Fourteen days ago, Author: Zhu Xin Xia Ren
Chapter 44: The Radiant Spear
In the early morning, sunlight shone in through the window.
Gu Wen slowly exhaled a turbid breath, his qi transforming into a powerful aura, leaving a hole in the ground.
His eyes emitted a faint glint of killing intent, not the turbulent waves of emotion, but a calm and profound abyss.
The Radiant Spear, evolved from the six-foot mysterious spear, reaching the pinnacle of techniques, encompassing the killing intent of heaven and earth.
The first level, Bright Force, merging qi and strength into one, incredibly fierce.
The second level, Hidden Force, concealed within form, not visible externally, swift as thunder.
The third level, Profound Force, transforming form into formlessness, merging myriad forces into one.
The first three levels still belonged to the Mysterious Bright Spear.
This spear technique, as a Qi Refining Stage technique, had no flaws, and could even be said to have reached the peak.
A warrior's ultimate exploration of mortal martial arts, the pinnacle use of the human body with long-handled weapons, with countless variations while staying true to its essence.
It was in the subsequent three levels that Gu Wen truly excelled.
The fourth level, Radiant Spear Aura, with aura lingering, shaking all soldiers, as tough as iron.
The fifth level, Radiant Spear Intent, the spear technique reaching profundity, intent following the spear's movements, crushing solid defenses and annihilating intent.
The fourth level transformed into a new spear aura, doubling the power and hardness of the Mysterious Bright Spear, with only a slight increase in mana consumption.
The fifth level underwent the greatest change, adding a hint of spiritual attacks, causing enemies to become dazed and frightened when faced with the spear intent.
For example, using spear intent to freeze someone with just a glance.
And finally...
Gu Wen's right hand clenched, a dark red flame spread, a dark red long spear appeared in his hand, one zhang long, weightless in hand, emitting a fierce blood-red light, exuding only a chilling killing intent upon contact.
A simple and unadorned weapon of the killing path.
The sixth level, Radiant Spear God, the spear path connecting to the divine, harmonizing with the laws of heaven and earth, the way of the soldier merging with the laws.
Yue Hua once said, above the way of the soldier was the spear aura, followed by intent, and above all was the divine, achieving perfection in the laws.
Those who mastered the realm of the soldier, the way, and the divine were almost always outstanding figures below the True Monarchs, their combat prowess far surpassing that of various sect cultivators.
This was the greatest achievement, and the greatest martial power Gu Wen had mastered so far!
With a single thought, Gu Wen resonated with the Radiant Spear, a profound feeling turning into the most simple and unadorned meaning in his cognition.
Invincible within inches, lifeless within six feet.
Killing and blood-drinking, nurturing the way of the soldier.
Invincible at close range, the blood and qi of killing could nourish the weapon.
Gu Wen felt an unprecedented sense of ease in body and mind, this feeling of mastering power captivating him.
After half a year of cultivation, he could wield a strength of a thousand catties, exhale qi to transform into aura, and kill with a nod of his head.
Although he couldn't shatter cities or mountains, the strength of power was relative.
Without the ability to move mountains and fill seas, Gu Wen was undoubtedly at the forefront of the Da Gan Empire, at least in the top ten.
But with this cultivation, how would he fare against an army?
On the plains, facing cavalry left him no way out, encountering a barrage of strong crossbows was a matter of life and death, and being trapped in a military formation meant certain death.
Gu Wen made such judgments, except for these three situations, he was almost impossible to kill.
This was not a flaw in cultivation, but a change brought about by cultivation.
Ordinary people facing an army, let alone cavalry or heavily armored infantry, even ordinary light-armored infantry armed with knives would be powerless.
Martial arts experts in the Jianghu would kneel before the most ordinary foot soldiers.
Cultivation made the military a threat, but it was a rather harsh condition, difficult for the military to actively create.
Only by losing one's mind and handing the enemy a knife could such a situation arise.
Military marches often involved thousands, even tens of thousands, requiring several times the number of civilian laborers for long-distance travel.
Even if trapped in Bianjing City, Gu Wen was confident he could escape, as long as he didn't brazenly charge through the city gates.
Relying on the complex terrain within the city, facing five or six individuals he could defeat them, a military formation of dozens of people would be unable to deploy properly, and a hundred people would only end up in chaos.
Gu Wen was certain in his heart, feeling an unprecedented sense of ease.
Living cautiously for five years was like being trapped under the Five Elements Mountain, and today he finally stretched his body a little.
Turning his head to look out the window again, a purple aura crossed over from the direction of the imperial palace.
The real danger lay with the Daoist Emperor.
Although Yue Hua seemed to surpass the other party, he was ultimately not fond of placing his hopes on others.
Closing his eyes, cultivating his qi, his dantian was now the size of a basketball.
Without qi cultivation pills, rapid growth was impossible, but every bit saved was progress.
Thud, thud, thud.
The door was knocked, and the voice of a young eunuch came through.
"Master Wen, are you awake?"
Gu Wen got out of bed to open the door and receive the visitor.
The young eunuch Feng Baoming relayed a message, "Master Wen, His Highness wants you to take the water house's account book to the Wang Mansion at sunset."
"I understand."
The young eunuch left, unaware of the matter of the qi pills, just a messenger.
It seemed that Zhao Feng was indeed in a hurry.
Gu Wen remained calm.
He returned to his room to meditate and cultivate, his mind sinking into his sea of qi.
Heavenly Essence, one year.
Heavenly Fire refining, comprehension turning into soup.
A moon appeared in his sea of qi, a figure drifting in mid-air, leaping three zhang high at times, gliding a hundred meters at others, resembling the lightness skill depicted in martial arts novels of past lives.
In this world, there existed lightness skill, but it required cultivation.
The Falling Moon Step, the second level, Treading Moon, short leaps like the wind, agile as a swallow.
It allowed him to move at extremely fast speeds over short distances, with evasive movements resembling a spring, achieving a teleportation-like effect, but consuming five times the energy of the first level.
The final level of the Falling Moon Step, Lingering Moon, the practitioner as light as a feather, leaping three zhang at a time.
Heavenly Essence depleted.
"I can only reach the second level, but it's enough."
Noon, the water house.
Gu Wen went to the water house to eat, the dishes on the table changing with the seasons.
Usually, Gu Wen liked lamb, but due to the war between Da Gan and the northern barbarians, the price of lamb had risen, so he switched to chicken.
With the abundance of bitter vegetables during the Grain Buds season, he also had them on the table.
Jiang Fugui brought his eldest son, Jiang Jucai, who was in his teens, and Gu Wen found him familiar, a kind of nepotism.
Unlike his father's shifty eyes, Jiang Jucai had a scholarly air, having studied for many years.
Their family belonged to the classic lineage of merchants.
The son studied, the grandson pursued an official career, and it would take three generations of effort to possibly enter the scholar class.
Gu Wen wasn't very interested in this "grand plan," but it didn't stop Jiang Fugui from constantly mentioning it—study, imperial examinations, official career.
"Has the silk from Nanshui County to the river arrived?"
Gu Wen remembered the matter of the silkworms.
Jiang Fugui replied, "It has arrived, but Nanshui County has a developed handicraft industry, and all the silk has been processed into threads and even cloth. They sent it here to earn more processing fees. It might be a bit thankless for us to go, without money or reputation."
The profit from cloth had always been low.
If not for Gu Wen's instructions, Jiang Fugui, who was used to the Dragon Bridge business, would not have bothered.
"In recent days, Bianjing has been in a slump, and the people need to eat. Even if we don't make much profit, we have to do it, especially when it comes to feeding the people."
Gu Wen's tone was as calm as usual, but his actions were completely different.
"The goodness of commerce lies in industrial enterprises that help the people."
Textile factories had always been the pillar industry of cities, the most labor-intensive occupation for the people besides farming, and closely related to everyone.
Therefore, the court tightly controlled them, with various taxes and regulations, mostly thankless businesses.
Hence, most of them were state-run factories.
Jiang Fugui was taken aback, feeling that Master Wen was different from usual, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
In the past, Master Wen would also help poor families, but the only difference was that Master Wen wouldn't openly declare his intention to help the people; he detested fame and resisted being in the limelight.
Today, there was an added air of dignity, as well as an unhideable sense of majesty.
An hour remained before the qi pills were ready.
Gu Wen instructed Jiang Fugui to guard outside and not let anyone in.
Jiang Fugui, as always, didn't ask anything.
He put on his night-walking attire, covered his face with a bamboo hat, and climbed out of the window.
As the sun set outside, the all-black attire and masked face were very conspicuous, but the purpose of this outfit was not to hide, but to prevent recognition.
This way, he could act freely and unrestrainedly.
Many books are now hard to find, so cherish what you have.