Myths Begin From Boys' Gong

In Nanlin County, Hebei Province, on a somewhat desolate mountain peak outside the city.

At this time, despite the freezing weather, thousands of people, clad in cotton armor and wielding guns and blades, were training tirelessly amidst shouts and cries. Their intense aura of killing intent and bloodlust soared to the heavens. The army, with its fierce and masculine spirit, dispelled the winter chill and transformed into a blazing furnace.

It not only eliminates all the chill on the surface of the body, but also makes people's hearts burn with passion and their blood boil.

This is a sign that the morale of the troops is high and their fighting spirit is soaring.

Dressed in a blue robe and draped in a white fox fur coat, Meng Zhao stood atop the mountain, amidst swirling clouds and mist, looking down at the soldiers training within the peak, his heart filled with satisfaction.

Although the vast majority of these four thousand people were ordinary people who did not know internal martial arts cultivation and only honed their physical bodies through fist techniques and weapons, there were still more than two hundred people in the army who possessed internal martial arts cultivation. Regardless of the depth of their cultivation, they were still useful talents.

In addition, the boxing techniques practiced and honed by ordinary soldiers were also created by him with painstaking effort. The aim was to use boxing to exercise, stretch muscles and bones, and temper the skin and flesh, so as to cultivate a body with secondary physical strength, which would still make them extremely good, even elite, soldiers.

The so-called "secondary body of external training" is a lower-level substitute for the external training martial arts method under the Tianyuan Secret Medicine Martial Arts by Meng Zhao.

The external martial arts are extremely powerful. Once mastered, they are indeed incredibly strong and have extraordinary combat power. However, they also consume a huge amount of resources, and the required secret medicines are astronomical. Every master of external martial arts represents countless amounts of gold and silver.

Therefore, it is simply impossible for Meng Zhao to arm a large army of several thousand martial arts practitioners, at least not at present.

Meng Zhaocai used his martial arts wisdom to simplify a secondary horizontal training martial art.

This martial art does not involve internal martial arts training; it is purely an external martial arts technique.

Through special boxing techniques, the body's blood and qi circulation is regulated, which stimulates the skin, muscles, and bones, thereby transforming the body and strengthening the physique.

In the process, no particularly precious elixirs are needed; only blood-based foods, i.e., meat, or herbs that can provide the body with blood and energy, are required.

The cost has been greatly reduced.

If one can master this fist technique, it may not be comparable to external martial arts, but it is enough to rival internal martial arts practitioners with low skill.

Moreover, it possesses immense strength, agile movements, and vigorous vitality, making it an absolutely superior method.

However, this skill also has a drawback: after mastering it, although the physical body becomes easier and gradually becomes incredibly strong with a body of steel and iron, the joints in the body are difficult to adjust and cannot withstand the burden. In the end, even if one does not die a tragic death, one will become sluggish and clumsy.

The solution was known only to Meng Zhao and a few others: to use a type of herb called Tongguan grass as the main ingredient to make a Tongjie powder for internal use, which could alleviate the symptoms.

This was also a hidden trick that Meng Zhao deliberately left behind when he created this method.

While the martial arts skills were undoubtedly superb, once created, they were likely to be leaked and known to others. Meng Zhao had to keep a secret weapon in place to control the situation.

If anyone else obtains this boxing technique in the future and uses it to train a large army, but does not have the prescription for the Tongjie San (a traditional Chinese medicine), they will surely suffer the consequences.

As for these four thousand troops, they were just one of the dozen or so forces that Meng Zhao had hidden in Hebei Province.

The commander of this army was Meng Zhao, who had recruited a talented general whose ancestor was a general of the Tianyuan Dynasty. However, he was later demoted and died in despair, and his descendants wandered the world.

His family's martial arts were incomplete, so Meng Zhao took this opportunity to supplement his family's martial arts skills. With the help of secret medicine, he completely brought this person under his command. In this way, he was able to train such an excellent army in a short period of time.

Moreover, this army is not just for show; it has actually been deployed and seen bloodshed.

Outside Nanlin County, there were originally seven or eight groups of bandits and thieves, the largest of which occupied the mountains and had several thousand people gathered there.

However, Meng Zhao's capable general, leading four thousand troops, easily broke through and annihilated them. Such was the outstanding combat power of a well-organized elite army, and the losses were minimal: only fifty were wounded and nine were killed.

In fact, none of these nine people had mastered the boxing techniques taught by Meng Zhao, which shows the fighting strength of the army under Meng Zhao's command.

Most bandit strongholds that managed to become bandit camps but weren't wiped out by the government had internal martial arts masters in charge.

The internal martial arts masters possessed profound internal energy, yet they were unable to inflict significant damage on these soldiers; this was precisely the mystery behind that external training method.

"Brother Li, you seem quite relaxed. Are you perhaps unaware of the Zhang family's affairs?"

At this moment, a person used his lightness skill to gracefully land beside Meng Zhao, his sleeves fluttering, wearing a scholar's cap, looking dashing and elegant.

He was seven feet eight inches tall, with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, and his skin was as smooth as jade. He carried a faint scent of herbs and wood.

He was a man of impeccable character and exceptionally handsome appearance; in terms of looks alone, Meng Zhao was no match for him.

This man is Lu Xiang, the eldest son of the Lu family, a prominent clan in Nanlin County. He is skilled in martial arts and well-versed in Confucian classics, making him a true all-rounder in both literature and martial arts.

The Lu family was a powerful local force in Nanlin County, with members serving as officials in the imperial court for generations, and they were known for their scholarly traditions.

In particular, the third ancestor of the Lu family was not only a master of profound learning, but also had a fortuitous encounter, learning martial arts from a master and eventually mastering divine skills. He created his own Cloud Riding Divine Skill, which included internal cultivation methods, secret medicine formulas, palm and finger techniques, lightness techniques, healing techniques, sword techniques, and so on.

This laid the foundation for the Lu family's martial arts and transformed the Lu family from a simple scholar family into a powerful clan.

Lu Xiang is young but highly talented, and he is proud, like a phoenix.

Unfortunately, he encountered Meng Zhao, and despite using his family's inherited Cloud Riding Divine Skill, he was utterly defeated by Meng Zhao's Three-Part Returning Origin Qi. As a result, he was completely convinced and became Meng Zhao's capable assistant.

Although nominally master and servant, the two were actually like close friends.

"I knew the Zhang family had started an uprising, but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly."

Meng Zhao sighed; he had already received the news this morning.

The Zhang family of Hebei Province is a true aristocratic and powerful family, even more powerful and well-established than the Fang family of Kaiyan County, which is confined to one place. As for the Fang family's ancestral home, that's another matter entirely.

For four consecutive generations, members of the Zhang family held important and prominent positions in the central government, which led to the Zhang family's growing influence and the respect they commanded from all quarters in Hebei Province.

Unexpectedly, when the White Dragon Lord and the Great Dragon Head led seventy-two warriors to assassinate the King, two members of the Zhang family who were in court were implicated and ordered to be executed by Emperor Tianyuan.

As a result, the Zhang family's influence in the court was completely wiped out, and even the glory they once enjoyed was to be abolished by Emperor Tianyuan.

Dissatisfied with this, the Zhang family secretly prepared for war, targeting almost every major and minor family in Hebei Province.

The officials in Hebei Province, apart from those who belonged to the Dragon Guard Secret Agents, were mostly connected with the Zhang family, so they turned a blind eye to it.

Logically, the Zhang family could use this opportunity to accumulate strength and expand their power, waiting for the right moment to sweep across Hebei.

However, for some unknown reason, this hasty uprising, while potentially bringing temporary glory, could very well result in a devastating blow from the Tianyuan Emperor of the dynasty. (End of Chapter)