Deciphering

The odds were one in a thousand—far too low.

But after breaking through to the innate stage, he felt the Heavenly Dipper Boy Skill within him had reached a state it had never attained before.

Blazing astral energy burst from his body. Flames and thunder flared within it, and the temperature in the whole room soared.

Wherever he looked, Zhang Jian saw the brocade bedding around the couch turn to charcoal at a visible speed. It did not catch fire; the scorching heat reduced it directly to ash. Even the stone slabs beneath his feet were scorched through.

The Heavenly Dipper Boy Skill cultivated pure yang inner breath.

Rooted in the lone spark of true yang within a boy's body, it was exceptionally fierce and domineering.

It was pure yang in the extreme.

In the unseen depths, strands of invisible spiritual energy were twisted and drawn by this terrifying field of force, spiraling toward Zhang Jian and merging into his body.

Zhang Jian felt that, through the Bridge of Heaven and Earth, he could already draw upon the spiritual energy of the unseen.

The inner breath and astral energy of a body-refining martial artist at the Nurturing Origin stage were certainly formidable, but the energy within their own body had its limits. At the innate stage, however, a body-refining martial artist could draw upon a thread of heaven-and-earth spiritual energy through the Bridge of Heaven and Earth.

The power of heaven and earth bore down, and the force it unleashed was naturally far beyond anything a body-refining martial artist at the Nurturing Origin stage could match.

Zhang Jian sensed that the Jade Lake Golden Lotus Seed was still pouring power into the depths of his soul, causing his innate spiritual perception to continue growing.

It was wondrous beyond words.

"If merely drawing on a thread of heaven-and-earth power at the innate stage is already this terrifying, I wonder what one could do after stepping through the gate of that Great Dao?"

Zhang Jian's eyes shone brightly.

He could hardly wait.

"The Nine Chapters of Paulownia Mountain Purity!"

With Zhang Yi's help, Zhang Jian had made much faster progress in deciphering the text. At last, half a month later, he had finished.

In the study, Zhang Jian frowned. Just as he and Zhang Yi had hoped, the ancient golden script contained in those dozen or so scrolls was indeed a cultivation manual.

It was an immortal's art.

Even after only a cursory look, Zhang Jian could sense its profound breadth and depth.

Zhang Jian could not hide his smile.

"Jian'er, how is it?"

Zhang Yi stood to one side. He held one hand in a prayer gesture and gripped his whisk tightly in the other. Clearly, he was still tense, worried something might go wrong.

Zhang Jian smiled back. "We did it!"

"Good!"

The skin on Zhang Yi's face twitched, and his body trembled. Though he had uttered only one word, he could not contain the surge of emotion within him.

Zhang Jian smiled. "Uncle Yi, I'll teach you the entire art shortly. This cultivation method is also rather unusual!"

A strange look appeared in his eyes, and Zhang Yi instinctively glanced over.

"From the information I deciphered in this ancient golden script, this may be a cultivation method passed down by a sect!"

Zhang Jian's expression grew solemn.

To be precise, it was an introductory cultivation method for a certain sect.

It was exceptionally complete.

Rarer still, the end of the manual included quite a few cultivation tips, such as explanations of certain terms and taboos in practicing the art. It also included three minor spells, making it a complete inheritance.

However, only the first three stages were included. According to the information later in the ancient golden script, to obtain the core methods that followed, they would have to find the location of Paulownia Mountain.

"Then does the rest of this text say where Paulownia Mountain is?"

Zhang Yi looked a little stunned.

"No!"

Zhang Jian shook his head.

Zhang Yi nodded. He did not seem disappointed.

Although it was a little unexpected, it did nothing to dampen the uncle and nephew's excitement. That was a matter for later.

At least it made no difference for now.

Whether they could even cultivate an immortal's art like this was still unknown.

While the uncle and nephew devoted themselves to studying the wondrous art,

Twin Pagoda Mountain

Hundreds of soldiers were shouting and brandishing their weapons, putting on a splendid counter-encirclement. Wave after wave of "bandits" charging down from the mountain pass were shot dead by red-uniformed soldiers who raised their crossbows.

Crossbow bolts rained down into the valley. Packs of vicious bandits fell to the ground in terror.

Screams and pleas for mercy rang out all around.

These red-uniformed soldiers all had resolute faces and broad, sturdy frames. Killing intent shrouded them; one look was enough to tell they were hardened veterans.

This hundred or so men were the fruit of Zhang Yi's painstaking efforts over more than a decade.

There might have been only a hundred of them, but every man had survived countless bloody battles with bandits and horse thieves. They were the elite who had lived through the slaughter.

The Nine-Pearl Divine Crossbows in their hands were also prized weapons of the Great Qian army.

The Zhang family had spent a fortune to procure them from the military.

With enough money to clear the way, many things became much easier.

Today, Zhang Yi had handed these hundred elite troops to Zhang Kui as a surprise force, to wipe out the bandits of the three strongholds that had gathered from the surrounding mountains.

The alliance of three strongholds consisted of White Horse Stronghold, Black Tiger Stronghold, and the horse thieves of Minor Cold Mountain. All three were infamous strongholds in the Twin Phoenix Mountains, notorious for gathering in gangs to rob travelers on the roads.

The wealthy households and merchant caravans around Fengxi County had suffered greatly at their hands. They seethed with hatred, yet had never been able to do anything about the three strongholds.

This time, though, they had joined forces to resist Zhang Kui's troops on a bandit-suppression campaign, at the urging of someone with an agenda.

By now, the valley was awash with blood. Horse thieves and bandits lay in pools of it.

Even the leaders of the three strongholds had met their end one after another beneath the military's fearsome Nine-Bead Repeating Crossbows. Only the two bandit leaders at the front and the Northern Five Heroes had used their formidable body-tempering skills and the corpses around them to withstand wave after wave of arrows.

The few "good friends" in front of them had become human shields. But as the relentless rain of arrows fell, their shields were gradually pierced through.

The men were all growing fearful. The bolts for the Nine-Pearl Divine Crossbows had been specially made to break through protective force; they could not withstand many more.

"Damn the Zhang family! Just how many bolts did they buy?"

The leader of the Northern Five Heroes, Black Eagle Zhu Heng, was practically grinding his teeth to dust.

They were throwing their money around with no restraint!

They knew the men in the military would not lift a finger unless they saw a rabbit. Military weapons like these were usually impossible to buy. Even if some leaked out, they came at an enormous price.

Yet the bolts from Zhang Kui's crossbows had rained down in wave after wave.

Every volley was a string of copper coins and silver!

"Zhu Heng, you said this fight was a sure thing! How could it turn out like this?"

The remaining leader of Black Tiger Stronghold looked grief-stricken. Seeing the human shield in his hands gradually pierced through by the dense rain of arrows, he let out a desperate roar and sprang forward like a tiger. But in an instant, the arrows swallowed him. He let out a pained howl as more than a dozen bolts struck him.

He was savage to the last. Even turned into a "porcupine," he kept hold of his decapitating saber and charged toward Zhang Kui. His Tendon-Refining force shattered rocks, sending fragments flying.

But in the next moment, a figure beside Zhang Kui raised a spear and pinned him to the ground.

That tremendous, fierce force drove several feet into the rock.

Seeing this, the Northern Five Heroes also plunged into despair.

One by one, they rushed out, but their plight was no better. They had barely reached Zhang Kui when a dozen or so retainers in front of him surrounded them and beat them together.

Against a disciplined army, individual martial strength still had severe limitations.

Especially against elite troops equipped with prized military weapons like these.

Of course, the Northern Five Heroes had also been outmaneuvered and drawn apart. Otherwise, even if Zhang Kui had managed to kill these body-tempering martial artists, he would have paid a price.

"A pack of stray dogs—no threat to anyone!"

Zhang Kui was burly, his face covered in pockmarks left by smallpox when he was a child. He truly looked like a ferocious demon.

The handsome middle-aged man beside him, holding a red-tasseled spear, reminded him, "Fourth Master, we should leave a few alive. If we're to bring down Yang Qing, we may need to rely on them."

He was Wang Quan, the Spear King of Fengyang. Along with Jian Yao and Zhao Jinhong, he was one of the Zhang family's three most capable retainers.

Zhang Kui glanced at the blood-soaked valley and nodded slightly, signaling his men to take prisoners. The Northern Five Heroes were fierce, but each had already been hit by numerous stray arrows. They could not escape.

At the Zhang family estate, in the rear compound

Gu Xiu'er's inner breath had been sealed, leaving her unable to move. Her expression was calm; she showed no sign of panic.

The white veil had been removed from her face. Her face was as lovely as a hibiscus, turned toward the sky, and her skin was as fair as jade. She was strikingly beautiful, with an air as ethereal as an orchid.