Chapter 203: Accumulating Over Time (Please Subscribe)

Because Du En's spiritual body was now formed, and it was a Firm Spirit Body, the negative effects brought about by high-frequency consumption of medicinal pills could be suppressed to a very low level; taking four third-tier low-grade pills every day would not have the slightest impact.

Therefore, in the time that followed, the situation transitioned directly into what he called his normal life.

Du En cultivated, Du En cooked, Du En practiced spells, used his earth cannon specifically for target practice, took pills to recover mana, then continued target practice, and once he had practiced enough, he began cultivating again.

He was making progress every single moment, utilizing his time completely.

The guards, meanwhile, checked for gaps and made up for deficiencies; once the enemy's attention was distracted, they would join forces to launch a surprise attack, focusing on seizing any opening to strike, taking advantage of the situation to interfere with the enemy's encirclement arrangements.

Meng Changqing, needless to say, maintained the formation's defense, cultivating while holding the line, locked in a stalemate with the High Envoy's side, continuing their intense confrontation.

The scene fell into a deadlock, and time slipped away rapidly and monotonously.

"It's becoming troublesome..."

The High Envoy had spent the first month being worn down like this; watching the casualties of his subordinates accumulate, and seeing the encirclement arrangements that could never be completed, he understood that for quite a long time to come, it would continue to be a stalemate.

It was mainly because of Du En.

At first, he decided to apply pressure and drag things out, but later he was held back and found it difficult to break away; otherwise, the situation would become passive.

The key lay in Du En!

He showed absolutely no signs of fatigue; as he cultivated and practiced, his strength was rising with the tide. Although the overall pace seemed slow, the rate was sustainable, and whatever growth was due each day, it was guaranteed to be achieved!

With both sides gaining and losing, although the situation was still in his favor, it had clearly fallen into a stalemate, leaving him in a position where it was difficult to get off the tiger he was riding!

The crux was that the operation to seal the inner court of the ruins and drive away or lure out the resentful spirits was actually in full swing, and the troops in the ambush positions could not be lightly redeployed.

In other words, the High Envoy suddenly discovered that he, who should have had a great advantage in manpower, was now severely lacking in it!

"I must prepare for the worst..."

Thinking this, his smile gradually disappeared.

And so, as time passed, the tug-of-war stalemate on the edge of the Nancang Ruins continued; it seemed as if nothing had changed, but in reality, it was changing every moment.

Excluding Tang Yiping and Fu Yong who were in closed-door cultivation, the High Envoy and Meng Changqing and the others watched with their own eyes as changes occurred on Du En's side.

On the fiftieth day of the tug-of-war, his culinary skills broke through to the level of thorough mastery.

Thus, he was able to use the spiritual materials provided by Meng Changqing to cook third-tier mid-grade spiritual meals, further boosting his cultivation to reach fifty cycles of practice per day.

There were more changes to come.

On the one hundred and fifty-fifth day, the Earth Cannon Art broke through to the level of perfection.

A five-zhang-sized earth cannon blast fired out, simply crushing everything in its path, causing quite a few casualties among the hostile armored soldiers who had originally been relying on rotation and rest and had suffered no obvious damage.

Just as the High Envoy was about to adjust the eight-cornered formation into four segments, Du En thoughtfully changed his training method first; the earth cannon began to take a backseat, giving space for the Flying Sand Art to be cast.

It was a spell biased toward group area-of-effect, and its lethality to the enemy was not actually that great, but it had a greater impact on the encirclement arrangements that required delicate and precise control.

Especially with the earth cannon as a complement, first using it to shatter the outer defenses and then covering and submerging them with the Flying Sand Art, he could easily turn the armored soldiers' efforts into nothing!

If he adopted the approach of turning into four segments, the distance between points and faces would be lengthened, making it actually easier to be disrupted and interfered with by this combination of moves.

Thus, a month after Du En shifted to mainly practicing the Flying Sand Art one hundred and fifty times a day, the High Envoy transferred the troops from another place who had finally found some free time, and redeployed the formation.

These troops were the ones who had gone to drive away and lure out the resentful spirits; although they had suffered heavy losses, they had indeed successfully lured the manifested resentful spirits into hiding and leaving, and they would not appear again for a short time.

Both sides made adjustments and continued to fall into a stalemate.

On the three hundred and seventh day, Du En's Flying Sand Art broke through to the level of a grand master.

The High Envoy was not surprised, feeling quite helpless in his heart.

He could only continue to target him and try to minimize his own side's losses.

Even so, the grand-master-level flying sand blew with a roar, covering a range of more than ten zhang; the sand gathered into clumps, and when they struck, they splashed out pitch-black, hard, finger-sized sand grains.

Caught off guard, it could directly explode the heads of the armored soldiers; it already possessed clear lethality!

However, it was a spell that did not focus on lethality after all, so it still had to be coordinated with the Earth Cannon Art, and since the recovery pills were eaten up, he could still only maintain one hundred and fifty practice sessions per day.

Thus, by the six hundred and seventh day, Du En's Flying Sand Art broke through to the level of perfection.

The coverage reached sixteen zhang, as if a smoke screen had been raised and brought down; the wild sand flew and splashed, and amidst the crackling sounds, all kinds of defenses were left in precarious states, forced to just hold on, completely unable to do anything else.

Whenever Du En blew the flying sand, it would last for a long time; once the armored soldiers finally held on, the guards on his side, who had been waiting like wolves and tigers for a long time, would unhesitatingly pour out their firepower.

Coming several times a day, with twenty-some people dying each time, it finally caused the attrition of the armored soldiers to surge, making the High Envoy unable to help but turn his head to look at the two people on his side who were also cultivating.

They were also cultivating, so how could that person find time to become braver with each battle, gradually turning from passive to active, while you two could only sit there grinding away the days and wearing down your cultivation?

The High Envoy now had a slight regret.

If he had known it would be like this, he would have transferred some more capable genius subordinates over.

The first-rate elites were already hard to look at!

"... Retreat, regroup, stand by for battle."

The High Envoy issued a new order, not giving Du En's side a chance to continue whittling down his own forces.

Even so, the number of armored soldiers taken out by Du En's side from beginning to end had reached over four hundred; even if he pulled everyone he could from other places, he could now only barely maintain a count of seven hundred, and all of them had major or minor injuries.

Now that they had shifted to regrouping and standing by for battle, the meaning was very clear.

The coming decisive battle was unavoidable!

Because Du En's cultivation breakthrough was imminent!

Regarding the enemy's change, this side also made adaptive adjustments.

No longer wasting extra mana, he focused solely on cultivation; at most, he would casually cast a Fire Ignition Art, but that was only to supplement the cooking.

Having eaten for so long, the stock of spiritual items on Meng Changqing's side was almost empty; the things providing firepower, whether it was the heat performance of the utensils themselves or the burning of external items like spiritual charcoal, were all damaged or exhausted, so he had to do it himself.

Thus, another fifty days passed, and the Fire Ignition Art broke through to the level of thorough mastery.

Furthermore, the spiritual Qi began to stir restlessly.

"It's about to begin..."

"Yes, it has finally reached this juncture."

Both the High Envoy and Meng Changqing felt a sense of emotion.

One year and ten months.

Time had already arrived at the beginning of June, two years later.

Unknowingly, they had actually been locked in a stalemate here for such a long time.

Beforehand, there was absolutely no expectation that things would unfold this way!

(End of this chapter)