51: Chapter 51 Breakthrough to the Fifth Rank, Return to the Capital!

Chen Ran sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.

The True Qi he had accumulated for over a hundred years was like an angry Dragon that had been dormant for a long time, slowly circulating through his Meridians.

The jump from the Sixth Grade to the Fifth Grade was a massive watershed.

In the Sixth Grade Inner Breath Realm, True Qi circulates within the body, endless and ceaseless, strengthening the Physical Body.

However, the Fifth Grade requires breaking the shackles of the Physical Body, allowing True Qi to permeate out of the body, condensing like silk, and transforming into tangible means of attack.

Chen Ran did not rely on any external objects.

He simply operated the Red Lotus Karmic Fire Scripture quietly, compressing and refining the terrifyingly vast True Qi within his body, bit by bit.

The foundation of several centuries of cultivation was truly too profound.

It was so profound that he didn't need to deliberately strike at the Bottleneck at all; that invisible barrier, before the vast, ocean-like True Qi, was just like a thin layer of window paper.

The True Qi surged and roared within his Meridians, emitting bursts of low, rumbling sounds, like muffled thunder rolling inside his body.

A faint red light vaguely surfaced on Chen Ran's skin.

As the True Qi was continuously compressed, the Meridians in his body were also widened and reinforced, becoming tougher and capable of withstanding even more violent power impacts.

His bones emitted a teeth-gritting "crack, crack" sound, as if undergoing some kind of transformative metamorphosis, and every inch of his flesh and blood was greedily absorbing the nourishment of the True Qi.

Chen Ran's breathing became long and deep, and every inhalation and exhalation seemed to resonate with the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

The air inside the cave became viscous, as if being squeezed by some invisible force, and even the light became slightly distorted.

Time passed minute by minute.

The True Qi within Chen Ran had been compressed to the extreme, like a star ready to explode at any moment.

"Break."

Chen Ran shouted lowly in his heart.

"Boom!"

It was as if a thunderclap exploded inside his body.

The originally calm True Qi instantly boiled, like a dam-bursting flood, breaking through that shackle with an unstoppable force.

An extremely terrifying aura erupted from Chen Ran.

A violent wind blew up out of thin air inside the cave.

Chen Ran's gray cloth clothes rustled, moving without wind.

The violent True Qi, with him as the center, turned into tangible ripples and swept wildly in all directions.

"Crack! Crack!"

On the hard rock wall, this wave of energy actually carved out cracks so deep one could see the bone.

Gravel fell with a rustle, and the accumulated snow on the ground was instantly evaporated, revealing the scorched black frozen soil underneath.

The commotion was massive.

Even the trees outside the cave were shaken violently, snow falling down rustlingly, as if they had experienced a small earthquake.

The birds and beasts within a radius of a hundred zhang all felt this terrifying pressure and prostrated themselves on the ground, shivering, not daring to even take a deep breath.

Chen Ran slowly opened his eyes.

In the pitch-black cave, it was as if two blindingly cold bolts of lightning had lit up, mesmerizing and soul-stirring.

He raised his right hand, his thoughts shifting.

A wisp of dark red True Qi permeated from his fingertips, coiling around them like a spirit snake, emitting a heart-palpitating heat and aura of destruction.

Fifth Grade Meridian Opening Realm.

True Qi released externally, condensed like silk.

He clenched his fist, feeling the surging power within his body that felt capable of shattering a mountain with a single punch.

Whether it was strength, speed, or perception, they had all increased by several times more than when he was in the Sixth Grade.

More importantly, the external release of True Qi meant that he could injure people from a distance, making his attack methods more unpredictable and increasing his lethality exponentially.

"Is this the Fifth Grade?"

A satisfied curve hooked at the corner of Chen Ran's mouth.

In this world where demons and monsters run rampant, he finally had some capital for self-preservation.

He stood up, brushed the dust off his body, and walked toward the outside of the cave.

Just as he reached the cave entrance, Chen Ran stopped his steps.

Beside the corpse of the brown bear he had casually killed, a huge Essence Spirit ape had appeared at some point.

This ape was covered in black hair, its arms reaching past its knees, and it was currently gorging itself on the bear carcass, tearing at the flesh and blood.

Hearing footsteps, the ape turned its head abruptly.

Its mouth was full of blood; it let out a shrill roar at Chen Ran, revealing a mouthful of interlocking fangs, with cruel and bloodthirsty light flickering in its eyes.

This Essence Spirit ape's strength was not weak; the aura it emitted was even more terrifying than that brown bear spirit, clearly a hegemon in this mountain forest.

If it were the Chen Ran before the Breakthrough, he might have needed some effort to deal with it.

But now...

Chen Ran looked at it expressionlessly.

He slowly raised his right hand, and from a distance of several zhang, pushed forward lightly and casually.

[Cloud-Turning Palm]!

"Bang!"

A muffled air explosion sounded in the air.

An invisible palm force whistled out, instantly crossing the distance of several zhang, and slammed heavily into the Essence Spirit ape's chest.

The ape didn't even have time to scream; its entire chest cavity collapsed instantly, and the sound of shattering bones was clearly audible.

Its massive body flew backward like a broken sack, slamming heavily into a thick pine tree, snapping the pine tree in half, then slid down, and never moved again.

The same martial art, yet the effect displayed was far more than several times greater than before.

Chen Ran withdrew his hand, no longer deliberately suppressing the aura on his body.

The pressure of a Fifth Grade Martial Artist was released without reservation, sweeping around like a tangible storm.

The originally quiet surroundings suddenly erupted with a rustling sound.

Those Yao Beasts hiding in the shadows, attracted by the smell of blood and preparing to wait for an opportunity, now seemed to feel the presence of something extremely terrifying; it was a trembling originating from the depths of their Bloodline.

In the grass and on the treetops, a dozen beast shadows fled in panic in all directions.

Chen Ran watched those fleeing backs and gave a light scoff.

"Consider yourselves lucky to have run fast."

He tightened his clothes and walked down the mountain, stepping on the accumulated snow.

The wind and snow in the mountain forest had ceased, and sunlight spilled through the clouds, gilding this silver-clad world with a faint golden glow.

The wind and snow had gradually stopped.

Chen Ran walked along the mountain road for a while, and his brows suddenly furrowed slightly.

On the official road ahead, over a dozen corpses lay scattered haphazardly.

Several carriages were overturned on the side of the road, their compartments violently smashed, and wood chips scattered everywhere.

Fresh blood stained a large area of the snow, and the air was filled with a thick, nauseating smell of blood.

Chen Ran stepped forward and carefully examined the corpses on the ground.

Most of these people were killed with a single blow, their wounds smooth and neat, clearly having died at the hands of a martial arts expert.

Some had their throats slit by a sword, others had their heart Meridians shattered by heavy palms, and their states of death were extremely miserable.

He crouched down and rummaged for a moment on the corpse of one who appeared to be the leader.

A blood-stained wooden token was unearthed.

The front of the token was engraved with the character "Wen," and the back featured a lifelike plum blossom.

Chen Ran raised an eyebrow.

The style of this token was extremely similar to the "Wenxin Pavilion" that Su Qinghe had mentioned earlier.

"It seems this is not an ordinary robbery."

Chen Ran threw the token back beside the corpse and stood up.

Su Qinghe had just said that Wenxin Pavilion was gathering people, and here a caravan suspected to be from Wenxin Pavilion had been intercepted and killed.

This was a premeditated attack.

Moreover, the attackers were extremely strong, their actions clean and swift, leaving no survivors.

They didn't even loot the valuables in the caravan; they were clearly aiming to kill.

He patted the snow water off his hands, preparing to continue his journey.

Just at this moment, Chen Ran's ears twitched slightly.

He turned his head to look at the dense forest not far away.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

A few extremely faint sounds of breaking through the air came from the forest.

Chen Ran narrowed his eyes, his powerful eyesight allowing him to clearly capture the afterimages flying between the treetops.

A total of five people.

Their movement techniques were extremely advanced, and their auras were long and profound.

Their styles were different, and their clothes were also different.

There was an old man carrying a wine gourd, a handsome Young Master riding the wind, and a man as sturdy as an iron tower...

These people ignored the miserable scene on the official road and instead sped toward the same direction with a clear goal.

That direction was the Capital.

Chen Ran watched those people disappear at the end of his line of sight and rubbed his chin.

How come experts, who are rarely seen, are popping up like cabbages today?

First the mysterious experts who intercepted the Wenxin Pavilion caravan, and now this group of mysterious Martial Forest people.

He looked up toward the direction of the Capital.

Under the gray sky, the outline of that massive city was looming, like a giant beast dormant in the wind and snow, opening its bloody maw, waiting for the arrival of its prey.

The Capital is probably going to be in big trouble.

Chen Ran gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist and quickened his pace.

But he did not know that at the top of the dense forest, a pale-faced man was staring fixedly with cold eyes at the figure moving below.

The pale man licked his lips.

"If I swallow him, my injuries should be able to recover..."