Volume 1, Chapter 498 – The Uprising

“Is Shi Lan’s talent really that terrifying? Higher even than Zilong’s?”

Yan Yun was somewhat puzzled. In her view, Zhao Yun’s natural talent was already astonishingly high, yet even he had never received such lofty praise from Tong Yuan.

“Zilong’s talent is indeed outstanding, but his nature is too kind and pure. If he is properly tempered and devotes himself wholly to the martial path, then in this lifetime he may perhaps have hope of reaching the Supreme Realm.”

Tong Yuan shook his head slightly and said in a low voice:

“On the path of martial arts, among the younger generation in the world today, aside from Zilong and Lu Bu, there is no one else who catches my eye. Bu’s talent is extraordinary, but his temperament is too violent, his killing nature too heavy, and he stands above the dust of the world, looking down on all things. He has yet to see through fame and profit. Otherwise, it would not be impossible for him to take another step forward.”

“But even those two are not qualified to be mentioned in the same breath as Shi Lan.”

At this point, Tong Yuan could not help taking a deep breath and said no more. As a Supreme of the martial path, his sensitivity to blood and qi far surpassed that of ordinary people.

Shi Lan’s blood and qi were terrifyingly young.

He had only ever felt such youthfulness in children who had cultivated martial arts for just a few years. In other words, Shi Lan might have stepped onto the martial path only a few years ago.

Her blood and qi bore no trace of having been worn down by time, yet her foundation was still deep and solid, with not the slightest sign of growth achieved by forcing the shoots. That was truly frightening, but Tong Yuan did not spell this out.

Any martial artist who learned this might have their Dao heart shaken.

For Zhao Yun and Lu Bu, the Supreme Realm might be an endpoint they may never reach in this lifetime. For Shi Lan, it might only be a new beginning. The gap between the two was as vast as heaven and earth.

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In his view, Shi Lan had a great hope of one day reaching above the Supreme.

…

Within the martial arena, Shi Lan sat cross-legged, her chest showing no rise or fall at all, as if her breathing had stopped. Yet the fine skin on the surface of her body was trembling faintly, drawing in and expelling vast amounts of the essence of heaven and earth.

During her time on Penglai, aside from occasionally exchanging insights on martial arts, Tong Yuan had also taught her a breathing method similar to the one in the Fist Classic.

Unlike the Fist Classic, which gave overwhelming explosive force in a short span of time, this breathing method focused on drawing out the potential hidden within the human body. It was called Embryonic Breathing.

In this method, breathing was the most vital mechanism of the fleshly body, the authority that governed a person’s life essence.

Leaving aside the path of cultivation, from the moment a person entered the world wailing, that first cry opened the lung meridians within the body. The turbid qi of the outside world entered the body, stretching open every pore, and from then on there was interaction between the person and heaven and earth.

The breathing of mortals, however, was coarse, short, and unceasing. It was merely turbid qi flowing through the body. As it entered and left, the fleshly body received no nourishment at all. Over time, being eroded by the turbid qi between heaven and earth, a mortal’s lifespan naturally became short, and when breathing ceased, their life essence dispersed with it.

Cultivators were different. After shedding the mortal shell, the fleshly body changed of its own accord. Breathing became long and slow in frequency. Going a step further, one would cut oneself off from heaven and earth, no longer taking in the outside world’s turbid qi, and gradually shift from external breathing to internal breathing, drawing on the primordial qi between heaven and earth to sustain activity. Naturally, one’s lifespan would grow longer and longer.

For instance, when Shi Lan’s Innate Spiritual Body absorbed the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, that too was a kind of breathing.

But whether mortal or cultivator, at the end of the day, human beings could not exist independently of heaven, earth, and the universe. They needed breathing in order to draw energy from heaven and earth and survive.

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This Embryonic Breathing Art used a special breathing method to push the human body into a state of unity between heaven and man, returning it to the primal origin before it had ever interacted with heaven and earth or been eroded by the world’s turbid qi.

In that state, the efficiency with which one absorbed the energies of heaven and earth would be greatly enhanced. In other words, Shi Lan’s cultivation speed had climbed another level.

In only three months, even though most of her energy had been devoted to battle in the virtual space, simply by relying on her body’s instinctive breathing, she had already broken through the barrier of the middle stage of the Heaven-Man Realm and stepped into the late stage of the Heaven-Man Realm. She was only a final step away from drawing down the world-ending great tribulation.

Ordinary Heaven-Men needed to comprehend laws and perfect their own small worlds in order to increase their strength, but Shi Lan had no need of that at all.

As a great world, the laws of the Qiongluo Realm were already sufficiently mature and powerful. Until Shi Lan climbed to a certain realm, there simply would not be any bottlenecks on her path of cultivation.

Aside from this breathing method, after seeing Shi Lan use a halberd, Tong Yuan had originally also wanted to pass on a set of Heavenly Dragon Halberd Arts to her. It was the unique art of his senior brother Li Yan. In this age, apart from Tong Yuan himself, only Lu Bu knew it.

But after looking through the Heavenly Dragon Halberd Arts, Shi Lan gave them up.

According to Samsara’s evaluation: they were inferior to the Heaven-Scorching Three Halberds.

Even now, Shi Lan had yet to fully grasp the Heaven-Scorching Three Halberds. After tempering them in the virtual space for a long time, she had only learned the second halberd, Immortals Fall. To chew off too much was impossible to digest.

…

A clear, pleasant cry cut across the skies above Penglai. A short-tailed hawk, black as ink, dove down, flew straight into the great hall, and landed on Tong Yuan’s shoulder.

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Tong Yuan raised a hand and removed a jade slip tied to the hawk’s claw. After sweeping it with a thought, his brows drew together slightly.

“What happened?”

Seeing that Tong Yuan’s expression had changed, Yan Yun could not help asking.

“Zhang Jiao has risen in revolt.”

Tong Yuan’s face gradually darkened, and he muttered to himself:

“Someone like Zhang Jiao is nothing to worry about. That old thing Nanhua is at most my equal. If he truly dares stir up trouble, Wang Yue would be the first to cut him down. But why is it that these past few days, this shadow in my heart refuses to disperse?”

Yan Yun stepped forward and gently took Tong Yuan’s broad hand, soothing him.

“Perhaps your feeling is simply mistaken. There is no need to worry too much.”

“You’re right.”

Looking at Yan Yun, Tong Yuan let out a quiet laugh, and the dark look between his brows vanished completely.

“Zilong will likely be returning to the Nine Provinces very soon. I’ll go prepare some pills for healing injuries and replenishing blood and qi. On the battlefield, circumstances change in an instant. There is no telling what may happen.”

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Remembering what Tong Yuan had said earlier, Yan Yun released his hand. After saying a word, she left the great hall. As a war general under Gongsun Zan, Zhao Yun would certainly be recalled in this uprising of Zhang Jiao’s.

After Yan Yun left, the dark look returned to Tong Yuan’s brow once more.

“This is a harbinger of calamity.”

At his level of cultivation, his connection with heaven and earth had already become unimaginably close. It was impossible for him to have a premonition for no reason at all.

The pattern of the world was about to undergo a great change.

…

The summons came even faster than expected.

Early the next morning, Zhao Yun received a message from Gongsun Zan, and Shi Lan also received a letter from Liu Bei. As expected, he asked her to return to Zhuo Commandery and lend a hand.

During these three months, Shi Lan had also gained some understanding of the power rankings in this world. Below the absolute peaks of the age, martial artists were very broadly divided into four levels.

Third-rate, second-rate, first-rate, and top heroes.

With her current combat strength, she could barely count as first-rate. Among the various lords and within the court, there were not many military generals who possessed battle power at that level.