Black Wind Stronghold Makes the Headlines

Train the sinews, bones, and skin outwardly; cultivate a breath of qi within.

If one were to ask what was hardest to cultivate in the Jianghu, it would be a body brimming with powerful inner qi. Without heavenly treasures or divine skills and wondrous methods, inner qi required the slow grind of daily, unceasing practice before results could be seen.

Yet once inner qi was cultivated to an advanced realm, its killing power was also immensely formidable.

Most Jianghu Experts possessed a body of powerful inner qi.

However, because inner qi yielded results slowly, the only way to raise one's combat strength in the early stages of the Jianghu was through external martial arts.

As the saying went: Tai Chi brought peace to the realm through letters, while Bajiquan set the universe in order through martial prowess.

Tai Chi Fist was regarded as an internal art, while Bajiquan was regarded as an external art.

Internal arts mostly focused on nourishing life, with cultivating the heart and temperament as their highest aim.

External arts, on the other hand, focused on fighting others, with training the sinews and bones coming first.

Tai Chi Fist was supremely soft, stillness within motion; Bajiquan was supremely hard, every stance stirring the wind.

Thus Tai Chi was called literary and Bajiquan martial; Tai Chi was yin and Bajiquan yang.

Martial arts were composed precisely of these contradictory yet unified elements—literary and martial, internal and external, hard and soft, yin and yang.

With his current limited circumstances, Jiang Dali's plans for future cultivation were simple: from outside to within, first train external arts, then obtain the "Nine Yang Divine Skill" to cultivate internal strength.

Only by uniting internal and external could he gain a foothold in the Jianghu.

His current focus on external arts was not only because their direct, fierce, and aggressive nature suited his tastes, but also because mastering them might give him a chance to connect them to the next step of his plan.

He had to know that the person he would soon face was Du Dajin of the Dragon Gate Escort Agency.

And Du Dajin was prey long ago targeted by A San, an expert from the Western Regions Vajra Gate sent by Prince Ruyang's Mansion.

A San of the Western Regions Vajra Gate was an exceptionally formidable expert. He had beaten many masters from the six great sects, including Wudang and Shaolin, into retreat, and was a force capable of exchanging blows with Zhang Wuji, the Ming Cult Leader.

His martial arts were typical Vajra Gate external arts. He had mastered the supreme Shaolin external technique, the "Vajra Subduing Demon Divine Power," and his primary martial skills were the fierce Great Strength Vajra Finger and Dragon Claw Hand.

Therefore, according to Jiang Dali's guess, so long as he performed well in the matter of Du Dajin, he might have a chance in the future to come into contact with A San and learn even more formidable external arts.

The moonlight was serene.

Within the courtyard.

As Jiang Dali expended all 100 Potential Points earned from the "Recruiting Soldiers and Buying Horses" mission, along with the 32 Potential Points he had left.

The external art "Iron Cloth Skill," which had been at Realm 3, Slight Accomplishment, immediately leapt two levels, rising directly to Realm 5, Mastery.

He had already cultivated the Iron Cloth Skill to the point of nearly reaching Realm 4, Effortless Proficiency, at roughly eighty percent progress through Realm 3.

Therefore, after consuming 132 Potential Points, this external art rose directly to Realm 5.

Jiang Dali felt that his understanding and familiarity with the Iron Cloth Skill had deepened greatly.

Testing it out, he exerted himself slightly. His feet planted in a stance neither eight nor T, his knees bent faintly. The ground shook, and even the packed earth seemed to tremble lightly.

An intimidating aura suddenly erupted from Jiang Dali's body. His towering frame seemed to grow two feet taller, and beneath his tiger-skin coat was a body forged like fine steel, like an incomparably fierce war machine. His skin instantly shifted from bronze to bluish-black.

"Hah!"

Jiang Dali let out a thunderous roar. The veins on his arms coiled like chains, while his fists seemed forged from iron, carrying a savage sense of steel poured over cast iron. His entire body brimmed with terrifying power.

Maintaining that state, Jiang Dali turned his tiger eyes toward the two bandits trembling nervously by the courtyard gate. He beckoned and growled, "Come here!"

"G-Great Mountain Lord..."

"Please don't, Great Mountain Lord! We're already completely exhausted from accompanying you yesterday."

The two bandit underlings both looked panic-stricken and pale, feeling the wounds on their bodies begin to ache again.

"Quit talking nonsense. Get over here! Stab me with all your strength!"

Jiang Dali roared like a black bear, violently tearing off his tiger-skin coat, his gaze sharp as a blade.

The two bandits looked at one another, then glanced at Jiang Dali's terrifying fists, each as large as a washbasin. Helpless and uneasy, they picked up the pointed iron rods at their sides and crept toward Jiang Dali on tiptoe.

Before long, fierce sounds of collision and pounding rang through the courtyard, mixed with the muffled groans and screams of the two bandit underlings, as well as Jiang Dali's dissatisfied roars.

"Harder! Put some muscle into it! If you can't hurt me today, none of you will eat tomorrow!"

"Hurry up and hit me harder! I'm standing still and letting you hit me, yet you still can't hurt me—useless trash!"

More than ten minutes later.

The two bandit underlings were already sprawled on the ground, panting heavily and drenched in sweat. Their eyes were filled with fear as they looked at the powerful man in the courtyard, broad-shouldered and thick-backed like a black bear. The webbing between their thumbs and forefingers had been shaken into bloody pulp by the intense assault just now.

"You both did fairly well. Drag them away! Reward each of them with two jin of meat to build up their strength."

Jiang Dali looked at the few shallow wounds torn and punctured across his body, nodding in satisfaction.

Several bandits immediately entered from outside. After respectfully saluting Jiang Dali, they dragged the two away.

"Now that the Iron Cloth Skill has reached the level of Mastery, my body's defenses have greatly strengthened. Ordinary people wielding common blades and weapons will find it very difficult to injure me."

Jiang Dali smiled, deeply satisfied. "But if they wield sharp weapons or famous arms, they may still be able to hurt me. Also, certain soft palm techniques in martial arts that use softness to overcome hardness can threaten me as well.

"But Many-Armed Bear Du Dajin knows no soft palm techniques. He might possess a famous weapon or sharp armament, but I still have the Golden Silk Armor protecting me."

He silently summed it all up in his heart.

Jiang Dali was not panicking either.

Du Dajin had not arrived yet.

He still had time to continue improving his strength.

Once the players completed the tasks he assigned, he would also gain some Cultivation Points and Potential Points.

Thus, the players had now become accelerators for his cultivation.

And in a mutually reinforcing cycle, as he constantly issued tasks to guide them, the players would gain Cultivation Points and Potential Points each time they completed a task, rapidly increasing their own strength as well.

This could be called a mutually beneficial, win-win situation. He only needed to maintain his core appeal to these chives and keep them under control.

He put on the Tiger-skin Coat.

Then returned to his room.

Jiang Dali opened the Jianghu Forum to check the commotion on it.

It was only the first day of the open beta. In his memory, the overwhelming majority of players had gained nothing in the Comprehensive Martial World; instead, they had received a brutal beating from the social jianghu.

Only a tiny handful of players had been lucky enough to spawn near major sects or prominent families, giving them the chance to approach those famous sects on the very first day.

On the Jianghu Forum, Jiang Dali indeed saw a scant few lucky fellows who loved showing off, flaunting their adventures that set them apart from the vast majority of players.

A player named Tan Wan Xue Yue had spawned in a village near Black Wood Cliff of the Sun Moon Divine Cult. He had actually been directly abducted by demonic cultists from the Sun Moon Divine Cult who were descending the mountain and taken to Black Wood Cliff to serve as a medicine-gathering boy.

Another player, Mu Rong Tie Zhu, had spawned in Luoyang City. He happened to encounter a talented disciple of the Murong Family passing through Luoyang, who regarded him differently and gave him a few pointers. He immediately gained 50 Cultivation Points, becoming the first publicly revealed player in the Strength Training stage, drawing the envy and jealousy of countless players.

Jiang Dali discovered that his Black Wind Stronghold had become famous this time as well. It had been collectively exposed by players such as Central Plains Eyeing Cracks, attracting the curious attention of quite a few players.

Send some recommendation tickets my way.