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Chapter 14: Secret technique
After swinging his long knife, Meng Zhang cut the last yin soldier into two pieces. As he watched the fading figures of the yin soldiers, his fighting spirit soared. Starting from the night before yesterday, Meng Zhang had begun hunting yin soldiers after slaying the ghosts.
Yin soldiers were different from ghosts; they were more disciplined and appeared to have received some training. They always appeared in organized squads, with hardly any individuals acting alone. With Meng Zhang's current strength, dealing with a small number of yin soldiers was not a problem, but facing an entire squad would be very dangerous. Especially when confronted with a well-coordinated group of yin soldiers, they would take advantage of their numbers and fight strategically.
When Meng Zhang encountered an entire squad of yin soldiers last night, he almost got trapped in their formation if not for his speed.
The biggest weakness of yin soldiers was their limited intelligence. Though they were smarter and more agile than ghosts, they still followed rigid, predetermined patterns of action.
After careful observation, Meng Zhang devised a plan. He deliberately lured the yin soldiers to chase after him and, in the process, small groups of yin soldiers would often become separated from the main force due to differing speeds. These stragglers became Meng Zhang's targets for hunting. Facing three to five yin soldiers, Meng Zhang no longer needed to exert too much effort to kill them one by one. However, facing seven to eight yin soldiers was a riskier task.
Shortly after eliminating this yin soldier, Meng Zhang was forced to leave the Trial Ground.
Returning to his physical body, he immediately activated his Lesser Yang True Qi to dispel the yin qi that had invaded his body from the soul.
After finishing his meditation, Meng Zhang began to sort through his gains. He obtained several soul arts from hunting these yin soldiers. Unfortunately, soul arts could only be performed by the soul, and their usefulness was limited to the Trial Ground.
In addition, Meng Zhang acquired several spells that could be cast using his physical body. Commonly used spells were collected in Taiyi Sect, but the spells he obtained from the Trial Ground were extremely rare, almost considered secret techniques.
One of them was the Blood Refining Martyr Art, which was quite interesting. The process of cultivating this art was not complicated. By using a special blood-refining method to refine a magic tool, it could be thrown as a disposable item during battles. When activated by a secret method, the magic tool would explode.
The explosive power of the magic tool was formidable, often surpassing its original level. Even low-level magic tools, with mediocre power, would become highly lethal after exploding.
At first, Meng Zhang found this art impractical. In the Endless Sea of Sand, where resources were scarce, using valuable magic tools as disposable items was a luxury only the rich could afford. Taiyi Sect, a humble sect, could not afford such extravagance.
However, after studying the art more closely, Meng Zhang made an important discovery. The magic tool used for Blood Refining Martyr Art didn't have to be in perfect condition. Partially damaged magic tools that were mostly intact could also be used, although their power might be affected.
Furthermore, the magic tools used in Blood Refining Martyr Art didn't have to be combat-oriented. Even auxiliary magic tools without any killing power could be utilized. The true power of Blood Refining Martyr Art lay in the explosion of the magic tool.
Although magic tools were scarce in Taiyi Sect, they still had some worn-out ones. In his free time during the day, Meng Zhang rummaged through the sect's storehouse and found two magic tools that suited the requirements of Blood Refining Martyr Art.
One of them was an ancient cushion made of a whole piece of jade. It had some decent auxiliary functions for cultivation, helping gather spiritual energy and allowing practitioners to concentrate. Unfortunately, it had developed some obvious cracks, damaging the enchantments that held it together, rendering it useless.
The sect lacked a tool refiner, so repairing the magic tool was not an option. As a whole piece of jade, it wasn't easy to recycle materials, and even selling it as scrap wouldn't fetch a good price. So, this damaged magic tool had been sitting in the warehouse gathering dust.
Meng Zhang decided to repurpose it for Blood Refining Martyr Art.
The other magic tool was Zhang Second's golden knife. Zhang Second died in the Sect Protecting Formation, and his golden knife was damaged by Yuan Magnetic Force. Fortunately, the damage wasn't too severe, and it could be used for Blood Refining Martyr Art.
As for Boss Zhang's shocking soul bell, the most valuable spoils, Meng Zhang had already refined it for himself.
Finding the two magic tools that met the requirements, Meng Zhang didn't waste any time and immediately began casting the Blood Refining Martyr Art. After consuming a considerable amount of vital energy and blood, Meng Zhang successfully refined the two magic tools according to the requirements of the art.
Although he wanted to test their power, Meng Zhang hesitated for a while. Being poor, he was reluctant to waste the magic tools.
Calculating the vital energy and blood he had spent, Meng Zhang realized that it would take some time to recover fully. If he went all out to refine three to five magic tools at once, it would be fine, but any more might affect the foundation of his physical body.
As his cultivation base increased, the vital energy and blood of a Cultivator would also improve. Moreover, there were various elixirs and secret techniques in the Cultivation World that could enhance vital energy and blood.
Casting Blood Refining Martyr Art during the day didn't affect Meng Zhang's entry into the Trial Ground at night. During this period, he attended the Trial Ground every night without missing a single day.
Meng Zhang's soul appeared again in the Trial Ground. It didn't take long before he encountered another group of yin soldiers. This group was already familiar to him, or rather, they were familiar ghosts. It was the same group of yin soldiers he had encountered last night and lured some of them away using his previous method.
This time, Meng Zhang tried to use the same strategy to lure them apart, but it seemed that they had become more cunning or vigilant after losing half their numbers the night before.
After several attempts, Meng Zhang was unable to draw them away as before. The foolproof method didn't work this time, but Meng Zhang was not disheartened; he was just a bit disappointed.
He looked at the squad in the distance, which had only half of its original members remaining, with fewer than twenty yin soldiers left. Having experienced so much, Meng Zhang decided to go all out tonight.
With his strength constantly increasing, he was no longer the same as before, running away upon encountering a large group of yin soldiers and struggling to kill a few. Now, Meng Zhang not only wielded a sharper long knife but was also clad in battle armor formed by condensed soul power.
As the approaching yin soldiers got closer, Meng Zhang cast a soul art to enhance his speed and physical strength. He took the initiative to swing his knife and rushed towards them.
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