Chapter 434: 382: Defects in the Skill! Hundreds of Thousands of Wolf Packs Blocking the Way!
Chapter 434: 382: Defects in the Skill! Hundreds of Thousands of Wolf Packs Blocking the Way!
This skill does not belong to the Great Xue Ancient Nation, or rather, it does not belong to any power. It is widely spread throughout the Sky Wasteland.
It could be said that the Ten Thousand Spirit Body Forging Skill is almost as common as muck in the Sky Wasteland. Not every person has it, but nearly every strong person who can step into the Spirit Realm can obtain it.
Of course, the reason why the Ten Thousand Spirit Body Forging Skill is so widely spread is not because it is mediocre. Even among the skills in the Sky Wasteland, its level is considered top-notch. This skill can directly reach the Seventh Level of the Spiritual Realm.
But, why would no one want to cultivate such a top-notch skill?
That’s because this skill is also known by another name: Ten Thousand Beast Body Forging Demon Skill!
This is a demon technique. The person who created this skill was a giant in Nine Realms of Spirit of the Demonic Way. After countless battles with demonic beasts, he combined the Dao of Body Refining practice to create this skill.
However, even the creator of this skill, that demon giant, never cultivated it himself and only gave it to his disciples to practice.
As a result, all those who practiced this skill ended up dead, with none surviving.
This is not a simple demon technique. Unlike the slow practice of ordinary body refining skills, it allows practitioners to speed up their cultivation by utilizing the essence and blood of demonic beasts, making it generally comparable to the speed of practicing the Dao of Qi Refining.
However, there is a downside to every advantage. The power rapidly gained from the essence and blood of these beasts subjects cultivators to its influence. The disorderly conflict of Inner Qi in the body eventually leads to the death by explosive outbreak.
For thousands of years, countless individuals have believed they can solve this problem, yet all met the same fate in the end.
Therefore, though this skill spreads all over the world, no one dares to continue practicing it.
Now, when Xue Hanyi presents this skill, it’s for two reasons: one is to deal with Pei Xuanjing; the other is more sinister.
During their encounters, he noted that Pei Xuanjing also practices Refining Qi and Body together, so if he genuinely cultivates this skill, it would be interesting to watch.
Even if Xuanjing was able to step into the Fourth Level of the Spiritual Realm within a few short years after the revival of Heaven and Earth, demonstrating extraordinary talent, Hanyi doesn’t believe he can solve this problem that has persisted for thousands of years.
“There must be a serious downside to a skill like this, which is widely spread but practiced by none,” Pei Xuanjing thought.
Though he is unaware of the specific history, he guesses that if there weren’t any downsides, many people would be practicing it.
“But what does that matter?” Pei Xuanjing was confident and smiled: “What I need is the Dao contained within it. Even if I were to cultivate it, it would only be practiced within the simulation of my life, and won’t affect me in reality.”
In the following days, Pei Xuanjing secluded himself on Shenxiao Mountain, only communicating with others occasionally through messenger eagles and ignoring other matters.
As for Xue Hanyi and Xue Hanyue, Pei Xuanjing put his Sword Intent on both of them and sealed their sources of Qi. As long as they didn’t leave Shenxiao Mountain, they would have their freedom.
Autumn went, Winter came, Winter passed, and Spring arrived.
After waiting for spring plowing, the Great Ming imperial court amassed a million-strong army. Emperor Jiajing himself presided over the military ceremony, appointing Wang Boan as the commander to combat the remnants of the Former Yuan.
Various forces also committed their money, supplies, and each sent their own masters to join the expeditionary army in accordance with the agreement.
Meanwhile, several more Spirit Realm powerhouses emerged, including Daoist Xuanming of Baiyun Temple, the Headmaster of the Chunyang Sect, and the Sword Emperor of the Divine Sword Villa.
Of course, this was just the official news. According to the information reported by Bai Xiaosheng, with the support of Zhao Baiyang, the master of the Diamond Gate had entered the Spirit Realm. This powerful individual, who had chosen the path of physical cultivation, already had a profound base to start with. Coupled with the unparalleled strength that this path provided him, it can thus be said that the Alliance of Outsiders’ power had increased significantly.
In addition to this, the Demonic Cult, Family Alliance, and Buddhism School each had one master breaking through to the Spirit Realm.
On the East Sea, there seemed to have been the trail of two masters of the Spirit Realm dueling each other, but no clues have been discovered.
Thus far, nine years since the revival of heaven and earth, there were almost more than twenty Spirit Realm cultivators in the world. However, all these powerful individuals were from major forces and have significant backing from these groups.
For those individuals who had luckily obtained the inheritance of the Blessed Land in the Forbidden Place, the most powerful among them had only reached the First-grade Realm. They were still some time away from breaking through to the Spirit Realm.
The Great Ming had sent out a million soldiers for a war, and the imperial court did not attempt to hide this news, nor would they have been able to do so. Unless the remnants of the Former Yuan were fools, they would have got wind of the news when Wang Qiong, the Minister of the Ministry of War, first started training the soldiers.
After all, around Great Ming, only those remnants were deemed worthy enough for the Imperial Court to warrant training its soldiers for combat.
As such, when the army of Great Ming set off, those remnants had also made ample preparations. The Tartar tribes, which were originally divided, began to reunite in face of this life or death crisis. Although some people were purged during this process, it did not weaken their power. Instead, it made them more cohesive and increased their overall strength.
As the commander, Wang Boan, with his previous war merits as a foundation and support from the emperor and others, nobody would challenge his decisions.
In such a war for annihilation, he was not eager for a quick victory. He chose to consolidate and advance slowly. The army gathered together. Although its progress was slow, it was unstoppable; nobody could stand in its way.
Former Yuan’s forces were united and their strength significantly increased, but they had no means to counter a sweeping advance of a million-man army.
Of course, while the Spirit Realm cultivators of the Great Ming had broken through after the revival of Heaven and Earth, there were also Spirit Realm cultivators among them. Under these Spirit Realm cultivators’ leadership, while they could not confront the army directly, they could choose to assassinate some generals, effectively delaying the army’s sweeping progress.
Despite this, in just a short span of two years, the territory under their rule had shrunk to just one third of its original size.
This was because Great Ming had annexed too much territory and needed to dispatch soldiers to quell the rebels, which consumed a lot of energy.
Under such circumstances, almost everyone knew that Great Ming’s sweep of Outer Borders was only a matter of time. If there were no accidents, everything was already set in stone.
However, sometimes, accidents happen unexpectedly, and there’s nothing we can do about it.
The advancing army of Great Ming, which had a million soldiers, suffered its first setback. Or rather, its advance was damaged.
A wolf pack, hundreds of thousands of wolves gathered together as if summoned. They charged fearlessly at the Great Ming army.
You must know that even though these animals had become more ferocious after the revival of Heaven and Earth, and there seemed to be some signs of mutation, in the face of a million-strong army’s majesty, these wolves should have avoided conflict at all costs.
The obstacle of hundreds of thousands of wolves this time almost suggested they were being manipulated.
This was the first major obstruction that the army of Great Ming encountered after leaving the border; even though they eventually repelled the wolf pack, they suffered substantial losses.
Before this matter could be fully understood, Wang Boan chose a cease-fire. This was the most prudent approach.
As for all this, Pei Xuanjing, who was on Shenxiao Mountain, knew nothing about it right now. Even though the messenger eagle had arrived with the news, Pang Hong was unable to deliver the message to him.
Because at that moment, Pei Xuanjing had once again gone into seclusion.