Longevity: Never leave the mountain until you are invincible

January 26, the first year of Hongguang.

The new emperor held his first court meeting, and the empress dowager promoted many members of the Zhang family in the court.

Zhang Youxian, the former Minister of War, was appointed as the prime minister, and the position of Minister of War was taken over by Zhang Youxian's younger brother Zhang Yunshan. Other members of the Zhang family were rewarded and occupied important positions in the court.

The power of the Zhang family, the relatives of the emperor, increased greatly, and they were in the limelight for a while.

The dull bully Zhang Pan came out again, and he was rampant in the imperial capital, and his arrogance became more and more arrogant.

June 13, the first year of Hongguang.

Zhang Pan and the second son of Zhenbei Gong had a conflict. The two fought for the new oiran of Manchunyuan, and staged a full-scale fight.

Zhang Pan was no match for the second son of Zhenbei Gong. He was beaten black and blue, and lost face. The oiran was snatched away by the second son of Zhenbei Gong.

Zhang Pan, who was so angry, directly mobilized 3,000 imperial guards to surround the Zhenbei Mansion.

The Zhenbei Mansion resisted with private soldiers in the mansion, but was eventually defeated and the imperial guards broke through the gate.

The huge Zhenbei Mansion was slaughtered and the family was confiscated. Only the eldest son of the Zhenbei family, who lived far away in the border, was spared and escaped.

This incident caused a huge shock in the imperial capital. Xu Chengxing, the Minister of Personnel of three dynasties, rebuked Zhang Pan's atrocities in the court and asked the empress dowager to severely punish Zhang Pan.

Few ministers responded in the court, and the matter was eventually left unresolved.

Zhang Pan only stayed in the Tianlao for half a month, then left the Tianlao and continued to stir up trouble in the imperial capital.

A month later, Zhang Yunshan, the Minister of War, wrote to the emperor that Xu Chengxing, the Minister of Personnel, was too old and weak to be the Minister of Personnel. The empress dowager hesitated for a while and agreed to Zhang Youxian's request.

Xu Chengxing laughed three times and left the court.

It is said that Xu Chengxing was robbed and killed on his way back to his hometown after leaving the imperial capital. Fortunately, he was saved by a passing knight and survived. His whereabouts are unknown.

July 7, the third year of Hongguang.

The empress dowager issued an order to select concubines for Emperor Hongguang, and all places offered beautiful women to enrich the harem.

In the end, the empress dowager selected 300 concubines and 13 concubines for Emperor Hongguang.

Zhang Jinxiu, a daughter of the Zhang family, was honored as a concubine, and her status in the harem was second only to the empress dowager.

April 17, the fifth year of Hongguang.

The empress dowager was assassinated.

The Wusheng Sect sent three assassins to sneak into the palace and attack the empress dowager during the royal family's night banquet.

Fortunately, with the protection of the East Factory masters, the Queen Mother was fine except for a little shock.

After that, the Queen Mother was furious and ordered a purge of the palace. Many pawns planted in the palace were found, including several concubines and dozens of eunuchs.

…

Transportation pawnshop.

Chu Chen sat cross-legged in a wooden barrel filled with warm liquid medicine, his upper body naked, revealing the strong muscles hidden under the loose clothes on weekdays, without a trace of fat on his body.

It was like a piece of iron stone that had been tempered thousands of times, and it was tempered into steel, revealing a fascinating sense of oppression.

A faint red-gold light roamed around his body, and from time to time it penetrated into the bones and tendons, vibrating the bones and tendons, as if hammering and forging.

"Hu~"

Three hours passed in a blink of an eye, Chu Chen slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air and opened his eyes.

A bucket of boiling liquid medicine has become cold, and its color has changed from the original dark green to transparent, like clear water. The medicinal power in it has been absorbed by Chu Chen.

"Four years of hard training, finally achieved marrow refining!"

Chu Chen clenched his fists, and a touch of joy flashed in his eyes.

Since breaking through the bone refining realm, it took him four years and three months to thoroughly cleanse his bones and muscles. Tonight, with the help of the medicinal power of two hundred-year-old ginsengs, he stepped into the marrow refining realm.

Marrow refining warriors are considered masters whether in the martial arts world or in the palace.

They are also called first-class warriors.

Generally speaking, the most basic principle to measure the strength of a martial arts sect is to see how many marrow refining warriors there are in this sect.

The so-called earth list in the martial arts world, the minimum standard for being on the list is the marrow refining realm cultivation.

With Chu Chen's current cultivation, he is qualified to be on the earth list, and thus become famous in Dayan martial arts world.

Chu Chen did not have much complacency in his heart.

He still remembered that five years ago, when the throne was changed, countless martial arts masters participated in the battle, including warriors in the marrow refining realm.

According to incomplete statistics, at least ten marrow refining warriors died in this battle, either killed by many masters or shot by strong crossbows in front of the army.

There was even a marrow refining warrior who had achieved great success.

The power of marrow refining warriors, after all, did not transcend the boundaries of ordinary power.

Only the innate master could truly transcend the mundane and touch the existence of extraordinary power.

Only the innate master had the ability to fight against thousands of people and was not afraid of being surrounded by the army.

"After breaking through the marrow refining, you can exchange blood. Three blood exchanges will be the great success of marrow refining. You can try to open the divine bridge between heaven and earth and communicate the inside and outside of the human body, in order to step into the innate realm."

Chu Chen narrowed his eyes and his mind turned.

The ordinary marrow refining technique only needs to complete three blood exchanges to achieve great success in marrow refining.

The Soul-stealing Body-building Sutra requires nine blood transfusions to complete the marrow refining, but once the nine blood transfusions are completed, the possibility of breaking through the innate realm is 30% to 40% higher than that of ordinary warriors.

Moreover, after the breakthrough, it is to refine the innate realm, and the combat power is far beyond the same level.

Similarly.

The resources required for nine blood transfusions are several times, or even dozens of times, that of ordinary marrow refining techniques.

Ordinary people will consume a lot of their own lifespan when practicing.

Perhaps if the blood transfusion is not completed, the lifespan will be consumed and die.

However, Chu Chen has no concerns in this regard. Because of the existence of the Longevity Dao Fruit, he does not need to worry about dying from the exhaustion of lifespan.

After seven years of practicing the Soul-stealing Body-forging Sutra, Chu Chen's appearance has not changed at all. As before, the years have not left the slightest trace on his face.

As for the resources needed for the nine blood transfusions, they will be accumulated one day by relying on the accumulation of time.

"Unfortunately, the practice of the Water Element Sutra is too slow. After five years of practice, I can barely reach the level of the Skin Refining Realm."

Chu Chen felt the internal energy flowing in his body, feeling a little helpless.

Unlike the rapid progress of the Soul-stealing Body-forging Sutra, which broke through the Marrow Refining Realm, he practiced the Water Element Sutra for five years, and swallowed some pills to assist in the practice of internal energy. He only accumulated ten years of internal energy and reached the level of the Skin Refining Realm.

The practice of internal energy is divided into realms according to the amount of internal energy.

If you cultivate ten years of internal energy, your combat power is equal to that of a Skin Refining Warrior who practices the Body Refining, fifty years of internal energy is equal to that of a Bone Refining Warrior, and a hundred years of internal energy is equal to that of a Marrow Refining Warrior.

It is said that after accumulating internal energy for two hundred years, you can try to break through the Xiantian Realm with the method of internal energy.

Chu Chen was helpless about this. Unlike the Soul-Snatching Body-Forging Sutra, the Water Element Jue could consume lifespan to absorb the spiritual power from medicinal materials and assist in cultivation. He could only rely on daily meditation, running the Water Element Jue, refining essence into qi, and transforming qi and blood into internal qi.

The only way to speed up the practice of the Water Element Jue was to take various pills that assisted in the practice of internal qi.

Most of these pills for internal qi cultivation were expensive, costing hundreds of taels of silver, and only one could be purchased, which was far less cost-effective than directly purchasing medicinal materials.

After Chu Chen tried to buy a few pills, he stopped buying them.

He could only continue to practice the Water Element Jue in a salted fish style, running the Water Element Jue ten cycles every morning and evening.

Accumulating internal strength bit by bit, even without the assistance of pills, practicing for two hundred years can accumulate two hundred years of internal strength.