Chapter 24

He schemed against the unwary and succeeded at once!

However, Zhang Jian never let his guard down.

The Thunderbolt Talismans in his hand had taken dozens of sheets; this was the achievement of his hard work over half a month.

After landing a hit, he flicked his wrist and drew five or six more Thunderbolt Talismans from his sleeve; with his spiritual power, controlling five or six at once was near his limit—any more and he could not control the lightning's direction, suffering backlash instead.

Just as he raised his hand, another six bolts of lightning shot out.

The lightning exploded.

Zhang Kang, who had been swaying slowly and was about to summon his natal demon corpse, was instantly engulfed by the lightning again.

After the smoke cleared, the black-clad diviner lay charred all over on the ground, only his chest rising and falling slightly, showing he still had a sliver of life.

Seeing this, Zhang Jian showed no mercy; he again took out a yellow talisman from his person, activated it with spiritual power, and instantly it turned into a thick, snakelike crimson lightning bolt that struck his slightly heaving chest—this time the heterodox sorcerer fell completely silent.

"Done!"

Seeing this, Zhang Jian breathed a sigh of relief; after two or three successive explosions, his rich spiritual power had also been depleted by at least a third.

Fortunately, it was all worthwhile.

Zhang Kui had already directed his able-bodied troops to shoot down most of the bandits in the stronghold.

The fierce bandits in the stronghold had long lost their earlier courage; with morale low, mopping them up became much easier.

And the diehard holdouts Song Heihu, Zhang Bao, and the others were no match for Jian Yao.

He also saw the battle in the woods.

Seeing this, his expression showed some astonishment and also some sigh.

He was rich in combat experience; at a glance he saw the point—clearly, the sorcerer hiding in the small grove had been ambushed by his own grand-nephew.

"Not bad—our teachings weren't wasted!"

"Strike first!"

"These immortal arts are really terrifying…"

Having swept over the trees shattered by lightning, the scorched expanse was truly a sight too horrible to behold.

Zhang Kui had many feelings.

How could a mortal body withstand such vicious sorcery?

According to his nephew, as long as the orthodox court remains, those who possess Dragon-Tiger Qi have a far greater resistance to heterodox sorcery than other martial artists, which makes him somewhat relieved.

After Song Heihu, Zhang Bao, and the others were surrounded and killed by Jian Yao, he immediately shouted again:

"Clear the battlefield, search the entire Phoenix Tail Mountain, don't let any fish slip through the net!"

"Yes!"

Many able-bodied troops now had high morale; wiping out the entire bandit stronghold of Phoenix Tail Mountain would surely be a great merit, and upon return they would certainly be rewarded.

In this anti-bandit operation, the five hundred soldiers suffered few casualties—only a few unlucky ones lost to traps down the mountain, and two overly eager men seeking merit were killed by hidden weapons from Song Heihu, while the wounded were few.

The existence of the Nine Pearls Divine Crossbow maximized the survival rate.

Zhang Jian also saw this; the money was well spent, only regrettable that the Zhang Clan could never purchase the army's Barbarian-Subduing Armor and Iron Tooth Shield.

"Building this unit really burns money!"

He sighed inwardly.

Zhang Jian's gaze fell on the heterodox sorcerer before him; he stepped forward, searched Zhang Kang's person, and after a moment his hand held a tortoise shell and an iron plate.

These were the only two intact items he had.

Having endured his heavenly thunder strike, they remained undamaged, surely they had some value.

Not long after, with the help of the officials' soldiers, Zhang Jian found the two demon corpses that Zhang Kang had not yet released.

At that time the two demon corpses were placed in the rear mountains, their canine teeth protruding, eyes tightly shut, only their bodies surrounded by a layer of astonishing yin energy.

Moreover, they exuded a nauseating stench of human blood.

Zhang Jian glanced at them, then casually took out two lightning talismans and obliterated the two corpses on the spot to avoid future trouble.

……

Three days later

On the rocks atop the mountain, in the morning light Zhang Jian was gathering morning yang qi; dawn and dusk are the best times to harvest the essence of sun and moon. Cultivators usually absorb heavenly and earthly power to nourish themselves, but the orthodox Dao also draws on the three lights of sun, moon, and stars, which most nourish the three treasures—yet unorthodox methods find it hard to control them.

Zhang Jian now, however, does not know any of this; he simply follows the routine, gathering the power of heaven and earth, mixing it with the medicinal potency of the celestial treasures within his body to temper his immaculate body.

His progress is extraordinary; his inner spiritual power grows more abundant each day.

His soul itself is strong; nourished by spiritual power, he gradually approaches the bottleneck's edge.

To reach the peak of Qi Refining in such a short time is beyond Zhang Jian's imagination.

Obviously, with the medicinal potency of the fire apricot and golden lotus seed, his immaculate body has already been forged; he has obtained a great medicine from it, and as long as he fully employs this great medicine, everything will naturally fall into place.

This at least saves him twenty or thirty years of arduous cultivation.

All that remains is to subdue the delusional thoughts within his spiritual sense, so he can endure the condensation of divine sense and pass the stage of nurturing the spirit.

Of course, this premise requires his essence and qi to be full and harmonious, in order to provide the foundation for giving birth to his own divine sense.

Once he has given birth to divine sense, he can gradually chart his own destiny, touch some profound mysteries of the Great Dao in the obscurity, and possess the foundation for forging an unsurpassed Dao base.

Having finished gathering the morning yang spiritual essence in the dawn light, Zhang Jian slowly opened his eyes, his gaze falling upon the two objects beside him.

The two objects obtained from Zhang Kang both possess considerable value.

Within that yin-black iron sheet lies a fragment of heretical yin-yang corpse-refining art, which focuses on refining two body-protecting corpse fiends, controlling corpse ghosts, in order to achieve the yin-yang body-protection divine demon.

Its strange yin poison.

Moreover, it is extremely perilous; once it backlashes, it easily turns one into Zhang Kang's likeness—half human, half ghost—and eventually one will degenerate into a corpse-ghost, gradually losing humanity.

Zhang Jian looks down on it and is unwilling to come into contact with it.

On the contrary, the "Tortoise Origin Strategy" inside the tortoise shell greatly interests Zhang Jian; he picks up the stone tortoise shell, and on the reverse side of the jade-like tortoise shell there is another piece of small seal script, about eight hundred characters in length, which is a treatise on metaphysical Yi principles.

This whole passage is a description of the heavenly phenomena of the four directions and hexagrams; it is profound and abstruse, hard to put into words, and there are many technical terms; Zhang Jian also only half-understood it.

Zhang Jian guessed this was Zhang Kang's original means of making a living.

As a result, Zhang Kang clearly looked down on these diviners' original profession, and instead went astray.

Zhang Jian took a glance and did find it somewhat interesting, but he merely used it to corroborate his own understanding of the principles of heaven and earth; he was not taken with the diviners' trade.

Diviners are those who pilfer the secrets of heaven and earth; this method easily invites backlash from the heavenly secrets, just like Zhang Kang himself, who in the end never calculated that he would die here.

Zhang Jian simply regarded it as an ordinary reading material to kill time.

Boom!!

When the sunlight shone on the rear mountain, accompanied by a loud bang, Zhang Kui's joyful voice came.

"Brother Jian, Prince Min's tomb has been dug open!"

"Looks like the birthday gift for our maternal grandfather has been settled!"

Zhang Jian burst out laughing.

He rose and stepped forward; before him was a deep tomb entrance, and Zhang Kui had already brought along the "professionals" to survey on the side.

Zhang Jian extended his spiritual sense, and his expression also became solemn.

Prince Min was an ancient lord from a thousand years ago; he left deep traces in Fengyang Commandery, and Fengyang Commandery's several dams that now lie beside mountains and waters were also left by Prince Min; in his youth he was also considered wise and martial.

But in his later years he became muddled; seeking longevity, he extensively plundered Fengyang's wealth, burning lead and refining mercury in Shuangfeng Mountain, hoping to concoct Golden Core to prolong life.

After his death, hearing that he feared enemies seeking revenge, he deliberately hid the tomb among the mountains.

Zhang Jian was also curious, wondering just how many good things he had left in Prince Min's tomb.