Chapter 130: All-Around Development

With Du Long’s unique abilities now established, the old Emperor and Elder Wei placed greater trust in his words. The three elders subsequently dismissed Du Long from the study to begin their secret deliberations.

Du Long, happy for the reprieve, went straight to find Huo Feng, Xia Qinglian, and his two cousins whom he had not seen for many years. After handling his parents' inquiries, the group of young people spent time chatting and sipping tea in the back garden of the Du residence.

Through their conversation, Du Long and the others gained a clearer understanding of the hardships faced by the Fen and Fang twin sisters. They were truly unfortunate girls; after their mother died in childbirth and their father remained away for long periods, they were frequently isolated and bullied by other members of their clan.

The sisters were a year younger than Du Long. They possessed decent talent in martial cultivation and had both reached the peak of the eighth rank of Qi Condensation. They would soon break through to the ninth rank—certainly before the end of the year—at which point they would be eligible to enroll in the Royal Academy.

Naturally, the sisters were eager to join the Royal Academy, as it was the only way they could see Du Long and his friends frequently and escape the harassment of their troublesome relatives.

After offering them some encouragement, the sisters eventually took their leave. Learning that they had never consumed first-grade spirit liquid, Du Long gifted them two portions each as a welcoming present. With the aid of the spirit liquid, they would have a much better chance of joining the academy by year's end.

Having been away from his territory for nearly a month—breaking his own record for skipping classes—it was time for Du Long to return to the Royal Academy to show his face.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, more than half a year had passed.

Over these six months, Du Long had consumed two more portions of second-grade spirit liquid, raising his strength to the sixth rank of the Qi Cyclone stage. Every day, he refined second-grade spirit liquid, long since exhausting the second-grade medicinal herbs he had harvested from Xiao Lie’s garden.

However, he could not possibly consume all the spirit liquid he refined, so he sold a portion to the Treasure Pavilion and used the proceeds to purchase more herbs. This recurring cycle of refining and selling became another vital source of income.

Beyond refining spirit liquid, Du Long also purchased three medicinal pill formulas during the year. As an alchemist, he could not spend his entire career refining only spirit liquid and began experimenting with more practical pills.

In November, the Royal Academy held a martial cultivation assessment.

The purpose of this assessment was to determine if students had met the standards for promotion to the next grade. As previously mentioned, only students who had reached the Qi Cyclone stage and spent at least one year in the first grade were eligible for the second grade; the fourth to sixth ranks were for the third grade, and the seventh to ninth ranks for the fourth grade.

With his current strength at the sixth rank of the Qi Cyclone stage, Du Long was theoretically eligible to skip ahead to the third grade. However, he was required to spend at least one year in the second grade before he could advance.

Consequently, he resorted to his old trick: during the assessment, he chose to conceal his true strength, testing at the fourth rank of the Qi Cyclone stage. Advancing two ranks in a year with the help of second-grade spirit liquid was not considered overly shocking.

Many did not quite believe these test results, as word had already spread throughout the Royal Academy of how, over half a year ago, Du Long had defeated Fan Tong—who possessed seventh-rank Qi Cyclone strength—leaving him completely unable to fight back.

The Luo family twins, Fen and Fang, enrolled in the Royal Academy in November. After testing, it was revealed that with the help of Du Long’s first-grade spirit liquid, they had both broken through to the first rank of the Qi Cyclone stage, directly advancing to the first grade and becoming members of the Royal Academy.

With this, Du Long’s circle of friends grew to include the beautiful twins.

Over those six months, the once-arrogant Fan Tong, the direct grandson of the Fan family, had shed his haughty demeanor and buried himself in grueling cultivation. Few saw him anymore; having been repeatedly humiliated by Du Long, he clearly lacked the face to appear in public.

Du Long was not a troublemaker; as long as others did not bother him, he would not initiate conflict. Whenever he had free time, he would return to his territory to handle official business, cultivate, or refine pills. The months passed in a flash.

Through these six months of development, agriculture, industry, and commerce in the Fengli County territory thrived. The crops in the fields reached harvest season. To protect the citizens' food from being trampled by demonic beasts, Du Long dispatched a large number of troops to guard the harvest.

In previous years, beasts from the Forest of Demons would emerge during this season to cause havoc. This year, however, guarded by a large force of well-trained Cavalry, the stray beasts that wandered out of the forest rarely made it back; they all ended up as food for the humans.

Du Long also harvested a large quantity of beast cores, which provided a significant additional income on top of the bumper harvest.

Within the year, the number of soldiers in the Cavalry, including the beast legions inside the Forest of Demons, reached over 15,000, with another 5,000 to 6,000 infantry in the territory, bringing the total force to over 20,000.

Since the Iron-Armored Water Rhinoceros and Flame Tiger legions had more men than beasts, Du Long had to find ways to subdue other beast clans to fill the gaps. Even so, there were still more men than mounts, so the 5,000 to 6,000 soldiers without mounts remained in the barracks outside Fengli County.

This worked out well, as to outsiders, the Cavalry of Fengli County, combined with the 2,000 to 3,000 men at the secret mine base, appeared to be a standard small cavalry force of about 10,000.

After so much time, the Black Mysterious Iron Mountain base could no longer be kept entirely secret. Located on the edge of the Forest of Demons near human settlements, it was natural for various factions to detect it.

However, these factions could only confirm that a secret base existed within a ten-mile radius of the Black Mysterious Iron Mountain. They could not infiltrate it; only supply transport teams were permitted to enter and exit, and others could not get near.

Through nearly a year of hard work, production of weapons and armor, and rigorous training, a fully armed beast legion of 15,000 was finally formed.

This legion was not idle; they began expanding their absolute control within the Demon Beast Swamp, occasionally clashing with other beast clans. For the Cavalry, such wars were essentially training for the new recruits.

Through battles with various beast clans, many of the green recruits who had never seen blood or death finally began to exude the iron-blooded aura characteristic of true soldiers.

To Du Long’s delight, Tie Niu, the star pupil of Ouyezhi, displayed outstanding leadership talent. Despite his massive size, he was both bold and meticulous. Under his command, the Iron-Armored Water Rhinoceros legion was unstoppable, moving with disciplined formation and steady resolve.

After nearly a year of observation and cultivation, the main commander of the Cavalry, Xu Yin, praised Tie Niu highly, eventually handing over the supreme command of the Iron-Armored Water Rhinoceros legion to him.

It must be noted that there were two other officers in the legion who had reached the peak of the Qi Sea stage—veterans whom Xu Yin knew well—yet he had not entrusted the command to them.

As Tie Niu studied the advanced cultivation techniques Du Long had placed in the camp, he successfully broke through to the peak of the Qi Sea stage. His rise in strength, combined with his natural command ability, made him the undisputed commander of the Iron-Armored Water Rhinoceros legion.

General Xu Yin seemed more interested in the Flame Tiger legion, dedicating most of his time to its training.

Cooperating with the Iron-Armored Water Rhinoceros legion, the Cavalry successfully defeated several other beast groups, including the Wind Wolf clan, the Swamp Mermaid clan, and the Lion-Eagle beasts.

The Wind Wolves were a pack-oriented species with terrifying reproductive capabilities. Common packs numbered in the hundreds, while larger ones could reach the thousands.

Since the Flame Tiger and Iron-Armored Water Rhinoceros legions were overflowing with men, Du Long decided to find other beasts to form a new legion, eventually selecting the Wind Wolves as mounts.

The strongest Wind Wolves were only around the third rank, with adults typically at the second rank. However, their size—about two meters tall—and their wind-like speed made them perfect for a human beast cavalry.

After much effort, Du Long successfully controlled nearly 10,000 Wind Wolves, of which 6,000 to 7,000 adults were suitable for training. Thus, a Wind Wolf legion was added to the Cavalry, and the total number of mounted beast soldiers finally surpassed the 10,000 mark, reaching approximately 15,000.

Du Long specially designed unique weapons and armor for this legion, significantly boosting their overall combat effectiveness.

Beyond the Wind Wolf legion, with the help of the great lion Xiao Lie, Du Long also managed to control several Lion-Eagle beast clans. Unfortunately, although they were pack-oriented flying beasts, their numbers were small—the largest clans had only two or three hundred, and the smallest only a few dozen.

Consequently, a Lion-Eagle unit of a few hundred was formed. Due to their limited numbers, their future role would likely remain that of a reconnaissance force, unable to function as an effective combat legion.

All of these were the fruits of nearly a year’s labor. Because the secret bases of the four beast legions were located deep in the Demon Beast Swamp—a forbidden zone for humans—they remained undiscovered by outsiders.

As these earth-shaking changes occurred within Du Long’s territory of Fengli County, the outside world remained unaware. He used this time to bury himself in development, constantly waiting for the arrival of a critical moment.