Invincible Starts From Dao Fruit
Chapter 180 - 145 ’Black Tornado’ Wang Shan! [Vote for monthly tickets!]

Chapter 180: Chapter 145 ’Black Tornado’ Wang Shan! [Vote for monthly tickets!]

After Chen Jichuan left.

Yang Xiong turned to Wang Ji and said, "Wang Shan has exceptional talent in external skills. It’s a pity to switch him to inner strength. How did you come to this decision, Junior Brother?"

In the Taixu Sword Sect, most disciples start with external skills. Once they hit a certain bottleneck and can no longer progress, they then switch to cultivating inner strength.

Some are gifted in both paths.

Such as Yuann Chang.

Such as Tang Yuanhong.

Such as Li Qingshan.

The reason these three could attain the positions of Blood Clothes Army Commanders is precisely because they cultivated both inner strength and external skills. Not only did they achieve innate mastery in inner strength, their external skills also reached the Transforming Strength level.

In the bloody battles and charging formations, their threat level and survivability far surpassed those who solely focus on innate inner strength or transforming external skills.

There are also those who specialize in one path, focusing only on external skills.

Such as Meng Tianshou.

He started with external skills, found they suited him better, and discovered his talent for inner cultivation was mediocre.

Thus, he poured all his energy into external cultivation. To date, he’s merely a Transforming Strength Grandmaster focused solely on external skills. Still, this decision is much better than attempting to master both paths or abandoning external cultivation to focus on inner strength. His future prospects were greater.

Yang Xiong’s intention was to have Chen Jichuan follow Meng Tianshou’s path.

Given his unparalleled talent in external skills, there may be no need to abandon it or be slowed down by simultaneous inner cultivation.

However, Wang Ji was Chen Jichuan’s master after all, so his opinion had to be considered.

What’s more, in the Taixu Sword Sect, external cultivation could only take one to the Peak of Transforming Strength. Beyond that, one would have to seek breakthroughs through their own endeavors outside the sect.

The benefits and drawbacks of this choice would require Wang Ji’s thoughtful evaluation.

"If he can truly achieve greatness in external skills, I could request the sect elders to find a subsequent technique that leads to Great Grandmaster level for him," Yang Xiong said.

"However, there is no external Great Grandmaster in the sect. The techniques are available, but nobody can instruct him," he added.

Merely relying on scriptures and techniques to break through Transforming Strength and achieve Great Grandmaster wasn’t an easy feat.

"I’ll ask Shan’er when I return," Wang Ji replied.

He knew this matter was of great importance and dared not make decisions lightly on behalf of his disciple.

In truth.

When he first took Wang Shan as a disciple, the path he had planned for him was to switch from external cultivation to inner cultivation. However, seeing Chen Jichuan’s extraordinary talent for external skills, he now found himself somewhat hesitant.

"Hm."

"No rush. It’s better to consult Wang Shan’s thoughts more thoroughly," Yang Xiong agreed, nodding.

He changed the topic and advised, "Blindly overworking oneself in cultivation isn’t wise. Since Wang Shan has already reached Transforming Strength, it’s time to put some burdens on his shoulders. Let him go out and gain some experience. I suggest taking up a martial role. Currently, Xiyu City is short of a Captain. Why not let him try the position?"

Martial virtue is about curbing chaos.

In Central Earth’s Seven States, martial artists are abundant. Without overwhelming force to maintain order, it would inevitably lead to rivers of blood and incessant private conflicts.

Therefore.

In Pengshan County, every city had City Guard troops stationed—first, to defend the city against enemy invasions; second, to intimidate wandering martial artists and prevent disturbances within the city; and third, to combat horse bandits and robbers within the city’s jurisdiction, thereby protecting the local people from suffering.

Though the City Guard wasn’t as elite as the Blood Clothes Army, it was still a good place to refine oneself.

"Xiyu City."

"Good."

"I’ll talk to him about it when I get back."

Wang Ji gave it some thought and then nodded.

The City Lord and General of Xiyu City were seasoned masters in Innate and Transforming Strength stages, and they shared a good rapport with Wang Ji. With Wang Shan there, his personal safety would be secure.

After finishing their discussion, Wang Ji and Meng Tianshou both left Qinggang Palace.

Inside the hall.

Once the two were gone, Yuann Chang turned to Yang Xiong and asked, "Is the Sect Master planning to let Wang Shan become the Fourth Commander of the Blood Clothes Army?"

"Wang Shan?"

Li Qingshan and Tang Yuanhong both turned their attention to Yang Xiong upon hearing this.

They had been discussing the expansion of the Blood Clothes Army earlier, but the selection of the new Commander hadn’t been finalized.

"I knew I couldn’t keep it from Senior Brothers," Yang Xiong admitted with a nod, adding, "A twenty-five-year-old Transforming Strength expert will certainly be entrusted with important responsibilities someday. The Blood Clothes Army is planning to expand next year or the year after. For now, let him experience leading in the City Guard. If he demonstrates talent in commanding troops, he can try out for the Blood Clothes Army later."

...

In the courtyard.

Chen Jichuan crouched on the ground like a human-shaped tiger, practicing the ’Tiger Form Divine Technique.’

This external skill secret technique bore some resemblance to the ’Lying Tiger Skill’ from the Chen’s Seventy-two Skills, but the similarities were superficial. The finer details were entirely different.

Lying on the ground—

"Huff!"

"Huff!"

"Huff!"

Strength passed from ten fingers into the finger bones, transmitted through the arm bones, and eventually infused the body. His breathing caused his internal organs to contract and vibrate, while the potent energy from dark strength made his muscles and bones tremble.

Chen Jichuan kept adjusting.

Body movements, breathing, inner energy circulation, muscle and bone control...

As the saying goes: a tiny mistake leads to a thousand-mile error.

Much of this depended on details and coordination—any small error in precision could lead to failure in training.

With gradual adjustments—

"Huff!"

"Huff!"

Chen Jichuan’s entire body unexpectedly emitted sounds reminiscent of a tiger snoring.

It wasn’t actual snoring but rather the sounds of his bones colliding and vibrating.

It resembled the concept of ’Tiger and Leopard Thunder Sound,’ yet the ’Tiger Form Divine Technique’ was far superior in harnessing sound and impact to refine the bone marrow.

Chen Jichuan felt as though he had transformed into a tiger lying there, resting.

Initially, he needed to exert effort and consciously control various aspects—muscles, breathing, dark strength, and more. But soon, he naturally entered the correct state without deliberate effort.

His entire body felt electrified, and his bones gave an itchy sensation.

His physical speed improved rapidly, and he could feel his strength steadily increasing.

When the ’slumber ended,’ Chen Jichuan stood up, stretched his muscles and bones, and felt vitality surging throughout his body.

"No wonder it’s called a ’secret technique,’" he murmured with admiration.

"In just one short month, the ’Tiger Form Divine Technique’ has increased my strength by seventy to eighty percent—almost pushing me to Transforming Strength Second Layer," Chen Jichuan thought excitedly.

If the ’Tiger and Leopard Thunder Sound’ was merely Transforming Strength Grandmasters casually refining their bone marrow while practicing their fist techniques, then the ’Tiger Form Divine Technique’ took that concept to the next level, leveraging intensity and precision for more effective progress.

"Traditionally, each time I restarted cultivation from scratch, even with accomplishments in Qi Refinement and Daoist Skills, achieving Transforming Strength’s peak still required a solid ten years of training," he pondered.

Most of that time was spent advancing through Transforming Strength’s four layers—seven to eight years just to progress from First Layer to Fourth Layer.

This time around, while his Qi Refinement was incomplete and Daoist Skills hadn’t begun, he had mastered the ’Tiger Form Divine Technique,’ summarized and integrated the Chen’s 72 Skills into the ’Five Forms Eight Techniques Fist,’ and even attained insights from the ’Jade Spring Dao Fruit.’

With all these advantages combined—

"I’ll reach Transforming Strength’s peak in at most four to five years," he calculated.

This would save half the time while building an even sturdier foundation.

"Five Forms Eight Techniques Fist."

"Tiger Form Divine Technique."

"With these two techniques underpinning my external cultivation, my foundation is solid. Next, I can explore other widespread martial arts in Jianghu, such as horse, chicken, swallow, bear forms, aiming to expand the Five Forms Eight Techniques into Twelve Forms. With that, not only can I practice the ’Bear-shaped Mixed Element Strength,’ but I can also seek other secret techniques to accelerate cultivation and strengthen my base further."

Chen Jichuan mapped out his cultivation path.

If he succeeded in mastering ’Twelve Forms,’ along with ’Tiger Form Divine Technique’ and ’Bear-shaped Mixed Element Strength,’ and acquired additional secret techniques, his cultivation speed and power within the same realm would soar.

Moreover.

With external cultivation securely developed.

He could allocate his focus toward resuming Qi Refinement and Daoist Skills.

He strode out to seek advice from his master, Wang Ji.

...

Another three days passed in Pengshan City.

Finally, Chen Jichuan’s appointment day arrived.

A month ago.

Chen Jichuan and his master Wang Ji had agreed upon taking up the role of Xiyu City Captain.

Sect Master Yang Xiong had given Chen Jichuan a month-long grace period to consolidate his newly advanced Transforming Strength cultivation.

During this time.

Chen Jichuan also obtained the ’Taixu Sword Manual’ from the Taixu Sword Sect.

Although Wang Ji and Yang Xiong repeatedly advised Chen Jichuan to focus his efforts on external skills for now, in the end, they relented and passed on the sword manual.

It was the ultimate skill of the Taixu Sword Sect and derived from the ancient Taixu Emperor’s Divine Rank Secret Scripture, ’Taixu Ten Swords.’

While not considered Divine Rank anymore, it still ranked as one of the world’s most renowned Heavenly Secret Scriptures.

What Chen Jichuan received only allowed cultivation up to the Innate level.

Furthermore, he was repeatedly warned not to overly divide his attention between inner cultivation and the sword manual.

Chen Jichuan agreed readily—his plan was firmly set.

...

On the appointed day.

Autumn wind howled.

Xiyu City was abuzz with chatter, alive with festivity.

In tea houses lining the streets, storytellers passionately spun their tales. Their voices boomed with vigor and carried faintly onto the streets—

"If we’re talking about the most remarkable figures of Pengshan County in recent years, the number one spot must go to Blood Clothes Army Commander Li Qingshan."

"But let’s not discuss him today. Let’s talk about the newly promoted ’Earthly List’ expert, the so-called ’Black Tornado’!"

"You all must already know of the ’Black Tornado.’ His name is Wang Shan. Two years ago, he first made his mark on the ’Hidden Dragon List,’ ranked 230th. Every subsequent listing saw his achievements and ranking rise significantly. Earlier this year, he vaulted into the 46th spot of the ’Hidden Dragon List,’ earning him the moniker ’Little Tornado.’"

"But in just six months, the Shenji Sect removed ’Little Tornado’ Wang Shan from the list. Why?"

"Not because he fell off the charts, but because he killed the 100th-ranked ’Double Spear General’ Zhu Ning from the ’Earthly List,’ leading the Shenji Sect to promote him to the 108th rank on the Earthly List!"

"That battle shook the sky and darkened the sun! Wang Shan executed fist techniques with such ferocity that they whipped up winds and scoured the sands. Hence, people now call him the ’Black Tornado!’"

...

The storyteller laid out Wang Shan’s exploits in broad strokes before delving into the intricacies of his battles. He vividly recounted each clash, exaggerating the scenes to make them feel almost lifelike.

He described Wang Shan as a burly, dark-skinned individual with a reckless, straightforward, and fearless personality—the epitome of the ’Black Tornado’ moniker.

The tea house audience erupted in cheers, their spirits ignited.

As Chen Jichuan passed by casually listening to the tale, his face flushed with embarrassment and anger. Hastily covering his face, he stormed away. Internally, he cursed furiously: "Shenji Sect! You *@&!%#@ you *@&!%#@ mother*&!%#@!"

...