Chapter 30: Sword and Brothers

  After returning from the Scripture Pavilion, Zhang Shan devoted himself wholeheartedly to his cultivation.

  Situ Qingwan arranged for the Zhang family to live in this yard, with a quiet environment and a large martial arts training ground in the backyard, which is just right for Zhang Shan's cultivation.

  According to his request, the servants of the Situ family set up wooden stakes all over the martial arts arena, and Zhang Shan practiced the "Jiemi Zhan" technique repeatedly.

  Build momentum, draw sword, swing out.

  A sharp whistling sound passed by, a sword flashed, and the wooden stake standing in front of Zhang Shan was split open with one sword.

  Jiemiè zhǎn requires a martial artist to rotate their entire body's true yuan, accumulating momentum, then infuse it all into the long sword, and finally unleash a full-force slash.

  Every blow is full force, no strength is left behind.

  At the beginning of the practice of annihilating silence, the drawback lies in the slightly longer time it takes to build up momentum. If the opponent is prepared and avoids it beforehand, then it will be a waste of effort and a useless consumption of true yuan.

  Moreover, after delivering this blow, the true yuan will temporarily be depleted, and the martial artist will be in a state of old force departing and new force not yet born, making their situation extremely dangerous. Therefore, it is said that if one strike does not hit its mark, life and death can reverse.

  It must be practiced to the point where it is as swift as lightning and powerful as a thousand junctures before it can be used in actual combat.

  At first, Zhang Shan needed five breaths to cut off the wooden stake from preparation to completion. After five days of diligent practice without sleep or food, he was able to complete this sword move in one breath, which is a small achievement.

  And every day, the household staff would replace them with a new batch of wooden stakes.

  On the sixth day, Zhang Shan began to let them change into stone stakes, increasing the difficulty for a new round of cultivation.

  By the tenth day, Zhang Shan's preparation time before drawing his sword had shortened to within half a breath. With one slash of his sword, a stone stake made of sky blue stone was cut open like tofu, with a smooth break like a mirror, showing that power and speed had been perfectly combined.

  When all the stone stakes in front of him were cut into pieces by him, Zhang Shan slowly let out a breath and ended his sword practice.

  After resting for a moment, he continued to practice his "Shen Xing Bai Bian" technique.

  Suddenly, the sound of clothes tearing through the air echoed on the martial arts field.

  For the past ten days, from dawn till dusk, Zhang Shan has been repeating this dull cultivation. He is now more and more clearly aware that in this world, the strong are respected, and strength is a prerequisite for protecting oneself, family, and friends.

  As the sun was about to set, Zhang Shan finished his training for today and returned to the front yard.

  Just as he was about to have his meal, a servant came in and reported: "Young Master Zhang, your friend has woken up. The young lady asks me to invite you over."

  "Woken up? That's great, I'll go over right away." Zhang Shan said with great joy.

  When he arrived at the place, Situ Qing had already been waiting there.

  Gao Peng and Lei Meng were also taken out of the medicine cabinet and placed on the hospital bed in the room, where Dr. Gao Gong was examining their physical condition.

  Zhang Shan walked quickly to the bedside and saw that both of them had indeed opened their eyes, but their eyes were dull and no longer had the spirit of a warrior.

  Upon seeing Zhang Shan, both of them simultaneously revealed a smile. Lei Meng smacked his lips and said: "Looks like you're fine, I told you, your kid's life is tough, won't easily be taken by others."

  "Let's talk about that later, how are you two feeling now?" Zhang Shan asked with concern.

  "There's nothing, it's just that I'm aching all over, my bones can't be completely broken, right?" Gaoping gritted his teeth and groaned.

  "You two have broken bones all over your bodies, and most importantly, your internal organs are almost shattered. Plus, you've overdrawn your true yuan, and your qi sea is damaged. Without at least three to five months of time, I'm afraid you won't be able to stand up again."

  Gao Gongzong spoke up from beside him.

  "Excuse me, sir, won't our Qi Hai be in trouble? Will it affect our future cultivation?" Lei Meng asked hesitantly.

  "In my opinion, after recovering from the injury, cultivation is not a problem, but it will leave behind future troubles. At most, it can only recover to its original level, and advancing in rank is likely impossible." High Priest Gao shook his head and said.

  "Is there really no other way?" Zhang Shan looked at the two brothers and saw the look of loss in their eyes, asking unwillingly.

  "That's not necessarily the case, if there's a top-grade healing pill or a peerless medicine, then it wouldn't be a problem. However, that kind of medicine is basically something that martial artists below the Martial Sacred level can't even hope to get their hands on." High Priest said with a change in his tone.

  Zhang Shan clenched his fists and said to Gao Lei and the others, "You can rest assured, I will definitely find a way to get the elixir that can cure you in the future. As long as I don't die, it won't take too long for me to achieve this."

  Lei Meng burst out laughing: "Alright then, it's settled. You'd better become powerful quickly, I don't have the patience to wait for ten or twenty years."

  "Mengzi is right, Ashan. Give you ten years, by then you'll become a Martial Saint. Even if you can't refine us, following you will still be a good life." Gaopeng also laughed and said.

  Situ Qingwan watched the conversation between the three young men, and a wave of emotion surged in her heart. "Sometimes, men's friendship can be really moving. They may not believe that Zhang Shan can become Wu Sheng, but these words are just heartfelt encouragement and support."

  Zhang Shan smiled lightly, his eyes firm. Previously, such ideas were just fanciful, but now that he had the mysterious Stele Spirit, some impossible things might become possible.

  After making up his mind, Zhang Shan then asked about what happened before the two were injured.

  As soon as this matter was mentioned, both of their faces turned gloomy. After a while, Gao Peng reluctantly spoke about what had happened.

  The two men's families died early, so they didn't have the support of a family like Zhang Shan did. They had to do some fighting and debt collecting for others, occasionally helping out in emergencies on the road, and even setting up scams to cheat rich merchants.

  Kanaya suddenly found them and wanted to team up with them to swindle a rich merchant, but unexpectedly it was Kanaya's trap set up with someone else, and the two of them were left with evidence in his hands.

  Kanaya's expression revealed his intention to deal with Zhang Shan, threatening them to lure Zhang Shan into the trap. The two of course refused to obey, only pretending to agree, then taking advantage of the opportunity to escape.

  In the end, he was discovered by Kano and surrounded, barely escaping with his life, hiding in a righteous village outside the city, but also exhausted and nearly dying.

  "You know what happened later, just now we woke up and asked Miss Situ, only to find out that if it wasn't for you asking her to send someone to look for us, my brother and I would have been dead long ago. Guan Ye, I will definitely repay this debt." Gao Peng said gritting his teeth.

  "After the Gate Sect's selection match, I'll dig three feet underground to catch the one with the surname Guan and kill him in front of you two." Zhang Shan guaranteed.

  Lei Meng gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "I want to personally cut this rubbish into a thousand pieces, otherwise it's hard to dispel the hatred in my heart."

  "No problem, when the time comes, whether it's killing or skinning, I'll listen to your orders." Zhang Shan said coldly.

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