Time flies, three years, fleeting.

The Great Chu Dynasty steadily entered the twenty-seventh year of the Yuanwu calendar.

On July 13 of this year, the scorching sun hung above the clear sky, the sun was shining, and the men rolled up their sleeves one after another, opened their chests and exposed their breasts, and the women did not dare to wear heavy makeup when they went out, for fear that they would become a cat face when they sweated, which would be a shame. However, the tea shop opened next to the official road took advantage of the blessing of the weather, and the business was much better.

In Youzhou, on the official road leading from Jinyang County to Dai County, a group of people are hurrying against the sun.

The men, who ranged in age from sixteen to twenty, numbered about three hundred, all of them were covered in sweat and walked weakly, like eggplants wilting in a vegetable field, listless.

It is no wonder that they set out at dawn and walked for almost five hours in the scorching heat, and by this time it was close to noon, and their bellies were already empty, and the loss of water was so great that they were already on the verge of collapse.

There were also 15 sergeants on horseback on each side of the group, dressed in black, and although their faces were also sweating profusely, they were much more energetic than the others.

These young people were all from Jinyang County, and all of them were recruits who were about to join the army.

It is stipulated in the "Great Chu Law" that men have sixteen Fu nationality. After that, according to the needs of the war, they could be conscripted into the army at any time, and they could not be exempted from military service until they were 60 years old.

This was originally a law of the Qin Dynasty, and it was inherited at the beginning of the establishment of the Chu Dynasty.

In fact, today, this law is no longer strictly enforced in many state cities. Especially in large households, there are children in the family who are up to the line, as long as they find the government to dredge up. If you don't have money, if you have only one son in the family, you don't have to be forced to serve.

But in Youzhou, this law has not changed. The long-term war with the Xiongnu also indirectly led to the emergence of a large number of orphans, and to some extent, it became the basis of military recruitment.

Among this group of more than 300 people, there are many families broken because of the Xiongnu, and when it comes to these alien races, I really can't wait to devour their flesh and blood.

Near noon, the sergeant on the side saw that everyone was exhausted, and there happened to be a tea shop on the side of the road in front of him, so he beckoned everyone to sit down and rest. Although they were still able to persevere, the horses under their crotches couldn't stand it.

When the owner of the tea shop saw the business coming to the door, he hurriedly came over to greet him, and the group ordered several large pots of herbal tea and bought some dry food for backup.

After drinking a large bowl of herbal tea, I sweated all over my body, and finally felt that I was alive again, because the seats were not enough, these young people ran to the shade of the trees on the side of the road in twos and threes, enjoying this rare coolness.

After regaining some of their spirits, they talked a lot, complaining about the damn weather, and a little bit of fear about the life that was coming, most of them being so far away from home for the first time in their lives.

The sergeants did not restrain them too much, and after they had eaten their dry food, they all ran to their horses, and there was an old well next to the tea shop, and they cooled the horses with cold water, and the horses snorted with pleasure when they felt the indescribable coolness.

One of the people under the tree, who was gradually becoming a little noisy, did not speak, his eyes closed, as if he were asleep, but the few people sitting around him unconsciously lowered their voices, as if in awe of him.

This person is Cheng Kun.

After three years of cultivation, his cultivation reached a bottleneck. After seeking the consent of his father, he decided to join the army ahead of schedule and embarked on the old path of his previous life to sharpen himself in the army.

Although he is only fourteen years old now, he is already 1.72 meters tall, coupled with his calm eyebrows and eyes, he is said to be sixteen years old, and there are many people who believe in him. When the army sent people to screen, he didn't demonstrate any boxing techniques, but just lifted a boulder weighing a thousand catties.

When the people who were preparing to join the army with him saw it, their eyes were about to pop out in shock. This is also the reason why Cheng Kun is so prestigious among these people. After the news of his "innate divine power" spread among this group of people, the rest of the people who didn't see it were also shocked.

Taking advantage of this lunch break, Cheng Kun guarded the inner spirit, and the true qi in his body was lingering and full of vitality, making his whole body like a hot spring, indescribably comfortable. The majestic and domineering iron cloak has completely changed in his hands, and in the past three years, his cultivation has grown steadily, but the strange thing is that he has not opened up any of the eight veins of the strange scriptures.

Speaking of this, I have to mention Xiao Youran's grandfather.

When he first met Zhao Wenyuan three years ago, he called him a gay old man because of his strange eyes. After knowing his true identity, cold sweat was on his forehead, and he could only rejoice in his heart, fortunately they didn't know what "gay" meant, otherwise he would have died.

Although Zhao Wenyuan has long passed the age of antiquity, his majesty has not diminished.

When he was young, he was a disciple of Xuanyiguan, and he was full of Xuanmen's true qi. After the completion of the Tongmai, he retreated on the mountain for many years, and when he was born again, he had quietly broken through the entrance and became a grandmaster. Later, he broke the unique dilemma of Xuanyi with his self-created Tiangang Sumeru palm skill, set up Tiangang Gate, and opened up his own line, if it were not for the great changes later, many people were optimistic that he would become the next great master.

Although Cheng Kun had guessed that the grandfather of Youran was afraid that it was not simple, he still didn't expect him to be so domineering.

After Old Man Zhao saw that Youran's body was showing signs of improvement, Lao Huai Dachang did not go up the mountain frequently in the next three years, but stayed in Jishitang, and worked with Cheng Kun to study how to fundamentally solve the problem of Yuran's qi and blood.

There is a ready-made quasi-great master by his side, and Cheng Kun will certainly not let go of such a good opportunity to ask for advice. And Zhao Wenyuan, for some unknown reason, is also very interested in Cheng Kun. After gaining an in-depth understanding of the unique theory of national art, I was deeply inspired. Over time, these two became New Year's friends.

After a long time, Zhao Wenyuan taught Cheng Kun a method of building a foundation - "Xuan Jue". This is a very authentic Taoist foundation building method. Its root lies in the sentence in the sixth chapter of the Tao Te Ching, "The immortality of the god of grains is called Xuanjiao, and the gate of Xuanqi is the root of heaven and earth." If it exists, it is not used diligently. ”

Almost all people in the Xuanyi Temple are practicing this exercise to build a foundation, and after the Xuanyi method is practiced, it has the miraculous effect of refining the true qi, and a breath of true qi is endless, and the qi veins are long, which can be said to be infinitely useful.

After Tang Zhong knew that Cheng Kun had learned this exercise, he couldn't help but sigh at his apprentice's luck. He is not as lonely as Cheng Kun, in the martial arts of Dachu, if he ranks a high level for the foundation building methods of each family, Xuan Jue will definitely rank in the top three. Not to mention anything else, refining the true qi alone is enough to outperform the other ninety-nine-out exercises.

Masters understand that the later they reach the cultivation stage, the more important the pure true qi becomes. It is rumored that the reason why Xuanyiguan guarantees the appearance of at least one grandmaster in each generation is that Xuanyiguan has made great contributions.

Although Cheng Kun had already built a foundation through the Iron Cloak Technique, this did not affect his cultivation of the Xuan Jue in the slightest. And the reason why he didn't open up the eight veins of the Qi Jing was also because of Zhao Wenyuan's warning. The ancestors of Xuanyiguan discovered a secret of cultivation through exploration, that is, after cultivating the Xuanyi Technique to the highest level of "unintentional movement", and then opening up the meridians. This can achieve twice the result with half the effort, and at the same time, it can also nourish the meridians well, which is conducive to expanding the meridians and improving one's own true qi reserves.

With such a good thing, Cheng Kun is naturally good. It's a pity that although he started quickly, he couldn't find the door to "unintentionally move", which is why he is in a strange situation now.

He had now developed a habit of running a few weeks of Xuanji whenever he had time. In this exercise, his progress is really limited, and he can only hope that diligence can make up for his shortcomings. So far, we haven't seen any noticeable results, but we have honed a solid foundation as a result.

After a short half-hour break, the sergeants called everyone up and got back on their way. Cheng Kun also opened his eyes and ended his short cultivation. In the eyes of others, he just took a nap.

They had been on the road for five days and were now not far from Daigun, and were expected to arrive before the sun set.

After this group of prospective recruits rested, their physical strength recovered a lot, and after hearing that they were about to reach their destination, they exploded with their potential, and their speed was much faster.

Now all these people want most is a hot and full meal and a hot bath. After being on the road for so long, everyone, including Cheng Kun, was already dirty, smelling of sweat, and even more had lice on his body, and his appearance was embarrassing, just like a bunch of beggars.

Finally, after walking for almost three hours, a majestic city appeared in front of Cheng Kun's eyes.

Daigun, arrived.

As the capital of Youzhou, the area of Dai County is much larger than that of Xinfeng County. Cheng Kun's field of vision was all crammed, and according to his visual measurements, it was estimated that it was at least 20 square kilometers, which was almost the size of a county-level city in later generations. And that's not even counting the moat outside the city walls.

Cheng Kunduo wanted to find a room in the city to live in, but unfortunately, the end of their trip was not in the city.

He and the others followed the sergeant on horseback to the west side of Daijun, and everyone sighed, at this time, a sergeant flicked a whip on horseback, and there was a "snap" sound in the air, and when everyone heard the shock, they smiled and said: "Hold on a little longer, the military camp we are going to is not far from the city of Daijun, and you can rest when you get to the place." ”

Sure enough, after walking for almost two miles, a military camp came into view.

At this time, it was almost dusk, and the clouds on the horizon were rendered with a layer of red, and the shape looked somewhat like a sword, embedded in the sky, and in the barracks, on a long pole with a height of seven meters, the military flag danced violently against the wind.

The military flag is dark at the bottom, and there is a majestic tiger with yellow and red embroidered on the flag, swooping forward, lifelike, as if it will jump out of the flag in the next second and pounce in front of everyone.

As the saying goes, "Stuff Jing Hu Ji Che, Sha Ming Chu practice points." The wind flag flips its wings, and the frost sword turns into a dragon. ”

Cheng Kun sighed secretly in his heart, it was really majestic, so evil.