The independent kingdom of Hungary is bordered to the south by the Kingdom of Zeta, to the west by the great bay of the Mediterranean, that is, the Adriatic Sea, across the sea from the Apennine Peninsula, where Rome is located, and to the south and east by the Eastern Roman Empire, that is, the Byzantine Empire.

It is still a vassal of the Byzantine Empire, but because the Byzantine Empire is a centralized state and does not have a feudal system, the Zeta Kingdom has an independent feudal system and a high degree of autonomy, and the only obligation that needs to be fulfilled is to provide Byzantium with certain taxes and troops.

Unfortunately, since the death of the previous king Bodin Konstantin, there were no heirs, and the kingdom not only faced the encroachment of the Kingdom of Hungary in the north, but also fell into great chaos internally, and the two major principalities under the kingdom, the Grand Duke of Uloch in the Principality of Serbia and the Grand Duke of Boja in the Principality of Bosnia, did not recognize the succession of King Bodin II.

Although the three of them were cousins, they all felt that they should inherit the king, and this was an irreconcilable contradiction.

Ever since he set foot on the lands of this kingdom, Viscount Charles had been in a state of fear, fearing that the great wealth he was carrying would be exposed and coveted by some nobles or soldiers, or even thieves, and his eyes were always vigilant at anyone who came near him.

Zhao Bufan felt that he was too sensitive at first, and couldn't help but smile and said to him: "Great Viscount Charlie, don't you think you are a little too careful, I think you should relax a little, after all, this is also a place to believe in the Illuminati. ”

"No, no, no, brave Knight of Rilo, you have made a huge mistake!"

Viscount Charlie shook his head like a rattle, and said worriedly: "Although they also believe in the Illuminati here, they believe in the Illuminati Orthodox Church, which comes from the split of the Illuminati Sect, the Illuminati and the Illuminate Orthodox Church both think that they are orthodox, and even excommunicate each other's churches, so I must tell you seriously, you must keep a low profile, just let people know that you are a devout believer in the God of Light, don't use the rights given by the Holy See to pressure them, otherwise you will pay a huge price...... Oh, by the way, the Orthodox Church is supporting them with the Byzantine Empire!"

These words made Zhao Bufan understand the grim situation, and he began to become cautious, fortunately, Viscount Charlie had a very outstanding eloquence, was good at dealing with nobles, and had rich religious knowledge, so their trip was quite smooth.

It was not until he arrived in Boonana, the prosperous city of the Principality of Bosnia, that the apprehensive Viscount Charles decided to halt his eastward march for the time being, settled down in the largest tavern in the city, and told Zhao Bufan in his room: "We must live here for a while, the great justice of Bosnia and his lord are fighting against Bodin II of the south, and we had better not get involved, although I admit that I am extremely brave, but I do not want you to be in danger." ”

Zhao Bufan was very helpless about his shameless way of speaking, and spread his hands and said: "Your words are really touching, but should we do something now, or do we buy drunk in the tavern every day?"

Viscount Charlie said solemnly, "I think we should recruit some strong men to protect our gold coins. ”

"Then why didn't you recruit before?" Zhao Bufan was puzzled.

"Because we were safe and didn't have to waste our hard-earned gold coins, and now I feel the danger, and I think our two noble lives are more important than gold coins, don't you think?"

"Nice idea, but where are we going to recruit people, will anyone be willing to follow us to the Levant?"

"Of course, there are always many people in this world who have no way out, strong vagabonds, mercenaries hungry for wealth, bankrupt burghers, merchants or free farmers, unemployed craftsmen...... In short, there are many people who need to find a way out, and as long as we have gold, they will follow us, and we need to go to the taverns now to spread the word that the great Viscount Charles and the brave Knight of Lilo need followers. ”

"Okay, let's go now!"

"No, it's better for me to recruit followers, and even though there are many people looking for a way out, it's not easy to get them to leave their homes willingly, it takes speech and persuasion, and your jerky accent has no effect and will only have the exact opposite effect. ”

Zhao Bufan, who was about to get up, was stunned, thought about it carefully, and found that what Viscount Charlie said was very reasonable, so he gave up his plan to go with him: "That means I just need to drink in the tavern and wait for you? Maybe I can also talk to a few beautiful girls to pass the boring time?"

Viscount Charlie waved his hand dissatisfied: "This is not good, I work hard, but you are idle, this is very unfair, I think you should go to the training ground to improve your combat skills, and after recruiting more people, we also need to be strong enough to control them, otherwise they may rebel." ”

"I think my two-handed swordsmanship is already very good, you should know my strength!" Zhao Bufan replied casually.

Viscount Charlie nodded: "I admit that you are very talented, I feel that you should have been a very terrible warrior before, but your current combat skills are really not good, at most even if you are a brave soldier, you just rely on the strength of your body, and you have not practiced your own divine power." ”

Zhao Bufan was extremely stunned.

"Divine power?

Viscount Charlie scratched his head in distress, and said helplessly: "When I was sailing on the ocean, I once saw the battle skills of the East, I don't know what words to use to translate, but it is the kind of cultivation method that can make you stronger, can you understand?"

Zhao Bufan thought about it, hesitated and made a literal translation according to the pronunciation: "True qi? Or is it internal force?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Viscount Charlie nodded again and again, with a smile on his face: "They seem to be called that, but we have our own combat skills on our side, some regions use the word divine power to describe it, and some regions also use the word battle qi, but no matter what, without divine power, it will be very fragile, and when you meet a truly powerful warrior, it will be like paper paste, and I am very strange, you are a mysterious and ancient Oriental nobleman, why don't you have this power?"

Zhao Bufan was silent for a moment, and sighed helplessly: "I used to be very strong, but I was persecuted and completely lost that power!"

At this time, Viscount Charlie put away the smile on his face, looked at him deeply with blue eyes for a long time, gently gave him a hug, and said very seriously: "My best brother, I feel sorry for what happened to you, I can finally understand the pain in your heart, I am very grateful for you to share all this with me, for the sake of our great friendship, I intend to teach you my method of cultivating divine power." ”

Zhao Bufan was a little moved, although Viscount Charlie had countless shortcomings, but he did have a kind of power that people could trust, but thinking of his own problem, he felt very frustrated, and pointed to the location of his dantian and said, "I have been damaged by some kind of strange thing here, and I can't cultivate." ”

Because he couldn't translate the word worm Gu, he used a strange thing instead.

Viscount Charlie obviously understood, but after looking at his dantian, he asked strangely, "Do you need to practice your oriental combat skills through there?"

"Yes, our power is through here!"

"This is amazing!" Viscount Charles sighed, but soon shook his head with a smile: "It's okay, our combat skills on our side don't need it, our strength is scattered in every part of the body, using the body to breathe, so as to obtain terrible power, practice to the extreme will be very powerful, legend has it that the heroes of ancient Rome and ancient Greece can even make the river flow backwards, like a god-like existence, so there are those myths that circulate, but the Holy See of Light said that they are not gods, just powerful people, and the God of Light is the only god." ”

Zhao Bufan's heart suddenly sudden.

A completely different form of power?

This made him excited, and he said excitedly, "Then can you teach me now!"

Viscount Charlie smiled and nodded.

"Of course, we can go to the training ground of the city now, and a knight without combat skills is not a qualified knight at all. ”

............

Zhao Bufan followed Viscount Charlie to the training ground, and soon came into contact with an incredible form of strength.

In a sense, it is a kind of extensive way of practicing qi, without the concept of tendons and veins, but just storing qi in the whole body, training the body, and forming strength.

This also causes everyone's strength to be different, even if they use the same way of practice, but they will all be different due to different physiques.

In order to let him feel this power as soon as possible, Viscount Charlie gave him a trace of his divine power, so that he could quickly understand this power, and although his martial arts were abolished by the insect Gu, his body was already very sensitive to qi, and in a short period of time, he condensed a few traces of his divine power according to the method taught by Viscount Charlie.

This amazed Viscount Charlie.

"Rilo, you are incredible, when I was still serving as a servant to other knights, but it took a month to feel the divine power, and it took three months to condense your own divine power, and you only took half a day, I now believe that you used to be a very terrible warrior. ”

The excited Zhao Bufan didn't pay attention to him, and just calmly practiced in the practice, this way of practicing qi did not need to sit cross-legged, but mobilized the operation of divine power in the continuous swing of the sword, so that his whole body was integrated with the divine power, forming a terrifying power.

Viscount Charlie saw that he was focused, shrugged his shoulders with a smile, and left alone.

In the next half a month, Zhao Bufan was immersed in endless combat skill practice, except for sleeping at night and necessary meal time, all stayed in the training ground, and his understanding of divine power became deeper and deeper, and he understood why some mercenaries made him feel unmatched, because they had mastered this power, and mercenaries were not like nobles like Viscount Charlie, they would not restrain their breath, but would let them be released.

Viscount Charlie on the other side was not idle, he gave speeches in taverns all over the place all day long, inciting those who were desperate to follow, and unknowingly gathered a team of fifty or sixty people, including even a mercenary team of nine people, the strength was not bad, especially the captain Ram, whose strength was relatively strong, not much weaker than Viscount Charlie.

But as time went on, and there were fewer and fewer people willing to follow, and no one was willing to sign up for a few days, Viscount Charles decided that it was almost time to leave, and instead focused on inquiring about the war, and he needed to distinguish which areas were safe and which were dangerous......