Chapter 82: First Arrival at Hanping Prefecture, the True Battlefield; Meditating on the Ghost Fox to Break the Ghost Bandits (Seeki

【Techniques】

Xuanwu Body (Perfect)

A new line of information floated up below: 【You can no longer gain more strength from Yellow Grade Grade C and Grade D techniques】

And his strength jumped up a bit more, becoming: 189~378.

Compared to the strength of that person from White Camel Manor when he first arrived, it could be said he had already left them behind.

As for the External Affairs Envoy of the Mountain and River Martial Arts Hall, "Six-Armed Old Ape" Yuan Qianke, even if he unleashed his full power and used every trump card he had, it would not compare to a casual strike from him.

"Young Master, I'm so sleepy." Ling'er's eyes were hazy.

"Go to sleep."

As Song Cheng's voice fell, the little tea maid ran off immediately; she was truly exhausted.

The young man looked up and took a deep breath of the morning wind.

He understood that at this moment, his foundation in both the Force and Body realms had reached its limit.

He had rolled the snowball all the way, crazily absorbing every technique he could obtain, studying and practicing diligently, and finally achieved this result.

Xuanwu Body, what is a body? The body is the physical form.

When you exert force, it is just a single strand of force, striking toward one point.

The body, however, is filled with this force throughout; even without specifically exerting force, force is present everywhere.

And if one exerts force.

Song Cheng slowly clenched his right fist, and that arm became dazzling in his field of vision, changing from plain white lines to dazzling bright white lines.

In the eyes of others, however, his arm already presented a mysterious dark color, like refined steel forged a thousand times, like an ancient statue with a cold, chilling aura, like the arm of a god or Buddha on a shrine.

The force surged, causing the arm to want to expand, but the external Gang Qi converged inward, causing the expansion to not only fail to swell but instead be further compressed, which is why it presented a dark color.

Whoosh. He dispersed the force and spread his five fingers, and a sound like rippling water floated in the air.

'Next, I will focus on practicing Form Realm techniques.'

'It would be even better if I could find a higher-level one.'

Song Cheng thought to himself, then glanced at the probability of deducing a "Yellow Grade Grade A" technique.

Because he had consulted the "Whale Swallowing the Canghai Form" recorded in the *Zhushan Martial Outline*, his deduction probability had changed from "0.08%" to "0.16%".

The initial probability was "0.02%"; it increased once when fighting Hong Juguang; it increased once while fighting in the chaotic army at Dongcheng Pass; this was the third time.

Clearly, "participating in major battles and constantly using power," "fighting against Martial Artists of the same realm," "consulting complete techniques of the same realm," and "perfecting one's own martial arts" all help to increase the deduction probability.

However, after his last fight with "Iron-Armed Hidden Bear" Hong Juguang, Song Cheng had a feeling that he could no longer gain insights from people weaker than him.

In other words, fighting the External Affairs Envoy was no longer useful.

To fight, he had to fight stronger opponents.

Although his realm was still the Form Realm, his strength far exceeded the Form Realm.

If he really wanted to increase the probability of enlightenment, he had to fight elders or temple masters.

Or, he could try fighting multiple people at once.

Song Cheng suddenly thought of the four attendants of Lady Zhushan.

Lady Zhushan called them "A-Da, A-Er, A-San, A-Si"; these four were clearly medicine men, with a lower limit of strength between "65~70" and an upper limit between "100~110".

This data actually meant they had already entered the "Form Realm," just that they hadn't yet cultivated Gang Qi.

Medicine men have limited potential; the height they can reach after being stimulated by secret methods is the highest they will ever achieve in their lives.

However, they were at least in the same realm.

Song Cheng decided to try, so he made this request to Lady Zhushan.

A moment later.

An Family Martial Arts Arena.

The four attendants stood at the four corners holding weapons.

Song Cheng bowed and then said: "Begin."

The four rushed up.

Song Cheng controlled his strength and tangled with the four of them.

As he fought, a feeling of playing house with children arose in his heart.

Song Cheng stopped playing, took them down one by one with his blade, knocked the four off the martial arts stage, and then said: "I concede."

The battle ended.

And the deduction probability did not increase.

Song Cheng sighed in his heart; he actually hadn't hidden his strength at all, the opponents were just too different from him.

This kind of fight might have had a feeling the first time, but it was completely useless the second time. Because even if they were in the same realm, it could no longer be considered training.

He suddenly began to look forward to the Ghost servants who were about to infiltrate Hanping Prefecture to assassinate Lady Zhushan.

That day, Song Cheng ate a Flame Gang Pill and glanced at his own panel again.

【Add Points: 22 points】

【Realm: Yellow Grade Grade B】

【Techniques】

Xuanwu True Form (5 Forms) (Yellow Grade Grade B) (Completion)

Splitting Force (13/64)

Heie Jin (12/64)

Savage Bear Force (13/64)

Whale Cry Force (12/64)

Grass Sea Startled Snake Form (Yellow Grade Grade B) (Incomplete)

Whale Swallowing Canghai Form (Yellow Grade Grade B) (Not Yet Initiated (1/8)) Among these, the progress after the four Jin Powers of "Split, Black Snapping Turtle, Savage Bear, Whale Cry" is the Jin Power transformation method, which subsequently allows the progress of "Xuanwu True Form" to be perfect.

These days, he adopted the methods of "Add Points" and "Eat Pill Self-Practice" to cultivate simultaneously.

If he encountered a bottleneck, he would directly add a point, then jump past it and continue practicing.

Under this training method, his progress was alright.

40 points were used, averaging 10 points per technique, and the rest were practiced by himself.

It looks small, but in fact, only about half a month has passed, which is already considered fast. After all, he is not actually practicing martial arts, but rather comprehending "Form" through "Jin Power".

Throwing punches, pushing hands, his speed became slower and slower only because he no longer needed to rely on speed to mobilize the power within his body.

Under the slow movements, the various Jin Power Qi-Gangs within his body were flowing crazily.

Ying'er was on the other side dancing with a saber, "Huo huo huo huo," and the wind from the blade whistled.

She danced for a while, looked curiously at the young master, and felt in her heart that the young master was practicing old man's boxing. But thinking of the scene today during the Daytime where those four people were casually defeated by the young master, she understood that it was not that the young master was slow, but that she could not understand it. So she could only grit her teeth and continue practicing her own saber.

The moon neared the center of the sky, Tong Niangzi returned from studying next door, Song Cheng also stopped his cultivation, and both returned to their room.

"How was the learning?" Song Cheng asked.

"The teacher is learned and knowledgeable, she taught me seriously," Tong Niangzi said, "but I can also see that the teacher is someone with many stories, she... might not be young anymore. When she looks at me, I have the feeling like she is looking at a daughter or a granddaughter."

"She has only been teaching you for two days, right?"

"I don't know either." Tong Niangzi took off her outer garment and shook it in the air, and a medicinal smell dispersed; this was not any special medicine, just the smell she got on her from mixing medicine too much while being taught.

The moon-white silk bodice appeared in the air, but as an old married couple, there was no longer any feeling of being shy.

"Little Song, has she taught other students before?"

"Don't know."

"I feel like she might not have."

"How do you know?"

"I just feel she is very sad. If she had taught before, then her students would definitely have been quite good to her. With the warmth of family affection, the sadness might not exist." Tong Niangzi guessed seriously, and then added, "At least, if she keeps teaching me like this, I should be quite good to her. She says it is a transaction, but she is actually teaching very seriously."

Song Cheng had long since taken off his clothes and pants and gotten onto the bed; there are no mobile phones in this other world, otherwise, this would be the time for playing with a mobile phone. Life on the bed is very limited, basically either chatting with the wife, or sleeping directly, or playing with the wife.

As an old married couple, the heart for "playing" should not have been as intense as it was initially.

But a Martial Artist has abundant Qi and blood.

Thus, the two had another round of dragon-fighting-phoenix-struggling, dancing with necks intertwined.

After finishing, they handled things skillfully, and after lying down again, they slept facing each other.

Tong Niangzi slept for a while, suddenly thought of something, and said: "The teacher has a means of long-distance vision; she said she saw you chatting with a Zhushan External Affairs Envoy about his son's Rotten Poison."

"The teacher taught me the method, saying let me refine a Pill to save him... If I succeed in refining it, she will naturally let Zhushan Temple spread the news, and then let that External Affairs Envoy come to beg me."

"You can refine Pills?"

"The teacher said it is about the same as decocting medicine, just that the control over the heat is stricter, and it requires more precision regarding the variety and quantity of medicinal materials."

"Besides that, every time one refines a Pill, it is actually not a fixed time, but rather one needs to judge the progress in the furnace through some details."

"If one puts all the medicinal materials in at once, that belongs to the simple type of Pill."

"If one needs to add medicinal materials in the middle, or needs to perform secondary refining, it will be complicated."

"Then what about the Pill to cure the Rotten Poison?"

"It needs to go through three refinements, very complicated..."

"..."

"I will succeed!" Tong Niangzi squeezed her little fist.

Song Cheng nodded lightly.

Even in the darkness, even though he had difficulty seeing, he knew that his wife's eyes must be very bright right now, and must... have light.

In the darkness, breathing was even.

"Did she teach you any method for practicing the Soul?"

Song Cheng suddenly asked a question without head or tail.

That is how an old married couple talks; they think of a sentence and ask it, with no need for any buildup at all.

"I know you want to learn," Tong Niangzi laughed, "I will ask, it's just that there hasn't been an opportunity yet."

Song Cheng picked up his wife again and kissed her fiercely.

Tong Niangzi did not want to be outdone, planted a hickey on the young man's neck, and laughed: "Tomorrow I'll let An Jie plant the second one for you."

Days were slightly peaceful for four days.

On the evening four days later, the Lady of Zhushan suddenly came here, and with a serious expression said: "Little Song, the guests have arrived." Song Cheng understood in a second, grabbed his saber, and put away the "Mechanism Shield".

A-Da and the other three attendants lifted the sedan chair.

The Lady of Zhushan waved her hand outward and said: "Little Song, you also enter the sedan, save your strength."

Song Cheng did not say much and stepped in directly.

It was a bit dark in the sedan, and the Lady of Zhushan held a bronze mirror in her hand. That bronze mirror was just a blob of ink in his eyes, and there was nothing else.

Subsequently, he felt the sedan rise, and A-Da and the four others ran like flying.

After a while, the noise of the bustling market disappeared.

After another while, there was only the wind sound that was sometimes slow and sometimes fast outside, and the sedan presented a slight tilt.

This was going up the mountain.

The Lady of Zhushan said: "Little Song, be careful. The one coming this time should be a quite powerful Ghost servant."

"These few days, in fact, they have already come twice, but those two times were resolved by my subordinates at Zhushan Temple."

"This time, there are many people, and it is obviously felt to be different, so I am taking action personally."

When we arrive at the scene, don't be nervous; my illusion acts upon vision, so as long as you have sight, you will be affected whether your eyes are open or closed.

The reason Ghost servants can enter crowds of people is because they superficially possess some human characteristics, so they are also affected by it.

Once they are affected, you must strike immediately.

Don't rush, don't panic; killing one means it is completely dead.

Be clean and efficient with your hands and feet; you must not let any slip through.

If you fail to kill a Ghost servant, its strength will be almost entirely unaffected, and the moment the illusion is lifted, it will immediately explode into action and kill both you and me."

As this was their first time working together, Lady Zhushan was still uneasy and gave repeated instructions.

After all, in a great battle like this, while she would not have any problems, there was no guarantee that little Song, who was witnessing such combat for the first time, would not.

And if even the slightest mistake occurred, both she and little Song could die.

Little Song was her weak point.

That was why she had been a bit long-winded.

As she spoke, the sedan chair landed slowly in a valley.

This valley was also within the Prefecture City of Hanping Prefecture.

The Prefecture City was built leaning against mountains and rivers to begin with.

Of the thirteen passes, three faced the plains, while the rest relied on mountains and water.

When Hong Juguang, the External Affairs Envoy of the Mountain River Martial Arts Hall, said the barbarians would not attack from the other ten passes, he was right, but he was also wrong.

"Proper" barbarians certainly would not, but Ghost servants would.

Ghost servants do not hunger or thirst, so crossing mountains and ridges is nothing to them.

Therefore, the Zhushan Temple guarding these ten passes was not idle; they were in another battlefield.

A true battlefield that humanity must face.

At this moment, the sky had darkened, and the stars were like water.

After Song Cheng and Lady Zhushan stepped out of the sedan chair, the four attendants ran away quickly, appearing very afraid of the Lady.

The two of them chose a spot in the woods, hid slightly, and then waited silently.

Song Cheng watched the entrance of the valley, and after about half an hour, more than ten blood-colored data points connected into a line and approached from afar; under the moonlight, they revealed rows of strange, plain white linear figures.

The highest data was 120~186, and the lowest was 80~120.

The appearances of these people were even more varied: there were barbarians dressed like bears, lean and small martial artists from the Jianghu, and even Martial Artists who looked like they served in the government—a complete mix from north and south.

These people were opposites when they were alive, but after becoming Ghost servants, they stood together instead.

They were not this strong when they were alive; perhaps they were only Martial Artists of the Jin Realm, but once they became Ghost servants, their strength doubled.

Without a doubt, they were all Ghost servants born during the previous Ghost Tide.

And it seems the stronger the Ghost servant, the longer it takes to be born; otherwise, I fear all eighteen county towns of Hanping Prefecture would have been breached.

Lady Zhushan stared into the distance, estimating the time, and seeing that the group had already reached the opposite side of the official road, she suddenly untied her heavy, earthy-colored robe, revealing a perfect physique wrapped in red gauze.

She had already removed her shoes, her small feet treading on the ground.

In Song Cheng's eyes, every step she took was like ripples expanding in a river of ink.

These ripples were extremely fast, and within two or three steps, they had expanded to a large area, enveloping the ten-plus Ghost servants.

The Ghost servants sensed something and began to struggle violently like drowning people.

And the gray-lined Lady Zhushan began to twist her delicate body.

She was dancing.

As she danced, the expanding ink-colored ripples began to float, rise into the air, and spread, turning into tiny black Xiao Mo dots across the sky, which then formed a vague, giant, dark Youhu in Song Cheng's Heart Eye vision.

This Youhu was more than ten times larger than Lady Zhushan, and it lowered its head, looking down at the ten-plus Ghost servants.

"Hee hee."

The fox's lips curled, and a ethereal, hollow, bell-like laughter rang out in the air.

The ten-plus Ghost servants, who had been struggling, instantly stopped, sinking into some strange and terrifying illusion.

But Song Cheng was not affected.

He raised his hand and drew his blade.

The blade light was like purple lightning and green frost, moving with the gale as he charged back and forth among the stationary Ghost servants; the electric light twisted, the blade hidden with ten thousand jun of force, killing whoever it touched.

Yet every time the blade fell, the result was not quite the same.

Some Ghost servants were like punctured skins, emitting a sharp sound like a deflating balloon, followed by a human skin falling to the ground; others were cut in half entirely, but inside were not organs, but soil mixed with flesh and blood—the soil looked like grave dirt; others were solid wax figures; others still, after a single strike, sprayed foul-smelling pus from their wounds. The ten-plus Ghost servants were actually divided into four types! Song Cheng's speed was not slow, but his expression grew increasingly grave.

Perhaps these Taboos really do possess some consciousness; the Ghost servants they create are even capable of cooperation.

However, he still did not see any Ghost servant that might possess the characteristics of a Drowning Ghost.

No sooner said than done, the youth swept past like the wind, and the Ghost servants fell to the ground one after another.

The disappearance of each data point meant that none of them had survived by luck.

"Finished killing them."

Song Cheng said, returning to Lady Zhushan's side.

Lady Zhushan stopped dancing.

Song Cheng tilted his head slightly, watching the giant Youhu behind her, which had been laughing like silver bells, dissipate like fireworks and vanish without a trace.

This reminded him of his own Tower.

The colors of the two existences were very similar; both were dark and gloomy.

Then, this Youhu was in all likelihood the object of Lady Zhushan's visualization.

And Lady Zhushan also used this Youhu to perform her strange arts.

It was just that he did not know which was stronger or weaker, his "Tower" or the "Youhu".

"Little Song, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

Madam Zhushan nodded, then performed a brief inspection from afar, but found there was nothing worth checking; every Ghost servant had been cleanly sliced into pieces, and they were certainly dead through and through.

Thus, she offered a word of praise: "Well done, *cough, cough*."

Her complexion was somewhat poor.

Song Cheng also asked: "Senior, are you alright?"

Madam Zhushan did not answer again; she seemed unwilling to chat about this, so she only said: "You are my partner only because your wife requested it, don't forget that. Therefore, you are not allowed to ask such concerned questions."

Song Cheng:. He recalled Tong Niangzi's words from several days ago and generally understood that this Madam had a sharp tongue, and coupled with the fact that she must have some sort of mental ailment, that was why she was like this. He did not take it to heart, merely responding with an "Mm."

Soon, A-Da and the other three attendants arrived again, carrying the sedan chair from afar.

And from behind the mountain, some people who were clearly from Zhushan Temple walked out.

Why "clearly"? Because the people walking out were all in "pairs."

One person had extremely low data, while the other was a Form Realm existence, though that Form Realm individual's data was not high.

This kind of partnership was that of a Soul cultivator and a medicine person.

Among them, Song Cheng even saw an acquaintance with a favorability of 80.

That was Hua Wen, the shop assistant from the second floor of Qianzhen Ge.

Hua Wen waved at him in a friendly manner, then followed the medicine people, walking in an orderly fashion toward the corpses of the Ghost servants.

Song Cheng could vaguely see this group of people seemingly dismembering the Ghost servant corpses and then storing them by category into various bottles and jars.

As he was watching, the sedan chair had already stopped beside the two of them, and after the two entered, it flew away rapidly, turning into an undulating trajectory among the mountain ranges.

"Senior, are the corpses of the Ghost servants, by any chance, medicinal ingredients for refining Soul-type Pills?" Song Cheng thought of the Soul Strengthening Pill he had consumed, and his mood felt somewhat strange.

Madam Zhushan, however, said nothing at all, merely leaning against a corner of the sedan chair, resting.

But Song Cheng suddenly noticed that the gray color in Madam Zhushan's outline seemed to have become a tiny bit denser.

Not by much.

But his Heart Eye could distinguish it.

After a while, Madam Zhushan coughed heavily several times, fished a Pill out from her bosom and tossed it into her mouth, then took a few deep breaths.

That dense gray color receded back down.

'So there are side effects.' Song Cheng's eyes behind the black cloth narrowed slightly, and he couldn't help but compare his Ghost Tower and his strange arts.

His Black Heaven could only target one objective.

Yet Madam Zhushan's Fox Dance could target a whole group.

His Black Heaven only made people unable to see.

Madam Zhushan's Fox Dance, however, directly made the Ghost servants unable to move.

Perhaps it was because the power of his strange arts was too weak that there were no side effects? Thinking about it carefully, he was actually quite dull... Madam Zhushan practiced Soul cultivation, refined Pills, built up a faction, and could even use some mysterious items; she was truly multi-talented.

As for him, he couldn't be associated with being multi-talented at all; he was just someone who could fight.

Song Cheng leaned back slightly, resting against the sedan wall, and pondered for a moment, feeling that specializing in one thing was also fine; he could let others handle the miscellaneous matters for the time being.

Thus, he began to contemplate the matter of the "Xuanwu True Form."

Since the Nine Forces were already perfect and had reached the Xuanwu body, and the Qi was as if there were nine, what should be done next? (End of chapter)