Chapter 41: The Heavenly Opportunity for Advancing to the Grandmaster Realm

His palm tightened, applying slight pressure.

*Crack—*

The iron box opened, revealing a jade-white, irregular bead about the size of a broad bean.

Is this a Sarira?

It appeared jade-white and flawless, feeling as smooth as bone to the touch.

It seemed like stone, yet like jade, but was neither stone nor jade.

As his hand grasped the Sarira, several streaks of light flickered across Zhang Yuan's body.

He infused his blood qi, but there was no feedback.

He poured in his True Yuan; there seemed to be a sensation, but no useful information was conveyed.

Since it was a Buddhist treasure, perhaps he should try using the power of Buddhist Yuan?

A faint golden light enveloped the Sarira, and a trace of surprise and joy appeared on Zhang Yuan's face.

As the Buddhist Yuan entered the Sarira, it was like a clear stream flowing into the ocean, stirring up ripples.

This Sarira actually contained unimaginable power, but it was contained within, making it imperceptible to external forces.

When he crushed a Buddhist Yuan bead and wrapped the Sarira in its power, the object actually transformed into a ball of soft white light, merging into Zhang Yuan's body and settling within his Dantian, floating in the sea of True Yuan.

Refinement!

Only cultivation treasures that are rare in the world possess spirituality and can be refined.

A Sarira is a treasure left behind after the passing of a Buddhist powerhouse comparable to a Martial Dao Grandmaster; it is the condensation of a lifetime of cultivation and heritage, and is a type of cultivation treasure in the world.

However, Zhang Yuan never expected that as a martial cultivator, he could actually use the power of Buddhist Yuan to refine a Sarira.

The True Yuan in his Dantian stirred the power within the Sarira. Clenching his fist slightly, Zhang Yuan could not hide the joy on his face.

The power of this Sarira could actually be added to his physical body, becoming his own physical strength!

The physical strength limit of the late stage of the Xiantian Realm was nine oxen, or eighteen thousand catties.

To further increase combat power, one needed to add True Yuan and combine it with the power of cultivation techniques.

Zhang Yuan's *Mountain and River Movement* had reached Great Perfection, allowing him to double his combat power, delivering a single strike of thirty-six thousand catties of immense force.

Among those at the same level, he was already a rare powerhouse.

He had thought this was his limit.

He did not expect that refining this Sarira into his Dantian would allow the added power to increase his physical strength by another two thousand catties.

With that, using a martial combat technique at the Great Perfection level, his combat power would double, making a single strike worth forty thousand catties of force.

This was not far from the legendary "One Elephant" strength of the Grandmaster Realm.

Rumor had it that the Grandmaster Realm possessed the strength of a Dragon-Elephant; stepping into the Grandmaster Realm would grant one the strength of one elephant—fifty thousand catties of immense force.

The first stage of the Grandmaster Realm was known as the Dragon-Elephant Realm, or the Dragon-Elephant Grandmaster.

To jump from the eighteen thousand catties of the late Xiantian Realm to fifty thousand catties of force showed just how massive the gap between Xiantian and Grandmaster truly was.

Achieving Grandmaster status in this world was extremely difficult; the difference between the Xiantian Realm and the Grandmaster Realm was like the difference between heaven and an abyss.

As he felt the changes in strength brought by the Sarira, a flash of golden light appeared in Zhang Yuan's mind, and a chaotic light screen rose.

【Zhang Yuan】

Identity: Zhang Yuan, 8th-rank Zao-yi Guard of Luyang Prefecture, Great Qin; Black Tiger, Black-Armored Captain of the Black Ice Platform; Black Tiger, Bounty Hunter; Red Fox, Leader of the Red Fox Caravan; Zhang Erhe, Co-leader of the Eighteen Green Mountain Villages.

Cultivation: Late stage of Xiantian Realm. Upgrading requires 843 Blood Qi Beads, 356 True Yuan Beads, Grandmaster Tribulation, and Heavenly Dao Opportunity (e.g., if switching to Buddhist cultivation to enter the Grandmaster Realm, the Sarira can serve as the opportunity).

Martial Cultivation: *Mountain and River Movement* (Great Perfection), *Iron Body Technique* (Small Success). Upgrading requires 8 Blood Qi Beads; with the power of the Sarira, it can be converted into the *Buddhist Golden Body Technique*. At the Great Perfection level of the Golden Body Technique, one can condense a Buddhist Golden Body.

Battle Formations: *Azure Wolf Formation* (Great Perfection), *Tiger Stride Battle Formation* (Great Perfection).

Chaotic Space: 3,630 Blood Qi Beads, 810 Insight Beads, 590 True Yuan Beads, 221 Demon Qi Beads, 36 Buddhist Yuan Beads.

Chaotic Auxiliary Combat: Not opened.

Heavenly Dao Opportunity!

So this was what a Heavenly Dao Opportunity was called!

Only now did Zhang Yuan realize that a Heavenly Dao Opportunity was actually a cultivation treasure.

A treasure of the Sarira's level was a Heavenly Dao Opportunity; this "Heavenly Dao" was truly damn practical.

If Zhang Yuan were willing to switch to Buddhist cultivation to enter the Grandmaster Realm, he could use the power of the Sarira to trigger the Grandmaster Tribulation, giving him a chance to pass the tribulation and become a Buddhist-Daoist Grandmaster.

Unfortunately, Zhang Yuan had no such intention.

There were no Grandmasters in Great Qin who practiced Buddhist techniques. If he entered the Grandmaster Realm via Buddhist methods, he would likely have to travel to the Liangyuan Territory to continue his cultivation.

He came from a family of martial guards and would never betray Great Qin.

Although it was a pity that he couldn't use the Sarira's full potential to strike for the Grandmaster Realm, the fact that it could increase his strength by the power of one ox was still a pleasant surprise.

Furthermore, the Sarira could upgrade his *Iron Body Technique* to the *Golden Body Technique*, which could condense a Buddhist Golden Body at the Great Perfection level.

For an outsider, it might take sixty or a hundred years to master a technique to Great Perfection, but Zhang Yuan would not need that much time at all.

Inside the tent, Zhang Yuan's expression gradually turned calm as the blood qi and True Yuan in his body flowed slowly.

Since he knew that a Heavenly Dao Opportunity was a cultivation treasure, he simply had to search for treasures related to the Martial Grandmaster Realm.

——————————————

Two days later, Sergeant Qian Mu and County Magistrate Xu Xianzhong of Yong'an County returned, leading the martial guards who had been patrolling the Guangji River.

This time, they had cleared several water bandit strongholds along over a hundred miles of the riverbanks, captured or killed over thirty bandits, destroyed three water camps, and recovered stolen goods valued at over three hundred taels of silver.

Combined with previous gains, this mission was quite successful.

The military merit Zhang Yuan registered was four heads, ranking him first in this mission; following him was Qi Junliang with three merits.

Chen Wu and Huang Sanliang also had three merits, and even Feng Cheng had two.

In large-scale operations, aside from individual merits like "First Ascent" or "Death Blow," many merits were distributed equally among the team.

As the leader, Zhang Yuan actually shared some of his kill merits with the soldiers in his squad.

This method of merit distribution ensured greater loyalty from subordinates.

These were true brothers-in-arms, sharing merits earned at the cost of lives.

Of course, if a commanding officer did not personally strike, the team's merits would still be shared with him.

There was no shortage of such people in the military who "shared" merits.

On the way back, several new recruits were already looking joyful, loudly discussing what they would use their merit rewards for.

Great Qin placed great importance on military merit; the rule of one merit being exchangeable for five taels of silver had remained unchanged for countless years.

Five taels could cover three months' salary for a 9th-rank Zao-yi Guard, or a year's expenses for an ordinary family.

Beyond exchanging for silver, accumulating merit was also a hard requirement for promotion.

There were nine ranks of merit, with each rank having three sub-stages.

To promote from a 9th-rank Zao-yi Guard to 8th-rank, one needed to accumulate nine merits.

To promote from 8th-rank to 7th-rank, one needed the "three-turn" merit, which was three sets of nine merits.

Most 8th-rank Zao-yi Guards would never be able to accumulate three sets of nine merits.

Official promotions were not solely based on decapitations; there were also missions, garrison duties, years of service, and various other ways of recording merit.

For example, in this bandit suppression in Yong'an County, even martial guards without decapitation merits could receive half a merit, though this merit was only useful for promotion and could not be exchanged for silver.

On the return journey, Qi Junliang, Zhang Yuan, and Sergeant Qian Mu were all riding horses, walking side-by-side, a rare occurrence.

Mainly because this mission had been completed well, and the Sergeant was in a good mood, willing to ride alongside Zhang Yuan and the others.

"It is rare for the Martial Guard Office to have such opportunities for tempering in recent years."

Sitting on his horse and looking at the soldiers ahead, Qi Junliang spoke in a low voice.

While the combat merits and mission completion were satisfactory, from the interception of the bandits on the riverbank to the night raid and the subsequent suppression of the river, the casualties in the Martial Guard Office were not small.

Three had died in battle, four were seriously injured, and over a dozen others sustained light injuries.

And this was with full armor and equipment.

If they had not been in formation with armor, the soldiers of the Martial Guard Office would not only have had no advantage against an equal number of martial artists from the *Jianghu*, they might have even been inferior.

"Too many new recruits; combat effectiveness needs improvement," Zhang Yuan nodded, looking at the soldiers whose morale had significantly improved after this battle.

"Erhe, the Martial Guard Office is planning to expand again soon. If it reaches five hundred soldiers, we will need to establish more Captains and Lieutenants. You cannot decline this time," the Sergeant's voice rang out, causing both Zhang Yuan and Qi Junliang to turn their heads.

"I will be transferred elsewhere before long," the Sergeant looked at Zhang Yuan and said softly, "There isn't much more I can do to help you."

(End of Chapter)