Martial God Storm

  Shenquan Town, located in the core area of the Mystic Forest, is where the 'Earth Spirit Vein' leaks out. The spring water that gushes out contains a strong spiritual power and has the magical effect of refining the body and cultivating the spirit, earning it the name Shenquan. A thousand years ago, it was forcibly occupied by the Great Zhou Empire, guarded by top-level strongmen, and transformed into one of the empire's five major 'Baptismal Sacrifice' venues.

  Shenquan Town is a vast mountain valley surrounded by four towering peaks that pierce the clouds, with only one gorge connecting the inside and outside. The town is filled with taverns and inns, as well as military barracks, but at ordinary times, there are only a few powerful warriors stationed here, not allowing anyone to enter. Although the facilities within the valley are complete, it is desolate and uninhabited. Only during the biennial Baptism Festival will temporary opening be allowed, but only academies or families designated by the Empire can enter.

  Shenquan Town is dedicated to serving the warriors of the Northern Wilderness of the Empire. The Northern Wilderness has a total of 17 cities, including one vassal state, five academies, six major families, and 29 medium-sized families. For the baptism ceremony held every two years, families can send their own representatives or participate through an academy, while commoner children can only participate through an academy.

  Because the Great Zhou Empire and even the entire Qitian Continent highly value martial arts, and it only opens once every two years, each time there are over a hundred qualified young men and women, sometimes as many as two hundred.

  There are 181 three-stage martial artists under the age of eighteen who qualify for this year.

  Only... less than sixty percent of the people who truly arrived at Shenquan Town were on the invitation list! Five teams suffered varying degrees of attacks, and a large number of college students and young masters disappeared. One college's entire faculty and student body disappeared completely, and seven medium-sized family heirs went missing.

  This matter has already caused the garrison in Shenquan Town to be on high alert, and it has been transmitted throughout the entire Northern Wilderness. A large number of powerful individuals have entered the Mystic Forest seven days ago to investigate the situation.

  For this matter, the imperial family personally signed a secret order - strictly forbidden to spread the word!

  So the incident was somewhat strange and did not leak out, and the baptismal ceremony began on schedule four days ago.

  Today is already the last day. Due to special reasons, some aristocratic families and colleges have left ahead of time, but there are still some mercenary troops who have just arrived to join in the excitement.

  Inside the valley, it was bustling with excitement, while outside, many mercenaries and onlookers had also gathered, equally interested in this kind of ritual baptism. They hoped to witness the birth of a powerful bloodline; if so, it would not be a wasted trip for them to come from afar.

  "Have you all heard? The baptism of Lingyu County's young lady has been completed, astonishing the three imperial elders guarding the altar. According to the news from inside, the county lady's baptism went extremely smoothly, with her spiritual pulse awakening reaching 70%, comparable to that of a direct descendant of the royal family!"

  "Seventy percent? How is that possible! At last year's Imperial Baptismal Rite in the capital, even the third prince of the imperial family only managed this much!"

  "It's absolutely true, Shenquan Town is now boiling over, and Zhou Ling Wang has personally come to welcome Princess Lingyu."

  "Seventy percent, has already possessed the qualifications to impact the Martial Honourable level! Heaven, could it be that North Desolate Domain is going to give birth to another Martial Honourable?"

  "It's not that simple, qualifications are just qualifications, whether or not one can grow is a question."

  "What if the imperial family directly brings Lingyu County Master into the Imperial Capital?"

  "Uh..."

  "There's another piece of news, Young Master Li from Giant Elephant City has reportedly completed his baptism successfully and unlocked the treasure of his body."

  "Oh? Really!! Ten years ago, someone had said that the Divine Spring in Shenquan Town was drying up and it would be difficult for any more warriors to unlock their own treasure with its help. Now, Young Master Li has broken the deadlock, I believe this will attract a lot of attention."

  "By the way, there's something else! Yesterday afternoon during the last baptism, a student from Giant Elephant Academy had an anomaly in his spiritual vein! He was just a commoner without any inherited spiritual vein from his family, only having the most ordinary meridian, but during the baptism process, it somehow evolved into a true spiritual vein on its own, apparently related to petrification."

  "I've also heard that it's already caught the attention of the Giant Elephant Academy, and there are rumors that he might be specially cultivated by the academy after he returns. Even Zhou Lingwang has intentions to recruit him."

  "What's your name?"

  "Seems like it's called... Du Yang."

  The only son of the principal of Tianyuan College, Xue Ying, also participated in this baptism, and it seems that he also opened up his physical treasure, but this news has not been confirmed, and people are just speculating.

  "A young girl from a Tang family also received attention, and her spiritual awakening was very successful, reaching 80%."

  "It seems I've seen the butcher of the Tang family, Wu Wang Tang Qiang. This time it's him personally escorting? No wonder, it seems that he should have anticipated in advance that little girl's unusualness."

  "This baptism ceremony is too amazing, unexpected surprises keep appearing one after another, the whole town of Shengquan is already boiling over. Today is the last day, with only two more baptisms left, I wonder if there will be any more surprises."

  Tang Yan strolled through the bustling crowd, listening to the passionate discussions of the mercenaries all around him, and gaining a deeper understanding of the true situation in Shenquan Town.

  After this period of tempering, Tang Yan gained a new understanding of 'baptism' while having some understanding of 'spiritual power' and 'martial artist'. It has some similarities with the 'inherited genes' of the previous life. If there were powerful martial artists born in the ancestors, they would pass on certain special talents to their descendants, known as 'spirit veins'. However, they will not appear immediately, but generally need a certain means to trigger them, which is called 'baptism'.

  If the descendants stimulate these spiritual veins in the process of baptism, they will be more fluent in their cultivation path and have a higher degree of fusion with the spiritual veins of their predecessors. The higher the degree of fusion, the more likely they are to reach the level of their predecessors, which means that their future achievements will be even greater.

  Reaching sixty percent is already surprising, and if seventy or eighty percent appears, it's enough to thrill anyone and become a treasure in the family.

  As for unlocking the physical treasure, in the minds of warriors on the continent of Praying Heaven, every person's body is a gigantic treasury, containing infinite treasures that ordinary people find difficult to search out. If someone is lucky enough to unlock it during the baptism process, they will be granted a new inheritance similar to their own special abilities.

  They are called special people, and in Tang Yan's understanding, they are 'investment stocks'. This group of people does not have the growth memories of their predecessors like those who awaken the spiritual veins. They need to explore this unknown path on their own and create a new cultivation route. If they fail, they will end up with nothing; if they succeed, they will continue a new spiritual vein and grow into an even more terrifying existence.

  As for the anomaly of the spiritual vein, it is equivalent to the revival of a withered spiritual vein or the granting of new abilities to an ordinary spiritual vein. It's similar to a spiritual baptism, like opening a treasure trove. Tang Yan never fully understood this aspect.

  However, after listening to the mercenaries' discussions, Tang Yan slightly let out a breath of relief. The little girl had escaped danger and entered Shengquan Town, and also successfully completed her baptism.

  But another message isn't so good - is it the last day? Only two chances left at most?

  "Not allowed in? What makes you think I'm not allowed in?" Standing in front of the majestic city gate, Tang Yan coldly stared at the two arrogant warriors before him.

  "Invitation!"

  "What's an invitation?"

  "You don't even know the invitation, what are you doing in Shenquan Town? Get out! Little beggar! Don't blame us if you dare to make trouble again." The strong man only glanced at Tang Yan and didn't look at him again. His clothes were tattered, his face was dirty, his hair was messy, and he was wearing a pair of shoes made of woven leaves, even more disheveled than ordinary beggars. What kind of goods are you to enter Shenquan Town? If the two men hadn't wanted to maintain their image, they would have shot this little guy flying with one gun."

  A few mercenaries drinking in the nearby wine shed suddenly burst out laughing, a rather rough man thundered: "Hey kid, come and have a drink, I'm buying! The Divine Spring Town is only open to aristocratic families and academies, we ordinary people don't have a chance."

  "Unless you have a hundred gold coins, but looking at you... it seems like you don't even have a single copper coin?"

  "Haha, little guy, come on, let's have a drink."

  Tang Yan's eyebrows slightly furrowed, one hundred gold coins? The currency circulating in this alien mainland is called crystal coin, copper coin, silver coin, gold coin, and purple crystal coin, with values increasing in that order. One purple crystal coin is equivalent to one hundred gold coins, one gold coin is equivalent to one hundred silver coins, and one silver coin is equivalent to one hundred copper coins.

  To roughly compare it with the paper money of the old world, one Amethyst Coin is equivalent to one million!

  In the shade of the main gate, a lean man in high-ranking military uniform said indifferently: "It can't be said that way. The spiritual power possessed by Shenquan is limited and cannot be used recklessly. The aristocratic families belong to the empire, the academy belongs to the empire, and the empire must take responsibility for them. Ordinary people only need talent to join the academy, as long as they enter the academy, they can undergo baptism through hard work.

  Everything is done by the book!

  "If just anyone can enter, wouldn't it be chaotic? What if they're from another empire? What if they're from a hostile force? Our Great Zhou Empire isn't magnanimous enough to serve them."

  The guard at the door gave Tang Yan a cold glance: "Did you hear that? Get out of here quickly!"

  "My name is Tang Yan, Second Young Master of the Tang Family in Giant Elephant City. Does that qualify me?"

  The area near the city gate was slightly quieter, and then burst out laughing even more wildly, even the officers in the shade couldn't help but shake their heads with a smile.

  "You little beggar, you're looking for trouble with nothing better to do, huh?" The burly man in front of the door was getting annoyed.

  Another sturdy man, with a mixture of anger and amusement, said: "Young Master Tang? Why don't you say you're the master of the Tang family? Alright, alright, we won't bother with you, scram as far as you can!"

  Tang Yan said helplessly: "There are people from the Tang family in Shenquan Town, you can go ask them, or bring them out, I am Tang Yan, genuine!"

  "Get out!!" The two giants chimed in unison, not even having the interest to say another word. Looking for someone from the Tang family? And bringing them out to identify? Do you know who the Tang family member inside is? It's Butcher Tang Qiong!

  Tang Yan was secretly anxious, but he really couldn't find anything to prove himself. Facing the gradually revealed murderous intentions of the giants and the mocking gazes from all around, he could only temporarily leave the city gate.

  But just as Tang Yan reported his name, several men in the nearby crowd raised their eyebrows, their eyes fixed on him, and after a careful examination, they were all invigorated.

  They exchanged a knowing look, and one of them got up and walked towards the wine shed. He sat down in front of the group of mercenaries who had just invited Tang Yan to drink, laid out ten gold coins one by one, and said indifferently: "Think of a way to bring that kid into the dense forest and secretly get rid of him. This is the deposit, and after it's done, I'll give you fifty more gold coins. Be careful not to disturb others, do it cleanly."