During the Lunar New Year last year, the Taoist temple had been quite lively. His seniors had made fireworks and let him set them off. But this year, he spent the New Year in the temple all alone. It was quiet, desolate, and felt rather bleak.
He prepared a few dishes, made some flour-based offerings, and wrapped pork and beef dumplings. First, he offered incense to the Three Pure Ones in the main hall, then presented offerings to the past masters of Tianyun Taoist Temple, and only after that did he eat his own meal.
While eating, he thought of his master, his junior uncle, and his seniors again. He had no idea where they had gone; when his master left, he hadn't told him their destination. He wanted to head down the mountain to find them, but then remembered his master’s instructions to guard the temple. Besides, he had no clue where he could even begin to look for them.
This year, he didn't hear the sound of firecrackers from the village at the foot of the mountain. The invaders had arrived, and the rhythm of life had changed. In these chaotic times, being able to eat one’s fill and stay alive was the greatest blessing; what else could one ask for?
During the New Year, he went through all the jade slips in his Storage Ring. He learned a great deal about cultivation. Ever since he began practicing the Divine Sense technique, his memory had improved significantly, almost reaching the point of photographic retention.
After switching to the Yuandao Formula and breaking through to the Qi Refining 2nd Layer, his Divine Sense could now probe up to fifty meters—more than double his previous range. He couldn't help but marvel at how incredibly powerful the Yuandao Formula was.
During this period, as he practiced various Magic Arts, his spiritual power grew considerably. He felt he was on the verge of breaking through to the Qi Refining 3rd Layer, though he still didn't know what kind of spiritual root he possessed.
He hadn't found any Spirit Artifacts to check for spiritual roots, so he simply stopped thinking about it. As long as he could cultivate, he must have a spiritual root.
He would be twelve years old after the New Year. In the north, the custom was to add a year to one's age once the New Year passed; although it was his nominal age, he was indeed a year older.
His height hadn't changed much—still around 1.4 meters—but his body had undergone significant changes. He felt his strength was more than ten times greater than before. He could easily lift a bundle of firewood weighing over a hundred jin and sprint along the mountain paths with ease.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, his cultivation broke through to the Qi Refining 3rd Layer. His body purged more impurities, but this time he didn't need to boil water for a bath. He simply cast a Cleansing Art to wash himself clean, which was much more convenient than boiling water.
He became increasingly passionate about cultivation and reined in much of his playful nature. If not for his youthful face, no one would ever guess that this composed and calm individual was still just a child.
In his spare time from cultivation, he took out various Spirit Artifacts from his Storage Ring to refine, while also studying the derivation of arrays.
More than two months later, a clap of spring thunder rolled, and a soft, drizzling rain began to fall. He knew spring had arrived. All things began to awaken, and the desolate mountains started to show patches of green.
The willow trees were the first to sprout tender buds, swaying in the spring breeze. On the sunny slopes of the mountains, the accumulated snow began to melt, revealing dark soil and rocks, and small blades of grass peeked out.
After Luo Jiang broke through to the Qi Refining 3rd Layer, his Divine Sense probe extended to a hundred meters. When he used his Divine Sense to scan the ground, he could reach a depth of over fifty meters, making everything buried beneath the surface appear clearly before him.
He wasn't sure if it was because of the Yuandao Formula or the Divine Sense technique, but every time he broke through a level, his range of perception increased geometrically.
Although he practiced the Yuandao Formula and reached the Qi Refining 3rd Layer, he still couldn't abstain from food. He needed to supplement his body's nutritional needs every day. Only after reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage could he enter the state of fasting, sustaining his body solely on the True Essence within him.
At the Qi Refining Stage, the body contains spiritual power. Only after breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, when spiritual power transforms into True Essence, does one officially step across the threshold of immortality. The current Qi Refining Stage utilizes spiritual power, which is merely more powerful and refined than the inner force of martial arts. Although there is a gap between inner force and spiritual power, it is not particularly vast.
If he were to fight his master now without using Magic Arts, he might not necessarily be the winner. After all, his master had cultivated martial arts for many years, possessing a profound inner force that was far stronger than the spiritual power he had only cultivated for a few months.
Of course, cultivators rely entirely on Magic Arts; their physical bodies are not necessarily strong. Cultivators are best suited for long-range attacks with Magic Arts, and the defensive Spirit Artifacts they wear cannot be shattered by mere inner force—the artifacts automatically activate their internal arrays to protect the wearer when struck by external force.
Martial artists, on the other hand, temper their bodies first. Their physical bodies are formidable, and relying on their martial skills, they are best suited for close-quarters combat, where blades draw blood, swords slit throats, and punches hit home.
If a martial artist can cultivate their path to the absolute pinnacle, they can eventually reach the realm of shattering the void and ascend to heaven.
However, ascension through martial arts is extremely difficult, which is why few martial artists are seen in the cultivation world; it is almost entirely dominated by cultivators. These were things Luo Jiang had read about in the jade slips.
Spring had arrived, which meant it was time to kill the invaders again. This time, Luo Jiang planned to head into the city to seize food and weapons from the enemy. He was no stranger to weapons; having grown up witnessing how deadly they were on the battlefield, he decided to target the enemy's arsenal. Every rifle he captured meant one less threat to the resistance army.
Before leaving, he stood before a mirror and cut his long hair short to prevent it from being scattered by bullets again—as had happened previously—which had obstructed his vision and hindered his ability to fight.
Empty-handed, he stepped out of the Taoist temple and unleashed the Wind-Riding Technique, sprinting toward Beiping City.
Since he had begun practicing the Yuandao Formula, his speed while using the Wind-Riding Technique had increased several times over.
What used to be a journey of more than half a day on foot now took him less than half an hour; soon, the silhouette of the walls of Beiping City came into view.
After passing through a forest, he saw three trucks barreling down the road. In the truck bed, a soldier had mounted a machine gun on the roof, scanning the road ahead and the sides. If any movement were detected, he could open fire at any moment.
Luo Jiang raised his hand, withdrew a rifle from his Storage Ring, pulled the bolt to aim at the gunner, and squeezed the trigger.
"Bang!" A crisp gunshot rang out. A bloom of blood blossomed on the gunner’s head, and he collapsed backward into the truck.
The soldiers on the truck were thrown into chaos, but their excellent training quickly snapped them into battle readiness. They identified the sniper's location from the bullet's trajectory. Although it wasn't perfectly precise, the general direction was clear, and they immediately opened fire toward the forest where Luo Jiang was hidden.
"Bang, bang..." Gunshots rang out like popping beans. The gunners on the two trucks behind, seeing their comrades in the lead truck open fire, also began strafing the woods.
"Rat-a-tat-tat..." Machine gun bullets tore through the branches, sending wood chips and dirt flying.
After shooting the gunner, Luo Jiang had already used the Wind-Riding Technique to move a hundred meters away. Drawing on the experience he had learned from his uncles on the battlefield, he knew the area he had just occupied would soon be the target of heavy fire.
Hiding behind a tree thick enough for several men to wrap their arms around, he took aim at the gunner on another truck.
"Bang!" A crisp sound, and another bloom of blood appeared on the second gunner's head. He pulled the bolt to eject the shell, reloaded, and before the enemy could react, took down the gunner on the last truck. Then, he moved back to his original position and shot the driver.
Once the driver was hit, his foot remained pressed on the accelerator. The truck continued forward, but its trajectory shifted, slamming directly into a large tree.
The soldiers, seeing the truck out of control, scrambled to jump off. The moving vehicle caused them to tumble and get bruised; several even broke their limbs, screaming in agony.
The two trucks behind them stopped quickly. The soldiers jumped out, dove into the ditches, and began firing into the forest. "Bang, bang, bang..."
Two soldiers grabbed grenade launchers and fired into the woods, but the branches blocked the grenades, which only succeeded in blowing off some tree limbs.
"Boom!" With a dull thud, the runaway truck slammed into a tree and halted. A small squad leader jumped out of the cab, his face covered in blood from the impact.
The leader drew his sword, pointed toward the forest, and yelled, "Flank them! Yagoo-gee-gee!"
(Note: From now on, the invaders will speak in the language of the Dragon Kingdom, primarily because the readers won't understand Japanese, and frankly, I don't know how to write it either. Occasionally, I might include a few familiar phrases. My brothers and sisters, please forgive me.)
"Bang!" A crisp gunshot rang out. The squad leader fell backward; the bullet, carrying immense rotational force, tore off the back of his head.
"That'll teach you to bark, you dog's son!" Luo Jiang cursed, ducked away from his position, retreated a few dozen meters, changed angles, and continued to pick off the soldiers.
He had thousands of rounds of ammunition; he didn't need to worry about running out. There were about sixty soldiers in this group. Every time his gun sounded, one fell. This wasn't just due to his marksmanship; it was because of his Divine Sense. It didn't matter if the target was as large as a human—he could see as clearly as if he were looking at a single grain of sand.
Relying on the Wind-Riding Technique, Luo Jiang constantly shifted his position, shooting once and moving again. The number of dead soldiers grew rapidly.
The remaining soldiers realized the situation was dire and prepared to retreat. If they continued like this, they would be wiped out. These soldiers were highly trained, but they had never encountered such a frustrating way to fight.
They couldn't even see their opponent; they could only hear the gunshots, which seemed to come from everywhere at once. Each shot took down a comrade, and seeing the corpses with their skull-caps blown off by the bullets terrified them.
But Luo Jiang had no intention of letting them escape. Seeing their movements, he realized they were trying to flee and immediately gave chase.