As night slowly descended, Nan Feihuang was still poring over the Dunjia Celestial Book under the dim lamplight. The book was incredibly thick, and it would take at least a month or two to finish reading it all.
Among the strategies for strategists, one that particularly caught his interest was the ability to increase experience. Like the ability to increase energy, this technique could be activated at three levels—basic, intermediate, and advanced—depending on the age of the spirit ring.
At the basic level, it increases experience by 30%, at the intermediate level by 50%, and at the advanced level, all soul masters within its range would have their cultivation speed doubled. This was practically a cheat for cultivation.
Although Nan Tianchen had advised him not to cultivate the Dunjia Celestial Book martial soul for now, if an opportunity arose, Nan Feihuang wouldn't hesitate to unlock this soul skill first. After all, one spirit ring wouldn't have much of an impact, and the earlier this ability was activated, the better.
After finishing the strategist skills, Nan Feihuang moved on to the abilities of civil and military officers.
In Three Kingdoms: Legend of Heroes 2, military officers had their own unique abilities, separate from civil officers, and the military skills were generally stronger. Techniques like Five Mountains Slash, Demonic Rampage, and Ghostly Wails were military officer abilities, most likely to appear on his Unrivaled Fangtian Halberd.
However, civil officer abilities were by no means weak. Skills like Earthquake Roar, Heaven's Thunder Prison, and Heaven and Earth Obliteration were potent and also recorded within the Dunjia Celestial Book.
Surprisingly, despite the sheer number of skills, they only took up about one-fifth of the book's contents.
The night had deepened, and Nan Feihuang decided to continue his reading another day. Fortunately, the book had an index, and he quickly skimmed through it.
The book was divided into three volumes: Heaven Escape, Earth Escape, and Human Escape, each split into two sections.
The Heaven Escape volume focused on soul skills.
The first section covered strategist-type soul skills, primarily support abilities.
The second section detailed civil and military officer techniques, which could be used for both offense and control.
The Earth Escape volume was about martial arts.
The first section contained combat techniques, including swordplay, saber techniques, polearms, unarmed combat, and footwork.
The second section recorded superior internal energy cultivation methods.
The Human Escape volume dealt with military tactics, governance, and self-care.
The first section focused on military strategy, statecraft, and governance.
The second section covered herbal medicine, medical arts, and alchemy.
This book truly encompassed a vast array of knowledge—it was indeed the magnum opus of Master Zuo Ci, one of the Three Great Immortals from the Three Kingdoms period.
Nan Feihuang was especially interested in the final section on herbal medicine and medical techniques.
This part contained the knowledge of celestial herbs, something he had been desperately seeking.
Before, he had been worried about what to do even if he managed to reach the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well but couldn't recognize any of the herbs. He would have had no choice but to ask for help. Unfortunately, the people of the Douluo Continent were generally lacking in this area of knowledge. Aside from Tang San, only Chrysanthemum Douluo of the Spirit Hall and Yang Wudi of the Po Clan seemed to have some understanding of herbs.
But even they might not know enough.
If that were the case, Nan Feihuang would have no choice but to rely on Tang San for help.
In truth, Nan Feihuang bore no grudge against Tang San. They had no personal enmity, and Tang San's fate had nothing to do with him.
So, there was no need for Nan Feihuang to go out of his way to kill him. On the contrary, Tang San could even serve as a distraction for the Spirit Hall, buying Nan Feihuang more time to grow stronger.
Even if, due to his connection with Tang Hao, they were to clash in the future, it would be a matter of differing loyalties, nothing personal.
However, just because Nan Feihuang didn't hate Tang San didn't mean he liked him. Tang San always portrayed himself as overly righteous and noble, a stark contrast to Nan Feihuang's more pragmatic approach to life. They would never get along. Even if Nan Feihuang didn't actively despise him, he certainly didn't want to be his friend.
Therefore, Nan Feihuang was reluctant to share the celestial herbs with Tang San. Now that he had the Dunjia Celestial Book, this problem was solved.
Another potential issue was Dugu Bo. After all, he was a Titled Douluo and one especially skilled in group battles. A kingdom like Gu Lei, which didn't have even a single Titled Douluo, couldn't afford to provoke him and seize his medicinal garden.
It would be much better to cure his poison and have him willingly offer up the herbs.
In fact, maybe Nan Feihuang could even recruit Dugu Bo. As one of the most famous "rich uncles" in the Douluo universe and a brother to countless transmigrators, it would be a shame to miss out on such a good ally.
Putting away his martial soul and washing up quickly, Nan Feihuang collapsed onto his luxurious bed. The day's events, especially the awakening of his martial soul, had played out as expected, leaving him highly satisfied.
He was eagerly looking forward to setting out on the continent and living out his grand destiny. With these thoughts in mind, Nan Feihuang slowly drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, just as the sun began to rise, a palace maid's voice rang out, "Your Highness, are you awake? It's time to get up and wash. The Queen has instructed that after breakfast, you are to head to the training grounds."
Nan Feihuang opened his eyes. "Got it. Inform Mother that I will be there shortly."
He knew exactly why his mother had summoned him. She would be teaching him the methods of cultivation. After all, without proper guidance, entering a cultivation state would be extremely difficult on his own.
In the martial arts and immortal cultivation worlds, this was known as entering a meditative state to cultivate internal energy. In the Douluo Continent, it was called "meditation," and the techniques here were mostly named after this method. Famous meditation techniques included the Fire, Ice, and Wind meditation techniques of the Five Elements Academy, as well as the high-level techniques used by the Spirit Hall and the Seven Major Clans.
These were considered valuable resources. Soul masters born as commoners often practiced basic, widespread meditation techniques in junior academies. No matter how great their potential, it was hard for them to keep up with noble children who had access to superior methods.
In addition, physical training was essential. The body was the foundation of everything. High-level body-strengthening techniques, soul beast meat, and medicinal baths were all ways in which noble soul masters left their commoner counterparts far behind.
This was one reason why the pampered young masters of the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, despite their weak combat abilities, still had such high levels of cultivation.
After gathering Dian Wei, Ling Qi, and Xun Yu, Nan Feihuang led them to the training grounds.
Lan Xue was already waiting for him there. Beside her was a cute young girl, his elder sister, Nan Feiling.
She was Nan Feihuang's third sister, born during Nan Tianchen's youth before he had taken a formal wife. In an attempt to secure heirs early, he had married two concubines, but luck wasn't on his side—they had only given him daughters.
The eldest and second daughters were not particularly talented and had been married off in their teens.
The eldest, Nan Feiyan, was married to a duke from the Kingdom of Häagen-Dazs—a name that always made people hungry when they heard it.
The second daughter, Nan Feilian, became the crown princess of the Frost Domain Duchy.
Both had married through arranged alliances. While their marriages weren't bad, they had not been to men they truly loved.
Fortunately, it was said that their husbands treated them well, and the couples lived in mutual respect. That was some consolation.
Nan Feiling, however, was still young, just over six years old, only a few months older than Nan Feihuang. She wouldn't have to face such a fate for now.
Moreover, she was quite gifted, possessing an innate spirit power of seven and a half, marking her as a rare genius.
Nan Feihuang recalled that one of the Shrek Seven Devils, Zhu Zhuqing, had also only been born with spirit power of just over seven.
As long as Nan Feiling continued to grow strong, no one would be able to force her into a marriage she didn't want. In this world, strength spoke louder than anything.
Sadly, at the moment, she didn't seem to realize this, as she was still just a playful little girl.
"Little brother, you're finally here! Mother and I have been waiting forever!" Nan Feiling cheerfully ran over to greet him.
"Third Sister, you're up so early!" Nan Feihuang replied with a smile.
"Hehe, of course! Both my mother and concubine mother said that if I work hard enough, I might become a Soul Saint just like Father! I'm only a tiny bit behind you, little brother," Nan Feiling boasted as she held up her right hand, showing a small gap between her thumb and forefinger.
Yesterday, Nan Tianchen had publicly announced that Nan Feihuang's innate spirit power was at level eight, just a little higher than Feiling's seven and a half.
Little did she know, that "tiny bit" she spoke of was actually a gap as vast as the universe.
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