The Speedrun Begins with Choosing Hunter

Reinforcement Points +2056

Bai Yuan’s strike had turned the Northern Plains Blood Saber into a North Plain Blood Man.

He did not delay.

He immediately took Yuan Dingcai and Xie Changyan and rushed into the forest.

Although the firearms had been improved, they still had a major drawback: a limited supply of gunpowder. Fortunately, they were forged from a special Divine Iron, so there was no need to worry about the barrels overheating.

After several dozen volleys, the Divine Mansion Army’s ammunition was nearly depleted.

The Soul Chasing Tower Lord wore a mask, so his expression was unreadable.

But one could imagine he was furious.

Lu Yu and Jiang Yan were experienced fighters. They had retreated early, putting distance between themselves and the attackers.

Just as the Soul Chasing Tower Lord was about to tear apart the people before him, Bai Yuan arrived with Yuan Dingcai and Xie Changyan.

When the Soul Chasing Tower Lord saw the three of them appear, he knew the situation was lost.

While he didn’t fear them, he couldn’t kill any of his opponents if the three of them joined forces.

Not to mention, five hundred Demon Riders were about to arrive.

He snorted coldly, his figure flickered, and he vanished before everyone’s eyes.

Bai Yuan and the other two were startled.

’What a brilliant Body Technique!’

The Soul Chasing Tower Lord was worthy of being ranked fifth on the Heavenly Ranking. He was indeed far stronger than the three of them.

When Bai Yuan’s party emerged from the mountain forest, the five hundred Demon Riders belatedly arrived.

The Demon Cavalry Commander was covered in blood, clearly having just been through a brutal battle himself.

He dismounted and knelt on one knee. "I was ambushed by Soul-Chasing Tower assassins and was late to provide aid. Please punish me, General!"

Xie Changyan waved her hand dismissively.

It was clear they had been set up by the Soul-Chasing Tower. The current outcome was already the best they could have hoped for, so any punishment could be waived.

The Demon Cavalry’s strength lay in their charge. If harassed by those Soul-Chasing Tower assassins, they would be put on the defensive.

In this battle, the five hundred Demon Riders had lost dozens of men.

Prefect Jiang would surely feel the sting for a long time when he found out.

This Demon Cavalry was the Jiang Family’s private army, and Prefect Jiang had invested an immense amount of effort into it.

Fortunately, they had successfully killed Liang Ziheng as planned. Otherwise, the situation in Ling Province would have become even harder to control.

Xie Changyan cupped her fist. "Thank you for saving my life, Sect Leader Bai."

Yuan Dingcai also bowed slightly, pressing his palms together in the manner of a Mystic Sun Scholar. "Thank you, Sect Leader Bai."

If not for Bai Yuan today, Ling Province would have suffered a great loss.

Forget about killing Liang Ziheng; the two of them, along with the five hundred Demon Riders, might have been completely wiped out.

If things had truly developed that way, the entirety of Ling Province might have fallen. The consequences would have been unimaginable.

...

Naturally, Xie Changyan handled the aftermath.

Bai Yuan led the Divine Mansion Army back to Shenfu Mountain.

After this battle, the Divine Mansion Sect’s position in Huanglong Prefecture became even more secure. Everyone now knew the Divine Mansion Sect were the Prefect’s trusted confidants.

Even though their strength was still much weaker than at their peak, they had far fewer enemies.

Bai Yuan sat on the Golden Throne in the Sect Leader Hall.

He stared at the points on his panel.

"Allocate points!"

[In your 1,315th year of practicing the Rolling Blood Saber, you immerse yourself in saber practice, seeking only to comprehend the legendary third strike.]

...

[In your 1,532nd year of practicing the Rolling Blood Saber, you finally grasp a thread of inspiration.]

...

[In your 1,703rd year of practicing the Rolling Blood Saber, you have comprehended the third strike: Blood Boil!]

...

’Finally...’

Bai Yuan let out a long breath as he stared at the words "Blood Boil" on the panel.

’Creating your own Cultivation Technique is this thrilling. You never know how many reinforcement points it will take. What’s even more terrifying is that if you go down the wrong path, the required points will be even more frightening.’

’Fortunately, I already have two legendary-grade saber techniques under my belt and have achieved an extremely high level of mastery in the saber arts, which is how I avoided any major detours.’

’Otherwise, if I had been stubborn and tried to create my own technique from the very beginning, it would have been a bottomless pit.’

’I could have farmed for ten years and achieved nothing of note.’

’Even with a cheat, you can’t be too ambitious. Trying to master a peerless martial art right from the start will only end in futility.’

Rolling Blood Saber’s third form—Blood Boil.

Bai Yuan didn’t know if the Rolling Blood Saber he had comprehended was the same as the original version.

But the effect of the third form was incredibly potent.

The three forms of the Rolling Blood Saber finally had an active skill.

The effect of Blood Boil was to burn his Qi and Blood to gain power far beyond the ordinary.

At first glance, it seemed no different from the Blood Rolling Technique that Murong Tian had initially taught him, but the boost from the Rolling Blood Saber he comprehended reached a terrifying two-fold increase!

Moreover, the side effects were much smaller than Murong Tian’s version, which turned the user into a cripple. This one only required a month of bedrest.

Compared to such a terrifying boost, a month of bedrest was as good as no side effects at all.

Especially when facing an opponent far stronger than himself, it was practically a life-saving divine skill.

Of course, Bai Yuan wouldn’t use it lightly unless he was absolutely forced to.

Through a thousand years of simulated comprehension, Bai Yuan discovered that there was something profound and mysterious within the human body, and it was this something that offset the side effects of Blood Boil.

Unfortunately, Bai Yuan’s current realm was not high enough. That existence was too ethereal for him to grasp.

The more profound the Martial Dao became, the more esoteric the realms one encountered, and the physical body became secondary.

Fortunately, Bai Yuan had his cheat; sitting and cultivating arduously wasn’t his style.

He only needed to lead the Divine Mansion Army to sweep through the Demon Sects each day, then allocate his points. He didn’t have to worry about anything else.

This was the advantage of having a faction.

Most Martial Dao experts joined a faction precisely because relying on one allowed them to practice martial arts in peace. Otherwise, just acquiring Spirit Medicines would be a major headache, not to mention issues like heirs and inheritance.

With Jiang Changping’s help, the Divine Mansion Sect’s former Alchemy Master had already been sent back.

After the riot that night, the Divine Mansion Sect’s Alchemy Master had been abducted and taken to Ling Province to perform Alchemy.

After the previous Prefect was demoted, the master wasn’t given too much trouble. When Jiang Changping took over the Prefecture Magistrate’s Office, he sent him back. So now, Bai Yuan only needed to focus on killing monsters and allocating points.

Bai Yuan was naturally very satisfied with this kind of life.

...

"Brother Yuan, I heard something happened to the Divine Mansion Sect. Are you okay?"

"Brother Yuan, I’ve broken through to the Blood Refining realm, but Master won’t let me leave. He said you were most likely dead."

"The heavens have eyes! Brother Yuan, you really are alive."

...

Bai Yuan looked at the letters sent from Linzhou.

Ever since the Divine Mansion Sect was destroyed, the post stations in Huanglong Prefecture had been cut off by the Lingzhou Army, only reopening recently.

The backlogged letters had now all reached him.

Through the letters, he could almost see Sister Qiao’s anxious face.

He immediately picked up a brush.

"Sister Qiao, I am well. I’ve even become the Sect Leader of the Divine Mansion Sect. In a few days, after the demon turmoil in Ling Province has subsided, I will come to Linzhou to see you. Don’t worry. From Yuan."

At the speed of the post stations, a month would have likely passed by the time the letter reached Linzhou.

In the end, Xuan Yang was simply too vast. The territory of this one nation exceeded the combined area of three continents from Bai Yuan’s previous life.

Even for him, getting to Linzhou would take a very long time.

Unfortunately, while his Divine Contrivances were ingenious, they couldn’t produce high-tech things like airplanes.

’It’s still too difficult for me alone to match the millennia of human wisdom from my past life.’

...

The Divine Mansion Sect’s reputation was currently flourishing. Many experts from Outer Mansions, and even Outer States, whose sects had been destroyed by the Demon Sects, had come to Huanglong Prefecture to join the Divine Mansion Sect.

Although the number of Jin-entry experts in the Divine Mansion Sect was still not comparable to its past, it was now on par with the Seven Star Sect.

This made the people of the Seven Star Sect green with envy.

When those in power show a preference, their subordinates will rush to imitate it.

Everyone in the Divine Mansion Sect knew that the new Sect Leader had a fondness for unorthodox cultivation techniques.

So, many people racked their brains to find obscure techniques, and some of them actually managed to find some real gems.

For example, the "Thousand Shadows Poison Technique" that Bai Yuan now held.

A Martial Artist from an Outer State who had joined the Divine Mansion Sect had brought this technique. Even with Bai Yuan’s high standards, he felt this technique was quite impressive.

Although Bai Yuan had carved his own path by infusing spiritual energy into poison, he had never actually practiced an orthodox poison technique.

This "Thousand Shadows Poison Technique" was perfect for filling that gap in his repertoire.

Before, he had painstakingly practiced the Rolling Blood Saber because he had no other techniques to choose from.

Now that the Rolling Blood Saber had reached the master level, advancing it to the legendary level would be even more difficult. So, Bai Yuan gradually slowed down and started using his reinforcement points on other skills.

Only by constantly increasing his strength could he survive in this chaotic era.

Unlike most Martial Artists, his philosophy was inherited from Old Dong: he would learn any skill that could kill, not blindly pursuing rapid breakthroughs in his realm.

Of course, with his garbage-tier innate talent, he couldn’t achieve rapid breakthroughs anyway. He could only rely on stacking cultivation techniques to help him advance.

...

"You’re getting married?"

Bai Yuan stared at Lu Yu in astonishment.

He never expected the ever-unreliable Lu Yu to end his life as a "single dog" before him.

Although men in Xuan Yang generally married young, Martial Artists were an exception.

This era was not like Bai Yuan’s previous life. Although Alchemy Masters existed, their services were a privilege only the rich could afford. For ordinary people, a common cold could be fatal, hence the saying "it is rare for a man to live to seventy."

In fact, most people didn’t live past fifty, so marrying young was the norm.

But Martial Artists’ bodies far surpassed those of ordinary people. Even if they failed to break through the Perception Gate, living to ninety was usually not a problem.

Moreover, marriage added a vulnerability, so Martial Artists generally married late.

Lu Yu nodded, a little proudly.

He had finally surpassed Bai Yuan in one thing—getting married.

"So, who’s my sister-in-law?"

Bai Yuan couldn’t help but be curious about the woman’s background.

Just then, Lu Shanshan chimed in, "Our sister-in-law is from the Lu State Fang Family."

Bai Yuan raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected Lu Yu to have quietly hooked up with a woman from a major clan.

The Lu State Fang Family was a major clan in the Northern Territory, even more powerful than the Jiang Family that Jiang Yan belonged to.

Lu Yu gave a sly grin. "We met when I was in the Northern Garrison Army."

Bai Yuan understood.

That was the only way a young man and woman from Ling Province and Lu State, separated by thousands of miles, could have gotten together.

Soon, Bai Yuan understood how Lu Yu had managed to marry into the prestigious Fang Family.

It turned out he was marrying into her family...

Lu Yu didn’t seem to mind.

The Lu Family had declined. Even with the title of Uncle Yongzhuang, they were no match for the Lu State Fang Family.

In this era, the major clans placed great importance on matching social status.

"When are you leaving?"

Bai Yuan asked. Although Lu Yu was unreliable, he was one of his few friends.

Lu Yu gave a carefree smile. "Tomorrow."