Longevity Begins With Gu Refining

Chapter 160: You and I are destined for greater things.

Things always changed too quickly and no one could react in time.

Zhu Yan celebrated her twenty-sixth birthday seventeen days ago.

Reaching Foundation Establishment at such a young age was a rare honor even in the Fire Country.

When she was young, she would be afraid when she looked down from the city walls.

When there was thunder outside, she liked to hide under her blanket, but she was also very curious about where the thunder had landed. She wanted to see what the place looked like.

At the same time, she looked forward to the next thunder.

As she grew older, she began to realize that she was not afraid of fire at all.

Before her, fire was as gentle as a lamb.

She was born different from the people of the mortal world.

She was born to be high and mighty.

She also began to learn from her brothers, sitting on the city walls and looking down at the people.

She watched those insignificant beings kneel below for three days just for a spirit herb or a scripture.

From that moment onwards, she understood that this was the so-called authority.

She also knew that this authority did not come from her, but from the Vermillion Bird Tribe.

She wanted this authority to belong to her completely, not the robe of the Vermillion Bird Tribe's direct descendant that she wore.

Qing Xu was not a very good choice. It was said that he had married into the Black Bird Tribe and obtained his authority.

However, compared to the insane Yan Shiying, a Qing Ruins like that was easier to control.

One day, she would be able to turn his army into her own.

If Chen Qing had not appeared before her in the form of a divine giant, she might still think so.

But when she saw Chen Qing being sent flying by the Vermillion Bird blood brand that she had awakened, she finally smiled again.

"Just a bunch of rascals dare to spy on my Floating City?"

But when she saw the wound on Chen Qing's chest heal in just a moment, her expression changed again.

The aunt who had led her on the path of cultivation came forward. "Yan 'er, quickly tell your big brother that we've been attacked!"

"Those bastards from Qing Xu must have led their main forces to ambush us!"

Zhu Yan wanted to use all her strength to see the battlefield, to see how many people there were.

However, when he looked around, he could only see the seniors who had once taught him fighting with all their might on top of the city wall. The raging flames that spread out seemed to be able to incinerate the heavens and boil the sea, temporarily isolating the enemy outside.

Someone was lying in a pool of blood. It was a familiar face. She had stolen fruits from his house when she was young.

Lu Shenglong's sharp senses noticed his momentary stupor.

What Lu Shenglong needed the most now was battle achievements!

After following Chen Qing around recently, he could clearly sense that Chen Qing was looking down on them.

Or it could be said that Chen Qing looked down on the army under his command.

This was very normal. Compared to the Foundation Establishment Cultivators under Yan Shiying's command who had experienced large-scale battles, they could not be called qualified soldiers now.

To the Lord Guard, this battle was merely a training exercise for his troops.

Therefore, he wanted to prove to Chen Qing that he was useful!

Chen Qing also stopped for a moment and looked at the battlefield from afar. He didn't continue to charge.

What he wanted was to train his troops.

Four hundred against one hundred. Even if the other party had the geographical advantage, this was still an absolute advantage.

Moreover, Chen Qing wanted to observe the difference between a large scale Foundation Establishment battlefield and a mortal battlefield.

After dispelling Lawful Embodiment of Heaven and Earth, Chen Qing observed from the periphery. He would only take action when an emergency occurred and his troops suffered heavy losses.

As a transmigrator, he had a natural sense of isolation towards this world.

In his eyes, this was more like a game.

The only difference was that if he died, he would really die.

Therefore, he was indifferent towards the life and death of others.

This was the heart of stone that a commander should have. What was interesting was that he had it from the start.

There was a huge difference between cultivators and mortals. In a battle between mortals, life and death were quickly determined.

But cultivators were different. At this moment, the battle had already started for fifteen minutes.

If it was a mortal battlefield, dozens of people would have died already.

But now, on the battlefield, he only saw five enemy corpses and two of his own.

Foundation Establishment Cultivators had protective spirit qi. Even if their protective spirit qi was broken, they would at most be injured after receiving a blow from the enemy.

If it was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator with a protective Gu worm, they might not even be injured.

Chen Qing was outside the battlefield, but that did not mean that the Foundation Establishment Cultivators under his command were not attacking fiercely.

As long as he was here, these Foundation Establishment Cultivators would not dare to act recklessly.

The shocking scene of Chen Qing shaking Floating Sky City was etched in everyone's mind.

They had already started to believe that Chen Qing really had the strength to sweep through Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Chen Qing coldly observed the battlefield. He could easily see that Lu Shenglong was attacking with all his might, trying to prove his worth to him.

Chen Qing was not very concerned about this. He was more concerned about the mentality of the ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Those without protective Gu worms like Flesh Gu, Copper Bone Gu, and Iron Skin Gu were clearly afraid after being injured. They did not dare to attack so boldly and left behind a lot of spirit qi to protect themselves.

There was nothing wrong with this.

Before an army could win consistently, they were also humans. It was normal for them to be afraid.

What Chen Qing wanted to do was to lead them to victory without defeat, and then forge a brave heart.

Under the leadership of Lu Shenglong, the eighteen cultivators with powerful physical bodies bravely moved forward without fear.

Chen Qing realized this and felt that he had grasped the key to the Foundation Establishment battlefield.

Iron Skin Gu, Flesh Gu, Copper Bone Gu, these Gu worms that were cheap to make and did not consume much spirit qi were indeed unreasonable.

They did not consume much spirit qi and had high defense.

In this kind of battlefield, it was rare to encounter cultivators who attacked with all their might. After all, they had to leave a lot of spirit qi for defense.

As such, normal flying swords, lightning, flame, wind blades, and other spell techniques didn't actually inflict that much damage.

Only a top-notch sect would be able to cultivate such a terrifying scene where the sky was filled with flying swords the moment the command was given.

Obviously, this rule was not applicable in Southern Li. At least, it was not applicable in the Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Even large clans only had a dozen or so Foundation Establishment Cultivators. Probably only half of them used the clan's Gu worms.

The other half were Gu worms obtained by chance.

It was only the first battle, but Chen Qing had already grasped the key.

That was to make the Foundation Establishment Cultivators under his command strong enough.

With the strength of a country, it might not be impossible to gather a thousand Flesh Gu.

That might be difficult for Qi Refinement Realm cultivators, but for Foundation Establishment Cultivators, it was not too difficult.

He wanted to pass on the Golden Skin Jade Bone to all the Foundation Establishment Cultivators under his command. This way, everyone would be brave and would not have so many scruples when attacking.

Moreover, their fighting strength would be extraordinary!

The battle lasted for six hours until the sky turned dark.

After leaving more than twenty corpses on the city wall and nearly fifty corpses on the enemy, Chen Qing gave the order to retreat.

In terms of strategy, he wanted to besiege the city and train his troops, not fight.

He needed Zhu Ning to lead the army back and step into Su Yi's ambush.

If the Floating Sky City was lost, why would Zhu Ning return to help?

After retreating thirty miles away, Chen Qing looked at the wounded Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators. Most of them were young, and the least were middle-aged. There were almost no elderly Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators.

The reason was very simple. Most of the people who had joined him were from large tribes.

Those old Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators had been dismissed by these large tribes to take care of their clansmen who had returned to the mountains.

After returning, these people were still full of joy.

"Did you see that? I killed two Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators today!"

"He didn't react in time and was pierced through the chest by my sword!"

"It's a pity that there were too many fellow Daoists attacking him from behind. I didn't manage to get his corpse."

"Commander Lu Shenglong killed eight Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators today!"

Lu Shenglong's face was filled with joy. In such a chaotic battle, it was already very rare to be able to kill five Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators under the other party's protective array.

Even Chen Qing from before was probably only able to kill ten people with his own hands.

However, when Lu Shenglong saw Chen Qing's cold expression, he knew that something was wrong and told everyone to quiet down.

Chen Qing walked among the Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators and said coldly, "Four hundred people besieged a mere hundred people. Twenty-three of them died, and only forty-nine of them were killed!"

"Eight of them were killed by Lu Shenglong alone. You have the face to say that?"

Hearing Chen Qing's words, they immediately felt ashamed.

Indeed, four hundred people fighting a hundred people was a bit shameful.

"Those at the front of the battle formation, focus on defense!"

"Those at the back, attack with all your might!"

"Don't you understand this?"

"Put away all of the Chi's one-on-one moves!"

"Tomorrow, three hundred people will attack!"

"Make the formation bigger. Don't let them find out that we have reduced our troops!"

This was a very simple tactic of besieging the city and attacking reinforcements.

Chen Qing walked in front of Lu Shenglong and ordered, "Lu Shenglong, lead a hundred people to secretly look for Su Yi. Listen to his orders and kill Zhu Ning!"

Chen Qing placed his hand on Lu Shenglong's shoulder. "Come with me."

Beside a small stream, Chen Qing scooped up a handful of water to clean the bloodstains on his body.

"Lu Shenglong, if you were asked to kill Zhu Ning, where would you choose?"

Lu Shenglong pondered for a moment and said, "The Vermillion Bird Tribe specializes in fire-elemental spells, while the Foundation Establishment Cultivators under his command specialize in manipulating trees, plants, and vines."

"If I were to choose the location of the ambush, I would choose a large river."

"At the Foundation Establishment Realm, you can hold your breath for two hours and stay submerged underwater."

Chen Qing nodded slightly, "How do we set up the array?"

Lu Shenglong said, "It's best to choose a place where the water net is everywhere and where Zhu Ning has to pass through."

"Two ambushes, one in front and one behind!"

"Set up an ambush at every location. Those with strong physiques will be at the front, and those with strong flying swords and bows will be at the back!"

"Those at the front will focus on defense, they can even block the enemy's counterattack and let the sword cultivators and archers at the back attack with all their strength!"

"Zhu Ning has not experienced battle and only relied on his prestige to gather a large number of tribes, he is probably not very familiar with Foundation Establishment Realm battles."

"In this way, we will attack from the front and back, and with everyone panicking, Zhu Ning will definitely lose!"

Chen Qing smiled: "Not bad, you have some insights."

This was also what Chen Qing discovered today. Lu Shenglong being able to discover this point was probably related to him leading the dragon elephant tribe to conquer the surroundings.

Chen Qing walked to Lu Shenglong's side and let the stream water submerge his feet, enjoying a rare moment of comfort.

"Su Yi has read many military books and has some insights into battle, but it is still difficult for him to charge into the formation."

"Zhang Can's sword skills are unparalleled, he can exchange a few moves with me in a one on one fight."

"Yan Bailiang has a strong killing intent, he is not bad. Unfortunately, in my opinion, in terms of use on the battlefield, they are not as good as you."

Lu Shenglong had many defensive Gu worms and even a spirit grade vajra Gu.

His body was like vajra, invulnerable to swords and spears, impervious to fire and water.

On the battlefield, this was the only thing he could rely on.

Hearing Chen Qing's evaluation, Lu Shenglong was slightly happy.

He was different from Lu Shengxiang, after Chen Qing interfered, his life and death depended on Chen Qing's thoughts.

Moreover, Chen Qing thought highly of him, he naturally wanted to follow Chen Qing and do great things.

"Lord Wei thinks so highly of me?"

Chen Qing smiled: "I need to continue staying here and make Zhu Yan mistakenly think that the main force of our army is here."

"That is why Zhu Ning went all out in the chaos and did not care about anything else."

"Thus, I will leave the mission of killing Zhu Ning to you."

Chen Qing pulled out the Big River Sword on his back and stabbed it in front of Lu Shenglong: "Hold this sword and take over the control of the army, defeat Zhu Ning for me."

Lu Shenglong naturally could not use Big River Sword, it was only Chen Qing's symbol, representing his military power.

Lu Shenglong was about to pick up Big River Sword when he heard Chen Qing say: "Lu Shenglong, you are a talent, but unfortunately, you are not a direct descendant."

"However, these are not important in my eyes, I am still a nobody."

"You and I are destined to do greater things, the Death Realm is still waiting for us."

As Chen Qing spoke, he took out the golden ghost mask that represented his identity and wore it on his face.

Lu Shenglong was a large Foundation Establishment Cultivator, he recognized Chen Qing's identity just by looking at the golden ghost mask.

"Do you know what I am saying?"

Lu Shenglong nodded. Everyone knew that the Lord of Mortal World had entered the Death Realm, and it was also because of this that the entire Nanli was in chaos.

And now, Chen Qing, who had thousands of Foundation Establishment Cultivators under his command, took out the golden ghost mask, how could he not understand what this meant?

The person in front of him was probably the current leader of the Extreme Light Sect in Nanli.

Since the Extreme Light Sect had caused such a huge commotion in the Death Realm, there would naturally be a follow-up.

And now, Chen Qing was telling him that they were the follow-up.

At this moment, he truly felt the ambition he should have.

He did not want to lead the Dragon-Elephant Division to fight around, but to fight for supremacy in the Death Realm.

Chen Qing stretched out his hand and pressed on Lu Shenglong's shoulder, "The Dragon-Elephant Division is too small to accommodate you, we should go and do greater things."

"I know that you killed Lu Shengxiang to protect the Dragon-Elephant Division, but Lu Shengxiang is merely in the Qi Refinement Realm, he is not worthy to be the leader of the Dragon-Elephant Division in this chaotic world."

"He will only lead the Dragon-Elephant Division to decline in this chaotic world."

"We are going to the Death Realm, and we will make the entire Death Realm crawl under our feet!"

Chen Qing stood up and let go of Lu Shenglong's shoulder, "Now, pull out this sword and tell me, what will happen to Zhu Ning?"

Lu Shenglong stretched out his hand and held the sword, kneeling on the ground in front of Chen Qing, "I will definitely annihilate Zhu Ning's entire army!"

(End of chapter)