Chapter 46: 46 Invincible Overnight

Days passed one by one.

Song Cheng's daily routine also became somewhat more regular.

As for his daily life, he ate well and drank well; his clothes, shoes, and socks were all replaced with new ones, and he had three sets of everything to change into.

During the Daytime, his work consisted of teaching Tong Niangzi and Ying'er to cultivate.

After realizing that the forces in this world possessed experience in dealing with the Ghost Tide, he felt slightly more at ease. However, he still went out frequently to secretly patrol the entirety of Shanghe County. If he discovered any Ghosts that had infiltrated the county, he would strike and kill them, which counted as quietly plugging the leaks.

But, it was clear that the County Magistrate was doing a decent job; the four city gates were firmly shut, and not a single Ghost had been let in.

Young Miss went back and forth every day between the rice shop, the porridge shop, the homes of other wealthy gentry, and the East City Gate.

The rice shop needed order maintained to sell rice, and the porridge shop would also have issues; under the high pressure of a "Ghost Tide," ordinary people would collapse if they weren't careful, subsequently causing all sorts of incidents.

As for coordinating the wealthy gentry to defend together rather than responding passively, that was something only Young Miss could do; firstly, their interests were aligned, and secondly, she was "highly respected."

This night, ten days had passed since Song Cheng broke through to "Yellow Grade Grade B."

Song Cheng, who should have gone to talk to the County Magistrate, still hadn't set off.

His "Xuanwu True Form" (Four Forms) had already reached Completion.

He still had 8 spare points.

His strength had also leaped to the level of "90~141."

He didn't know what the data for other "Form Realm" practitioners was like, but he could clearly feel that there was a difference between the "Four Forms" and the "Single Form."

The number of these "Forms" wasn't just an increase; the four forms had perfectly merged together to form a rather exaggerated image—the Xuanwu.

Although this Xuanwu was still a little blurry, it was already quite lifelike.

However, the reason he hadn't set off was because he saw a "+" sign after "Xuanwu True Form."

The corresponding information was: 10% chance to deduce the corresponding combat technique for "Xuanwu True Form."

Each deduction cost 4 points.

This made him tempted.

He understood that if he could deduce the combat technique, his lower limit of strength certainly wouldn't change, but his upper limit could rise quite a bit.

And a 10% chance was something he could wait for.

He prepared to reserve 20 attempts, which was 80 points, and wait until he broke through and reached Completion before going to talk to the County Magistrate.

After all, the other party was an expatriate from a major power like White Camel Manor; only by being a bit stronger could he hold his ground and make the other party treat him seriously.

Better safe than sorry, after all.

If Song Cheng didn't have the "Chang Sheng Bu Lao" talent, he might not have this quirk.

But after having it, a kind of "fear of incomplete development and insufficient firepower" grew in his heart; to put it another way, it was "not wanting to go out until fully geared up."

If there wasn't an urgent matter, he would definitely make sure to improve himself to the point of "no further room for improvement" before going to solve the problem.

However, he did a rough calculation again.

If he hid six or seven parts and showed three or four, then... he was currently fully exposing the strength he had when he was at "Yellow Grade Grade C" on the surface.

"51~102."

This was the limit he decided to expose on the surface.

Although it was a bit much, who in this Shanghe County would make him use that level?

Also, the current third-strongest person in Shanghe County was Ying'er.

The second, naturally, was that Zhao Guanzhu of the Water Bird Martial Arts Hall, an existence whose upper limit of strength was far inferior to his own lower limit.

Young Miss was resting in her room when suddenly, a knock on the door as urgent as drumbeats rang out outside the courtyard.

A guard was shouting in a panic: "Young Miss, something has happened, something has happened!"

It was Ding Kui's voice.

The room door opened immediately; An Chenyu's eyes still showed signs of fatigue, but she was already draped in a white-gold cloak, holding an oil-paper umbrella, and walked out the door with long strides.

The spring night was still cold, and the night rain fell in a drizzle.

The sound of footsteps and rain hitting the umbrella surface came.

Song Cheng, who was sleeping while holding Hu Niangzi, also opened his eyes abruptly.

Tong Jia was woken up by him and also heard the urgent shouting outside; looking at her man, how could she not understand?

"Master, you go."

Song Cheng nodded and said again: "I'll have Ying'er come to sleep with you."

He quickly got up, felt for his trousers in the dark and put them on, then pulled on his boots, wrapped himself in his outer garment, then grabbed that Fine Blade from the dark and walked out the door.

When he walked out the door, Ying'er was following by An Chenyu's side, looking like she was about to go out.

Outside the door, under the lanterns, the fine rain was falling.

Ding Kui and two other guards had extremely serious and nervous expressions.

Hearing the door open, An Chenyu, Ying'er, Ding Kui, and the others all looked over.

When Ding Kui saw it was Song Cheng, he didn't think much of it; tonight's matter "won't be any different with one more Brother Song, and won't be any different with one less; after all, although Brother Song is very good at pleasing women, he's actually just at that level, not much different from me."

An Chenyu and Ying'er looked at him curiously, not knowing what he was going to do.

Song Cheng called out: "Ying'er."

Ying'er said: "Master?"

Song Cheng said: "You go sleep in my room; I'll accompany the Madam out."

Ying'er:??? An Chenyu said: "Ying'er, listen to the Master."

Ding Kui:??? He hurriedly said: "No, Young Miss, the East City Gate can't hold on much longer; we need an expert to hold the line!"

An Chenyu and Ying'er both looked at Song Cheng; both women knew Song Cheng's "true strength" of "Strength Realm Peak," but this strength couldn't be easily exposed, right?

After all, there was still no conclusion regarding Shi Yi's death.

A mysterious expert like Song Cheng who suddenly appeared and used an unknown martial art was highly suspicious.

Song Cheng suddenly said, "Lao Ding, I have finally mastered the Flicking Willow Strength."

Ding Kui was stunned for a moment: "So fast?"

He immediately added, "Brother Song, I know you have high talent, but given the situation tonight, just having entered the door is useless."

Song Cheng said, "No, I have reached Completion."

After speaking, he touched his long blade, stretched his muscles and exerted force; the blade moved like a weeping willow in the wind, light and nimble as it swept away.

The blade edge sliced through the night wind, shattering the spring rain, emitting a sound like tearing silk, followed by a faint popping sound like roasted beans at the end.

Whether one has the strength or not can actually be seen, especially for a chamber of commerce like the Ruyi Chamber of Commerce that uses the Flicking Willow Strength as its signature.

Even if the guards themselves couldn't do it, they had seen it many times.

This strike from Song Cheng was the Flicking Willow Strength, it was Completion, and it surpassed everyone. Shi Yi, Ying'er, Gao Lin, the Wang brothers—not a single one could compare to him.

The air suddenly fell silent, quiet to the extreme.

Song Cheng explained again, "I mastered it this evening. It's mainly because this technique is very compatible with the White Snake Blade I practiced before, so it was fast. Otherwise, it definitely wouldn't have worked. I'm usually not this fast when practicing other methods."

Ding Kui:... The two guards:... Ying'er:... Young Miss:... Although the two women knew that Song Cheng possessed a technique that fused something similar to the "Flicking Willow Strength" and "Jue Jin Jin Jin," they really hadn't been completely certain that it was the "Flicking Willow Strength" and "Jue Jin Jin Jin."

No, it wasn't that they weren't completely certain, but that they hadn't dared to think so.

How could such a monster exist in the world? How long had it even been?

Song Cheng said, "Lao Ding, th-then shall we go?"

Ding Kui swallowed his saliva and said, "O-okay. Brother Song, you, you..."

He could no longer find the words to describe this shock.

Song Cheng walked to An Chenyu's side and said "Return to the room" to Ying'er. After speaking, he went out the door with the Young Miss, went to the stables, led out the horses, and put on a straw raincoat and bamboo hat.

The guards leaped onto their horses, and the Young Miss also rode a horse.

Song Cheng's experience with horse riding was still stuck at the time before he transmigrated; that was in a park, where he sat on a paid horse that cost "so-and-so much for a lap"... But at this moment, he gritted his teeth, leaped onto the horse, mimicked the guards' posture, and shouted "Giddy-up."

The An Family's horses were all well-trained; at this "giddy-up," the horse immediately started running.

As Song Cheng rode, he adapted; after all, his reflexes and strength were here, so he learned it on the spot.

The group moved quickly toward the East City Gate.

On the way, Ding Kui quickly explained the situation.

"Those ghost things took advantage of the rainy night to launch an attack; there are many fist imprints bulging out from inside the city gate, and it is about to break. I don't know about the other gates, but the East City Gate is like this."

The Ghost Tide surrounded from all sides; the Taboo could not enter, but the Ghosts were endless, as there were many people trapped in the Ghost Tide.

Therefore, although the government had divided the County Soldiers and recruited the strong men in the county to guard the four gates of the southeast, northwest, and south, the number of experts was limited.

After convening a meeting of local powerful families, it was decided that the government would mainly guard the northwest two gates, the martial arts halls of Nancheng led by the Water Bird Martial Arts Hall would guard the south gate, and the guards and servants of some small families and small wealthy gentry led by the Ruyi Chamber of Commerce, along with some County Soldiers and County Brave, would guard the east gate.

And the east gate was actually the most dangerous, because it was the gate closest to Tanghe Village.

The group quickly arrived at the city gate, and the situation was indeed critical.

The city gate had already opened a crack, the huge gate bolt was also about to collapse, and a group of people were pushing wheelbarrows of yellow sand and gravel, wooden boxes, and the like to block the door from behind.

From behind the door came the sound of "bang, bang, bang" hammering, piercing the eardrums and beating against the heart, making the defenders in the rainy night panic.

After the Ghosts changed from "ordinary people" to "Ghosts," their strength greatly increased; this was completely an army of "Force Realm" Martial Artists.

The Young Miss took off her bamboo hat, held up a lantern, revealed her appearance, and raised her voice to command.

The appearance of the head of the Ruyi Chamber of Commerce stirred up a wave of morale.

Song Cheng quickly climbed onto the city wall and looked down.

Rows of data appeared before his eyes.

Good heavens, there were at least a hundred sets of two-digit data.

Most were around 10 or 11, but there were still three hidden ones around 30.

With this level, once the city gate broke, it would be uncontrollable.

If it were before his breakthrough, he would still hesitate, but after breaking through to the Form Realm (Yellow Grade Grade B) and reaching "Completion," his body had already undergone a qualitative change.

That was the birth of a strange "Qi" beneath his skin, which often surged outward like armor, yet was better than armor.

Song Cheng had tested it himself; basically, people who hadn't reached the Great Completion of the "Jin Realm" could no longer hurt him. Even poking his eyeballs with a sword was useless, because "Qi" flowed even in front of his eyeballs.

Even if one reached the Great Completion of the "Jin Realm," it wouldn't be of much use, because at Great Completion, one barely possessed the privilege of "being able to poke the eyeball a little bit."

However, Great Completion definitely did not include those with values around 30.

In short, even if Song Cheng slept among this group of Ghosts, as long as his "Qi" was not exhausted, the Ghosts could not cut him at all.

"Open a crack in the city gate, I will guard it."

Song Cheng said decisively.

Since he wanted to show the strength of the "Strength Realm Peak," he wouldn't hide it.

An Chenyu lowered her voice and said, "Little Song, don't push yourself."

Song Cheng said, "Don't worry, An Jie."

An Chenyu's apricot eyes shifted, but she said with exceptional decisiveness, "Open a crack in the city gate."

Song Cheng gripped his blade and strode away; along the way, he grabbed two more ordinary blades to avoid his Fine Blade breaking.

The crowd was noisy, with many wealthy gentry shouting things like "No, how can you open it."

However, the head of the Ruyi Chamber of Commerce had great prestige.

Plus, the gate couldn't hold out any longer even if it wasn't opened.

And so, the city gate was finally opened.

Song Cheng stood before the gate, one man and one blade.

Wind and rain filled the city, inside and outside the city.

The Ghost servants swarmed over in a dense, dark mass.

Song Cheng began to draw his blade.

The strength of "51~102" was fully sufficient to crush the current scene, and the "Form Realm Completion" added an insurance policy that made defeat absolutely impossible.

The Fuliu Jin Jin Jin, having reached the pinnacle of perfection, drove the long blade like a willow tree of death.

Human skins burst open one after another, and eerie shrieks rang out, yet not a single Ghost servant could advance a single step.

Tonight, at the East City Gate, Song Cheng is invincible.

In the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn, over a hundred Ghost servants were slaughtered to the last one.

A soul-stirring scene was branded into the spring rain.

The crowd held their lanterns, staring blankly at a scene that would only appear in the words of a storyteller; Song Cheng shook his numb arms and took another look at the Fine Blade—it was still fine, not broken; it was worthy of being a masterwork of imperial manufacture.

He closed the city gate again, walked in front of An Daxiaojie, and said, "Wife, it is resolved."

In front of outsiders, he also called her wife.

An Chenyu looked at him deeply and said, "Husband, you have worked hard."

After speaking, she looked at the crowd again and said, "Everyone, do not slack off; seal the city gate well, the Ghost servants may still launch further surprise attacks."

The group hurriedly got to work.

An Chenyu directed the guards and made some arrangements, then pointed to a few guards to come to Song Cheng's side and said, "Husband, you still need to work hard tonight.

Let us make a round to check North City, West City, and Nancheng. I am worried that other places might be breached."

Song Cheng nodded.

(End of chapter)