The world of martial arts, the immortal swordsman in the mortal realm.

Chapter 199, Section 214: Refining the Calamity Qi! Strength Increases drastically!

Corpses lay strewn across the road, a scene of utter devastation.

A tall, slender woman, dressed in an elaborate white dress and with her face veiled, revealing only her eyes, led several people as they strolled among the corpses scattered everywhere.

It was none other than Empress Zhu Yuyan.

Zhu Yuyan's gaze remained relatively calm, but Wen Caiting, Elder Yun, Elder Xia, Danmei, Fanan, and Changzhen, who followed behind her, were trembling with fear, their faces pale.

Because they recognized most of the corpses.

Bi Shouxuan, Shangguan Long, Ding Jiuzhong, Zhou Laotan, Jin Huanzhen...

You Niaojuan, Bichen, Xiying, Zhao Deyan...

These renowned masters of the Holy Sect, who were once famous throughout the martial arts world, were now all reduced to corpses. Many of them were even decapitated, their heads rolling in the dust, their faces covered in mud and blood, dying without any dignity.

"All dead..."

Wen Caiting was pale and trembling:

"Senior Sister! They're all dead! The Demon General, the Heavenly Lord, the Demonic Daoist, You Niao'er... They, they're all dead!"

"I saw."

Zhu Yuyan said calmly:
"I'm also glad that you weren't persuaded by Uncle Pi. Otherwise, you would be like them now, corpses lying here waiting for me to collect them."

Wen Caiting, Elder Yun, and the others exchanged glances, their eyes filled with relief.

Bi Shouxuan had, of course, persuaded them.

They even confidently assured that the lineup for besieging Lu Chen was unprecedentedly powerful, and that all three grandmasters would only die if they were surrounded.

In retrospect, the lineup is indeed unprecedentedly strong.

Four of the eight top masters of the Holy Sect were dispatched, all four disciples of the Holy Emperor Xiang Yutian were mobilized, along with the senior elder Bi Shouxuan, and Shangguan Long, a spy from the Great Ming Zun Sect who possessed both the techniques of the Great Ming Zun Sect and the Yin Gui Sect.

There is also a group of top-tier masters who are also well-known.

An unprecedentedly powerful lineup, now all of them are dead.

If they were persuaded by Bi Shouxuan to join in, then without a doubt, they would also become part of the corpses.

"Young Master Lu, you are truly a god descended to earth! Wan'er is so lucky..."

At this moment, Wen Caiting didn't even dare to call Lu Chen by his name anymore. Even though Lu Chen wasn't there, she still addressed him as Young Master Lu with reverence, perfectly demonstrating the demonic sect's philosophy of the survival of the fittest and the supremacy of the strong.

"Didn't Chao Gongcuo come too? Why isn't his body here?"

After counting the corpses, Elder Yun felt a little strange.

"Perhaps they ran away."

Zhu Yuyan didn't take it to heart.

"In this battle, too many of the Holy Gate's experts perished..."

Elder Xia sighed softly.

Zhu Yuyan said calmly:
“They have only themselves to blame; they had to provoke someone they couldn’t afford to offend.”

Elder Yun shook his head:

"But this will make Cihang Jingzhai very proud."

Zhu Yuyan was silent for a moment, then slowly said:

"It's alright. With Wan'er by Lu Chen's side, even if everyone else in the Holy Sect, including us, dies, at least the lineage of my Yin Gui Sect will not be cut off."

Just then, they faintly heard the sound of horses' hooves and wheels. Zhu Yuyan glanced in the direction of the sound and said calmly to everyone:

"Remember the way these people died. Remember who you can mess with and who you absolutely must not mess with."

Wen Caiting and the others solemnly agreed.

"Let's go."

With a flick of her sleeves, Yin Hou rose from the ground and gracefully disappeared into the forest.

Wen Caiting and the others followed suit and left the scene.

Not long after the Yin Gui Sect members left.

A troop of cavalry escorted several large carts toward the scene.

The masked man indeed obeyed and sent people to collect the bodies and clean up the area.

……

Lu Chen, who has always been in charge of killing but not burying, has arrived at the Lishan Palace and is visiting the palaces that belong to him, such as the Feishuang Palace and the Jiulong Palace, accompanied by Li Xiuning.

The Lishan Palace was relatively simple during Yang Jian's time.

Yang Jian was notoriously stingy, so he basically used the same buildings as the previous dynasty, only planting a few thousand pine and cypress trees at the Lishan Palace for some landscaping.

It wasn't until the reign of Emperor Yang Guang that the Lishan Palace underwent extensive construction, with many previous palaces being renovated and some new palaces being built.

Although both Feishuang Palace and Jiulong Palace were only renovated palaces, given Yang Guang's fondness for luxury, they were renovated to be completely new and resplendent.

Feishuang Palace was the emperor's sleeping quarters, originally reserved for the emperor's exclusive use, and its interior facilities were extremely luxurious.

The palace has fifteen rooms, including the emperor's sleeping quarters, a study, a quiet room, a bathroom, a tea room, and a dining room.

The Nine Dragons Palace is the largest hot spring pool.

Inside the hall, the hot spring pool, made of white marble and with exquisite patterns of flowers, birds, insects, and fish carved on its walls, is so large that it can be considered a swimming pool, where one can swim to one's heart's content.

The pool has two tiers of pedestals. On the lower tier, there is a white marble recliner with dragon-patterned armrests on both sides, where you can comfortably half-lie down and soak in the hot spring.

Between the two halls are covered walkways and pavilions with carved beams, painted rafters, and flying eaves. Even in heavy rain or snow, one can walk between the two halls without getting wet. Along the way, one can stop at a pavilion at any time to enjoy the view and rest.

After visiting his own hot spring resort, which includes two palaces, an artificial lake, a pine and cypress forest, as well as many pavilions, towers, and ordinary residences, Lu Chen expressed great satisfaction and decided to come here to spend the winter from now on.

Such a large complex of buildings naturally requires manpower for daily cleaning and regular maintenance.

Li Yuan carefully selected a group of palace maids to serve him; all of them were young girls with good backgrounds and attractive figures.

They usually lived near the main hall, in ordinary courtyards and residences. All their living expenses, food and clothing, and monthly allowances were covered by the emperor's private treasury, so Lu Chen didn't need to worry about it.

Princess Li Xiuning was nominally the palace supervisor in charge of the entire Lishan Palace, but her actual duty was to serve Lu Chen.

Lu Chen can ask her for anything he needs.

Such meticulous and even obsequious arrangements were all for the sake of ensuring that Lu Chen would not join the opposing camp of the Li Tang dynasty.

……

"Do you, my lords, still think that I have been too flattering to Young Master Lu?"

On a drill ground in the imperial city of Chang'an.

Li Yuan, accompanied by Pei Ji and other Tang officials, looked at the neatly arranged corpses on the ground and said in a deep voice.

There were only seventeen corpses.

The other hundred or so skilled Turks and Uyghurs, as well as elite disciples of the South China Sea School, were buried on the spot in the forests on both sides, becoming tree fertilizer.

Only these seventeen individuals, each with distinctive clothing and weapons, suggesting distinguished status, were brought back by the corpse-collecting team.

Among these people, many of them were recognized by Tang Chen—in the world of Twin Dragons, even civil officials possessed excellent martial arts skills, such as Pei Ji, whose "Forgetful Fan" was quite famous.

Since they all possess martial arts skills, they must have some understanding of the affairs and people of the martial arts world.

Faced with Li Yuan's question, the Tang officials fell silent.

After a long silence, someone whispered:
"Zhao Deyan was the Turkic national advisor, and he died in Chang'an..."

Li Yuan also had some concerns.

If the Turks were to launch an attack because of Zhao Deyan's death, it would be a devastating blow to the Tang Dynasty at that time.

But recalling Li Yuanji's report that Lu Chen single-handedly defeated eighteen top-tier experts like lambs to the slaughter, and that even after exhausting his true energy, he could still tear apart Demon General Zhao Deyan, Heavenly Lord Xi Ying, and the Demonic Daoist Bi Chen, causing Chao Gongcuo to turn tail and run, Li Yuan gritted his teeth and said fiercely:

"If Xue Ju, Wang Shichong, and Dou Jiande were to attack our Great Tang, Young Master Lu might stand idly by. But if the Turks dare to come... given Young Master Lu's temperament, he would certainly not sit idly by!"

After a pause, he said again:

"Spread the word about Young Master Lu's achievements. With Young Master Lu in charge, Chang'an is as impregnable as a fortress!"

Although Lu Chen's battle record has already made him famous throughout the world, especially after the Battle of Mangshan, his reputation has been on par with the three grandmasters. He is even recognized as the number one military strategist of the contemporary era. Many people believe that his battlefield deterrence has surpassed that of the Martial Venerable Bi Xuan, who is most skilled in battle formations. But of course, the more famous one is, the better.

……

When Lu Chen's feat of taking on eighteen opponents single-handedly, killing several grandmaster-level demonic sect masters and a number of renowned experts, began to spread throughout Chang'an City.

Lu Chen was in his bedroom in the Flying Frost Palace, refining the tribulation energy he had harvested that day.

Today, his gains include not only the high-quality calamity energy from seventeen grandmasters and first-rate masters, in addition to Chao Gongcuo.

The nearly one hundred skilled Turks and Uyghurs killed by the three sword spirits, Dugu Feng, Wanwan, and Shi Feixuan, along with the elite disciples of the South China Sea Sect, also brought him a batch of high-quality calamity energy.

Just as he had anticipated.

As he continuously refined those strands of tribulation energy, his true qi cultivation rose steadily, his sword qi became increasingly powerful and pure, and the true qi flowing through his meridians was like a surging river.

It's a pity there's no comparison; I wonder if this powerful and refined true energy is comparable to that of the three grandmasters.

The lightning sword in his mind became more and more vivid and dynamic, and its shape was no longer a simple and plain lightning bolt, but a simple and ancient long sword that seemed to be formed from lightning.

"This Heart-Piercing Sword..."

Lu Chen blinked, and a lightning-like glint appeared in his pupils. A streak of illusory lightning shot out from his pupils, disappearing without a trace.

Okay, the Heart Sword only targets the spiritual level. Even if you train it to the point where you can kill the primordial spirit, it will not cause damage on the physical level.

However, his current cultivation of the Heart Sword has become so strong that he no longer needs to sense or capture the enemy's emotional fluctuations; he can directly sever the enemy's mind simply by making eye contact.

Even if it cannot truly destroy the mind and spirit, it can cause the enemy to be momentarily dazed and confused, or even lose some of their memories.

In a duel between experts, that would be enough to kill someone.

"However, directly striking at the enemy's mind consumes a lot of energy. The stronger the opponent's mental cultivation, the greater the consumption. And if the opponent's mind is strong enough, my current level of Heart Sword cultivation might not be enough to cut through it..."

Lu Chen raised his hand and rubbed his temples.

He felt a bit mentally exhausted just from waving his sword in the air without targeting a specific enemy; the exertion would only be greater in actual combat.

"Therefore, it is more practical to first sense and capture the enemy's emotional fluctuations, and then sever those emotions... The method of directly striking the mind will have to wait until the Heart Sword cultivation is stronger."

His true qi and heart sword cultivation both surged forward due to refining the calamity qi.

As for sword body cultivation...

night.

When most of the tribulation energy had been refined, Lu Chen's bones and muscles suddenly began to creak.

The large veins bulged and trembled, and beneath the skin, it seemed as if dragons were stretching their bodies and roaring proudly.

The sound of bones vibrating is like the ringing of jade, clear and melodious.

a long time.

As the sound of bones creaking gradually subsided.

Lu Chen opened his eyes and chuckled:
"The training of muscles and bones has finally been completed!"

The third stage of "Sword Body" in "JX3" has been completed today, with "Refining Muscles and Bones" being the most advanced.

From then on, the entire body becomes a unified whole. Even the abdomen and ribs, which lack skeletal support and tendon coverage, can enjoy a defensive bonus, making them difficult to harm with divine weapons.

As for strength.

Lu Chen raised his hand and grabbed a piece of refined steel ingot that he had prepared in advance. He squeezed it with his five fingers, and the steel ingot immediately creaked and twisted like dough. After a few times, it became as hot as charcoal.

Previously, it could only "crush copper into mud," but now it can even knead and mold fine steel at will!

"The damage output bonus from unarmed combat has also increased to 90%... Hah, that's a full 20% increase from the previous 70%! My stamina and recovery have also been comprehensively improved! I don't even know how strong I am now!"

One against a thousand?
We could have done it a long time ago!

"Right now, if the enemy doesn't collapse and flee, and fights to the death, then I could easily annihilate an army of ten thousand men by myself. If I were even more audacious, I could single-handedly defeat a powerful figure!"

Yes, one power is equal to one hundred thousand.

Lu Chen felt that with his current strength, he didn't even need eight hundred cavalrymen to accompany him; he could single-handedly defeat an army of one hundred thousand.

After all, once he had mastered the art of bone and muscle training, he was completely flawless, and even if the enemy army consisted entirely of Li Mi-level soldiers, they would not be able to harm him.

With such defense, coupled with even greater strength and stamina, what is there to fear from an army of 100,000?
The enemy might not be foolish enough to fight him to the bitter end.

"Breaking through the enemy's forces is possible, but forget about annihilating them completely. Let alone a single commander, we don't even know how long it would take to cut down ten thousand... The enemy isn't stupid."

Lu Chen chuckled to himself, shook his head, and decided to go to the Nine Dragons Palace to soak in the hot springs to celebrate.

Hmm, let's invite Xiao Feng'er, bring some wine and late-night snacks, and soak in the hot springs together while having a few drinks.

……

Nine Dragons Hall, hot spring pool.

Lu Chen lay half-reclined on the white marble recliner in the middle of the platform, with most of his body submerged in the hot spring, only his head and shoulders showing. A tray floated in front of him, containing several delicate dishes and a pot of fine wine.

He took a bite of food and a sip of wine, thoroughly enjoying himself.

Dugu Feng, dressed only in a gossamer-thin gauze dress, sat astride him, sharing food and wine with him using chopsticks.

While I was comfortably enjoying a late-night snack and a few drinks.

Wanwan's voice rang out:

"You two are going a bit too far. You went to the hot springs and had a late-night snack without inviting me."

Lu Chen and Dugu Feng looked in the direction of the sound and saw Wanwan lift the curtain and walk in with a smile.

"you?"

Dugu Feng pouted:
"It's not that I'm underestimating you, but do you dare to come?"

Wanwan said proudly:
"Why don't you dare!"

Although her performance when she touched Lu Chen's sword spirit mark that night was not good, Wanwan firmly believed that it was only because she had not yet used her true skills. Once she used her true skills, everything would be very different.

Faced with the provocation of the "weak" Dugu Feng, Wan Yaonu naturally did not back down. She gracefully walked to the edge of the pool, stretched out her snow-white toes to test the water temperature, and then stepped into the pool along the platform.

"Tsk, what decent family would wear clothes while taking a bath!"

Dugu Feng raised the corners of his lips, his eyebrows and eyes full of mockery.

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(End of this chapter)