Starting from the Tiger Demon Yaksha, the demon immortality

Chapter 342-352 "Mysterious Heavenly Yellow Dragon Dao Soldier"

"Red Scale Skill" is a martial art that trains the body horizontally. It was developed by Li Cunxiao based on his own martial arts and "Eight-Foot Dragon Soaring".

The original martial arts technique was "Dragonfly Skimming Water Lifting Technique," a gift from the He family patriarch to Li Cunxiao when he was in Chuqiu City.

Although this lightness skill is only a low-grade martial art, with no further advancement beyond muscle strength, the demonic dragon armor Vermilion Dragonfly it wields has considerable comprehensive enhancements.

It not only strengthens the legs, but also has many special effects such as warding off poison, fortifying armor, walking on water, riding the wind, and dynamic vision, which greatly helped him in the early stages.

It wasn't until they arrived in Songzhou and Louguandao, acquiring various immortal and divine skills, that their former helpful companions became insignificant.

Now, Li Cunxiao has made some modifications to it, transforming the low-grade lightness skill "Dragonfly Skimming Water Leap Technique," which only strengthens the legs, into the mid-grade horizontal training "Red Scale Skill," which strengthens the whole body.

Jiannan Road is characterized by continuous mountain ranges, rugged terrain, and a multitude of poisonous insects and ferocious beasts.

Therefore, he emphasized the preservation of three enhancements: poison repellency, armor strengthening, and body lightness, making it a specialized technique adapted for mountain and forest warfare.

This technique, after being modified, will cause dragon scale patterns to appear on the body after breaking through the muscles. The subcutaneous tissue around the martial artist's body will also undergo a mutation, growing a special keratinous substance resembling a carapace.

With this external training, ordinary martial artists are no match for him in a one-on-one fight.

If a team forms a formation, the energy between those using the same martial arts will be linked, further enhancing their combat power.

Once the horizontal training reaches perfection, crimson dragon scales will cover the entire body, at which point one will receive a perfect lightness skill equivalent to the "Dragonfly Skimming Water Leap Technique," gaining the ability to walk on water.

This one skill alone is enough to lay a solid foundation for him to develop new Taoist military techniques in the future.

At the same time, there's also a tiny, insignificant ulterior motive involved.

Li Cunxiao's army included several thousand newly recruited soldiers, as well as some elite troops from Louguandao and sons of noble families from the capital.

The soldiers have limited futures but are older and more experienced, while the sons of noble families have greater potential but inevitably lack experience.

However, these people have in common that they generally have higher cultivation levels, so if they were to change their cultivation methods, it would inevitably cause resistance.

On the contrary, adding a physical training method would be much more convenient, since no one would complain about having too high a defense.

The reason for promoting this martial art is, of course, because it is indeed effective and quick to learn.

As long as one has his specially supplied elixir, the "Dragon Pearl," it's difficult to hit a bottleneck in one's cultivation level.

On the other hand, there is the price behind this benefit—both the Crimson Scale Technique and the Dragon Pearl were Li Cunxiao's backup plans to control the soldiers.

The higher a martial artist's mastery of this external martial art, the closer and more respectful they will be to the person who created it.

There are subtle spiritual influences, suppression of those in higher positions by those in lower positions based on the inherent attributes of their cultivation techniques, and the monopoly of essential cultivation items like the "Dragon Ball".

With a three-pronged approach, one can command a vast army.

Li Cunxiao was confident in himself. Given time, he was certain that he would become a grandmaster and a great grandmaster, sweeping away all enemies in the world.

Therefore, loyalty is the most needed quality for an army, more so than combat power.

"Guangyi, you only need to learn this external training method, which is enough to teach the soldiers. You don't need to practice it too deeply."

"The Crimson Scale Technique is just the foundation; there will be upgraded versions of the Daoist military techniques later on."

Li Cunxiao watched the soldiers carrying supplies, and didn't forget to give his younger brother some instructions.

His younger brother was different from others, and he didn't want to use such methods to control his family.

Moreover, with the Vajra Pestle present, it wouldn't be difficult to tailor-make martial arts techniques for him; it's just that there isn't enough malevolent energy available right now, so there aren't the conditions to do so.

"Big Brother can even create his own Taoist military strategy?"

Li Guangyi carefully put away the booklet of "Red Scale Skill". At this moment, his heart was filled with nothing but admiration.

Outsiders may not know the extent of his elder brother's abilities, but he, as someone close to him, knows it perfectly well.

At the age of twenty-one or twenty-two, Li Cunxiao had already stepped into the threshold of becoming a grandmaster.

The key is that in addition to cultivation, one must also take care of military affairs, general affairs, and even create one's own martial arts.

A person's day consists of twelve two-hour periods. Li Guangyi found it hard to imagine how one could possibly take care of everything, be proficient in everything, and have no weaknesses.

"Magistrate Huang."

Li Cunxiao beckoned, and Huang Bairen, who had been waiting for a long time, immediately ran over, bowed respectfully, and handed over a roster.

"My lord, these are the yellow registers of the population and land survey conducted by our four counties recently."

"To be honest, I'm ashamed to admit that I usually stay cooped up in the government office and am unwilling to go to the countryside. Today, upon investigation, I've come to realize just how far the population concealment and land consolidation have gone—it's truly appalling."

As Li Cunxiao listened to the other party's rambling speech, he opened the Yellow Book and read through it one by one, comparing it with the information he already knew in his mind.

After a short while, he closed the booklet and nodded slightly.

It's hard to say about the population, after all, there are wars everywhere now, and it's impossible to predict when refugees will cross the border, or when there will be floods or droughts, with drastic increases and decreases.

But the land is there, and there's no way to hide it.

In fact, long before Huang Bairen arrived, Li Cunxiao had already visited the strongholds of various local tyrants in Fuzhou.

We have a general idea of ​​how much land these people own and what their output is.

The contents of this yellow book are basically consistent.

Slight discrepancies are not necessarily the work of the four major families, but rather a matter of time being too short to ensure absolute accuracy.

"You handled this matter quite well."

Upon hearing this, Huang Bairen felt a great weight lifted from his shoulders, and his tense back relaxed slightly.

The deadly weapon hangs on your head; even a nap while working late into the night can cost you your head.

No one knows how he got through these days.

Fortunately, we've finally passed this first test.

"However, the demon resources in the Jiannan Mountains are really abundant."

Putting aside the meat field seeds from the four counties, Li Cunxiao looked at the truckloads of demon materials being transported away. Not only were there many of them, but they were also quite fresh.

Despite the traces of medicinal processing, the intense malevolent energy contained within was quite evident.

Li Cunxiao could sense that the demons here were more numerous, more active, and of a higher rank than those in other places.

"Your Excellency, our Shu region is mountainous, and many places are unsuitable for people to live in; they are the domains of demons."

"When I was a child, I heard that there was a demon king in the depths of the Great Sword Mountain who was comparable to a grandmaster."

"Oh?" Li Cunxiao became interested upon hearing this.

After the rise of martial arts, and through generations of hunting down by terrestrial immortals, eighth-order demons are now rarely seen in the outside world.

Only in Li Yisheng's stupa did Li Cunxiao vaguely sense a trace of aura, but he couldn't be sure.

After carefully inquiring about the information Huang Bairen possessed, and obtaining a general area where the legend was prevalent, Li Cunxiao dismissed him.

As for the Demon King, we'll deal with him slowly later.

"The most urgent task is to train soldiers, and then, with Wenzhou and Fuzhou as the center, to annihilate the demons in the surrounding mountains and forests, and repair roads and transportation."

"When there are many demons, the lives of ordinary people become difficult."

"On the one hand, we need to train the troops; on the other hand, we also need to send a portion of the refined elixirs to the imperial court first."

Li Cunxiao had not forgotten why Li Yisheng had sent him to the southwest.

It's one thing for the emperor to be far away, but it's far too early for us to completely break off relations.

While Qin and Liang are fighting on the front lines, he is developing his strength in the rear, and the current situation is quite good.

"Yes. By the way, brother, the land distribution in Wenzhou has been basically finalized."

“Those local tyrants and gentry who deserve to be killed should be killed, while those with fewer bad records should be spared and given positions.”

"The people of Wenzhou are now deeply grateful to our elder brother. Should we take this opportunity to begin recruiting soldiers?"

Li Guangyi mentioned it briefly, and Li Cunxiao pondered for a moment before shaking his head.

"The veterans haven't even finished training yet, so how can we recruit new soldiers? Besides, it's spring planting season, and if we take away able-bodied men, how will the people farm?" "Send some squad leaders and sergeants down to organize the local militia system, do some propaganda work, and emphasize our military discipline and style."

"After the autumn harvest, when we have enough food and have made progress in eliminating the demons, it will not be too late to expand our army when the time is right."

"After all, Siqi is preparing food for us in the north, and the transportation back and forth is quite inconvenient."

"I have a feeling that it won't be long before we can digest these two states."

"At that time, we'll still have to rely on the King of Shu to support us."

The capital of Jiannan Circuit is located in the northern part of the center of the entire basin.

Because the area has historically been famous for its fine brocades, it is also known as Jindu Prefecture.

During the An Lushan Rebellion, the capital was captured, and Emperor Xuanzong fled to Shu. As a result, a temporary palace remains in Chengdu, which is modeled after the imperial city, only on a smaller scale.

After Wang Jian established his own regime, he renovated the place and took control of it.

"Kill people, divide the land, train soldiers, search the mountains."

A middle-aged man with a mustache reclined on the dragon throne, holding a memorial in his hand, his brows furrowed.

The dragon throne, though called a chair, is actually a folding chair with railings, which can be used for sitting or lying down.

Made of Phoebe zhennan wood, it is inlaid with gold and jade, and decorated with auspicious clouds and flying dragons.

The men's round-necked robes also featured similar dragon patterns, and the yellowish-red fabric shimmered like flowing gold sand in the sunlight.

Unlike ordinary people who wrap their heads with a gauze scarf, men's headscarves are made with bamboo strips as a frame and covered with lacquered gauze to hold their shape.

The two ends of the towel did not droop down, but instead pointed high towards the sky.

His flamboyant and obviously presumptuous attire made his identity self-evident.

"In just over a month, this is all Li Cunxiao did in Wenzhou and Fuzhou?"

Wang Jian asked the question, as if confirming something.

"Yes. I also heard that when those White-Spear Soldiers aren't training, they have to go to the fields and help people with chores."

The kneeling eunuch immediately responded, but Wang Jian frowned even more deeply upon hearing this.

"What exactly are these thirteen bodyguards up to?"

Killing people, distributing land, and training soldiers are all unremarkable; that's how he started out.

In order to ensure production, eliminating demons is also a necessary part of the task.

After all, resources are limited, and the rise of a new rentier class will inevitably lead to disputes with the old money.

It's just that some older, more discerning people are more sensible and offer higher prices.

Those who couldn't understand the situation were naturally to be implicated and their wealth confiscated. The men were exiled, and the women were rewarded, so that they could quickly accumulate their first pot of gold.

But after doing so much and giving those peasants huge benefits, shouldn't we raise taxes next?

Why are soldiers being sent to help plow the fields?
"Without increasing taxes or conducting drills, those few thousand greenhorns won't even be able to breach Jianmen Pass."

"Could it be that this person is really just here to keep an eye on me and has no other intentions?"

Wang Jian stood up and paced back and forth in the hall, his eyes occasionally glancing at another booklet on the table.

This was the official document sent by Li Cunxiao after he arrived in Wenzhou.

The content of the official document was lukewarm; it simply relayed Li Yisheng's demands, instructing the Prince of Shu to pay tribute on time, transfer taxes, and dispatch a group of elite troops to the capital.

Yes, although Li Cunxiao did not become the Commander of the Palace Guards, Li Yisheng of the Three Imperial Guards still had to take office.

These demands, though painful for Wang Jian, were not unacceptable as long as he could remain in Sichuan and rule as a local tyrant.

It's much better than being forced to go to Beijing and become prey.

"Am I overthinking it?"

Wang Jian then summoned his ministers for a thorough analysis, but the final conclusion was still the same: to remain inactive and submit temporarily.

"Qici is a Grandmaster of Perfection after all, while I am only at the Great Completion stage. Even Yu Hai Niu Bi is not as good as me. Even if the two of them join forces, they might not be a match for me."

"Not to mention that Qingcheng Mountain has always been unwilling to accept my investiture, and one person can't possibly resist it alone."

"Never mind, never mind. Losing money is better than losing more money."

After much deliberation, Wang Jian could only reluctantly agree to make the painful decision to open the treasury, select treasures, and prepare to offer them as tribute.

Li Yisheng was both a Grandmaster and the Emperor of Qin, so the tributes offered to him could not be perfunctory.

As for taxes, it's impossible for them to be paid in full; there will be a lot of wrangling about that.

However, Wang Jian did not completely give up testing Li Cunxiao.

The enemy's location is too crucial; beyond Jianmen Pass lies Shu (Sichuan).

Even if there is no obvious hostility at the moment, I can't feel at ease without finding out what's going on.

With both Buddhist masters and the Qin Dynasty backing them, it's definitely not feasible to take action personally.

“I remember that the western side of Fuzhou is bordered by snow-capped mountains, and in previous years, Tibetan barbarians often came down to plunder, hmm.”

"Someone! Tell our spies to let the Snow Mountain Barbarians know something."

In the mountains, there is no sun or moon; when the cold ends, one is unaware of the passing years.

Spring ends and summer arrives, summer passes and autumn is harvested; in the blink of an eye, half a year has passed, and it's September again, the golden autumn.

In the countryside, the fields are crisscrossed with fields, and the harvest is in full swing. Farmers and women carry loads and push carts, while children sing songs as they move about, heads down, picking up rice grains, laughing and playing.

Occasionally, when people see soldiers fully armed and carrying white-handled hook-and-sickle spears, they will warmly greet them and offer them a bowl of tea. The soldiers will smile knowingly, wave their hands to refuse, and then lead their group away.

"What a vibrant and flourishing scene, where everything thrives!"

"Wherever my White-Spear Army goes, the people welcome us wholeheartedly; we have truly won the hearts of the people."

"Yes, in just six months, this foreign land has been transformed into a paradise for soldiers and civilians. The governor's methods of governing the army are truly extraordinary."

"How come such brave and fierce men become so obedient under the command of the magistrate?"

Ye Chengxiao and Wei He, mounted on horseback, watched with great interest and exclamations.

Before long they arrived at the army camp, and the two went straight to the central command tent. Seeing the figure sitting upright inside, they were both delighted:
"My lord, you've emerged from the pass?!"

"Yes. I heard it from Guangyi. You two have done a good job searching the mountains these past few months."

Not long after conquering Wenzhou and Fuzhou, King Wang Jian of Shu, who had been offline for more than a month, finally sent an envoy to present tribute and express his submission.

Apart from some wrangling over taxation, nothing else went wrong. Li Cunxiao submitted a memorial to Li Yisheng for instructions, and then the time passed in a state of quiet to the point of being dull.

It's actually normal. After all, Master Qici is a figure of great respect. Unless you're a wild man from the mountains with no access to information, no one would be so tactless as to provoke him.

In fact, the murderous aura that had accumulated over the past six months was enough for Li Cunxiao to attempt to break through to the Grandmaster level.

However, at that time, he had just arrived and had not yet established himself. Li Yisheng was still attracting a lot of attention, and Li Cunxiao did not want to stand out too much.

According to his plan, it would be best to break through secretly, let Li Yisheng and Zhu Quanzhong fight for five or six years, and then expose himself after he had digested all of Sichuan.

As autumn approaches, the Qin and Liang dynasties have indeed broken out into war again, leaving them no time to attend to their rear.

Li Cunxiao has just completed the last piece of the Daoist soldier puzzle. After entrusting Li Guangyi and the others with this task, he will go into seclusion to try to break through to the Grandmaster level.

"You've come at the right time. Now, half a year has passed, and the people of Wenzhou and Fuzhou have already won over the hearts of the people. The taxes from the King of Shu will also be delivered soon."

"I have been revising the Taoist military strategy in the past few months, and I have already achieved results."

"Everything is ready; it's time to expand and refine our forces."

Having said that, he flicked his finger, and two points of light flew into Ye Chengxiao and Wei He's minds, transforming into a martial arts manual encompassing killing techniques, movement techniques, and internal energy cultivation methods—

"Mysterious Heavenly Yellow Dragon Daoist Soldiers"!
(End of this chapter)