strictlysupreme Chapter 25 Lost Skill, Make a Wish!
Chapter 25 Lost Skill, Make a Wish!
Thirty miles outside the city, on Wangjiang Mountain, a defeated army of unknown origin emerged, seized the mountain, and called themselves Black Wind Stronghold.
In recent days, they have frequently robbed merchant ships and fishermen on the river, earning them a notorious reputation.
The government initially ignored the matter, but two days ago, when an official ship was also hijacked, the county magistrate was alerted.
The authorities were furious, and the county magistrate personally led the county troops out to suppress the bandits. This operation was quite significant.
"Brother Zhao, your elder brother is there too," Zhao Chunzi suddenly said.
Zhao An, who was standing nearby, had already noticed.
Zhao Ke and some constables and soldiers also mingled among them.
He could even see that Zhao Ke's expression was not good, and he seemed very reluctant to participate in such a military operation to suppress bandits.
No wonder Zhao Ke disappeared without a trace after leaving that day; it turns out he encountered something even more troublesome.
In this campaign against bandits, it was uncertain whether his good brother would return alive, so he had no time to worry about being humiliated by him.
"Let's go!" The county magistrate's voice was deep and resonant, full of energy, like a booming bell.
The next moment, the county soldiers set off and left the city.
"Brother Zhao, do you think the county soldiers can win? I heard that the leader of Black Wind Stronghold calls himself the Black Wind King, and he's incredibly powerful. Many martial arts masters have already died at his hands," Zhao Chunzi said, scratching his head.
"If even that county magistrate is defeated, then our Lianjiang County might be taken over by these mountain bandits," Zhao An said casually, heading back to the courtyard.
Even if the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up. The gentlemen in the inner city aren't worried, and they don't need to concern themselves with the bandits.
Right now, continuing to deplete the Soul Slaves, making full use of the Python Gang's resources, and improving our own strength as much as possible are more important than anything else.
Even if chaos truly descends, with his immense strength, he can protect himself alone and move freely between danger and danger.
Back in the small courtyard house.
On Zhao An's desk, a pile of military books he had collected were stacked together.
Some were sheets of paper, while others were scrolls of bamboo slips.
These military treatises were all written by many poor scholars from the outer city.
They were destitute and had not yet passed the imperial examinations. Zhao An lured them with silver, and most of them were willing to let him study their family's military books.
Of course, Zhao An wouldn't actually go and see for himself.
After all, he still has a bunch of soul slaves at his disposal, which he can make good use of.
Even if the soul slave was illiterate in life, as long as Zhao An could understand it, he could feed the soul slave in the soul pool with the characters he had learned and all the contents of military books.
These soul slaves can then understand military strategy, grasp its intricacies and essence, and apply it to other situations.
Even the most dull-witted person, through rote memorization year after year, can memorize the entire military treatise and use it to pass the county-level examinations; that is more than enough.
"If I could kill a few villains who were once centurions, military commanders, or generals, that would be the most suitable job for me..." Zhao An thought to himself.
After arranging for the soul slave to read military strategy, Zhao An stopped paying attention to it and focused more on improving his own martial arts skills.
If you want to ultimately transcend the ordinary and achieve sainthood, you must focus on the present and accumulate achievements step by step.
He has almost perfected the Fierce Tiger Blade Technique, with no further progress to be made. The perfection of the Silver Snake Hand is also only a matter of time. He can simply use the Soul Slaves to wait out the time.
The mysterious techniques of Jinlin Mountain baffled him and were temporarily useless.
Currently, he is eyeing a lost finger technique of unknown grade that he has seen in medical books and wants to obtain it.
then.
Zhao An opened his hands, and two small white fruits floated on them.
One was from before, and the other was just obtained from that young scholar.
Two good fruits mean he can make two wishes.
But even two good fruits cannot be exchanged for a manual of the Heavenly Profound Meridian Intercepting Finger!
"If only we could become one..." Zhao An murmured, his hands gradually coming together.
This was originally a sudden whim of his, but good deeds can indeed accumulate.
The two good fruits intertwined and merged in an instant.
Zhao An then received a white, glowing fruit.
The white light, like smoke, rose about half a foot above the surface of the fruit, hazy and indistinct, carrying a sense of transcendence.
It contains both the energy transformed from merit and the essential origin of all things in the world, capable of evolving everything!
"Is there any hope for the two good fruits to combine into one?"
Zhao An held the good fruit and made another wish. The smoke inside manifested, and the secret manual of the finger technique was clearly visible, but he still couldn't take it out.
"Isn't that enough?" Zhao An thought to himself, but he wasn't in a hurry.
Now that we've found the method, it's simply a matter of accumulating a few more ordinary acts of kindness!
Two aren't enough, then four, eight, ten!
For the next two days, he searched for more good deeds, wandering through the streets.
Surprisingly, he actually managed to collect three more good fruits.
One was a midwife who had saved hundreds of mothers and children from death throughout her life. The good deeds she had accumulated were purer than ordinary good deeds, gleaming with a faint light.
Zhao An obtained this good fortune in a very straightforward way: he killed the gang of thugs who had been bullying his family every day, and then, following the clues, he also busted a small-to-medium-sized local gang.
Along with receiving this good fruit, they also gained seven red-named soul slaves and more than ten taels of silver.
The remaining two good fruits belonged to an old boatman and an elderly man who could barely walk.
In the midst of chaos, both men's families desperately needed money to survive, so Zhao An easily bought the good deeds of the two poor families for fifty taels of silver.
Buying their good deeds at this price might be a bit too expensive.
But for Zhao An, it was nothing, since he still had the two hundred taels of silver he had previously plundered from the Python Gang.
Furthermore, the good deeds of others have no market price, and the conditions for exchange are vague; they can only be exchanged if the other party is truly satisfied.
Afterwards, Zhao An did not hesitate and combined the three good fruits into one.
So he received a bright white, much larger good fruit.
The smoke rising from this virtuous fruit was over a foot long!
"I wish for the Heavenly Profound Meridian Intercepting Finger Technique!" Zhao An made another wish.
In recent days, he has been combining every good fruit he has received into one place and making a wish.
Every attempt ended in failure.
And today, after much anticipation, a response has finally been received.
As the smoke and gas swirled within the fruit of goodness, the secret manual reappeared and fell into his hands!
Make your wish come true!
"Heavenly Profound Meridian-Severing Finger..."
Zhao An gently stroked the cover of the manual.
The manual was brand new, with neat handwriting, as if it had been printed.
"It's not easy..." Zhao An sighed inwardly.
Five ordinary good fruits combined are exchanged for this little secret manual.
He brought lost martial arts back to life!
Whether he can truly master it remains to be seen...
He opened the book and studied it word by word.
During this time, he studied and learned to read and write, and finally achieved results. He was able to read the entire manual without needing guidance from others.
The manual contains tens of thousands of words, sometimes with concise and obscure sentences that require careful study, and sometimes with long, detailed annotations that are straightforward and clear.
It also includes many human body illustrations, explanations of acupoints and meridians, and various methods of circulating qi in martial arts.
It's described as a finger technique, but it also resembles a half-finished medical book.
Fortunately, Zhao An had previously studied calligraphy and also consulted the female doctor at the clinic about medical knowledge, so he had a certain foundation for understanding the contents of the secret manual.
After reading the whole thing, Zhao An's eyes lit up; he had really gotten into it.
In terms of martial arts, he was no longer a complete novice. Through repeated study, he always found amazing insights that gave him a sense of sudden enlightenment.
"What a remarkable book! What a remarkable person!" Zhao An exclaimed.