บท 23: Chapter 23: The Village Chief's Request
"The three stages of Qi Rushing to the Disease—Finding Disease and Flipping Illness—do not necessarily follow in a clearly defined sequence.
If your Qi-Blood Power is strong enough, you can entirely break through all your disease spots during the Finding Disease stage, surpassing Flipping Illness and directly reaching the final stage, reducing the disease.
Thus, theoretically, the stronger your Qi-Blood Power, the quicker the progress of Qi Rushing to the Disease.
After three breakthroughs in the Eight Section Brocades, Wang Sheng's Qi-Blood Power undoubtedly became much stronger; disease spots that previously couldn't be overcome might now be possible to break through.
In order to quickly resolve the Martial Artist's Plague disease spot, Wang Sheng once again minimized his time for anything other than sleep, spending almost the entire day cultivating Eight Section Brocades and Inner Core Skill.
Half a month went by again.
His various skills had improved significantly.
"Stage: Qi Rushing to the Disease—Finding Disease 76.5% (First Grade Martial Artist)
Eight Section Brocades: Breakthrough +3 (20%)
Inner Core Skill (Hundred Day Foundation Establishment): Breakthrough +3 (12%)
Herb Recognition: Breakthrough +2 (75%)
Medicinal Plant Cultivation: Breakthrough +3 (40%)
Eight Extremes Fist: 6 (33%)"
Plum Flower Step: 6 (13%)"
Most disciplines were progressing normally; only the Eight Extremes Fist and Plum Flower Step showed almost no improvement due to lack of practice.
The most substantial progress was in the stage of Qi Rushing to the Disease—Finding Disease, which had already reached 76.5%. Calculating based on his current pace, Wang Sheng estimated it would take at most ten days to complete the Finding Disease process.
With such high progress, the gains were naturally substantial. During this process, he had broken through countless disease spots, though majority were "past diseases."
Unaware until you look, but once you do, it's shocking.
During this 76.5% progress phase, his Qi-Blood Power struck 26 disease spots, with 22 successful ruptures. The remaining four spots were of a stronger nature that he couldn't burst open at the time and had to go around.
But after this half month, both his blood strength and Qi-Blood Power had significantly increased.
Especially the Qi-Blood Power, now extracted again after the increase in blood strength, was tremendously strong.
If he were to head back now and attack again, aside from Martial Artist's Plague, the other three major disease spots could definitely be easily broken through.
However, there was no need to look back.
Following the progress of Qi Rushing to the Disease would suffice, he could wait the ten days.
Moreover, after ten days, during the Flipping Illness stage, his Qi-Blood Power would be even stronger, increasing the certainty of bursting the Martial Artist's Plague disease spot.
After all, bursting disease spots isn't without risk. No matter which disease spot is being attacked, the symptoms of that disease spot can recur in the body.
If not careful enough, failing to burst the Martial Artist's Plague disease spot might result in the immediate outbreak of the Plague's effects, leading to potential sudden death.
Thus, boosting the Qi-Blood Power further is still possible.
This is also why Inner Core Skill, which clearly can control one's "Qi," still distinctly delineates the Flipping Illness stage.
Carelessness at this stage can result in death.
The deeper Wang Sheng immersed himself in cultivation, the more he realized.
"So, I have to strengthen my Qi-Blood Power!"
Eight Section Brocades were his foundational practice, and its importance was scarcely less than that of the Inner Core Skill.
Because of the Eight Section Brocades, his current strength was immeasurable; he only knew it was extremely powerful, as the improvement of realm brought about the enhancement of martial prowess.
Wang Sheng enjoyed this gradual increase in strength, thus he practiced Eight Section Brocades even more vigorously."
Originally, it was assumed that the ten days would pass calmly, and they would soon reach the Flipping Illness stage.
But on the sixth day, the village chief, Zhou Zhengwen, came to seek me out.
"Village Chief, please have a seat."
Wang Sheng moved a chair over for him.
After sitting down, Zhou Zhengwen did not beat around the bush, but directly expressed his purpose, "Yun Sheng, I'm actually here to ask for your help."
"Please speak, Village Chief. I'll do what I can."
The last time at Zhou Zhengwen's home, Wang Sheng had noticed something, but since Zhou Zhengwen hadn't mentioned it, he didn't inquire. He hadn't expected that it would take almost 20 days for him to come to seek help.
"Don't worry, it won't put you in a difficult position. In fact, the matter is quite simple. It just involves going into the mountains with some villagers to scout for dangers around Qingshan Village."
"Scout Qingshan Village?"
Qingshan Village was once a stronghold of bandits in the nearby mountains, which was later eradicated by the Great Zhou forces; since then, Qingshan Village had been deserted.
But why did Zhou Zhengwen want to clear out Qingshan Village?
Zhou Zhengwen sighed and said, "Yun Sheng, do you know? A few days ago, Lijiang Town received dozens of refugees from Jiangyuan City, which, it's said, has already fallen into the frontlines of war. They came fleeing for their lives."
Jiangyuan City, the closest major city to Qingshan Village, is about several hundred kilometers away and is the largest city along the Yellow Dragon River, holding significant strategic importance.
Whether it's the martial artist forces within it or the city's defensive forces, both are immensely strong. Yet now, it has fallen into the throes of war, and the civilians have started fleeing. Has the war progressed to this stage?
Recently, Wang Sheng had been fully committed to his progress bar and was not aware of this.
He looked at Zhou Zhengwen and said, "Village Chief, do you know what is going on?"
"It's because King Jiang Yuan and King Yong Nian have started a conflict. King Jiang Yuan is now being defeated step by step, and it looks like Shuzhou will not hold!"
King Jiang Yuan, Zhou Yuanqing, a member of the Great Zhou Imperial Family, whose territory is in Shuzhou where Qingshan Village is located. King Yong Nian, Zhou Wutong, also a member of the Great Zhou Imperial Family, holds territory right next to that of Zhou Yuanqing.
The world hasn't yet seen major rebellions; everyone is just waiting for the Great Zhou to breathe its last, and now two imperial family members have started fighting each other, which is indeed ironic.
But Zhou Yuanqing's continual defeat is not without reason.
Zhou Wutong is one of the nine Great Grandmasters in the world. Besides the powers of the other eight Grandmasters, basically no other forces can stop him.
Previously, the imperial family had suppression, but now the imperial family only wishes to protect itself; how could they possibly manage these matters?
"Village Chief, do you know the reason?"
"How would I possibly know? For us common folks, doesn't war always come suddenly?"
Wang Sheng fell silent.
Isn't that sudden?
In this world, wars of the upper class, ordinary people can only passively accept.
Even though Wang Sheng is now a martial artist, it is still the same.
He snapped back to the present, no longer dwelling on the issue, but instead asked, "What does this have to do with clearing Qingshan Village?"
Zhou Zhengwen slowly uttered three heavy words: "Preparing for the worst!"
"…"
"Yun Sheng, although you are a martial artist, not to mention martial artists, even a Grandmaster would be crushed to dust under a large army. Only a Great Grandmaster can alter the course of battle, this is common knowledge. Martial artists are already like this, what about ordinary people? The homeless refugees from Lijiang Town are what we might face later on, thus we must prepare an escape route in advance.
Qingshan Village is a good location; it once sustained thousands of bandits. Our village can surely accommodate that. However, the mountain contains fierce beasts, which is why I would like to ask for your help to ensure safety!"
After listening, Wang Sheng thought for a moment and finally nodded, "Alright, Village Chief, just call me when it's time!"
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