Chapter 98: Great Achievement
August 17th.
That night, the Shen family launched a full-scale offensive again in the northern part of the city, repeating their previous tactics from the tenth day.
At Dongqiao Dock, where Zhuang Jin was located, they once more allied with Pingshuibo. The two districts merged forces and charged straight at the Medicine King Gang’s Luqing District. Unexpectedly, the Medicine King Gang’s warriors from two districts were already waiting there.
Clearly, after the fierce counterattack by the Shen family on the tenth night, the Medicine King Gang suffered heavy losses on the northern front. They finally understood the principle of "preserving manpower at the cost of land" and secretly abandoned part of their territory to concentrate their forces.
This assembly of two districts was already their limit—not because the Medicine King Gang was unwilling to gather more, but because the Shen family was no fool. Any larger force would have been too obvious and exposed prematurely. However, the two districts were sufficient. With roughly equal numbers of warriors, the Medicine King Gang held a distinct advantage. Compared to the Shen family’s warriors, theirs demonstrated stronger combat awareness and more ruthless tactics, as past experiences had proven.
The Medicine King Gang’s Dong Pei and a certain incense master surnamed Dou, both Seventh Meridian warriors, intercepted Xing Yan and Liu Licheng.
“Guarding officers Xing and Liu, we meet again. Didn’t expect it would come to this, huh? Tonight, you’ll repay the blood debt from the tenth night!”
“Gentlemen, this is a matter for our subordinates. Why don’t we just observe quietly?” the incense master Dou also spoke.
Xing Yan and Liu Licheng exchanged a glance, both grim-faced. They weren’t worried about themselves but rather their subordinates. On the opposing side, the Medicine King Gang had gathered warriors from two districts as well, and with numbers evenly matched, their side was at a disadvantage.
Still, losing manpower but not morale, Xing Yan bristled, “Bold move, giving up one district to concentrate forces. But Dong incense master’s tone is a bit overconfident. Now that numbers are even, the Shen family isn’t necessarily afraid of you.”
“Yes, how long can this ruse last? Our reinforcements will arrive soon,” Liu Licheng of Pingshuibo said, producing a signal flare that ignited and shot up like fireworks.
As the two Seventh Meridian incense masters of the Medicine King Gang spoke with Xing Yan and Liu Licheng, the battle below erupted.
First to Third Meridian warriors formed combat formations by streets and squads, slaughtering each other. Street wardens like Zhuang Jin blocked the Medicine King Gang’s junior incense masters and all were locked in bitter combat.
Some truly fought fiercely; others were merely acting.
For instance, Zhuang Jin’s true strength was Sixth Meridian. Facing a Fifth Meridian warrior from the Medicine King Gang one-on-one, if he unleashed his full power, he could confidently end the fight within dozens of moves. If he was willing to pay a price, it could even be within ten moves, life or death assured.
Among the street wardens at Dongqiao Dock, there was one Sixth Meridian, three Fifth Meridians, and two Fourth Meridians. Over at Pingshuibo, there was one Sixth Meridian, one Fifth Meridian, and four Fourth Meridians. Combined, that made two Sixth Meridians, four Fifth Meridians, and six Fourth Meridians. This seemed to be an unspoken understanding, mirrored exactly by the Medicine King Gang’s junior incense masters.
If he displayed his Sixth Meridian strength now, it could tip the entire situation.
However, the thought flashed once in his mind and was immediately discarded: “The consequence would be that the Medicine King Gang would single me out as a thorn in their side.”
“Even within the Shen family, I might not be favored… Breaking through while hiding it is taboo. Xing Yan, the small groups, and other street wardens would all harbor resentment. Even if it could be suppressed for the sake of turning the tide, it would attract too much attention. From then on, I’d be facing the Medicine King Gang’s Sixth Meridian warriors constantly.”
Such hardship for one, happiness for others—Zhuang Jin would never do that.
“The Shen family is indeed inferior in numbers to the Medicine King Gang, but we don’t have to crush them… Liu warden has already fired the signal flare. As long as we hold firm until reinforcements arrive, it’s a success,” Zhuang Jin thought quietly.
He fought passionately, matching his opponents blow for blow, and by outward appearance as a Fifth Meridian warrior, he truly gave it his all.
At the same time, he could spare some energy to observe the battlefield.
His squads, tempered by battles this month, had grown significantly. Although outnumbered and sustaining casualties, they barely maintained the defensive line, preventing the Medicine King Gang’s First to Third Meridian warriors from interfering.
At the street warden level, the situation was more perilous. The Medicine King Gang’s junior incense masters were all battle-hardened, ruthless killers, each attack deadly. Their side mostly valued their lives and couldn’t adapt to such playstyle, quickly being dragged into the enemy’s rhythm.
Focusing on Dongqiao Dock alone:
Xue Yan, though somewhat proud, was quite capable with strong combat awareness, holding off a Sixth Meridian warrior with back-and-forth fighting.
Du Shiyuan and Miao Lun seemed on the verge of collapse, extremely dangerous. Still, being warriors, they showed fighting spirit at this stage, aiming for mutual destruction or at least severely wounding the opponent, which made the enemy wary for a moment.
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Among the small groups, Duan Tao was also ruthless. His opponent was equally fierce; both were heavily wounded.
The worst off was Miao Lun, a kindly and gentle man. His opponent, also a seasoned Fifth Meridian fighter, sensed Miao Lun’s lack of fighting spirit and capitalized on it, exchanging minor injuries for major ones. At this rate, Miao Lun would likely die within twenty or thirty moves.
“This won’t do. Miao Lun can’t fall. Even if he’s in our small group and can cover us later, if he dies, the Medicine King Gang’s Fifth Meridian warrior will be freed to reinforce other battlefronts. The chain reaction will cause the street wardens’ defense to collapse, and then I won’t be able to keep up the act!” Zhuang Jin thought urgently.
Suddenly, as if his inner energy exploded, he shouted, “Get lost!”
At that moment, his palm strike extended over three inches, forcing back the entangled Medicine King Gang junior incense master.
“Miao warden, don’t panic… I’m here to help!” he said, swiftly moving to Miao Lun’s battlefield, blocking his opponent and giving Miao Lun a chance to catch his breath.
Honestly, Miao Lun was profoundly grateful to Zhuang Jin at this moment. He had thought he was doomed, but Zhuang Jin’s sudden aid was a godsend—he felt grateful beyond words.
With Zhuang Jin’s sudden burst, the precarious battle steadied again and held.
After a brief pause, as Shen family reinforcements neared, the Medicine King Gang’s two districts had no choice but to abandon their current advantage and retreat, their effort ending somewhat anticlimactically.
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After the battle, tallying losses showed that across Dongqiao Dock and Pingshuibo districts, sixteen warriors from First to Third Meridian died, with many more injured. Nearly every street warden bore wounds, but fortunately, none were lost.
However, the Shen family’s full-scale offensive that night was broad; Zhuang Jin’s front was only a small part. Elsewhere, the Shen family suffered more grievous losses, with some battle lines losing over half their warriors.
In comparison, Dongqiao Dock and Pingshuibo fared relatively well. Xing Yan was even praised after attending a meeting, having observed the entire battle, fully aware of Zhuang Jin’s contributions. He regarded Zhuang Jin as a lucky charm and internally awarded him a hundred battle merits.
Returning to the overall northern city situation, the Shen family’s offensive that night was thwarted, sobering everyone from the overwhelming victory on the tenth. They licked their wounds, stood on high alert to prevent counterattacks, and sought ways to counter the Medicine King Gang’s tactics.
The Medicine King Gang claimed a tactical victory but suffered significant losses, failing to fundamentally alter the strategic imbalance. Both sides took a breath and prepared to regroup.
Thus began a brief lull of seven or eight days.
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The day after the August 17th battle, Miao Lun’s injuries improved somewhat. Carrying a heavy gift, he visited to express gratitude, which needs no further description.
In the following days, Zhuang Jin continued diligently practicing his martial skills. Time advanced to August 22nd.
That night by the Moonlit Jiang River, insects chirped in chorus.
Zhuang Jin practiced martial arts in front of his door. Chen Yun sat nearby by the bamboo fence, lighting incense to ward off mosquitoes. In the bright moonlight, she was making sandals, with a banana leaf fan beside her. From the streets and alleys faint voices of old men chatting could be heard.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Zhuang Jin rehearsed the Black Fiend Palm technique. Starting with rigid, precise form, he gradually introduced variations, no longer bound by routine but breaking down moves according to his own feelings, each motion increasingly vigorous and forceful.
As he finished this round of Black Fiend Palm, his robe fluttered noisily, attracting Chen Yun’s attention. She paused to watch the stirring sound.
Then—
As if reaching a peak, Zhuang Jin’s internal energy surged through both palms, erupting with force like an avalanche or tsunami, suddenly expanding six inches outward.
Shh!
Two leaves falling before him shattered instantly into powdery fragments, scattering like stardust.
“Husband, have your martial arts improved?” Chen Yun asked softly, pouring tea after he stopped.
“Yes, luckily I have made a breakthrough!” Zhuang Jin smiled and nodded, sitting down beside her with quiet joy.
‘The Black Fiend Palm has reached mastery, a bit faster than expected. This is thanks to strengthened vitality, potential compensation, and the benefits from exotic beast meat—all these factors combined.’
‘Excellent. Mastery of the Black Fiend Palm is my second trump card.’
Now, though outwardly Fifth Meridian, Zhuang Jin was effectively Sixth Meridian with the Black Fiend Palm mastered. Without a Seventh Meridian street warden, few could challenge him.
This granted him a high margin for error.
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In the days that followed, after mastering the Black Fiend Palm, Zhuang Jin refocused on cultivating his martial realm and began consuming exotic beast meat of the Perfect Skin Stage.
The Perfect Skin Stage exotic beast meat corresponds to Sixth Meridian warriors. These were sourced from the prefecture city and were expensive—exchanging a pound required twenty battle merits.
But as always, earning battle merits meant spending them. Using them to boost strength was making the best use of resources!
Outwardly, Zhuang Jin was only Fifth Meridian, so consuming Perfect Skin Stage meat seemed odd.
—For a Fifth Meridian warrior, consuming exotic beast meat of the Great Success Skin Stage was sufficient. Consuming Perfect Skin Stage meat was wasteful because the improvement in cultivation speed was minimal, most energy would be wasted due to poor digestion, making it cost-ineffective.
Zhuang Jin reasoned: ‘We’re scraping by on the razor’s edge. I’m not short of battle merits. If I don’t spend them, they’ll just sit in the account. If I can gain even a bit more power, maybe it’ll save my life in some battle.’
Others agreed wholeheartedly. In the small group, Duan Tao began following suit, but Miao Lun did not—he was stuck at the bottleneck between Fifth and Sixth Meridian and wanted to save merits to exchange for elixirs to ease the bottleneck.
With this clarified, using Perfect Skin Stage exotic beast meat, Zhuang Jin’s cultivation speed accelerated again. It was estimated that in about two months, he would accumulate enough to break through to Seventh Meridian, truly stepping into a new level!
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While Zhuang Jin concentrated on cultivation, the Shen family in the northern city found a way to counter the Medicine King Gang’s tactic: the prison cage policy—tight lockdowns and point-to-point surveillance.
Having found a method, they naturally had to test it.
During the remaining days of that month, the Shen family launched two small-scale probing attacks. Their patrols were more cautious and less ambitious, aiming to annex district by district. Now, if two or three streets could be taken at once per attack, that was satisfactory. They advanced steadily, consolidating gains before striking again.
Simply put, like a wolf pack hunting—bit by bit tearing flesh, pressing forward relentlessly.
The Medicine King Gang’s strategy was broken, leaving them on the defensive again. They dared not pit one district against two in direct combat. Instead, when Shen family warriors spread out to occupy streets, they resorted to guerrilla tactics—sparrow battles and harassment.
Yet, this only delayed the inevitable. They continued to be squeezed, forced to retreat, relinquishing captured streets piece by piece.
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Amid such a backdrop, Zhuang Jin’s performance was by and large following the crowd—well, no, as a Fifth Meridian warrior, he was quite diligent and no one could fault him.
Recently, he felt his acting skills had improved considerably—feigning lower cultivation, hiding his true strength, pretending to be on par, not killing opponents too quickly, occasionally showing some danger to keep teammates balanced—this was quite difficult, you know?
Because of this ‘effort,’ Zhuang Jin often earned more battle merits than Duan Tao and Miao Lun in the small group, cementing his reputation as a ‘lucky general.’
Little did they know, his ‘luck’ came entirely from hidden strength, acting, and calculation.
With the battles going well, battle merits flowed in. Besides supplies for cultivation and exotic beast meat, by the end of August, he had saved over nine hundred and sixty battle merits!
He still couldn’t afford the yellow-grade supreme exotic beast leather armor worth a thousand merits, but his rapid strength growth meant he’d soon outgrow it; otherwise, he would have bought one already.
During these seven or eight days, his Sixth Meridian accumulation advanced by a little over ten percent.
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