Chapter 103

The sun slanted to the west.

The large wooden barrel for Chu Tianshu's cultivation was moved to the locust tree courtyard, and the medicinal sand inside was the color of yellow clouds.

Several guards were bringing over wine jars that were sealed very tightly.

In those wine shops and inns in Nanzhao, the alcohol content of the self-brewed wine is basically not high.

But after Chu Tianshu arrived at the Zheng residence, he learned that these high-ranking official families actually had "Jade Flower" spirits with a concentration close to alcohol.

The reason it is not pure alcohol is only because some medicinal materials were added to it.

It is said that this is something that those alchemists tinkered with during the Wei and Jin periods.

At that time, among the famous families of Wei and Jin, there were many who were dissolute and lived in a drunken stupor. This was considered romantic and highly praised. Many were addicted to Five-Stone Powder to restore their vigor, feeling like they were floating like immortals, as if drinking nectar.

However, using too much Five-Stone Powder easily leads to dryness and heat in the joints, alternating cold and heat, restlessness in sleep and eating, and even itching and sores all over the body.

Alchemists thought that the wonderful use of Five-Stone Powder was "like drinking nectar," so they worked on the wine and came up with the so-called Jade Flower Wine.

Even if this wine is drunk after being mixed with water, it is easy to make people feel tipsy and forget their worries, with soft light in their eyes, scenery everywhere, and a great sense of comfort.

Martial artists with strong muscles and bones and vigorous strength will not get drunk even if they drink ordinary wine until their stomachs are round. Only by drinking this kind of "Jade Flower Wine" can they experience the pleasure of strong wine entering the throat and get dead drunk.

However, this thing is not easy to preserve for ordinary people, so it is not popular among the people.

Only in the homes of high officials are there often many collections used to attract guests.

Chu Tianshu asked for these few jars, but not for drinking.

He let the guards pour the wine directly into the sand barrel.

The Three-Seven Divine Sword hummed, straight as iron, and was inserted obliquely by him into the sand barrel.

The hilt was still outside the edge of the barrel.

A guard took a fire stone and fire steel, striking a string of sparks toward the barrel.

Whoosh!!!

The fire light spread rapidly, leaping up nearly a foot high.

The heat emitted by the red-top and blue-bottom flames made the guards hurry to avoid it.

Chu Tianshu, however, still stood beside the wooden barrel.

This barrel was extremely thick and had iron hoops, so it was not easily burned.

His palm rested on the hilt, and the pores on the back of his hand and the gaps between his fingers were oozing blood droplets, which flowed down the hilt, tilting downward.

The blood met the fire, but it had not yet been evaporated.

Those few traces like threads and snakes, winding downward, looked exactly like the patterns Chu Tianshu had repeatedly drawn on the sword body for so many days.

Lady Wenjing saw someone moving wine and followed to take a look. She was originally a bit sorry that the strong wine was poured into the barrel, but now she was also attracted by this scene.

Fresh blood, raging fire, wine vapor, and yellow sand formed a strange scene.

Cheng Xiazi didn't open his eyes, but it was as if he had seen it, and said in a low voice: "This is the first time I've encountered someone cultivating a soldier spirit like this..."

The blood-refining soldier art produces a soldier spirit that is Yin, while the martial artist's blood energy is Yang.

Therefore, when the soldier spirit is about to be formed and is most sensitive, the martial artist cannot draw or contemplate blood patterns too much.

When Chu Tianshu was practicing in the mass grave back then, he could still practice for an hour.

After arriving at the locust tree courtyard, at first, he could blood-refine for more than two hours every day, and every time the bloodstains disappeared completely, he would wipe them again.

But ever since he felt the signs of the soldier spirit being about to form, the Three-Seven Divine Sword would occasionally have a sense of humming.

The time for blood refining every day was shortened to half an hour, or even gradually shortened to two quarter-hours.

This juncture is exactly when one needs to be most careful and cautious.

Yet I don't know why, today he used such a violent method again.

The blood patterns disappeared quickly in the fire, and I don't know if they were evaporated by the fire or absorbed by the sword body.

Blood droplets appeared again on the back of Chu Tianshu's hand and between his fingers, gathering into scarlet blood and flowing down.

Hai Donglai was also watching from the side, holding a large black umbrella.

The umbrella that Zheng Hui heard he needed to avoid light and chose was originally pure black.

But when it was handed to Hai Donglai, he transferred his own bit of soldier spirit into it.

The top of the umbrella seemed to have a small red cloud spreading, its color changing, leisurely turning red.

Presumably, when his soldier spirit recovers to its peak, this black umbrella will also turn into a red umbrella.

"Is that barrel used for his daily cultivation?"

Hai Donglai was thoughtful, "In this way, the medicinal sand in the barrel should have left a lot of masculine energy, and it was stimulated by the strong wine and fire... Could it be that he wants to use masculine energy to point out feminine energy?"

The theory of Greater Feminine and Lesser Masculine has existed since ancient times.

Cultivating a bit of Lesser Masculine quality to stimulate a large area of feminine energy, that is, the idea of "clearing the turbid and raising the clear" as the ancients said, to make the soldier spirit form faster, Hai Donglai had also flipped through it in the Great Tang Armory.

But this idea has never been implemented by anyone.

Because this can only be tried when the soldier spirit is about to form, and if one is not careful, all one's previous hard work will be wasted.

Even if someone really makes up their mind to try repeatedly, they cannot try it a few times in their lifetime.

Moreover, cultivating a soldier spirit is a very private matter.

If those in high positions want to force a group of people to make such attempts, they will be unwilling, and the results measured will also be all failures.

For those who have already trained a soldier spirit, this method is also useless. Rather than pondering this, it is better to gain insight into techniques.

Hai Donglai didn't expect that during this trip to Nanzhao, he would actually see someone using this method.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!

The fire began to ignite the inner wall of the wooden barrel, making a faint "crackle" sound.

The sound of the wind from the steaming flames became more and more obvious, and when people looked there, they only felt a distortion.

The few strands of hair on Chu Tianshu's forehead and temples also curled slightly.

He only focused on his sword, looking at the fresh blood gathering and flowing on the back of his hand.

The shadow of the locust tree became clear at some point.

Theoretically, even if the sun shines on the big tree, the tree shadow happens to be cast in this direction.

Because the fire is blazing, illuminating this area, one would not see the existence of shadows.

It was like that before.

But now, the shadow of the locust tree with its branches spread out is clearly cast on this medicinal sand in the wooden barrel.

The shadow of the locust branches also fell on the back of Chu Tianshu's hand.

Blood as an offering, Yang as a guide, Yin energy grows!

The miraculous Qi was drawn over.

Like crystal-white light Qi of silkworms, dreamlike and illusory, rising from the stone bricks all over the ground, throwing into the fire, and disappearing into the sword body.

Clang!!!

The Three-Seven Divine Sword suddenly shook, breaking through the thick medicinal sand.

Yellow sand splashed, like waves and pillars. The wind pressure generated in an instant extinguished the alcohol fire, and the entire courtyard darkened.

Only that sword, bright and white, wandered around Chu Tianshu.

Agile and flexible, seeming both soft and hard.

The sword body circled Chu Tianshu's entire right arm, spiraled up, brushed past his back, and reached his left arm.

The sword hum increased slightly, suddenly reaching from his left arm to his waist, forming a circle around his waist, tightening like a belt.

The hilt finally stopped right in front of his waist and abdomen.

Chu Tianshu touched this sword and felt a deep intimacy.

Blood and veins are connected, as if this sword is a sense he had lost for more than twenty years.

As his fingertips rubbed, Chu Tianshu naturally had an epiphany, understanding what kind of effect his soldier spirit power had.

It is not as exquisite as "Empty Drum Flying to Heaven," and it is not as wonderful as "Snow River Collapse."

The soldier spirit is inward, allowing Chu Tianshu to see the situation inside his body.

It is not the keen perception ability brought by practicing boxing in the past, but a "seeing" in the true sense.

Chu Tianshu raised his left hand and could see the tissues under his skin and the fibers of his muscles.

Moreover, he can adjust the depth of his viewing through his induction of the soldier spirit.

He can only see subcutaneous tissues and small blood vessels, or he can directly see his bones.

The soldier spirit is outward, which can increase the toughness of Chu Tianshu's whole body and improve his ability to resist blows.

Although it is a very simple ability, Chu Tianshu smiled and liked it very much. Many rough application guidelines had already flashed in his mind.

"My soldier spirit power shall be called..."

Chu Tianshu thought for a moment and smiled, "Inner Sage, Outer King."

In the past, he wrapped the sword around his arm. If there was an accident, it would be more convenient to block directly with the sword body on his hand.

Now his soldier spirit power is the regulation of the whole body. If he wants to make the soldier spirit power penetrate every part of the whole body as quickly as possible, wrapping the sword around his waist is the best choice.

Hai Donglai looked at him and said: "Your plan is to hide your progress and also use the reputation of the Inner Guard to achieve many purposes."

"But your soldier spirit has just formed, and the help is limited. The effects of your and my soldier spirits are not similar. How are you going to fake it as if I am the one taking action?"

Chu Tianshu smiled and said: "I have seen those people you killed. Those violent injuries are not difficult to achieve, right?"

"No."

Hai Donglai said, "You should have gone quite late. Those corpses were already cold, but the people I kill are hotter than usual for a period of time after they just die."

"My soldier spirit is called 'Boiling Cauldron,' which can make part of the blood in the human body heat up rapidly, making the corpse turn red all over."

"There are also many people in Nanzhao who know this characteristic of my actions. They can check the corpses in a short time. You must be able to do this."

Chu Tianshu pondered for a moment and nodded: "Okay, I have an idea too."

The guard helped him bring a red robe and a large red cloak.

Chu Tianshu put on the red robe, took the cloak, draped it over his body, watched the sunset gradually fall, and put on the hood of the cloak.

"It's time."

(End of chapter)