Chapter 148: Divine Valor, Sacred Shield, Illusory Form, the Trial of Rules

"First, after learning it, you must report to the prefecture-level military department. Whether cultivating or casting, as long as it's within Great Zhou's borders, it requires special approval from the military department."

"Second, even outside the territory, during military campaigns, only a seventh-rank Military Agronomist may capture souls on the battlefield."

"Third, it must not be privately transmitted, and unless necessary, must not be publicly displayed."

The willow-character straw figure paused, then continued: "If you can learn it, I can help you resolve the first point. From now on, you may simply come to the Myriad Dharma Palace to cultivate."

Zhao Xing cupped his hands after listening: "Many thanks for the guidance, my lord."

"Go inside and observe the demonstration." After the willow-character straw figure finished speaking, it continued to drift about.

Zhao Xing then entered the great hall.

Strange to say, outside it was still bright with sunshine, but upon entering the great hall, the light suddenly dimmed. Dark clouds gathered in the skylight, and a ghastly, terrifying atmosphere spread out.

Zhao Xing couldn't help but shiver.

"Whoosh~"

A breeze blew past, and one of the two soul-capturing straw figures instantly dissipated.

When the straw figure disintegrated into materials floating before him, Zhao Xing quickly identified them.

"Cold pine wood, selaginella branch, five-spire pagoda tree wood, soul-returning willow, yellow spring leaf, mulberry flower—two woods for hands and feet, two branches piercing chest and belly, one flower and one leaf locking the primordial soul."

"All are objects of the Yin Five Elements."

Zhao Xing observed silently.

The soul-capturing straw figure has fairly strict material requirements; they must be Yin-attribute materials.

Without Yin-attribute materials, there's no way to cast the spell.

Other straw figure arts only involve the Dao of the Five Elements, but the soul-capturing straw figure already involves the Dao of Yin and Yang.

"Whoosh~"

The breeze blew once more—even reassembling the soul-capturing straw figure requires the use of Yin wind.

After reassembly, Zhao Xing activated his Five Elements Observation to examine the straw figure's interior.

He saw only two kinds of power within: Yin Wood Element and Yin Wind Element.

Moreover, whenever external Five Elements power drew near, the two Yin powers inside would form a vortex to actively devour it, strengthening the Yin-attribute power.

During this process, Zhao Xing even felt his gaze being drawn in.

But for the living, this attraction is very slight; it's hard to shake a late-stage ninth-rank Life Soul.

"Solitary Yin does not generate, lone Yang does not grow. The Yin-Yang power between heaven and earth is dynamically distributed—when Yin overwhelms Yang, all things decline; when Yang overwhelms Yin, all things begin."

"The soul-capturing straw figure is essentially creating a pure-Yin depression; Yin souls will be drawn in unconsciously."

Zhao Xing vaguely gained some insight, and this image appeared in his mind.

The world before him seemed to become a flat plane with two attributes, Yin and Yang, dotted with many starlight points that sometimes vanished and sometimes appeared—those were living beings being born and perishing within it.

Overall, the dots were distributed very evenly, but suddenly a vortex appeared on the plane.

After the vortex appeared, the plane suddenly caved in and became three-dimensional.

The imbalance of Yin and Yang created a certain 'potential difference,' and a great amount of starlight was pulled in.

After the vortex absorbed the starlight, it grew stronger, and the plane became increasingly distorted.

"Hum~"

Until at last, everything vanished.

Zhao Xing lowered his head to look at his palm; a wisp of Jin Guang rotated at his fingertip—this was the spell he had unconsciously cast while gaining insight just now.

Looking ahead again, a third soul-capturing straw figure had appeared.

【You observed the straw figure's demonstration and comprehended the intermediate spell 'Soul-Capturing Straw Figure'.】

【Soul-Capturing Straw Figure: 151/9999】

【Effect: Draw soul-spirits into the body, capture soul-spirits as slaves】

Seeing this, Zhao Xing silently cupped his hands, then withdrew from the great hall.

Among the eighty-one arts taught by the old agronomist, the soul-capturing straw figure was a castrated version; Xue Wenzhong probably only knew the beginner-level soul-drawing straw figure.

This art also has a high-level version: the soul-devouring straw figure.

It can capture multiple soul-spirits into the body, let the soul-spirits fight and kill each other within, cultivating gu to produce even fiercer fierce souls.

Essentially there's no difference from the Honored Soul Banner—it's just a different form.

Of course, here in our Great Zhou, the terminology changes—what fierce soul? That's called a 'Battle Soul Straw Figure'!

This spell can work wonders on the battlefield. As long as there are enough materials, the straw figures only multiply through fighting, and even at just first-revolution, they possess considerable combat power. After capturing a soul, the straw figure can randomly obtain one secret technique attack from the Yin soul's former life.

Zhao Xing had originally planned to leave, because right now he couldn't practice it to any effect—there were no souls for him to capture.

Could he practice by killing some exotic beasts' souls?

No, the reason this spell is called the soul-capturing straw figure is that it requires human souls. Capturing other souls has little effect and is purely a waste of materials.

He had just walked out of the great hall when a willow-character straw figure came over.

"If you wish to continue practicing? There's a death-row cell block within the Myriad Dharma Palace; you may go in and kill a few to try your hand."

"……"

Zhao Xing's mouth twitched. It wasn't that he found anything wrong with killing death-row prisoners, but rather the way Liu spoke was as casual as saying 'go slaughter a pig.'

Combined with his past life's understanding of Liu Tianning, he was genuinely a bit apprehensive at this moment.

If he wanted to practice, he could go to the battlefield later. He had already decided to stay away from this half-mad Liu, so naturally he didn't want to get too deeply involved now.

"Many thanks for the kind offer, my lord. I wish to concentrate my efforts on practicing one art, to earn points for this selection training."

The willow-character straw figure nodded: "If you have need in the future, you may come to the Myriad Dharma Palace at any time."

"Yes."

Zhao Xing turned and left, his footsteps quickening somewhat.

After wandering around the Myriad Dharma Palace, Zhao Xing had also taken up three classic strawman arts.

They were Divine Valor, Sacred Shield, and Illusory Form.

Divine Valor was similar to the effect of the Mighty Strawman, but its power was a bit stronger; its behavior was no longer dull and clumsy — it knew how to dodge and shift, possessing a certain combat instinct.

The Mighty Vajra, on the other hand, would charge until it died, never retreating a single step.

The Sacred Shield Strawman was larger in size, specializing in defense.

Illusory Form was the foundation of the True-Self Strawman, focusing on making the fake indistinguishable from the real.

"Soul-Capture and Dharma-Protector are difficult to practice, but these three don't require external force to train. They're the best choices for handling the examination."

The other strawman arts were more obscure and even more profound; some of the advanced strawmen simply couldn't be made sense of.

There would be plenty of chances to learn them later. Right now, his main focus was still on earning points.

Returning to the Dharma-Demonstration Plaza, he found quite a few more people there.

"Even Shi Yong has come."

In one corner of the plaza, Shi Yong was also observing a certain strawman.

"Zhao Xing."

Zhuang Ziqing spotted Zhao Xing and walked over together with Han Bing.

"You two are here too? When did you arrive?"

"We've been here for a while," Zhuang Ziqing said. "But we just passed the third trial."

"Looks like everyone's short on points," Zhao Xing said with a smile.

"What strawman did you use to pass?" Han Bing asked.

"I haven't passed yet."

"You'd better hurry," Han Bing reminded him. "Lord Liu has already given the first reminder — the number of people who've passed the third trial is about to reach one hundred. If you're late, you won't be able to make it into the top Send Bai Ming."

"Alright, I'll head over now." Zhao Xing had also heard the announcement; the very reason he'd rushed over was because of this.

"Then you go ahead," Zhuang Ziqing said. "We'll talk later."

"Sure."

Zhao Xing immediately sent a Self-Detonating Strawman into the main hall for testing.

The Self-Detonating Strawman stood within a barrier circle.

After the explosion, the light outside the barrier flickered four times — this meant it had reached the Fourth Revolution.

Zhao Xing met the standard on the third trial and earned 800 points.

At this point, he had collected all the basic rewards for meeting the standard, totaling 1,250 points.

Afterwards, Zhao Xing found a quiet spot and began grinding his strawman progress.

The Dharma-Protector Strawman and Soul-Capture Strawman were hard to practice, but the Invisibility Strawman and Self-Detonation Strawman could be trained intensively.

The moment the zi hour of the twenty-third of July passed.

Suddenly, a voice spread throughout the entire Myriad Dharma Palace, as well as the first and second trials.

"One hundred people have now passed the third trial. These one hundred people are the top Send Bai Ming for this point reward."

"Others may continue to study and challenge the trials, and can still obtain the basic standard reward totaling 1,250 points."

"As long as you pass the third trial, this elective training can earn you a Grade A."

Zhao Xing opened his eyes upon hearing this voice.

"I didn't expect a hundred people to pass the third trial so quickly."

"Looks like quite a few Si Nong have studied strawman arts, or have talent in that area."

The class started at the wu hour, and now it had just passed the zi hour — in the span of a few hours, a hundred people had passed the third trial.

And these one hundred people would continue to compete for the ranking rewards of the top one hundred. Everyone else could only get the basic standard points.

Even so, the strawman training class was much better than the other training classes. Even if you didn't make the top one hundred, with effort you could almost certainly get 1,250 points, because elective training classes could be continued within a year — just like Lu Bang's elective training class, which also stipulated that passing within a year was enough.

After repeating it several times.

Liu Tianning announced the training curriculum and ranking rules for these one hundred people going forward.

"Si Nong who have passed the third trial will train with a time limit of seven days."

"Seven days from now, a strawman art examination will be held."

"After three rounds of competition, the ranking for this elective training class will be determined. First place can obtain fifty thousand points."

Zhao Xing listened quietly — three rounds of competition meant there were still three trials ahead.

"The fourth trial is a single-art examination."

"You may study any one strawman art. The higher your realm, the higher your ranking in the fourth trial."

"The fifth trial is a multi-art examination."

"Within seven days, you must complete the merging of strawman arts, with the minimum standard being the fusion of two arts. If no one enters the sixth trial, the point rewards for the top ten will not be issued, and rewards will be calculated starting from the second tier."

"The sixth trial is a live combat sparring."

"Only ten people will enter the sixth trial, where they will engage in one-on-one live combat using strawman arts to determine the final ranking."

The Si Nong who had passed the third trial were immediately thrilled — after all, fifty thousand points were right within reach.

However, the difficulty was also considerable; falling behind even slightly meant elimination.

The fourth trial only tested a single strawman art, but the fifth trial required the fusion of two arts!

If you couldn't even achieve the fusion of two arts, the sixth trial was out of reach.

Liu Tianning had said earlier that to obtain generous point rewards, there were hard standards to meet.

If everyone was eliminated at the fifth trial, then even the top ten rewards couldn't be obtained.

"The high point rewards have attracted almost all the top-tier Grade A geniuses."

Zhao Xing looked at the figures on the Method-Demonstration Plaza.

"Shi Yong, Zhuang Ziqing, Feng Qiu, Han Bing, Guan Junyang…"

Even though the straw-man method hadn't been studied before, the Agricultural Officials here were all geniuses with strong enough talent; even starting from zero, their progress was very fast.

Moreover, these hundred geniuses had served as Military Agricultural Officials in their original posts, so they were certainly well-rounded and had some slight exposure to the straw-man method as well.

"Under the current situation, everyone is short on points, so everyone signed up for this course."

"However, being strong in other areas doesn't necessarily mean being strong in the straw-man method."

For example, among the Agricultural Official Reserve, five people had their Solar Terms Command reach the fourth layer of the Knowing realm.

But these five people might not necessarily stand out in the straw-man method, because the Solar Terms Command belongs to the Heavenly-Timing Sect's classics, while the straw-man method is a technique of the Benwo Sect.

"I also have to train hard and strive to earn more points." Zhao Xing thought to himself.

Currently, his progress with the four types of straw men was: Guardian-Faith Straw Man at entry first revolution, Soul-Capturing Straw Man not yet at entry.

Self-Detonation Straw Man and Invisibility Straw Man had both reached the fourth revolution.

The fourth trial only tested a single straw-man method, so Zhao Xing decided to first cultivate one straw-man method in the next seven days.

"These seven days, I need to both study at the Ten Thousand Methods Palace and go to the Supreme Granary Court's treasure land to comprehend the Yin-Yang Benwo Sutra."

"The essence of the straw-man method lies in utilizing the principles of the inner five elements."

"Comprehending the Yin-Yang Benwo Sutra will naturally be quite helpful for improving the straw-man method… hmm? Who's looking at me?"

Zhao Xing suddenly had a premonition; his life-soul perception was very sharp.

Sensing someone spying on him, he looked in a certain direction and discovered a familiar face—Li Feng.

"Zhao Xing." Seeing Zhao Xing look up, Li Feng walked over with a smile on his face. "How's your comprehension going?"

Li Feng had previously demonstrated four types of straw men on the Method-Demonstration Plaza: Mystic Weapon Straw Man, Sacred Shield Straw Man, Self-Detonation Straw Man, and Invisibility Straw Man.

The Mystic Weapon Straw Man, holding a long spear, could perform some complex attacks; being able to wield weapons was its distinguishing feature.

The Giant Shield Straw Man had a much larger frame than a normal straw man, equivalent to a human-shaped giant shield.

His straw-man method realm was not low, drawing quite a bit of praise.

Li Feng had thought Zhao Xing had also seen it, so he immediately ran over to show off.

"My comprehension is just so-so." Zhao Xing said lightly.

"Hahaha, I can summon sixteen types of straw men, and the straw-man method can at most combine three methods into one!"

Who asked you?!

Zhao Xing found it rather amusing inside: "Li Feng really is a pretty simple person, his joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness are all expressed very directly, never hiding anything."

"But showing off in front of me is going too far."

So Zhao Xing opened his mouth and said: "You lost the promotion battle."

Li Feng: "Give me the time of one incense stick to prepare—Divine General, Giant Shield, Self-Detonation—at least I can summon fifteen of them, even an eighth-rank martial artist would die with regret on the spot!"

Zhao Xing: "You lost the promotion battle."

Li Feng: "The moment I came in, I passed the third trial's test directly. I wonder how many types of straw men you can summon, and how powerful they are?"

Zhao Xing: "You lost the promotion battle."

"…"

Li Feng's mouth twitched: "Can you stop bringing up the promotion battle? Is that what I'm talking about with you?"

"Oh, Brother Li, what do you want to talk about? Branch training? Or registration training?"

"…"

Mentioning this made Li Feng full of anger. Seeing he couldn't gain the upper hand verbally, he gave a cold snort and swept his sleeves away.

Let you talk tough for a few days first; when the final practical combat test comes, I'll naturally let you know how formidable I am!

"I, Li Feng, must wash away this shame this time!"

Hiss, feels like this schedule is getting more and more hellish.

Counting it, this chapter is still yesterday's, I'm having such a hard time.

I'll keep writing, I'll just stay up, brothers don't stay up.

Also, friendly book recommendation, the portal is below. Brothers who are interested can go take a look.