The day Zhang Desheng was laid to rest.
All the disciples of Changle Martial Arts School had gathered.
Some had trained at the school for only a few months, while others had cultivated there all along.
There were even some who had switched to other martial arts schools halfway through.
This alone showed that Zhang Desheng had possessed excellent character. All his disciples remembered him fondly.
The funeral procession, all dressed in white, numbered several hundred.
The procession stretched a long way.
Nearly a hundred of them were Martial Artists in the Blood Tempering Realm.
It was an exceptionally grand spectacle.
Lu Changfeng, Zhou Feng, and Liu Ye walked at the very front, carrying the coffin toward the city gates.
The various factions of the Outer City were extremely accommodating as well.
Perhaps they had thought of the day when they too would meet the same fate.
They had sent people of their own accord to maintain peace along the funeral route.
Thus, Zhang Desheng's remains were smoothly buried outside the city at Grave Mountain.
The funeral procession dispersed.
Only the three of them remained before the grave.
The martial arts school's land had been bought up by a faction from Qingshan Prefecture, which supposedly intended to open a martial arts school there as well.
The school's servants, including Hua'er, whom Lu Changfeng had brought back earlier, were all dismissed.
With Zhang Desheng's death, the three of them truly had nowhere left to gather.
"I'm planning to venture into Jiangnan Prefecture," Zhou Feng said first.
Hearing this, Lu Changfeng and Liu Ye both wished Zhou Feng good luck.
Zhou Feng offered a cup of wine at his master's grave, then shouldered his bundle, mounted his horse, and left.
With the Silkworm Seed, he might not be unable to advance into the Muscle Tendon Realm in the future and restore the school's prestige.
"Junior Brother, why don't you come work as an Attendant for my Liu Family? The treatment definitely won't be a problem." Liu Ye looked at Lu Changfeng and extended an invitation.
After swallowing up the Liu Family's businesses,
the Liu Family had the means to hire another Attendant.
Especially since Lu Changfeng was his fellow disciple, someone whose background and abilities he knew well, with powerful talent and a bright future.
If Lu Changfeng could come work as an Attendant for the Liu Family, it would truly be ideal.
Lu Changfeng declined Liu Ye's kindness. "I have no plans to do that for the time being."
"I want to spend some time cultivating in seclusion first."
Liu Ye nodded in understanding. Since Master Zhang Desheng had left no children or descendants, all the assets he had left before his death had been divided among his three Personal Disciples.
With those assets, given Lu Changfeng's talent, he might be able to advance to a higher level very soon.
And so, Lu Changfeng and Liu Ye also parted ways before the grave.
Lu Changfeng returned to his Small Courtyard.
He began a life of secluded cultivation.
Spring passed and autumn came.
Lu Changfeng immersed himself in cultivation.
In the blink of an eye,
a year and a half passed.
That year, Lu Changfeng turned eighteen.
It was another clear summer.
Unexpectedly, Fengcheng had remained peaceful.
In the third month of Lu Changfeng's secluded cultivation,
the Xuanming Cult of neighboring Qingshan Prefecture suddenly organized a large army and launched a surprise attack southward against the cities of Jiangnan Prefecture, taking two cities in succession.
The Prefect of Jiangnan Prefecture was enraged and organized troops for a counterattack, but it ended in failure. Instead, the Xuanming Cult seized another city.
There were rumors that the strength of Xuanming Cult Leader Li Tianxing had already reached the strongest level among all the previous leaders of the Xuanming Cult.
In a private duel with the Prefect of Jiangnan Prefecture, he had severely wounded the Prefect!
The Prefect of Jiangnan Prefecture sent an envoy to request aid from Yunyang Prefecture.
But on the Yunyang Prefecture side, the Prefect's attitude was extremely ambiguous. He verbally agreed to send troops, but in reality kept delaying on the excuse that mobilizing provisions and supplies would take time.
After dragging things out until now, the Prefect of Jiangnan Prefecture had already held a Jiangnan Martial Arts Gathering within Jiangnan Prefecture, summoning all people of spirit in the Jiangnan region to resist the great enemy from Qingshan Prefecture together.
Yet the world was now in chaos.
Seeing the sects and factions of the other prefectures raise armies in rebellion, the Jiangnan martial world had begun making plans of its own as well.
Thus, although the Jiangnan martial world was powerful, the Jiangnan Martial Arts Gathering seemed to have little effect.
The Royal Family in the Capital Region still wore the same expression of watching the world descend into chaos from the sidelines. But everyone had already seen the Royal Family's weakness. It no longer possessed the ability to alter the course of the world.
The Xuanming Cult and Jiangnan Prefecture went to war.
The ones who benefited most were the cities bordering Yunyang Prefecture and Qingshan Prefecture, including Fengcheng.
There had previously been rumors that the Xuanming Cult intended to move against Yunyang Prefecture.
Now that the two sides had gone to war, the shadow of war hanging over Fengcheng naturally dispersed.
Fengcheng even regained some of its vitality. The nobles of the Inner City had gone so far as to provide funds to gather the vagrants from the Outer City and enlist them into the City Guard.
Half a year into his secluded cultivation, Lu Changfeng successfully broke through to the Blood Tempering Fifth Level.
During that period, he had also successfully cultivated [Mount Le's Wrathful Vajra] to perfection, raising his cultivation speed by another notch.
With the supply of Silkworm Seeds as well,
Lu Changfeng broke through again a year later, reaching the Blood Tempering Sixth Level!
At this point, the blood flowing through Lu Changfeng's entire body surged with the majesty of mountains!
Lu Changfeng could sense that the blood in his body was beginning to condense into another kind of power—Internal Energy!
However, the transformation from Blood Tempering to the Muscle Tendon Realm was irreversible.
Lu Changfeng was only eighteen, so he wanted to continue improving his Blood Tempering Realm before breaking through into the Muscle Tendon Realm.
The higher one's Blood Tempering Realm, the stronger one's foundation would be after entering the Muscle Tendon Realm. This was common knowledge.
Besides, although his master Zhang Desheng had left behind a Muscle Tendon cultivation method,
Lu Changfeng felt that its grade was somewhat lacking. Finding a suitable Muscle Tendon cultivation method had become an urgent matter as well.
Muscle Tendon cultivation methods could be distinguished by the number of tendons altered during the first Muscle Tendon transformation.
The number of tendons in the human body was countless.
A Muscle Tendon cultivation method selected routes through the tendons in the body, forming a circuit of circulation. Once the circuit was established, the breakthrough was considered complete.
After that, cultivation centered on this circuit, constantly expanding the number of meridians in the body and improving the quality and quantity of Internal Energy.
His master's cultivation method required tempering eighteen tendons during the initial breakthrough into the Muscle Tendon Realm to form a circuit. In terms of the number of tendons, this was below average.
That Muscle Tendon cultivation method could nevertheless be considered mid-grade.
However, according to Lu Changfeng's understanding,
some high-grade Muscle Tendon cultivation methods formed their initial circuits with twenty or thirty tendons. Though cultivation methods of this level placed demands on one's natural constitution and were difficult to cultivate,
Lu Changfeng had great confidence in his own natural constitution and talent.
Moreover, the Internal Energy produced by a high-grade Muscle Tendon cultivation method was also stronger.
Therefore, Lu Changfeng would not give up on his plan to obtain a high-grade Muscle Tendon cultivation method.
Over that year and a half, Lu Changfeng had not wasted his more than ten replication opportunities either.
The interface before Lu Changfeng, as well as his own strength, had undergone earth-shaking changes.
Name: Lu Changfeng Natural Constitution: Grade A Upper Talents: High-grade Talent [Swordsman], High-grade Talent [Flying Swallow], High-grade Talent [Fist Martial], High-grade Talent [Blade Supremacy], Low-grade Talent: Palm Technique. Realm: Blood Tempering Sixth Level Blood Tempering Cultivation Method: [Mount Le's Wrathful Vajra] Perfected Martial Arts: [Gale Sword Technique] Perfected, [Blood Burst Steps] Perfected, [Antelope Dodge Method] Perfected, [Falling Leaf Saber Technique] Perfected. Martial Arts Insight: Fierce Wind Sword Intent (Primary Sword Intent) (Martial art power increased by 50%) Replication Interval: 31 days.
After Human Truncheon Liu Hong, under Lu Changfeng's meticulous care, helped Lu Changfeng's Blade Technique Talent break through to the high-grade level, Lu Changfeng finally sent him home to rest in peace.
As for his remaining replication opportunities, Lu Changfeng was not picky. He directly copied Chun Zhu's and Black Ox's talents, raising his Fist Technique Talent to [Fist Martial].
He raised his movement technique talent to [Flying Swallow].
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