Chapter 147: Invisibility, Soul-Seizing, Sacrificial Explosion, Dharma Protector — Four New Straw-Man Arts

"The straw-man art is truly ingenious, I never imagined straw-man art could be this exquisite... why has my belt come undone?" Cao Shuang was contemplating a grey straw man before him when he suddenly noticed his belt had slipped loose.

"Who, who the hell is casting a spell?!"

The people around covered their mouths and laughed. Zhao Xing walked over grinning and snapped his fingers to make the invisible straw man reveal itself.

"Brother Cao, we're all men here, are you afraid of being seen?"

"It was you?" Seeing it was Zhao Xing, Cao Shuang wasn't angry. He grinned and retied his belt. "Little brother, I'm not a woman, why'd you undo my belt? I don't have that dragon-yang bent, you know."

Zhao Xing laughed and said, "Your alertness is way too poor. If the invisible straw man had held a pair of scissors, your little root of life would've been gone — from then on you'd have no given name, only a surname."

Cao Shuang patted his crotch and laughed boldly, "Ha, this brother of mine isn't just well-endowed and skilled, he's also extremely hard and firm. You'd need at least a fifth-rank pair of scissors to do the job."

Zhao Xing grinned, "Then your sister-in-law Lady is going to suffer terribly, hahaha."

"Hahaha."

The two chatted and laughed as they walked to one side.

The fastest ways for men to build friendship are none other than two: fighting shoulder to shoulder, and fighting shoulder to shoulder in another place.

Since the 【Lawless Training】, Zhao Xing had roused the Si Nong's fighting spirit, and within that one month, Zhao Xing had already mixed in well.

His relations with Cao Shuang, Jiang Tianming, Zhuang Ziqing and others were all quite good.

"Little brother, didn't expect you to have quite the talent for straw men too."

Cao Shuang's lecherous expression made it hard not to take it the wrong way.

"When you say things like that, could you not look so debauched? Hearing straw-man spells from your mouth always feels weird to me." Zhao Xing laughed. "Military life is tough, but brother, don't tell me you've used straw-man spells for some strange things — that's an offense against public decency."

"With this build and this look of mine, would I need to use such tricks?" Cao Shuang thumped his chest. "I just stand at the gate of Yangcheng Weaving Office, and a bunch of weaving girls will be tossing handkerchiefs my way."

Zhao Xing gave a thumbs up. As for Cao Shuang's other skills, he didn't know, but his confidence was definitely unmatched.

"Alright, enough idle chatter, how's your comprehension going?" Cao Shuang asked.

"Comprehended one — it's this invisible straw man. When I saw you, I came over to say hi." Zhao Xing said. "What about you, how many arts have you learned?"

"The plaza's full of mid-rank straw men, how could I comprehend many?" Cao Shuang said. "I've been here half a day, but only comprehended one art — the Sacrificial Explosion Straw Man."

"Oh?" Zhao Xing raised an eyebrow. "Where? Let me see."

"There, over that way." Cao Shuang said. "Come, I'll take you to see."

Cao Shuang pulled Zhao Xing to the south side of the plaza. There was a bamboo grove there, the leaves a cyan-green, but the bamboo stalks a dark red.

Beside it were also many split-open dark red bamboo strips.

"Firecracker bamboo grove? And all third or fourth rank?" Zhao Xing was a bit shocked.

"Yeah, I got a fright when I first arrived too. Such a huge firecracker bamboo grove, with so many firecrackers piled beside it — aren't they afraid of blasting people away?" Cao Shuang said. "I was crouching here comprehending, my heart in my throat the whole time."

"Rest easy, brother." Zhao Xing pointed at a few uniquely shaped stone piers and strange beast statues beside the firecracker bamboo grove. "Black Tortoise Essence-Locking Array, stacked four layers. Even if you blew up this bamboo grove, it wouldn't explode."

"Oh? Can't tell you have research into formations too."

Zhao Xing said, "Brother Cao, I quite covet this straw-man art as well, so I'll comprehend it here. Care to join?"

Cao Shuang waved his hand: "I won't stay here. I'm going to practice the Sacrificial Explosion Straw Man. Head south a thousand meters, then turn left, there's a side courtyard. Inside there are straw men constantly self-destructing. I'll watch and practice over there. Once you've learned, come find me."

"Alright." Zhao Xing nodded.

He watched Cao Shuang leave, then began comprehending the demonstration process of the Sacrificial Explosion Straw Man.

The Sacrificial Explosion Straw Man is a restricted spell.

Among mid-rank spells, it's also relatively material-hungry.

It usually uses firecrackers as material.

Certain plants with explosive properties can also serve as raw materials.

Without these materials, its power would be greatly reduced.

"The Sacrificial Explosion Straw Man internally locks the power of the five elements, usually led by fire and thunder."

"Materials like firecrackers provide a large amount of fire-element power, and their internal cycle is constantly compressing air."

"When the hard bamboo nodes burst open, tens of thousands of fragments scatter — it can blast a person into a sieve."

Zhao Xing had deep memories of firecrackers, because back when he killed Wu Mei of the Xuantian Sect, firecrackers had done great work.

The Sacrificial Explosion Straw Man is more practical than a plain firecracker. Firecrackers have to be buried to achieve the intended effect; throwing them doesn't work well either.

Because they're easy to dodge, and easy to hurt yourself.

Using the Sacrificial Explosion Straw Man's mobility, one can perfectly bring out the firecracker's effect.

Of course, it's not just firecrackers — many other plants can be used too. Zhao Xing wasn't in Gucheng anymore, he could access many wondrous plants now.

In his previous life, the Sacrificial Explosion Straw Man had been developed into many uses by Si Nong players.

For instance, the Poison Explosion Straw Man is a variant of the Sacrificial Explosion Straw Man.

There were also crude tricks like adding urine and feces into the Sacrificial Explosion Straw Man.

"Straw man dipped in filth — whoever touches it dies; if not dead, they're disgusted to death." The corner of Zhao Xing's mouth curved up as he recalled the many application scenarios of this spell.

【You observed the straw man's spell demonstration process, and comprehended the mid-rank spell 'Sacrificial Explosion Straw Man'.】

【Sacrificial Explosion Straw Man: 1/9999】

【Effect: Uses plant properties to trigger an explosion of five-element power】

"Zhao Xing, take the Sacrificial Explosion Straw Man elsewhere to practice."

Just as Zhao Xing was about to try it out, a straw man marked with the character 'Liu' beside the bamboo grove suddenly spoke.

"Yes." Zhao Xing cupped his fist in salute, then took the Sacrificial Explosion Straw Man and left to find Cao Shuang.

Just then.

Several more people flew into the palace plaza.

One of them looked quite familiar.

"Li Feng?"

"This kid really does like the summoning style, huh. The straw-man training course — he's already reached the third stage so quickly."

Zhao Xing glanced over and left the plaza.

After Li Feng landed, he happened to catch sight of Zhao Xing's back.

Why could he recognize him from just a back view? Because he hated him.

Damn it, he couldn't beat him in a fight, and he'd been screwed over by this guy several times.

Tricked once at registration, tricked again at the branch assignment, and his advancement battle was wrecked by Zhao Xing too.

Forget a back view — even if Zhao Xing turned to ash, Li Feng would still recognize him!

"Good, good, good — so I've found my chance this quickly." Seeing Zhao Xing, Li Feng couldn't help but bloom with joy. "I may not beat you at other arts, but straw-man arts are my specialty!"

"Even the Commander said I have talent in straw-man arts."

A faint smile appeared on Li Feng's face.

Because he loved straw-man arts, many of his spells unconsciously leaned toward the summoning style.

"Learn the arts first, then compete in the rankings — there'll surely be a chance to fight him."

Li Feng soon headed to the plaza as well to find a suitable straw-man art to study.

A thousand paces south of the side courtyard, there were several side courtyards sealed off by formations. Turning left at the thousand-pace mark, Zhao Xing saw Cao Shuang practicing the Self-Detonating Straw-Man inside.

Faint explosion sounds could be heard, but with each blast, everything within the courtyard was wrapped by the formation — not a single blade of grass or tree was harmed.

Cao Shuang stood inside a circle, within the blast's range, yet completely unharmed.

On the contrary, he could observe the explosions up close.

"Zhao Xing, what brings you here? Couldn't learn it? I can teach you… huh? You've already learned it?" Cao Shuang had assumed Zhao Xing came to ask him for guidance, never expecting he was here to practice.

But they'd only been apart for less than two quarter-hours — Zhao Xing had already mastered the Self-Detonating Straw-Man? What the hell!

"Luck, pure luck," Zhao Xing said. "I happened to have seen a Self-Detonating Straw-Man before, and I've also handled firecrackers. Brother Cao, you've already reached entry-level?"

Entry-level means the spell's cultivation progress has reached one revolution.

Zhao Xing looked at the power of Cao Shuang's Self-Detonating Straw-Man — it should have already reached one revolution.

Fast indeed, since Cao Shuang had only arrived on the morning of the twenty-third, at most he'd been here for three hours.

"Just entered. The Self-Detonating Straw-Man art is quite difficult to practice — the five-element cycle within it is off by a hair and wrong by a mile. The weaving method is also crucial; if the lock is too loose or too tight, all sorts of problems arise."

"Take it slow. There's still plenty of time anyway, and the people behind won't reach the third stage that fast. Brother Cao, you're already a step ahead — with your talent, one step fast means every step fast. Isn't a mere straw-man art a piece of cake for you?"

"Haha, Zhao Xing, if that mouth of yours were used to coax Miss, you'd land one every time for sure." Cao Shuang's originally gloomy mood lightened a bit. A friend like Zhao Xing — being around him always provided emotional value.

"I'll be cultivating in the side courtyard next door. Brother Cao, drop by to give me some pointers when you're free."

"Easy to say."

"Bang bang bang bang bang bang!"

Entering the adjacent side courtyard, Zhao Xing also began his boom-boom-boom cultivation process.

His progress advanced at tremendous speed.

Because the panel recorded everything, if the progress given during practice was high, it proved the cultivation direction was correct.

If a particular attempt's progress was especially low, or simply zero, it proved the direction had gone astray and needed correction.

There were thousands of wrong paths, but Zhao Xing could always quickly find his way back to the right one — because he had Derivative Three Fortune.

Even choosing with his eyes closed, he couldn't stray too far.

Thus, Zhao Xing learned everything fast — and it wasn't all talent and comprehension; there was also the cheat.

"Three revolutions."

Zhao Xing glanced at the panel.

In the span of one hour, the Self-Detonating Straw-Man had already reached the three-revolution level.

"If someone were hugged by a nine-revolution Self-Detonating Straw-Man and it detonated, among eighth-rank, probably only a genius martial artist from Chen Xuan Wu Wu could withstand it."

Among martial artists, the geniuses of Chen Xuan Wu Wu were the best at defense.

Among eighth-rank, there were quite a few geniuses who externally trained the Black Tortoise Shield and internally trained the Gluttony Art — copper skin and iron bones perfected, qi and blood like mercury, silver marrow newly born — extremely durable.

"But if you coated the Self-Detonating Straw-Man with a layer of poison, the effect would be different."

"Thundergod Vine crushed into juice, Yellow Spring pollen, Aconitum — all can make deadly poisons. Coat them on the straw-man, and when it explodes inside the body, even a sixth-rank military doctor couldn't save them — unless they knew the Thirteen Ghost-Gate Needles, which could sustain life for twelve hours."

Standing inside the formation circle, the blast couldn't reach him. Zhao Xing took his time, grinding the Self-Detonating Straw-Man's progress.

After another two quarter-hours, the Self-Detonating Straw-Man spell reached four revolutions.

Zhao Xing stopped training. First, breaking through in a short time was difficult — the progress wasn't moving, not because he was wrong, but because his accumulation wasn't enough.

To improve, the method was also simple: study more of the other straw-man arts and draw analogies across categories.

The Myriad Arts Palace had plenty of everything else, but most of all, straw-men.

Zhao Xing left the side courtyard, saw Cao Shuang still training diligently, and wandered around the Myriad Arts Palace on his own.

Before long, he stopped by the training ground.

"Swoosh swoosh swoosh~"

A dark-gold straw-man curved its fingers into a sword, streams of sword qi bursting from its fingertips.

Shooting toward the head of the earth-gray straw-man opposite.

Just as it was about to land, it was blocked by a tortoise shell.

A martial arts secret technique — the Black Tortoise Shield.

"Protector Straw-Man."

Zhao Xing saw yet another familiar straw-man art.

Back in Gucheng, Chen Shijie had once arranged a Protector Straw-Man for his protection.

Protector Straw-Man: its body can contain one spell or martial technique.

The Nine-Turn Guardian Strawman can hold nine different secret techniques, but it does not include movement techniques — unless it is a Divine Movement Guardian Strawman that fuses two techniques into one, otherwise there is no foundation to cast it.

It can also hold multiple copies of the same secret technique, but the power will not stack. The upper limit of a Guardian Strawman's power depends not on the caster, but on the person whose technique was imprinted.

For example, if Zhao Xing asks Xia Jing for a sword qi, then the power of this Guardian Strawman depends on how strong Xia Jing's sword Dao is.

Of course, the stronger the strawman, the higher the upper limit it can hold.

Guardian Strawmen can hold high-grade techniques, but the materials are quite expensive, and it must be able to lock them in without leakage — otherwise the cost-effectiveness is poor.

Guardian Strawmen are usually used to hold Wu Ji, and defensive Wu Ji at that, because Spell-type Agricultural Officials already know how to cast spells themselves.

Learning the Guardian Strawman is mainly to make up for the weakness in close combat.

At a critical moment, a Guardian Strawman can save one's life.

This must be learned.

Zhao Xing observed and studied on the training ground for two quarter-hours. The Guardian Strawman is easy to learn but hard to master. Zhao Xing grasped it quickly, but to reach entry-level proficiency was harder than the other strawmen.

Because the Guardian Strawman's practice improves through the process of storing and casting techniques.

Storing one's own techniques yields little improvement.

Techniques one already knows are naturally very familiar, and this affects the comprehension process.

It's like setting questions for oneself — the training effect is minimal. To improve, one mainly stores other people's techniques. And preferably Wu Ji-type ones.

Seeing that the spell had been learned, he took a Guardian Strawman and left, continuing to wander about inside the Myriad Spells Palace.

After walking aimlessly for a while, he suddenly arrived before a great hall, its interior architecture solemn and austere, the overall color scheme black and white.

Zhao Xing saw two strawman guards at the entrance and was about to leave, but just as he lifted his foot, he stopped again.

"Hmm?"

He turned his head and looked carefully at the two strawman guards at the door, staring for a while. A flash of surprise crossed Zhao Xing's eyes.

"Misread it — these are actually two Soul-Detaining Strawmen?"

Soul-Detaining Strawmen are specialized against yin souls.

The Great Zhou's outward expansion mainly faces enemies of the barbarian tribes and the Fangwaizong Sect, among which the Fangwaizong Sect is skilled at using yin soul evil arts, such as Soul-Honoring Banners and the like.

A powerhouse like the Blood Spirit Venerable — his true self should be at the Third Rank Primordial Soul realm — was adept at yin soul arts. As long as there were enough believers and blood offerings, his split-soul bodies could quickly coalesce again. They seemed endless to kill, and his methods were bizarre and hidden.

Outside the territory, without the Great Zhou's Yin Gods' protection, it would be very hard to deal with.

Soul-Detaining Strawmen can effectively counter this type of spell.

But this is somewhat taboo.

Among the Eighty-One Arts, the Soul-Detaining Strawman is considered an evil art and has long been criticized. The imperial court deleted this art very early on and did not transmit it externally.

"Lord Liu." Zhao Xing found a strawman with the character 'Liu' printed on its clothing.

The strawman paused for a second before speaking: "What is it?"

"May I learn the Soul-Detaining Strawman?"

The strawman still paused for a second, as if with a delay: "You may, but you must keep three regulations in mind."

"May I ask, Lord Liu, what are the three regulations?" Zhao Xing asked.

I haven't written it out yet. Alliance Leader Du Yun guessed the Detonation Strawman — readers are truly all-powerful. Welcome everyone to provide inspiration in the book review section.

Spells, minor characters, anything works.

PS: This is yesterday's second update; the third update will be made up during the day.