.
Zhan Xincheng, Zhang’s, and Zhan Liluo from the second branch were all present; Cui Ying and Bai Lu were not far beside them.
Zhan Lan did not see her grandfather, her hands gripped the war spear he entrusted to her, and she felt warmth in her heart, perhaps he did not want to put too much pressure on her!
Zhang Zhao was today’s chief examiner, the other three Old Generals had also donned their court attire, and sitting beside them was the Minister of the Ministry of Criminal Justice Cui Hao; the four of them were deputy examiners.
After Zhang Zhao stood up, the Martial Arts Arena immediately fell into solemn silence.
No one dared to disrespect these four Old Generals, who were once known as the Five Tiger Generals alongside Old General Zhan Xinzhang.
Back in the day, as they campaigned in conquests to the east and west, each was left with physical disabilities.
Zhang Zhao turned his gaze towards the Martial Arts Arena, sweeping over those who had made it to the final round, before his eyes softened as they landed on Zhan Lan, dressed in practice attire with a high ponytail.
She was the only female to make it into the finals.
The remaining nine men were mostly sons of officials and sect families, and aside from Huang Gun, who lacked an impressive stance, Zhang Zhao found them quite satisfactory.
However, since Huang Gun had the capability to enter the last round, it proved he had some real talent.
Zhang Zhao stood firm and announced loudly, "Ladies and gentlemen, in previous military examinations, martial arts were often overly emphasized while the testing of military strategy was underestimated. Today’s final will be divided into martial arts competition and military strategy test. The first round is a military strategy test followed by a melee combat among multiple contestants. The last three standing will engage in two rounds of contests to decide the top three ranks."
Upon hearing the chief examiner announce the rules of the competition, Ouyang Qingming’s face darkened, and he looked towards his fellow student whose expression was equally grim.
The man beside him had never read a single military book, how could he possibly pass the examination!
Soon, ten contestants took their seats, and under the watchful eyes of the audience, none could cheat and had to rely solely on their own abilities.
Zhan Lan was not worried about Xiao Chen at all. During those years of battling together and shedding blood, what kind of battle had they not experienced?
Even with closed eyes, she could come up with counterstrategies.
As for Huang Gun, she wasn’t concerned either.
After receiving the examination paper, Zhan Lan, like flowing clouds and water, answered all the tactics for breaking formations within a quarter of an hour.
She was the first to finish and close the exam booklet, at which point someone immediately collected it and presented it to the chief examiner.
As the invigilator collected the papers, people in the audience seats began whispering to one another, "My God, Miss Zhan is way too fast!"
"That’s for sure, Miss Zhan must have thoroughly studied ancient and modern military strategies at the General Mansion."
"She truly is a tigress from a General’s family!"
Zhan Xuerou, overheard the audience’s comments about Zhan Lan, held the hand warmer tightly, thinking that Zhan Lan was just an adopted daughter and dared to call herself a tigress of the General’s family. If it hadn’t been for her frailty since childhood, she would have certainly been stronger than Zhan Lan!
Chief examiner Zhang Zhao on the platform looked at Zhan Lan’s handwriting and frowned. This girl looked so delicate, but her handwriting was practically illegible.
The spectators watching him grade the papers began to gossip again, "I say, don’t tell me Miss Zhan turned in a blank sheet!"
"Haha, haven’t you heard? Usually, beauty comes with no brains, it’s possible!"
Bai Lu, sitting beside Cui Ying, said, "I also feel that Zhan Lan must have been unable to answer, that’s why she turned in her paper so quickly!"
Cui Ying knew the formidable nature of Zhan Lan, and dared not agree aloud. Instead, she looked towards her father, hoping he would give Zhan Lan a low score to avenge the slap she had received from her.
When the chief examiner finished the review, the four Deputy Generals immediately began to annotate and score each paper one by one.
When it was Cui Hao’s turn, he looked at Zhan Lan’s answer sheet with furrowed brows.
His daughter Cui Ying had made it clear when she came, he must not give Zhan Lan a high score.
As he faced Zhan Lan’s perfect answer sheet and sought to nitpick, a hand suddenly pressed on his shoulder from behind, a deep voice said, "If your eyesight has grown dim, you’d best see clearly!"
Cui Hao immediately felt sweat on his back; how did this deity arrive!
