Cultivation, was an integrated Cultivation Technique that Wang Sheng had developed.
The core was a part of the “Blood Refining Technique” given by Yue.
Essentially, it was these contents at the core, then combined with some other knowledge to synthesise this weapon refining technique.
The function was tentatively set to integrate man with weapon, refining weapons.
Mainly, it was aimed for the practice of Sword Transformation.
After almost half a year of settling, Wang Sheng would no longer think about ascending to the skies in one step, achieving the Sword Transformation in an instant.
The idea of achieving something from nothing in one go was inherently a kind of madness.
Wang Sheng planned to first cultivate the refining technique, refine weapons, and then continuously perfect it during cultivation.
With a complete Cultivation Technique, cultivation was not difficult for him, and he soon succeeded in entering the gateway of the refining technique.
“Refining: 3 (1%)”
“Third Grade?”
Wang Sheng was a bit surprised, the refining technique had reached Third Grade as soon as he entered the gateway.
He was certain that he had never practiced it before.
But the reason wasn’t hard to guess.
“Is it because this is my own summary?”
In terms of familiarity, nobody was more familiar with this refining technique than he was, after all, he integrated and researched it himself.
But it was probably just Third Grade because the refining technique was more oriented towards practice, and to continue improving, he needed to actually start refining flying swords.
There is nothing that can hasten the mastery of a Cultivation Technique faster than actual practice.
Wang Sheng didn’t hesitate and immediately began refining his own flying sword.
The reason he called this technique the “Refining Technique” instead of the original “Blood Refining Technique” was mainly because after Wang Sheng’s modification, it wasn’t just Qi-Blood Power that could be used to refine weapons.
Divine Thought, and even willpower could be used to refine his flying sword.
It might seem a bit fantastical, but the appearance of the progress bar confirmed that this path could certainly be pursued.
Wang Sheng went straight back to where he secluded himself— a cave, which was originally inhabited by bandits.
Divine Thought, Qi Blood Power, all unleashed.
Boom!
Although Divine Thought and Qi Blood Power were different forces, they inherently had a deep connection, so even when refining the flying sword simultaneously, there was no conflict at all.
The silver flying sword continuously oscillated up and down within the red Qi Blood Power, receiving the refinement of the two forces.
This process was extremely time-consuming.
Because the refining technique wouldn’t have any effect in a short time, refining was something that required a long duration.
However, the refining had one advantage: it didn’t conflict with the cultivation of the Inner Core Skill.
Thus, Wang Sheng could perform the refining while cultivating the Inner Core Skill, not taking up too much time.
And after starting the refining, a new progress bar appeared.
Not a skill progress bar, but like the state progress bar of “Blood Qi like Dragon.”
“Flying Sword Refining: 1%”
There was no level involved.
Wang Sheng guessed it was like cultivating medicinal herbs, the kind of progress bar that would disappear once the refining was completed.
This type of progress bar basically only provided basic acceleration and ensured there were no mistakes, no breakthroughs would occur.
Wang Sheng was already quite satisfied with having this feature.
The progress bar for the flying sword refining stated once again that his direction was definitely correct.
Therefore, Wang Sheng let his own mind sink down, continually refining his flying sword while cultivating.
Now, he temporarily put aside the matters of Divine Skills.
The first step had not been achieved, thinking about those things was still too early.
…
Spring passed and autumn came, and after a long period of time, it was Spring in the great week calendar year 537.
Since discovering his own issues, Wang Sheng had been continuously cultivating and reading in the village, hardly ever leaving.
The books provided by Yue were numerous, and even with the help of “reading,” digesting them completely would take a considerable amount of time, let alone the fact that he still had to cultivate.
Thus, even while inside the village, he led a very fulfilling life, his inner restlessness substantially soothed.
Qingshan Village was also progressing routinely, developing very nicely.
Li Yongfeng had successfully made a breakthrough to become a Fifth Grade Martial Artist, while the other four peers had also advanced significantly among Fourth Grade Martial Artists.
Li Yongfeng’s child had also been born. The child was conceived at the end of 534 and should have been born earlier, but perhaps because the resources provided by Wang Sheng and Yue were too good, the pregnancy lasted a bit longer, and the result was that the child was born at the end of October 535.
However, even with the prolonged pregnancy, Zhang Xue had no trouble during childbirth.
Li Yongfeng had his offspring.
As for Wang Sheng, he had gained a grandnephew.
He had just attended the child’s hundred-day banquet not long ago. At that time, according to Yue’s examination, Li Yongfeng’s child had very high potential, even higher than Liu Jian’an.
The child’s future in cultivation was definitely promising, and the spirit of Li Yongfeng’s family knowing this was very good, nothing made the elders happier than having outstanding descendants.
Wang Sheng also left many gifts behind.
As for others.
Xu Qu was still a Seventh Grade Martial Artist, cultivation becomes increasingly difficult later on, so it wasn’t surprising.
Zhang Ze was a Third Grade Martial Artist, his age made it very hard to breakthrough further.
Uncle Li and Aunt Li, under the pile of resources, had reached Second Grade Martial Artists, but, like Zhang Ze, it was already hard for them to advance.
The twelve students in the schoolhouse were all still Second Grade Martial Artists.
No matter whether it was Yue or Xu Qu, they both advised to slow down their pace and accumulate some foundation.
With their age, reaching the rank of Second Grade Martial Artist was considered top-notch. There was no need to rush, and accumulation was also very important.
The last ones were the other martial artists in the village.
With enough Spirit Rice at their disposal, the number of martial artists in Qingshan Village had increased.
Even excluding people like Li Yongfeng and those in the school.
In the past few years, under Wang Sheng’s protection, Qingshan Village had been able to develop peacefully. In total, the village now had twenty-two First Grade Martial Artists and eight Second Grade Martial Artists.
While Qingshan Village remained peaceful, the outside world was different.
More than a year had passed since the last great battle of Jiangyuan City and during that period, Jiangyuan City had not been troubled by any enemies.
Without adequate power or a Great Grandmaster leading the team, no force would dare to provoke the Heavenly Star Army on their own.
But a year had passed.
Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City could no longer hold back.
They once again assembled forces to attack Jiangyuan City.
However, this time, it was no longer a mob of scattered troops but an army that had been training for a year.
After suffering losses last time, Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City directly incorporated armies familiar with military formations from Jizhou and Yangwu State, and then with the help of these troops’ commanders, began training their own forces.
Although their military formations were not as good as that of the Heavenly Star Army, these two Grandmaster Level forces had an extremely impressive foundation.
Even after losing so many martial artists last time, they still managed to assemble an army of two hundred thousand, and the number of martial artists among them was no less than before.
Both sides felt their strength could compensate for the gap in military arrangement.
Crucially, this time they had recruited a commander.
The original defender of Yangwu State, the commander of the Danyang Army, a martial artist of Grandmaster Level—Yang Jian.
Two hundred thousand troops including ten Grandmaster Level martial artists were all commanded by him, at least theoretically so.
In practice, however, ten Grandmasters and some Ninth Grade Martial Artists, who were key figures from Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City, how could they instantly obey Yang Jian’s orders?
“Yang Jian, don’t forget your status!”
Another pre-war meeting ended discordantly.
It was very difficult for Yang Jian’s commands to reach the ten Grandmasters, even some Ninth Grade Martial Artists were disobedient.
It seemed like they had a commander, but it was only superficial.
When the forces of the two powers had left, Yang Jian’s personal guard could not help but speak up, “Commander Yang, clearly they asked you here, but once we arrived, it turned out like this…”
“Mind your words!”
Yang Jian cut off his personal guard.
However, he didn’t reprimand the personal guard, as on the battlefield, personal guards were one’s lifeline, and the relationship between a commander and his personal guards was usually solid as iron.
Seeing his personal guard still somewhat dissatisfied, Yang Jian chuckled and said, “Don’t worry, this time we are destined to fail!”
“????”
The personal guard was bewildered.
They were doomed to fail, yet Commander Yang seemed not worried at all, even smiling.
“If an army can achieve absolute obedience, it is a strong army of the world, if they can follow orders, they are a competent army able to handle most enemies.
Once the hearts are not together, weak enemies might be okay, relying on strength to overpower, but facing a strong force like the Heavenly Star Army, there’s no logic in victory.
An army of two hundred thousand, fifty thousand martial artists, what a mighty force, yet each Grandmaster and even martial artists have their own agendas, how could they possibly defeat the Heavenly Star Army.”
Yang Jian sighed, knowing the outcome from the very beginning.
What a pity for such a mighty force.
Also because of this, he completely ignored the disobedient martial artists, or it was useless to care.
Even though his strength was not weaker than theirs, those people treated him as nothing more than a dog.
People from Grandmaster Level forces are too arrogant, wanting things their way without giving the appropriate respect.
Who knows if their arrogance can continue after this?
He had tried to reason with them numerous times, and since it had been ineffective, it seemed that only blood would bring them to their senses.
Not once or twice, even the powers like Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City could not afford a third consecutive defeat.
Even with their foundations, they could not gather so many martial artists in a short time again.
“Commander Yang, if we are destined to fail this time, you…”
The personal guard was worried, as a defeat would undoubtedly lead to those people shifting the blame onto Yang Jian.
“Rest assured, they won’t, two defeats are enough to pain them and open their eyes to the situation, but we indeed need to be careful, once there’s a sign of trouble, we must run immediately. The Great Grandmasters are unlikely to take action against me, and this time we need to perform well to not give people a chance to make an issue out of it.”
He also left unsaid that he had no choice.
“Performing well, didn’t you say we were bound to lose?”
“Can’t a loss be graceful?”
Yang Jian smiled enigmatically.
In 537th year of Dazhou calendar, February, warfare arose again in Shuzhou, as Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City, once again assembled two hundred thousand troops to battle the Heavenly Star Army at Jiangyuan City.
But the outcome was as Yang Jian had predicted.
The allied forces suffered another defeat.
However, this time Commander Yang Jian’s performance was notable. He preserved much of the vital forces, and the casualty ratio wasn’t as drastic as the first time.
This defeat directly caught the attention of the Great Grandmasters of both forces, who sent people to investigate the reasons.
According to the analysis, even if they were to lose, it shouldn’t have been so quick.
When the Great Grandmasters ordered an investigation, no one dared to conceal anything.
The investigation results were as Yang Jian had predicted.
Some, for personal gain, idled their efforts, leading to a total collapse.
Even the descent of a War God could not turn such a situation into victory…