41: Dark Night Valley

It wasn't difficult to Cultivate the 《Lian Xi Jue》. Long Yuan spent three days Cultivating it from beginner to Major Achievement, and he was not far from Perfection!

After he used it, he found that he could freely control the Xuan Power aura on his body. This control, of course, was to adjust it up and down within the scope of his own Realm, and it was extremely precise. It truly deserved to be a Divine-grade top-tier Cultivation Technique.

To better use the 《Lian Xi Jue》, Long Yuan made up his mind and used an energy conversion point for the first time, using only 1 point to Breakthrough this Cultivation Technique from Major Achievement to Perfection!

The Heavenly Dao Eye's Cultivation infusion truly had no flaws. Long Yuan only felt a pure and incomparable energy circulate through his body once, and then this 《Lian Xi Jue》 reached the level of Perfection, where he could use it as he pleased. With just a thought, the Xuan Power aura on his body could immediately adjust to the desired position according to his will, incredibly smooth!

“This is great! Now, no one in Fengyang Realm should be able to see my true Realm. After all, not even a Martial Master can see it. As for Martial Commanders, there are only about ten or twenty of them in the entire country, and each of them is a pillar of the nation. They can't just walk around outside, so I'm still safe for now! Oh, right, there's one more thing. Should I go to the County Government to search for the information that records my predecessor Zhu Deyuan sending Dragon Snow off?” Long Yuan thought to himself.

That piece of information was a loophole in his identity. If he could find it and erase it, then it would be even harder for Geng Yun and others to confirm his true identity!

“With my 《Lian Xi Jue》 and Shadow Step, there shouldn't be a problem, right?” Long Yuan mused.

Shadow Step is the first stage of the Divine-grade top-tier footwork 《Ta Tian Bu》 that he Cultivated. This footwork is not only extremely fast but also quite strange, because it can use shadows to conceal one's figure. Any shadow can be used, so after it is used, opponents often find it difficult to capture his figure, thus falling into a passive state.

Of course, to Cultivate Shadow Step, one must have a talent foundation, which is Dark-elemental talent. In the Immortal Realm, this is a Dark Spiritual Root. This Spiritual Root is extremely rare, and its possessors are often trained as assassins, hiding in the dark to launch attacks, with extremely high success rates.

And Long Yuan's Spiritual Root is a full-elemental Spiritual Root, which naturally includes a Dark-elemental Spiritual Root, and its purity reaches the maximum level. Although it is still in its embryonic form, it is already astonishing enough, so Cultivating Shadow Step is naturally without any obstacles.

“I'll try it when I have time. After all, I still need to gather some information about the County Government's archives first…” Long Yuan still decided to proceed cautiously. Having lived two lives, his Heart-Nature would naturally not be as rash as that of an ordinary young man, easily provoked.

While continuing to pay attention to the Xuanwu Guard and Daming Army's attack on Dark Night Valley, he also felt the results of his Cultivation over the past month or so. Currently, his Cultivation had reached the Martial Artist Extreme Realm. During this time, he also Cultivated the three Martial Dao versions of Cultivation Techniques: 《Heavenly Dao Nine Swords》, Zhen Yue Sacred Elephant Fist, and 《Ta Tian Bu》 to the Proficient Realm. Therefore, in terms of progress, it can be said that he was extremely satisfied. Compared to other Xuan Practitioners, it was as if others were crawling like turtles, while he was riding a rocket…

From the data, his progress is even more concrete. Taking strength as an example, a general Xuan Practitioner in the Martial Apprentice's three Realms: Xuan Skin Realm is 500 kilograms, Xuan Flesh Realm is 1000 kilograms, Xuan Bone Realm is 2000 kilograms. In the Martial Artist's three Realms: Xuan Organ Realm is 4000 kilograms, Xuan Blood Realm is 6000 kilograms, Xuan Meridian Realm is 8000 kilograms. However, Long Yuan's data in each Realm far exceeds these standards, being three times the standard in the Martial Apprentice's three Realms, and five times the standard in the Martial Artist's three Realms. This shocked Long Yuan and made him marvel at the terrifying nature of his Divine-grade talent. With his current strength of 40,000 kilograms, let alone a Martial Master, even an ordinary Martial Ancestor Innate Xuan Practitioner is not his opponent. Fighting above his Realm is easy.

In addition, through this period of Cultivation and research, he found that his talent is almost reflected in all directions. For example, he can practice common Five Elements talents such as Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, as well as Cultivation Techniques in directions such as Wind, Thunder, Ice, and Dark, and the efficiency is also extremely high. This made him suspect that he should be able to Cultivate comprehensively and become a Martial Dao all-rounder!

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why his talent is called Divine-grade talent. Since he became a god, he is almost omnipotent…

However, research is research. Due to the tight schedule, Long Yuan's Cultivation focus was still on the Creation Profound Heaven Skill, and his Martial Skills were also mainly those three Divine-grade Cultivation Techniques. Other Martial Skills would be added later when he had time. As for the 《Lian Xi Jue》, it had already reached Perfection, so there was no need to spend more time on it.

“To improve the Zhen Yue Sacred Elephant Fist, I still need to prepare Body Tempering Potions…”

After practicing this set of fist techniques, Long Yuan felt that the progress was not as great as he had imagined, and the main reason was the lack of Supporting facilities Body Tempering Potions. Although he now had Divine-grade talent, this fist technique consumed a lot of Qi and blood, so Body Tempering Potions were necessary to assist in Cultivation for better results.

This Body Tempering Potion is not suitable for online ordering, as it involves the secret of his own formula. And if he orders sporadically online, it is not cost-effective in terms of price. So Long Yuan decided to go to the Martial Arts Market to select and then prepare it himself, and this is also his first step towards becoming a Potion Master and Alchemist.

“Oh, they are about to reach Dark Night Valley… Such a large-scale operation is not easy to keep absolutely secret. If the people inside the valley are alerted, it might be difficult for the operation to proceed smoothly…”

Within his designated range, the information captured by the Heavenly Dao Eye was more purposeful and immediate. Therefore, Long Yuan could observe the real-time information from Copper Ridge at any time, and if he wanted to, he could even have the information visualized as a large light screen for direct viewing. However, he felt that doing so was unnecessary and might expose his secret. It would be troublesome if the people tracking and monitoring him nearby noticed, after all, there was still a team of people outside secretly “protecting” him.

Long Yuan was making his plans while observing the actions of the Daming combat team and the Xuanwu Guard. At this time, he was somewhat pessimistic about the Daming side…

According to the information he had previously obtained, Dark Night Valley had now been completely controlled and transformed by the “Dark Night” assassin organization. This organization had developed in secret for many years and already possessed considerable strength, and there were also people from Fusang Country and Snow Eagle Country mixed in. The three parties working together still had a certain combat power.

Moreover, they fought on their home ground and acted flexibly. Dark Night Valley was not only equipped with a large number of traps, but also had two escape routes. If the information about the army's encirclement was exposed, there was a high possibility of heavy losses, or even failing to capture anyone.

“Should I remind Qi Huaiyi?” Long Yuan pondered.

He thought for a moment and finally decided not to bother!

Because he had already reminded him, reminding him again would seem redundant, and might even arouse Qi Huaiyi's suspicion, which would be purely superfluous.

If Daming failed to achieve the goal of encirclement this time, it could not be blamed on Long Yuan. It could only be said that Daming's ability to handle affairs was worrying, and the renowned Jianxuan Envoy Department and Xuanwu Guard were nothing more than that…

Therefore, this operation was actually one of Long Yuan's opportunities to observe the true combat power of the Daming army and the Xuanwu Guard up close. Although it was just an bandit suppression operation, he should still be able to see some real things from it.

In the Dark Night Valley area at this time, the moon was dark and the wind was high, giving a strong sense of an impending storm. Due to the army's deployment, a battle of no small scale was expected, and the opponents were a group of fierce and fearless assassins, possibly even with experts from Fusang Country and Snow Eagle Country mixed in. Therefore, most of the people in the Copper Ridge area had been relocated by the officials under various pretexts. This approach was very risky, but it also showed Daming's relatively responsible attitude towards the grassroots people, at least they considered this point.

As for the small number of people who were unwilling to leave, they could only be left to their fate, as it was impossible to tell them the true intentions of the officials.

The military leader in charge of the team was a Martial General Early Stage powerhouse named Wang Weidong, a member of the Wang family, one of the five super aristocratic families in the Southern Imperial Capital, enjoying a high reputation in the army.

Under his command, the army split into two routes, one blocking the eastern exit of Dark Night Valley, and the other quietly entering from the western exit…

The warriors in this operation were all Xuan Soldiers, with no ordinary soldiers. The minimum Cultivation had to reach Martial Apprentice Late Stage. Therefore, in terms of speed, combat power, and equipment, they were the top tier of the Daming army. Coupled with the assistance of the Xuanwu Guard experts led by Qi Huaiyi and Hai Xiang, who attacked from the small paths on both sides of Dark Night Valley, everyone was full of confidence and advanced according to the plan…

Dark Night Valley was shrouded in mist all year round, and it appeared even more eerie and terrifying at night. Therefore, everyone was in full black armor, with black scarves covering their faces. To prevent getting separated during the advance, everyone reached out a hand and placed it on the shoulder of the person in front of them. The entire team looked like a black centipede winding its way into the valley…

As the team continued to advance deeper, everyone's hearts gradually tensed up, because the valley was too quiet, without even a single light. Besides a faint moonlight penetrating down, not even a single firefly, which are common in the wild, was seen!

Wang Weidong, as the leader, brought up the rear. He almost stepped into the valley last. He had observed the valley before and had sent scouts to investigate the path into the valley, but only when he personally entered did he realize that there was a considerable difference from his previous imagination. He admitted that he had been a bit rash!

But at this point, the arrow was on the string and had to be shot. He couldn't just make the entire army stop immediately, could he?

…