Chapter 474: Gu Dao Elite Army Battles the Tiger Generals

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

Zhou You was practicing his fist techniques in the wilderness; beside him stood a dilapidated earthen fort.

This place was once a gathering point for villagers, but it was later breached by bandits, looted clean, and left in ruins.

The broken halves of earthen walls, collapsed low houses, and rugged paths paved with irregular stones...

These traces of human activity were gradually weathering away under the wind and rain, and within a few years, they would be submerged in the wild earth and weeds.

It was not until Zhou You arrived that he tidied up a spot to settle down temporarily.

He retrieved supplies from a Hunger Pouch, stored them in the fort, and practiced his fist techniques in the open space nearby.

Every time after a life-or-death battle with a formidable enemy, the insights gained on the edge of life and death were incredibly precious and had to be digested while the memories were still vivid.

The sounds of tiger roars and crane cries intertwined; everywhere in the sky and on the ground were silhouettes as sharp as blades.

Zhou You's Tiger-Crane Dual Form Fist was reaching a state of perfection, drawing the surrounding gale to gather around him.

The brand-new fighting style enabled by the Iron Feather battle robe gave Zhou You the ability to glide and fight at high altitudes, like a tiger that had grown wings.

Although it was 'pseudo-flight,' the resulting upgrade in fighting style brought a comprehensive boost to the power of his fist techniques.

Generally speaking, there is nowhere to borrow force at high altitudes, and fist techniques would be greatly discounted, like water without a source.

Flight is like a fish in water or a person on land, relying on the air as a foundation.

The Flying Tiger Shirt of Dayin Mountain allows a Chang Jiang to fight while flying at the Martial Master level precisely because they can stay aloft for long periods without landing, flipping, maneuvering, and turning left or right, allowing blade techniques and fist techniques to strike from all sorts of incredible angles.

After Zhou You grasped the secret of the Iron Feather battle robe, his own attainments in the Crane Form fist technique progressed by leaps and bounds, improving by a large margin.

He used the Tiger Form as his foundation, and although he integrated the essence of other fist styles along the way, his root remained the Tiger Form.

Even though he had incorporated the methods of the Crane Form, it was ultimately because the profound martial arts of Baiqin Laoren were too formidable that he had to reserve a backup plan.

Therefore, unless he encountered a strong enemy, he generally did not use the Crane Form, at most using it to the level of the Double Body Tiger Form Fist.

How could a fierce tiger that has long galloped on the earth and roared in the mountains and forests understand the state of mind of a flying crane soaring in the vast sky? Swish! Zhou You exerted force through his lower body, his waist splitting like a tree branch, and a crane-like form shot straight into the sky.

Every strand of the Iron Feather battle robe spread out, blending with the natural air currents, driving Zhou You's crane form to fly higher and higher.

With the familiar earth gone from beneath his feet, his heart felt empty, and he was even a little terrified.

Perhaps he was not used to it at first, but with the improvement of the Crane Form fist technique, Zhou You had already captured the essence of Baiqin Laoren's fist techniques.

Fist techniques of the avian type are known for being light, agile, and sharp; even on flat ground, they often use moves like leaping and swooping.

Their characteristic is to use speed to overcome slowness, catching the opponent off guard.

However, once they encounter an opponent with a very steady fighting style, they reveal a downward trend, such as Zhou You's Tiger Form.

The Tiger Form places great importance on the lower body; the four limbs grip the ground with an endless source of power, using offense as defense. As long as one can block the initial surprise attack, one can turn the tables in the subsequent engagement.

After Zhou You first developed his internal force, he was able to kill Lu Zhigang, who practiced the Yanxing Quan.

But...

The transformation in the power of avian-type fist techniques is manifested only after mastering flight.

At the Martial Master level, one must still keep their feet on the ground to execute fist techniques, unless one breaks through to the level of a Powerful Martial Artist to truly shine.

The fist techniques of Baiqin Laoren are widely circulated in the outside world; besides the Seven Avian forms, Lu Zhigang's Yanxing Quan is also one of them.

There are many successors, but most are mediocre! Zhou You had originally thought the Crane Form was unremarkable and only treated the inheritance of Baiqin Laoren as a channel to break through to a Powerful Martial Artist.

Only after mastering flight did he realize he had been completely wrong.

"Swish, swish, swish!" Wearing the Iron Feather battle robe and executing the Crane Form, Zhou You's speed became faster and faster, and the heat accumulated from friction with the air caused his body surface temperature to rise sharply.

The Primordial Iron Clothing appeared on his skin, actually being scorched to a slight red, sparking a few sesame-sized fire stars.

The intensity of high-altitude air currents far exceeds that of flat ground; using flat-ground speed at high altitudes would at least result in self-immolation.

Fortunately, his Hard Qigong was formidable, and he managed to endure this stroke of fortune.

Holding a wooden staff and eyeing his target, he circulated the Qi and blood in his body, momentarily supporting the force of hovering in mid-air, then quickly switched to a downward dive to attack, disappearing from his original spot like lightning.

The next moment, the rammed earth wall surrounding the fort, at least a hundred meters long, was blasted into the ground.

After Zhou You swung his staff, he did not wait to see the result, but used the rebound force to fly up, circling in the air for a few laps.

This feeling of freedom was just too good.

Attacking with fist techniques on the ground is like being a two-dimensional character on a sheet of white paper, with only forward, backward, left, and right directions of movement.

After mastering flight, one can soar freely up, down, forward, backward, left, and right, galloping in all eight directions.

He spent several days familiarizing himself with the brand-new fighting style; fortunately, there was a water source near the fort, and the supplies were sufficient.

Until one day...

"."

Green dots and red dots appeared on the map, right in the area near the fort; they had migrated from elsewhere.

The rare peaceful time had finally come to an end.

"We've run into a nest of Dayin Mountain kittens; our brothers are in luck."

Two identical swarthy Witch-people laughed wildly; the Witch-people beasts behind them were covered in bone spurs, and the corpses of martial artists were skewered on the spurs, still dripping blood.

This pair of Witch-people were twins; the two worked in unison, and their combined power was extremely strong. Although they were both Intermediate Martial Masters, even a Senior Martial Master would be no match for them.

More importantly, they were members of the Gu Dao Elite Army, the elite of the elite.

The Poisonous Insect Path Elite Army was an elite force of the Witch-people tribe. Initially, the Witch-people saw that the training methods of the Central Plains sects were good, so they selected geniuses from various tribes to gather and teach them.

Every member was a top-tier genius, taught personally by a Great Shaman, and cultivated with concentrated superior resources.

This time, the Witch Tribe launched a large-scale invasion, and the Gu Dao Elite Army came as the personal elite guard of the Witch Tribe leader, the Gaoyang Clan, directly targeting the two elite forces under the Prefecture Monarch: the noble families and the sects.

"Er Mo E, hurry and count the heads on the other side for me!"

"Why bother? We'll count them clearly after we take them off later. Da Mo Xiong, why haven't you moved yet? Don't let the prey run away."

The Witch Tribe brothers pointed and gestured without the slightest apprehension, clearly treating the Dayin Mountain Disciples in front of them as fish in a barrel.

They were in luck; the group of disciples they encountered was led by only 3 Tiger Generals, and the rest were all Chang Jiang.

"This time, it's certain death with no hope of survival."

Lu Jianqing held a steel saber in his hand; the black sect shirt on his body offered slight defense, but it could not bring him any sense of security.

He was currently only a Minion General and could only wear the lowest-grade black shirt; only by being promoted to a Tiger General could he wear other colors.

Not until entering the sect did he realize how many talented people there were in the world; the talent he had once been so proud of was worth nothing! After joining, he was cautious and practiced his fist techniques diligently, yet the merit he had accumulated was still far from enough to be promoted to a Tiger General.

If he risked going onto the life-or-death arena, it would be a complete gamble on luck; win, and he would rise to prominence, lose, and he would be cast into the abyss forever.

This conscription to battle was Lu Jianqing's final opportunity; if he did not succeed, his future prospects would stop at Minion General.

(End of this chapter)