Before dawn.
A new day had arrived, and Lin Ze immediately summoned the four Death Soldiers reflected by the Bronze Mirror.
He had them begin cultivating.
Although he could now borrow their strength through the Proxy Function, the Death Soldiers themselves still needed to grow stronger. Only then could they extend the duration of their Proxy State.
For convenience, Lin Ze had moved out of the inn and found a house with a courtyard in Fire Wolf Town to stay in temporarily.
Otherwise, if strangers kept appearing in his room every day, the innkeeper would surely grow suspicious.
The faint morning light streamed through the window and spilled across the room. Tiny motes danced in the sunlight, giving it shape.
A beam of sunlight fell on Lin Ze, refracted through a prism and cast across the pale green Dou Qi.
With each breath Lin Ze took, the surrounding Wind Attribute Dou Qi flowed into him.
When his night of cultivation was over, Lin Ze slowly opened his eyes.
He raised his hand and felt the pale green Dou Qi within his palm. A smile spread across his face.
"One night of cultivation, and I've converted all the Dou Qi in my body into Wind Attribute Dou Qi. I even made a little progress."
The improvement wasn't much, but Lin Ze was quite satisfied.
After all, being able to feel himself improving was a positive reinforcement that encouraged him to keep pushing forward.
The most terrifying thing was cultivating for decades yet never making progress. That feeling could truly drive a person mad.
Lin Ze got out of bed. The Wind Attribute Dou Qi within him made his body feel a little lighter.
He moved around for a bit and found himself much quicker and more agile than the day before.
Lin Ze glanced at A-Er and the others in the room, wondering how he should assign the Death Soldiers.
There were three Death Soldiers in Qingshan Town, two near the Magical Beast Mountain Range outside Fire Wolf Town, and five by his side.
After thinking it over, Lin Ze sent one to join the Hunting Squad in Fire Wolf Town, forming a Three-person Hunting Squad.
It was barely a functional team: two would handle the main attack, while the third would provide support and scout ahead.
The rest would stay by his side to protect him while working hard to cultivate.
Come to think of it, the number of Death Soldiers had now reached ten.
Based on the description of Resonance, he should have gained a Cultivation Speed Buff of one-thousandth by now, right?
But the buff felt like it was doing something, yet also like it wasn't.
Lin Ze even suspected that the feeling of it working might be nothing more than a placebo effect.
After all, one-thousandth was a pretty tiny amount.
It was hard to notice any difference.
At the current rate of one new Death Soldier per day, it would take more than twenty days to reach a one-percent Cultivation Speed Bonus.
"Never mind. At least I'm improving a little every day."
Lin Ze stopped dwelling on the meager improvement and began practicing the Dou Skill he had obtained the day before.
Forest Piercing Movement Technique, a Wind Attribute Yellow Tier High-Grade Dou Technique.
Back when he was at the Dou Qi stage, Lin Ze had also learned a Blade Dou Technique and a Fist Dou Technique.
The Blade Dou Technique was Wind Splitting Blade, a Yellow Tier High-Grade Dou Technique.
The Fist Dou Technique was Boom Fist, also a Yellow Tier High-Grade Dou Technique.
Although none of them were Xuan Tier Dou Techniques, they were among the best of the Yellow Tier Dou Techniques.
After all, Lin Ze's parents had run a Mercenary Group with dozens, even over a hundred, members at its peak.
Given that, the Dou Skills Lin Ze had learned were above average among ordinary people.
Recalling the Forest Piercing Dou Technique's training method, which he had reviewed through A-Da, Lin Ze set up a few obstacles in the Small Courtyard and began practicing.
After cultivating Wind Attribute Dou Qi, his movements had become much more agile.
If he had tried to practice at the Dou Qi stage, it would have been much harder, and he would probably have suffered quite a bit.
Now, although Lin Ze only just managed to dodge the obstacles each time, he never actually ran into one.
That afternoon, Lin Ze stopped practicing, drenched in sweat.
He stripped down until he was wearing only his underwear, went over to the water vat, lifted out a large bucket of water, and poured it over himself from head to toe.
"Refreshing!"
Lin Ze exclaimed, feeling exhilarated.
Rinsing off all that sweat with cold water after practicing left him feeling invigorated and relaxed.
As long as he kept improving bit by bit every day, the day he could settle accounts with the Wolf Head Mercenary Group would draw closer and closer!
Lin Ze wiped his face, his eyes dark and distant.
"By my count, it's been a day. The Death Soldiers who tried entering Proxy State yesterday should have all recovered by now."
Lin Ze dried himself off and returned to his room. He sat cross-legged and entered a state of cultivation.
He had stopped practicing only after exhausting his Dou Qi, so cultivating now would be more effective.
After spending some time replenishing most of his Dou Qi, Lin Ze began testing a new use for the Proxy Function that he had thought up.
Speeding up his practice of Dou Skills!
The Proxy Function allowed a Death Soldier to temporarily receive the Mirror Master's reflection and act on his behalf, wielding the Mirror Master's power.
Since it was a reflection, the strength a Death Soldier wielded in Proxy State would inevitably match Lin Ze's current strength.
In that case, Lin Ze could use Proxy State to practice Dou Skills!
Other people might be able to perform a Dou Skill only a dozen times before running out of Dou Qi and needing to recover.
But Lin Ze had ten Death Soldiers acting on his behalf. Even if each one's Proxy State didn't last long, he could still practice faster than other people!
He decided to try it right away!
As he entered a state of cultivation, Lin Ze began controlling A-Da, who was far away in Qingshan Town.
His Soul Perception was powerful, and he had gradually learned to divide his attention between two things.
His main body maintained a shallow state of cultivation, while most of his focus was on the Death Soldier.
By now, A-Da and the other two had upgraded their equipment, and their outfits had changed.
Each wore a suit of Leather Armor and carried a Broad-Backed Saber, along with a few handy tools for surviving in the mountains.
Lin Ze had no habit of leaving a treasure trove unused. Since he had obtained the Gold Deposit Card, he might as well put the funds to good use.
Equipping each Death Soldier would help them hunt Magical Beasts more effectively and accelerate their growth.
When Lin Ze took control of A-Da's body, the three of them were staking out a wolf-like Magical Beast.
Its blue-gray fur was somewhat scruffy, and its body looked rather old.
A lone wolf like this might have been abandoned and driven away by its pack because it had grown too old.
That was exactly what gave the three of them their opportunity.
This was the first time A-Da and the others had tried hunting a real Magical Beast.
Before this, they had only roamed the outer reaches of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, where they dealt with ordinary beasts.
Controlling A-Da's body, Lin Ze swung the Broad-Backed Saber in his hand, getting used to how the body felt.
The control function had two modes for controlling a Death Soldier.
One was full control, which let him experience all of the Death Soldier's senses. He could feel touch, taste, and even pain, allowing him to fight more effectively.
The other was like controlling a character in a video game. He could still control the Death Soldier, but couldn't experience its senses.
Lin Ze called the second mode Semi-control. It had its advantages, of course.
For instance, when A-Da and the others restored their energy by eating raw flesh, Lin Ze would switch to Semi-control if he was in control of them.
After all, that flesh hadn't been cooked, so it was easy to imagine how it tasted.
Another situation was if a Death Soldier was captured and tortured, or seriously injured and in great pain. In those cases, Lin Ze could also switch to Semi-control.
Once he had gotten used to the body, Lin Ze waved his hand, and the three of them slowly approached the gray wolf Magical Beast.
The hunt began!
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