Chapter 5: This is the Great Perfection Realm of the Cloak Saber Technique!

The old soldier was named Chen Youde. Like Zhang Yuan, he was a Black-Clad Guard sent from Luyang Prefecture as a death-row prisoner, and he had once been a colleague of Zhang Yuan’s father.

Of the eight Black-Clad Guards who had come to Fengtian County together, only Chen Youde and Zhang Yuan remained.

Zhang Yuan nodded, gripped his blade, and walked toward the center of the alley.

"I’ll block the enemy; you finish them off."

Young Master Tao gave a low shout. He vibrated the shaft of his wooden spear to deflect incoming arrows, his feet never stopping as he charged against the black-armored soldiers.

Zhang Yuan crouched slightly and drove his long blade into the chests of two black-armored soldiers who were still struggling.

Two blood-energy orbs surged into his body like rolling power, causing his meridians to swell as if they were about to tear.

A grey-blue aura flooded into his body, circled once, and then condensed back into two round orbs.

Both his fist technique and blade technique had reached the Great Perfection stage, leaving nothing left to comprehend. Was this insight being stored away as orbs?

There was no time to ponder this. Zhang Yuan looked up to see Young Master Tao, whose spear shadows were flying. With every step, he thrust; the spear tip flashed with light, producing a whistling sound like tearing fabric.

This spear technique was not the "Three Strikes Before the Formation" practiced by the soldiers in the camp.

"My Tao family is a prominent clan in Yuping County, a family of scholars."

"My mother always hoped I would pass the official examinations and not break the Tao family’s Confucian heritage."

"I, Tao Yulin, have hated literature and loved martial arts since I was a child. I studied under famous masters and never had the patience for those lectures."

Young Master Tao swung his long spear, advancing step by step, shouting aloud—whether for Zhang Yuan to hear or for himself, he did not know.

"It wasn't until three years ago that I killed someone by mistake, implicating the entire Tao family. The younger generation of the Tao family was stripped of their eligibility for the official exams, and my mother died of grief and indignation."

A brilliant spear-flower pierced the waist of a black-armored soldier who had rushed forward. With a pull and a flick of the wooden spear, he swept it across the thigh of another soldier, carving out a bloody gash.

Zhang Yuan stepped forward, rolled along the ground, and thrust his long blade into the throat of the soldier who was clutching his thigh and trying to retreat, the blade tip emerging from the back of his neck.

The speed and power brought by his cultivation at the limit of the early Postnatal stage, combined with his Great Perfection-level blade mastery, made this strike ruthless and decisive.

Without sheathing his blade, Zhang Yuan gripped it with both hands, knelt on one knee, twisted the weapon, and slashed fiercely at an angle.

One of the eight styles of the Cloak Blade Technique: Wind-Severing.

The blade that had severed half the neck of the black-armored soldier struck the chest of the soldier who had been speared in the waist.

The thin leather armor could not withstand Zhang Yuan’s heavy strike. The blade bit into the breastbone, blood sprayed out, and the soldier was knocked back two zhang before falling. With a kick of his feet, his life was extinguished.

Power, speed, timing.

Zhang Yuan’s strike displayed the ultimate ferocity of the Cloak Blade Technique.

Young Master Tao, who was pulling back his spear to catch his breath, turned his head slightly to look at Zhang Yuan, who was hunched over and dragging his blade. A faint smile appeared on his face.

"Good lad, your blade technique has actually reached the Great Success stage."

To outsiders, there was no difference between the Great Success and Great Perfection stages of a blade technique; only the practitioner themselves could feel the chasm-like gap between them.

With a flick of his spear, he forced back the black-armored soldiers rushing forward. Young Master Tao shouted, "You should go study martial arts; you might even have a chance to achieve the Innate realm."

The Great Qin was founded on martial power, and the martial path was supreme; even ordinary commoners practiced some martial arts for self-defense.

Unfortunately, literature is for the poor and martial arts for the rich. Martial cultivation consumes vast resources, and the inheritances are controlled by powerful factions. Ordinary martial artists never have the chance to step into the Innate realm in their entire lives.

Martial artists without resources or inheritance have no choice but to risk their lives for military merit, exchanging it for the martial training provided by the government and the imperial court.

Zhang Yuan did not reply. He simply kept his body low, gripping his blade like a crouching tiger, standing at Young Master Tao’s side.

Killing two more men, his blood-energy power broke through to eight hundred jin, and his martial cultivation entered the mid-Postnatal stage!

In his mind, the chaotic screen appeared.

【Zhang Yuan】

Identity: Ninth-rank Black-Clad Guard of Luyang Prefecture, Great Qin; Conscripted soldier of the Red Scale Army

Cultivation: Mid-Postnatal stage; physical blood-energy not yet stabilized, temporarily unable to upgrade

Martial Arts: Cloak Blade Technique (Great Perfection), cannot upgrade; Iron Armor Fist (Great Perfection), cannot upgrade

Battle Formation: Azure Wolf Formation (Minor Success)

Chaotic Space: Insight Orbs (4)

Chaotic Combat Support: Not activated

His cultivation had just stepped into the mid-Postnatal stage; his body and bones were not yet tempered enough to bear more blood-energy.

Since his cultivation and martial arts had reached their limit, there was nowhere left to advance. The feedback of insights and blood-energy orbs would be stored in the Chaotic Space.

He would store the blood orbs and insight orbs to use for future breakthroughs.

As for the Azure Wolf Formation commonly practiced in the army, he must have comprehended it to Minor Success while observing the cultivation memories; this formation was not difficult.

"Woo—"

In the distance, a horn sounded.

Chaos erupted behind the black-armored soldiers who were blocking the path. The soldiers forced back by Young Master Tao gripped their round shields, blades, and spears, pushing forward step by step.

The Yan Kingdom was founded by rebels against the Qin, and their military formations followed the Great Qin’s military laws.

Shields in front, spears behind, blades accompanying, five men forming a unit, advancing and retreating in unison—this was the Azure Wolf Formation.

"Be careful." Young Master Tao gave a low shout. He stepped to the left, leaped into the air, and used the rebound from a street pillar to fly onto the eaves.

High above on the eaves, Young Master Tao held his long spear horizontally. As he descended with the spear, he swung the shaft in a wide, whistling arc.

"Pa—"

The spear shaft smashed into the back of a soldier who was hunched over holding a shield, snapping his spine and sending him crashing to the ground.

Landing on his feet, Young Master Tao gripped the dagger tied to the spear tip and thrust forward, piercing the ribs of a soldier who had turned around.

At this moment, Zhang Yuan did not hesitate. Taking advantage of the moment the shield-bearer was knocked down by Young Master Tao, he charged into the gap in the formation, holding his blade with both hands and slashing diagonally.

Advancing and dragging the blade, stepping up and slashing.

The two blade moves were agile and swift, the movements clean and crisp. The blade edge grazed the waist of the shield-bearer on the left, drawing a bloody gash, then struck the shoulder armor of another soldier, sending him stumbling and breaking the formation that had been surrounding Young Master Tao.

The blade was like a gale, the body following the blade!

Man and blade became one, power flowing through the edge. Zhang Yuan felt that every move was incredibly satisfying.

This was the Great Perfection of the Cloak Blade Technique!

Once the formation was broken, Young Master Tao laughed aloud. He swept his long spear, knocking aside two blade-wielding soldiers, and the spear tip struck like a snake into the thigh of a black-armored soldier in front of him.

The encirclement of the two units of Yan black-armored soldiers was directly shattered by Zhang Yuan and Young Master Tao.

The remaining two soldiers retreated in panic. Zhang Yuan seized the opportunity to step forward, thrusting his blade repeatedly to end the lives of the two wounded men.

Two more blood orbs, two more insight orbs gained!

He would accumulate more blood orbs and insight orbs as resources for future cultivation!

Zhang Yuan looked up, a smile appearing on his face, which was drenched red with blood, making him look ferocious and terrifying.

As Zhang Yuan stepped forward, Young Master Tao grabbed his arm.

"Retreat."

"You’ve been bewitched by the bloodlust."

Young Master Tao’s words made Zhang Yuan shudder, and clarity returned to his eyes.

Countless soldiers had died before the formation because they killed too much and had their minds clouded by bloodlust.

That state of surging blood-energy, where one only seeks to kill, could increase a soldier's combat power, but it could also cost them their lives.

If not for Young Master Tao’s shout, Zhang Yuan would have charged straight into the enemy formation.

"Let's go." Zhang Yuan nodded, gripping his blade as he retreated.

Duan Hong and his team had already gone far; their task of covering the retreat was complete.

Covering the retreat was not the same as throwing one's life away.

Young Master Tao nodded, holding his wooden spear. He turned sideways, dragging the spear, and retreated toward the back of the alley.

They had only retreated a few steps when a shrill, piercing whistle came from two hundred paces away.

An arrow!

It took at least the strength of an ox to shoot such a whistling long arrow.

Innate realm!