159: Mid-Nascent Soul Stage

Qin Chen looked at the simulation results, his heart both excited and nervous.

He made his choice without hesitation: "Select One!"

Boom—

A surge of majestic energy instantly flooded into his body!

Cultivation base overlay complete!

Nascent Soul Middle Stage!

Supernatural Power Realm Early Stage!

At the same time, numerous Cultivation Techniques flooded into his mind like imprints, familiar as if he had practiced them personally.

Suddenly—

【Ding! Detected Spotless Sword Body (Pseudo), has been corrected for the host. Reward changed to pure Spotless Sword Body.】

A mysterious power flowed throughout his entire body, soaking into his bones and Meridians. Qin Chen vaguely felt that he seemed to have obtained some special ability.

This was precisely the Spotless Sword Body!

Qin Chen was overjoyed and asked with a smile: "What does it mean to correct the Spotless Sword Body?"

【Ding, Host, the System does not provide defective products, so I have corrected your pseudo Spotless Sword Body.】

"System, you are truly generous!" Qin Chen laughed heartily.

How could he not be joyful?

This meant—he could now refine the grotto-heaven magical treasure, the qingming mirror!

It was just that he didn't know the method to refine a grotto-heaven magical treasure, which made him a bit troubled.

However, this matter was not urgent; he would surely find a way.

"System, what exactly is special about the Spotless Sword Body? Will my future cultivation speed become faster?" Qin Chen asked curiously again.

【Host, you are an ordinary Spiritual Root, your Aptitude is mediocre for eternity, this has nothing to do with Sword Dao Physique.】

【The Spotless Sword Body is a "born Child of Sword Dao," an Innate Dao Body born for the sword.】

【Those who possess this Physique have an Innate, supreme affinity with the "Sword Dao Laws" between heaven and earth.】

【Its main advantage lies in a clear Sword Heart and the spontaneous generation of Sword Qi, which is especially helpful for cultivating supreme Sword Dao and comprehending Sword Dao Law Domains.】

Qin Chen nodded slightly after hearing this.

Although his cultivation speed had not increased, he was already very satisfied to obtain such a Sword Dao Physique.

Thinking of this, he began to comprehend the mysteries of "Lonely Slaying Annihilation".

The more he comprehended, the more uncontrollable his inner excitement became.

"No wonder Lonely Slaying Annihilation is so powerful; it turns out it can communicate with Power of the Great Dao."

"The immortal slaying sword is actually a bridge to communicate with Power of the Great Dao... Where exactly did such a powerful Cultivation Technique come from?"

Next, he carefully experienced the strength of his current Realm, and couldn't help but feel a shock in his heart.

"Nascent Soul and Golden Core are indeed worlds apart."

He felt that with just a thought, he could use his Nascent Soul Power to draw upon the majestic power of heaven and earth, which was completely incomparable to the previous Heavenly Human Realm and Golden Core Realm.

It was as if he had leaped from an ant looking up at the starry sky to a god wielding thunder, overlooking the mortal world, with the power of heaven and earth all within a single thought.

The sudden increase in strength left him a bit flustered, and the excitement in his heart was hard to calm.

After all, those experiences happened in the simulation, while his real body had only experienced a short eleven days.

Thinking about his current situation, he fell into deep thought again.

"Liu Ruyan is a Liu Clan Prodigy; killing her would cause the exit of the Tianhuang Secret Realm to be sealed. Furthermore, it would implicate countless living beings in the imperial capital to be annihilated by Liu Jinfeng with a single palm strike."

"What should I do? Once the exit is sealed, wouldn't I become a lamb waiting to be slaughtered?"

Amidst his thoughts, his eyes suddenly brightened.

A perfect plan had already taken shape.

However, for this plan, he still had to try it in the simulation first.

After determining the plan, his heart finally settled a bit.

The sky gradually brightened, and the morning light spilled in through the window lattice.

The faint scent of pills in Liu Ruyan's room had completely dissipated by now.

Qin Chen's eyebrows twitched slightly—this ruthless woman had indeed taken poison.

"No wonder she scanned the surroundings with her Divine Sense every hour; it turns out she was afraid of death." He sneered in his heart.

Actually, he could make a move right now; Liu Ruyan was indeed poisoned.

But adhering to the principle of "being steady," he decided to only try it in the simulation.

Thinking of this, Qin Chen's mood immediately brightened.

He fetched water to wash up as usual—although a Nascent Soul Cultivator had long been untainted by dust, he still couldn't break this habit.

After tidying up, he strolled to a quiet little street.

The morning light was filled with the atmosphere of daily life: the hawking of people selling steamed buns, a husband and wife bickering over trivial matters, an old woman arguing until her face turned red over two copper coins, a young couple feeding each other sugar cakes at a stall...

A group of children ran past playing, and finally, the little tot in split-crotch pants ran too fast and fell onto the bluestone slab with a "thump".

Qin Chen reached out and helped the child up.

Just at the moment he touched the child, he was shocked—

He clearly felt that the "Spotless Sword Body" actually emitted a kind of humming sound, echoing endlessly in his Sea of Consciousness.

"Thank you, Uncle!" The little tot's voice was crisp, he patted his knees and hopped away to chase his little friends.

Qin Chen looked at the child's retreating back, thoughtful.

The old man at the pancake stall next to him handed over a steaming pancake with a smile: "That's my grandson; he's already five years old and still can't walk steadily."

Qin Chen took the pancake and looked closely at the old man—he was about seventy or eighty years old, with white hair and beard, and his face was engraved with the weathering of time.

"Why doesn't the old man set up a stall on Vermilion Bird Street? There are more customers there."

"Can't go there," the old man waved his hands repeatedly, "They collect protection fees every few days; what I earn isn't even enough to pay."

"They dare to do that even under the feet of the Son of Heaven?"

"Young man, you just arrived in the capital, right?" The old man revealed a smile that said 'you are still too young'.

Qin Chen smiled and nodded: "At your age, you should be enjoying a peaceful life. What about your son?"

The old man's expression dimmed: "He offended someone while working, and his legs were broken... His wife also ran away with someone."

"Who did he offend?"

The old man lowered his voice: "Who else could it be? The notorious Black Eagle Gang in this area."

Qin Chen frowned slightly upon hearing this.

This Black Eagle Gang had once plotted against him, and they even had connections with Eunuch Xiang.

However, Eunuch Xiang wouldn't live for many more days; now was the time to settle accounts with the Black Eagle Gang.

He chatted with the old man for a few more sentences and learned that the other party's surname was Sun, and his ancestors were originally a thousand-year aristocratic family of the Chu Dynasty, but later, because they offended powerful people, they fled to this remote Great Yan Dynasty.

Qin Chen silently noted down the name of the little tot—Sun Yang.

Afterwards, he used the "Illusionary Form Technique" to transform into the appearance of an old man and headed straight towards the headquarters of the Black Eagle Gang.

The Black Eagle Gang headquarters was located in the suburbs, a manor covering a vast area, with a scale comparable to a military camp, and even containing prison cells inside.

At this moment, more than a dozen people were gathered in the central hall.

"Leader, He Na and Zhang Qiang have been missing for two days, and there is still no news." The Vice Leader, Blood Wolf, spoke in a hurried tone, his face very ugly.

A gang member slammed the table: "It must have been discovered by that Steward Jia! He finished them off!"

The leader, Black Eagle, had gloomy eyes, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest: "Has Steward Jia made any moves recently?"

Blood Wolf hurriedly replied: "He is busy changing the property rights of the blood red stone mine, and is deliberately spreading news everywhere, saying that he wants to transfer it to someone named Qin Chen, acting very high-profile."

"Qin Chen?" Black Eagle narrowed his eyes, "Send people to investigate and find out his background."

"Understood!" A subordinate immediately accepted the order.

Blood Wolf sneered: "Daring to covet our Black Eagle Gang's things, this Qin Chen is tired of living."

Just at this moment, a shrill cry came from the back hall.

Two gang members were seen dragging a pair of young teenagers into the hall. The boy's face was full of blood, and the girl's clothes were damaged, with clear palm prints on her face.

"Leader, just caught a pair of siblings who wandered into the capital," a sharp-mouthed, monkey-cheeked gang member said flatteringly, "The brother has a hard backbone, but the sister is in our hands, so he doesn't dare not to obey."

Black Eagle looked at the two coldly: "Let them replace He Na and Zhang Qiang."

"We will not help you harm people even if we die!" The boy roared hoarsely, despite being pressed to the ground, he still stubbornly raised his head.

"Break his leg." Black Eagle waved his hand nonchalantly.

A gang member raised an iron rod and smashed it down fiercely, accompanied by a crisp sound of bone cracking—

"Ah—!" The boy let out a shrill scream, curled up on the ground in pain, and cold sweat instantly soaked his clothes.

"Brother—!" The girl cried out in pain, her tears blurring her vision.

"If you don't agree, the next turn will be your sister." Black Eagle leaned down and lifted the girl's chin with cold fingers, "Such a pretty face, it would be a pity to have a few cuts on it."

"Beast!" The boy's eyes were about to split, and fire seemed to be spraying from his eyes.