Helping each other with countless me.

Chapter 501 People and People
"can."

Without a second thought, Jiang Shang agreed.

The Jiang family reached its peak under his leadership, and also declined under his leadership.

He led the Jiang family out to fight and gained enough benefits, but how many of them came back?
Now, it's just him and his son left.

If they could acquire some other extraordinary means, perhaps they could revive the Jiang family, which had been barren for a long time.

In fact, after calming himself down, he suddenly understood why his butler had betrayed him.

It seems the other party also realized that after their death, the Jiang family would most likely disappear from history.

So he got anxious because he was getting old and might not be able to outlive himself.

Shaking his head, Jiang Shang sighed and decided not to think about him anymore; after all, he was just a dead man.

"Then, please take a look, brother."

Without hesitation, Li Zhongren pulled a book out of his pocket.

The Secret Technique of Withering and Flourishing

The name is copied from the kung fu in "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils".

But he wrote the content himself.

Draw upon the soul, strengthen the soul, nourish the soul.

The result was a significant improvement in his logical thinking ability.

Therefore, based on his current level, it would not be difficult for him to create some parallel or similar extraordinary abilities using the qi and blood cultivation techniques he has learned. In the end, it is just a matter of different ways of utilizing power.

In fact, he wrote this book, "The Secret Art of Withering and Flourishing," in just the last few days.

It was specially made for Jiang Shang.

His greatest wish is to carry on the Jiang family tradition.

But the problem is, he only has one mentally challenged son.

This is obviously very difficult.

So why did he stop marrying and having children?

They are, after all, extraordinary beings.

The only possibility is that he is no longer viable, either on the battlefield or due to the cultivation technique itself.

The greatest benefit of this withering and flourishing secret technique is that it can absorb, refine, and collect a person's essence, energy, and spirit, storing them in the body, similar to the Yin Seal in "Naruto".

However, unlike the Yin Seal, it only works when used and it depletes one's own resources, clearly indicating that it has gone astray.

Conversely, the withering and flourishing secret technique involves embedding a huge energy source within the body. This energy source itself can nourish the body and prolong life.

Therefore, unless Jiang Shang no longer has that thing, he can definitely regain his former glory!
"Hu~~"

As expected, Li Zhongren guessed correctly. Jiang Shang had only aged. When he saw the secret technique, his face turned slightly red!
With his level of cultivation, he could easily discern the characteristics of this secret technique, and moreover, it was complete.

This made him somewhat impressed; the young man opposite him was quite bold, wasn't he afraid that he would go back on his word?

"Fellow Daoist, you are truly open and honest."

"Not at all, it's because of your character, brother. Anyway, with my book, you can remarry, take ten or eight wives, and the Jiang family will flourish, and there will be someone to take care of your son."

"Hey"

Jiang Shang couldn't help but sigh when he mentioned his son.

The sword technique he learned was actually an ancient cultivation inheritance he obtained by accident. It was extremely powerful, but it also had great side effects, which is why his son was born with congenital deficiencies.

Now, with the nourishment of this cultivation method, he can be rejuvenated.

And just as Li Zhongren said, now that his Jiang family has grown, he's not worried about who will take care of his mentally challenged son.
"Fellow Daoist, please wait a moment, I will go and fetch the secret technique immediately."

Fifteen minutes later, Li Zhongren saw the "Corpse Removal Law" that he had been longing for.

As mentioned earlier, he constantly absorbed souls to nourish his own soul and improved his logical analysis and research abilities. However, this does not mean that he can create something out of nothing and arbitrarily write so-called extraordinary techniques. He can only extend and modify the existing techniques as a foundation.

That's why he needed the Jiang family's "Corpse Removal Method" to draw inferences from similar cases.

In fact, in the original work, the Jiang family's "Corpse Removal Method" was not essentially for creating zombies. It was only after the arrival of that Heavenly Corpse that the collision of corpse energy activated those corpses.

His plan was to combine the Liu family's corpse-refining technique with the Jiang family's corpse-preserving method to create the zombie army he desired.

"Good good."

Li Zhongren smiled broadly as he glanced at the corpse-slaughtering ritual.

This thing is really amazing.

Moreover, it is less of a cultivation technique and more of a medicinal method. It involves wrapping a human corpse in special wax, and the special components in the wax will penetrate into the corpse, thus preserving the integrity of the corpse while enhancing its spirituality.

In fact, in just a short while, many sparks had already collided in Li Zhongren's mind.

However, he still suppressed all of that.

"A good man will go to the end and send Buddha to the West."

Li Zhongren continued.

"Brother, I won't be leaving these next few days. I'll stay and help you out. How about we set up a scheme?"

"Bureau?"

Jiang Shang looked completely bewildered.

“Fellow Daoist, although I regret that the steward betrayed me, I can kill him as easily as killing a chicken.”

"Brother, don't you think about why he dared to betray you? Isn't he afraid at all?"

"What's the meaning."

"It means that someone is backing him up."

"Hey"

Jiang Shang patted his head.

"As expected, I'm getting old. My mind is all muddled. So, fellow Daoist, you should know something, right?"

"Tang Long."

"The biggest bandit in the surrounding hundreds of miles."

"And what you don't know, brother, is that your son's next wife will be his sister."

"What??"

Jiang Shang stood up abruptly, his face grim.

Jiang Shang wasn't senile; he was just old and too lazy to think. But now that a crisis had struck, he immediately became clear-headed, and even his demeanor changed.

After a long pause, he couldn't help but sneer a few times.

"What a brilliant plan, what a brilliant plan indeed."

"And my good housekeeper lied to me, saying the girl was the child of a distant relative."

"Therefore, we should turn the tables on them and achieve three goals at once."

"Three gains?"

"First."

Li Zhongren spoke first.

"Naturally, we should kill the steward and clean house."

"Secondly, we need to eliminate Tang Long and the other bandit gangs to pacify this area."

"third."

“Brother, you protect Fukang County, but the people in the county are ungrateful. Instead, they often maliciously slander your Jiang family because of the Corpse-Drying Technique. It’s time to wake them up.” “First, kill that bandit’s sister, then make the matter public and attract Tang Long here.”

"In his rage, Tang Long still has this excuse, and he will definitely attack Fukang Town."

"The people of Fukang Town will then experience what hell is like."

"After they've killed most of them, you and I will step in and wipe out the bandit gang."

"At that time, not only will the sphere of influence within a radius of hundreds of miles fall under your control, but the people around here will also know who the pillar of stability is."

"call"

Jiang Shang couldn't help but gasp.

The young man in front of me looks calm and collected, but the plan he proposed is so ruthless!
"This, fellow Daoist, can it really be that bad?"

"Those ordinary people are just echoing what others say; we can just ignore them. I don't think it's worth it."

"Haha, brother, you're in charge."

Li Zhongren shrugged.

It's not that he forgot his mother after receiving milk; after all, he was a proletarian, and he would never resonate with the wealthy.

However, he had a very clear understanding of this world; he believed that assets and propertylessness ultimately all came down to people.

There's nothing new under the sun. When ordinary people gain money and power, they might do things that are even more ruthless than those of the powerful and wealthy in the past.

This is due to human nature.

Therefore, love the people, not any particular individual.

But the deeper meaning of this statement is...

What you should love and uphold is the simple values ​​and morality of the human world. It exists in the ordinary people at the bottom of society, but that does not mean that the ordinary people who carry this morality are all good people.

Therefore, he never believed in the principle of "the law does not punish the masses." If one person makes a mistake, one person dies; if ten thousand people make a mistake, ten thousand people die. It's that simple.

Of course, as the guardian of this area, Jiang Shang was the one in charge, so he only offered suggestions, and if the other party did not accept them, he would not refute them.

All I can say is that these ordinary people must have accumulated good karma in their past lives to be reborn here in this one.

"If you've made up your mind, brother, I'll go with you. Let's wipe out that bandit's den, how about it? Of course, that's only after you've mastered this technique."

"Ah."

Jiang Shang was not a timid woman; his friendship with Li Zhongren was a matter of luck. He had also come from the front lines of battle, so he was not one to be sentimental.

Time flies, and a month has passed in the blink of an eye.

Originally, according to Jiang Shang's plan, he should have continued to plan the next wedding for his son, which was to win over the woman introduced by the butler.

However, in order to comprehend the "Secret Technique of Withering and Flourishing," this matter was put aside. Of course, to the outside world, it was claimed that he was feeling unwell recently and needed to recuperate, so the wedding was postponed for a while.

As for the steward, Jiang Shang didn't kill him; he just used him temporarily to keep the bandits occupied and buy time.

In the past month, Jiang Shang had spent almost all of the wealth in his Jiang family's accounts, and entrusted Li Zhongren to help him purchase a large number of rare and precious materials, all of which were absorbed into his body through the Ku Rong Secret Technique.

Thus, a huge Qi Sea Dantian, filled with Qi and blood, was born in his Qi Sea.

His dantian, like a second heart, beat within him. With each beat, fiery blood and qi, brimming with life force, resonated throughout his body.

The sword energy contained in the nameless sword technique he had accidentally acquired was beginning to heal the damage to his body at a visible speed.

This scene unfolded just minutes after the birth of this second heart.

Even Jiang Shang's appearance has begun to look younger.

Hair, beard, and even teeth fell out one by one.

Then, brand new, jet-black hair, a jet-black beard, and strong, white teeth all grew out.
"It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it's like turning one back in time..."

Standing in front of the mirror, Jiang Shang seemed to have returned to his thirties, looking at himself in the mirror with eyes full of emotion.

Of course, it only refers to rejuvenation, not actual rejuvenation.

He could feel that everything before him was brought to him by that second heart.

Once his secret technique of withering and flourishing is broken, his body will age prematurely again in the shortest possible time.
Even in his current state, he might only live another twenty or thirty years at most.

But that's enough.

He originally had about ten more years to live, plus another twenty or thirty.

That's enough for him to raise a next generation who can inherit everything from the Jiang family.

"Clang~~~"

Take a deep breath.

Jiang Shang drew his long sword.

The sharp sword energy within his body flowed directly along the meridians to the sword, making the entire sword appear much smoother.

This is the core power of the nameless sword technique he discovered.

It can make the longsword in your hand incredibly sharp, and even give it the attribute of breaking magic.

Everything in this world can be slain!
Of course, one's strength cannot exceed his by too much.

Unfortunately, this sword technique is incomplete, missing a significant portion.

This creates two drawbacks.

First, when sword energy circulates within the body, it damages the meridians. Over time, this damage will eventually cause the body to slowly collapse.

You should know that he is only fifty-two years old, but he looks like he is seventy or eighty.

Secondly, the sword energy cannot leave the longsword and transform into detached sword energy.

Actually, it still comes down to the first point: insufficient control over sword energy.

They can only fight at close range.

Otherwise, he could at least be a minor sword immortal or something.
Lost in thought, Jiang Shang drew his longsword in the secret chamber.

For a moment, the entire secret chamber was filled with the glint of swords, but surprisingly, there was no sound. This was the second characteristic of his nameless sword technique: silence.
In fact, this sword technique has a third characteristic, which is...
Without warning, the sword in Jiang Shang's hand seemed to have vanished, only to reappear suddenly the next moment.
It pierced the wall straight through, as if it were inserted into a block of tofu.
"call"

Jiang Shang let out a long breath.

This is the third characteristic of his swordsmanship: stealth.

On the battlefield, he can even infuse sword energy into his bow and arrow, firing invisible arrows.

Unfortunately, this move consumes a great deal of sword energy, and he hasn't used it in a long time.
So, it's time for revenge.
"ah!!!!"

In the basement.

The butler's screams were incessant. It wasn't that Jiang Shang enjoyed torturing him; for a transcendent being of this level, controlling emotions was fundamental.

It was just to gather intelligence.

Furthermore, this old butler wasn't as tough as I had imagined.

He recounted his collaboration with Tang Long.

Then, he was beheaded by Jiang Shang with a single sword stroke.

There were no questions asked, and I was too lazy to say anything pointless.

Having regained his youth, Jiang Shang felt even more that time was not enough; he only had less than thirty years to raise the next generation of the Jiang family.
"Fellow Daoist, I think your idea is sound. Let's head straight for Ping Nan Mountain and catch Tang Long off guard!"

"can."

Li Zhongren nodded.

"Aside from that guy named Tang Long, they're just a bunch of bandit leaders, nothing more than a rabble."

Let's get right to it, to avoid any unforeseen complications.

The two left the Jiang family that very night, but before leaving, Jiang Shang gave his son some sleeping pills to keep him from wandering off.
(End of this chapter)