Chapter 8

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Thanks to the erosion of the blood river, the lower half of the Mountain Tiger Hall disciple had festered, revealing his white bones.

The old man in black flicked his fingers lightly.

He transformed the powerful healing power of spiritual energy into a tangible pill.

This flashing pill entered the disciple’s mouth.

The other people, who were onlookers at first, were horrified at what they saw.

They thought that the old man in black was playing cat and mouse with them and was up to no good.

He seemed to be releasing someone, but he was actually giving him poison.

They believed that this person would still have to come back for an antidote after leaving this place.

The Mountain Tiger Hall disciple could not control his body and swallowed the pill, but he was scared out of his wits.

He soon realized a warmth rising from his abdomen and spreading throughout his body.

The injuries on his lower half, which he had numb from due to the pain, suddenly healed and felt itchy.

A moment later, under everyone’s dumbfounded gazes, the injuries on the Mountain Tiger Hall disciple rapidly healed at a visible rate.

In the blink of an eye, the injuries caused by the blood river’s water were not only healed, but his previous injuries were also no longer seen.

He was surprised for a long time before he regained his senses and got up from the ground.

He moved his body, and he found that his strength and agility were exactly the same as before. All of his injuries had indeed recovered.

Only then did everyone realize that the pill from the old man in black was a miraculous elixir.

Everyone’s eyes turned green with envy.

Zhang Dongyun did not stop and sent a few more pills out into the mouths of Hui Tianyu and the others.

Their injuries healed at once.

However, they were still imprisoned.

Only that Mountain Tiger Hall disciple was sent out of Chang’an Fortress by a clear breeze from Zhang Dongyun.

The other party escaped from death and looked back at the majestic Chang’an Fortress as though he was dreaming for a moment.

He did not even dare to act rashly at first, and it was only after a moment that he finally dared to step forward.

Despite being slow at first, he quickly moved away from the fortress and disappeared into the mountain forest in the White Cloud Abyss.

The others who were still in the fortress were green with envy.

“Although you guys weren’t as good as him, the information you provided is more or less valuable, so you don’t have to suffer.” Zhang Dongyun, who was dressed as an old man in black, spoke lightly. “But it’s not enough if you want to be free.”

After he said that, his figure disappeared.

Hui Tianyu sighed as he looked at where the old man in black had disappeared.

He did not utter a word and only remained calm.

Although he did not stand out this time, looking at the demeanor of the old man in black, he might still have a chance to strive in the future.

Those who had not been treated were green with envy.

They no longer even had the extravagant desire to regain their freedom like that Mountain Tiger Hall disciple.

It would be good even if they could be treated like Hui Tianyu and the others and no longer had to suffer from the torment of the blood river!

Zhang Dongyun looked down to observe the changes in the mood of these people and nodded slightly.

The Mountain Tiger Hall disciple was not the one who had provided the best information.

Based on everyone’s information, Fortress Lord Zhang obtained a piece of news that caught his interest.

Behind the Mountain Tiger Hall was the Eastern Tang Dynasty’s Great Xuanwu General, who was stationed in Longbei County and had an army under his command.

The Great Xuanwu General’s only son had always acted arrogant and bossy. He usually liked to wander around hunting and often entered Dragon Ridge’s primeval forest.

As one of the locals in Dragon Ridge’s southern foot, the Mountain Tiger Hall had connections with his son and curried favor with the Great Xuanwu General.

If he were to fish along this line, would he be able to catch a big fish?

Even if the opponent’s army and horses could not fill in the full ten thousand residents for his fortress, it would already be a great achievement for Chang’an Fortress if they paved a road in the forest, built bridges across the water, and connected a path from the White Cloud Abyss to the outside world.

With the path built, it would be much easier to bring people into his fortress from other places.

I’m not afraid that there will be too many of you, but I’m afraid that they won’t come… Zhang Dongyun thought.

During this period, he would focus on his cultivation and wait quietly for the fish to take the bait.

He returned to the Great Ming Palace and flicked his palm in the air.

The many martial arts canonical texts in his memories emerged one by one and gathered into books.

A palace opened up to serve as a depository to display these manuals.

Zhang Dongyun first picked the Evil Emperor Sutra, which Evil Emperor Ming Tonghui had cultivated in the past.

At present, this manual would undoubtedly be the fastest way for him to achieve his goal.

The Evil Emperor Sutra had a complete system, from entry-level cultivation to the profound realms, with both internal training for body cultivation and external training for actual combat.

Given his current state of invincibility provided by Chang’an Fortress, he could improve the Evil Emperor Sutra while cultivating or fuse the Dharmic formulations of other manuals to create a brand new canonical text that was uniquely his own.

The exposure of the Evil Emperor’s identity might attract some unscrupulous rivals to come to his door, which would save Zhang Dongyun from having to search for them.

But it might also cause some people whom he wanted to find to hide deliberately from him.

Keeping himself mysterious would make it easier for him to run the Impenetrable Fortress.

Zhang Dongyun started from the beginning and cultivated his physique and blood.

The first realm of the Martial Dao was called Body Tempering, where a martial artist had a superb physique and an agile body.

The second realm was called Elite Soldier, where your body would be full of blood and be able to tear apart ordinary fierce beasts with your bare hands and run like a horse.

Hui Tianyu and the other disciples of the Cold Mountain Sect and the Mountain Tiger Hall were at this stage.

The third realm was called Fierce Warrior, where you would be able to split stones with your hands and fight against ferocious demons. You would also have a strong physical body and blood and would not fear any demons.

At this realm, given your speed, an ordinary person’s naked eye could hardly see your movements.

The tall man surnamed Cao of the Cold Mountain Sect was close to this realm.

Zhang Dongyun’s movements were slow at the moment. His every movement was like that of the elderlies in the park doing tai chi during his previous life on the Blue Planet.

The sound of a large river surging rumbled faintly within his body.

The blood in his body circulated with a horrifying sound.

A martial artist cultivating usually needed to take in a lot of blood nutrients to nourish their body’s physique and blood.

This spirit jade fetus was connately created and contained spiritual energy.

He did not need to ingest, digest, and absorb blood nutrients.

It was enough to take in and send out spiritual energy directly and open the secrets within his body.

Under his control as the Fortress Lord in the Impenetrable Fortress, the spiritual energy in the Great Ming Palace was dense.

Zhang Dongyun meditated and cultivated, and the power of his physique and blood rapidly rose.

In a few moments, he reached the first realm of the Martial Dao, the Body Tempering realm.

He carried on cultivating and managed to break through on the first day into the second realm of the Martial Dao, the Elite Soldier realm.

For the rest of the time, he continued to climb upward without stopping.

The higher he climbed, the more difficult cultivation was.

Zhang Dongyun realized that actual combat was very important in Martial Dao cultivation.

Having actual combat supporting your cultivation was the orthodox martial cultivation.

However, this was not hard for Fortress Lord Zhang.

He simulated a few enemies using the power of the Impenetrable Fortress and sparred with them.

Thus, his cultivation became rapid once again.

After a few days of cultivation, Zhang Dongyun managed to break through to the third realm of the Martial Dao, the Fierce Warrior realm.