"Hahaha, all right."
Meng Tian patted Zhao Cheng on the shoulder. "With your strength, if you didn't hold back, I wouldn't withstand even one of your strikes. This kind of swordsmanship is useless to you. You should stick to your own path of killing with a single stroke to the throat and explore the art of killing with the sword."
"I watched you practice just now. It's already taking shape. You only need a few more battles, and you'll have forged your own school."
Zhao Cheng nodded. "I think so too."
He thought to himself, Tomorrow, when I head to Ye County, I'll make sure to break into the Killing Sword Technique.
The two chatted a little longer before Meng Tian finally said, "I came to help you get acquainted with your subordinates. You're now an Assault Cavalry Commandant, in charge of three thousand Light Cavalry. You have three Captains under your command. One is me, another is He Ping, and the third is named Ying Nian. The two of them are waiting outside right now."
"Let them in."
He Ping and Ying Nian stepped into the tent and bowed solemnly to Zhao Cheng. "Chief Commandant."
He Ping had already met Zhao Cheng before and had gained some understanding of him. Naturally, he now held him in great respect.
Ying Nian, however, had only heard the rumors. Though he knew military achievements couldn't be faked, the stories sounded so outrageous that he couldn't help feeling doubtful. Now, he was sizing Zhao Cheng up.
Seeing the bloodthirsty aura around him flare like a blade as his eyes swept about like an eagle's, Ying Nian couldn't help feeling secretly alarmed.
He had seen plenty of fierce warriors in the army. Unless someone had personally slaughtered over a hundred people, how could they possess such a bloodthirsty aura?
At this point, he believed eight-tenths of the rumors circulating through the army.
Zhao Cheng didn't mind Ying Nian sizing him up. He chatted with the two men for a while, and they became acquainted.
After they went their separate ways, Zhao Cheng looked at the more than 3,600 years of life remaining in the system and decided to continue simulating his cultivation of the Basic Body Refining Technique.
This time, he had plenty of time and wasn't in a hurry. He decided to cultivate in hundred-year increments and adjust his approach according to his progress.
"Invest one hundred years of life in cultivating the Basic Body Refining Technique."
[Beginning to invest life in cultivating the Basic Body Refining Technique.] [Year One: Your Skin Refining progress has reached great completion. Through breathing with your skin, you sense that some kind of energy exists between heaven and earth. It resembles the legendary Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. You find it incredibly mysterious and want to grasp this energy...] ... [Year Ten: Through constant attempts, you can occasionally catch a fleeting wisp of Primordial Qi and absorb it into your body. You feel that as this Primordial Qi enters your body, the strength of the parts of your body containing it rises sharply. But before long, the feeling disappears, leaving you puzzled.] ... [Year Thirty: Through constant attempts, you can finally absorb Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi from time to time. Your body seems to contain an energy far surpassing the strength of your blood and qi, but it is also quickly depleted. It is absorbed with each breath through your skin and dissipates just as quickly.] ... [Year Seventy: You persevere in absorbing Primordial Qi, and it perseveres in leaving you. But during this process, you gradually discover that tiny areas beneath your skin are being washed by the Primordial Qi, becoming ever more resilient.] ... [Year Ninety: You persist in refining your skin through the washing of Primordial Qi. The flaws in many places that your blood and qi couldn't reach are perfected by the Primordial Qi, and your skin becomes increasingly smooth and flawless.] ... [Year One Hundred: You discover that Primordial Qi has endless uses, yet you still have no way to keep it in your body. Fortunately, through your tireless skin refinement with Primordial Qi, you gradually become familiar with the sensation. Each time your whole body breathes, you can absorb more Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. Your recovery ability improves greatly, as does your stamina. You break through the Skin Refining stage and enter the realm of Qi Body Refining!]
As the simulation ended, an itchy, tingling sensation suddenly spread beneath the skin all over Zhao Cheng's body.
The pores across his body opened rapidly. With each breath, wisps of indescribable energy repeatedly flowed through him, then carried away something that seemed to be stagnating and obstructing him.
Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi was entering his body with each breath, rapidly healing his injuries.
At that moment, his entire body felt lighter. Each breath seemed to draw an endless wellspring of strength from the void.
When he took a deep breath and kept that wisp of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi inside his body, he could unleash nearly twice the strength he had before.
But once he unleashed it, that wisp of Primordial Qi was depleted.
"So this is Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi?"
Zhao Cheng closed his eyes and carefully sensed it. Compared with the blood and qi in his body, the amount of Primordial Qi was so faint and thin it was almost imperceptible, like the difference between an iron rod and a strand of hair.
Yet this faint Primordial Qi had such wondrous uses. It could not only greatly increase his strength, but also rapidly heal his injuries.
"No wonder refining Essence Gathering Pills with life in the system costs so much. Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi contains such powerful energy."
"And the reason Skin Refining is so difficult is to temper the skin all over my body to its utmost, then let me sense and use Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi through this kind of breathing."
"Unfortunately, this Primordial Qi can't remain in my body for long. Just like ordinary breathing, I can only temporarily use its energy before it is depleted with each breath."
"How can I keep the Primordial Qi in my body?"
Zhao Cheng racked his brains, but found no answer.
It had taken a century of simulated cultivation just to figure out how to absorb and use a wisp of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. He couldn't possibly find a breakthrough in a short while.
"The method for retaining Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi probably lies in the cultivation method for the next stage, Qi Body Refining."
"Judging by the current situation, the Qi Body Refining stage should gradually make my body more attuned to Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, until it can bear, or even fuse with, that Primordial Qi."
"After that, the main focus of cultivation should be absorbing and retaining Primordial Qi inside my body. That's when Essence Gathering Pills will come in handy."
"There's no use in my refining an Essence Gathering Pill right now. If I swallowed one, its energy would be depleted immediately, and I wouldn't be able to retain any of it. Fortunately, I didn't spend any life refining one."
"Luckily, I still have more than 3,500 years of life to use. I'll keep simulating Qi Body Refining."
Through the long night, Zhao Cheng remained unhurried and invested another hundred years.
[Beginning to invest life in cultivating the Basic Body Refining Technique.] [Year One: You constantly capture the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi you sense, then try to guide it through your pores and into the muscles beneath your skin. But guiding it is extremely difficult. The Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi simply won't obey you and often dissipates in no time.] ... [Year Ten: You still can't guide the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi...] [Year Thirty: You still can't guide the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi...] [Year Seventy: After another forty years of painstaking effort, you still can't guide the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. But after breathing with your whole body for so long, the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi naturally flows deep beneath your skin, tempering the surface layer of your muscles.] ... [Year One Hundred: To your surprise, after a century of persevering with Qi Body Refining, each breath allows you to absorb more Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. What's more, your skin and some of the muscles tempered over a long period can bear more Primordial Qi. Now, each breath lets you contain several times more Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi than you could a century ago!]
Zhao Cheng opened his eyes, a fleeting look of surprise crossing his face.
In a century, he had gained very little. He hadn't even reached the entry level of Qi Body Refining.
But this small gain proved that his approach was right.
"Qi Body Refining really is meant to make my body more attuned to Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, letting it bear more of it through constant tempering until I can store it for a long time, or even fuse with it!"
Even his progress so far had already let Zhao Cheng feel how extraordinary this Primordial Qi was.
He stood up and took a deep breath. Several times more Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi than before flowed through the pores of his body and deep into his flesh and skin.
It was as if some kind of power had been added to the surface of his body. His skin, bolstered by Primordial Qi, grew vastly stronger, and so did his muscles!
He casually threw a punch, and it boomed through the air.
Zhao Cheng lifted the Bronze Sword, took a deep breath, and imbued his flesh and skin with Primordial Qi before bringing the sword down in a slash.
Sss!
The long sword slid off, leaving not a trace on his skin.
It was as if that energy had blocked the blade. His skin hadn't suffered the slightest injury from the force.
"If I could store a large amount of this Primordial Qi in my body, how powerful would I become?"
As the thought crossed his mind, Zhao Cheng simply invested a thousand years of life.
[Invested one thousand years of life in cultivating the Basic Body Refining Technique.] [Year One: You no longer force yourself to guide the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. Instead, you guide your breathing, allowing the Primordial Qi to flow naturally through your body and continually temper your physique.] ... [Year One Hundred: Each breath lets you absorb more Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. It begins to fill your skin and seep into your flesh.] ... [Year Three Hundred: Now, every breath draws a great deal of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi into your body. It flows between your flesh and skin, filling your body with endless strength, but the Primordial Qi still continues to dissipate.] ... [Year Five Hundred: You discover that the amount of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi you can absorb in a single breath has reached a certain limit. Fortunately, most of your muscles have become incredibly attuned to Primordial Qi and can bear more of it.] ... [Year Eight Hundred: After three hundred years of painstaking effort, the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi has begun flowing deep within your body, tempering your deepest muscles and bones. But a great deal of it still keeps dissipating.] ... [Year One Thousand: Your entire body seems to be immersed in Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. Even your internal organs are continually tempered by it. Your physical strength, power, and recovery ability are all worlds apart from before. But what frustrates you is that the Primordial Qi in your body is still constantly dissipating...]
Zhao Cheng opened his eyes, his brows drawing tightly together as heartache seized him.
A thousand years, and the Primordial Qi was still dissipating!?
As he was lamenting his loss, his body instinctively took a deep breath. Vast amounts of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi instantly filled his body, flowing deep into his muscles and between his bones. A wave of bliss spread from within him, as if his internal organs were soaking in a hot spring.
The indescribable sensation made Zhao Cheng's soul tremble.
"Hiss... bliss!"
[Your lifespan has increased by fifty years. Current remaining lifespan: 2525]
"Huh?"
Zhao Cheng was a little bewildered.
His lifespan had increased for no reason?
Wait, could it be that Qi Body Refining had increased his lifespan?
"Is it because the Primordial Qi has begun tempering my internal organs?"
"I've heard that people age because their internal organs gradually decline in function. My previous body refinement never reached the internal organs, so my lifespan never increased through cultivation.
"But now that the Primordial Qi has just begun tempering my internal organs, my lifespan has increased right away."
"That means that even if my lifespan is endless, my internal organs could still keep declining."
"That's no good. Living while young and living while old are completely different."
"And this feeling of power is simply wondrous..."
At that moment, he felt the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi in his body providing an inexhaustible supply of strength.
It was as if a nuclear fusion reactor were inside him, continuously generating energy.
His body felt so good now that he thought he could punch straight through a city wall!
He could charge through enemy ranks for three days and three nights without running out of strength!
In a few days, when he attacked Ye County, if he punched the wall down, wouldn't the enemy soldiers defending it wet themselves in terror?
Before you continue