Chapter 295: Power Fully Restored

Bai Lang wants to become a loyalist of Great Sui, a hard‑core who fights the world alone, and would never join Wagang Village—especially since he remembers Li Mi never captured Luoyang and was eventually beheaded. "As long as I stand before Li Shimin unifies the world, hehe the world's masters will all come to fight me! Thinking of it makes me feel great." Bai Lang's whole body tingled with massive pain, and indeed he felt extremely thrilled.

The bones are almost healed; thanks to his Innate Expert foundation, such injuries heal extremely fast. Though the bones are broken and even have comminuted fractures, as long as nutrition keeps up and he absorbs the primal Qi between heaven and earth to heal, injuries that would take others three months, a hundred days, or even a year, he needs at most two months. This is still within this world's relatively low ceiling…

His weapon is finished; when he sketched the bone spear he didn't think much, but after paying enough money to forge it, it turned out to be a peerless deadly weapon. The 84‑jin (about 42 kg) weapon was carried over by two people; Bai Lang grabbed it and lifted it—though the Golden Bell Shield Divine Skill and Southern Dipper White Tiger Fist have not yet recovered, his bodily strength suffices. Lifting it doesn't mean he intends to spar, so he placed it on the weapon rack.

"In three days the whole‑body injuries will be mostly healed; then I can try to restore the Golden Bell Shield." Bai Lang thought. Li Xiuning left; this time she came to assess Bai Lang but couldn't be sure to win him over. The key lies with her father; what leverage can Li Yuan offer to bribe this man? What bargaining chips are needed to buy someone like Bai Lang? Loyalty? Speaking of loyalty, who is more orthodox than Yang Guang?

Moreover, Bai Lang's current conduct already marks him as a loyalist of Great Sui, inheriting Zhang Sutuo's loyalty, worthy of being called the steadfast divine iron of the Henan Circuit of Great Sui—though such a term doesn't exist in this era…

The attempt to win over Wagang Village failed; knowing this man is a hard‑core Great Sui officer—so Li Mi's options are either to press this momentum and attack Luoyang, or strike the Xingluo Warehouse near Luokou—both inevitably pit him against Bai Lang. Since Bai Lang refuses to surrender, he, bearing a grudge of killing a son, becomes the primary target.

Wang Shichong commands tens of thousands of elite troops in Luoyang, and with Luoyang's fortified city and abundant granaries, it is hard to capture. Bai Lang, however, has only five hundred soldiers; the other counties cannot muster troops—Bai Lang also doesn't seem to conscript civilians. Thus, even with Wagang Village's tens of thousands facing Bai Lang's five hundred, despite Bai Lang's reputation as an unparalleled war general, Li Mi believes he can definitely kill him. If Bai Lang is slain, the two successive recruitment envoys would have died at Wagang Village, and seizing the granary would clinch the situation.

Indeed, Yang Guang just announced to the world that Bai Lang has been appointed as the recruitment envoy of the Henan Circuit—only missing the character "Great" compared to Zhang Sutuo.

Shang Xiuxun also left; with the great battle looming, she couldn't stay—after all she is the mistress of the Flying Horse Ranch. Moreover, her relationship with Bai Lang doesn't seem that close, more like a gentleman's friendship as light and clear as water, apparently without any romantic involvement. Can a man and a woman be friends? Bai Lang thinks they can. "At last it has dissipated." The last wisp of black wind in Bai Lang's body vanished. And thanks to this blessing, Bai Lang's flesh and bones grew three points stronger.

Breaking and then establishing is like this; ordinary people, including Bai Lang, are still not harsh enough on themselves, always a bit weak—whether consciously or not. Though Zhou Shubi holds back, he will not be merciful; saying he'll help Bai Lang break and then stand truly means he'll fight. So the benefits Bai Lang now gains are naturally many; this boost cannot be called small. Now Bai Lang leisurely practices punches in the courtyard, and as he does, he begins to circulate true Qi.

Thirteen Tai Bao Golden Bell Shield begins to operate; a slight stabbing pain runs through the meridians, but soon the torrent‑like true Qi sweeps over, and it normalizes. The first, second, and third levels are broken with ease; a lingering bell tone emanates from Bai Lang, and the Golden Bell Shield is reforged. Now he continuously pushes forward, advancing the technique to its original state, perhaps even forcing a further advance. The only thing that hits this world's ceiling is the Southern Dipper White Tiger Fist; regarding the Golden Bell Shield Divine Skill, only at the eleventh level and the final level does it exceed the limit.

Bai Lang had previously cultivated up to the eighth level; this time the fourth, fifth, and sixth levels were broken within half an hour, and after an hour he had already reached the former eighth level. Bai Lang drew a long breath, his palms clapped together and a magnificent resonant bell rang, his innate true Qi surged throughout his flesh, bone, and skin, then gathered and surged again. The great bell tolled thirty‑six times, its sound shaking the whole city. "Thirteen Tai Bao Golden Bell Shield! Eighth level! Break!" Bai Lang whispered in his mind, the true Qi giving one final surge.

The eighth level truly broke; the true Qi thickened again, the external defensive power became such that even divine weapons could only pierce the skin without harming the muscle, while the Internal Force's reverberation grew ever stronger, making the internal organs hard to injure. "At this point, one could say ordinary divine weapons are useless. Even an Innate Expert is no longer a match, but a master of internal and external projection—perhaps only wounded, not killed… hard to say, still hard to say." Bai Lang watched his own body after activating the ninth level.

Next comes the Southern Dipper White Tiger Fist, a divine skill still above the Golden Bell Shield. If the Golden Bell Shield is merely the pinnacle among mortal elites, and the Patriarch Bodhidharma's divine skill reaches the dharma‑body of an arhat, then the so‑called thief‑matched military master's Southern Sacred Fist is likely already at the level of deities and demons; should one cultivate it deeply, even a Bodhisattva or Buddha could use it. At least Bai Lang thinks his cheap master probably has some title within the Buddhist Sect—didn't he see the prayer beads hanging around his neck?

The Buddhist Sect loves to collect heroes of all kinds; whether enemy or friend, as long as they're strong they can earn a title within the Buddhist Sect—after all, aren't heavenly demons also Bodhisattvas and Buddhas? "Just don't know which Bodhisattva this baboon is," Bai Lang muttered before gathering the power of the Southern Dipper White Tiger Fist.

The true Qi of the Golden Bell Shield turns, converting its thickness into sharpness; metallic innate true Qi is already both massive, hard, and unmatched in sharpness, and now with wind… a wind that tears the earth. The true Qi transforms into Transform into Mad Wind that roams the meridians; the vigor of the Southern Dipper White Tiger Fist circulates within the meridians and flesh protected by the Golden Bell Shield like the Yangtze River confined by a massive dam—though raging and surging, it will never breach and harm anyone.

However, that's not what Bai Lang wants; he continuously drives the vigor of the Southern Dipper White Tiger Fist, and amid a faint tiger's roar, his Internal Force breaches the dam. The surging true Qi of the Southern Dipper White Tiger Fist directly devours the Golden Bell Shield technique that had become a long dam, completely shattering and absorbing it to make it his own—Bai Lang has done this once before, and this time, with familiar ease, he can do it even more thoroughly.