Chapter 292: Chapter 176: Growing Ambition

Translator: 549690339

After communicating with Sun Siwen and encouraging him to be bold, Lu Yuan returned to his mansion.

Now, with the arrival of the imperial army, especially the two Inborn Grandmasters, the assassination threat from the Poison Sect’s Holy Maiden that had been looming over him was finally less worrying,

With two Inborn Grandmasters in the united army of Zhou and Miao, and two more on the imperial side, the chances of unconventional assassinations would be greatly reduced, as the four Grandmasters would be balancing and restraining each other.

Lu Yuan finally didn’t have to stay cooped up in the barracks every day, living like a tortured monk.

Tired from half a month of continuous travel, he instructed the maids to prepare a bath for him when he returned home, and then he curled up in his blankets and had a good sleep.

On the morning of the next day, following his usual routine, Lu Yuan got up punctually, freshened up a bit, and practiced his palm skill.

Even though he was close to breaking through the Innate and was about to start practicing the Immortal Technique,

Lu Yuan had not neglected his martial arts training.

He continued to practice the palm skills he should be practicing, and he also began to explore the sword and finger techniques contained within the Chi Yang Divine Skill.

However, with such a short amount of time, it would be impossible to master these martial arts techniques in ten years.

Luckily, Lu Yuan wasn’t in a hurry.

As long as he could break through the Innate, he could suppress those below the Innate realm with his powerful Martial Dao True Intent, making the use of specific techniques unnecessary.

As for how to deal with other Innates?

Lu Yuan thought that, given his cautious nature, even after breaking through the Innate, he would most likely not actively challenge experts of the same level.

What was the point of fighting and killing? One slip could cost him his life.

In comparison, he preferred to command the great army, drive the troops to attack the enemy, let others die for him, and sit behind the scenes, waiting for the results.

In Lu Yuan’s mind, having Innate cultivation was more about serving as a deterrent, like a nuclear bomb.

It didn’t matter if they could be used or not, as long as he had them, he would be qualified to sit at the negotiating table with other Inborn Grandmasters.

No matter how others did it, in Lu Yuan’s case, the importance of Innate martial power was more symbolic than practical.

He would either not take action, or he would make a decisive strike when he

did, rather than engaging in endless battles with others.

“Hmm, there’s also the Taiping Dao Book. After breaking through Innate, I can try to practice it.

At that time, I would appear to be an Innate Martial artist to others, but secretly, I would be a Cultivator.

If I could combine martial arts with Immortal Techniques, perhaps I could create an Immortal Martial Method?

If others don’t know my real abilities and rashly challenge me, they would definitely suffer a big loss and even lose their lives to me.”

Thinking of the possibility of such a scenario in the future, Lu Yuan couldn’t help but smirk.

As a cautious person, he loved the idea of having an extra card up his sleeve and secretly outwitting others.

Hidden cards were something that could never be too many or too few.

Now, even though he would soon have Innate Martial Dao True Intent and Immortal Techniques, Lu Yuan didn’t neglect his martial arts techniques and continued to practice diligently.

After all, life is full of uncertainties and changes.

No one knew whether the extra martial arts techniques he practiced now would play a significant role in the future.

As a precaution, it was always right to practice more when there was time.

After practicing his palm skill for an hour, he freshened up and changed into clean clothes. Following a hearty breakfast, Lu Yuan headed towards the barracks outside the city.

Having been away for some time, he had left his 20,000-strong army to his disciple Li Liang, who was in charge of training the recruits and preparing its equipment.

Now that he had returned and was about to mobilize the troops, it was natural for him to take a good look at their progress.

In the barracks.

With continuous shouts, drums occasionally blasting, banners waving, and soldiers who had already formed their formations on the drill ground slowly changing their formations to the beat of the drums and the movements of the banners.

Lu Yuan stood on the commander’s platform, watching the army changing formation below with a serious expression.

It was evident that for these soldiers, changing formation was still quite difficult, even just simple left or right turns and changes in formation were challenging to perform.

At this point, some soldiers with poor foundations would fall behind, collide with others, and cause chaos.

However, in general, with the help of the original 5,000 veteran soldiers, they could at least maintain a certain formation.

“Master, I have been diligently training the troops every day, with one small drill each day and one large drill every three days. After two months, there is no problem with the formation and movement, but there is still some difficulty in changing the formation,” said Li Liang, who had been responsible for leading the troops for the past two months, with a slightly nervous tone as he watched the chaotic army formation below.

Lu Yuan had entrusted the training of the large army to him, which was an expression of trust and recognition.

But now, when the master came back to inspect the army, this wasn’t an impressive result, which was undoubtedly a cause for concern.

“You’ve done quite well already.”

Lu Yuan turned his head and smiled at his nervous disciple, saying, “It’s only been two months since the new recruits joined the army, but they can already understand formations and recognize banner commands- they have shown considerable progress.

It they train like this tor another halt a year, they will be ready to join the battlefield and face the enemy in formation.

Entrusting the training of the army to you was not a mistake on my part.”

Over the years, Lu Yuan had commanded armies and was not ignorant of military affairs.

Previously, he had stayed in the camp, overseeing the training of the soldiers every day, which still wasn’t enough. Later, he took them out to fight for half a year before they achieved the glorious victory in suppressing the Seven Star Sect rebellion in just three months..