27: Chapter 27 The Marquis of Zhennan's Residence

Inside the inn room, Jiang Yan sat cross-legged on the edge of the bed and took the small white jade bottle from his bosom.

He unplugged the bottle, and three peiyuan pills rolled into his palm.

The purple-black pills were slightly smaller than a dragon's eye, and the pill patterns on their surface shimmered with a very faint luster in the dim light.

He picked one up and brought it to his nose—the medicinal fragrance was extremely well-contained; only at this distance could he smell a wisp of clear, cool aroma.

Outside the window came the hawking of peddlers on the street; the cry of someone selling candied roasted chestnuts was drawn out long.

Footsteps passed in the corridor, the soles of cloth shoes creaking against the wooden floorboards, gradually fading into the distance.

Jiang Yan lined the three pills up in front of his knees and closed his eyes.

The first one entered his belly.

The pill melted the moment it hit his throat, and a torrent of pure Spiritual Qi exploded from his stomach, rushing along his Meridians toward his limbs and bones.

His parched Meridians were stretched until they felt faintly swollen by this sudden torrent.

The Bloodthirsty Demon Scripture circulated crazily, and the crimson vortex within his Dantian began to accelerate, stripping, compressing, and assimilating the medicinal power strand by strand.

The color of the vortex shifted from crimson to dark red, and its volume expanded inch by inch.

After refining most of the medicinal power, his cultivation level stood firmly at the Late Stage of Qi Refining Stage 1.

The light outside the window had changed from the afternoon to an orange-red twilight.

He did not pause and swallowed the second one directly.

The two un-digested medicinal powers overlapped, and the impact was even more violent.

A fine, stinging sensation came from the inner walls of his Meridians, and fine beads of sweat seeped from his forehead, trickling down his temples.

Yet, his hands remained as steady as a rock, resting on his knees without moving.

The vortex turned from dark red to deep red, reaching an unprecedented speed.

The Spiritual Qi vortex was tempered to become even more solid.

By the time the second pill was refined, he was only one step away from Perfection in Stage 1.

A faint red spiritual light shimmered on the surface of his skin, appearing and disappearing in the dim room.

The last trace of twilight outside the window was fading away.

He took a deep breath and swallowed the third one.

The medicinal power of the three pills completely merged, forming a mighty tide of Spiritual Qi.

The dark red vortex within his Dantian trembled violently—this time it was not expanding, but contracting.

Under the impact of the medicinal power, the Spiritual Qi compressed toward the center. The volume of the vortex did not expand; instead, it collapsed inward.

The color shifted from dark red to a deep, dark purple.

Compressed. Compressed. Compressed again.

When the last wisp of medicinal power was absorbed, the dark purple vortex was completely stabilized, and the Spiritual Qi was connected head-to-tail, tightly arranged into a near-perfect circle.

Qi Refining Stage 1 Perfection.

It was only separated from Qi Refining Stage 2 by a thin membrane.

Jiang Yan opened his eyes, and a trace of dark purple spiritual light deep within his pupils slowly converged.

The Spiritual Qi in his body had increased by nearly thirty percent compared to before taking the Medicinal Pills.

It was completely dark outside the window. The tea on the table had long since gone cold, and a layer of fine dust floated on the surface of the tea.

He stood up, and his joints made a slight crackling sound.

He put the empty jade bottle back into his bosom and took out the thirty-two pieces of Three-Eyed Fire Wolf skin Talisman paper from his bundle.

The fire-red Talisman paper emitted a faint spiritual light in his palm, looking like clusters of solidified flames under the moonlight.

He had the Talisman paper.

But no spirit ink.

Jiang Yan's fingers gently rubbed the edges of the Talisman paper.

Spirit ink was the core of a Talisman, carrying the Cultivator's Spiritual Qi and Divine Sense imprint.

The most direct method was to use his own essence blood—essence blood contained Spiritual Qi and Divine Sense imprints, and the Talismans drawn with it would be connected to the maker's mind and heart, possessing the greatest power.

But he had just swallowed three peiyuan pills, and his essence blood was at a critical stage of being tempered by the medicinal power.

Extracting essence blood at this moment would not only damage his combat power but might also interrupt the tempering process, affecting his Foundation.

He needed a substitute. Yao Beast essence blood, or Cultivator essence blood.

Yao Beast essence blood was extremely rare in Mortal nations.

The wild beasts he had hunted in the mountains previously did not have even a trace of Demonic Qi, and not a single bit of Spiritual Qi could be squeezed from their blood.

Then he would have to find a Cultivator.

Jiang Yan took a blue-covered booklet from his bosom, with "Biographies of Famous Figures in the Jin Kingdom" printed on the cover.

He had found this official banned book at the home of an official in Yu Prefecture, and it recorded detailed information about the powerful figures of the Jin Kingdom.

He flipped to the Luo Prefecture capital region section, and his fingertips stopped on a name.

Marquis Zhennan.

The book recorded: His fief was on the banks of the Luo River in the southern part of Luo Prefecture, about three hundred miles from Yu Prefecture.

His family had been distinguished for generations, and their Legacy had lasted for over a hundred years. The head of the family, Zhao Chongyuan, had inherited the title for thirty years, rarely attended court, and spent most of his time in his fief.

There was a line of small annotations on the edge of the page: "In recent years, the Marquis's mansion has often sent people into the mountains to search for old medicinal herbs and mineral materials, suspected to be supporting a Cultivator."

Jiang Yan's gaze lingered on this line of text for a long time.

A Mortal marquis would not search for old medicinal herbs and mineral materials for no reason. Unless—someone needed them.

Supporting a Cultivator.

This was not uncommon in Mortal nations not far from immortal Cultivation Sects.

Some Loose Cultivators with low Aptitude could not see a path forward, so they would go to Mortal princes and nobles to serve as retainers.

The princes and nobles would provide a life of indulgence, while the Cultivators would step in to protect the mansion when necessary.

And most of these Cultivators did not have high cultivation, mostly at the Early Stage of Qi Refining.

Marquis Zhennan's mansion. It was worth a look.

Three days later. On a small hill on the south bank of the Luo River.

Jiang Yan looked down at Marquis Zhennan's mansion below the mountain. It covered nearly a hundred acres, with blue brick courtyard walls reaching two zhang high, and sharp iron caltrops embedded on top of the walls.

The buildings inside the mansion were layered, with flying eaves and bucket arches, and the glazed tiles reflected dazzling golden light in the setting sun.

His gaze fell on an independent courtyard in the deepest part.

It was enclosed by a separate wall, keeping a clear distance from the other buildings in the mansion.

Several tall ancient pines were planted in the courtyard, their crowns blocking out the sky and sun, shrouding the entire courtyard in heavy shadows.

He spread out his Divine Sense, but it was blocked by an invisible barrier about twenty zhang away from the courtyard.

A Restriction.

The technique was very crude—the lines of the Restriction were stiff, and the connections between the Spiritual Qi nodes were loose and slack.

But it was indeed set up by a Cultivator. There really was a Cultivator in this marquis's mansion.

Night fell.

The moon was mostly covered by clouds. There were three teams of patrol guards outside the mansion, each with seven or eight people, led by two Third-rate Martial Artists.

Jiang Yan crouched in the shadow of an old locust tree outside the courtyard wall.

He had already activated the Thousand Illusion Demon Mask, his face changing into that of a square-faced man in his thirties—his skin was rough, his cheekbones were high, and there were fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

He waited for the third patrol team to pass the corner, then activated the Wind Control Technique, silently flipping onto the wall.

The iron caltrops on the wall were shaken into powder by his Spiritual Qi under his feet.

His landing point was a bamboo forest.

The bamboo leaves rustled in the night wind, masking the barely audible sound of his landing.

He spread out his Divine Sense, and every movement within a zhang and a half was crystal clear.

He prowled through the mansion for a quarter of an hour, his Divine Sense scanning every suspicious place inch by inch.

The secret treasury was not in the study. There were only a few letters and a stack of silver banknotes in the hidden compartment.

The secret treasury was not in the ancestral hall. There were dozens of boxes of gold and silver piled up in the underground secret room, with no fluctuations of Spiritual Qi.

Finally, his Divine Sense detected a hollow space deep underground about thirty zhang behind that independent courtyard.

The entrance was in the rockery group in the garden. There was a movable stone at the bottom, with a very fine gap along the edge, mostly covered by moss.

Jiang Yan moved the stone, revealing a pitch-black hole.

The stone steps were narrow, only allowing one person to pass. Night-luminescent pearls were embedded in the walls on both sides, and the eerie green light made the passage look ghastly.

At the end of the stone steps was a heavy bronze door, with crude Restriction patterns cast on its surface, coming from the same source as the Restriction in that independent courtyard.

Jiang Yan extended his Divine Sense into the Restriction patterns, found the weak points of the Spiritual Qi nodes, lightly tapped his fingers on several key positions, and injected a few wisps of Spiritual Qi to sever the connections between the nodes.

The bronze door slid open silently.