Normally, producing a strand of Qi-Blood signifies entry-level.
Producing the second strand means mastery.
For ordinary martial artists, the Qi-Blood is only as thick as a thin cord.
But the Qi-Blood Chen Sansi cultivates is equivalent to several thin cords twisted together, two to three times more than the average person.
Doubtless, the "Vast Breathing Skill" plays a role, but undoubtedly the proficiency panel is also a factor.
He's naturally enduring, and his Qi-Blood has grown robust; he's perfectly suited for the battlefield.
Battlefields are not about one-on-one fights; it's not over after killing one opponent. It's about facing tens of thousands of enemies, and it's usually a war of attrition.
That's the function of military formations.
A martial artist who achieves Blood Refining Great Success, that is, at the flag leader level, when facing well-trained Array Soldiers in battle, if they get trapped by formations, they'll typically exhaust their Qi-Blood and lose strength after slaughtering around twenty enemy soldiers and consequently be hacked to death in the chaos.
It's not because the martial artist is weak but because the formations are strong.
In these past days of training, Chen Sansi made a point of learning alongside the others.
Take a small military formation of one hundred men as an example.
Before the close combat with cold weapons begins, the archers and crossbowmen shoot first, then the spearmen thrust, followed by the shield and sword fighters who encircle and kill, and finally, it's a melee where combatants grapple in close quarters.
And don't forget, the enemy also has generals, not just you as a lone military officer.
In this situation, no matter how high your rank as a martial artist, if human strength has its limits, you will be drained and killed.
Unless, your Qi-Blood really is, very enduring.
However, all this is still too early for Chen Sansi; he won't be setting foot on a battlefield anytime soon.
"Your Qi-Blood has reached mastery?"
Xu Bin stood there, flabbergasted, without a response for a long while.
It's only been a few days?
At this rate, it wouldn't take long to surpass him.
"I owe it to the sparring with Xu Flag Officer, or it wouldn't have been so quick."
After his breakthrough, Chen Sansi felt exhilarated and invigorated in body, but mentally he didn't relax.
Recently, the Tianyuan Martial Arts Hall has sent people to invite him numerous times, and he's turned them all down. He's well aware that this approach is not a long-term solution; the issue must be resolved sooner or later.
Young Master Tianyuan, Liang Zhan, is in the Bone Training Realm, and the Martial Arts Hall Master is even a Bone Forger.
As a mere practitioner of Blood Refining at the bottom tier, he's not even on the map.
If he could become a Refining Organ Martial Artist like Xiang Tingchun, who in Po Yang County would dare to mess with him?
"Off to work, off to work!"
Patrolling the city was about to begin, so Chen Sansi put away his reed leaf spear and called over his subordinates.
Not just he had made a breakthrough, but his men had also made progress.
Zhu Tong had produced Qi-Blood in the past two days, and another military soldier named Wang Li wouldn't be much slower. The remaining five Array Soldiers also started to learn spear techniques and began practicing formations.
Only Xu Wencai didn't know anything.
He got kicked by a horse the day before yesterday while feeding them, and fearing he might get killed under a horse's hooves, they had stopped asking him to do it again.
"Let's go, patrol the city."
Ever since the Witch God Sect incident, people have been dying inside and outside the city every day.
The rumor is that the Witch God Sect indulges in killing.
Therefore, the recent search has been particularly stringent.
But even so, any Martial Arts Academy Disciple is strictly not allowed to participate.
Clearly, Lord Thousand Households wants to seize the Immortal Treasure before the Martial Arts Halls do and then use the Immortal Treasure to coerce all of Po Yang County's Martial Arts Halls.
When Chen Sansi patrolled the city, he also did so with great diligence, attempting to find traces of the Witch God Sect's disciples.
Unfortunately, there have been no discoveries for the time being.
And even if he truly found one, with his current strength, it's doubtful he could secure anything, so cultivating remains the most important thing.
After his Qi-Blood breakthrough to two strands, a bowl of Blood Replenishing Soup every three days probably won't be enough.
During a break in his patrolling, Chen Sansi went to a Martial Arts Hall to buy medicine.
Zhu Tong accompanied him.
His family had savings from butchering pigs, and to accelerate his blood cultivation, he also scraped together enough money for medicine.
Among the Four Great Martial Arts Schools, Yunhe Martial Arts Hall and Zhao's Martial Arts Academy have the largest herbal medicine business, occupying two-thirds of Po Yang County City.
Of these, Yunhe Martial Arts Hall's herbal medicines are of the highest quality.
Arriving at Gui Xiang Street, Chen Sansi saw two Yunhe Medicine Stores; to be precise, one was the "Yunhe" Medicine Store.
It gave off the impression of being a knockoff Sprite or Thunder Soda.
But in reality, they were both genuine.
Lately patrolling the city, he often heard news about the martial arts schools.
After the death of the County Magistrate, an assassin from the Barbarians killed the Master of Yunhe Martial Arts Hall, causing it to split.
It was said that the Young Master of Yunhe Martial Arts Hall had mediocre talent, nearing thirty years old and had yet to step into the Bone Training Realm, while his uncle had achieved small success in Bone Training. After the old master's death, he seized the inheritance from his nephew and became the new Martial Arts Hall Master.
Not only that, but he also kicked his nephew out with a single push, leaving him only a bunch of lowly servant disciples and a medicine shop, not even allowing him to use the original name, so he had to pick the name "Yunhe."
To compete, Yunhe Medicine Shop offered discounts, selling Blood Replenishing Soup that was worth ten taels for only eight.
Even more premium than the Blood Replenishing Soup, the nine revolutions Replenishing Essence Soup, and the Medicine Baths needed for the Bone Training Realm were also almost equivalent to twenty to thirty percent off, but still outrageously expensive.
A dose of Replenishing Essence Soup cost twenty-five taels.
Chen Sansi simply couldn't afford it.
He had saved twenty taels from selling a black bear and earned ten from killing Qin Feng, but his daily expenses were high, the supply of various game and beast meats couldn't be stopped, so he hardly had any silver left.
At last, Chen Sansi bought two doses of medicine for sixteen taels.
"My reserves are drained again."
Chen Sansi felt as if his heart were bleeding.
And these two doses of medicine would last him only about a week.
It seemed he still needed to rely on his hunting skills to earn big money.
Fortunately, as a flag officer, he could freely enter and exit the deeper parts of Second Layer Mountain. Hunting something valuable shouldn't be too hard.
But, it would delay his martial arts practice, which was an unavoidable issue.
He heard a tiger could fetch a hundred taels of silver! Exotic Beasts were even more expensive.
Exotic Beasts were rare, but there were frequent tales of Big Worms in the Second Layer Mountain.
He'd look into it, and if he could take down a tiger, the silver he'd earn would be enough to quickly reach small achievement.
Returning to the military camp.
Chen Sansi saw Hundred Households Wang, who he hadn't seen for several days; the latter claimed he went to Prefecture City to visit relatives and was very happy upon learning about his breakthrough in mastery.
"Well done, well done, you boy carry my style of the old days!"
Wang Zhi produced a gold lock from within his robes, "This is for you, as a reward for your diligent practice."
"A longevity lock?"
Chen Sansi knew about this item, which was usually given by elders to young children in the family. Wang Zhi's willingness to give it away meant it definitely wasn't his own and may well have been swindled from someone else.
"Thanks for the kind thought, but I'd better not accept it."
He declined.
"Never mind then, when have you ever had such a good superior who's willing to buy gold for his subordinates!"
Hundred Households Wang put it on his own neck, "You're taking a leave to go to the mountain tomorrow, right? Go on then."
"Thank you, sir."
Chen Sansi took his leave and was almost home when.
Two figures suddenly appeared, blocking the way in the middle of the road, one in front and one behind, an old man and a young man, appearing to have a master-servant relationship.
"Chen Flag Officer, I have invited you several times to no avail, so I took the liberty to come and visit you; please forgive my audacity."
Liang Zhan greeted him with a fist and palm salute, holding a folded fan, "Please honor Spring Pavilion with your presence for a meeting, with plenty of beautiful women and wine."
"You're quite presumptuous."
Chen Sansi replied indifferently, "I have things to do, so I won't trouble Mr. Liang with his expenses."
"I have no ill intentions."
Liang Zhan stepped half a step closer, lowering his voice, "Rest assured, Tianyuan Martial Arts Academy won't pursue the matter with the Qin brothers."
"What Qin brothers?"
Chen Sansi replied blankly, "I don't understand."
It's possible they really wouldn't pursue the matter with Qin Feng.
But it's more likely they wanted to use this to probe whether he had left the city that night and whether he might have come into contact with the Immortal Treasure.
"Chen Flag Officer is quite the expert at playing dumb."
Liang Zhan barely hid his smile and gave a signal with his eyes to the old servant behind him, "Still, I hope you'll honor us by joining us for a meal."
"Please!"
The old servant stretched out a pair of withered tree-branch-like hands, ready to grab him.
Chen Sansi frowned and gripped his spear tightly.