194: Chapter 194 Dragon Qi, Bloodline

The pain was not severe and only lasted a short while before disappearing; the entire process was like being bitten by a mosquito.

Jiang Mengli slowly regained her senses, her beautiful eyes shifting to focus on the figure before her.

He was... drinking her blood?

This absurd thought exploded in Jiang Mengli's mind, causing her train of thought to go blank for a moment.

The sensation of blood loss was not painful; instead, it carried a strange, tingling numbness that quickly spread through her meridians to her entire body.

Jiang Mengli felt an inexplicable weakness, her legs turning slightly soft.

She struggled to mobilize the True Qi in her body to resist, only to find that the palm pressed against her shoulder was like an insurmountable mountain, firmly suppressing all her Qi.

She could only be forced to tilt her head back, exposing her slender, fair neck, and let the man take what he wanted.

Shame, indignation, and a trace of an unusual emotion she was unwilling to admit even to herself, intertwined and churned in the depths of her heart.

She did not know how much time had passed, perhaps only a few short breaths, when the suction force finally disappeared.

Chen Ran slowly straightened up and released the hand pressing on Jiang Mengli's shoulder.

He raised the back of his hand and casually wiped the trace of bright red remaining at the corner of his mouth, a flicker of hard-to-detect strange emotion flashing in his eyes.

"You..."

Jiang Mengli slid down the stone wall by half an inch, barely steadying her figure. She covered the wound on the side of her neck with one hand, and blood threads faintly seeped out between her fingers.

She raised her head and stared fixedly at the man before her.

That face, originally cold and peerless, was now stained with an alluring flush.

Her eyes were glistening with moisture, three parts anger and seven parts shame, looking exactly like a cat whose tail had been stepped on but was powerless to resist.

"What exactly are you trying to do!" Jiang Mengli bit her silver teeth, her voice trembling slightly.

Chen Ran ignored her questioning.

He closed his eyes slightly, his mind sinking into his body.

The Blood Transformation Great Art was operating on its own at an unprecedented speed.

The mouthful of blood he had just ingested was different from the blood he had absorbed in the past.

Jiang Mengli's blood not only possessed a rich force of blood and Qi but also contained an extremely pure and profound power.

That was a special Qi pulse.

As this Qi pulse traveled through his meridians, his True Qi, which had already been condensed to the extreme, unexpectedly showed signs of loosening and growing once more.

There was something wrong with Jiang Mengli's blood.

"No wonder those Devil Heads lose their minds and become monsters that only know how to kill once they Cultivate to a certain level."

Just from absorbing one mouthful, there was such an effect; he dared not imagine how strong he would be after fully absorbing it.

"Imperial Bloodline..."

Chen Ran pondered to himself.

He finally understood why he had felt a change in the aura on Jiang Mengli earlier.

For him, who was cultivating the Blood Transformation Great Art, the current Jiang Mengli possessed an incomparably rich blood and Qi; she was simply a walking human medicine.

If he could drain all the blood from her body, his cultivation would surely experience a massive leap.

However, this thought only flashed through Chen Ran's mind before he extinguished it.

The Noble Heart-Calming Mantra operated automatically, suppressing the evil thoughts in his heart.

Chen Ran opened his eyes again, his gaze falling calmly on Jiang Mengli.

Looking at her appearance, as if facing a formidable enemy and filled with shame and indignation, Chen Ran said in a flat tone:

"You should understand what I mean regarding the changes in you."

Chen Ran was naturally hinting at the changes in her blood.

Jiang Mengli was slightly startled upon hearing this.

"That earthquake..." Jiang Mengli took a deep breath, trying to calm her chaotic emotions, and said coldly,

"It was triggered when I entered the core area of the secret treasury."

"The Formation laid down by the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty back then is connected to the earth veins of this Imperial City. When I used my Imperial Bloodline to activate the Legacy, it inevitably touched the earth veins, which is why it triggered the earthquake."

Chen Ran nodded slightly; this explanation was reasonable, but the change in the Qi pulse of the blood was not that simple.

Chen Ran suddenly thought of information he had once seen in ancient books.

"It is rumored that the Imperial Dynasty occupies the Dragon Veins and is protected by Dragon Qi day and night, which can not only accelerate cultivation but even improve Aptitude."

"That Qi pulse... could it be Dragon Qi?"

Chen Ran was also shocked by the thought in his mind. If the situation were true, it would mean that the Dragon Veins of the Great Wei Imperial Dynasty had decayed significantly, to the point where even Dragon Qi could be stolen by outsiders.

Jiang Mengli shook her head, her eyes complex:

"I don't know exactly what happened either, I only know that after the earthquake that day, my speed in Cultivating far exceeded that of ordinary people."

Speaking of this, Jiang Mengli paused, a trace of hope appearing in her tone:

"Chen Ran, your strength is unfathomable. If you are willing to join the Holy Sect and help me..."

She offered an olive branch once again.

However, Chen Ran's answer still held no hesitation.

"Not interested."

"However, you are entwined with Dragon Qi; perhaps it has already proven the future in the dark."

"Then why don't you follow the trend? When the time comes, follow me to attack the Imperial City and behead that dog emperor!" Jiang Mengli was choked with anger, watching that back that showed no reluctance, and couldn't help but shout.

Chen Ran's footsteps paused slightly.

He did not look back, only leaving behind a light sentence that echoed in the empty stone cave.

"If that day truly comes, I will make a move."

This counted as a promise, and also a high-stakes gamble.

It implied that once that day truly arrived, he had already made his choice between the imperial court and the rebels.

As his voice fell, Chen Ran's entire figure became blurry and quietly disappeared from sight.

Jiang Mengli stood stunned in place, watching the back of Chen Ran disappearing at the end of the passage, speechless for a long time.

...

After leaving that underground space, Chen Ran did not linger in the Outer City and headed straight back to the capital.

It was already noon, and the sunlight shone through the clouds, gilding this ancient and vast city with a faint golden radiance.

Carriages and pedestrians at the city gate were continuous, and the noisy atmosphere of the marketplace rushed towards him, forming a sharp contrast with the cold atmosphere of the stone cave.

Chen Ran blended into the crowd entering the city, restraining all his aura.

He saw the gate of the vast city at the end of his vision.

Several squads of the City Defense Army were inspecting the commoners entering the city.

Because that leader of the Earth Ranking had so easily broken through the city gate and left a few days ago, the connection between the Outer City and the Inner City was now significantly stricter.

...

"Which merchant caravan are you from, and what are you doing in the capital?"

A City Defense Army captain with a walrus mustache and a square face blocked the carriage about to enter, his tone pausing slightly.

The curtain on the carriage was lowered, revealing an old face with white hair and full of wrinkles.

"My lord, we came from Luzhou, specializing in trading fruits and vegetables between the two places."

The old man smiled apologetically and took a bulging cloth bag from his bosom and handed it over.

"My lord, this is a specialty fruit from our Luzhou. It's very sweet; please take it back and have a taste."

"Oh?" The City Defense Army captain took the cloth bag, weighed it in his hand, and felt its weight.

A smile appeared on his face.

"Alright, I'll go taste it when the time comes."

"Little Li, let them pass."

Hearing this, the surrounding City Defense Army soldiers cleared a path and let the carriage pass.

The people around were not surprised to see this; such things were completely normal in the capital.

Some even showed envious looks, watching the caravan disappear at the city gate.

Just then, a crisp voice came from the crowd.

"Senior Brother, why does the capital still have such evil habits?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the people around turned their heads in shock.

Focusing their gaze, a sturdy, bright-haired date-red horse stood out like a crane among chickens in the midst of the commoners.

Sitting on the horse was a white-haired man wearing brocade clothes and jade ornaments at his waist, and sitting on the white-haired man's shoulder was a petite figure.

Looking closely, it was actually a young girl who had not yet reached five feet in height, with a green steel long sword on her back that was almost level with her shoulders.

"Junior Sister, you have rarely come out of the capital. I was the same when I first came; you'll get used to it after coming more often."

The young man rode his horse forward, and the surrounding crowd did not dare to block him, automatically scattering to clear a path.

The leading City Defense Army soldier just wanted to block them, but saw the white-haired man raise his wrist, and a stream of light flew to the side of the leader.

The opposite side only glanced at it, and his expression changed drastically, ordering his subordinates beside him:

"Quickly open the city gate and let the lord pass."