Lin Qian asked proactively, revealing that he, too, harbored murderous intent!
Wu Shuangren shook his head. "Great Grandmaster have extremely strong vitality and are not so easy to kill. It's alright, his mental state has already been broken. If he faces me again in the future, he will suffer an even more crushing defeat!"
Lin Qian had no doubt about what Wu Shuangren said and nodded.
He looked at Wu Shuangren with amazement:
"You actually managed to defeat your superior! If word gets out of this battle, you'll be the talk of the town!"
Wu Shuangren had just turned nineteen not long ago.
Defeating Great Grandmaster at the age of nineteen—something even the Hegemon-King couldn't achieve!
Unprecedented, unparalleled in the world!
? 209 That year, nineteen
Zhou Family Village.
On the plains outside the official road, the battle had turned from a stalemate into a one-sided rout and pursuit!
With Zhang Da stabbed to death by Lin Qian and Lu Yulin leading his men to escape, the men Zhang Da brought with him lost all will to fight.
First, his heavily armored personal guards, with the exception of a few die-hards and close blood relatives, all threw down their weapons and surrendered.
On the other side, the more than 4,000 infantrymen, who were already on the verge of defeat, either turned and fled or knelt down to surrender.
The more than four hundred riders who were locked in combat with Xu Cheng's cavalry all turned their horses around and began to flee.
Xu Cheng immediately ordered the messenger to wave the flag and give the order to pursue!
The cavalry suffer the greatest casualties when they begin to turn and flee, with their backs to the enemy.
Xu Cheng must try his best to wipe out all these cavalrymen!
"Shuangren, how are your injuries?"
Xu Cheng, accompanied by his personal guards, immediately went to Wu Shuangren's side and asked with concern.
"It's nothing serious, he'll recover with some rest, don't worry, father-in-law."
With Lin Qian's help, Wu Shuangren had calmed his internal blood and qi.
Xu Cheng looked at him with burning eyes. "Thanks to your unparalleled bravery today, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable!"
If Wu Shuangren can't stop Lu Yulin, who can stop this Great Grandmaster from killing next?
There is indeed no one in this world who can defeat ten thousand men, but in wars with fewer than ten thousand men, a Great Grandmaster is enough to influence the outcome of the battle!
Upon seeing Lu Yulin suddenly appear, Xu Cheng thought that he and Wu Shuangren would both perish today, and the Xu Family would be finished as well.
To my utter surprise, my son-in-law miraculously defeated Great Grandmaster!
Xu Cheng is now incredibly grateful that he chose to marry his daughter to Wu Shuangren; it was a decision that absolutely changed the fate of the Xu Family!
"It was just luck; I haven't reached that level yet."
Wu Shuangren said to Xu Cheng.
Although he can defeat Great Grandmaster, there are many things that only Great Grandmaster can do that he cannot do.
For example, Lu Yulin could definitely defeat Long Lie within twenty moves, and even make it impossible for him to escape.
However, Wu Shuangren had previously defeated Long Lie in nearly a hundred moves, and without Lin Qian's intervention, he would not have been able to kill Long Lie.
For example, Great Grandmaster's near-inhuman physique and physical abilities are enough to kill hundreds of elite soldiers on the battlefield!
Wu Shuangren's true Internal Skill cultivation was only at the Fourth Rank, and his physical strength was only at the level of Fourth Rank martial artist. Even with the help of the Traits, he could probably kill less than a hundred elite soldiers before exhausting his strength.
Therefore, Wu Shuangren did not become complacent after defeating Lu Yulin, nor did he want Xu Cheng and others to misjudge his strength.
However, Xu Cheng viewed his words as excessive modesty.
Defeating Great Grandmaster at the age of nineteen would make anyone proud and arrogant, but Wu Shuangren remained so calm and composed.
Not only does he possess unparalleled talent, but his character is also so perfect!
I was so brilliant!
Xu Cheng couldn't help but think this, and he couldn't suppress the urge to smile.
"With your talent, you'll become Great Grandmaster someday!"
He said to Wu Shuangren with a smile.
The Great Grandmaster of the Deer-Slaying Palace had long ago concluded that for First Rank expert to become Great Grandmaster, it is not through aptitude or comprehension, but through opportunity.
Simply put, it's about fate.
Therefore, no one dares to say that they will definitely become Great Grandmaster.
But after seeing Wu Shuangren's performance today, others are now fully confident that he will become Great Grandmaster in the future!
Wu Shuangren smiled and didn't say anything more.
Next, Xu Cheng went to wrap up the battle, while Wu Shuangren slowly savored his fight with Lu Yulin.
First, there are the Traits.
After this battle, one-third of the sky-blue [Match for One Person] turned purple!
"From this perspective, defeating one Great Grandmaster is more valuable than defeating ten Rank First Rank experts in total."
Wu Shuangren thought to himself.
"But fighting Great Grandmaster is far too risky..."
Objectively speaking, Lu Yulin was still affected by off-field factors today, which caused a change in his mindset and gave Wu Shuangren an opportunity to take advantage.
If the two engage in a fair fight with no distractions, Wu Shuangren might have to pay an even heavier price to win!
In that final moment, if Lu Yulin had chosen to exchange moves with Wu Shuangren, the result would have been one dying first and the other on the verge of death.
"With my current strength, if I were to face Great Grandmaster, I might accidentally kill him first, and then I might die later. Or I might win, but be crippled..."
Wu Shuangren gradually came to a conclusion.
It seems that I only need to defeat two more Great Grandmaster to upgrade the Traits again. But these two encounters are practically gambling with my life!
After all, Lu Yulin, a Great Grandmaster, had only recently broken through to the next level, and today he was also affected by external factors. The threat posed by the other Great Grandmaster would only be greater!
However, if one chooses a more conservative approach, one would need to defeat twenty or thirty First Rank experts, or even more First Rate masters, to upgrade the Traits.
The former is risky, and the latter takes a long time; neither is easy.
Putting aside the issue of the Traits for the time being, Wu Shuangren began to slowly comprehend the changes in his [Method of One Person] that had been enhanced during his fight with Lu Yulin.
Only he in this world could experience the realm of Grandmaster before even reaching the First Rate level!
Breaking through from the Subordinate Fourth Rank to the Third Rank is the first major hurdle on the path of martial arts cultivation.
Stance training, breathing techniques, and Mental Power together constitute a martial artist's Internal Skill. The first two are tangible and concrete methods of cultivation, while Mental Power is ethereal and intangible, with many aspects that can only be understood intuitively and cannot be explained in words.
Starting from the Subordinate Third Rank, Mental Power gradually takes an absolute dominant position in Internal Skill cultivation.
Many people get stuck at a bottleneck, unable to make any progress for over a decade, simply because they can't find a concrete, feasible path and don't know which direction to take.
With the enhancement of [Match for One Person], Wu Shuangren repeatedly experienced higher levels of Internal Skill states ahead of time, which is equivalent to knowing the answer first and then coming back to solve the problem!
Therefore, he achieved twice the result with half the effort in cultivating his Internal Skill, and he hardly encountered any bottlenecks.
He has now reached the Fourth Rank of Internal Skill cultivation, and he has already experienced higher levels of Internal Skill many times, even reaching the level of Grandmaster ahead of time. Therefore, the bottleneck between the Fourth Rank and Third Rank is practically non-existent for him!
Wu Shuangren kept all his insights from today firmly in his heart, waiting to revisit them when his cultivation level was high enough.
He had a premonition that once his internal injuries healed, it wouldn't be long before he could naturally step into the First Rate realm!
Finally, what needs to be summarized and considered is the "Method of the Escaped One" used to defeat Lu Yulin.
With Wu Shuangren's current level of skill, he couldn't fully understand this sword technique; he only knew how to use it with the help of the Traits.
They know what it is, but not why it is.
Without a doubt, this sword technique has reached the level of "Tao," making it a martial art capable of contending with Grandmaster- level experts!
Although this sword technique is specifically designed to counter Lu Yulin's Spear of Fate, it would likely be surprisingly effective against enemies below the Great Grandmaster.
Therefore, Wu Shuangren plans to study this sword technique more thoroughly in the future.
More than half an hour later, under Xu Cheng's command, the battlefield had been initially cleaned up.
Less than 20% of the population were injured, killed, or fled; the majority chose to surrender.
Xu Cheng's men suffered fewer than one hundred casualties, while Wu Shuangren's personal guards lost four men, were seriously wounded eleven, and the rest sustained minor injuries.
"In addition to the military equipment of the Shu Province garrison, we also captured more than 500 sets of leather armor, more than 100 sets of homemade iron armor, more than 100 horses, more than 30 crossbows, and a number of other weapons."
Xu Cheng walked up to Wu Shuangren again, "These extra spoils are yours."
He couldn't embezzle the military equipment belonging to the government troops, but he didn't care about the equipment of local strongmen, militias, and village militias.
"Good."
Wu Shuangren didn't refuse and nodded in agreement.
His Yi Province Militia is not yet able to have all its members fully armored, and the Rong Province Militia is even more shabby, so the more various kinds of military equipment the better.
"Also, take one hundred sets of armor for Zhang Da's personal guards. I will report the battle losses later."
Xu Cheng pointed to Zhang Da's personal guards who were removing their armor not far away.
The imperial court allocated a fixed number of infantrymen to local garrisons, but there was always some loss each year.
Zhang Da took advantage of this to sell the extra infantry armor to the Mist Hidden Temple.
Now that Zhang Da's army has directly clashed with Xu Cheng, Xu Cheng has a legitimate reason to report battle losses, so he immediately allocated one hundred sets of Wu Shuangren!
"Thank you, father-in-law!"
We're family, so let's not speak like strangers.
Xu Cheng waved his hand, "We also captured several Mount Liang rebels in this battle, which can serve as witnesses to Zhang Da's collusion with the rebels."
Lu Yulin arrived with more than a dozen experts, half of whom died at Lin Qian's hands. Several others were seriously wounded but survived and became prisoners.
In fact, according to Wu Shuangren and Xu Cheng's prior plan, they did not intend to kill Zhang Da directly in today's battle.
After all, the other party was the Assistant Commander of Shu Province, Principal Fourth Rank military officer of the imperial court!
Such a high-ranking local official cannot be killed on a whim.
However, the situation was urgent, and no one expected that Great Grandmaster Lu Yulin would suddenly appear.
When Wu Shuangren sent Lin Qian to kill Zhang Da, his intention was indeed to quickly defeat Zhang Da's forces, and then have Lin Qian lead the rest of the men to besiege Lu Yulin, thus forcing the latter to back down.
Now that Zhang Da is dead, everyone needs to consider how to properly handle the aftermath.
"Colluding with rebels... Hmm, that's certainly true."
Wu Shuangren nodded in agreement.
The identities of Lu Yulin and others as rebels have not been cleared, and it is a fact that they helped Zhang Da. Now that Zhang Da is dead and there are witnesses in their hands, it will not be difficult to prove that Zhang Da colluded with rebels.
With this charge, it would be easier to establish Zhang Da's guilt of colluding with the enemy and betraying the country.
The third day after defeating Great Grandmaster Lu.
Shu Province City.
Inside the Mount Shu Sect's guild hall, dozens of the Mount Shu Sect disciples were practicing swordsmanship.
The sounds of synchronized exhalations and the whistling of sword blades cutting through the air intertwined.
The Mount Shu Sect's headquarters are located on Mount Shu, more than 20 miles outside Shu Province City. Over the years, with its development, it has gradually shifted its focus from outside the city to inside the city.
Li Xiao, the leader of the Mount Shu Sect, usually stayed in the guild hall in the city to oversee things.
There have long been rumors that only the elderly and those with no future in the Mount Shu Sect are kept on the Mount Shu, while the real elites are all in the guild hall in the city.
The Mount Shu Sect should be renamed the Shu Province Sect!
While these sarcastic remarks were tinged with jealousy, they also reflected the growing influence of the Mount Shu Sect.