The Path to Immortality: Starting with an Analysis of Basic Concepts

Chapter 86 People's Hopes Dissipate (Please Subscribe)

Martial arts training ground.

A large crowd thronged the area, and armor clanged loudly.

Faces filled with excitement and fervor were drawn to the Hall of Righteousness, all waiting for that figure to appear.

Not long after.

A tall figure clad in red armor, with a sword at his waist, stepped into the sky, accompanied by a powerful aura like thunder and rain descending upon him, his deep voice echoing across the land.

"Break through Dangyang County and kill the corrupt official Zhang Jia!"

The words fell.

Brilliant white light descended, merging into the bodies of nearly two hundred bandits in the training ground. Their eyes instantly became bloodshot, and their auras surged by more than thirty percent. They roared in unison, "Break through Dangyang County! Kill the corrupt official Zhang Jia!"

"Is this the Dao Fruit Realm—?"

Wu Yong, Meng Qi, and Lady Shi looked up at the figure stepping into the clouds, and were all momentarily stunned.

Coming to their senses, the three of them raised their arms, and streams of divine light descended from above their heads, merging into the bandits in the training ground. However, they could not instantly increase the number of people by nearly two hundred like Lu Changming.

It takes the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

All three looked exhausted. Gazing at the bandits in the arena, each exuding an imposing aura after being triple-amplified, they raised their hands and shouted, "Let's go!"

"promise!"

Under the influence of Wu Yong's divine words, "a needle hidden in cotton," the two hundred people were of one mind and agreed in unison. Then they rode their horses out of the village gate with a rumble and a cloud of dust.

Not long after.

Many servants drove dozens of oxcarts, carrying large quantities of cattle and sheep, rice and flour, siege equipment, and some scattered items such as arrows and armor plates.

Things like oil and salt.

This time.

Yunshan Village mobilized its entire force, leaving no one behind and taking most of its supplies with them.

One of the oxcarts.

Zhu Yu led the ox slowly behind, his mind preoccupied with the impending armed conflict in Dangyang County, his thoughts a jumble of conflicting ideas.

According to Liang Kuan's inquiries.

Dangyang County has three wealthy families: Bai, Qiu, and Lin. The Bai and Lin families have Dao Fruit Realm experts in charge, while the Qiu family is famous for making artifacts. Although there are no Dao Fruit Realm experts in the family, there are many Divine Word Realm martial artists.

"The Qiu family also seems to own a money exchange—let's wait and see—"

Zhu Yu paused for a moment, suppressed his distracting thoughts, and focused his gaze on himself.

【Mi Sheng "Zhu Yu"】

Age: 15/39

[Realm: Cultivating a Divine Seed: Skin: 99%, Flesh: 99%, Tendons: 99%, Bones: 99%]

[Attributes: Constitution 6.5, Spirit 9 [24]]

[Talented Skill: 99% Hard Work]

[Status: Severe Deficit]

While rapidly achieving the Bone Forging Realm, his body was on the verge of collapse due to insufficient nutrient supply.

At first, Zhu Yu thought about secretly slaughtering a medicinal sheep to eat, but when he saw how quickly his talent and skills were developed through hard work, he immediately gave up the idea.

In this cycle of imminent collapse—can hold on a little longer—imminent collapse—can hold on a little longer, talent and skill rapidly ascend to their peak.

As his talent and skills reached their peak, he had a vague feeling that they were about to burst forth, but it seemed that he lacked a medium, so this feeling remained just a feeling.

Zhu Yu took out a large coin from his pocket, round on the outside and square on the inside. He sensed that it was wrapped with a wisp of power filled with complicated thoughts, and it seemed that as long as he had a slight thought, he could draw it into his body.

"Is this what popularity is—?"

With a slight thought, the divine seed residing in his heart trembled for a moment, and the human desire wrapped around the copper coin surged into his body.

next moment.

Fragmented images flashed through my mind: an old farmer selling grain, a vendor selling rice cakes, a peddler selling needles and thread—

[Warning: Unfamiliar memory fragments detected—]

Zhu Yu's mind stirred slightly. Instead of blocking out these fragments of memory, she let them flash by one by one.

Large sums of money usually circulate at the bottom, and the people associated with them are not only thin, but also contain a lot of fragmented memories that are upsetting.

Unlike silver and gold, which not only contain a lot of human sentiment but also have very few fragmented memories, gold has no memory fragments left.

In the world of cultivation, copper coins are like pills with impurities. Consuming too many of them not only hinders cultivation but also easily leads to madness. Silver and gold, on the other hand, are equivalent to highly pure elixirs, and consuming more of them is harmless.

Waiting for the fragments of memory to be digested.

Zhu Yu immediately felt that the "divine seed" seemed to be fuller, and the "belief" he had firmly established since the beginning of his cultivation was slowly growing like a sprout.

"What is poison to him is honey to me."

He gave a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth and put away the last large coin.

Not long.

The sun was high in the sky, and the hot wind was scorching.

Dozens of carriages came to a stop at a shallow stream, and a city could be seen faintly in the distance on the opposite side.

Immediately at the foreman's command, the group busied themselves in an orderly fashion: some moved supplies, some set up tents, some cooked, and some dug barricades.

They were busy until midnight.

A makeshift campsite has been set up.

Shortly thereafter.

The thunderous sound of horses' hooves came from the darkness, and the servants immediately tensed up, but as the foreman shouted "Strategist, Second-in-Command, Third-in-Command," everyone immediately relaxed.

A corner of the camp.

While Zhu Yu was helping to slaughter cattle and sheep, he glanced over and saw that although the bandits were in a sorry state, they were fully armored and had no wounded, so they did not look like they had been in a fight.

"Didn't a fight break out?"

Seeing this, he was not disappointed. He knew these people's thoughts all too well; they would not rest until they made a name for themselves.

Even if it's just the reputation of Yunshan Village that's being promoted, the people of Yunshan Village can still gain considerable benefits from it. Moreover, for ordinary mountain bandits, the main profit comes from robbing the residents and wealthy households in the city.

Just then.

A pale white light and a dark red light fell from the sky one after the other, transforming into Lu Changming, who was dressed in red armor. Beside him stood a burly man with red eyes, disheveled hair, and a dark face.

"Brother, please."

Lu Changming gestured, leading the red-eyed man into the central tent. Soon after, the tent was filled with booming laughter.

A large-bellied, round-faced steward in a green robe strode up to Zhu Yu and the others who were busy skinning and cutting meat. He wiped the sweat from his brow and called out, "Don't rush to slaughter the cattle and sheep yet. First, cut up a head of raw beef and send it to the central tent."

Just as he turned to leave, he hurriedly added, "By the way, the heart and liver must be whole, and placed on a separate plate."

"Yes, sir."

Having received the order, everyone quickly got to work. After cutting up a cow, Zhu Yu quietly took a step back and disappeared into the darkness.

The others didn't notice that someone was missing, and they quickly carried the still-steaming plates to the central tent.

Zhu Yu walked lightly and quickly left the camp through the simple fence, waded through the stream, and walked about two miles in the dark before stopping under a crooked tree.

After waiting for a short while...

The grass in the nearby ditch rustled, and a tabby cat covered in grass clippings slowly walked out. Its pale golden vertical pupils looked at the withered and ugly old man under the tree and paused for a moment.

"Meow?--"

"Senior Brother Liang."

Zhu Yu forced an ugly smile.

The tabby cat's pupils widened, and it circled Zhu Yu several times before squatting down on a sandy spot. With a wave of its paws, a line of characters appeared.

"Junior Brother, are you having such a miserable time in Yunshan Village?"

Zhu Yu nodded and then shook his head, saying, "It's not good, but it's not terrible either. The reason it's like this is because I forced myself to cultivate my bone-forging technique—"

"?"

'

Liang Kuan was taken aback, then wrote with his paw, "You've forged your bones? So fast?"

Zhu Yu did not hesitate and explained the prescriptions he had compiled, from skin refining to bone forging.

"As expected of Lu Changming, a 'kindred spirit,' he's truly magnanimous!"

Liang Kuan mistakenly believed that these prescriptions were passed down from Yunzhaizhai, and couldn't help but marvel at the writing.

Zhu Yu didn't explain, but asked, "Senior brother, have you found out which money exchange has the largest accumulation of copper coins?"

"Dayuan Money Shop".

Liang Kuan wrote down the money shops he had inquired about beforehand, and added: "If you want to stay here longer and make further progress, it would be best to cultivate by absorbing the popularity contained in silver. The popularity contained in large coins is too mixed and has considerable hidden dangers."

"Thank you, senior brother, I understand."

Zhu Yu nodded.

Liang Kuan nodded, and then told him about the location of the Dayuan Money Shop, its background, the location of the treasury, the guards inside, and so on.

Seeing how detailed his explanation was, Zhu Yu thought to himself, "Walking in the body of an animal is indeed more concealed."

Unfortunately, cultivating in a beast form is far too difficult—

To this day, Liang Kuan's divided spirit is still in the Skin Refining Realm, and he is still far from breaking through to the next realm.

After a conversation.

Zhu Yu immediately understood why the bandits of Yunshan Village seemed to have only taken a short trip before returning.

The reason is that Zhang Jia lacked martial ethics. Not only did he refuse to come out of the city, but he also somehow acquired a crossbow and equipped it with a Breaking Qi Arrow, which was specifically designed to break through the protective qi of a Dao Fruit Realm cultivator.

Such a deterrent.

Lu Changming only tried it once before leading his men to retreat.

According to Liang Kuan's description.

It seems that the three wealthy families of Bai, Qiu, and Lin have also joined in defending the city, while the other surrounding counties seem to be from the future.

"Thank you for your help, senior brother."

Zhu Yu cupped his hands in greeting, handed the remaining "tiger bone ointment" to Liang Kuan, exchanged a few more words, and then turned to return to the camp.

"Having high comprehension is a good thing—"

Watching Zhu Yu's figure disappear, Liang Kuan sighed inwardly, picked up the wooden box containing the tiger bone ointment, leaped into the ditch, the grass rustled, and he vanished.

the other side.

When Zhu Yu returned to the kitchen, he noticed that the busy servants looked a little off, as if they were afraid of something.

For a moment, he was puzzled, then stepped over to Liu Niangzi, who was as burly as a man, and while helping her wash the dishes, asked, "What happened?"

Liu Niangzi glanced at him sideways, moved aside in disgust, hesitated slightly, and whispered, "Niu Er is dead."

He paused, then added, "It was eaten."

"Eaten?"

Zhu Yu was taken aback, and then, thinking about what they had done before, he suddenly understood.

"Get out of the way."

Madam Liu was unwilling to say more, and waved her hand dismissively, saying, "You slovenly old man, even if you wash the dishes clean, they'll still be dirty."

Knowing that she meant well, Zhu Yu got up and walked to a corner, squatted down with his hands in his pockets, looked at the central tent, and a sarcastic smile appeared on his lips.

"Like-minded friends," ah—

Perhaps it's because of this matter.

The shouts and noises from the bandits drinking and eating meat were much quieter.

"Boss—sigh—"

Outside the tent, listening to the lively conversation inside, Wu Yong shook his head in disappointment. Looking around at the bandits who kept glancing at him, he thought to himself, "I'll leave after I finish this important task—"

The second and third leaders, who were drinking and eating meat with their brothers, exchanged a glance and then looked away.

The next day.

Nearly two hundred bandits left early.

Zhu Yu stood by the stream and looked into the distance. Suddenly, billowing black smoke rose from the once peaceful town of Dangyang.

"They're getting serious now—"

He made a slight movement, entered the nearby irrigation ditch, and sped away like the wind towards the county town.

After a while.

The city wall built of blue bricks in Dangyang County came into view.

Zhu Yu glanced at the several beams of light colliding in the sky, and at the bandits, whose numbers clearly exceeded five hundred, who were relentlessly charging towards the city wall.

He walked lightly to a thicket of bushes, and after a few moments of searching, a passage about a meter in diameter, hidden by withered branches and leaves, appeared before his eyes.

"Whether or not the divine message can be manifested depends on this deal—"