57: Growth

Inside Gu Chang's private training ground within the valley encampment, he began to sort and summarize the various martial arts he had Acquired so far.

Whether it was Zheng Lieya's Dragon Grasping Skill or the martial arts Mind-Cultivation Technique of other Refining Spirit Experts, they were all inherently more comprehensive and powerful than the Xuanbing Blood Fiend Skill, but Gu Chang naturally couldn't change his Cultivation Technique now.

Therefore, the only way out was to integrate various Spirit Refining Cultivation Techniques, and then, based on the actual situation of the Xuanbing Blood Fiend Skill, deduce the Spirit Refining part of the Xuanbing Blood Fiend Skill.

He had actually been working on this for a long time, and after countless failures, he finally made significant progress.

"Crack, crack, crack."

"Crackle!"

"Hoo~ Haa~"

As Gu Chang began to stretch his body, assume his Moves, and practice his martial arts, his entire skeleton began to pop like frying beans, and every breath he took caused the surrounding air to vibrate.

As his speed became faster and faster, his entire body's Qi and blood were completely stimulated, and then his body began to burn again.

This step was somewhat similar to when he transcended the Heavenly Gate difficulty after awakening from the Refining Bone Realm, except now, due to his stronger physique and his ability to control the Zhengang Strength as he wished, the danger was greatly reduced.

But the essence was the same: both involved continuously strengthening his Martial Dao Divine Will and increasing the total amount of Zhengang Strength by burning his own essence, Qi, and spirit!

"Boom! Rumble!"

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Gradually, a large amount of Zhengang Strength escaped from his body and, under the control of the Divine Statue Skill, condensed into a massive Martial Dao Divine Paragon!

At this moment, the Martial Dao Divine Paragon had reached a height of two zhang, and the Zhengang Strength that formed it had completely solidified; weapons such as long spears, military sabers, and arrows were deep red, like heated branding irons, containing extremely terrifying power.

Every movement of the two-zhang-tall Martial Dao Divine Paragon was filled with terrifying destructive power; even though Gu Chang was merely practicing now, the destruction to the surroundings was still quite terrifying!

Cracks spread across the hard ground, deep gouges were directly carved into the thick rock walls, and even weapons made of steel were no different from those made of mud in the Face of the Martial Dao Divine Paragon's terrifying power!

Time passed, and the massive Martial Dao Divine Paragon gradually dissipated, and Gu Chang, covered in sweat and with his body significantly burned dry, gradually reappeared.

"With my current strength, I can at most maintain the Martial Dao Divine Paragon for one hour when going all out. If I can't defeat the enemy within that hour, then I'm afraid I'll be in danger."

"It's a pity that the wings I envisioned still haven't condensed into form; otherwise, with the ability to fly, I could go anywhere in the vast world..."

Feeling the heavy burden on his body, Gu Chang had a clear assessment of his own strength.

His current martial arts strength should be similar to the Late Stage of Qi Refining; in close-quarters combat, he would definitely be stronger in a fight, but Cultivators have too many methods, and a real battle might not go as he wished.

Therefore, to ensure his own safety, what Gu Chang most desired now was to gain the ability to fly; only then would he have the confidence to interact with other Cultivators, otherwise, it would be better to honestly Cultivate among ordinary mortals.

After a simple cleanup, Gu Chang immediately went outside the training ground, where Li Ergou and others had been waiting for a long time.

"Big Brother! Quick, this barbarian beef is already stewed until it's tender!"

It wasn't their first time seeing Gu Chang after he finished his training, but every time they saw the emaciated Gu Chang, they couldn't help but worry.

"Hahaha! It's nothing; my control over myself is getting stronger and stronger now. I won't easily burn myself into just bones anymore."

In the past, Gu Chang often over-trained because he wasn't skilled enough, and there were even several times when he literally trained himself to death, after all, creating his own Cultivation Technique was not that easy.

After speaking, Gu Chang immediately devoured the stewed barbarian beef. As hundreds of pounds of meat went down his stomach, Gu Chang's body rapidly recovered, Qi and blood replenished his entire body, and the Zhengang Strength within him became even more powerful and refined.

This was the Spirit Refining Cultivation method Gu Chang came up with: by repeatedly burning himself, he continuously enhanced his Zhengang Strength and Martial Dao Divine Will. In this way, as long as he continued to accumulate, he would one day reach the limit!

After eating and drinking his fill, he comfortably ended this training session, then began to ask them about the recent situation in Da Wu Mountain.

"We followed your methods, Big Brother, using composting and crop rotation, and the yield of various grains has indeed increased significantly. Now, basic food supplies are no longer an issue, and the cultivated land is enough to feed ten thousand people!"

"Also, iron tools are becoming cheaper and cheaper now. Basically, every household has several iron farm tools, which are much better for tilling and harvesting than the old tools."

"We've found a few salt mines, but for now, we can only boil salt. The sun-drying method you mentioned, Big Brother, is still being experimented with..."

Da Wu Mountain had now completely become Gu Chang's private territory. No force could possibly come to trouble him, a Refining Spirit Expert. This authority was naturally cultivated by Gu Chang after he had defeated all the Refining Spirit Experts in the entire Reincarnation World.

Thanks to his growing reputation, more and more common people who couldn't survive fled to Da Wu Mountain.

Coupled with various talents improving different technologies based on his occasional suggestions, it could be said that Da Wu Mountain had now become a thriving paradise.

Li Ergou and the other old-timers who followed Gu Chang also began to take charge of various matters, big and small, in the various mountain strongholds, rather than primarily training and improving their martial arts in the army.

Currently, most of the military affairs are basically handled by martial artists from military families like Zhao Changkong.

Gu Chang was not worried about being sidelined, because as long as his strength was sufficient, wherever he was, that would be the core of Da Wu Mountain!

Similarly, Zhao Changkong and others also understood this point, so after coming to Da Wu Mountain, they basically cut off contact with their outside Families.

"What about medicinal herbs and barbarian beef? Are they still enough?"

After listening to Li Ergou's report, Gu Chang suddenly asked him. Da Wu Mountain had abundant resources, and now he rarely hunted personally; many things were done by his subordinates.

"Most medicinal herbs can be collected, and those that can't be collected can be bought from the outside world. Now, various forces are basically willing to give us Face."

"As for barbarian beef, currently it can only supply a small number of people for Cultivation. Hunting that stuff is too difficult; even if an army is dispatched, they might not be able to take it down without injury."

When it came to barbarian beef, Li Ergou suddenly felt a headache. It wasn't just that hunting was difficult; the most crucial point was that Gu Chang's consumption was equally terrifying.

Each training session required at least a hundred pounds of barbarian beef to replenish Qi and blood. Even if an entire barbarian ox was slaughtered, the net meat obtained was roughly five or six thousand pounds, but that could only supply Gu Chang alone for one or two months.

The number of barbarian oxen in Da Wu Mountain wasn't that high...

"Understood, I have the basic situation."

"As for medicinal herbs, collect as much as you can. The soldiers' usage and consumption cannot be reduced. If absolutely necessary, establish dedicated medicinal fields for cultivation. The short-term harvest might be small, but in the long run, cultivating our own medicinal herbs is the way to go."

"I'll figure out the barbarian beef problem. Next, I'll go into the mountains to catch a few live ones for breeding and raising. Then, I'll find a specific valley to free-range them, and you just need to periodically throw in some fodder."

With Gu Chang's current strength, capturing barbarian oxen alive was not difficult at all, so for the sake of the future, he directly made this decision.

"Yes! We'll listen to Big Brother!"

If anyone else had proposed this, Li Ergou would have thought he was tired of living, but coming from Gu Chang's mouth, it seemed perfectly natural.

After a simple tidying up, Gu Chang entered the mountains. What happened next was unknown to outsiders; they only knew that a huge commotion occurred in a certain valley not far from the valley encampment.

That originally empty valley was forcibly transformed by some great power into a closed pasture, and what was grazing inside were indeed massive, fierce, exotic barbarian oxen!

To accomplish this, Gu Chang specifically spent about a week. During this time, he not only transformed the terrain of that valley but also caught many female barbarian oxen and young barbarian oxen.

As for the larger male barbarian oxen, Gu Chang disliked their violent and fierce temperaments and did not choose to raise them in large numbers.

He only selected one or two sufficiently robust male barbarian oxen for separate rearing, otherwise, if these guys gathered together, they would surely fight to the death.