Chapter 75 Breakthrough before the battle It was deep in the night, and a full moon hung high in the sky, casting silver light on the earth. Today is August 12th. The bright moon in the sky is almost full and the weather is relatively cool. In a quiet secret room for practicing in the backyard of the county government office, Zhang Xianzhong sat cross-legged on the ground, with a cushion specially used for meditation under him. This is a cushion made carefully by a craftsman using the magical branches and leaves of the big locust tree that were harvested not long ago. It has a slight effect on clearing the mind and concentrating the spirit for martial artists in the Qi Refining Realm, and can be considered a cheap treasure. This secret training room, which is several meters in radius, is very spacious. There was nothing inside, it looked empty and eerily quiet. At this time, Zhang Xianzhong, who was fully devoted to deep-level cultivation, suddenly began to surge in aura! "Woooo..." As the realm of cultivation that had been shackled for a long time broke through, the spiritual energy of the outside world ignored the obstruction of the building, roared in from the outside, and continuously poured into this secret room! Moreover, a star force as thick as a bucket suddenly emerged from the void and gathered above Zhang Xianzhong's head!
These two energies quickly formed a silver-white air vortex above Zhang Xianzhong's head that looked like a Tai Chi diagram. The vortex was like a cyclone funnel, continuously pouring into his sea of consciousness from the Tianlinghui point on the top of his head. As the Big Dipper Tiangang Star Sutra circulated throughout the whole body, it was rapidly transformed into true energy in Zhang Xianzhong's body! The aura emanating from Zhang Xianzhong became increasingly powerful, and then it broke through his cultivation bottleneck in an instant with overwhelming force! "Wave……" With an almost inaudible sound coming from Zhang Xianzhong's body, his cultivation realm, which had been stuck for three years, finally made a breakthrough tonight! After about a quarter of an hour, the surging aura in his body finally subsided. At this moment, the vortex of air flow above his head, formed by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the power of his natal star, suddenly dissipated without a trace. "Ha ha……" After a moment, Zhang Xianzhong, who had restrained his breath, opened his eyes and used his divine consciousness, which was condensed from his mental power and could only be used by warriors who had reached the fourth level of martial arts, to check the true energy and blood power in his body which had increased by at least 50%. He was so happy that he couldn't help but chuckle. If he didn't want to hide his trump card and didn't want his breakthrough in cultivation to alert outsiders, he would have laughed out loud. There is no way, Zhang Xianzhong is too happy now. Ever since he had broken through to the early fourth level of the martial arts through a fortuitous encounter three years ago, his cultivation had been stagnant, and he had been stuck at the early fourth level of the martial arts. Fortunately, Zhang Xianzhong is not an ordinary warrior, but a special genius with a star destiny. Today, with the help of the power of his natal star, which is increasingly closely connected with him, he has successfully broken through. As the leader of a rebel army, what he can truly rely on, besides the elite army under his command, is his own military force. How difficult is it to break through each small realm of the Qi Refining Realm in today's world? Zhang Xianzhong said that he suffered greatly from it. For three full years, there has been no improvement in my cultivation. The feeling of being frustrated makes me feel so depressed that I want to vomit blood! Fortunately, since this year, some magical changes seem to have taken place between heaven and earth. Zhang Xianzhong, who had the star destiny and had successfully activated it, could clearly feel that his connection with his natal star had become increasingly close over the past six months.
Recently, when he was practicing the Big Dipper Tiangang Star Sutra every night, the power of his natal star that he attracted from the void was constantly improving in quality and quantity, which made the effect of his recent practice improve more and more. It was because of this that he was able to break through the bottleneck so smoothly and enter the middle fourth level of martial arts. Now his combat effectiveness has more than doubled compared to before! "I am now in the middle stage of the fourth level of martial arts. Compared to the early stage of the fourth level, I am much stronger in every aspect." After feeling himself, Zhang Xianzhong thought of something and instantly regained his composure. He said to himself, "I heard that Cao Wenzhao and Cao Bianjiao, uncle and nephew, are at the fifth late stage and the peak of the fifth late stage of martial arts respectively. I don't know how powerful they are now!" "If I face any of them head-on, I guess I still won't be a match for them." "But no matter what, I have succeeded in making a breakthrough in time, and now I have some confidence for the upcoming war." "In a few days, the army will go out to attack the predetermined target: the main fortress of the two major gentry outside Dingbian City. Even if they have hidden some cards, there is no need to worry. We should be able to take them down smoothly one after another!" Zhang Xianzhong's cultivation, which had been stagnant for a long time, made a breakthrough today. His self-confidence increased a lot, and he no longer took the two wealthy manors located in the north and south of Dingbian City seriously. According to reports from the various scout teams he had sent out during this period, the two wealthy manors that he had planned to capture did not have any fourth-level martial arts masters in charge. This is not surprising. If you want to break through from the Body Refining Realm to the Qi Refining Realm, you cannot succeed without outstanding aptitude and talent, and without classic or sutra-level skills, even if you have ample resources for cultivation. In this big world, there is a huge watershed between warriors in the Body Refining Realm and warriors in the Qi Refining Realm. The two cannot be compared at all and are not on the same level. Zhang Xianzhong was very clear that Tianjiazhuang and Wangjiazhuang, which were entrenched in the north and south near Dingbian City, were deeply rooted. These two wealthy families have extraordinary heritage accumulated over generations, and they have no shortage of ordinary resources for cultivation. In their family, there must have been some talented clan members appearing from time to time over the years. In addition, it is not surprising that they have been training servants and guards on a large scale and have some unknown background. With this kind of heavy investment at all costs, there will be no shortage of core members in any wealthy or aristocratic family who have the qualifications and potential to break through to the third level of martial arts. The three wealthy families entrenched in the Dingbian City area should outnumber the rebel army under the Eighth King Zhang Xianzhong if we only count the number of masters at the third level of martial arts. If these three wealthy families have inherited classic and true martial arts skills, over time, one or two masters of Qi Refining should emerge. Any force that possesses classic and true scripture-level skills will never pass them on to others except in certain special circumstances. Especially the top-level magical skills at the scripture level cannot be recorded in words, books, pictures, etc. If you want to seize them by force, you have no idea where to start. Even if you dig out someone's head, the true scripture-level skills that exist in the form of heaven and earth runes will automatically dissipate between heaven and earth. As long as the martial arts runes are not passed down willingly by others, any martial arts of the true scripture level cannot be taken away by force in any form. As for the advanced skills of the classic level, if you have the opportunity and the ability, you can seize them. The intelligence collected by the rebel army during this period showed that the three wealthy families in Dingbian City obviously did not have such opportunities and resources. "Tomorrow I will go to the old camp to guard it and urge the soldiers to seize the time to train the military killing formation." "I will strive to master the Seven Star Bagua Formation, which I majored in, together with the soldiers of the old camp before the battle begins." He sat upright on the mat, a gleam of light flashed in his eyes, and he made a decision. As for the camp of orphans that he had focused on training, he had spent so much energy on it, and in this siege, he would definitely not let them take the lead in the attack to avoid unnecessary sacrifices.
The number of soldiers in that youth combat battalion was too small, and their cultivation level was too low. There wasn't even a third-level martial arts general. Even if they were on the battlefield, they wouldn't be able to play much of a role. The main reason why Zhang Xianzhong took them with him to the war was to let these orphans and teenagers experience real war and how cruel it was, so as to temper their character so that they would be of great use in the future. So far, these orphan boys have only killed some low-level monsters and ghosts, and have never actually killed anyone. Warriors who have never killed the enemy on the battlefield are far from meeting the requirements to become elite soldiers. After making up his mind, Zhang Xianzhong put aside all distractions, sat cross-legged on the cushion, and practiced the Big Dipper Tiangang Star Sutra, which he majored in, to begin to consolidate his newly-breakthrough cultivation. (End of this chapter)