Chapter 47

Although Chen Hai was driven into the horse stable and unable to go out, he thought that the responsibility for this crushing defeat would not be traced back to them. With a mindset of making the best of the situation, he stayed in the stable to recuperate from his injuries.

Although people were also being taken from the stable for questioning, it was mainly those who held military positions and had participated in the military council, such as Shen Kun, Zhou Jun, and Ge Tong, who had the right to be questioned. The main purpose was to clarify the responsibility for this crushing defeat.

However, the responsibility for the defeat did not fall on Shen Kun and the others. After being questioned, they all returned to the stable safely. Later, several more stables were allocated to provide a place for everyone to lie down and sleep, and medical officers were sent to treat and medicate the injured.

Even so, Zhou Jun and others were full of grievances:

"Over ten thousand rebels are gathered in Yulong Mountain. The General did not immediately send troops to suppress the rebellion but is now entangled in these matters, which is truly incomprehensible."

Chen Hai said, "The General is probably so angry that he has no way to vent it. That's why he is now rigorously investigating the responsibility for the defeat."

"What do you mean by that?" Zhou Jun asked, puzzled.

"Before the incident, no one expected the rebels to dig such a large pit to bury everyone. Clearly, the rebels' plans are much more sinister than we imagined. Even though most of the rebels are a disorganized mob, the core figures behind the rebellion are not simple. How could they not foresee the bloody revenge from the Wuwei army? Perhaps they have already fled."

"..." Zhou Jun did not fully believe Chen Hai's words but could not find a reason to refute them, so he sat aside, sulking.

This time, the losses of the Tieliu Ridge Dao Academy were the least severe, but nearly 150 dao soldiers did not make it out. Everyone's mood was heavy, and they did not want to see the rebels escape.

The medical officer came to apply medicine to Chen Hai. It was hard to imagine that Chen Hai, with such severe injuries, could still sit on the hay and chat with everyone. Perhaps it was because he learned of Chen Hai's brave performance in the battle that he instructed the guards to give Chen Hai a separate camp room before leaving.

Chen Hai's injuries were not as serious as they looked. He brought a basin of water to wash his face and was startled to see the scars reflected in the water, and his body was also covered in wounds.

After all, the black-scaled armor he wore was made of ordinary iron and could only block arrows. In close combat, it was repeatedly pierced by the sharp weapons of the enemy soldiers.

Unexpectedly, when Chen Hai's divine soul and the Raksha demon's secret mark merged, he seemed to have an intuition that allowed him to dodge attacks at the last moment, avoiding vital organs and bones.

When Chen Hai's divine soul entered the puppet's mind and merged with the Raksha demon's secret mark, he inadvertently opened the blockage of the Foot-Shaoyang main meridian.

Chen Hai originally thought it would take three to four years to cultivate the first main meridian and enter the Tongxuan realm, but he unexpectedly broke through this bottleneck in Yulong Mountain.

Now that they had escaped Yulong Mountain and were temporarily confined in the camp at Chenqiao Fort, Chen Hai began to cultivate according to the methods recorded in the "Initial Explanation of the Alchemical Cauldron Technique."

There was no spiritual spring near Chenqiao Fort, and the spiritual energy available for cultivation was extremely thin. Only during the early dawn, when the yang energy of heaven and earth was just beginning, could the energy be absorbed into the two kidney mystic points for cultivation.

At the early dawn, the night still enveloped the earth. Chen Hai sat cross-legged and, to more accurately observe the changes within his body, connected his divine soul to the puppet.

Chen Hai absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, driving the essence and energy from the Foot-Shaoyang main meridian into the two kidney mystic points. Two different energies merged in this mysterious place, eventually forming a grain-sized golden spiritual light...

Chen Hai had not yet opened his inner eye and could not see his physical body from within. He only felt a slight warmth in his lower abdomen. This grain-sized golden spiritual light was what he saw through the puppet, a reflection of the true essence he had cultivated in the puppet's body. Through this light, he could vaguely see the situation in the puppet's secret palace, which seemed like a vast ocean of blood, with essence and true essence surging like endless waves...

The secret palace opened within the puppet's body was so vast that it was no wonder he had never felt the depletion of essence and true essence.

It was also no wonder that when the old man on the left ear first handed him this puppet, he looked pained. If he could bring this perfect puppet out of the Blood Cloud Wasteland, would it be comparable to the treasure of the Taowei Sect?

Although there were six similar divine guards' puppets in the temple, the thought of the endless Raksha ghosts outside made Chen Hai's head ache. No matter how perfect the puppet was, it was still too weak at this time, and he did not dare to think too much.

However, the fact that Chen Hai could cultivate true essence and see the golden spiritual light in the puppet's body indicated that the true essence he had cultivated in his real body was much purer than he had imagined.

This was probably due to the extremely abundant and refined essence and energy in his body.

Chen Hai did not have time to think much. The early dawn only provided a short period of relatively pure spiritual energy, enough to cultivate a dozen grain-sized true essences.

Before he opened the secret palace, the two kidney mystic points could not store true essence, so he had to promptly circulate the true essence to refine the Foot-Shaoyang main meridian.

The short cultivation time passed quickly. Chen Hai felt a dozen warm streams surge from his kidneys to his feet.

Although the time was short, the effect was quite significant. With the puppet's assistance, Chen Hai could precisely calculate that he had used less than one-tenth of his essence and energy to cultivate true essence, but the effect of using true essence to refine the main meridian and the flesh and bones of his feet through the Foot-Shaoyang main meridian was two to three times better than using the same amount of essence and energy...

Unfortunately, after the early dawn, the pure yang energy in the world became extremely thin and could no longer be cultivated through breathing. Chen Hai sat by the window, silently reviewing the cultivation process until the sun rose, and he suddenly woke up as if from a dream.

Seeing the not yet glaring sunrise in the eastern sky, Chen Hai thought of the ancient secret techniques for cultivating the essence of the sun and moon and felt very envious. He thought that perhaps only by becoming a direct disciple of the Taowei Sect would he have the opportunity to learn such high-level cultivation techniques?

These ancient cultivation techniques could be practiced almost at any time, unlike his current cultivation of true essence, which was limited to a short period each day. Unfortunately, in Yanzhou, he could not cultivate the extremely powerful Raksha blood refinement technique...

However, if he could return to the Dao Academy, the medicinal garden had a spiritual spring, and the pure yang energy would be much more abundant, allowing him to cultivate for three to four times longer each day.

With nothing else to do, Chen Hai couldn't help but plan his cultivation schedule after returning to the Dao Academy.

He had now officially entered the Tongxuan realm. Although he could not store true essence in his body before opening the secret palace, he could already use relatively low-level magical treasures.

Magical treasures contained either simple or extremely complex magical arrays. Before entering the Lingxi realm, although Chen Hai could not store true essence in his body, he could inject the true essence and magical power he cultivated into magical treasures. When using the treasures to fight, he could perform several techniques related to the magical arrays, greatly enhancing his combat power.

However, every few techniques performed by the magical treasures required re-injection of true essence and magical power, which was quite troublesome. In actual combat, it was far less practical than using mystical talismans, which could be used in one go.

The only drawback was that even the simplest mystical talismans required cultivation at the Lingxi realm or above to create. Therefore, even the simplest mystical talismans, such as the purification talisman and the dust-removal talisman, required ten to several dozen points of sect merit.

This was practically a robbery.

Chen Hai thought that upon returning to the Dao Academy, he might need to prepare a few Vajra mystical talismans for emergencies, but he mainly focused on martial cultivation to save money. Even the lowest-level yellow-grade inferior magical treasures were beyond his reach.

The magical flag used by Li Xianghai, as a high-grade yellow-grade magical treasure, was probably the clan's treasure.

The sects in Yanzhou divided magical treasures into four levels: Heaven, Earth, Mystery, and Yellow, each with three grades: inferior, middle, and superior. The Nianyue Spirit Sword used by Chen Qing was a middle-grade yellow magical treasure.

Chen Hai thought that the divine guard puppet, although initially not very powerful, was extremely perfect and should be considered a high-level Heaven-grade magical treasure. Unfortunately, it could not be taken out of the Blood Cloud Wasteland. As for the Dragon Cauldron, which could tear through the void, it was probably beyond the concept of magical treasures in Yanzhou and was unfortunately left on Earth.

Thinking of this, Chen Hai also thought of Su Qian, feeling a slight pain in his heart.

******

After the initial questioning, the higher-ups realized that the responsibility for the crushing defeat had nothing to do with Chen Hai and the other low-ranking dao soldiers. The weapons and armor that had been confiscated were returned to them.

The treatment improved, with meat being provided daily to replenish their essence and energy, but Chen Hai and the others were still confined to the western camp of Chenqiao Fort and could not leave at will.

Chen Qing, Xie Wenzhuo, and other inner disciples had long disappeared. Chen Hai did not know if they had already returned to the inner sect of the Seven Peaks or were being held elsewhere.

To be honest, Chen Qing, Xie Wenzhuo, and Lu Hongqian were the first to enter Yulong Mountain to scout the enemy. The first-hand intelligence about the rebel uprising was brought back to the sect by them. If the responsibility for the defeat were to be traced, their negligence would not be any less than that of Li Xianghai and the others, but Chen Hai did not care about Chen Qing at all.

It was not until the fifth day that official news reached Chenqiao Fort. Chen Hai and the others learned that the rebels had abandoned their pursuit, retreated from the Huanglong Gorge, crossed the southern mountains, entered Lanchuan County, and surrendered to the headquarters of the Hexiong Army.

Chen Hai, Shen Kun, Ge Tong, and Zhou Jun spent their days speculating about various possibilities, but when they heard this news, they looked at each other in surprise, not knowing what to say.