Li Muzhan offered them a wry smile, shaking his head. "Colonel, I'm ashamed, I couldn't handle those two."

The Colonel smiled faintly. "One is a Black Hawk Cavalry Commander, the other a Deputy Commander. What you achieved is already remarkable. Come with me!"

"Yes." Li Muzhan offered another bitter smile, cupped his hands to the men, and turned to follow the Colonel.

Li Muzhan understood: the Colonel was finally going to uncover the truth of his origins.

He followed the Colonel into the Black Tiger Camp hall. The Colonel settled behind the desk and gestured to a high-backed chair at the foot of the dais.

Li Muzhan obeyed, sitting down, and calmly looked up at the Colonel.

The Colonel gazed at him, deep in thought, his brow furrowed in solemn concentration.

The hall was utterly silent, quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

After a long moment, the Colonel suddenly leaped up, his claws striking out in the air toward Li Muzhan's head, swift as lightning, ferocious in power, like a fierce tiger descending a mountain.

Li Muzhan flinched, then instantly sprang back, sliding a full zhang behind the high-backed chair, evading the strike.

The Colonel stepped forward twice more, attacking again. Li Muzhan called out, "Colonel, this is—"

The Colonel pressed the attack relentlessly, coldly stating, "Come on, I want to see what kind of skill you've truly mastered!"

Li Muzhan suddenly understood, smiled faintly, then instantly pressed forward, leaping up. His right palm transformed into a fist, meeting the Colonel's right claw in a direct collision.

With a muffled thump, both men recoiled two steps.

Li Muzhan spun on his heel; on the thick, soft carpet, two distinct footprints remained, as if branded by a hot iron, nearly an inch deep and perfectly clear.

The Colonel halted his movements, frowning as he stared at the footprints, an expression of distress crossing his face.

Li Muzhan managed an embarrassed laugh. "Colonel, I truly apologize. That last move was far too powerful; I could only deflect the force."

"Deflect force?" the Colonel asked, his face grim.

Li Muzhan smiled. "Yes. I studied the Flying Dragon Spear, which gave me great insight. I applied its principles to my strikes, swords, and blades, and it works quite well."

"Good, another move!" the Colonel commanded, his steps slipping forward until he was right in front of Li Muzhan. He drove out a punch, which Li Muzhan met with an open palm. He lightly floated upwards, spun both legs, and landed gracefully.

"Where did you learn such lightness skill?" the Colonel frowned.

Li Muzhan chuckled. "I derived this from the Ascending Form. Colonel, what do you think?"

"Ascending Form?" The Colonel's brow furrowed even tighter. He spoke in a deep voice, "The Ascending Form can evolve into this form?... Again!"

Saying this, he attacked once more. Li Muzhan parried with ease. He had already concealed his Canghai Divine Art, transforming it into standard military martial arts. Thanks to the Nine Revolutions Marrow Cleansing Scripture, his recovery rate had greatly increased; from the city wall to the hall, he had already recovered two or three tenths of his internal energy on this path alone.

With these two or three tenths of inner force, combined with his innate divine strength, the power was more than sufficient. Furthermore, after prolonged fighting with depleted internal energy, this level of strength was actually quite fitting for the situation.

The two exchanged moves back and forth. In the blink of an eye, over a hundred exchanges had passed. Neither gaining ground nor yielding, the Colonel understood that if the other were not intentionally holding back, he would already have lost.

This greatly astonished him, followed instantly by immense admiration. Suddenly, he ceased his attack, throwing back his head in laughter.

Li Muzhan stopped, looking at him with confusion.

The Colonel roared with laughter. "What a genius, Ming Kong, truly a singular talent!"

He carefully observed Li Muzhan's techniques; every maneuver was clearly derived from the Small Dragon Form. His comprehension of the Small Dragon Form was beyond his own reach, yet the Small Dragon Form was something he had taught Li Muzhan.

This Ming Kong was indeed a wondrous talent, capable of turning the mediocre into the miraculous. Every strike was imbued with the might of the Dragon-Elephant Power, no wonder he could withstand Lin Wufei and Jie Gaofeng.

Especially the Ascending Form, which he had pushed to its absolute limit, capable of leaping thirty-some zhang—it was utterly divine. If he hadn't witnessed it firsthand, he never would have believed it.

How many years had he practiced the Small Dragon Form? He had never realized the Ascending Form could evolve in this manner to create such marvelous footwork, indistinguishable from common lightness skills.

As for common lightness skills, he would never believe it, because military internal energy and civilian martial arts internal energy conflicted; they were antithetical. If Li Muzhan possessed the internal energy of civilian martial arts, the Colonel would have detected it long ago.

He did not know that the key to the success of the Ascending Form was Li Muzhan having opened his Yongquan acupoint.

This allowed the Yongquan to mobilize the vital essence of the Earth, corresponding with it—sometimes attracting, sometimes repelling, like a magnet.

When he practiced the Nine Revolutions Marrow Cleansing Scripture, he took the opportunity to master the mental methods of 'Shrinking the Ground to an Inch' (Suo Di Cheng Cun). With minute movements of the upper body, he guided his internal energy to circulate according to this method, resulting in a power slightly stronger than the Suo Di Cheng Cun wielded by the Canghai Divine Art.

By following this method, he could recreate many peerless skills from civilian martial arts using his military internal energy, with results varying in power—some stronger, some weaker.

Through the cultivation of 'Shrinking the Ground to an Inch,' his understanding of the Earth's vital essence deepened. His Yongquan seemed enveloped in an air cushion; colliding with the Earth's essence was like two billiard balls meeting, the resulting elasticity transforming into propulsive force, pushing his body forward and creating the effect of 'Shrinking the Ground to an Inch.'

The guiding movements of 'Shrinking the Ground to an Inch' bore a subtle resemblance to the Ascending Form of the Small Dragon Form. He found it marvelous, yet it served as an excellent guise to conceal his true abilities while the Colonel praised him endlessly.

Li Muzhan explained his insights one by one; the Colonel nodded continuously, listening intently.

After a pause, Li Muzhan took a breath, picked up his teacup, took a sip, let out a long sigh, and said, "Colonel, Lin Wufei is truly formidable. I am no match for him!"

"That is natural. Lin Wufei is a legendary figure even in Western Zhao!" The Colonel nodded, stroked his beard, and smiled. "However, at this rate, it won't be long before you defeat him!"

Li Muzhan shook his head with a wry smile. "Internal energy cultivation cannot be rushed; as I improve, so will he."

"Heh heh, don't be discouraged. I have confidence in you!" The Colonel's worry lines smoothed into a smile. He observed Li Muzhan with a strange look, scanning him up and down, nodding repeatedly.

Li Muzhan became uncomfortable under the scrutiny and quickly raised a piece of dried tea leaf to cover his face.

After watching for a while, the Colonel smiled. "Alright, Ming Kong, you can go back now. Later, Vice Marshal Li will assess the merits of the battle and award you a great merit."

"Yes, thank you, Colonel." Li Muzhan set down his teacup, rose, offered a military salute, and turned to leave.

As soon as he returned to the Galloping Cavalry Camp, he was immediately met with a crowd. Everyone surrounded him, their expressions fervent, staring at him with adoration and admiration.

"Ming Kong, how are you so skilled? Tell us!"

"Right, Ming Kong, you only joined the army a short while ago, how did you become so strong? Is there a trick?"

"Ming Kong, how many did you kill? Did you cut off their heads?"

"Yes, cut off their heads and stack them high—an eye for an eye, blood for blood!"

The men spoke over each other, their voices buzzing around Li Muzhan's ears. He could sense their support and admiration, their worship and fervor. Li Muzhan cupped his hands and smiled bitterly. "I am ashamed. I didn't have time to cut off heads and stack them. I couldn't handle those two, so I had to flee."

"Hey, you've already done amazingly well!"

"Exactly! Those two are big shots, on par with our Colonel. Not defeating them is understandable."

Li Muzhan smiled and cupped his hands, thanking everyone for their understanding and comfort.

Zhao Shengli's loud voice cut through. "Alright, alright, disperse! The monk fought for so long, he must be tired. You can all talk to him tomorrow!"

Although the crowd felt disappointed, they agreed it made sense and stopped pressing. After all, there would be plenty of time; Ming Kong was stationed at the Galloping Cavalry Camp, and they could see him on the training grounds every day.

Watching everyone disperse, Li Muzhan let out a long breath and smiled gratefully at Zhao Shengli.

Zhao Shengli pulled Li Muzhan into his quarters, and the other members of their squad followed, entering his room to start asking for details.

Li Muzhan recounted everything, laughing. "I truly didn't expect the Black Hawk Cavalry Commander to be so powerful. Even he alone could have breached the city!"

"Hah, Monk, you underestimate our Tenglong City too much!" Zhao Shengli waved his hand dismissively, laughing heartily and shaking his head. "This Tenglong City has peerless masters guarding it! They appear at critical moments; normally, they remain hidden. Only the Colonel and the others know about them!... Hmph, no matter how strong those two are, daring to enter Tenglong City is walking into a death trap!"

"Is that so?" Li Muzhan was astonished, then nodded, accepting it as logical.

Although the walls of Tenglong City were indeed high, nearly thirty zhang tall, towering majestically into the clouds, they were not difficult for a true peerless master to scale.

With the Flying Dragon Spear, or a divine weapon, he himself could have climbed over.

Given Lin Wufei and his group's skill, sneaking into Tenglong City, opening the gates, and allowing an attacking force in would certainly have thrown the city into chaos.

Tenglong City had not fallen for hundreds of years, clearly anticipating this possibility and having countermeasures in place.

It was a pity that he hadn't detected the presence of these masters. First, military martial arts differed from civilian martial arts; vital energy did not leak out, making it difficult to discern one's skill level from demeanor or expression. Second, perhaps these masters were simply too powerful, and he was too far removed from them to sense them.

If they dared not invade, attacking would require an open, upright military force!"

"Then I was worrying for nothing." Li Muzhan sighed deeply.

Xiong Sihai remarked, "I didn't expect you, Great Monk, to be so powerful. It seems your seclusion bore fruit!"

Li Muzhan nodded and smiled. "I learned the Small Dragon Form from the Colonel; it truly possesses unfathomable intricacies and ferocious power."

"The Small Dragon Form is a General's ultimate secret art. Great Monk, your karmic fortune is profound!" Xiong Sihai sighed.

Li Muzhan laughed. "When one's martial arts are low, they can't beat others. When one's martial arts are high, they still can't beat certain people—it's truly disheartening!"

Xiong Sihai chuckled. "Heh heh, in a few more years, Great Monk, when you become unrivaled under heaven, you naturally won't fear anyone."

Li Muzhan waved his hand. "I don't have that ability."

Xiong Sihai said, "Great Monk, after this event, there will be a great opportunity coming your way."

"Oh?" Li Muzhan asked with a smile.

Xiong Sihai glanced around, lowered his voice, and asked, "Does the Great Monk know of the Divine Martial Inner Camp?"

"The Divine Martial Inner Camp?" Li Muzhan shook his head, then looked at Zhao Shengli and the others; they also shook their heads, clearly having never heard of it.

Xiong Sihai lowered his voice mysteriously. "This is classified information; don't speak of it to anyone... We all belong to the Divine Martial Outer Camp. There is also a Divine Martial Inner Camp, where one is recommended from the Outer Camp to receive even more profound teachings."

"There's an Inner Camp?" Zhao Shengli and the others were greatly surprised.

Xiong Sihai lowered his voice. "I only heard my brother-in-law mention it occasionally, saying it was a pity for me, as I was just short of one requirement to enter the Divine Martial Inner Camp."

Zhao Shengli also whispered, "So, those who can enter the Divine Martial Inner Camp must be exceptional fellows?"

"Presumably," Xiong Sihai nodded, speaking softly. "The Colonel has one recommendation slot."

"Only one recommendation slot?" Zhao Shengli asked again.

Xiong Sihai nodded. "Yes. The standards for entry are extremely strict. Recommending someone who gets in counts as a great achievement."

"Good heavens, the Colonel only has one slot!" Zhao Shengli stuck out his tongue. "What if he wastes it?"

"Precisely." Xiong Sihai nodded and smiled. "So he must be extremely cautious, not daring to recommend anyone unless they are an incomparable genius."

Zhao Shengli smiled. "The Monk is a genius; the Colonel will surely recommend him." He turned to look at Li Muzhan, then added with a smile, "Monk, if you enter the Inner Camp, I wonder if our squad will break up?"

Li Muzhan slowly nodded, deep in thought.

Xiong Sihai smiled. "Don't worry, Leader Zhao, it won't. After graduating from the Inner Camp, they return to their original posts, no different from ordinary people."

"Is that so..." Zhao Shengli let out a sigh of relief, relaxing. "That puts my mind at ease!"

The others also sighed in relief. Li Muzhan was now the backbone of their group; his sudden departure would have been a huge blow.

Li Muzhan smiled. "That would be for the best."

Xiong Sihai murmured, "I estimate the Colonel will recommend the Great Monk to the Inner Camp."

"Alright, alright, Monk, go rest for a while. We'll talk again later," Zhao Shengli waved his hand.

He went back to recover his fatigued body.

Everyone knew his rules; once this sign was posted, he was not to be disturbed; whatever needed attention could wait until he emerged.

In this image, it was as if in an endless void, three li was merely a single point.

He suddenly sensed an anomaly: his Yongquan acupoint began to bloom with faint light, two glistening dots, like cold stars in the night sky.

The Yongquan acupoint felt a slight, tingling numbness. Moonlight seemed to solidify, drilling into the acupoint, washing over his body... (Update promptly E)