86: Chapter 86 Spring comes and autumn goes, swordsmanship perfected!

In the courtyard, the winter sunlight pierced through the withered tree canopy, casting mottled shadows on the blue brick ground.

However, this chill did not affect Chen Ran inside the house.

He sat cross-legged on the bed.

On the low table in front of him sat an exquisite sandalwood box.

The lid was open.

Seven or eight high-quality wild ginseng roots were neatly arranged; the fine root hairs were distinct, and the skin glowed with a purplish-red, oily luster.

Beside them were four medicine bottles carved from mutton-fat jade.

Chen Ran picked up one of the jade bottles and pulled out the wooden stopper.

A rich, almost tangible medicinal fragrance rushed into his nostrils; just by taking a single breath, a wave of warmth surged within his chest.

"High Grade Blood Nourishing Pill."

Chen Ran put the stopper back on, his fingertips caressing the smooth, warm jade bottle.

A Medicinal Pill of this quality cost at least a hundred taels of silver on the market, and even then, it was often unavailable.

There were four full bottles here, totaling at least forty pills.

Coupled with those few wild ginseng roots over fifty years old.

The value of this box, by a rough estimate, definitely exceeded three thousand taels.

Three thousand taels of silver was enough to buy three large mansions with courtyards in the inner city of the capital.

Chen Ran closed the wooden box and pushed it to the side.

He had helped Su Qinghe resolve the trouble with Wenxin Hall, and she immediately sent over the martial arts resources he needed most.

"As expected, living off a woman is still the fastest way."

Chen Ran chuckled.

This Young Miss of the Su Family not only had remarkable methods but also astonishing financial power; she was a genuine "rich woman."

Compared to stripping the wool off those heinous criminals layer by layer in the prison, this kind of collaborative reward was clearly much more generous.

Gathering his thoughts, Chen Ran closed his eyes.

Deep within his Sea of Consciousness.

An ancient, heavy book floated quietly, emitting a faint, eerie light.

"heavenly book of prison suppression."

With a thought from Chen Ran, a semi-transparent panel unfolded before his eyes.

[You have guarded the prison for several days, Reward: 5 years of Cultivation.]

The text glided by like flowing water, followed by his personal information.

[Host: Chen Ran]

[Accumulated Cultivation: 150 years]

[Available Cultivation: 5 years]

[Cultivation Technique: Blood Transformation Great Art (Minor Achievement), Mad Tiger Saber Technique (Major Achievement), Red Lotus Karmic Fire Scripture (Major Achievement), Tortoise Breathing Art (Perfection)...]

Rustle.

As the five years of Cultivation were extracted, a burst of scorching Qi exploded in his Dantian.

One hundred and fifty years of profound Cultivation poured out like a bursting river, surging through his Meridians into his limbs and bones.

Wherever the heat flowed, his muscles and bones emitted faint popping sounds like roasting beans.

A faint crimson appeared on the surface of his skin, and dense white steam overflowed from his pores.

Chen Ran quietly experienced the remodeling deep within his Physical Body.

Five days had passed since he last took action in the alley.

His strength had risen by another notch.

A few quarters of an hour later.

The swelling sensation in his muscles slowly subsided, and the agitated blood and Qi returned to his Dantian.

His breath became restrained, retracting and expanding at will.

"One hundred and fifty years of Cultivation; the distance to breaking through to the Late Stage of the Fifth Rank is not so far anymore."

Chen Ran exhaled a breath of turbid air and opened his eyes.

During this period, the capital had been in turmoil, with a large number of Martial Forest figures carrying swords and sabers pouring in.

Only this ever-increasing strength could allow him to remain calm on the eve of this storm.

"Within the same Realm, I should have few rivals."

Chen Ran reviewed his current means of dealing with enemies.

[Red Lotus Karmic Fire Scripture]. [Blood Transformation Great Art].

These two Demonic Path Cultivation Techniques were definitely his most destructive trump cards at the moment.

But that was also where the problem lay.

Once unleashed, the visual impact of the sea of blood and the Red Lotus Karmic Fire filling the sky was simply too strong.

He would not even need anyone to identify him; if he dared to use them on the street, he would immediately be treated as a living Devil Head and attacked by everyone.

In a place like the capital, where hidden Dragons and crouching tigers abounded, exposing his identity as a Demonic Path cultivator was equivalent to seeking death.

"I must have a conventional martial art that I can show off to cover my tracks."

Chen Ran's gaze swept over the panel and finally landed on [Mad Tiger Saber Technique] ↑.

This martial art, which dropped from the Great Chief of Black Wind Fortress, could not be considered a peerless Secret Manual.

It had only one characteristic: grand and open, fierce and swift.

Even an ordinary person with mediocre Aptitude could reach the Major Achievement Realm if they practiced hard for twenty or thirty years.

It only required five years of Cultivation to deduce and advance it.

What Chen Ran valued was precisely its ordinariness.

It was enough to unleash the power of the weapon in his hand.

"heavenly book of prison suppression, add points."

The next moment.

The heavenly book of prison suppression in his Sea of Consciousness rustled as it flipped.

The sound of pages rubbing against each other echoed continuously in his ears.

[Do you wish to spend five years of Cultivation to upgrade the Cultivation Technique Mad Tiger Saber Technique?]

Chen Ran did not hesitate at all.

"Yes."

Several golden streams of light tore through the Void Realm and sank directly into Chen Ran's brow.

Boom!

A massive torrent of memories poured in.

His vision twisted, and the surrounding scene collapsed with a bang.

Chen Ran found himself in a vast snowy plain.

The cold wind was like a blade, whipping up snow across the sky.

He held a rusty iron saber in his hand, his legs submerged in knee-deep snow, and he was swinging it tirelessly.

One slash. Two slashes. Ten slashes. A hundred slashes.

Spring departed and autumn arrived; winter and summer alternated.

The scenes changed constantly.

Under the scorching sun, sweat soaked his coarse linen clothes and dripped from the saber handle onto the hot sandy ground.

In the pouring rain, the rain washed over his hands covered in blood blisters, and the saber blade cleaved through the curtain of rain, emitting a shrill whistle.

Five years passed in a flash.

The final scene froze.

Chen Ran stood on the edge of a cliff, facing the howling mountain wind.

He gripped the saber handle tightly with both hands and raised it high.

The muscles in his arms bulged like coiling Dragons, and the veins beneath his skin throbbed.

He slashed down!

The air was forcibly split open by this slash, and the airflow rolled violently to both sides.

Roar!

A low, suppressed roar exploded in his ears.

Behind him, the violent airflow twisted and intertwined, condensing into the phantom of a fierce tiger.

The tiger crouched on the ground, its pair of dark yellow vertical pupils staring fixedly ahead, exuding the predator's Aura that made one tremble.

Crack.

The space in front of him appeared with countless cracks like a mirror, and finally shattered into spots of light across the sky.

...On the bed, Chen Ran opened his eyes abruptly.

An extremely powerful Aura erupted from his body.

The empty teacup on the table was struck by the invisible Saber Qi and split in two with a "pop."

The burning candle flame was extinguished directly by the force of the wind generated out of thin air.

The room fell into darkness.

Chen Ran did not bother with the extinguished candle; instead, he slowly reached out and picked up the Black Meteorite Long Saber placed beside him.

As the saber handle met his palm and his five fingers closed, an illusion of a blood connection spread from the handle throughout his entire body.

This saber was no longer a cold, dead object, but an extension of his arm.

"Unity of Saber and Body."

Chen Ran slowly exhaled, suppressing the surging Battle Intent within his body.

Five years of day and night hard practice were compressed by the heavenly book of prison suppression into just a few breaths.

The massive memories were rapidly transforming into his body's instincts.

This was the protective mechanism of the heavenly book of prison suppression.

It directly stripped away that day-after-day monotony and pain, retaining only the purest martial arts insights.

Otherwise, if one's spirit were truly made to experience hundreds or thousands of years of closed-door practice, no matter how tenacious the will, one would likely go mad.

[You have gained insights during your Cultivation, Cultivation Technique: Mad Tiger Saber Technique (Major Achievement) → Mad Tiger Saber Technique (Perfection)]

Just as Chen Ran was about to close the panel, his peripheral vision swept over the corner, and his movements stopped abruptly.

The identity information column belonging to "Jiang Mengli" had undergone an abnormal change at some unknown time.

The originally clear text now seemed to be shrouded in a layer of gray mist, beginning to become blurry and flickering.

[Name: Jiang Mengli]

[Realm: Fifth Rank Meridian Opening Realm]

[Status: Escaped (Hint: If you can arrest her and bring her back to justice again, the participation level will be greatly increased)]

[Life: Remnant of the previous dynasty, the last surviving imperial Bloodline, attempting to overthrow the Great Wei Imperial Dynasty...]

Chen Ran narrowed his eyes, looking at the newly appeared hint text.

After staring for a long while, he shook his head with some amusement.

"Arrest her personally, greatly increased?"

"As long as it is recorded in the heavenly book of prison suppression, even if she escapes the prison, the Karma line still exists."

Chen Ran rubbed his chin.

This mechanism clearly encouraged him to catch the fugitive and 'strip the wool' again.

Chen Ran closed his eyes, calming his mind to sense the [Blood Seed] lurking within his body.

It was very faint.

He could only barely perceive a general direction, pointing to the extreme south.

The distance was extremely far, at least thousands of miles away.

"She ran fast."

Chen Ran opened his eyes and retracted his perception.

...Thousands of miles away. In the south, at a hidden mountain on the border of Shenghai Prefecture. Red Lotus Demonic Cult, underground grotto.

The air was filled with a rich scent of sandalwood, yet it still could not cover the damp smell bred by never seeing the sun for years.

Water droplets seeping from the rock walls dripped onto the bluestone slabs.

Dim candlelight flickered on both sides of the stone pillars.

A dozen or so figures wearing wide red robes with black lotus patterns embroidered on their chests stood on both sides of the great hall like ghosts.

Shadows obscured their faces, but those gazes were like burning branding irons, fanatically converging on the stone seat at the end of the grotto.

In front of the stone seat, Pei Jiu bowed slightly, his demeanor respectful to the extreme.

"Saintess... Saintess?"

He called out in a low voice three times in a row.

The beautiful woman sitting on the stone seat finally moved her eyes, recovering from some kind of daze.

Jiang Mengli had changed into a complex dark red long dress today, the skirt hem spread on the ground like a blooming blood lotus.

Her originally pale complexion had regained its color, and the majesty between her brows became increasingly heavy.

"What is it?"

Jiang Mengli's voice was cold, without the slightest emotional fluctuation.

Pei Jiu looked up and reported in a low voice: "Saintess, the Elders and Altar Masters have been waiting for a long time."

"For the return ceremony in a while, the brothers in the cult have been looking forward to it for a long time. As long as you give the order, our hidden agents in Shenghai can all be activated..."

"Hmm."

Jiang Mengli responded indifferently, but her gaze crossed the great hall and looked at a certain place in the Void Realm.

She did not get up immediately, but slowly raised her right hand and pressed it against her left chest.

Beneath the silk fabric, her heart was beating faster.

It was not because of nervousness, but a physiological, instinctive palpitation.

Just a moment ago, she felt a tingling sensation from a certain Acupoint deep in her chest.

For a master at the Fifth Rank Meridian Opening Realm, the control over one's Physical Body had long reached a meticulous level.

It was impossible for it to be an illusion.

"Is it him..."

In Jiang Mengli's mind, that young man with a cold expression appeared uncontrollably.

Separated by thousands of miles, he could still perceive her existence.

This feeling of having her life grasped by someone from afar made Jiang Mengli subconsciously clench her fingers, whispering in her heart.

"Truly a great Demonic Path method."

"Saintess?" Pei Jiu sensed that the atmosphere was wrong and spoke cautiously.

Jiang Mengli let go of her hand and returned to her indifferent expression.

"Let's go; it is time to let the world see the attitude of the Red Lotus Demonic Cult."