, Ashes of Mountains and Rivers

As his consciousness sank into that vast ancient battlefield, Jiang Ming seemed to transform into an observer, following the old general named "Li Qianjue" through his 873 years of experience in the world of spearmanship.

Li Qianjue was not a born genius; he was of average talent in his youth and only began to master the basics of spear fighting after ten years of practice.

Only an unwavering passion for martial arts is worth mentioning.

He practices shooting for three hours every day, rain or shine.

He reached the pinnacle of marksmanship at the age of thirty-five.

At seventy-eight years old, his marksmanship was perfected.

It wasn't until he was 213 years old, when the country's gates were breached, that the old general took up his spear and rode into battle. After 13 life-or-death battles, he finally grasped the essence of spear fighting.

......

In the illusion, the mountains and rivers are shattered.

Li Qianjue's homeland, Lancang, was invaded overnight by a coalition of seven nations.

Iron cavalry trampled the nation's gates, and flames of war engulfed the entire land. The capital fell, the royal flag was broken, and 400 million people instantly became slaves of a conquered nation.

The veteran was 210 years old at the time, and had already retired from the military for 30 years.

Upon hearing of the national crisis, he silently walked into the armory in the backyard and brushed away the dust from the "Broken Mountain Spear" that had been with him for 180 years.

Li Qianjue picked up his spear, mounted his horse, and rode alone to the northern frontier.

In the first battle, outside Luoyan Pass, he single-handedly intercepted three thousand vanguard cavalry with only one man and one spear.

In that battle, he killed seven enemy generals with his spear and trampled through enemy camps on horseback.

After the war, he sat alone on the ruins of the pass, gazing at the displaced people inside, and remained silent all night.

Second battle, third battle... tenth battle...

Li Qianjue fought alone for eight thousand miles, engaging in more than two hundred battles, large and small.

Countless lives were lost under the gun, and he himself was also covered in wounds.

In numerous battles, both large and small, his marksmanship began to transform through life-or-death struggles.

No longer confined to the framework of moves, a sense of artistic conception gradually emerges.

A tragic and magnificent mood, as if the mountains and rivers were shattered and the sun and moon had lost their light.

But while the passion is like a raging fire, it always lacks one essential element.

It's missing 'God'!

......

Until the thirteenth life-or-death battle.

Buried in Longyuan.

Li Qianjue had been fighting for two days and two nights, and was exhausted. He was surrounded by eight top enemy experts in a deep valley. Outside the valley were endless enemy soldiers, and inside was a thousand-foot-deep poisonous abyss, the poison of which no one in the world could cure. There was nowhere to retreat.

All eight were top masters of their time, each wielding a weapon, sealing off all avenues of survival.

"Li Qianjue, surrender."

The enemy leader advised him.

"Lancang is dead, why should it be buried with us?"

The old general stood leaning on his spear, his white hair stained with blood, his armor shattered.

"You don't understand."

He said.

"What I'm protecting isn't the country, it's my heart."

"A gun has a soul, and a person has a will. A country may perish, but a will must not be broken."

As he finished speaking, he slowly straightened his spine.

In that instant, Jiang Ming clearly saw that the 'spirit' that had always been missing in Li Qianjue's spear intent finally shone.

......

Jiang Ming's consciousness returned to reality, and he was still sitting in the study of Jiangnan Pavilion.

They experienced Li Qianjue's centuries-old illusory legacy, but in reality, only a moment had passed.

Jiang Ming opened his eyes, a silver light swirling within them—a sign that his 'Heavenly Eye' had been activated.

The silver lines between his eyebrows were slightly warm.

You have experienced the spear-wielding legacy of Li Qianjue, the grandmaster of the Thousand Spears Style.

Your marksmanship has greatly improved.

[You have grasped the rudimentary form of the spear technique's essence, 'Mountains and Rivers Ashes']

Your understanding of the essence of weaponry has reached a whole new level.

The prompt appeared before his eyes, but Jiang Ming had no time to pay attention to it.

In his mind, the image of Li Qianjue's last shot... the Ashes of Mountains and Rivers still echoed.

That shot transcended the realm of mere technique; it was a perfect fusion of will, belief, experience, emotion, and marksmanship.

It is a true spear of artistic conception.

"I see......"

Jiang Ming muttered to himself, stood up, and walked into the courtyard.

By this time, the sky was bright with sunlight, and golden clouds bathed the world in their glow.

The silver lines between Jiang Ming's eyebrows were slightly warm.

A perspective that sees through everything unfolds before his eyes, and the spear in his hand is a channel for the transmission of power and a network for the circulation of energy.

With each exertion of force, how the muscles coordinate, how the primal energy vibrates, how the gun body conducts the energy, and ultimately what kind of power is unleashed at the blade tip—everything is as clear as the lines on one's palm.

But these are all just applications of techniques.

Jiang Ming closed his eyes and concentrated, his mind still replaying every detail of Li Qianjue's eight-hundred-year life in the world of spearmanship.

From the first clumsy thrust of his spear as a boy, to the bloody trials of battle, and then to the sorrow and perseverance amidst the devastation of his country and the loss of his home.

That was not a simple inheritance of techniques, but a "way" written with the life of a master of spearmanship.

.......

"It turns out that the perfect marksmanship I thought I had has so many flaws."

Jiang Ming slowly opened his eyes.

Looking down at the three-pointed, double-edged spear in his hand, the three blades at the tip of the spear gleamed coldly in the morning light.

"The three-pointed, double-edged spear not only incorporates the spear techniques of pointing, thrusting, parrying, and stabbing... but also the sword techniques of chopping, slashing, parrying, and wiping!"

Jiang Ming flicked his wrist, and the spear traced a semi-circle in the air.

"I've only ever used its 'gun' side, but I've neglected its 'knife' side."

The name "three-pointed double-edged spear" is not wrong, but its formal name should be "three-pointed double-edged knife".

This weapon combines the thrusting and stabbing techniques of spear fighting with the slashing and chopping techniques of knife fighting.

laugh!

With a piercing whistling sound as the air was torn apart, the gun blade slashed sideways, the resulting wind pressure causing the bamboo thickets thirty meters away to sway wildly.

This strike was no longer a 'thrust' in spear fighting, but a 'chop' in sword fighting!

Jiang Ming's figure moved in the courtyard.

It is no longer a simple spear thrust or a simple knife slash, but a perfect fusion of the two.

For an ordinary person, using such a weapon effectively would be an extremely difficult task.

Marksmanship is inherently difficult, while knife skills, though easy to learn, are difficult to master.

Moreover, by combining the two, one can create a move that truly belongs to oneself.

But Jiang Ming is no ordinary person.

With the True Monarch Card's "Martial Arts Proficiency," Jiang Ming is able to learn any weapon without a teacher, whether it's swordsmanship or spearmanship.

For Jiang Ming, none of these were difficult tasks.

Even if we merge them together and combine them into one!

Ever-changing, flowing like clouds and water.

Jiang Ming was completely absorbed in deducing the marksmanship techniques.

In his mind, the 999 spear techniques of "Li Qianjue" unfolded like a scroll, but he quickly disassembled, reassembled, and merged them.

We should capture the essence rather than simply copying its form.

Li Qianjue's spear technique was born from the wars and life-and-death struggles of his world, with its core concept being "Mountains and Rivers Ashes".

The land is shattered, the sun and moon are dimmed, but the will to fight remains undiminished!

But Jiang Ming's path was different.

He is in the world of Devouring the Stars, and in the future he will face the vast universe and the struggle between all races.

His intent with the gun should not only be the tragic grandeur of "defending the territory," but also the domineering fierceness of "conquest."

"My gun... what should it be?"

Jiang Ming's spear gradually slowed down, finally stopping at the starting stance of a "thrust".

The tip of the gun trembled slightly, as if it were breathing.

The silver lines between his eyebrows grew increasingly hot.

From the perspective of the Heavenly Eye, he saw more than just the structure of the weapons and the transmission of power; he also saw... the traces of laws.

Although Jiang Ming's level is far from reaching the edge of the laws, his superdimensional perspective of the Heavenly Eye allows him to see everything from a higher level.

Although it was only the vaguest perception, far from being a profound understanding, it opened up a completely new perspective for him.

"Artistic conception...is not only the pinnacle of skill, but also the starting point of the 'Tao'."