Ying Zheng Explores Zhao Cheng's Past, A Life's Story Reflects in the Emperor's Heart

Ding!

A crisp sound rang out, and a notch the size of a fingernail instantly appeared where the Great Halberd's edge had been rolled.

The break was smooth, as if the metal were tofu sliced by a blade.

Zhao Cheng hadn't even used any force, yet the Precision Cast Great Halberd had already suffered a small fracture.

"Hiss..."

"My Great Halberd!"

He had assumed that with such a small amount of force, it would at most leave a slight dent. Who could have known that the quality of this Primordial Qi was so immense that the Precision Cast Great Halberd would crumble upon the slightest touch?

And this was merely with Primordial Qi covering his fingertips; if he were to fully unleash this level of Primordial Qi...

Zhao Cheng found it hard to imagine what kind of terrifying power that would be.

Seeing that the century of cultivation had proceeded without any mishaps, he decided to simply commit a millennium of cultivation to it.

"Commit one thousand years to refining the Thoroughfare Vessel Primordial Qi."

[Beginning to commit lifespan to refine Primordial Qi.]

[Year 1: Through the Star Observation Meridian Method, you refine the Thoroughfare Vessel Primordial Qi. As the Primordial Qi is continuously refined, every breath you take now draws in a thousand times more Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi into your body than before...]

[Year 500: The mist-like Primordial Qi within your Thoroughfare Vessel has transformed into wisps, occupying ten percent of the vessel...]

[Year 1,000: Through constant, patient effort, the mist-like Primordial Qi within your Thoroughfare Vessel has filled twenty percent of the vessel...]

"Only twenty percent?"

Zhao Cheng opened his eyes, feeling that the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi he had absorbed over this millennium was endless, yet after refinement, it only filled twenty percent of his Thoroughfare Vessel?

Fortunately, he still had over forty-eight thousand years of lifespan remaining. Following this rate, filling the Thoroughfare Vessel would be easy enough.

With that thought, Zhao Cheng committed another three thousand years.

[Beginning to commit lifespan to refine Primordial Qi.]

[Year 1: You continue to refine the Thoroughfare Vessel Primordial Qi, and the mist-like Primordial Qi increases steadily...]

[Year 3,000: After thousands of years of absorption and refinement, your Thoroughfare Vessel is filled with faint, mist-like Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. You suddenly sense that there are several critical locations where the Thoroughfare Vessel intersects with other Meridians. You believe these to be Acupoints, and you begin to explore them...]

"Commit another three thousand years to cultivation."

[Continuing to commit lifespan to cultivation.]

[Year 3,953: The mist-like Primordial Qi becomes increasingly refined. During constant circulation, you notice that the Sea of Qi Acupoint, where the Thoroughfare Vessel and Conception Vessel intersect, has loosened. You begin to guide the Primordial Qi to strike the Sea of Qi Acupoint...]

[Year 4,375: Your Primordial Qi breaks through the Sea of Qi Acupoint. A massive amount of mist-like Primordial Qi surges into the Sea of Qi Acupoint, and while being stored there, it forms a Primordial Qi vortex.

The Primordial Qi vortex operates autonomously, absorbing Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi at high speed every moment. Even without you performing breathing exercises, it continues to absorb Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi at an incredible rate. Your speed of absorbing Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi has increased by another thousand times.

At the same time, you discover that the refinement speed of the Primordial Qi within the Sea of Qi Acupoint has become extremely fast, and both the transmission speed and explosive power of the Primordial Qi have significantly improved.

Furthermore, because the Sea of Qi Acupoint intersects with the Conception Vessel, the refined Primordial Qi can reach the Conception Vessel directly, connecting the upper and lower body.]

[Year 5,685: The Primordial Qi vortex in your Sea of Qi Acupoint rapidly refines the mist-like Primordial Qi, and the Primordial Qi gradually transforms from a faint mist into a dense fog...]

[Year 6,000: You discover that the higher the quality of the Primordial Qi, the easier it is to strike Acupoints during circulation. After breaking through the Sea of Qi Acupoint, within just a few years, you successively sense several other Acupoints loosening. You begin to strike the other Acupoints...]

At this moment, in the outside world.

Zhao Cheng felt the Sea of Qi Acupoint, located an inch and a half below his navel—a spot he had previously been unable to perceive at all—suddenly expand infinitely.

The massive amount of mist-like Primordial Qi that had filled his Thoroughfare Vessel surged into it, transformed into a Primordial Qi vortex, and began to spin rapidly.

Externally, the Sea of Qi Acupoint appeared to be no larger than a fingertip, yet it was capable of storing a vast amount of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. All the Thoroughfare Vessel Primordial Qi he had refined over thousands of years occupied only a small corner of it.

Moreover, this Primordial Qi vortex operated on its own; it required no breathing exercises or manipulation from him, absorbing Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi every single second.

The efficiency of this absorption was far greater than when he performed breathing exercises himself.

The speed of Primordial Qi refinement within it was also incredibly fast; the dense, fog-like Primordial Qi inside was now countless times more powerful than before.

This fully automated, high-speed absorption of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi made Zhao Cheng feel as though he had stepped out of the era of swinging a sledgehammer and into the age of the steam engine, successfully liberating his productive forces.

The more Acupoints like this, the better!

One Acupoint automatically absorbing and refining Primordial Qi for a day was nearly equivalent to a month of his previous breathing exercises—and that was even considering the speed of his refined Primordial Qi.

If he could open a few more Acupoints, he could achieve automated, idle cultivation even without performing breathing exercises. Could there be anything more comfortable than this?

Zhao Cheng continued to invest three thousand years.

[Commencing lifespan investment to breach Acupoints.]

[In the first year, the vortex of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi within your Sea of Qi Acupoint began to rotate autonomously. As the mist-like Primordial Qi increased, it continuously condensed into a denser state, surging out of the Acupoint to strike at other loosened Acupoints along the Thoroughfare Vessel...]

[In the thirtieth year, relying on the dense mist-like Primordial Qi within the vortex, you easily breached the Four Fullness Acupoint where the Thoroughfare Vessel intersects with the Lesser Yin Meridian. The dense mist-like Primordial Qi entered the Four Fullness Acupoint, forming a new vortex of Primordial Qi, and your cultivation efficiency doubled once more...]

[In the fiftieth year, you breached the Great Manifestation Acupoint where the Thoroughfare Vessel intersects with the Lesser Yin Meridian; your cultivation efficiency increased!]

[In the one-hundredth year, you successively breached the Central Injection Acupoint, the Vital Gate Acupoint, and the Pubic Bone Acupoint where the Thoroughfare Vessel intersects with the Lesser Yin Meridian; your cultivation efficiency increased significantly!]

[In the one-hundred and tenth year, you breached the Qi Surge Acupoint where the Thoroughfare Vessel intersects with the Yang Brightness Meridian; your cultivation efficiency increased slightly...]

[In the one-hundred and thirtieth year, you once again breached the two major Acupoints where the Thoroughfare Vessel intersects with the Conception Vessel; both the Pass Origin Acupoint and the Central Pole Acupoint formed new vortices of Primordial Qi.

At this point, all ten Acupoints where the Thoroughfare Vessel intersects with other Meridians had formed vortices of Primordial Qi for automatic cultivation. Your cultivation speed was now worlds apart from before; one day of automatic cultivation was equivalent to several years of bitter breathing exercises in the past.]

[In the one-thousandth year, amidst the constant, massive absorption of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi by the vortices, your Sea of Qi Acupoint was finally filled with dense, mist-like Primordial Qi. When this mist-like Primordial Qi condensed to its limit, the first drop of jade-like True Essence was born...]

[In the two-thousandth year, your other ten major Acupoints were successively filled with Primordial Qi, which you condensed to the limit, forming jade-like True Essence...]

[In the three-thousandth year, all ten Acupoints of the Thoroughfare Vessel stored a small amount of liquid True Essence; the least occupied half a percent of the Acupoint, while the most had already occupied thirty percent.]

[Deduction complete.]

[Your lifespan has increased by one thousand years.]

The moment Zhao Cheng opened his eyes, a tsunami-like tremor erupted from the ten Acupoints of his Thoroughfare Vessel. An invisible ring of air rippled outward with him at the center, sending a multitude of items within the large tent flying.

True Essence surged like a dragon, echoing violently within his body.

As the vortices of Primordial Qi spun at high speed, endless Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi swarmed in, allowing his True Essence to circulate through his limbs and bones countless times in an instant.

"True Essence..."

Zhao Cheng felt the changes within his body; the sensation was beyond description.

The ten major Acupoints were now like ten suns, providing him with endless energy.

He picked up his Great Halberd, and True Essence flowed naturally into his arms as he slashed down into the air.

Hiss!

As if tearing through the air itself, a gale of blade-energy extended from the edge of the halberd, carving a gash of unknown depth into the ground that stretched over a yard long.

Yet, the shaft of the Great Halberd emitted a faint, crisp cracking sound before suddenly becoming riddled with fissures and shattering completely.

Zhao Cheng was stunned; this had been but a casual strike.

The Precision Cast Great Halberd could no longer withstand his power.

"Very well, I shall forge a Treasure Halberd first."

With that thought, Zhao Cheng consumed ten thousand years of his lifespan to forge a Treasure Halberd directly.

As he took hold of the Treasure Halberd, he could immediately feel the difference from the Precision Cast version.

Although it was not as mighty or ferocious as a divine weapon like the Painted Halberd, it was covered in dense cloud patterns, shimmered with flowing light, and could slice through iron as if it were mud.

Subsequently, Zhao Cheng consumed another seven thousand years of cultivation to fill all ten major Acupoints with jade-like True Essence.

Every movement he made now carried the sound of wind and thunder; he could slay a dragon or an elephant with a flick of his hand!

The next day, the Qin Army broke camp and marched toward Wan City.

Zhao Cheng stood on the city wall holding his halberd, gazing toward Wan City. The fierce wind whipped against his Gilded Scale Armor, blowing his hair back and making him appear all the more heroic and extraordinary.

The Qin Army below watched from afar as if beholding a god, their morale soaring like a rainbow.

In the rear hall of Zhangtai Palace.

Ying Zheng sat behind his desk, uncharacteristically not attending to official documents. He stared at the hall doors, lost in thought.

Suddenly, his gaze sharpened.

He saw Dun Ruo walking quickly into the hall with several Black Ice Terrace secret agents. They bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I have brought back the background of Zhao Cheng."

Ying Zheng's expression remained calm. "Present it."

Dun Ruo stepped forward and presented the compiled intelligence report.

Ying Zheng took the report and tossed it onto the desk with a casual flick of his wrist.

"Very well, you may all withdraw."

"Yes."

Dun Ruo breathed a secret sigh of relief, keeping his head bowed as he retreated toward the palace exit.

Suddenly, Ying Zheng spoke up again, "Dun Ruo, stay."

Dun Ruo's entire body stiffened, and he stood obediently waiting at the foot of the dais.

Ying Zheng spent a while longer processing other documents before finally opening the report regarding Zhao Cheng.

"Zhao Cheng, a commoner of Huaiyang Village. His mother is Lady Zhang; his biological father is unknown, suspected to be a nobleman who drifted into Huaiyang Village..."

Upon reading this, Ying Zheng immediately furrowed his brows and questioned Dun Ruo, "I ordered you to investigate his life and background clearly. How is it that you haven't even uncovered who his biological father is?"

Dun Ruo felt as if he were facing a formidable enemy, thinking to himself: It's here! The life-threatening question is here!

He knelt on the ground and replied respectfully, "When this subject investigated, I discovered that this nobleman's status was extraordinary. He was likely a descendant of a great clan within the Qin State or perhaps a high-ranking official of military merit. The matter was handled with extreme cleanliness, leaving no traces to follow. It is truly impossible to investigate further."

Ying Zheng watched Dun Ruo quietly, then suddenly chuckled, "You are quite clever."

Dun Ruo was filled with trepidation, "This subject dares not act clever, and even less dares to deceive the King."

Ying Zheng smiled, "You know the laws of the Qin State are strict, and since this matter involves the nobility, you feared it would make things difficult for This Lonely One, so you simply stopped investigating, is that it?"

Dun Ruo kowtowed, "This subject dares not. Since Your Majesty commanded me to investigate, I must exhaust my efforts and do my utmost. It is truly a case of being unable to reach the goal; I beg Your Majesty to punish me."

Ying Zheng breathed a secret sigh of relief, "Very well, this is not your fault, so why speak of punishment?

The internal situation of the Qin State was complex back then, and illegitimate children of great clans were not uncommon.

Moreover, although this common woman committed a fault, she can be considered to have birthed a fierce general like Zhao Cheng for the Qin State, so there is no need to pursue her."

"As for that nobleman..."

Ying Zheng's expression became complex, "Concealing this matter was likely done to repay the common woman for saving his life. Such things are of little consequence, so there is no need to investigate further. The main focus should be on the child's life and temperament, and whether he is worthy of being put to great use."

Dun Ruo felt as if he had been granted a pardon, "Thank you, Your Majesty. However, Your Majesty, that common woman passed away from illness three years ago."

Ying Zheng was momentarily dazed upon hearing this, but he quickly returned to his usual composure.

"Is that so..."

He did not speak again, instead lowering his head to read through Zhao Cheng's life story.

This biography was written in great detail.

Ying Zheng read it with equal focus.

Between the lines, he seemed to see that lonely, destitute youth growing up wildly in the countryside.

He labored strenuously in the fields, galloped wantonly through the mountains and wilderness, struggled to raise his small self into adulthood, and gradually revealed his burgeoning talent...