Martial Arts: Starting with Upgrading the Dilapidated Temple

Chapter 158 Change of Fortune

One month, two months later, he progressed from the beginner level of the Divine Transformation Realm to the early stage of the Divine Transformation Realm.

The martial will solidified from a blurry star into a stable dark golden core, which floated in the center of the sea of ​​consciousness, alongside the blessed land scroll.

A subtle resonance occurred between the two: the martial arts will enhanced the precision of the blessed land's authority, and the blessed land's authority, in turn, nourished the growth of the martial arts will, resulting in a symbiotic relationship.

In the eighth month, Xu Hao tried to use his martial arts will to activate the ancient weapon tomb for the first time. He closed his eyes and released his will outward.

The dark golden spiritual power transformed into countless invisible threads that stretched out toward the ancient weapons all around—one, ten, a hundred.

Driven by his will, the ancient weapons floated up and arranged themselves into formation according to his will, but one hundred was the limit.

If he does any more, his will will become blurred and his control will drop sharply, requiring more practice.

In the tenth month, with three hundred handles, the limit of will control was raised to three hundred handles.

A battle formation composed of three hundred ancient weapons at the Tongqiao Realm level possesses an attack power equivalent to the combined attack of ten peak Tongqiao Realm experts.

It might not be enough to deal with a mid-stage Divine Transformation Realm expert like Steward Li, but it would be enough for him to escape.

The twelfth month, one year.

Xu Hao stopped exploring the ancient military school, not because he didn't want to continue, but because his body was telling him that staying any longer, even if his cultivation could still improve...

They can improve, but if they are out of real combat for too long, their combat instincts will dull.

The ancient military strategist gave him quantity, but the true quality needs to be found in living people.

He stood on the dark gold platform and took one last look around.

Millions of ancient weapons floated quietly in the dome-shaped space. The malevolent aura on their blades had become much more docile; they had recognized their master.

Although he can only mobilize three hundred weapons at a time, the entire Ancient Weapon Tomb has become one with his Blessed Land Scroll. This is his last trump card and his deepest secret.

"I'm gone."

With a light tap of his toes, Xu Hao transformed into a streak of dark golden light and ascended vertically along the crack. The two-hundred-foot-long rock layer was brittle in front of him.

With the physical strength of the early stage of the Divine Transformation Realm, coupled with the assistance of his martial will, he punched upwards, creating a hole with each blow, the rumbling sound of the rock shattering echoing underground.

One hundred feet, fifty feet, ten feet, and with a "poof," a fist shot out from the ground of the Ten Thousand Poison Forest.

Dirt and gravel flew everywhere, and then a figure wrapped in a dark golden aura leaped out of the ground and landed steadily on the branch of a giant tree.

The sunlight, the blinding sunlight, shone through the gaps in the tree canopy and fell on his face. Xu Hao squinted; he hadn't seen the sun for a year.

He stood on the branch and took a deep breath.

The air in Wandu Forest is still filled with miasma and the smell of decaying leaves, but to him, it is the smell of home.

The scroll of the blessed land unfolded automatically, and the dynamics of the entire Ten Thousand Poison Forest were updated in real time. The distribution of strange beasts, the concentration of miasma, and the direction of the earth veins were all covered by the level three perception range without any blind spots.

In the north, on the northern edge of the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest, the Mu family's search team had long since withdrawn, but new people had entered.

Several extremely well-hidden spots of light were distributed on the periphery of the forest as lookouts.

He wasn't from the Mu family; his aura was more refined and restrained, indicating he was from the Observatory.

Steward Li left, but he left behind spies who were watching the entrance to the Myriad Poisons Forest, waiting for him to come out.

"Waited a year? You're quite patient."

Xu Hao's lips curled into a smile as he closed his eyes and silently unleashed his martial will.

The dark golden spiritual power transformed into an invisible veil that covered an area of ​​three miles.

Within three miles, he could perceive the trembling of every leaf, the crawling of every insect, and the direction of every wisp of air. This was the Divine Transformation Realm.

On the northern edge of the Myriad Poisons Forest, atop a dead tree split in two by lightning, two sentries from the Sky Watch Bureau sat back to back, chewing on dry, hard jerky, their eyes fixed on the layer of grayish-yellow miasma deep within the forest.

"Old Zhou, has your shift ended yet?"

"It's not time yet, wait another half an hour."

The man called Old Zhou was a martial artist in the late stage of the Bone Forging Realm. He had an old scar across his face, running from the bridge of his nose to the root of his right ear. He had been squatting in that spot for four months, while the person before him had squatted there for eight months.

It took a year in total.

A year ago, Steward Li left an order to keep a close watch on every exit of the Ten Thousand Poison Forest. If the young man with the dark gold longsword showed his face, immediately set off a signal smoke. They wanted to see him alive or dead.

"Do you think that kid really died in there?" his companion asked in a low voice. "Even beasts at the Inner Strength Realm roam this place in packs. If he went in alone, he'd be chewed up to dust."

Old Zhou didn't respond. He stared at the miasma deep in the forest, feeling that something was amiss.

The wind direction didn't change, the miasma concentration didn't change, and even the half-dead bird on the branch didn't move its nest.

But the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

"Old Zhou?" His companion noticed his unusual behavior.

"Shh." Old Zhou silently reached for the signal smoke grenade at his waist with his right hand, his eyes fixed on the front.

Three breaths.

Five breaths.

Ten breaths.

There was nothing there.

The miasma remained the same grayish-yellow mist, and the trees were still those covered in poisonous moss. Not a single leaf trembled.

Old Zhou slowly breathed a sigh of relief and removed his hand from the chimney.

"The wind is strong, and even the grass and trees seem like enemies," he muttered to himself.

Unbeknownst to him, at the very moment his hair stood on end, a person swept past him at a height of thirty feet.

There was no sound of air being cut.

There was no fluctuation of energy.

Even the miasma in the forest wasn't disturbed at all.

With his early-stage Divine Transformation Realm movement techniques combined with the Blessed Land Authority's precise control over airflow, Xu Hao moved like a withered leaf blown by the wind within the perception range of these two Bone Forging Realm sentries.

It floated over their heads.

He did not stop.

His figure moved silently among the treetops, and with a few leaps, he completely escaped the range of the Ten Thousand Poisons Forest.

He glanced north.

Below the low hill, an official road winds its way towards Yongzhou City.

There was a sentry post every three miles along both sides of the official road, complete with wooden fences, barricades, and watchtowers, and the layout was much more standardized than a year ago.

Recently, a flag atop a sentry post fluttered in the evening breeze.

It is not the banner of the Mu family, which is white with cinnabar and aconite.

It was an indigo flag with a vermilion bird embroidered on it, carrying medicine in its beak.

Xu Hao stared at the flag for three breaths.

The Mu family's sentry post was being used by someone else.

The political landscape of Yongzhou has changed.

Half an hour later, in Liuyao Town.

The town is much quieter than it was a year ago.

Thirty percent of the shops on the main street were closed, their doors sealed with official seals.

Xu Hao lowered his straw hat and walked along the street.

The clothes he was wearing were from the Sumeru Warehouse. His martial will as a Divine Transformation Realm cultivator suppressed his blood and qi fluctuations to the level of a mortal. He didn't even lift his eyelids when two patrolling martial artists with swords walked past him.

Jishetang is located at the southern end of the town.

From a distance, the pharmacy's sign is still there.

But upon closer inspection, all the doors and windows were nailed shut, and the door panels were also sealed with tape.

Xu Hao went around to the back alley.

The back door was half-open, the latch had been violently broken and rusted for a long time.

He pushed the door open and went in.

The medicine grinder in the backyard was still there, but the basket had overturned on the ground, and angelica and astragalus were scattered all over the ground, already moldy and discolored.

A thick layer of dust covered the stone table, and there were several dried, dark stains near the table legs.

Bloodstains.

Xu Hao looked around the entire backyard.

The hidden compartment in the corner was turned over, and it was empty.

The medicine cabinet was in a mess, and all the valuable medicinal herbs had been looted.

But there is one spot that has never been touched.

Xu Hao walked up to the medicine grinder.

The base of the millstone is a single piece of granite, weighing about 300 pounds, which is too heavy for an ordinary person to lift.

He held the bottom of the millstone with one hand and moved it to the side.

Underneath the granite was a piece of iron the size of a fingernail.

Xu Hao picked up the metal sheet and flipped it over.

Three tiny characters were engraved on it.

"Bitter Water Town".

Ji Sanjin once said that if Jishetang was exposed, he should go to Shuangye Town and find a lame man who sells braised meat, and mention the name "Duan Heng".

Ji Sanjin's precautionary measure actually came in handy.

Xu Hao put the iron sheet into his pocket, turned around and walked out of the backyard.

He walked to the front hall and glanced at the wall behind the counter.

There were four knife marks on the wall, made quickly and at different angles, indicating that they were left from a hasty draw of the knife to parry.

Xu Hao walked out of Jishetang and headed out of town along the back alley.

As he passed a wall, he caught a glimpse of a notice posted on it. The paper was yellowed and curled at the edges, but the words on it were still legible.

"By order of the government, Liuyao Town shall be placed under the jurisdiction of the Indigo Sparrow Hall from this day forward. All martial artists in the town shall register at the town office within three days. Those who fail to do so shall be treated as bandits."

Date of signature: Ten months ago.

Indigo Hall.

A name he had never heard of before had taken over Liuyao Town ten months ago.

What about the Mu family? What about the Qin family? What about the Gu family?

The balance that the three families in Yongzhou had maintained for decades was replaced in a single year by a force called "Indigo Sparrow Hall".

Or have the three companies been merged?

He remembered that flag—the Vermilion Bird carrying medicine.

The Vermilion Bird is a bird, and medicine is the lifeblood of Yongzhou.

Who has the ability to combine the medicinal herb business and military power in Yongzhou?

Xu Hao suppressed his doubts, quickened his pace, and headed towards Kushui Town.

He needs a pair of eyes.

A pair of eyes that could tell him exactly what had happened in Yongzhou that year.

Kushui Town.

Thirty miles south of Yongzhou City lies a dilapidated market town nestled between two barren mountains.

The town has only one street, lined with shacks and makeshift shelters, where laborers from the nearby mines and peddlers live.

贩。

The air was filled with the smell of braised food.

At the end of the street, a large, dark pot sits on a wood fire, simmering in a boiling broth containing pork head meat and offal.

A lame man sat by the pot, his right leg a wooden stake from the knee down, and he was using a chipped cleaver to pick bones.

Xu Hao walked to the stall and sat down.

"Give me two ounces of braised pork."

"I won't sell it for two ounces." The lame man didn't even look up. "At least half a catty."

"Introduced by Duan Heng."

6"

The cleaver stopped.

The lame man slowly raised his head.

His face was deeply lined with wrinkles, and his left eye was blind, with a grayish-white fake bead embedded in its socket.

The one-eyed man sized up Xu Hao for three breaths.

"Duan Heng is dead." The lame man's voice was dry and hoarse.

"I know," Xu Hao said calmly. "I buried it."

The lame man narrowed his one eye.

He put down the cleaver, wiped his hands with his apron, took out a bundle from a hidden compartment under the pot, and pushed it in front of Xu Hao.

"Old Ji left this. He said if anyone mentions this name, give him this."