Hanling City, Lingkuang Mountain Mine Camp
Seven nights after returning to the camp, after wolfing down the rations he had worked hard for a day, he lay down on the damp straw mat early and sank into the spiritual world...
Qiye carefully took out a bronze wind scroll - "Shadow Step" from the secret realm of the void, opened it slowly and solemnly, and began to practice as a spiritual practitioner.
Staring at: Shadow Step, Grade: Unknown; Training Level: Elementary... Qiye carefully considered the information recorded on the scroll, thoughtfully, and murmured to himself:
Master once said that this scroll came from the hands of a demon king who fell during the Thousand Years War. Why is the cultivation level of this scroll so low, and the grade is also unknown? Is this scroll also a fragment? Or is this scroll itself such a low-level body technique? If that was the case, why was it carried by the Demon King? ... All kinds of doubts flashed through Qiye's mind.
Ahhhh... Qiye Lingpo rubbed his messy head. After worrying about many unanswered doubts for a while, I simply threw away all distracting thoughts and began to concentrate on practicing.
Paying attention again, the sixteen-character cultivation formula vividly appeared on the scroll:
The body is as fast as the wind, the slightest step is like a shadow, no trace, no shadow!
In an instant, Qiye slowly closed his eyes as if he had some enlightenment, and silently recited the true formula over and over again. There was silence in the spiritual world, and Qiye's spirit was quietly suspended in the void, closing his eyes and thinking... After a while, Qiye opened his eyes, took a calm breath, leaned forward slightly, tapped his toes twice, and flashed, The whole person slid forward half a meter.
It was my first try, but it didn't achieve the ideal effect of being as fast as the wind as I imagined. But Qiye was extremely excited: because he could practice this technique! This is what makes Qiye the happiest. Being able to confirm that he can practice "Shadow Step" is Qiye's biggest focus.
As for the results of the performance, Qiye doesn't care too much: it may be because his strength is too low or his comprehension ability is somewhat biased, so he cannot perform it well. It is also possible that he has not truly understood it. But these are not important. The most important thing is that I have the body skills that can be practiced to save my life!
"Shadow Step" is divided into seven stages according to the training stage: Ling Bu, Chasing the Wind, Afterimage, Intangible, Swift Sky, Stepping on the Moon, and Virtual Crossing.
Each stage is divided into four parts according to the level of cultivation: Beginner - Small Success - Proficient - Dacheng - Peak; it is said that when you reach the "virtual crossing", you only need to take a slight step to travel a hundred thousand miles. .....
Thinking of this, Qiye couldn't help but get even more excited. After the excitement slowly subsided, Qiye carefully analyzed the entire process. Although it was full of loopholes and clumsy footwork, it was not without any effect:
Come again, come again, come again...
So for the entire night, Qi Ye practiced tirelessly over and over again in the Hunyuan Lian territory, and this lasted the entire night. Currently, with Qiye's "junior level" strength, the length of the timeline in the Hunyuan Refining Realm is 1.1 times that of the real outside world. Therefore, Qiye practicing in the Hunyuan Refining Realm for one night is about an hour longer than practicing outside. With the improvement of future strength, the timeline of Hunyuan Refining Realm will continue to be extended.
The next day, after a whole night of footwork practice, Qiye still hadn't reached the threshold of the first stage: "Lingbu - Getting Started", but there was a long way to go, and Qiye was not in a hurry.
After a night's rest and adjustment of the body, Qiye's mental outlook has been greatly improved: the whole body is refreshed and the temperament has taken on a new look. He stood up and stretched his muscles. There was no pain or discomfort all over his body. His body became more relaxed than ever before. Seeing his current physical condition, Qiye smiled sincerely.
Walking out of the camp relaxedly and happily, and starting another day of work, Qiye was already a little impatient. Carrying the ore spirit stone, which once made me feel most unbearable, is no longer so painful. As long as I make any progress, I am happy enough to enjoy the hardship.
In this way, he avoided the eyes and ears of the mine supervisors for seven nights and days, waiting for opportunities to absorb spiritual energy. At night, I worked hard to practice "Shadow Step" all night without stopping. It is said that there are no years in practice. Time just passes by unknowingly through full diligence.
. . . . . .
Autumn turned to winter in a flash, and three months passed. With the improvement of absorbing a large amount of spiritual energy from the ore spirit stones, Qiye's strength was promoted from the initial "junior level 1" to "junior level 2": in the spiritual world, the number of spiritual stars increased to 300, and the space in the spiritual world also expanded to 280 square meters. At the same time, at the equator of the Hunyuan Refining Realm, the time inscription was also separated from one to two, and the time axis was extended to 1.2 times. Not only that, Qiye felt that the speed of the chaotic cyclone absorbing spiritual energy had also increased a lot.
Feeling that the sense of power in his whole body had increased to a higher level, Qiye smiled faintly. But what makes Qiye the happiest is that the practice of "Shadow Step" has officially entered the "Ling Step - Getting Started". Initial understanding of the first sentence of the formula: The body is as fast as the wind. Although the footwork is not fast and can only slide a few meters away, Qiye is very pleased with the results that have been achieved.
After three months of continuous hard practice, I was finally able to see a glimmer of hope. But now at the "Elementary Second Stage", the spiritual world has doubled in size. Now if you want to advance again, you need more spiritual energy. This also gave Qiye a headache: the spiritual energy of each frame of mined spiritual stones was already scarce, and if they were absorbed in large quantities, they would definitely be noticed. Hey, I didn’t expect that improving my strength would require so much spiritual power.
In winter, heavy snow falls in the mountains. The frosty and snowy road with water dripping into ice, the unbridled cold wind in the valley, the slave porters walking on the plank road at the foot of the mountain were shivering with cold, their thin linen clothes and linen clothes were exposed, and their muddy and exposed straw sandals were exposed, as well as their blood red and purple, and their abscesses were festering due to the cold. feet. The devastation of hunger and cold caused a large number of slaves to suffer from serious illnesses that were difficult to recover from. Every year, some slaves could not survive the cruel winter.
Although he has become a primary spiritual practitioner, Qiye did not activate the spiritual protection during the march, but chose to endure it directly. Along the way, people fell down from time to time and never got up again, while others fell into a deep valley in a trance due to terminal illness and exhaustion. Seeing all this, Qiye felt unbearable but had no choice. It was difficult for him to survive, so what could he do to help others?
As they continued to advance toward the mountains, more and more slave porters fell down along the way. Along the way, the supervisory soldiers pushed the slaves who died on the plank road directly down the cliff to clear the roadblocks and keep the plank road open. When every slave's life is squeezed out to the last moment and kicked out without hesitation. Seeing all this, Qiye had tears in his eyes:
In this world, are our lives really worthless? Has fate abandoned us?
Whenever the silence reaches this point, Qiye's desire to escape from this hellish situation becomes stronger. Looking up at the sky with thick snow, I shed tears for seven nights. I lament that I am in a difficult situation now. Only by constantly improving my own strength can I hope to break through this cruel situation and control my own destiny. Qiye, who continued to strengthen his self-confidence, moved forward silently, enduring the erosion of the frost and cold.
The winter nights in the valley are long and deadly. Many slaves who had worked hard for a day were worried that they would never be able to get up early the next day after going to bed, so they felt desperate: they had survived the difficult day, but not the long winter night.
The biting cold wind howling in made people huddle up and shiver, making it difficult to sleep. However, Qiye still sank into the Hunyuan Refining territory step by step to continue his cultivation. By the next day, Qiye's body had become extremely stiff, all his instincts had become numb, and his thin and young body was covered with a thin layer of frost. After moving his hands and feet, he struggled to get up, and the ice shards fell off.
Although it is so dangerous to fall asleep on a winter night, when immersed in the spiritual world, the Hunyuan Refining Realm will maintain the lowest vital signs of Qiye's body and prevent him from freezing to death. Qiye stretched his stiff body and looked around the tent. The tent camp that was once crowded in summer now has many empty bunks. The cold winter has not completely passed yet, and I don’t know how many people will survive until the end.
In the center of the mining camp, there is a huge white tent. A general wearing silver armor, a double-moon scimitar on his waist, and a mink fur coat walked out of the camp. Looking at the mountains and deep valleys with his eyes in trance, this person is the Wolf Guard in charge of the entire slave mining camp.
"General, what are you worried about?" A deputy general next to him asked respectfully after seeing Wolfbei so deep in thought.
"When will the prisoners of war be delivered this winter?" Wolfbei said calmly.
"Reporting to the general, I received a reply from the Lord of the City yesterday: Prisoners of war have been transferred to southern Xinjiang to build city defenses this winter, so for the time being, no prisoners of war will be sent to the mines this winter." The deputy general said cautiously, looking at Wolf Guard's face.
"Is there another war in southern Xinjiang?" Lang Bingwei stroked his two swords and his eyes moved slightly.
"Yes, according to the spies' report, Shuiyou City in Southern Xinjiang is mobilizing troops to seize the territory affiliated with Hanling City. Currently, the city lord has sent heavy troops to garrison Xiaochi Town on the front line of Southern Xinjiang." The deputy general reported back slowly.
"Who leads the troops?" Lang Bingwei asked with blazing eyes.
"It's General Xia Houfeng"
"Hmph, for such a war, the city lord didn't send me to go out. I have stayed in this place all year round, and my sword has not tasted blood, and it is almost rusty." Wolfbei finally couldn't help but draw out the blade, with a cold light. Ying Xue, eyes bloodthirsty.
Seeing this scene, the deputy general hurriedly said: "General, please calm down. The mine is the lifeblood of Hanling City's resources. The general has a heavy responsibility. It shows that the Lord of the City has high regard for the general and has entrusted him with it. The general's meritorious service in this post is even better than on the battlefield!"
After listening to the deputy general's remarks, Wolfbei gradually lost his anger. Then he changed his mind and asked: "How many casualties have there been among the prisoners in the mining camp now?"
"Reporting to the general, more than 2,000 prisoners in the mining camp have frozen to death, and there are still about 40,000 people. However, this winter is unusually cold for some reason. It is expected that next year...maybe...only 30,000 people will be left." The deputy general hesitated for a moment. , replied truthfully.
"Now that the war is imminent, we must not affect the mining of ores, understand?" Langbei ordered calmly.
"Yes! General... There is one more thing, please make a decision, General: This winter is particularly severe than before. Now the slaves are seriously frostbitten and the work is slow. The slaves will no longer be supplied this winter. If slaves continue to freeze to death in large numbers like this , the mining of the mine may be affected, do you think we should prepare some cold-proof things for it...?" The deputy general looked up at Wolfbei's expression and cautiously advised.
"They are just useless trash. If they die, they will die. Just catch them again. Do you care about the ants that were frozen to death by the heavy snow?" Langbei glanced at the deputy general beside him, then turned and entered the camp.
The harsh winter makes the long mountains covered in paleness. Snow weighs on the sky, and wind destroys rotten trees. On the plank road, a long queue was moving slowly and zigzag. A thick layer of white snow fell on everyone's body, and their frozen and ulcerated feet left stains of thick water and blood on the plank road. Qiye followed the team silently, his face completely white. Although his body was cold and bone-chilling, in the spirit world, traces of spiritual power continued to warm Qiye's heart so that it would not become completely cold.
