Chapter 40: Chapter 40: The Blue Heaven is Dead After obtaining the various Martial Arts Techniques and secret manuals from the chest, Li Chang’an used his Heaven-defying Comprehension to create a Martial Arts Technique that everyone in the Rebel Army could practice. The technique was called the *Taiping Body Refining Divine Skill*! In the eyes of the Jianghu Sects and Martial Arts Grandmasters, this technique was undoubtedly simplistic and crude. Yet, even the members of the Rebel Army with no natural aptitude could significantly improve their physical conditioning and combat prowess within a few months, as long as they practiced diligently every day. The more talented ones might even develop Qi Sensitivity and step into the realm of a Martial Artist! It greatly lowered the cost and barrier to entry for Martial Dao cultivation. This was the unique quality of the *Taiping Body Refining Divine Skill*, and it was precisely what Li Chang’an had been striving to achieve! Unfortunately, while every technique left behind by Cyan Cloud Pavilion was profound, there weren’t many of them, leaving him with an aggravating sense of being only half-satisfied. With his current achievements, obtaining a permanent Rebirth Mark was practically guaranteed. After all, legend said the Yaoqing Imperial Court had collected countless secret cultivation manuals from the Central Plains Martial World from centuries ago. If he could seize those treasures, Li Chang’an would make an absolute killing from this reincarnation. —Any secret cultivation manual that could enhance a Reincarnator’s combat strength was undoubtedly worth a fortune in the Main World! —Any cultivation path that could rewrite or supplement a Reincarnator’s Evolution Path would be enough to cause a massive stir within the Human Alliance back in the Main World. This was the biggest reason for Li Chang’an’s tireless pursuit of cultivation techniques. The chain reaction that his Heaven-defying Comprehension could trigger, when combined with a vast number of techniques, was unimaginable! Unfortunately, the Yaoqing Imperial Court’s control over cultivation techniques was unprecedentedly strict. Other than slaving away for them in exchange for meager rewards, it was nearly impossible for an ordinary Martial Artist to break the lockdown on secret manuals. Thus, Li Chang’an chose a more radical path. ’So you’re just going to hoard them, are you?’ ’You’ll torment the people of the Central Plains and break the backs of the Martial Artists, is that it?’ ’Fine, I’ll fucking take them myself!’ Now, after cultivating the *Taiping Body Refining Divine Skill*, the combat effectiveness of the Rebel Army had practically multiplied. The Yaoqing Imperial Court thought that by trapping the Rebel Army near the Three Yellow Rivers and using a Flood Dragon to cause a flood, they could annihilate the rebels without losing a single soldier. Little did they know that thanks to Li Chang’an’s efforts, the morale and combat discipline of the Rebel Army had improved by leaps and bounds in just a few short months! After the order was given, the Rebel Army, now nearly ten thousand strong, vanished without a trace from the riverbanks and headed for the nearest Qingpu County. ... Atop the walls of Qingpu County. Watching the torrential rain pour from the gloomy sky with no sign of stopping, the Qingpu County Magistrate smugly stroked his beard and asked, "What’s the situation with the river’s water level?" Hearing his question, the three Clerks kneeling nearby immediately put on fawning smiles. One of them spoke, "Your Excellency, after these past few days of storms, the river has already swelled to its breaking point. We just need that Flood Dragon to make its move, and the whole of Sanhuang County will be turned into a mudflat!" Not to be outdone, another Clerk next to him chimed in with more flattery, "Your Excellency is truly wise and brilliant! This way, we won’t have to waste a single soldier to ensure that the Rebel Army has nowhere to run and nowhere to hide!" The two of them continued to heap praise on him. The County Magistrate happily stroked his beard several times, clearly very pleased with his plan. Only the last Clerk wore a strange expression, looking as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t bring himself to do it. Seeing this, the County Magistrate, seated at the head, frowned and asked, "You’re hemming and hawing. What is it now?" Put on the spot, the last Clerk hesitated a moment before speaking. "Your Excellency, I heard the Rebel Army has been mobilizing its forces recently. They’re saying... they’re saying..." The County Magistrate snorted coldly and banged his gavel. "Saying what? Don’t leave me hanging!" Seeing the magistrate’s accusatory posture, the Clerk knew he couldn’t dodge the question. He shut his eyes, gritted his teeth, and blurted out the information he had heard: "The Rebel Army says they’re gathering their forces to slay the dragon!" The County Magistrate’s expression froze for a second before he burst out laughing. "Have those peasants lost their minds? *Them?* They want to slay a dragon? Leaving aside everything else, the river is so turbulent—how could anyone even keep their footing on it?" Seeing him laugh, the other Clerks present all began to laugh as well. Clearly, everyone present treated this news as a huge joke and paid it no mind. In fact, that was exactly how they saw it. Never mind that the Flood Dragon was a powerful demon capable of summoning wind and rain—the turbulent surface of the river during flood season was no place for a human to stand. Just as they were all laughing, a dull THUD suddenly echoed from beyond the wall, as if something immensely heavy had crashed to the ground. The Qingpu County Magistrate jumped in fright. The smile vanished from his face as he, along with a crowd of soldiers who had also heard the noise, rushed to the top of the wall. —There, on the ramparts amidst the downpour, something was slowly rolling! In the dim, murky light, they couldn’t make out what the rolling object was, no matter how hard they strained their eyes. Just as confusion filled everyone’s minds, a bolt of lightning—whether by coincidence or not—suddenly flashed across the sky, briefly illuminating the dark heavens! In that brief flash of light, the head of the Flood Dragon appeared and was gone. A sharp-eyed soldier got a clear look at the rolling object. He was so terrified he collapsed onto his rear, stammering, "A... a dragon’s head?!" A dragon’s head? The flash of lightning had been too brief; most of the soldiers had only seen a blurry outline. It wasn’t until they heard the chorus of shocked cries erupting around them that they understood what the object before them truly was. Instantly, an uproar swept across the walls of Qingpu County. The faces of every soldier were filled with a terror like that of seeing a ghost in broad daylight! A dragon! Why would a creature that existed only in myths and legends suddenly appear on the city wall? And as nothing more than a bloody, severed head at that! Just as panic was spreading among the soldiers, who had no idea what was happening, a thin, black-robed figure appeared on the wall as if from nowhere. The black-robed figure held a long saber that was still dripping with Dragon Blood. From a distance, he looked like something between a god and a specter, and even from afar, one could feel the sharp killing intent radiating from him. Li Chang’an’s voice carried a bone-chilling coldness as he spoke in an eerie tone, "The Azure Sky is dead; the Yellow Sky must rise! The year is Jiazi; great fortune to the world!" BOOM! Lightning flashed and thunder roared as if the sky were falling and the earth were splitting apart. The sounds of slaughter mixed with rain and blood, dyeing the night red—a night destined for a storm of blood and gore. ...