Huanwen County.
Inside a quiet courtyard, a youth with a lean, powerful build was practicing with a long spear, his upper body bare despite the biting cold.
Each swing of the weapon stirred the air into motion. Snowflakes scattered and spiraled around him, forming a miniature blizzard that made the already freezing winter feel even sharper.
Though half-naked, he showed no sign of cold. Heat radiated from his body in thick waves; any snow that came close to his skin melted instantly into droplets of water. The air around him shimmered with steam, as if he'd just stepped out of a blazing furnace.
A surge of boiling blood rose from his marrow, churning violently inside his body, refining and tempering his organs with every pulse.
He had reached the Tempering organs stage—the advanced phase of the tempering organs realm.
The human body was a single, unified whole.
Once one had tempered blood, tendons, bones, skin, and marrow, the next step was to refine the internal organs themselves. Otherwise, no matter how strong the outer body was, if the organs couldn't endure the strain, all that power was hollow.
Just like before—
When Chen Sanshi took on two tempering organs experts at once, he had managed to hold them off, but his inner organs suffered heavy strain.
Tempering organs meant refining all the viscera—the four hollow and six solid organs—to further strengthen the body's foundation.
"Boom—"
With a thrust, Chen Sanshi's spear pierced forward, striking the massive water jar in the courtyard. The jar exploded into fragments, sending shards of thick ice flying in every direction like crystal spears.
[Technique: Unified Spear Technique (Mastery)]
[Progress: 0/1000]
[Effect: …, …, Mysterious Five-Organs Body]
[Mysterious Five-Organs Body: Upon reaching Major Achievement, temper the five organs into a unified core body.]
"Great, another one added to the list."
"I'm turning into a damn collection pot."
"But finally, I broke through."
Chen Sanshi withdrew his spear and exhaled, his breath steaming like mist.
It had been ten days since they crossed the river.
His injuries were healed, and he had broken through another stage.
In addition, after all the battles and hardships, his various skills had improved greatly.
[Skill: Tracking and Hiding (Minor Achievement)]
[Progress: 888/1000]
…
[Skill: Horsemanship (Mastery)]
[Progress: (309/500)]
…
[Skill: Commanding Troops (Mastery)]
[Progress: 890/1000]
…
[Skill: Archery (Major Achievement)]
[Progress: (550/2000)]
…
[Skill: Medicine (Mortal) (Mastery)]
[Progress: 210/1000]
…
Among all his arts, Horsemanship and Commanding Troops had improved the most, honed through constant real battle. Their progress was rapid—each time they were needed, it took only days to advance further.
The great campaign had finally ended.
Just a few days ago, the war across the three northwestern prefectures reached its conclusion. All four steppe tribes had withdrawn in defeat.
In the Yunzhou region, Cao Fan and the others had successfully broken the siege. With the later arrival of the Eight Garrisons, the territory was completely reclaimed within days.
But that was only the surface of the story.
Before that—
The massacre of Yunzhou had lasted ten full days.
Ten days in Yunzhou.
Nearly a million civilians had perished.
Corpses covered the wilderness; the wailing of ghosts echoed across the plains.
It was a catastrophe—a total, undeniable disaster.
Though the Great Sheng Dynasty didn't lose any land, the cost was unimaginable.
It would take at least ten years, perhaps more, to recover.
It was said that the imperial court had begun relocating refugees and landless peasants from other provinces into Yunzhou.
The poor would now finally own land. A bitter irony.
And yet, the barbarians would not stay quiet for long.
It was simple logic.
If they hadn't gained enormous benefits from those ten days of slaughter, why would they have cooperated with the Emperor's "grand plan," sacrificing thirty thousand of their own soldiers?
Now that they had obtained whatever dark "reward" they sought—power, blood, or treasure—they would only return stronger.
And when that happened, what would they do?
Of course—invade the Great Sheng Dynasty again.
Which meant—whatever the Emperor was scheming, whatever ritual the "blood offering" was meant for—the outcome was clear enough.
He was colluding with the enemy.
Even worse, the supposed "immortal treasure" hadn't even been found yet.
If the barbarians were given ten or twenty years to recover, forging armies filled with Transforming Strength experts and higher—how could the Great Sheng Dynasty hope to fight back then?
Rely on numbers alone? Trade lives head-for-head?
'Ridiculous,' Chen Sanshi thought grimly.
He gripped his spear tighter.
The world was changing.
And soon… the rivers would run red again.
The blood sacrifice the barbarians performed—perhaps it, too, was connected to the so-called immortal treasure.
A complete formula, a vessel capable of withstanding the heat of strange fire, and the sacred lamp oil.
These three components together were what truly qualified to bear the word "immortal."
Chen Sanshi guessed that the barbarians' attack on Poyang County had likely been, at least in part, an attempt to seize that treasure. They hadn't found it, of course—but they certainly wouldn't stop searching.
So then—if one day he managed to fight his way deep into the barbarian capital, wouldn't he be able to gather a complete set of those "immortal" items?
There was hope for that, real hope.
It was said that one of Grand Commander Sun Xiangzong's lifelong wishes was to lead his armies into the heart of the northern plains—to slaughter the barbarian hordes until they no longer dared to set foot near the Great Sheng Dynasty's borders, and to bring peace and security to the people of the north.
And yet, after all these years, he had still not done it.
Why?
With the Eight Northern Garrisons combined with the 200,000 troops of the Northwest Army, military strength was more than enough. The only possible explanation was that their highest-level combat power still wasn't sufficient.
Above the Martial Saint realm—still not enough?
Chen Sanshi frowned. His understanding of the four barbarian tribes—the Yu Wen, Tuoba, Murong, and Duan Clans—was limited. He knew that the Yu Wen tribe had risen in recent years, backed by the Witch God Sect, but beyond that, he was nearly clueless.
Xu Wencai was much the same.
No matter how capable that man was, there were limits to what someone of their rank could learn.
But within the Eight Garrisons—surely they knew the truth.
Even Sun Li and Sun Buqi probably did.
He'd just never asked.
Not because he wasn't curious, but because, at the time, there was no point.
Back then, he'd barely reached tempering bone. What use would it have been for someone like him to ask about the strongest warriors of the grasslands? He might as well have asked about immortals.
But soon, when he had the time, he needed to start learning.
Because of the immortal treasure.
In the past, it had been the Witch God Sect infiltrating the Central Plains in search of it.
Now, that situation would reverse—the hunt would become his.
The lamp oil had been stolen from the Tuoba tribe. The blood sacrifice ritual was performed by the Witch God Sect, who represented the Yu Wen family.
Tuoba and Yu Wen—those two clans were definitely tied to the treasure.
Chen Sanshi drew a mental circle around them, marking them both as his future targets.
Right now, with only the lamp oil, it felt incomplete—like having the spark but none of the tools. He possessed the fire, but not the furnace or the formula.
Still, even with just the lamp oil, the spiritual grain continued to show miraculous effects. That only made him more curious.
What could he create once he obtained the vessel and the formula to go with it?
If immortals truly existed, where did they live?
And why had these divine relics fallen into the mortal world?
"One step at a time," he murmured.
Chen Sanshi knew better than to rush.
After two months of blood and battle, things had finally, temporarily, settled.
The people of Poyang County were beginning to return home in waves.
If they stayed in Huanwen County, they would become refugees.
And refugees only ever met two fates—starvation, or surrendering their names to become lifelong household slaves to some noble family, losing their freedom forever.
Compared to that, returning to Poyang was the better choice by far.
As for Chen Sanshi, returning was out of the question.
In a few days, he would depart for Liangzhou to participate in the Elite Selection of the Eight Garrisons. Even if he didn't become a top true disciple, he was confident he could at least enter the inner ranks—and most likely, he would stay in Liangzhou afterward, joining one of the Eight Garrisons officially.
"You're secretly training again?"
Gu Xinlan returned from shopping, and the moment she saw her man gripping his spear in the courtyard, she rushed over in alarm. "Little Sister Li said you injured your organs! You should be resting!"
"I'm really fine."
Chen Sanshi set the spear aside, then suddenly swept her into his arms with a grin. "If you don't believe me, you can test it yourself."
"Don't! You need to rest properly. Don't hurt yourself again because of that."
"I'm sturdy."
'Come on, I've got a Body of Vajra—skin like bronze, bones like iron. It's not that easy to break,' he thought privately, wisely keeping it to himself.
Gu Xinlan pouted. "You promised we'd have a child. Now that the war's over, don't tell me you plan to back out."