Chapter 34: A Bountiful Harvest, A Surprise!

"Postnatal Sixth Stage…"

"Sun Jindong, just you wait!"

Chen Mu took a deep breath, steadying his state of mind.

Then he exhaled a mouthful of turbid Qi, which condensed into a Qi-arrow and shot out several meters.

Twenty-five Internal Force Cards remained, three left, each granting half a month's worth of cultivation.

The internal force required to break through to the Sixth Stage was nearly double that needed for the Fifth Stage.

To break through further, to charge into the Seventh Stage of Heaven, the internal force required would only be more—doubling twice over wouldn't be enough.

Because the second hurdle of the Postnatal realm lay precisely between the Postnatal Sixth Stage and the Postnatal Seventh Stage.

However.

To cross this hurdle required not only a large number of Internal Force Cards, but also the subsequent cultivation methods!

Chen Mu only had the first six layers of "Rolling Cloud Art."

The sixth layer, he had already successfully cultivated.

The seventh layer's contents, however, were unknown.

The road ahead—gone!

To continue breaking through, he first had to obtain the final three layers of an internal cultivation method.

That depended on luck.

The Skill Cards he picked up had to contain a complete internal cultivation method, and one that wouldn't conflict with "Rolling Cloud Art."

Once a conflict arose, Chen Mu simply couldn't use it—or would have to start over from the beginning?

That would be far too slow, wasting a great deal of time!

Even so, Chen Mu did not grow discouraged.

With his current strength, he was no longer confined to South Cloud Prefecture.

He could go elsewhere now!

South Cloud Prefecture's population numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

Every day or two, someone died, but the dead were rarely martial artists.

The probability of picking up a complete Skill Card containing all nine Postnatal stages was too small.

Going elsewhere—especially to places rife with slaughter and battle—offered relatively higher odds.

Before, his strength had been limited; he hadn't dared go far.

Now he could!

……

Thinking of this, Chen Mu steadied his mind, withdrew his cultivation, and rose.

With a flick of his hand, an extra card appeared.

The second Storage Card!

He silently willed it to activate; the card transformed into a stream of light and sank into his left palm, forming an other-dimensional space three meters long, wide, and high.

A storage space!

Both palms now held storage spaces.

These two spaces could only hold inanimate objects.

Function Cards naturally counted.

Previously, the cards he picked up, Chen Mu had kept in his pockets—though others couldn't see them, the sheer quantity became a nuisance.

Now it was fine; the storage space could hold them freely.

After all, a single Function Card was truly tiny in volume.

Swoosh~

A flash of light, and ten cards appeared in Chen Mu's hand.

These ten cards were all Cultivation Cards!

Their durations varied.

Chen Mu walked down the mountain while using the Cultivation Cards, focusing on "Sweeping Cloud Sword" to commence his training!

"Sweeping Cloud Sword" at Transcendent mastery—the Tenth Sword, a Primal martial art!

Chen Mu wanted to see just what this Tenth Sword truly was.

The splendor of a Primal martial art—who wouldn't want a glimpse?

Even if he couldn't yet execute it!

Thus.

Sometimes walking, sometimes pausing.

By the time he reached the mountainside, "Sweeping Cloud Sword" had advanced from Thorough Mastery to Pinnacle Mastery.

But it was still not enough to reach Transcendent Mastery!

More Cultivation Cards were needed, with durations starting at ten years.

Where would Internal Force Cards, Skill Cards, and Cultivation Cards come from?

Little Liang Mountain!

Chen Mu hadn't forgotten—the "Red Turban Bandits" on the mountain hadn't been completely wiped out, and the soldiers from the three counties below were still encircling them.

……

Sure enough.

As soon as daylight broke, the joint forces of the three counties charged up the mountain, attacking the remaining "Red Turban Bandits."

"Kill!"

"Go to hell!"

"Kill them all!"

"……"

The battle cries of the soldiers and constables, the unwilling roars of the "Red Turban Bandits," a last-ditch counterattack.

The two groups fought everywhere—on the mountain path, in the grass, in the woods, on the cliffs.

The "Red Turban Bandits" were already outnumbered, and after the two giant snakes killed over a hundred of them last night, the leader and Zhao Jinhu also perished along with the giant snakes.

At this moment, facing encirclement and suppression by soldiers several times their number, and with fewer experts on their side, the "Red Turban Bandits" fell into a disadvantage not long after the battle began, retreating continuously.

However, although Xiaoliang Mountain was seven or eight hundred meters tall with treacherous terrain, it was not connected to other Mountain Peaks, and no matter how far they retreated, they could not get off the mountain.

They could only desperately fight to the death.

As for surrender?

The joint bandit-suppression by the soldiers of three counties was not only to eliminate the scourge of the "Red Turban Bandits," but also a merit for the county soldiers of the three counties.

The duty of the county soldiers was to keep the county peaceful and stable.

The existence of this gang of "Red Turban Bandits" only highlighted the incompetence of the county soldiers.

Of course, whether they were playing the "nurture the enemy to make oneself important" trick, only the Captain of the county soldiers would know.

On Xiaoliang Mountain, a chaotic melee, blood flowing like rivers, corpses everywhere.

Chen Mu naturally followed up the mountain.

He stripped the clothes and shoes off a dead soldier, put them on himself, then went up the mountain, walking at the very back.

Walking among the corpses one after another.

【Corpse discovered. Pick up?】

"Yes!"

【Corpse discovered. Pick up?】

"Yes!"

……

Card after card, picked up and stored into the palm space.

By the time Chen Mu arrived at the Shanzhai he had visited last night, the battle was over.

All the "Red Turban Bandits" were killed.

Including the second leader and the third leader.

On the soldiers' side, several dozen were killed in action, and adding up the seriously and lightly wounded, over three hundred.

Overall, this battle was a great victory.

The supplies and money-grain left on the mountain by the "Red Turban Bandits" were divided into three portions by the soldiers of the three counties.

Then each portion set aside one-tenth to distribute to the county soldiers, with those who suffered more deaths receiving an extra share.

Although it wasn't much per person, a dozen or so taels of silver, it was still a decent extra income.

Chen Mu, the impostor, also got a share.

That's right—after the count was done, it was distributed on the spot.

This move immediately brought a cheer across Xiaoliang Mountain.

In fact, the most valuable treasure on the mountain was not the "Red Turban Bandits'" legacy, but the corpses of the two giant snakes!

Both giant snakes were exotic beasts.

Exotic beast meat was a great tonic!

Comparable to a Nurturing Essence Pill!

Or rather, the organs and flesh of exotic beasts could be refined into great pills.

The hide, sinew, and bone could be made into weapons.

Unfortunately, the giant snakes' corpses were too large for Chen Mu to take even if he wanted to, so he could only cut off several large chunks when no one was looking and store them in his palm space.

Then, while the others were collecting the corpses, he flashed into the grass, performed his lightness skill and body technique, and quickly left.

……

He left Xiaoliang Mountain.

He took off the soldier's clothes and changed back into his original ones.

On the way back to Wulong Fucheng, he checked the cards he had obtained.

Three more Cultivation Cards! With varying time limits.

Nine more Internal Force Cards!

Cultivation durations of half a month, one month, all present, and even one of a month and a half.

Five Skill Cards—unfortunately no internal cultivation methods, only martial techniques, and unremarkable ones at that.

A number of Energy Cards and Stamina Cards, the most in quantity.

Seventeen Strength Cards—not bad.

What made Chen Mu most delighted, even excited, was a new card.

Martial Arts Deduction Card!

Deduction, deduction.

This new card, as the name suggested, could be used to deduce Wu Gong!

It could deduce on the basis of the original, or self-deduce.

What did that mean?

Self-deduction refers to comprehending a large amount of martial arts, gaining new insights, then putting those insights into practice, and ultimately succeeding.

Simply put, it means creating one's own Wu Gong!

This requires a vast amount of martial arts knowledge.

Chen Mu does not possess it for the time being.

However, deducing on the basis of what already exists can be done.

Because this path is about taking the existing route and expanding it into subsequent deductions!