Chapter Fifty-One: The Growing Youth

  After advancing to the Ninth-Order Saint Warrior, Jiang Hao's bitter cultivation gradually became regular.

  The first thing in the morning was to warm up, a thousand push-ups, with Jiang Hao's current physical strength, he only felt his muscles become warm and there was no feeling of fatigue at all.

  After warming up, Golden Horned Beast will help Jiang Heng find a target for battle.

  In the evening, Jiang Heng would start refining pills. The Emperor of Heaven had given Jiang Heng several low-grade mortal pill formulas, including the Gathering Qi Pill from before. Now, Jiang Heng could already refine five kinds of low-grade mortal pills. Generally speaking, as long as one could successfully refine one or two types of low-grade mortal pills, they could be called a lower-tier mortal pill master. It wasn't until Jiang Heng refined all five that the Emperor of Heaven reluctantly acknowledged that Jiang Heng had stepped into the ranks of lower-tier mortal pill masters.

  After refining the elixir, Jiang Heng would sit in meditation to cultivate his war qi technique and carefully reflect on the battles of the day, gaining insights from them. Of course, before that, he had to feed the Golden Horned Beast first.

  Since following Jiang Huan, the Golden Horned Beast's body has become even more massive, and its golden horn has also thickened by more than double. However, the Golden Horned Beast is now increasingly picky about food, and it doesn't even look at the charred meat that it used to eat before, which makes Jiang Huan extremely angry.

  No way, the Golden Horned Beast's innate talent was even more useful than its own spiritual power. As long as it wasn't full, this guy would directly go on strike and sleep, being even more shameless than itself. Under helpless circumstances, Jiang Heng could only prepare to indulge it like an ancestor, feeding it well and giving it plenty to drink.

  In the mountains, there was no New Year's celebration. More than half a year passed by in such training, and Jiang Huan grew another year older.

  The process of condensing the crystal beads into large crystal beads was apparently much more difficult than Jiang Hao had imagined. Fifty-two crystal beads needed to be condensed into twenty-six large crystal beads, which meant that every two crystal beads would have to be condensed into one large crystal bead.

  In more than half a year, under such uninterrupted bitter practice, Jiang Huan only condensed ten large crystal beads. At this speed, it is estimated that it will take another year for Jiang Huan to advance to the rank of War Master.

  Of course, since the last promotion to the Nine-Star Warrior, Tianyi had already warned him, so although Jiang Huan was a bit depressed in his heart, he didn't slack off in his cultivation at all.

  "Advancing in rank is difficult, it means I'm better than others, not because I'm dumber than others!" Jiang Hao often comforted himself with these words when he had nothing to do.

  As a child, I was weak and sickly, and anyone could bully me because I couldn't cultivate battle energy. Now, not only can I cultivate battle energy, but compared to ordinary warriors, I have many acquired advantages, diligence makes up for clumsiness, and Jiang Huan is not considered clumsy either.

  Nowadays, Jiang Hao often unconsciously thinks of his mother at home. It's been almost a year and a half since he left, and that kind of nostalgia is an inescapable concern. His mother's elegant smile always inadvertently appears in Jiang Hao's mind.

  To be honest, Jiang Hao didn't have any attachment to the Jiang family. If it weren't for his mother, he would have left home long ago. Even if that were the case, his father, who was as elusive as a dragon, probably wouldn't have asked about him much anyway, after all, his previous self was just an ordinary person through and through.

  "Hao'er, if you really miss your mother that much, then let's go back for a visit! Cultivation isn't urgent." Zi Tian had been noticing Jiang Hao staring at the pendant lately, so he naturally guessed a bit.

  Jiang Hao heard this and was initially delighted, but then stubbornly shook his head.

  "Teacher, unless I reach the rank of war master, I won't go back. I want to let mother live a good life, I want to let father see that I'm not a waste."

  "Ah, Haoye, teacher understands you, go ahead and do what you think, teacher supports you." Yi Tian seemed to have expected Jiang Huan to say something like that.

  "En!" Jiang Heng nodded and continued to cultivate, while his stiff back seemed to have straightened a lot.

  ······

  Jiang Hao practiced day and night, while the task of roasting meat was naturally handed over to Shi Tian.

  The results of several months of fighting are remarkable. The Flame Palm has now been practiced to perfection, with a power so great that even Jiang Huan is secretly delighted. As for the Wind Splitting Step's wind splitting technique, Jiang Huan can now split into three avatars. If it weren't for those with extraordinary spiritual strength or combat strength far surpassing his own, it would be impossible to distinguish between the avatars and the real body.

  And every day, Jiang Huan's alchemy practice did not stop at all, only slightly reducing some time, thereby making more time to cultivate his battle qi, because only by cultivating to the level of a war master can one truly be considered as having entered the realm of the strong.

  After becoming a 9-star warrior, Jiang Heng went to find the Blue Electric Python and fought it. This time, both sides were evenly matched, fighting from morning till night without a winner. In the end, both Jiang Heng and the Blue Electric Python were exhausted. Taking advantage of the python's distraction, Jiang Heng swept away all the Spiritual Grasses.

  He obtained the formula for the Life Spirit Pill from Tianyi, and Jiang Huan couldn't wait to start. He refined all the Life Spirit Grass into Life Spirit Pills, of course, there were inevitable failures, but in the end, he successfully refined dozens of them!

  Before each cultivation, Jiang Huan would take a Life Spirit Pill and then retreat for several days, not eating or drinking until he made some progress before exiting his meditation.

  So repetitive, and several months of time passed in cultivation again.

  By the side of a pool of water, a figure sat quietly, with no sense of the flow of battle energy, as still as a corpse, to the point where even breathing seemed to have ceased. Although his face was stubbly and his hair was disheveled like straw, a faint glow could be seen on his tender skin, pulsing with life.

  Buzz!

  A golden wave suddenly spread out from Jiang Hao, and the calm and clear pond water instantly rippled with waves, spreading outward in circles.

  Inside the dantian, twenty-six large crystal beads shone like diamonds, dazzling and eye-catching.

  "Ah!"

  Jiang Hao slowly opened his eyes, a calm expression on his face, but the hint of joy hidden in the depths of his eyes ultimately did not escape Tian's notice.

  "Breakthrough?"

  "Ah!"

  With a hint of trembling in his voice, Jiang Heng's heart was now excited beyond measure. War Master, I've finally reached the War Master rank! Jiang Heng shouted inwardly.

  Clasping his fists tightly, Jiang Heng felt the majestic and endless battle aura within him, like a dragon. He couldn't help but let out a long roar, while the Golden Horned Beast sleeping beside him was suddenly startled awake, using its bleary eyes to glare at someone with disdain.

  "Thank you, teacher!"

  For such a long time, the only thing Di Tian did besides preparing food was staring at Jiang Heng all day and night, afraid that something unexpected would happen. Fortunately, Jiang Heng didn't disappoint him.

  "Silly kid, what are you thanking me for? You're still being polite to your teacher. Go wash up, look at the state you're in!" Yi Tian also smiled warmly, with a hint of fatigue showing at the bottom of his eyes. Not having slept for such a long time was taking its toll on him too.

  "Alright!"

  Jiang Hao turned around and jumped into the water pool, taking a refreshing bath, and his mood also relaxed a lot.

  After washing up, Jiang Heng changed into a light-colored long shirt. The original little scamp had transformed into a handsome young man. Two years of hard training had rid Jiang Heng of his childish air, and although he wasn't particularly tall, his back appeared strong and straight, his skin was exceptionally fair, and completely gone was the dark tan he used to have.

  Looking at his reflection in the pool of water, Jiang Huan looked at his hands with a bitter expression, and then touched his face again, still unable to bear it.

  "Your grandfather's, made me look like a little white face, and when I get home, I'll be laughed at again."

  "Haha, Jinjie's war strategy has completely changed your temperament! Before, you looked like a rogue, now you look like a hooligan, haha!" Di Tian couldn't help but tease Jiang Huan.

  "Hum, teacher, you're just talking nonsense. Can't you just give me a whole one back? A few black dots don't matter." Jiang Hao was speechless.

  "You little rascal, don't think you've got away with it and still act smart, if you go back like this, I don't know how many little girls will come looking for you, haha!"

  "Teacher, I hate those girls the most, each one is like a flower idiot." Jiang Hao's small face turned red with anger.

  "Alright, what's your plan next?" Arcane put away his smile and said seriously.

  "Teacher, I plan to go home first and then head to the barracks to find my two older brothers," said Jiang Hao.

  "Go to the military camp, haha, just like I thought, hot-blooded men can only truly show themselves in the military camp, your idea is very good." said Yu Tian Dao.

  "So when are you leaving!"

  "Now!" Jiang Huan glanced in the direction of Beifang Sun City, and his eyes already shone with tears, "Mother, Huan'er is coming back to see you."