With the rise of my family, I can summon the Daoist Soldiers' Nest.

In the past six months, the most noteworthy breakthrough for a third-rate martial artist was actually a commoner martial artist, and a genuine genius at that.

His name is Liu Yun, and he was discovered by the Lin Family Martial Arts School in Shitie Town.

Before coming to the Lin family, he relied on a simple diet and often went hungry, but with an indomitable spirit, he managed to become a second-rate martial artist.

Until the Liu family mansion was breached by the guards, he finally saw the day when he could seek justice and revenge. With a grateful heart, he came to the Lin family martial arts school to practice martial arts.

There, he only consumed some low-grade iron wire vine, yet his cultivation level soared, directly breaking through to the third rank at the young age of sixteen.

Seeing this, the martial arts school dared not delay and immediately reported the matter to the Lin family.

This matter even alarmed Liu Zhenghua, who appreciated Liu Yun's talent and offered to take him as his apprentice with generous terms.

But Liu Yun's mind was made up; he resolutely chose to join the Lin family. This was because the Lin family had destroyed the Liu family and avenged the tragic deaths of his parents.

Upon learning this, Lin Ye took Liu Yun under his wing and personally mentored her.

Firstly, it would allow him to gain experience and witness more real combat and worldly affairs by his side;

Secondly, he hoped to take this opportunity to deepen his sense of belonging to the Lin family. If he could marry a woman from the Lin family in the future, he could truly become a member of the Lin family, and not just a talented person from another family.

For a family's lair to become a second-rate lair, the family must have three second-rate martial artists, and Lin Ye must defeat five second-rate Dao soldiers.

The first requirement is to have three second-rate martial artists, and Liu Yun might be able to become one of them.

I just don't know if the family's lair will be recognized by then, but it doesn't matter, since the family's development also depends on external forces.

As for Lin Ye himself, he is now a second-rate martial artist.

For the past six months or so, he has had a steady supply of third-rate spiritual plants, and the Sword Sect has occasionally sent him second-rate spiritual plants as support, so he has been able to take them every few days.

The reason he can't enjoy it every day is because his body can't fully withstand the medicinal power of second-rate spiritual plants. Otherwise, given his personality, he probably would have been indulging in it every day long.

Thanks to this continuous nourishment, he finally broke through a month ago and joined the ranks of second-rate martial artists, becoming the only second-rate martial artist in the territory besides the true disciples of the Sword Sect.

In the past six months, the territory's overall strength has indeed increased significantly, but it still lags behind the neighboring Yun County.

Lin Ye hadn't forgotten the strength of the second-rate guards beside Chen Cheng; they were clearly not all of Yun County's trump cards, and there might even be first-rate martial artists among them.

That morning, Lin Ye was practicing archery at the training ground.

A month ago, after breaking through to the second-rate level, he was granted permission to learn the second-rate techniques of the sword sect as a true disciple of the sect.

Faced with the renowned second-rate sword technique sent by the sword sect, and the advanced version of the Shadow Piercing Spear he had been practicing, the second-rate Rainbow Piercing Spear, he unexpectedly chose a third-rate archery technique, Wind Chasing Arrow, and a second-rate archery technique, Mountain Piercing Arrow.

At the time, Liu Zhenghua advised him not to bite off more than he could chew, but Lin Ye used his deep hatred for the Northern Xiongnu as an excuse to point out that bows and arrows would be more useful on the battlefield in the future, which finally convinced the other party.

In fact, only he himself knew the real reason behind it.

On the very night he broke through to become a second-rate martial artist, he enthusiastically challenged the five gargoyles in his mind.

This time, relying on the internal strength of a second-rate martial artist and the perfected Shadow Piercing Spear, the gargoyle was already struggling to hold on.

However, he was unable to kill them. The gargoyles could fly, and although the terrain in the mental challenge limited their flight height to only a dozen meters, it was still a difficult problem for him.

Whenever the gargoyle lunges downwards, he can repel or even injure it with his internal force and the power of his spear, but the gargoyle's body is exceptionally sturdy, making it difficult to kill it with a single blow.

After much deliberation, he concluded that only bows and arrows could be effective against these aerial soldiers.

So, he focused on practicing archery for the past month and has made considerable progress.

As a second-rate martial artist, his strength and reaction time, enhanced by internal energy, far surpassed those of ordinary people.

Although archery is extremely difficult for ordinary people to master, he mastered the basics in just one month and was able to consistently hit moving bullseye on the training ground. He even began to try to capture the "pounce"-like afterimages while rapidly changing positions.

That night, Lin Ye sat cross-legged and calmed his mind, once again entering the martial arts scene in his mind.

A flash of light and shadow appeared before his eyes, and he found himself holding a familiar spear in his hand, with a longbow strapped to his back. Five gargoyles then appeared, hovering in the air and scattered in all directions, like a shadow that could pounce at any moment.

As soon as they appeared, they emitted a low, grinding sound as they pounced on him from different directions, their wings whipping up gusts of cold wind, their sharp claws gleaming with a cold, hard luster in the dim light.

Lin Ye's eyes narrowed, his footwork shifted slightly, and his spear followed him like a shadow as he unleashed the perfected Shadow Piercing Spear technique.

The spear tip traced several sharp trajectories, fast, accurate, and cunning. With a muffled thud, a gargoyle was struck in the shoulder blade by the force of the spear, sending shards of stone flying and its movements instantly slowed.

It fell askew towards a stone pillar more than ten meters above the ground in the distance, with a mournful cry, and transformed into a stone statue. The stone patterns on its body flowed around it, as if it was healing itself.

The other four gargoyles continued their attack relentlessly, either lunging straight down at his face or slashing at his waist from the flanks, their howling sounds forcing Lin Ye to retreat repeatedly.

His wrists flicked, the gun barrel deflecting attacks from left and right, repeatedly repelling the gargoyles that lunged at him. Stone chips and the sounds of impact echoed in his mind, but he could not kill them with a single blow.

With a thought, he placed his left hand on the longbow behind his back, bent his right leg slightly to steady himself, and drew an arrow.

With a slight twang of the bowstring, the first arrow flew out, imbued with the internal energy of a second-rate martial artist. The sharp sound of it cutting through the air struck the wing root of another gargoyle.

The gargoyle felt pain and its flight path veered off course, but it still did not fall.

Instead of retreating, Lin Ye advanced, his footsteps moving between the stone platforms. The shadows of his bow flashed, and his arrows flew like lightning, constantly injuring their joints and wings, forcing them to be unable to make a stable dive.

The battle was at a stalemate. Although the gargoyle was injured, it struggled to hold on with its hard body and was able to move around and change positions, making it difficult for him to find an angle to deliver a fatal blow.

Finally, a gargoyle seized the moment he changed arrows and suddenly swooped down from above, its claws aimed straight for his left arm. Lin Ye reacted extremely quickly; the bowstring twanged again, and the arrow pierced the gargoyle's chest, but the claws had already reached him.

He felt a sharp pain in his left arm, as if it were being clamped tightly by iron pincers.

He gritted his teeth and refused to back down. Taking advantage of the clarity brought on by the pain, he thrust his spear forward with his right hand, forcing back the charging gargoyles. At the same time, he flicked the bowstring with his left hand and fired three arrows at once, which were driven into the weak points of the heads, necks and chests of the remaining two gargoyles.

The arrow's force, infused with second-rate internal energy, pierced through their bodies, finally shattering them and turning them into scattered fragments of stone.

Finally, he moved to the stone pillar where the previously wounded gargoyle was located, raised his bow, concentrated, and shot an arrow through its chest. Cracks spread across the statue, and it collapsed with a bang.

All five gargoyles were killed, and the martial arts scene slowly faded away.

Lin Ye pulled his thoughts away from his mind, feeling a slight pain, which was caused by his arm injury.

However, Lin Ye was overjoyed. A month of hard work had not been in vain, and he could finally materialize the gargoyle's lair.