Longevity Martial Arts: Starting from Inner Core Skill

Wanting to deduce the familiar array from the military formation was not so simple.

Even the military formation itself was not so simple, especially since Wang Sheng also had to divert some of his spiritual power to suppress the increasingly mysterious powers.

He was not clear where this power came from; it seemed that the force that appeared on the first day was just the beginning. After suppressing the mysterious power of the first day, a large wave of power came over the next three days.

After three days, although the arriving power had lessened, it continued steadily, like a trickling stream.

Therefore, he had to use more and more of his Divine Thought to suppress this mysterious power, which dispersed much of his energy, and he even got somewhat used to it towards the end.

But for a permanent solution, the military formation still had to be studied.

The route back to Shuzhou naturally would not be the same as the route they had come by; Wang Sheng chose the route that was originally planned from Shuzhou to the Imperial City and now was using it.

Sun Xing also directed Dabai according to the route Wang Sheng had mentioned.

Along the way, it was still the same as before, with Liu Jian’an and others training, and occasionally clearing up the minor thieves and Demon Beasts on the road.

With the existence of flying swords, Wang Sheng hardly needed to spend much effort watching.

So he usually studied the military formation inside the Tiger Carriage while Liu Jian’an and others trained outside.

"Liu Bro, do you feel like there are more Demon Beasts than when we were coming?" Normally, Liu Jian’an was their leader, so he was called Liu Bro.

Of course, this was also related to the fact that Liu Jian’an was naturally the oldest.

Liu Jian’an, after dispatching several Second Grade Demon Beasts, thought for a moment and said, "Indeed, there are more. It might be related to the different route we’re taking!"

He was already used to Demon Beasts.

So even if there were more, he didn’t feel much.

Especially now that he was a Fourth Grade Martial Artist, the Demon Beasts he encountered on the road posed almost no threat to him; he could usually kill them swiftly, so he didn’t particularly pay attention to their numbers.

"Is that so..." Wang Lingwei neither agreed nor disagreed, but she also did not argue, for she had no evidence to prove anything unusual. After failing to puzzle it out, she gave up, "I will just focus on practicing my spear!"

They had previously chosen their own weapons, which Wang Sheng had obtained for them. Now when they killed Demon Beasts, they used these weapons, which made it easier.

Under deliberate training, their strength was quite impressive, and they could hold their own against anyone of the same level.

In the next few days, they finally confirmed that there were indeed more Demon Beasts.

Previously, they might not encounter a Demon Beast for ten or fifteen days, but now, they encountered them almost every one or two days.

They felt this was abnormal.

Wang Lingwei mentioned this matter to Wang Sheng, wanting to hear his thoughts.

However, Wang Sheng did not have any clue either; he recently had no time to be distracted by studying other matters.

"It might be because the turmoil of war has intensified. Since there are more Demon Beasts, you guys should just try harder and kill more of them, which is a good opportunity for training."

The turmoil made more people homeless, and this situation gave Demon Beasts opportunities to attack humans more easily. Under these circumstances, the increase in Demon Beasts could be explained.

Of course, what the real reason was, Wang Sheng didn’t know and couldn’t be bothered to puzzle over.

After sending Wang Lingwei and the others away, he dove back into his research.

He explained this way, and Wang Lingwei and the others had no further thoughts, so they just killed more Demon Beasts, considering it recycling waste.

The group’s progress was not very fast, and another week passed.

Wang Sheng finally made some progress in the military formation.

"Military Formation: 1 (1%)"

The difficulty of the military formation was higher than he had anticipated, without any guidance and also needing to spend some energy to suppress the mysterious power, so it took him almost ten days to truly get started.

And just getting started was the most basic step.

Although "military formation" contained the word "formation," its connection to the type of formation he wanted wasn’t so deep, and could only be said to have some referential value.

After getting started with the military formation, the next step was the most important.

Using the military formation, he needed to find a way to deduce the formation technique.

Clearly, this step was even more challenging.

After spending three days, Wang Sheng had to admit that this step was really difficult; he did not have any clue.

Just like with the Sword Transformation Technique, which he had long anticipated, he had still not managed to work it out.

And that was even with the presence of a progress bar.

From nothing to something was not as simple as imagined. With the Sword Transformation Technique as a cautionary tale, this situation was also expected.

"Forget it, let’s relax for a bit and shift our thinking!"

Eventually, Wang Sheng decided to put the military formation aside temporarily.

From Shuzhou to the Imperial City, he understood deeply that creating in isolation was not advisable.

Learning by analogy was also a good method to solve problems.

Wang Sheng decided to first enter the city for some rest.

This time, when he arrived at Yuelai Inn, Zhu Xiao came to visit again.

"Was the murder-inducing rain in Imperial City your doing?"

Although it was a question, no matter how Wang Sheng heard it, it sounded like a confirmation.

But there was nothing worth hiding about it, so he said, "Yes, I couldn’t stand the way those people were acting."

He had always acted as if things did not exist until he witnessed them; once he did, and had the capability to intervene, he never hesitated to take action.

Had the Rebellion Army entering Imperial City shown even a hint of humanity, he wouldn’t have acted this way.

"It has to be you!" Others might not be aware, but Zhu Xiao knew well that summoning rain, a miraculous secret technique in Imperial City, was most likely done by Wang Sheng and—

"A lot of people ended up taking the blame for you, and my Yuelai Inn bore the brunt of it..."

Zhu Xiao updated Wang Sheng on the movements of the four Overlord Level forces, which, in short, were frantically searching for someone.

All the Great Grandmasters were suspects, and Zhu Xiao, with her formidable strength, was the prime suspect.

Many believed that Yuelai Inn, although not participating in open conflict, was secretly advancing its own agenda.

"Haha, do people really think that…" Wang Sheng felt somewhat awkward, as testing his Divine Skills had caused such a massive influence; there were even those who worshiped him.

He suddenly speculated about the mysterious power.

Most likely, it was the power of "faith," or what some might call "incense."

No wonder it was so difficult to deal with; such power, seemingly common, allowed people to achieve godliness or ancestral status; how could it be regarded as low-level?

If it really was that kind of energy, he thought, then he shouldn’t consider eradicating it any time soon; indeed, sealing it was currently the best solution.

Zhu Xiao was unaware of all this; she had come not to complain, but actually for the purpose of exchanging knowledge.

Thus, Wang Sheng stayed at Yuelai Inn for two more days before leaving.

It was undeniable; as the founder of a new school, Zhu Xiao’s insights were extremely broad. Every exchange was greatly beneficial to Wang Sheng.

After this interaction, Wang Sheng brought new ideas to his understanding of Arrays.

"It seems to have come back to ’Summoning Wind and Rain’ and the Fire Transformation Pearl!"

Arrays, in many understandings, involve manipulating the forces of heaven and earth, particularly the sealing arrays.

After all, if something needs to be sealed, it suggests that one’s own power is insufficient, necessitating the aid of something more potent.

And the power of heaven and earth is often borrowed.

Borrow a bit here, a bit there; if heaven and earth weren’t so fundamentally robust, they’d probably have been completely drained by now.

And this was precisely Wang Sheng’s line of thought in his study of sealing arrays.

"Summoning Wind and Rain" originally was a Divine Skill that invoked the laws of heaven and earth for summoning wind and calling rain.

"Fundamentally, ’Summoning Wind and Rain’ has connectivity with the Array I seek, so I might try starting from there, using the laws of heaven and earth in a similar way; it might inspire something."

"Then there’s the Fire Transformation Pearl. The Array must ultimately be easy to use at any given time, just like ’Summoning Wind and Rain,’ simplified, akin to an Array Flag."

"The method of utilizing fire from the Fire Transformation Pearl can also be a reference."

Wang Sheng kept envisioning.

He realized that inadvertently acquiring the Fire Transformation Pearl was a good thing; it not only facilitated progress in ’Summoning Wind and Rain,’ but now might even be useful in completing the Array.

This serendipitously acquired treasure was extraordinarily cost-effective.

With these thoughts, Wang Sheng temporarily set aside his research on Military Formations, spending little time each day reading related books to make progress.

Apart from the unwavering practice of Inner Core Skill and Ba Duan Jin each day, he devoted most of his time to training with the Lifeless Vacuum Sensing Chapter and refining the Heavenly Thought Scripture.

"Summoning Wind and Rain" related to the contents of both.

Especially the Heavenly Thought Scripture, which still had many Divine Skills yet to be actualized.

Now that "Summoning Wind and Rain" was complete, Wang Sheng planned to actualize the other Divine Skills one by one.

But before that, he revised "Summoning Wind and Rain" again.

After the Breakthrough, his understanding of Summoning Wind and Rain deepened, making the modifications not so challenging.

However, speaking of modifications, they were more about simplification.

The most essential power for using such Divine Skills was spiritual power; thus, Wang Sheng modified it to be driven solely by spiritual power, substituting personal spiritual energy for consumption, reducing environmental constraints.

This revision took him three days.

After the modifications, he incorporated the simplified version of "Summoning Wind and Rain" into the Heavenly Thought Scripture.

"Summoning Wind and Rain" is complete, and the outcome is quite satisfactory; now to see if other Divine Skills can be perfected."

Simplifying "Summoning Wind and Rain" provided Wang Sheng with substantial insights; his understanding of spiritual power improved, and his confidence in realizing the next Divine Skill was strengthened.

"Heavenly Thunder," a Divine Skill just as the name suggests, could summon heavenly thunder to strike adversaries. Qiao Nian had used something similar before, but it had been blocked by his "Shocking Dragon."

Although it wasn’t effective that time, that was because it encountered Wang Sheng, whose own Divine Skill was excellent.

"Let’s see how it can be actualized…"