The messenger came to the military camp of the three generals.

The incense table has been set up.

Liu Er, Guan Hong and Zhang Hei were kneeling on the ground, but Ning Zhuo, as a person from another country, only needed to stand up and bow.

The messenger took out the imperial edict, unfolded it, and read it aloud:

The Lord of the Land and the Fate of the Kingdom proclaims:

Liu Er, Guan Hong, and Zhang Hei are three brave generals who are loyal to the country. In the recent ambush, you fought with all your might, resisted the enemy, and captured the Yuanying cultivator Ma Feitui alive with your Jindan cultivation, eliminating a major hidden danger for our two countries and making great military achievements.

You have fought bravely and fearlessly in times of danger, and you are all pillars of the country. I hereby order that the three of you generals be promoted from "guerrilla general" to "prisoner-catching general" as an encouragement, and reward you with ten pieces of national strength.

Military Advisor Ning Zhuo, although he is from another country, he has a heart for justice and bravely joins the war without fear of difficulties. Before the war, he presented a prophetic poem to our army, which was accurate in words and predicted the war situation. He also assisted the army in the ambush, repeatedly made extraordinary achievements, and killed countless enemies. Such a lofty ambition should be rewarded. I specially grant four national strengths to encourage him!

I hope you will remember this honor, live up to expectations, continue to fight bravely and defend the prestige of our country.

So ordered.

The three generals said in unison: "We thank you!"

Ning Zhuo also echoed.

"The envoy has traveled all the way from the royal capital. He must have worked hard. Please come this way." After receiving the order, Liu Er entertained the envoy with a smile on his face.

When the banquet was about to end, Ning Zhuo came to the envoy and stuffed him with many spirit stones: "The military camp is simple and the hospitality is not good. Please don't blame the envoy."

The messenger took the spiritual stone storage bag with a smile on his face. Not long after, he left the camp of the three generals and Ning Zhuo and returned to the capital to report.

late at night.

Ning Zhuo was in the tent, looking at the national strength bricks carefully.

The monks formed a cultivation country, and the country's upper echelons would gather national strength and create national strength bricks.

The two countries were founded on the virtue of water, so their national strength bricks are black.

The lights in the tent were reflected on the national strength bricks, and subtle ripples could be vaguely seen, like undercurrents in the deep sea, which was a sign of water virtue.

Ning Zhuo stroked the Guoli brick with his palm. The surface of the brick was cold, but not as piercing as ice.

This was Ning Zhuo's first time to come into contact with Guoli bricks. He had only seen them many times in books before.

Ning Zhuo activated his spiritual consciousness and infused it into the national strength brick.

A wave of vibration came from the national strength brick, covering Ning Zhuo's whole body, and immediately he sensed the military advisor seal in Ning Zhuo's arms.

It was as if the lock had found the key, the door slowly opened, and a trace of national strength flowed out from the national strength bricks.

The national strength was mobilized by Ning Zhuo's spiritual consciousness and first entered the dantian on the sea of ​​​​divine power.

The secret of spiritual connection with the mirror table!

As Ning Zhuo actively practiced, the national strength in his upper dantian turned into a magnificent light, radiating in all directions.

Under the shining light, countless mirror thoughts emerged, with incredibly high efficiency.

Ning Zhuo mobilized this trace of national strength into the qi sea in his dantian.

The Five Elements Qi Law!

The infusion of national strength was transformed into a large amount of legal energy almost instantly.

Demonic Blood-Stained Tendon Skill!

Similarly, when it reaches the lower Dantian, the national strength is transformed into blood tendons, causing the blood tendons and earth to directly thicken by three feet.

"Wonderful, wonderful." Ning Zhuo suddenly felt his three dantians swell up and his whole body was filled with a powerful force.

This power is warm, profound, and extremely inclusive.

Ning Zhuo only tasted it briefly, then slowly opened his eyes, his face full of surprise.

Because in just a dozen short breaths, his cultivation had increased a little, enough to equal a month's normal cultivation! "Practicing with the help of national power is like directly receiving initiation, without the need for hard practice!"

"More importantly, national power does not have the characteristics of the five elements, and it can transform the power of all the skills in the world."

“No wonder in ancient times, many monks risked their lives to support the Dragon Court.”

In terms of military merits in ambushes, Ning Zhuo's achievements were far less than those of Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Although his prophetic poems were very accurate, they only had a positive impact on the Three Generals Camp and the Red Flower Camp.

Ning Zhuo's military achievements were actually largely due to the help of Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

If the three generals had not captured Ma Feitui alive, Ning Zhuo's military merit would not have been shared so much.

This is also because Liu Er deliberately emphasized the description of Ning Zhuo's achievements when he reported it.

For these military achievements, Ning Zhuo chose national strength bricks without hesitation.

"If I had faced such a choice before the ambush, I might have hesitated. But after experiencing the battlefield in person, the National Strength Brick will be my must-have, first choice, and even my only choice for a long time!"

The ambush had a profound impact on Ning Zhuo.

There was a moment when, even though he was deep in the army, facing Ma Feitui's sudden attack, he almost lost the battle! At the moment that decided his life or death, Ning Zhuo didn't even have time to react.

Afterwards, he used directional flight to reunite with Sun Lingtong, and then put all his efforts into snatching the spoils, without any time to look back.

It was not until the entire army set out and rushed back to Canglin Fairy City that Ning Zhuo gradually came to his senses and felt fear.

"Cultivation!"

"Cultivation is the biggest foundation of everything!"

"Although my Five Elements realm is profound, without the support of cultivation, it is simply a waste of talent."

"Foundation building...weak!"

"Golden Core...still weak!"

"Nascent Soul... is still weak!!"

This battle greatly broadened Ning Zhuo's horizons.

This is the result of traveling thousands of miles and seeing all the places.

Ning Zhuo had of course learned about the cultivation levels of Jindan and Yuanying a long time ago. He had read about them countless times in various classics.

However, many life experiences can only be truly appreciated if you experience them in person! Knowledge gained from books is always shallow, and you must practice to fully understand this matter.

As he is at the foundation-building level, he will be killed instantly even if he has countless comrades around him.

Those Jindan-level Qianfenglin monks were killed one after another by Liu, Guan, and Zhang, like slaughtering pigs and dogs! Even a Yuanying-level monk as strong as Long Ye was almost burned to death in the end.

These were facts that Ning Zhuo witnessed with his own eyes, and these facts completely ignited the fire in his heart.

"Foundation building...is not enough!"

"Golden elixir...is not enough!"

“Nascent Soul… is still not enough!!”

"I want to climb up, and keep climbing up, accumulating strength at full speed and with all my strength."

"I want to become a powerful monk. I want to control my own life!"

At the moment when he was nearly killed, Ning Zhuo didn't even have the ability to react. He didn't want to experience such sorrow again.

However, it is not easy to accumulate cultivation. Even with Sun Lingtong's talent and understanding, he is still in the foundation-building stage after practicing until now.

It's not that he doesn't work hard, but that this is normal.

A few decades of cultivation in the foundation-building stage was considered short, and the normal time was about a hundred years. Therefore, many cultivators were unable to break through the bottleneck and advance to the golden elixir stage when they reached the end of their lives, and they died of old age.

Sun Lingtong's speed is actually very fast.

Ning Zhuo is only sixteen years old and has been promoted to the initial stage of foundation building. He practices three skills at the same time, and these three skills are all top-notch skills in the world.

To practice just one skill, one needs to accumulate more spiritual power than ordinary people, and consume more time and energy.

Ning Zhuo would multiply this number by three!

Therefore, Sun Lingtong guessed that Ning Zhuo's practice would be slow and would take a long time.

Once, Sun Lingtong also advised Ning Zhuo not to be anxious.

Nothing in the world is completely good, nor is it completely bad.

Practicing is slow, time-consuming, and requires too much investment. This is the huge price to pay for practicing top-level skills! Ning Zhuo doesn't want to follow the routine.

He is now traveling around the world, going all over the country and taking risks to save his mother. He has a strong desire for cultivation and wishes he could become a Mahayana cultivator in the next moment.

Therefore, he has been actively looking for ways to speed up his practice.

Thanks to this brilliant and splendid era of cultivation!

In this world, there are indeed many shortcuts to accumulate skills.

The most common way is to adopt higher quality skills, spirit stones, elixirs, magic weapons, etc., followed by dual cultivation, initiation, devouring and transforming other people's magic power, etc.

National strength is similar to initiation.

By using the national strength, the cultivation of the cultivators can be directly increased in a very short time, instead of increasing the efficiency of cultivation through spiritual stones, elixirs, etc. to quickly improve the cultivation.

The latter is equivalent to the growth of trees, but faster than before. The former is to directly move a piece of tree trunk and graft it directly onto your own tree.

"I have a total of four national strength bricks on hand. To what level can they help boost my cultivation?"

Ning Zhuo's thoughts were overflowing, but he stopped drawing on national strength and used normal means to practice.

"Slow, normal practice is too slow!"

"My current situation and cultivation speed are really unbearable for me."

The next day.

The two Pure Ones hosted a banquet for Ning Zhuo in the fairy city of Canglin.

Ning Zhuo arrived at the banquet on time.

Shuang Jing had resumed his usual demeanor as a disciple from a high-ranking family, looking elegant and composed in a green robe.

Ning Zhuo bowed in greeting.

Shuang Jing sat in his seat and did not stand up. Instead, he stretched out his hand to gesture for him to sit opposite him.

"This Little Bird House is the most famous restaurant in the entire Canglin Immortal City."

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

"What they are best at is the Ten Birds with One Heart Banquet with Thousands of Different Shapes."

"I have reserved the top floor and have asked the kitchen staff to prepare the Ten Birds One Heart Feast. Military Advisor Ning may enjoy it."

Shuang Jing smiled and introduced them to Ning Zhuo.

Ning Zhuo naturally responded politely.

The first spiritual food served was called Silver Wave Spiritual Soup.

The soup is translucent, with a light silver glow and a fresh aroma. It contains bird meat, which is pale white in color, as the main ingredient. Other ingredients include ginkgo, white fungus, pear, wolfberry, fish maw, etc.

Ning Zhuo first took a spoon and took a small sip. The soup was light and warm, with a natural fruity and medicinal aroma, and a hint of sweetness in its coolness.

I took another bite of the bird meat, which melted in my mouth with a unique taste.

Ning Zhuo, who was enjoying the delicious food, was reflected in his clear eyes. He carefully observed Ning Zhuo's every move and thought to himself: "The Ning family is indeed a powerful family."

The Ning family once produced a cultivator at the Nascent Soul level, and they migrated from the Beifeng Kingdom to the Nandou Kingdom, so they still have some family heritage.

In the eyes of a true noble family member, this background can be seen from the smallest details.

Although Ning Zhuo lost his parents when he was young, he was taught etiquette by his uncle and aunt. In school, there were also special elders who taught students the daily behavioral norms, covering aspects such as daily life, sitting and lying down.

After Ning Zhuo grew up, he read many books and trained himself to improve his education in this area. This was to get along with some noble monks and win their favor.

Shuang Jing saw that Ning Zhuo's eating movements were simple and elegant, seemingly slow but actually fast. He felt much more comfortable and had an appetite, so he began to taste his own portion of the spiritual soup.

Ning Zhuo drank half of the spiritual soup and stopped eating.

Shuang Jing said: "Military Advisor Ning, do you know what the main ingredient of this spiritual food is?"

Ning Zhuo said, "It must be a bird perched on a branch."

Shuang Jing continued, "There are many kinds of branch-dwelling birds. Which one is it exactly?"

Ning Zhuo said, "I see this soup is silvery and has the flavor of ginkgo. The most likely source is the silver-feathered bird."

Shuang Jing smiled: "Military Advisor Ning is indeed very strategic and his guess was not wrong."

After saying this, he stopped talking.

Ning Zhuo felt a little strange, because when Shuang Jing invited him before, his attitude was warm and enthusiastic. This invitation was obviously an attempt to get closer to him, but after attending the banquet, he started to act arrogantly.

It seemed that there was no external threat. After putting on gorgeous clothes, Shuang Jing returned to the role of a child from a noble family.

The second meal was immediately served on the round table.

This is a roast.

A flower is blooming, and a roasted chicken is placed in the flower.

Ning Zhuo took a closer look and found that it was not a roasted chicken, but a roasted bird.

The surface of the bird is coated with honey and decorated with cherries and cherry blossoms, which is quite romantic.

Ning Zhuo picked up his chopsticks and tasted a piece of bird meat, his eyes brightening slightly.

The bird meat is sweet and crisp, with a unique flavor that reminds people of spring, with the spring breeze blowing on your face and cherry blossoms blooming and falling like rain.

Shuang Jing waited until Ning Zhuo put down his chopsticks before asking what the main ingredient was.

Ning Zhuo replied: "It should be a bird perched on a branch, and it should be a cherry blossom in love with the branch."

Shuang Jing nodded and smiled without saying anything.

Ning Zhuo's heart moved, and he realized Shuang Jing's intention, but he did not expose it.

When the third spiritual food was served, it was in the shape of a "medicinal chicken".

Ning Zhuo summoned his magical power and cut open the belly of the "medicinal chicken", immediately letting the purple rice and purple sweet potato inside the "chicken's belly" leak out.

After tasting it, Ning Zhuo couldn't help but nodded slightly.

The sweetness of purple rice and the delicacy of purple sweet potato blend together with the tenderness of chicken, with a deep taste that makes his mind peaceful and his thoughts in his dantian empty and clear.

This time, without waiting for Shuang Jing to answer, Ning Zhuo took the initiative to say, "This must be the Purple Wisdom Bird perched on a branch."

Shuang Jing saw Ning Zhuo smiling with deep meaning in his eyes and knew that the time had come, so he finally threw out the words he had carefully prepared.

"The branch-perching bird has a long, thin beak, which it uses to insert into the tree trunk to absorb tree sap for survival."

"When they want to reproduce, they insert their beaks into the deepest part of the tree trunk and inject their life essence into the trunk."

"The same bird perches on a branch, but chooses different trees, and its offspring will grow up to be different."

"Ginkgo trees give birth to silver-feathered birds that perch on branches. When they fly, their wings are shining, their speed is fast, and their bird calls are clear and crisp."

"The cherry blossom tree has cultivated a bird called the Sakura Lovebird. It has a pale pink body, a light body, and a soft, slightly sad voice."

"The purple-wisdom bird that grows in the red sandalwood tree is a branch-dwelling bird. Its feathers are deep purple and it can understand human speech. It is the most intelligent bird."

At this point, Shuang Jing paused and said, "What kind of tree species often breeds what kind of branch-dwelling birds."

“It shows how important the growth environment is to a bird or a person!”

"Military Advisor Ning is a young talent from a prominent family. To be honest, I don't quite understand how Military Advisor Ning joined the Three Generals Camp."

"You are like a talented person and a beautiful jade, but what is the Three Generals' Camp? It is just a crooked tree whose name you cannot tell."

Ning Zhuo smiled and shook his head: "Master Shuang, are you trying to persuade me to leave the Three Generals Camp and join the White Jade Camp?"

Before coming here, Ning Zhuo had discussed Shuang Jing's intentions with Sun Lingtong and was aware of Shuang Jing's intention to recruit people.

But Shuang Jing shook his head: "My Baiyu Camp was destroyed and needs to be rebuilt. This time, the support for the reconstruction is no longer as strong as before."

"How can I show my sincerity by inviting Advisor Ning with such an army?"

Outside the window.

The sky is clear and the sun is radiating warmth.

A flock of birds perched on ginkgo branches fell from the blue sky, their wings drawing bright silver lines in the air.

They swooped down at an extremely fast speed, and "crashed" into the dense crown of a large tree in an almost suicidal posture.

The chirping of birds, the flapping of wings, the sound of wind, and the rustling of leaves intertwined into a strong wave of sound, drowning out the conversation between the two people inside the window.

After Shuang Jing opened his mouth and said a few words, he looked at Ning Zhuo with eyes full of expectation.

Ning Zhuo widened his eyes slightly, with a look of surprise between his brows.

He glanced out the window and took a look at the noisy flock of birds perched on the ginkgo branches. In this short period of time, he was already filled with thoughts.

When he turned to face Shuang Jing, his expression had returned to calm: "Retainer?"

Shuang Jing nodded: "Become my retainer, this is my sincerity!"

"You should know the weight of my surname, right?"

Ning Zhuo nodded.

Of course he knows.

The two surnames refer to the royal surnames of the two countries!

Shuang Jing took out a jade slip and slowly handed it to Ning Zhuo: "Here is the salary after becoming a retainer."

"I know that you used your military exploits to obtain a reward of four national powers."

"If you become my retainer, this status will be countless levels higher than your current position as military advisor and chief priest!"

"When drawing on national strength, the efficiency is nearly tripled."

"From this point alone, it's like your military achievements have suddenly been magnified three times. The significance of this is too great, isn't it?"

Ning Zhuo looked solemn.

His spiritual consciousness was infused into the jade slip, and his heart was pounding.

The conditions proposed by Shuang Jing were very generous, and did not even restrict Ning Zhuo's freedom.

As long as Ning Zhuo wants to leave and doesn't want to be a retainer, he can get rid of this identity at any time! So, do you want to become a retainer of one of the high-ranking officials of the two countries?

(End of this chapter)