8: Strength improvement

Fortunately, to train them, the army provided some resources for their use in the Early Stage.

Mainly, they could eat one meal of meat every day and drink a bowl of secret medicine every few days.

After all, they were only in the Early Stage of martial arts, and this consumption was already sufficient.

After remembering the basic Cultivate method of Xuanbing Blood Fiend Skill, the next step was continuous nourishment and Body Refining.

Compared to those profound and mysterious martial arts, the Cultivate difficulty of Xuanbing Blood Fiend Skill was actually not great; getting started was not a very difficult thing.

In less than two months, Gu Chang successfully completed the blood strengthening, his whole body was full of Qi and blood, he looked ruddy, and was much stronger and healthier than when he started.

Then the next step was Flesh Refining, but unfortunately, from now on, the army would no longer supply them with the resources needed for martial arts for free.

Meat, secret medicine, and the like all needed to be purchased to obtain. Gu Chang originally thought that the reward money of a thousand gold in his hand could be kept, but now he realized it was not realistic at all. In fact, if he wanted to reach the Realm of Flesh Refining, his land would not be kept either!

The enormous consumption of martial arts can be seen from this; it is simply not something ordinary families can afford.

“Alas, as expected, how could the benefits of the army be so easily obtained?”

Now Gu Chang completely understood why this large army seemed so generous and why the number of elite soldiers was so small.

To put it bluntly, the consumption of martial arts was too great, and the army's rewards could easily be taken back by them, while also gaining a group of high-quality martial artists and thugs.

Of course, if you don't want to continue Cultivating, that's fine, but if you go to the battlefield next and die due to low strength, then you deserve it!

Various factors led to ordinary soldiers wanting to go further not only by fighting in blood but also by paying a large price to Cultivate martial arts. They simply couldn't stop and could only be firmly bound to the army, serving it until death!

“Dong! Dong! Dong!”

Two months later, the army had already left Pingshan City, and war broke out again, but this time Gu Chang and his group were no longer the attacking side but the defending side.

And this time, they were not defending a city but engaging in a direct confrontation between two armies in the wilderness, fighting head-on.

As for the specific reason, Gu Chang was not clear, but he thought it was related to the autumn harvest at this time. To ensure that the fields within the pass would not suffer extensive damage due to the chaotic army, they could only fight the enemy head-on instead of choosing to strengthen their defenses and clear the fields, or defend the city.

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

“Fire!”

“Whoosh whoosh whoosh!”

“Ah!!!”

Under the vast land, tens of thousands of people directly collided, arrows flew in the sky, and shouts of killing soared into the sky on the ground. From time to time, bodies fell, and soldiers died every moment.

Gu Chang, at this moment, was clad in armor, holding a battle saber, leading his subordinates to fight the enemy.

At first, both armies could maintain their formations, but as the fighting continued, the military formations became increasingly chaotic.

Gu Chang originally had hundreds of people around him, but gradually, some died and some scattered, leaving only about ten people, and all around were enemy soldiers.

“Kill!!”

“Charge out! Otherwise, you will surely die!”

“Ah!”

“Help!”

“…”

Seeing that the situation was not good, Gu Chang immediately prepared to lead his subordinates to break out of the encirclement, but it was clearly too late at this point. The soldiers around him were quickly killed.

Even if he fought back desperately, he found it difficult to break through the encirclement, with spears standing tall and swords flying all around him.

“Hahaha! Die!”

Suddenly, accompanied by a loud laugh, a fierce martial artist holding a large iron hammer charged directly towards Gu Chang.

“Bang!”

“Crack!”

Gu Chang, who was already outnumbered, was instantly hit by the large iron hammer, his bones shattered directly, and he fell to the ground in excruciating pain, then completely lost consciousness.

[Valiant struggle, defeated by a strong enemy, died in an encirclement, fought to the death!]

[This Reincarnation evaluation: Ding-shang]

[This Reincarnation reward: 5 Reincarnation points]

So Gu Chang woke up again, and at the same time, the Six Paths of Reincarnation also gave him a new evaluation. It was obvious that this time his performance was much better than before, and he received much more rewards.

“Hiss~ My head hurts so much!”

However, before Gu Chang could rejoice, he felt a throbbing pain in his head, and then he suddenly found that it was already bright outside the fishing boat, and his stomach was incredibly hungry.

“This Reincarnation lasted too long, almost three months in total, but the harvest this time is not small!”

“The most important Cultivate method of Xuanbing Blood Fiend Skill has been obtained, and there are also a few battle techniques for battlefield combat, but the only trouble is the secret medicine!”

Gu Chang fumbled and got out of bed, then started boiling water and cooking, while also thinking about what he should do next.

To Cultivate, one cannot do without meat nourishment and secret medicine to catalyze Qi and blood. The former is easy to say; there are plenty of fish and shrimp in Taihu Lake, which is certainly enough to nourish the body.

The key lies in the latter; the secret medicine has always been brewed by the army and given to them. As for the prescription, although Gu Chang was interested in inquiring, it was obvious that the army could not casually disclose it to them.

“I heard that one can also Cultivate without secret medicine, but the progress is very slow, and it is even difficult to Breakthrough. Moreover, it requires more meat to compensate for the consumption of Cultivation, which is not worth it for ordinary people.”

“But for me, it's worth a try. I can try to Cultivate first, strengthen my Qi and blood, and refine my body. As for slow progress, then let it be slow.”

“If it really doesn't work, then I'll risk stealing the prescription. At most, I'll die a few times. I happen to have extra Reincarnation points now.”

In the last Reincarnation, Gu Chang did not act because he was worried about not having enough Reincarnation points, but now he no longer has such concerns.

After breakfast, Gu Chang began to try to Cultivate.

“Hoo~ Hiss~”

He was seen moving his limbs on the boat while breathing and exhaling at a special frequency. Before long, his whole body began to sweat profusely and turn red.

He did not spend his time in the Reincarnation World in vain; the Cultivation Technique for the blood strengthening period was too familiar to him.

However, in reality, he did not have secret medicine to take, so he had to stop this practice in less than half an hour, otherwise, it would be harmful to his body.

“Hoo! It is indeed feasible. If I eat more fish meat and supplement enough nutrients, I can Cultivate for one or two hours a day!”

“At this rate of Cultivation, it will probably take seven or eight months to reach blood strengthening Perfection and begin Flesh Refining.”

After some calculations, Gu Chang also figured out the efficiency of Cultivating without relying on secret medicine.

“I didn't expect my own physical talent to be much stronger than the body in the Reincarnation World. Otherwise, without secret medicine, the progress would be much slower, and it would probably take more than half a year to reach blood strengthening Perfection.”

In any case, Gu Chang was very happy inside now; he could finally obtain his own power!

So, Gu Chang immediately began to act, killing fish, cooking, and nourishing his body and strengthening his Qi and blood through meat supplementation.

Fortunately, he can now catch a lot of fish using ground cages and traps, otherwise, this first step alone would be deadly.

Soon, the daytime passed, and night came again. Gu Chang lay on the bed once more, concentrating his consciousness before the Six Paths of Reincarnation.