Someone Came to Join

Time flew by in the blink of an eye, and several days passed.

"Not bad, not bad!"

"Your performance has been very good!"

At three quarters past the hour of the Dragon in the morning, Zhang Xianzhong stood smiling on one side of the courtyard, offering rare praise to the dozen or so youths training diligently before him. "Especially you four—Li Dingguo, Ai Nengqi, Liu Wenxiu, and Zhang Huier. You truly have not disappointed me."

He looked approvingly at the four monstrously talented youths who had received five days of personal instruction from him. "Your stance training has entered the gate, and you have become quite proficient with Tiger Roar Fist. Within the next day or two, your stance training should drive the qi and blood throughout your bodies, forming Qi and Blood Power in your meridians and allowing you to step into the Martial Artist Realm."

"Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi in particular—your foundations, bones, and blood, which had long been neglected, have now completely recovered. It is highly likely that once you become Martial Artists, you will undergo a Qi and Blood Limit Break and gain an opportunity for Marrow Cleansing and Tendon Transformation!"

"Not every Martial Artist can undergo Marrow Cleansing and Tendon Transformation upon breaking through to the Body Tempering Realm."

"On the contrary, the odds are exceedingly small—one in a hundred, at most!"

"The difference between geniuses and ordinary Martial Artists lies in whether, at every breakthrough, they can gain an opportunity for Marrow Cleansing and Tendon Transformation, allowing their physiques to transform."

"To achieve Marrow Cleansing and Tendon Transformation, one can only do so during a Qi and Blood Limit Break. The effect is especially best when breaking through each major realm."

"I hope that through your own efforts and talents, you can achieve three complete Qi and Blood Limit Breaks and Marrow Cleansing and Tendon Transformations in every major stage of the Body Tempering Realm. Perhaps when you break through to the Qi Refining Realm, you may even receive the blessings of heaven and earth."

The blessings of heaven and earth he spoke of were actually the awakening of one's Star Destiny, gaining the power of one's natal star and receiving an innate divine ability!

Naturally, he would not state such a secret outright.

Only monstrously talented geniuses bearing Star Destinies could experience it personally. It was also the unspoken trump card of peerless Martial Artists like them, something they would never reveal to outsiders.

As someone who had walked this road before, Zhang Xianzhong had experience.

Generally speaking, the commander of any army had to be an expert of the Qi Refining Realm.

Only then could they use their own aura to command the military formation, gathering the Blood Fiend Qi stirred up by the soldiers and truly unleashing the formation's power.

Martial Artists of the Body Tempering Realm could not accomplish such things.

To be honest, only Qi Refining Realm Martial Artists could provide Zhang Xianzhong with immense help.

Without a Qi Refining Realm expert to command them, Body Tempering Realm soldiers were merely a heap of loose sand. When two armies faced one another, they could not bring out their true combat strength.

Before a person's Star Destiny awakened, there was no means whatsoever to detect whether they possessed one.

Thus, Zhang Xianzhong did not know whether the four monstrously talented youths before him bore Star Destinies.

But that did not stop him from placing considerable hopes upon them.

If several superlative geniuses bearing Star Destinies emerged among his core commanders, then he would truly have struck it rich.

Among these dozen or so talented youths, Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi were the most likely to possess them.

There was no helping it. The speed of their cultivation progress, as well as the recovery and growth of their bones and blood, not only surpassed Liu Wenxiu and Zhang Huier, who were likewise monstrous geniuses, but far exceeded those of the other twelve talented youths.

By tomorrow or the day after at the latest, Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi should successfully form their own Qi and Blood Power and officially become Martial Artists.

When that time came, Zhang Xianzhong would pass down the top-tier cultivation method he had obtained through a fortunate encounter. Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi's cultivation would undoubtedly surge forward like a galloping horse!

If all went smoothly, then in roughly three months, when the imperial army arrived, they would be able to put them to use.

On the path of martial cultivation, within the Lower Three Realms: Body Refining, as long as cultivation resources could keep up and one's bones, blood, and talent were outstanding, rapid advancement was possible.

The true point at which Martial Artists began to pull vastly apart was whether they could break through to the Qi Refining Realm.

The gap between the fourth level of Martial Artists and the peak of the third level was not merely a small difference. They were simply not on the same level; the disparity was enormous!

An early-stage Qi Refining Realm Martial Artist at the fourth martial level could easily defeat ten Martial Artists at the peak of the third Body Tempering level.

Even a peerless genius could not challenge above their realm.

Among a hundred Martial Artists at the peak of the third Body Tempering level, at most one or two could likely break through into the fourth-level Qi Refining Realm. The odds were very small.

Due to the current world's spiritual energy and cultivation resources dwindling day by day, even within the vast Great Ming Dynasty, which had at least tens of millions of Martial Artists, the known experts of the Qi Refining Realm likely did not exceed a hundred thousand in total!

As for whether the concentration of spiritual energy in this world would change in the future, whether more Qi Refining Realm experts would emerge, or whether someone might even break through to the Spirit Refining Realm—

That remained unknown.

Given the Great Ming Dynasty's enormous population, yet with Qi Refining Realm experts so scarce, one could imagine just how difficult it was for Martial Artists to break through into the Qi Refining Realm.

But Liaodong Beyond the Pass was different.

No one knew what changes had occurred in Liaodong over the past few decades, but rather than declining, its spiritual energy had increased.

Some experts had already made a preliminary judgment that a recent upheaval in heaven and earth had likely caused a large Spirit Vein or something similar to arise in Liaodong.

Among the Later Jin barbarians of Liaodong, the proportion of Qi Refining Realm and Body Tempering Realm Martial Artists in their armies was considerably higher than that of the Great Ming Dynasty.

The Later Jin barbarians in Liaodong alone had several thousand known Qi Refining Realm generals, and they fought without fear of death.

Compared to the Later Jin barbarians, the Great Ming Dynasty was rotten with corruption, lax in governance, with officials and gentry as one, and soldiers without the will to fight. Coupled with the increasingly severe internal disasters, both natural and man-made, its repeated defeats on the Liaodong battlefield were only to be expected.

However, though the Great Ming Dynasty was already tottering on the brink of collapse, it still possessed sufficient national fortune to suppress all beneath it, a vast population, and tremendous potential for war. That was why the barbarians Beyond the Pass did not dare casually dispatch great armies into the pass.

Only during the few years since the new emperor ascended the throne had it suffered one major Later Jin incursion through the pass.

And during that very raid for plunder, the Later Jin barbarians pressed the Great Ming Dynasty's face to the ground and ground it mercilessly into the dirt!

This also allowed the Later Jin barbarians to thoroughly see the Great Ming Dynasty's present weakness. Like a paper tiger, it was no longer an untouchable colossus.

There was no need to think too hard about it. From now on, incursions by the Later Jin barbarians through the pass would very likely become frequent.

Having received praise from Eight Great Kings, Ai Nengqi became extremely excited, his little face flushed red with excitement.

Li Dingguo did not dare make himself seem special. Though he did not think much of it inwardly, he secretly spurred himself on. While practicing Tiger Roar Fist, he put in more force, flushed his face red, and tried his best to perform just like Ai Nengqi.

The dozen or so nearby companions, including Liu Wenxiu and Zhang Huier, could not help feeling somewhat jealous and envious.

But that was the gap in talent. Whether you accepted it or not, there was nothing to be done.

At that moment, a Flood Dragon Scale Horse carrying a rider galloped in from the entrance of the courtyard.

Just as Zhang Xianzhong turned his head to look, the rider had already arrived before him. He deftly leaped from the horse, cupped his fists toward Zhang Xianzhong in salute, and reported, "Great King, a powerful Martial Artist has come today to join the army!"

"Ma Yuanli, who was responsible for the testing, was no match for him in a single exchange!"

"Unless something unexpected happened, he is definitely an expert of the Qi Refining Realm!"

"And from the looks of it, this Martial Artist expert was once a veteran of the imperial army!"

His expression was exceedingly excited, and he was even somewhat out of breath, showing just how hurried and thrilled he had been when he came.

Their Rebel Army was currently nothing more than a rabble that had only just risen up. They were desperately short of talent, especially Qi Refining Realm commanders capable of leading an army alone.

"Oh?"

"I must go take a look at once!"

Zhang Xianzhong was overjoyed to hear this and immediately replied in surprise, "If he has truly come to join our Rebel Army sincerely, then this is a tremendous piece of good news!"

"Old Eighth, these youths are practicing Tiger Roar Fist. You have sufficient experience cultivating this fist technique, so stay behind and continue guiding them. I'll return to the camp and take a look first."

After giving this instruction to his trusted subordinate, he leaped into the air and landed atop his warhorse. Then he turned the horse around, swiftly left the courtyard, and galloped toward the military camp...