Chapter 8: The Roar of Heaven

  The scouts sent by the guardian general of Tianyuan City returned with news that everything was safe, but he couldn't find any trace of the Jin Yuan army for the time being, so he could only increase patrols to ensure safety.

  They spent ten days in peace and quiet, and Meng Fan and Luo Jie saw that Lei Hong and others did not disturb the people, and governed the army properly, so they thought about surrendering to Lei Hong. So the two of them found Lei Hong who was discussing how to deal with the Huatian Army problem at the Yishi Hall.

  Lei Meng, Yang Tian and Luo Yangtian among other generals saw Meng Fan's two men come in, all of them closed their mouths and looked at the two without a word. The two were stared at, and to everyone's surprise, the big man's face turned red with embarrassment.

  "Excuse us," Meng Fangdao said, pausing for a moment. Seeing that everyone was still staring at the two of them, he mustered up his courage and looked straight at Lei Ming, who was sitting upright, and said firmly: "Today, we have come to formally surrender! Please issue an order, General Lei Ming and General Yang Tian!" After finishing speaking, the two of them bowed their heads and remained still.

  Lei Meng and Yang Tian exchanged a surprised glance, then Lei Meng said: "Alright! Please find a chair to sit down." Luoyang Tian and others also looked up and down at Meng Fan and the other person, checking if they were lying.

  Meng Fan and the other person moved two chairs from the wall under everyone's gaze, scratching all over their bodies as they sat down at the lower seat.

  Lei Meng saw the two sit down, then asked again: "General Meng, if the captured Huatian Army is handed over to you, how will you deal with it?" The crowd heard Lei Meng's question and stared at Meng Fan even more closely.

  The air was silent, and Meng Fan felt the gaze that fell on him was so heavy that he could hardly breathe. These four thousand heavenly soldiers may not have been in contact for a long time, and their emotions were not deep, but to be killed like this was obviously too cruel. If they let them go, it would be like releasing a tiger back into the mountains, and after reporting back, they would return with a vengeance. If they surrendered? I am now a traitor, and when they see me, they will despise me! Forget it, I'll take the risk, at least try not to let them die in vain, and my conscience will be slightly clearer.

  Meng Fan thought for a while before raising his head to glance at the crowd, and with a stiff upper lip said: "If possible, I'd like to take them in, after all they used to be my subordinates."

  "Hmm." Leiming nodded in approval and continued, "The idea is not bad, but I wonder how confident General Meng is that he can persuade them to surrender?" Leiming had anticipated their resistance, which was why they needed to discuss this.

  "I... I'll try my best..." Meng Fan was unable to come up with a perfect persuasion plan.

  "General Lei has raised such a question, he must have had a plan in mind. I wonder what insight General Lei has?" Luo Cheng was an onlooker who was clear-headed and immediately grasped the key to the problem. Meng Fan's eyes lit up as he listened, and he hastily looked towards Lei Ming.

  Lei Meng burst out laughing and said, "Jie Cheng's insight is still quite sharp. That's right, we've already reached a preliminary conclusion in our discussion just now, which is to surrender!" Lei Meng saw Yang Tian wanting to speak up on the side, so he said, "Yang Tian, you go ahead and say it, you seem pretty enthusiastic."

  "Haha, we were just discussing who to send to persuade him when you arrived, General Meng. It's like the pillow was delivered right to our doorstep! Why don't I accompany you on a trip?" Yang Tian said with a smile.

  Meng Fan was stunned, it turned out that others had dug a pit for him long ago, but he didn't expect that just as they finished digging, he himself jumped into the pit without anyone using any tricks or force. He nodded blankly, and when he came to his senses, Roger was walking towards him with a stride.

  "What about them?" Meng Fan couldn't help but ask.

  "Ah! You've finally come back to your senses?" Roger Cheng heard the voice and was overjoyed, stopping in his tracks to look at Meng Fan.

  "What about the thunder?" Meng Fan didn't understand why he had just lowered his head and they were gone, was it a dream?

  "Alas, how embarrassing! How did my master end up taking you as a disciple? You've been spacing out for an entire afternoon!" Roger scolded in exasperation, "Look at the sun outside, it's almost setting!"

  Meng Fan only then noticed that the hall was no longer so bright, turned his head to look at the sun, and indeed it was about to set behind the mountains. The clouds on the horizon began to turn slightly red.

  Suddenly standing up, Meng Fan found that his strength seemed to have increased, and he was overjoyed. He tried to use his skills again, and with a "ha ha", his powers were fully restored. Meng Fan furrowed his brow and muttered: "Am I dreaming? Didn't Lei Ming seal my martial arts long ago?"

  Roger's ears perked up, and he heard Meng Fan muttering to himself that he was dreaming. He jumped up and shouted loudly: "What? You're still dreaming? I've been with you for an entire afternoon, and you're still dreaming!"

  "My martial arts skills have recovered. It seems like they've even improved a bit..." Meng Fan said, looking at his powerful hands.

  Roger jumped up and grabbed Meng Fan's shoulders with both hands, excitedly saying: "Really?! That's great! Quickly help me lift the seal!"

  Meng Fan casually swept away Roger Cheng's eagle claw, causing Roger Cheng to stumble backward. He awkwardly apologized to the astonished Roger Cheng: "Sorry, I used a bit too much force." After that, he even scratched his head.

  "Oh~, maybe I was dreaming, you can't be this strong, just a casual swing of your hand and I'm retreating..." Roger Cheng was shocked by Meng Fan's increased strength.

  "That's your inner power being sealed." Meng Fan understood it in his heart.

  "Hurry up and untie me, what are you standing there for!" Roger was furious. This useless martial brother he had picked up really wasn't reliable, and now that his own martial arts skills were restored, he didn't even bother to untie him.

  Meng Fan immediately got up and walked around Roger, using his own Qigong method to quickly tap various parts of Roger's body. Roger closed his eyes, enjoying the slightly sour feeling all over his body, imagining that his martial arts skills had improved once again...

  After a while, Meng Fan finished his work and sat back in the chair, looking at Roger with satisfaction, asking: "Try to see how well your skills have recovered?" He had a confident smile on his face.

  The idea is very rich, but the reality is very bleak. Roger tried to lift his spirits and drive them back, only to find that the lifted spirits would soon sink into the sea and disappear. He tried twice, both ending in failure. So, he looked at Meng Fan suspiciously and asked: "Meng Shixiong, won't you be deliberately fooling me? Your solution is solved, but mine can't be solved?"

  "Impossible! This is what Master taught... " Meng Fan was surprised, and then said, "Will Lei Ming's forbidden law work? I remember he pointed at those few acupoints."

  Luojie Cheng thought back and realized that Meng Fan had also taught him the method of unblocking those few acupoints, but it seemed to have no effect. Could it be that Lei Ming's power was so terrifyingly deep? Fortunately, he hadn't dealt a fatal blow to them. Luojie Cheng couldn't help but feel a lingering fear.

  "Never mind, it will be clear when the time comes." Roger sighed and also didn't understand why Meng Fan would untie himself, thinking to himself that he was unlucky.

  For being unable to open Luo Jie Cheng's acupoint, Meng Fan felt a twinge of guilt in his heart and also thought that the opening of his own acupoint was somewhat inexplicable. He sat there dazed: Could it be true that it was all just a dream?

  At this time a Jin soldier came in and called the two men to go eat, at which point Meng Fan only then noticed that the sky had already darkened.

  When they came to another hall for dinner, Meng Fan and the others saw the main generals. After dinner, Meng Fan asked Lei Ming: "General Lei, my seal has been lifted, please also lift it for Luo Jie."

  "Oh? You can actually undo it yourself?" Lei Meng was surprised, and then congratulated, "Then congratulations, General Meng's martial arts have made another breakthrough." After finishing speaking, he looked at Luo Jie Cheng, only to see that his face was bitter, apparently the seal on his martial arts had a significant impact on him.

  Lei Meng thought for a moment and said: " Luo... Jie Cheng, I can lift your seal if you want. Tomorrow, persuade Huang Tianbing to put in more effort and it will be fine."

  "Oh, I'll do my best," Roger said with a sigh of relief, still worried that Ray might have other things to make it difficult for him, but fortunately, it was just part of the job.

  After breakfast in the morning, Meng Fan and Luo Jie went to each detention point to do the persuasion work. When they arrived at the first detention point, they saw more than 200 Hu Tian soldiers wearing shackles scattered on a piece of open land eating breakfast, which was considered preferential treatment for prisoners.

  As they entered the center of the scene, the soldiers of the Imperial Guard gradually noticed that it was their general who had arrived. They slowly stopped eating and looked up at Meng Fan with a mixture of surprise that he was not dead, did not have to wear shackles, and also found hope in finding their mainstay...

  Meng Fan looked at the complex gaze of the soldiers, feeling very uncomfortable in his heart. However, if he didn't take action now, he feared that these people would all disappear. Meng Fan took a deep breath, puffed out his chest, and shouted loudly: "Brothers, Meng Fan is ashamed!" After finishing speaking, he bowed his head and bent down towards the direction with more people, not raising his head for a long time.

  "General Meng, victory and defeat are common occurrences in the military, as long as we're alive, there's hope." The soldiers who supported Meng Fan immediately comforted him when they saw the general apologize to them.

  "General Meng, I thought you were gone for good. Now that you're here, everyone has something to rely on. With your martial arts skills and talent, leading us out of this situation is still full of hope." Someone exclaimed with excitement, expressing the joy and hope in their heart.

  "General Meng! You don't have to wear foot shackles, does that mean...". Some people suspected that Meng Fan had defected.

  ……

  Everyone was talking loudly, and the noise grew louder. A soldier from the Jin army, who was standing nearby with a gun, became impatient and shouted: "What's all the commotion about? Are you looking for a beating?" After finishing speaking, he fiercely scanned the group of captives back and forth, trying to find out who had been making the most noise. Wherever his gaze fell, that place would fall silent, and soon the entire scene became quiet.

  Meng Fan didn't know when he raised his head, and he asked loudly: "Brothers, please think carefully about it. What's the difference between us and the Jin Yuan soldiers in appearance, speech, and habits?"

  Everyone looked at me, I looked at them, and they all felt a bit inexplicable. After a while, someone followed Meng Fan's hint to compare, and then exclaimed: "Oh my, it seems that they are all the same!" Then, even more people came to the conclusion that they were indeed the same.

  When Meng Fan heard that many people in the noisy Haotian army were saying the same thing, his heart settled a bit. Previously, he was still worried that Lei Ming's method would not work. Then, Meng Fan said: "Does the Jin Yuan army kill anyone they see? Do you have deep hatred for them?"

  The subsequent inquiry also yielded no results.

  Meng Fan said: "That is to say, Jin Yuanbing and Haotian are no different now."

  "Yes!" The soldiers gave a relatively consistent answer.

  "In that case, we've already surrendered and there's nothing more to it." Meng Fan paused for a moment, leaving time for them to digest this heavy news, then continued, "Meng Fan has defected to General Lei Hong and Yang Tian, I wonder how you all will choose?"

  After a moment of hesitation, some of the blind followers among the Haotian soldiers shouted: "We swear to follow the general to death!"

  After shouting a few more times, the blindly obedient Haotian soldiers also followed suit and shouted along, their voices growing louder and louder. Because those who could be captured were not hard bones, but "smart people".

  Meng Fan listened to the shouting, and a smile gradually appeared on his face. It seemed that his reputation was still there. Standing behind him, Luo Jie Cheng also had a smile all over his face. His unsealing of martial arts had already succeeded halfway.

  Later, Meng Fan picked out a few people who were relatively articulate to go with him to another detention center to carry out ideological work. In just one morning, he had persuaded all the soldiers, at least on the surface, whether they had surrendered in their hearts or not was unknown.

  It took another afternoon to mix these parachutists into a force of over 10,000 men.