Chapter 364: The Art of Raising Soldiers

Behind Upside-Down Mountain, before the archway of the Shan Xuan Whale Gate, a breeze blew gently.

Li Yuan did not hurry to enter. Instead, he leaned against the archway, closed his eyes slightly, and began to match and combine his Wu Gong, sorting them out and pondering.

After a moment, a glint of flowing light surged into his eyes: the light screen seemed moist, and all manner of characters shone brilliantly.

The Rift Sea Shan Xuan Whale Hammer, Scarlet Blood Pattern Dragon Armor, Divine Fire Ten-Thousand Refining Hammer, Divine Fire Hundred-Lu Boots, and three Thunder Dragon Sky-Fishing Hammers—apart from the Chen Shan Zhong Hammer, the worst among them was a quasi-divine weapon!

With thirty-one Wu Gong upon him, this was the strongest Wu Gong combination Li Yuan had currently assembled, balancing offense, defense, and speed in one.

"The day when all of them are divine weapons isn't far off!"

Taking stock of the effects of his various Wu Gong, Li Yuan felt the same sense of security as a hamster tallying its winter stores before the cold set in—this was his greatest trump card.

The Shan Xuan Whale Hammer is the main one; this Daoist master is the Lord of Soldier Control!

"What a pity—limited by my physique and true qi, I can't fully bear the Rift Sea Shan Xuan Whale Hammer. Otherwise, even a Grandmaster wouldn't be out of my reach."

Feeling the various enhancements upon him, the gloom in Li Yuan's heart was swept clean. All fear and trepidation came from insufficient strength, and he was now accumulating his own.

"Once I slay that old ghost at the Thousand Spirits Salvation Stele, I'll be able to gather eight divine weapons!"

The more he looked at this light screen, the more pleasing it became to the eye. Li Yuan looked it over several times, back and forth; the only thing that stung was his own innate bone structure.

"A person among dragons and phoenixes isn't worthy of this Wu Gong combination, but it shouldn't be long before my own talent reaches the Peerless grade!"

Li Yuan had a clear idea. The stacking of his Soldier-Control talent let him understand every change from a person among dragons and phoenixes all the way to the Unparalleled Through the Ages grade: "When the time comes, if I again control divine weapons like the Shan Xuan Whale Hammer that enhance talent, can my talent break past the category of Unparalleled Through the Ages?"

His thoughts scattered a little, and he felt it was very possible.

Hum—

Li Yuan slowly stepped forward, and a stone tablet rose within the archway. The characters upon it flowed, still in Rift Sea divine script, but identical to what he had seen before.

Before the stone tablet, mist billowed, and a passage seemingly woven from clouds and fog slowly took shape.

"The sect ruins of Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing Hou were far more overbearing than the Dao Sects of today. Only a Grandmaster of the Unparalleled Through the Ages grade could qualify as a true inheritor…

Three battles, three victories—that is what makes a true inheritor.

This was the rule of the Yang Sheng Gate. Li Yuan figured the Shan Xuan Whale Gate was about the same. As for the former, he had gone to challenge it twice before, and lost both times.

Even with this full set of Wu Gong, maintaining anything but a win or a loss is extremely difficult, even briefly." According to the Feng Feng Mantian, the rewards after passing these trials were tied to the sect ruins; the spiritual pill recipes were exclusive to the Yang Sheng Gate…

Li Yuan's thoughts scattered, but instead he stepped back. When he crossed the archway again, it was with his own innate talent that he walked in.

Hum—

The characters on the stone tablet shifted and flowed. Li Yuan matched them against his memory and discerned: "Person among dragons and phoenixes—Outer Gate trial. Hm, let's try the Outer Gate trial first and see what rewards the Shan Xuan Whale Gate offers!"

"Woo—"

A light breeze blew past as Li Yuan stepped into the passage of the Outer Gate trial.

He looked around and found that the passages were all more or less the same. Divine script flashed across the walls from time to time, and at other times, pictures of light and shadow.

"Shan Xuan Whale Gate."

Li Yuan murmured it to himself, committing what he could to memory, then walked through quickly.

Beyond the passage was still that enormous dueling arena, almost no different from the true-inheritor trial or the Yang Sheng Gate's trial grounds. He couldn't help but suspect this might be the very same trial site.

"I can't speak for other Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing, but the relationship between the Yang Sheng Gate and the Shan Xuan Whale Gate must be very close…"

As for duels that didn't risk life, Li Yuan was quite casual. Recalling the similarities between the two sects, he guessed to himself: "Surely it can't be like the relationship between Dragon-Tiger Temple, Tiger Gate, and Great Dragon Gate?"

Cry—

When Li Yuan stepped into the martial arena, footsteps also came from the passage opposite. Still shrouded in clouds and fog, the figure's face couldn't be seen, but compared to those giant men from the true-inheritor trial, this one was still within normal human range.

"Hum—"

Li Yuan heard the sound of swords. On the back of the approaching figure, seven swords were conspicuously strapped. As he stepped forward, the seven swords fanned out like a peacock displaying its tail, then converged and shot forth.

Sss-sss-sss—

Seven bursts of compressed air rang out as one.

Under Li Yuan's gaze, those long swords surged like flood dragons rising—extremely fast, shifting nimbly—like seven top swordsmen jointly executing brilliant sword arts, coordinating with one another to form a sword formation.

"Outer Gate disciples are this fierce?!"

Li Yuan's eyelid twitched. He had thought he could sweep through, but who would have expected this swordsman to be at least at the Achieved realm of Blood Exchange? His true qi surged like an invisible giant hand, simultaneously manipulating seven long swords to execute seven superior sword techniques!

"Whoosh!"

Li Yuan stepped back, reached out and grabbed a long-handled heavy hammer from the weapon rack beside him. With a tap of his foot, he did not activate his Soldier Control, only surging his Thunder Dragon true qi as he shot forth.

No dodging, no evading—he met it head-on with a hammer strike.

"!"

Under one hammer strike, the sword light exploded into shards.

Li the Daoist master was also a veteran of countless battles, and naturally knew the principle that one must not get bogged down in a prolonged fight. Strike after strike of hard collision—over a dozen exchanges—and he had already shaken all seven long swords to the ground.

Hiss!

The next instant, those seven long swords leapt up again. The sword light shifted, and they actually converged and merged into one, transforming into a single long sword—its speed and sharpness surging explosively.

Like the flying swords of legend, it came straight for his neck.

"!"

Li Yuan only glanced with his peripheral vision as the heavy hammer fell, blasting the swordsman—who dodged with lightfoot—into a skyful of light rain. When it came to lightness skill, even without the boost of his Soldier Control calculations, he was still first-rate.

"Pfft—"

After the swordsman shattered, those seven long swords also scattered into light rain, leaving Li Yuan a bit regretful—he had still wanted to see how those seven swords merged into one.

Hum—

After a moment, a stone tablet rose in the center of the dueling arena, covered in Rift Sea divine script. Li Yuan switched his Wu Gong and, relying on the 【Divine Fire Bone-Forging Ring (Fifth-Grade)】, committed all the characters to memory.

Then, he caught the beastskin scroll that drifted down from midair.

"Could this be a Wu Gong?" Li Yuan's eyes lit up. He waited a while, found no new opponent appearing, and felt the passage behind him stir, so he turned and left.

Returning behind Upside-Down Mountain, he swapped out the Shan Xuan Whale Hammer. The cry of the Shan Xuan Whale spirit instantly spread like rolling muffled thunder, but quickly calmed down again.

After many failed attempts at resistance, the spirit of the Mysterious Whale had greatly increased its endurance.

"Translate."

Li Yuan had long since carved the text of the fighting arena into the ground, having the spirit of the Mysterious Whale translate it word by word; he was very interested in the Splitting Sea Divine Script.

【Trial-taker Li Yuan, passed the Outer Gate examination... becoming an Outer Gate disciple of the Mysterious Whale Gate】

【Granted: Hammer Section of the Soldier-Nurturing Scripture】

"Soldier-Nurturing Scripture? This is a part of a Wu Gong?"

The spirit of the Mysterious Whale's translation was halting and stumbling; Li Yuan barely managed to extract the important parts, and after pondering them briefly, he took out that beast-hide scroll.

On a thin beast-hide scroll, Splitting Sea Divine Script like scribbled ghost-doodles covered it densely, fine and close—surely several thousand characters.

This time, the spirit of the Mysterious Whale's translation was even slower; over an hour before and after, only a small portion was deciphered, and moreover there were many terms within it he completely did not understand.

"This is clearly different from any Wu Gong I have learned."

Li Yuan pondered for a moment, and immediately frowned slightly.

Secret manual terminology is not universal—every sect has its own differences; this was created to prevent the leakage of one's own sect's Wu Gong. Without guidance from someone within the sect, to decipher it correctly is not only extremely difficult, but also very dangerous.

"Wait until it's all deciphered, then take a look."

The spirit of the Mysterious Whale was still slowly translating, spitting out characters one by one into the air; Li Yuan watched for a while, and simply stood up. Taking advantage of this time, he prepared to try the Inner Gate trial again.

"Buzz—"

In a single stride, Li Yuan activated the three Thunder Dragon Jun Heaven Hammers, and the passage behind the archway instantly shifted.

【Inner Gate Trial】

This time, the spirit of the Mysterious Whale reacted very quickly; this hammer spirit seemed quite eager to participate in the trial.

"Once the trial is completed, it won't appear again. But this Outer Gate trial was really simple—one fight and you pass. If the Inner Gate is two fights, then I can grind it a few more times, right?"

Glancing at the spirit of the Mysterious Whale still translating the secret manual, the crimson hand-hammer bouncing continuously in the air, Li Yuan did not delay, and walked into the Inner Gate trial.

……

The same passage, the same fighting arena—the difference was that the Inner Gate trial's opponent was far stronger. Accompanied by the sound of heavy footsteps, a giant man walked out from the opposite side, over three meters tall, vigorous blood and qi, aura vast and mighty; on arms thicker than Li Yuan's waist were wrapped pitch-black chains, and on his back was carried an enormous meteor hammer.

"World-class talent, Blood Exchange Great Completion—probably no inferior to Senior Brother Long."

Li Yuan was slightly startled.

This time, he did not dare be overconfident, and immediately activated the Soldier-Controlling Calculation; under its command and blessing, he also picked out the Da De Zhong, tapped the ground with his foot, and took the initiative to attack.

Boom!

Rumble!

Roars of explosion rang out continuously in the fighting arena.

Accompanied by the "clank-clank" whipping sounds of iron chains, that meteor hammer swept back and forth like a real meteor, howling through the air. Even though Li Yuan commanded three Thunder Dragon Jun Heaven Hammers, he surprisingly could not gain much of an advantage.

In the end, it was only by relying on the extreme explosive speed blessed by the Hundred Beasts Spirit Boots that he broke into the shadows of the meteor hammer, and smashed this hammer-wielding giant man apart with the Da De Zhong.

"What kind of person has such great strength?"

After one battle, Li Yuan's true qi body was already flickering unsteadily; the rebound force from the head-on clash nearly took him along with it.

This gave him quite a fright.

The Da De Zhong blessed by three Thunder Dragon Jun Heaven Hammers—the rebound force from multiple head-on clashes nearly sent him to his death, yet that giant man had stubbornly withstood over a hundred of his hammer blows.

"The Hundred Beasts Spirit Boots Yang Jian Gong."

Li Yuan's heart eased slightly. This time, he heard that strange pronunciation coming from outside the fighting arena, and not far away a stone tablet also rose up, covered all over with Splitting Sea Divine Script.

He silently recited and memorized it; he had only read it through once, yet he could not help but become absent-minded.

His attention fell behind the stone tablet.

There, was a giant hammer taller than himself, entirely pitch-black, and covered in sharp edges and corners, with iron chains as thick as a waist wrapped around it.

It was unmistakably the meteor hammer that giant man had just used!

【Mysterious Whale Battle Hammer (Seventh Grade)】