If you die, I will be able to inherit your cultivation.

She walked to the door, then looked back at Zhou Ming. The shock in her phoenix eyes had transformed into an extremely bright light, almost scorching.

Zhou Ming had seen this look before; it was the same light in his eyes when he told the story of the Empress in the martial arts arena.

The group walked through the covered walkway and arrived at the small martial arts training ground in the Begonia Garden.

Zhou Ming was very familiar with this training ground. The bamboo forest was still the same bamboo forest, the small stools were still under the old locust tree, and the weapons rack was neatly arranged with knives, spears, swords, and halberds.

Several months ago, he was subjected to a brutal training session by Dongmei here one morning. After squatting in a horse stance, he practiced monkey boxing, then squatted in a horse stance again. Finally, he was carried back to his room by two guards.

Standing on the same training ground now, the feeling is completely different.

Su Mingyue stopped in the center of the training ground, turned around, her eyes bright and somewhat frightening, and looked at Zhou Ming urgently, saying:

"Come, demonstrate all the spells you have developed."

Zhou Ming did not refuse.

He walked to the center of the training ground, stood in front of Su Mingyue and her four maids, raised his right hand, and flicked his fingertips upwards.

A perfectly round fireball, the size of a fist and entirely red, silently appeared above his palm.

The fireball slowly rotated, its center a blinding white flame, its outer flame a deep red light, illuminating the entire training ground with flickering brightness.

With a casual wave of his hand, Zhou Ming sent the fireball flying like a streak of light toward the wall ten feet away. It exploded with a bang, leaving a charred dent the size of a washbasin on the wall.

Then comes the Water Dragon Technique.

With a flick of his finger, Zhou Ming conjured a three-foot-long, crystal-clear water dragon from thin air, which circled his arm twice.

As he pointed forward, the water dragon transformed into a water arrow and shot out, sizzling as it poured over the still-smoking scorch marks on the earthen wall.

Next came the earthen wall technique. He knelt on one knee and slammed his palm into the ground, and a waist-high earthen wall suddenly rose from the mud.

The wall was dense and hard. He had Dongmei cleave it with all her might with her sword. The blade chipped, leaving only a shallow sword mark on the earthen wall.

Then come Wind Blade, Ice Needle, Thorns, Lightness, and Spirit Shield.

He performed all the simplified spells he had disassembled in the Wuying Hall.

Each spell was deliberately cast at a slower pace, allowing those present to clearly see the path of the magic and every detail of the hand seals.

Finally, he stopped, patted the dirt off his palms, and turned to look at Su Mingyue.

Su Mingyue stood in the center of the training ground. The moonlight filtering through the bamboo forest shone on her moon-white jacket, bathing her in a cool, silvery glow.

Her eyes were still frighteningly bright, but now the light was no longer one of shock, but rather a kind of greedy focus.

She remained silent for a long while, seemingly digesting each spell she had just witnessed.

Then, he slowly withdrew his gaze from the scorch marks on the earthen wall and placed it on Zhou Ming's face, his voice carrying a barely perceptible hint of hope as he spoke:

"Could these techniques be taught to others?"

"Yes," Zhou Ming nodded and answered seriously.

"These techniques are easy to learn. As long as you recite the 'Scripture of Salvation' and generate magical power, you can use them."

After listening to Zhou Ming's words, Su Mingyue immediately turned to Dongmei: "Dongmei, why don't you try to learn from her?"

Dongmei was no less decisive.

She strode up to Zhou Ming, crossed her arms, and tilted her head to look at the kitchen manager who, just a few months ago, had been forced to squat in a horse stance on the muddy ground by her.

She had sat on a small stool with her legs crossed, wiping her short sword, in the same training ground before.

The sword sheath struck Zhou Ming's lower back, knees, and shoulder blades repeatedly, torturing him half to death as he was tossed back and forth between monkey fist and horse stance. In the end, two guards had to carry him back.

Now, however, the roles have reversed, and she wants to learn magic from Zhou Ming.

She looked into Zhou Ming's eyes. His handsome face had a strange expression on it, with the corners of his mouth downturned and the corners of his eyes slightly upturned.

It was as if she wanted to say something back but didn't know where to start, so in the end she just snorted through her nose:

"Come on, Steward Zhou, let me see if your teaching skills are as good as your storytelling skills."

Dongmei's talent was better than Zhou Ming had expected.

He broke down the Fireball spell into three simple steps: gathering mana, guiding and compressing it with intention, and releasing it.

He demonstrated it repeatedly, more than ten times, slowing down the movements each time so that Dongmei could clearly see the path of the magic power flowing in her palm.

At first, Dongmei couldn't figure it out at all. She opened her palm, her face turned red, and only a faint glimmer of light flashed in her palm before going out.

She gritted her teeth and tried a few more times, beads of sweat forming on her forehead, her short hair sticking to her cheeks, and she began to mutter curses under her breath.

"Don't use brute force."

Zhou Ming stood beside her, speaking calmly and slowly.

"Magic is not like punching a boxer; you can't force it out by clenching your fist."

"Concentrate your mind in the center of your palm and imagine there is a lamp there. What you need to do is not to push it, but to light it."

Dongmei took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and frowned.

A moment later, she opened her palm again.

A tiny, extremely fine purplish-gold flame silently appeared above her palm.

The flame was only the size of a candle flame, flickering and trembling, reflected in her wide pupils like two tiny stars.

Su Mingyue stood at the edge of the training ground and saw the faint flame in Dongmei's palm. She let out a long breath.

The breath she exhaled slowly from deep within her chest condensed into a thin wisp of white mist in the cold northern night.

She maintained her calm expression, staring at the wisp of flame in silence for a moment before raising her hand to signal Zhou Ming to stop.

"That's enough for now." She turned around and walked towards the main hall. "Let's talk inside."

The group returned to the main hall of the Begonia Garden.

The maids put the teacups back on and lit the candles a little brighter.

Su Mingyue sat in the main seat, no longer serving tea or beating around the bush, but looking directly at Zhou Ming with an extremely serious and scrutinizing gaze.

"How long would it take to teach these techniques to soldiers? Could they be implemented on a large scale like the 'Scripture of Salvation'?"

Zhou Ming sat at the lower end of the table, organized his thoughts, and began to speak:

"It can be rolled out on a large scale, but only to people who have successfully cultivated the 'Scripture of Salvation' and generated magical power."

"As for the time, with face-to-face instruction like Sister Dongmei's, it will take at least one or two days, or at most three to five days, to finally produce the first fireball."

Zhou Ming paused, met Su Mingyue's gaze, and nodded, "It's not difficult to expand on a large scale."

"I can break down the casting steps of each spell into the simplest incantations and gestures, compile them into a manual, and let the instructors teach according to the manual."

"Although ordinary soldiers are not as talented as Sister Dongmei, there are many of them. If one out of ten learns first, he can teach the other nine."

Su Mingyue didn't speak, but her index finger, resting on the armrest, tapped lightly and intermittently.

Zhou Ming had known her for so long that he knew this gesture meant she was thinking very quickly.

After a long silence, Su Mingyue finally spoke.

She looked up at Zhou Ming, her tone calm yet solemn:

"Alright. Starting tomorrow, I will select a group of loyal, reliable, and reasonably talented soldiers from the Imperial Guard, and you will personally train them."

"After these people complete their training, they will be assigned to various military units as instructors."

She paused, her voice softening slightly but becoming even deeper, "Zhou Ming, these spells are more important to me than a million-strong army."