69: Chapter 69: The Great Perfection of Karmic Fire!

Several days passed in the blink of an eye.

The disturbance in the Yi Ward was quickly suppressed by the daily cold and deathly silence of the Celestial Prison.

After Centurion Zhao Wuji left that day, he never returned.

It seemed that those in charge had developed some disagreement on how to deal with Li Luo.

This, in turn, allowed Li Luo to temporarily settle down; he simply sat cross-legged in the corner every day like a dead piece of wood.

Chen Ran was happy to be idle, performing his duties, patrolling, and delivering meals in an orderly manner every day.

Aside from secretly observing the changes in Li Luo's vital signs, he devoted all his energy to Cultivate.

Cell Block D, jailer's lounge.

Chen Ran sat cross-legged on the cold communal bed, eyes slightly closed.

【Guard the Celestial Prison for one day, reward: one year of internal energy.】

He focused his mind.

As golden light flickered in his Sea of Consciousness, a stream of pure internal energy emerged from thin air, rapidly coursing through his Meridians.

Over the past few days, he had unreservedly poured all the newly settled internal energy into the Red Lotus Karmic Fire Scripture.

This top-tier Cultivation Technique, which he had plucked from the Red Lotus Witch, was truly overbearing, especially since he had previously obtained five years of cultivation experience from Jiang Mengli.

Chen Ran felt that this Cultivation Technique had great potential, and he was just one step away from a Breakthrough.

With the continuous injection of internal energy, the crimson True Qi within Chen Ran's body became increasingly dense.

Today was the time for a qualitative change.

Chen Ran took a deep breath, guiding the surging internal energy within his body to launch an assault on the final barrier of the Red Lotus Karmic Fire Scripture.

Boom!

It felt as if a dormant volcano had suddenly erupted within his body.

The crimson True Qi, which had originally been scattered throughout his Meridians, began to frantically converge towards his Dantian.

They were constantly compressed, reorganized, and purified.

Just like a ball of charcoal fire being repeatedly forged by a hammer, the Impurities were removed, and what remained was extreme purity.

Chen Ran felt his body temperature rise sharply, and his skin took on an eerie dark red hue. However, he did not feel pain; instead, he felt a sense of refreshing clarity.

Crack—

It felt as if something had shattered.

Inside his Dantian, that violently churning crimson True Qi suddenly collapsed inward, and then burst forth abruptly.

A phantom Red Lotus slowly took shape in the center of his Dantian, rotating gradually.

Red Lotus Karmic Fire Scripture, Major Achievement!

Chen Ran slowly opened his eyes.

In the pitch-black cell, it seemed as if two dark red flames flashed and vanished.

He raised his right hand and focused his mind.

With a soft puff.

A coin-sized dark red flame sprouted from his fingertip.

Without the usual violent, scorching Aura that seemed ready to incinerate everything, this flame was eerily quiet, not even causing the slightest distortion in the surrounding air.

But Chen Ran knew very well the power of this thing.

He flicked his finger, and the flame landed lightly on the refined steel shackles not far away.

There was no towering blaze, nor the sound of metal clashing.

The refined steel shackles, which were strong enough to lock up a seventh-rank Martial Artist, melted silently into a puddle of molten iron the moment they touched the flame, like ice encountering boiling water, without even a wisp of smoke rising.

"Controlling it at will, returning to simplicity."

Chen Ran retracted his finger with satisfaction, and the Red Lotus in his Dantian rotated slowly, sucking back all the scattered fire energy.

He stood up and stretched his muscles and bones, a series of faint popping sounds emanating from within his body.

Now, his control over True Qi had reached a whole new level.

If he were to face that Demon Suppression Division commander again, even if the opponent were in their prime, he would no longer fear them, relying solely on this Major Achievement Red Lotus Karmic Fire.

"I am a jailer of the Celestial Prison, yet I practice the Red Lotus Demonic Cult's supreme sect-guarding Cultivation Technique, and my mastery is even deeper than their Saintess..."

Chen Ran muttered to himself in his heart.

This could also be considered a strange kind of black humor.

After straightening his clothes, Chen Ran picked up the food bucket and headed to the Yi Ward as usual.

In the dark corridor, only the sound of his own footsteps could be heard.

Arriving in front of Li Luo's cell, Chen Ran skillfully opened the iron gate at the bottom and pushed in a bowl of rancid prison food and a dish of pickles.

"Eat." Chen Ran's tone was flat, without the slightest ripple.

He turned to leave.

"Kid."

A hoarse voice, like sandpaper rubbing, suddenly sounded in the quiet cell.

Chen Ran's footsteps paused.

It had been several days; this was the first time Li Luo had spoken voluntarily.

Chen Ran did not turn around; he just stood where he was, waiting for what came next.

"For the past few days, you have been the one responsible for delivering my meals." Li Luo sat cross-legged in the shadows, his turbid eyes staring fixedly at Chen Ran's back. "You little jailer, you are quite composed. When others see me in this state, they are either trembling with fear or trying every possible way to coax words out of me to claim a reward. Yet you don't even spare me a second glance."

Chen Ran turned around and looked at Li Luo through the refined steel bars.

"I am a jailer, and you are a prisoner. My task is to ensure you don't starve to death, nothing more." Chen Ran's voice still had no inflection.

He saw through Li Luo's trick at a glance.

This old monster had been locked up for several days, with no one from above coming to interrogate and no one from below asking questions. This kind of unknown cold treatment had instead made him unable to remain composed.

Speaking up now was nothing more than wanting to probe for news from the outside through him, the "meal deliverer," and incidentally test his background.

"Hehe... a jailer?"

Li Luo gave two dry laughs, pulling on the iron chains that pierced his shoulder blades, causing a clanking sound.

"Kid, whose person are you exactly? The Demon Suppression Division? Or those old eunuch dogs in the imperial palace?"

Chen Ran looked at Li Luo; he didn't take the bait at all.

"Eat it or don't."

Chen Ran dropped these four words, turned around without hesitation, and left, his footsteps gradually fading away in the corridor.

It wasn't that he was afraid, but he felt that talking nonsense with Li Luo now was meaningless.

This old monster was a dying man.

Since the imperial court had captured him, it was impossible for them to let him leave alive.

The behemoth hidden behind the Glazed Golden Body Art would also absolutely not allow him to leak secrets.

To deal with such an old fox, one must have more patience than him.

"I wonder if there will be any differences since we both practice the Glazed Golden Body Art." Chen Ran calculated in his heart.

Once he slowly grinded up the participation level, all the secrets, Cultivation Technique, and even those unspeakable Karma of this old monster would automatically fall into his hands.

...

Chen Ran walked out of the Celestial Prison, the sky already dark.

The Major Achievement Red Lotus Karmic Fire flowed slowly within his body, dispelling the chill of late autumn.

He pushed open the gate of the residence and walked inside into a room.

The room was not lit, plunged in darkness.

But the moment he entered, Chen Ran's gaze froze instantly.

On the bed not far away, a stunningly beautiful woman was closing her eyes and concentrating, seemingly circulating her Cultivation Technique. The Demon-Suppressing Array patterns on her body, which had originally been flickering with golden light, already had subtle cracks appearing at the edges.

Chen Ran raised an eyebrow.

In just a few days, the array patterns, having lost their subsequent supply of power, were gradually unable to hold on.

Jiang Mengli would soon be able to break through that Seal.