9: Born in troubled times, life is worthless

Chen Heguang turned his head completely, looking at Jiang Lan as if he were looking at an idiot.

"I'll go, trust me." Jiang Lan said, "In three hours, I'll bring back the head of that living corpse."

"No..." Chen Heguang was utterly bewildered, "When the sky falls, there'll be someone taller to hold it up. Why are you trying to show off?"

Jiang Lan tightened his grip on the saber.

"I've been holding it in for too long; it's got to be let out, hasn't it?"

"No, you stay in the Demon Suppression Division. I'll go find the Centurion..."

Looking into Jiang Lan's eyes, Chen Heguang's voice grew weaker and weaker.

After he finished speaking, Jiang Lan didn't let go either, and the two of them just stared at each other.

A full half a minute passed.

Chen Heguang finally deflated.

"You got me. Go if you want, but be quick about it."

Jiang Lan grinned.

"I knew Uncle Chen loved me the most."

"Get out of here. I don't know what kind of crazy idea you've gotten into your head."

Jiang Lan didn't reply, just smiled, and with a gust of wind at his feet, he walked out of Wuwei Hall.

He was going to Xiaobei Village, and of course, he wasn't being crazy.

According to Lu Yu, the living corpse's strength should be at the Peak of Skin Refinement Ninth Realm.

It was only one step away from breaking through to Bone Refinement.

And he was already at Bone Refinement Second Realm.

In martial arts Realm, a difference of one Realm was like heaven and earth.

Even if one could defeat an opponent beyond their Realm, one or two minor Realms was the absolute limit.

Perhaps Jiang Lan hadn't seen much, but he couldn't recall anyone who could cross a major Realm and still win.

Jiang Lan left the Demon Suppression Division gate and walked on the street, pondering.

He wondered how much Lifespan killing a Peak Skin Refinement living corpse would give him.

Hopefully, it could help him leap into the Qi Gathering Realm.

Then he'd kill that tiger demon... "Handsome young man, come have some fun ~"

A familiar voice rang out.

Jiang Lan instinctively looked up and saw a flamboyantly dressed girl on the balcony waving at him.

Not far behind the girl, there was also a man watching the spectacle, grinning at the crowd on the street.

It was none other than one of his Civilian Servant, Yu Zhi.

Jiang Lan looked up and met his gaze.

Yu Zhi was startled and immediately scrambled down the stairs.

But by the time he got downstairs, Jiang Lan was already gone.

"Boss! I really came to listen to a storyteller! Believe me!"

...An hour later.

Xiaobei Village.

"Good little white, you've really helped me a lot, grandpa. Quick, bring it up."

Under the withered tree, an old man in sackcloth chuckled, revealing a few scattered yellow teeth, which, combined with his pockmarked cheeks, looked quite eerie.

His appearance was enough to stop children from crying at night.

In front of him was a large platform built with scattered bricks.

Inside the platform, blood boiled, nearly two feet deep.

But for some unknown reason, the blood did not flow out through the cracks in the bricks; instead, it gathered eerily, shimmering when the wind blew.

A humanoid monster with black and white mottled fur, dragged two eviscerated corpses, one in each hand, and threw them into the brick platform.

For a moment, the blood showed a slight ripple, then quickly returned to calm.

"Good little white, good little white..."

The ugly old man's smile grew more frantic, and he scrambled to the blood pool, kneeling on both knees.

"Thump thump thump thump!"

He kowtowed like pounding garlic.

Only when his forehead was covered in blood did he look up again.

"Green Lantern Goddess! These are all offerings to you. Please have mercy and accept these living sacrifices!"

The ugly old man clasped his hands together, his face full of devotion.

The blood pool remained calm.

Seeing this, the old man continued to plead bitterly.

"Goddess! Have mercy! Have mercy, Goddess!"

A gust of wind blew, and the blood pool rippled slightly.

The ugly old man's eyes turned red, "I'm still not sincere enough!"

He scanned his surroundings, his gaze falling on the black and white mottled living corpse.

With a sinister laugh, the old man suddenly stood up.

"Good little white, when I, Daoist Master, achieve Immortal Ascension, I'll sculpt a golden statue for you!"

He lunged at the living corpse, his hands plunging directly into its chest.

"Rip!"

The sound of paper being torn rang out, and the living corpse was actually torn in half alive.

A living corpse was originally formed from a corpse; its internal organs were long gone, leaving only an outer layer of skin.

But to tear a living corpse apart so easily, it would be impossible without the strength of the Bone Forging Realm.

The ugly old man's expression grew even more frantic as he grabbed the living corpse and threw it into the blood pool.

He knelt down and continued to kowtow madly.

"May the Goddess show compassion! May the Goddess show compassion!"

The blood pool finally stirred.

The two-foot-deep blood pool suddenly began to bubble and gurgle.

A look of ecstasy appeared on the ugly old man's face.

"Green Lantern shines eternally! Relieving suffering and crossing calamities!"

"Goddess is merciful! When this humble Daoist achieves Immortal Ascension and becomes an ancestor, I will surely build a Karma golden statue for you!"

The blood pool boiled and churned, and in the blink of an eye, the originally two-foot-deep blood pool was reduced to one and a half feet.

A moment later, all the blood on the stone platform disappeared, leaving only a pile of bloodless corpses.

In the middle of the corpses, however, a space was eerily empty.

There, a blood-red pill lay quietly.

Seeing this, the old man wept with joy.

"The fortune of Immortal Ascension! The fortune of Immortal Ascension! Goddess is merciful!"

He scrambled into the stone platform, stepped over the corpses, and tightly clutched the crimson pill, trembling all over.

"Haha..." The old man's shoulders shook, "I, Daoist Master, am going to succeed!"

"Swoosh—"

Behind the ugly old man, a cold light flashed.

The next moment, the old man felt his vision spin.

All directions entered his sight.

Am I, Daoist Master... successful?

But that blood pill, I haven't eaten it yet... At this point, the old man's thoughts completely vanished.

[Killed an evil cultivator of Bone Refinement First Realm, gained a hundred years of Lifespan.]

[Remaining Lifespan: One hundred and six years.]

The long saber was wiped a few times on the headless old man's sackcloth clothes before being reinserted into its sheath.

Squatting down, he pried open the old man's tightly clenched right hand, and a blood-red pill came into Jiang Lan's view.

He picked up the pill and examined it with a frown for a while.

The Green Lantern Sect people sacrificed living beings for this thing?

He had seen it clearly from the shadows just now.

The moment the crimson pill appeared, the old man's mind was completely focused on it, not noticing any other movements.

Jiang Lan had taken advantage of the situation by killing this old man.

However, this person was only at Bone Refinement First Realm, and even in a face-to-face battle, Jiang Lan was confident he wouldn't lose.

Putting away the crimson pill, Jiang Lan stood up, scanned the corpses scattered all over the ground, and a complex expression appeared on his face.

How innocent were the villagers?

But there was no choice; in this world, weakness was the original sin.

Especially these villages, which were already the granaries of demons and monsters.

How long they lived depended entirely on when those demons and monsters decided to have a feast.

Born in troubled times, life was as cheap as grass.

Jiang Lan let out a long breath and walked to the ugly old man's head.

After staring at the head for a while, he turned back.

Tearing off the sackcloth from the old man's body and wrapping it around the head, Jiang Lan then turned and walked towards Yan Capital City.