December 20th .

  Tong and his army withdrew back home . They were in the middle of preparing to move into Julu as they were waiting for Zhang Bao to come back .

  Tong was expecting a decree from the emperor in January . Once his father had the title as the governor of Julu, he could march to Julu without getting the resistance from the local .

  For now, he would patiently remain at home and would train his new recruits . The path to hegemony was still a long way to go, so he could not be rash .

  Meanwhile, Tong activated his aura skill for one whole day to grind the skill EXP . The result of the grind amazed him .

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  [Aura Mastery] LV . 4 (16,400/80,000) -

  Host emits an aura that will give status effects to allies and enemies . -

  The skill can be turned on and off . -

  The active skill [Calming Aura] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped . -

  The active skill [Healing Aura] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped . -

  The active skill [Intimidating Aura] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped . -

  The active skill [Weakening Aura] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped .

  Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan per one second of aura activation .

  Skill Restriction: -

  Effects cannot be applied to host . -

  Aura radius is 250 meters around host . Effect applied to all allies and enemies .

  [Calming Aura] Cannot be leveled up . -

  All living beings in the radius become calm . -

  Remove all negative and positive emotion from the effected targets .

  Skill Restriction: -

  Can only be used when [Aura Mastery] level 1 or higher was activated .

  [Healing Aura] Cannot be leveled up . -

  Increase the health and stamina regeneration rate of all living beings in the radius area .

  Skill Restriction: -

  Can only be used when [Aura Mastery] level 2 or higher was activated .

  [Intimidating Aura] Cannot be leveled up . -

  Instill fear to all living beings in the radius area .

  Skill Restriction: -

  Can only be used when [Aura Mastery] level 3 or higher was activated .

  \r \r \r -

  Does not work against any opponent with stronger mental strength .

  [Weakening Aura] Cannot be leveled up . -

  Reduce all attribute to of all living beings in the radius area by 10% .

  Skill Restriction: -

  Can only be used when [Aura Mastery] level 4 or higher was activated .

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  Each time Tong leveled up this skill, a new aura would appear . This skill was OP as Tong expected . However, he had to invest large amount of lifespans into it to make it effective . Tong had already spent 86,400 lifespans for activating this skill for a whole day, leaving him 188,172 lifespans remaining .

  Tong stopped grinding to save up the rest of his lifespans for now . The last battle taught him that he might need it for his regeneration skill and other emergency usage . ……

  Anping County had been turned into a county full of tourists which was the result of Tong’s promotion about the fortress and the battle story .

  The story about a smaller size army defeating a bigger army always attracted the scholars, who aspired to become a strategist for nobles or a wise official in the imperial court .

  However, the trenches were now filled with water because Tong did not want everyone to know how they were used in the battle . He wanted to fool the shallow scholars into making wrong assumptions, and Tong wanted to protect his core tactic . He might have to use the trench tactic again in the future .

  All walls of the fort was repaired and was in the perfect state for another battle again . The garrison troops shut the doors of the fort, and not allowed anyone to get inside . Therefore, all tourist could only admire the fort from the outside .

  There were many scholars and merchants that came to visit the Anping battle site as tourists . One peculiar young scholar also visited here . He was only a small child in the age of 10 .

  "This formation is an eye opener . It can be done this way . "

  "The wings of the wall has a purpose in itself . But what is it?"

  "The top of the wall only supports limited soldiers . Something is not right . "

  "Something is lacking . I miss a puzzle . "

  "The moat should not be filled with water like this . This is wrong . "

  "Oh, I see it now . The moats weren’t served as traps but a passage . "

  "The water is just a diversion . The real tactic is hidden by the commander . "

  "Haha, this is good . "

  The scholar boy muttered to himself . Then he paid attention to a merchant .

  "Come! Come! A new weapon that was used in the battle! I manage to get only one from a deserted soldier . It won’t be sold anywhere else!"

  The boy walked to the merchant and looked at the weapon . It was the repeating crossbow that Tong Army were using .

  The boy narrowed his eyes as he inspected the structure details of the crossbow with attention . Then he asked the merchant .

  "How much is that weapon?"

  "Only 10 gold! No one is selling this anywhere!"

  The crowd nearby looked at the merchant in disgust . Who would want to buy a strange toy like that? The real crossbow looked completely different from the thing that was displayed in front of that merchant .

  However, the boy said out loud .

  "I’ll buy it!"

  "You can’t find this anywh- …… wait, you are buying it?"

  "Yes, I’ll buy it . "

  The tourists nearby looked at the boy with mocking eyes .

  "What an idiot . He was ripped off! It’s just a useless toy!"

  "Well, he’s a boy . It’s normal that he was attracted to a toy . "

  "But it was 10 gold you know? 10 fudging gold!"

  "Ha! I bet he’s a young master of a wealthy family or a noble!"

  "Wow! I’m working all day to get 10 coins . A lucky boy born in the wealthy family spent 10 gold for a useless toy! Heaven sure is bias!"

  "You will get struck by lightning if you keep saying that . "

  Several mockeries and jeers came from the onlookers . To them, a single gold could be exchanged into over a thousand coins . Each coin could buy a person a meal, so 10,000 coins for a bow was too expensive .

  The boy ignored the bad mouth tourists . The crossbow was worth more than 10 gold to him . Even a thousand gold was still worth it .

  ’Idiots . This crossbow alone can change the trending of the war in the future . None of them has the vision!’

  The boy played around with the crossbow . After a few minutes, he understood how it worked . His eyes became sharper as he kept thinking about the fortress formation and this crossbow .

  ’I see! So that’s why!’

  ’The commander of this fortress is a genius! What an amazing way to defend the base!’

  ’Then the moats …… I see! So that’s how he used it!’

  ’Unbelievable . This is a game changer!’

  ’But still …… the fortress lacks something . I feel like it isn’t completed yet . ’

  ’Was it because the commander did not have enough time to prepare?’

  The boy sighed . He wanted to meet the person who designed this crossbow . He thirsted for more knowledge and insight of the veteran talents . He also wanted to meet the commander of this fortress in the previous battle . He wanted to learn about his tactics and his strategies that he used to defeat his opponents .

  "Excuse me, do you know the name of the commander of this fort?"

  The boy couldn’t resist his curiosity, so he asked around .

  "The current captain or the commander of the previous battle?" A nearby scholar tourist asked back .

  "The battle, of course . "

  "Hmm? You don’t know? He’s famous around here . "

  "Famous?"

  "He is the Immortal Zhang Tong! How could you not know him?"

  The boy frowned . He disliked superstitious things, but he respected Zhang Tong’s skills . He had complicated feeling toward Tong .

  ’There is fire if there is smoke . Something has made everyone called him "Immortal" . ’

  "Why is he called immortal?" The boy asked further .

  "Well, I don’t know myself . But I’ve heard he fought in the battle like a beast! He was stabbed by tens of spears, yet he didn’t die! Then he also has thunder magic . Every times he cast it, a loud boom can be heard and someone will die without fail . "

  The boy’s frown deepened . His curiosity toward Tong increased, but he reminded himself that it was not the time for him to get entangled in the political warfare between noble families . Therefore, he chose not to approach Tong just yet .

  The boy left the site and journeyed back to his hometown, Xu Chang, along with his scholar colleagues and his assistance master . He still needed to go back to attend classes with his teacher . For young scholars, being diligent and disciplined was a must, or they would be abandoned by their teachers .

  If Tong were here and met this boy, he would never let him going back .

  Because this boy had left prominent deeds in the history .

  His courtesy name was Fengxiao, and his official name was . . .

  Guo Jia .