191: Yangyan arrow

“This guy, he’s quite a man… but as a Martial Artist, how can one simply accept their fate!”

Han Yi sighed, casually closed Huang An’s eyelids, and wiped away the blood from the corner of his mouth, making the corpse look more peaceful.

He had thought that before Huang An died, he would hand over some gold, silver, treasures, or Secret Manuals, after all, every storybook mentioned such a plot…

After the protagonist saves a seriously injured person on the verge of death, to show gratitude, the injured person, before dying, will hand over years of hidden wealth, their family’s Cultivation Techniques, beautiful young widows… and similar things, all to the protagonist…

Unexpectedly, when it came to Han Yi, he only received an empty ‘good guy’ card and a single sentence.

“Indeed, I’m not the protagonist of a story…”

Han Yi looked up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, a faint sadness rising in his heart.

But then, he was pulled back to reality by an important matter.

“While it’s still early, there’s no time to lose. I must first remove the Yin Qi from Bai Sanren and Qian Xue!”

After getting up, the first thing he prepared to do was this. Although Bai Sanren and Qian Xue had not absorbed much Yin Qi in the environment due to his intervention, he was afraid of potential after-effects if he delayed too long.

Without further ado, Han Yi once again generated Evil Breaking Force and slowly infiltrated Bai Sanren’s body. This time, with the experience of removing Yin Qi from Huang An’s body, he knew exactly when to increase the Strength input and when to slow down.

Soon, the faint pink peach blossom imprint on Bai Sanren’s brow dissipated. Han Yi followed suit, removing the peach blossom imprint from Qian Xue’s brow as well.

However, both of them were still unconscious and had not woken up.

It seemed that they had been unconscious for too long in the illusion, and their Qi and blood were still in a stagnant state…

Han Yi confirmed their condition repeatedly and felt relieved.

But now, he had no patience to wait for Bai Sanren and Qian Xue to wake up. Outside, a formidable enemy was waiting for him!

Whoosh!

After placing Bai Sanren and Qian Xue in the small room where they had slept before, Han Yi quickly arrived at the carriage that Huang An and his group had been escorting.

In the stable, the smell was still incredibly foul and pungent. Han Yi had no choice but to use his Strength to pull out the cargo compartment separately.

As for why he didn’t use the draft horses, it wasn’t because he wanted to deliberately show off the might of a Martial Master. It was simply because the two draft horses pulling the carriage had long since been drained of their blood by those Yins!

Splash!

He violently tore off the black tarpaulin covering the carriage, revealing the contents inside.

“This…”

Upon seeing what was loaded in the carriage, Han Yi couldn't help but be surprised, raising an eyebrow.

Under the faint light, smooth black helmets, shoulder guards, and skirt armor… were neatly stacked, clearly a complete set of black armor!

This carriage was packed full, containing dozens of contraband items that were explicitly forbidden from being sold!

No wonder Huang An and his group were so secretive and vigilant when they first communicated, refusing to interact with them. Even before he died, he warned Han Yi not to trade it casually, to prevent discovery.

An entire carriage full of armor was indeed a huge business!

This stuff wasn’t difficult to make, nor was the cost very high; it was just a matter of daring to do it.

The saying, ‘one armor equals three crossbows, three armors lead to the underworld,’ was no joke.

However, shouldn’t the Huang Family be considered an official force in An Yan City? He heard that the family head, Huang Shanjun, was even the chief constable of the Patrol Office…

Was buying this stuff for the city’s patrol and defense needs, or were they planning a rebellion?

However, this had little to do with Han Yi; he was merely a passerby who happened to be caught in the middle and innocently implicated.

Han Yi’s main focus was not on this; all his attention at this moment was on a red lacquer box beneath the armor.

This red lacquer box was about two feet long and four or five inches wide, appearing like a box containing some gold, silver, and valuables. But the main point was not that; the crucial thing was that a yellow Talisman was pasted on the box, wrapped around it, making it look incredibly mysterious.

“Such strange packaging, there won’t be any traps or mechanisms, will there…?”

Han Yi examined it carefully. This tightly sealed packaging, plus a layer of Talisman that looked like a Seal… it always reminded him of those strange things from his previous life.

For example, a rice cooker sealing a demon… or a bomb that would explode when the yellow paper was removed…

“No way, no way…”

Han Yi shook his head, shaking these bizarre thoughts out of his mind. Judging from Huang An’s dying words, this box should contain something to be sent to the Bureau of Unusual Matters.

No matter how he thought about it, it should be some kind of weapon!

Han Yi circulated the Qianyang Skill, generating Strength in his hands. With one hand protecting his vital points, the other slowly peeled off the Talisman, ready to leave if there was any hint of something amiss.

He could only be this cautious; the events of the night had already taught him a lesson: even an experienced Jianghu veteran like Huang An, if not careful and vigilant, could easily stumble in a ditch.

And although he himself had become a Tongmai Martial Master, because he had just entered Connecting Veins and the number of Meridians he had broken through was too few, he could currently only exert Strength through his hands.

Rip!

The yellow paper was torn off, and the vermilion lacquered nanmu lid opened.

What met Han Yi’s eyes were three arrows.

The arrows were seventy to eighty centimeters long, with four-edged arrowheads and winged fletching. They were fiery red all over, exuding a compelling Aura, like blazing flames!

“This… it doesn’t look like an ordinary arrow…”

Han Yi touched the smooth, soft, unknown fletching at the tail, sighing inwardly.

Just their appearance alone made them look extraordinarily impressive!

And holding them in hand significantly increased his combat power…

“Yang Flame Arrow, suppresses Yin Qi, extremely powerful… easily shortens Lifespan…”

Han Yi looked at the description inside the box and was slightly startled.

Yang Flame Arrow?

Extremely powerful?

Suppresses Yin Qi?!

Immediately, he was overjoyed. No wonder Huang An had kept wanting to come to the carriage during the battle; he was probably looking for this item.

Han Yi had just been worrying about how to deal with the Old Peach Tree. If he fought in close combat, he was afraid of falling into another strange illusion. If he attacked from a distance, ordinary flames would be useless…

This was like a pillow appearing just when he was sleepy—perfect timing!

“Hehe, Peach Mómomo… Heaven wants to destroy you, what can you do…?”

Han Yi sneered, holding the three flame-like arrows in his hand, and looked outside the courtyard.

Outside the courtyard, in the middle of the village, there was an Old Peach Tree, trembling in the cold wind like an ordinary tree!

In the middle of the village, the crooked peach tree twisted its withered yellow trunk, leaning diagonally towards the red morning glow. Its messy canopy had uneven branches, only half remaining, with jagged gaps.

“It’s truly bizarre…”

Han Yi didn’t know how many times he had shaken his head; he felt a bit helpless.

When encountering Martial Artists, the System could easily judge the opponent’s Strength and whether they were alive or dead, but whenever it encountered events related to Yins, it would be a bit clueless.

Yins with such bizarre abilities always found ways to hide themselves!

Rip!

Following the instructions inside the Yang Flame Arrow, Han Yi used the arrowhead to make a small cut on his finger. Hot, bright red blood immediately flowed into the arrow.

As the blood was absorbed, the patterns on the arrow became clearer, a vivid crimson as if dripping fresh blood, combined with the black fletching…

The entire arrow was as majestic as a firebird ready to take flight!

Unbeknownst to him, Han Yi felt as if a subtle connection had formed between himself and the arrow in his hand.

“Go!”

He had a thought, casually raised the arrow, and applied a little Strength.

Whoosh!

The Yang Flame Arrow whistled through the air and instantly landed at the base of the peach tree.

Strangely, after the arrow landed, there was no movement for a long time.

“Could it be that I bought a fake arrow…?”

A muscle twitched in Han Yi’s forehead; he was a bit puzzled.

Boom!

At this moment, a raging fire suddenly ignited at the point of impact. The sporadic embers on the Old Peach Tree, fueled by the dry branches in winter, rapidly spread across the Old Peach Tree like a prairie fire.

Crackling!

Sparks and oil mixed, quickly igniting the surrounding vegetation as well.

“Good, good, good!”

Han Yi was not surprised but delighted, feeling invigorated. He had tried using fire against this tree before, but ordinary flames would extinguish as if lacking oxygen within three zhang (about 10 meters) of it. However, the Yang Flame Arrow could ignite the vegetation near the peach tree, which was enough to prove its extraordinary efficacy!

“Again!”

Whoosh!

Han Yi, seizing the advantage, drove another arrow with his blood and shot it out. However, as this arrow was shot, he felt as if something subtly left his body.

Bang!

This time, after the Yang Flame Arrow landed, the flames rapidly erupted. The fire on the peach tree spread from the bottom upwards. Perhaps there was an additional bonus when two arrows were activated simultaneously, as the fire spread extremely quickly. In just a few breaths, the entire peach tree was engulfed in flames.

The enormous blaze shot tens of meters high into the Yun Xiao, and a wave of heat rushed towards him. The gloomy air around the peach tree, where a man and a woman had been, instantly dissipated, vanishing completely.

“The power of the Yang Flame Arrow is indeed extraordinary!”

Han Yi nodded repeatedly from the side, a satisfied expression on his face.

But behind such great power, there must be a price!

After he noticed the loss of vitality in his body, he immediately checked his panel.

【Name】: Han Yi (17/152)

His age had changed from one hundred and fifty-three to one hundred and fifty-two, which meant that two Yang Flame Arrows had consumed one year of his Lifespan!

No wonder Huang An and his group treated this kind of thing as their ultimate trump card; anything that consumed Lifespan had to be handled with extreme caution!

However, for Han Yi, one year of Lifespan was just a drop in the bucket. After advancing to Connecting Veins, his Lifespan had instantly increased by twenty years!

Not to mention, he could also increase his Lifespan by absorbing Yin Qi!

“Perhaps, in the future, I can look for some powerful, quick-acting Cultivation Techniques that have the side effect of consuming Lifespan to practice…” A thought suddenly flashed through Han Yi’s mind.

But now was not the time to think about future plans. He tucked this thought deep into his mind and focused on the scene before him.

It seemed that the peach tree, which had been acting like a shrinking turtle, pretending to be an ordinary tree, could finally no longer endure the scorching heat…

A sudden change occurred.

Around the peach tree, which was engulfed in flames, a large amount of gray Qi suddenly condensed. The gray Qi floated, gradually forming a ring of mist.

The gray ring-shaped mist rotated rapidly, making continuous “tear, tear” sounds. The towering flames were extinguished as if struck by a flood, vanishing. Only the residual heat and the carbonized, charred trunk proved its existence.

Boom!

The carbonized, pitch-black base of the peach treeCreeping, and a crack like a zipper was pulled open with a ripping sound. A huge black shadow suddenly burst out from deep underground!

What kind of monster was this? An eight-meter-tall body, yet with agility that didn't match its height.

The Da Mao, the small Giant Han Yi had killed, was only nearly three meters tall, like an insignificant toy in front of this behemoth!

The monster’s upper body was covered in dark green and black tree knots. The Old Peach Tree, which had been charred black by Da Mao, had transformed into a writhing tentacle hanging over its head.

As for its lower body, a massive mass of rotten tree roots moved the enormous body continuously like nimble tentacles.

What was even harder to bear was that the monster’s entire body was dripping with black-green fluid, emitting a foul odor with hallucinogenic effects!