Wrathful Mountain Skill

The Martial Skill known as Wrathful Mountain Skill had a relatively simple, straightforward cultivation method.

Moreover, due to its great age, there were exceedingly few scriptures or annotations available for reference.

There was not much point in Zhao Hongming remaining in the Martial Repository Pavilion.

He had previously received the Jian'an Emperor's permission to borrow any martial arts manuals from the first and second floors at will.

Thus, after obtaining Wrathful Mountain Skill, he did not linger in the repository. He took the parchment scroll straight back to his Clear Breeze Pavilion and studied it carefully.

According to the parchment, Wrathful Mountain Skill could consume Qi and Blood to instantly increase muscular strength, adding another forty to fifty percent to one's power.

It was truly astonishing.

The Martial Warrior who created Wrathful Mountain Skill had considered that this purely consumptive use of Qi and Blood would greatly harm the human body. Thus, he had proceeded step by step and divided this Martial Skill into five stages.

This allowed practitioners to decide, based on their own Physique, how far they wished to cultivate it.

After cultivating the Eight Desolations Eternal Youth Technique and receiving Chen Xuerong's guidance, Zhao Hongming had now accumulated a certain foundation of martial knowledge.

Wrathful Mountain Skill did not contain much obscure or difficult material, so he could fully comprehend it at his current level.

Once he confirmed there were no mistakes, Zhao Hongming did not hesitate and immediately began cultivating.

Unlike move-based Martial Skills such as Heaven and Earth Severing Slash and Mountain Shaking Fist, Wrathful Mountain Skill was a Martial Skill centered on the circulation of breath.

Thus, Zhao Hongming did not need to practice outdoors.

He sat cross-legged on his bed, regulating his breath and circulating his qi according to the qi sigil pathways described in Wrathful Mountain Skill.

He first needed to master the route by which Qi and Blood was expended.

The underlying principle behind Wrathful Mountain Skill's explosive consumption was easy to understand.

It was simply a matter of forcibly transporting and gathering the Qi and Blood throughout one's body into a single location. Then, like a balloon, one accumulated more and more power, blowing it larger and larger, before piercing it in an instant and detonating all the power stored within the Qi and Blood at one point, achieving an unexpected effect.

The ultimate force of that explosion depended on two factors. The first was the depth of the user's Qi and Blood.

If one's Qi and Blood was naturally thin, then the power accumulated would be insufficient, and the balloon would not be large enough. Naturally, it would have little might. The opposite was true if one's Qi and Blood was abundant.

The other factor was the strength of the user's flesh and blood.

If a practitioner's flesh and blood were not strong enough, then while accumulating Qi and Blood, before the power had gathered to a satisfactory degree, their flesh and blood would be unable to endure it. The balloon would be too fragile and burst prematurely, greatly diminishing its power.

Wrathful Mountain Skill had been created far too long ago. It only proposed the basic concept and found a method for gathering and accumulating Qi and Blood. As for enhancing the user's flesh and blood strength, it had yet to find a superior solution, relying entirely on the practitioner's innate foundation.

Its five stages were likewise divided according to how much Qi and Blood could be accumulated without rupturing.

Zhao Hongming had already grasped these theories thoroughly. He focused his attention and cultivated with single-minded concentration. Before long, the information under the Martial Skill section of Heaven's Reward Martial Arts Panel changed.

Martial Skills: Heaven and Earth Severing Slash—Seventh Layer (700/700), Eight Desolations Secret Travel (2100/X), Mountain Shaking Fist—Eighteenth Layer (180/180), Wrathful Mountain Skill—Not Yet Initiated (1/100)

Only 100 points?

Zhao Hongming estimated inwardly. His Physique had now improved, and an hour of hard cultivation could raise it by 20 points.

That meant that without assistance from external items such as Wish Stones, he would only need five hours of hard cultivation to master this Martial Skill. To cultivate it fully, four or five days would be enough.

He did not delay.

Time passed bit by bit.

Five hours later, Zhao Hongming had practiced the method of transporting Qi and Blood several hundred times. On the Attribute Panel's breakthrough-available section, the information for Wrathful Mountain Skill had appeared.

Zhao Hongming was thoroughly familiar with the process and directly commanded, "Break through!"

With Heaven's Reward's enhancement, Wrathful Mountain Skill rose to the first stage without encountering the slightest bottleneck.

After breaking through, he discovered that he could now effortlessly mobilize the Qi and Blood throughout his entire body, reaching the perfect state recorded on the parchment.

Zhao Hongming opened his eyes. With a thought, he transported his Qi and Blood into both arms.

In an instant, the muscles of his arms bulged high, twisted and knotted like tree roots, while his upper body became extraordinarily robust.

"So this is what Wrathful Mountain Skill looks like when used?"

Zhao Hongming felt his arms swell with unbearable soreness, as though some force were trying to burst from his body.

Then, he seemed to think of something.

He clenched both hands into fists and circulated the mental method of Mountain Shaking Fist.

Immediately, countless dense blood spots appeared across his arms, turning from red to black.

Zhao Hongming found that the swelling ache in his arms instantly dissipated, and the urge for that force to burst out of his body vanished as well.

It could work!

Zhao Hongming was overjoyed.

To increase Wrathful Mountain Skill's power, the strength of one's flesh and blood was a crucial factor, entirely dependent on the practitioner's own foundation.

But he remembered that Mountain Shaking Fist possessed the ability to strengthen flesh and blood.

So, merely intending to give it a try, he had not expected it to produce results.

These two Martial Skills could be used together.

"Not enough. Still not enough."

Zhao Hongming dispersed the Qi and Blood gathered in his arms and turned instead to cultivating the next level of the Wrathful Mountain Skill.

A few days later, earthshaking news reached Daliang.

The Red River Palace Master of Chu Country had appeared at South Suppression Pass. By his strength alone, he had breached the pass and slain four Innate Rank 8 generals of Wei Country in succession.

The Wei Army suffered a crushing defeat, its force of ten thousand utterly wiped out.

Within days, General Cen had lost seventeen southern cities.

The court had broadly anticipated such an outcome, but no one had expected the situation to deteriorate so quickly.

Qianqing Palace.

The Jian'an Emperor, Zhao Yongxu, sat before his desk, his expression exceptionally calm. Staring at Minister of War Yu Hezheng, he said, "Junior Guardian Yu, what is your view on General Cen's actions? I have already received many memorials calling for me to hold him accountable."

Yu Hezheng hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, absolutely not. Replacing a general in the midst of battle is a great taboo in warfare."

Having said that, he took a letter from his robes. "In truth, before dispatching his troops, General Cen gave this humble servant a letter, instructing me to deliver it to Your Majesty should the Wei-Chu war take an unfavorable turn."

"Present it."

Feng Dabao, standing nearby, quickly walked down, inspected the letter, and after confirming there was nothing wrong with it, presented it to the Jian'an Emperor.

After reading it, the Jian'an Emperor Zhao Yongxu burst into laughter. "General Cen is indeed General Cen. He has some tricks up his sleeve. Pass this letter on to the ministers and let them have a look as well."

"Yes."

Feng Dabao circulated the letter among the people in court.

Cen Xiu's letter was very simple. He knew that against Chu Country's fierce advance, coupled with the Crimson Palace Master having already broken through to the Creation Realm, meeting their edge head-on would surely lead to defeat.

Thus, he had fortified the walls and cleared the fields, yielded more than a dozen cities, then split his forces into smaller units to weave around and penetrate behind the enemy, trading space for opportunity.

If he carried out such a strategy, there would inevitably be people at court impeaching him. That was why he had left this letter, hoping Zhao Yongxu would not heed the slander of petty men.

Zhao Yongxu asked, "How are things on the Eastern Army's side?"

"General Feng has made preliminary contact with Zhao Country, but they have not yet formally begun besieging cities."

"And Qi Country?"

"News came back today. Qi Country's great general Sun Ji has already assembled a large army and will go to war before long."

Zhao Yongxu said, "Good. Once the Eastern Army has freed up its hands, General Cen's pressure will lessen somewhat."

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