pdf-ebookys Chapter 56 Devouring Geng Metal, the Sorrow of the Lower Classes
Chapter 56 Devouring Geng Metal, the Sorrow of the Lower Classes
Chapter 56 Devouring Geng Metal, the Sorrow of the Lower Classes
Just now, when Ying Chenyi was holding that magical kitchen knife, the system actually triggered:
[Geng metal essence detected]
[Consuming 1%]
Chen Yi remembered that five years ago, when he was still working for Li Yudie of the Li family, she temporarily lent him a discarded magical flying sword prototype for dissecting demonic beasts.
He activated the function of absorbing the essence of the magical artifact, but failed to do so because his body could not absorb it.
But just now, when he touched his magical kitchen knife, he actually succeeded.
After thinking for a moment, Chen Yi found some animal hide gloves. He would have to wear gloves when dealing with monsters with a knife in the future.
He still needs to use this set of magical kitchen utensils; he can't let it be devoured so soon.
However, it's not that there's nothing to devour.
Late at night, Chen Yi concealed his presence and went to the wilderness, where he dug out what had originally been Li Wusheng's storage bag.
He lightly touched the magical artifact in the bag with his fingertips, and the system activated, quietly absorbing the essence of the artifact.
The small amount of Geng metal essence within the low-grade magic artifact was completely consumed by Chen Yi in just over an hour.
His right hand bones suddenly gleamed with a bronze luster, and their strength increased by another five points, showing a tendency to transform into bronze bones.
"It actually works!"
Chen Yi took the remaining magical artifacts back to his residence and hid them away.
In addition, Chen Yi still retains some of the second-tier demon beast spirituality he absorbed today.
He used up this spiritual energy, employing the trump card method he had accumulated when deducing the qi of mortal martial artists.
Combined with the effect of the small amount of bronze bone in his right hand,
He actually succeeded in his research.
He spent half the night compressing dozens of golden glitter particles into the bone of his right hand, condensing them into a dark gold crystal.
Under Chen Yi's divine sense, this dark gold crystal could unleash a breakthrough-level power in a single burst.
Its instantaneous explosive power may reach the peak of the mid-stage Foundation Establishment realm, but it can only be unleashed once and requires close-range contact.
"This technique can be combined with psychedelic boxing to become my trump card."
Chen Yi thought to himself.
In addition, Chen Yi also researched the changes in abilities after body cultivation reached the Bone Refinement stage.
He can now have his bones adjusted.
With a thought, his bones cracked, he grew three inches taller, his facial muscles twitched, and in the blink of an eye, he transformed into a thin young man.
Combined with the "illusion" characteristic of the second-tier concealment technique, even the aura is simulated to be that of a junior cultivator in the early stage of Qi Refining, making it difficult for ordinary mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators to distinguish the real from the fake.
"Having only divine sense and magical power left is still a weakness."
He scanned the forty-zhang radius with his divine sense and sighed inwardly.
If one encounters a Foundation Establishment cultivator of a very high level, or a cultivator who specializes in spiritual cultivation, there is still a risk of exposure.
However, his magical power is still at the sixth level of Qi Refining, and he is still a short distance away from reaching the threshold of the late stage of Qi Refining.
"Even so, I now have a certain level of strength."
Second-tier camouflage, second-tier concealment, and physical strength comparable to a mid-stage second-tier demonic beast, along with even greater explosive power.
At least in the lower levels of cultivation, as long as you don't provoke too powerful enemies, you can barely protect yourself.
Chen Yi let out a long sigh of relief.
Having been in the cultivation world for five years, I have gone from being an old and frail person to advancing to the Innate Realm, and now I have achieved success in bone refining. I can finally say that I have escaped the realm of lowly ants.
Chen Yi looked at the sky and sighed inwardly.
After physical cultivation reaches the Foundation Establishment stage, lifespan will increase from 100 years to 150 years, while the lifespan of magic cultivation, which focuses on Qi cultivation, will increase to 200 years after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.
Similarly, once one reaches the third stage of body cultivation, which is the Core Formation stage, their lifespan is 300 years.
Those who follow the Golden Elixir Path are 500 years old.
Later, in the Nascent Soul stage, Chen Yi found no records of body cultivators dying of old age. Body cultivators at that level were extremely rare, far fewer than magic cultivators, and they were mostly servants or strongmen of great cultivators, none of them dying peacefully.
Now that his body refinement is initially complete, Chen Yi can begin to consider increasing his magical power while consolidating his physical strength.
After all, to truly prolong life and achieve immortality, one must follow the proper path of the Golden Elixir.
Chen Yi remained hidden and didn't even have a chance to teach him a lesson. Dong Chang'an had failed in his duties and was eager to make amends by earning merit.
While assisting Zhao Tieshan, a mid-Foundation Establishment stage law enforcement cultivator from his sect, he seized an opportunity to tattle on him:
"Steward Zhao, there are traces of a traitor wanted by the sect in this market." His withered fingers rubbed together in his sleeve. "The strongman Zhao Jingwu who defected back then may have left behind a body-refining legacy here."
Seeing Zhao Tieshan's thick eyebrows furrow slightly, Dong Chang'an hurriedly added, "The clues point to Huo Sanniang of Miaoyin Pavilion. This woman was originally a rogue cultivator affiliated with my Li family, but later she climbed the social ladder by getting involved with Miaoyin Pavilion."
"A warrior's technique?" Zhao Tieshan scoffed, his mid-Foundation Establishment stage spiritual pressure causing Dong Chang'an to shrink back.
"Is the sect lacking such crude inheritance? Zhao Jingwu is hiding in the Monster Mountain Range as a cultivator, and he has learned a decent concealment technique from somewhere. It would be time-consuming and laborious to capture him, and there would be no profit in it. I have no time to deal with this matter."
However, with a strongman hiding in your Dong family's market town, I can't sleep soundly.
Since you're so eager to make a name for yourself, you'll be in charge of investigating this matter entirely.
"Me?" Dong Chang'an pointed to himself, astonished. "How dare I, an early Foundation Establishment cultivator nearing my grave, search the Myriad Sounds Pavilion?"
"I will take care of the matter concerning the female cultivators of Miaoyin Pavilion. They are holding a concert next month, right? I will take that opportunity to separate those female cultivators from the lower levels of Miaoyin Pavilion."
Half a day should be enough for you to arrest people and investigate.
"Once it's done, and you find the evidence, with me here, Miaoyin Pavilion won't dare do anything."
Dong Chang'an felt a bitter taste in his mouth. These disciples of the Zhan Sect truly didn't treat them like human beings.
They can get you to do these thankless tasks with just a few words.
Zhao Tieshan didn't say something, but he understood it.
If no evidence is found afterward, Deacon Zhao will not stand up for him.
……
On the day of the concert, the pavilions and terraces ten miles outside the lakeside market were filled with people.
As dawn broke, a thin mist shrouded the surface of the lake. The pavilion was already adorned with illusion arrays by the female cultivators of Miaoyin Pavilion, and glass lanterns hung in mid-air, reflecting the shimmering light on the lake.
Foundation Establishment cultivators arrived one after another, some riding flying swords, others riding spirit birds, their flowing robes revealing their celestial bearing.
Xu Shixian, dressed in a moon-white robe with a jade belt adorned with spirit stones, deliberately praised Qin Chengcheng loudly before she took the stage: "Fairy Qin's 'Pure Heart and Universal Benevolence Mantra' once helped my ancestor break through his bottleneck. Today, I, Xu, have come to listen to her divine music again!" He then sat outside the only VIP box, attracting the attention of the surrounding cultivators.
At noon, the performance reached its climax. Qin Chengcheng plucked the strings with her delicate hands, and the ripples on the lake surface stopped abruptly as the guqin trembled.
The music was like a cascading spring of ice. The Foundation Establishment cultivators were startled, and the restless spiritual energy within their bodies began to circulate in accordance with the music. The Qi Refining cultivators were completely captivated, and some even sat down and entered a meditative state on the spot.
In the final ensemble, the twelve female cultivators from Miaoyin Pavilion played the "Rainbow Feather Robe Dance" together, and the sound waves transformed into a tangible spiritual mist that enveloped the entire venue.
A rogue cultivator suddenly burst into tears: "Thirty years of arduous cultivation are no match for a single word of guidance!" He even broke through a minor realm on the spot;
Another Foundation Establishment elder clapped his hands and laughed wildly: "So that's it! No wonder I've been stuck in the mid-stage for over sixty years!"
For a time, the entire concert was so captivating that the emotions of all the cultivators were stirred by the spiritual sounds, and many even entered a meditative state to break through to a minor realm.
In the marketplace, Miaoyin Pavilion was deserted, with only Chen Yi sitting alone in the quiet room.
He lightly touched the array patterns on the ground with his fingertips, and the second-order soundproof array completely isolated the noise from the outside world.
The animal hide array diagram spread out on the table was a simulation of the restriction on Qin Chengcheng's sea of consciousness—at this moment, his divine sense had surpassed the peak of the first level, and he was trying to deduce how to avoid backlash when breaking it.
Outside the market town, deep in the dense forest,
Huo Sanniang wrapped her coarse cloth cloak tightly around herself and hurried along the forest path.
She clutched a crumpled piece of paper tightly between her fingers, on which were written crookedly:
"Third Sister, come quickly upon receiving this letter. A Foundation Establishment senior who came to the concert is willing to take on a few disciples to pass on his cultivation techniques. I have secured two spots. I will take you to see that senior."
The messenger was her former lackey, who had struggled alongside her in the lower rungs of society and was one of the few people she could trust.
"Foundation Establishment senior... if I could become your disciple, perhaps I could truly turn my life around!" A glimmer of hope ignited in Huo San Niang's eyes.
During her time at Miaoyin Pavilion, she had enough of the subtle, disdainful glances from the female cultivators, as if the worldly aura emanating from her was an indelible filth.
She longed to change her fate, even at a cost.
As the fog thickened in the forest, Huo Sanniang paused. In front of her, under the shadow of the trees, only her younger brother stood; there was no Foundation Establishment senior among them.
"Where is he?" she asked, frowning.
The younger brother's eyes darted around, and he whispered, "Third Sister, I'm sorry..." Before he could finish speaking, he turned and ran away!
Alarm bells rang in Huo San Niang's mind, but it was too late to react—
"Boom!" The pressure from the Foundation Establishment stage was like a mountain collapsing, and her legs went weak, causing her to kneel on the ground.
When Huo San Niang woke up again, she found herself bound to an ancient tree by rough vines, and the smell of withered leaves mixed with the soil filled her nostrils.
Dong Chang'an's hunched figure emerged from the shadows, his withered, claw-like fingers toying with a lustrous pill: "Third Sister Huo, tell me who that body cultivator's successor is, and this breakthrough pill is yours."
With his other hand, he quietly held the recording stone, the cold light flowing across its surface—he wanted to both extract a confession and leave "evidence" to deal with Miaoyin Pavilion's subsequent questioning.
Huo Sanniang stared at the pill, her Adam's apple bobbing.
A Breakthrough Pill! If she takes this pill, her Qi Refining mid-stage cultivation, which has stagnated for many years, might be able to break through...
Huo Sanniang revealed a greedy and longing look in her eyes: "Really for me? Then come closer, and I'll tell you."
Dong Chang'an squinted as he approached, his gaunt face revealing a calculating intent hidden in the wrinkles.
"Now!" A fierce glint appeared in Huo San Niang's eyes, and her dantian magic power surged back!
"Bang—!"
The shockwave exploded, severing her meridians and causing blood to gush from her seven orifices.
Caught off guard, Dong Chang'an was thrown several feet away, his Taoist robe charred black like a beggar's, and his left arm was a bloody mess.
"You bitch! You—" he exclaimed, filled with shock and rage.
Huo Sanniang lay paralyzed in a pool of blood, her blood-stained lips parted in a grin: "I'd rather die than be your dog!" Her gaze was unfocused, yet filled with sarcasm. "I was born a human being, and there are things I will do and things I will not do."
You high and mighty cultivators only know how to exploit us lowly folks, not even giving us a way to survive.
Do you think a so-called breakthrough pill can buy my trust?
Today, even if it kills me, I'll bite a piece of your flesh!
It turned out that the moment Dong Chang'an captured her, she was already filled with utter despair.
Originally, her life as a beast of burden had little hope of turning things around. She should have been raped and murdered by the Dong family's mid-stage Qi Refining expert years ago when she left the Li family. However, she was saved by Chen Yi that time.
Later, Li Wusheng came to her door, and she was saved by Chen Yi when she was on the verge of death.
But this third time, she knew she had absolutely no chance of survival, not even if Chen Yi came.
Because this time the opponent was a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator, she had no chance to stall until Chen Yi arrived.
So when she saw the other party pressing her for answers, she decided to reveal herself.
Anyway, she was just barely surviving in Miaoyin Pavilion, with no hope of survival. Rather than being looked down upon and living in misery, she might as well die sooner.
"I hope I won't be reborn as an ox or a horse in my next life."
Dong Chang'an's face turned ashen.
He couldn't understand—these ants could live by kneeling, so why did they insist on seeking death?
His face darkened for a moment, then a cold smile curled at the corner of his lips. "You really think I can't do anything if you die?"
His cloudy old eyes scanned his surroundings like a hawk's, his divine sense quietly spreading out.
Then, with a flick of his finger, he unleashed a burst of magical power, killing the underling who had lured Huo Sanniang there.
After confirming that even the insects in the dense forest were lying in hibernation,
Suddenly, three blood-red array flags popped out of his sleeve. His fingertips, radiating magical power, rapidly traced patterns on the flags. The moment the array patterns lit up, the moonlight within a ten-zhang radius distorted into a dark red.
The concealment formation is complete; no movement within the formation will be transmitted outside.
Dong Chang'an's hunched body suddenly straightened, his gray beard and hair moved without wind, and spiderweb-like blood lines appeared under his withered skin.
His withered, claw-like five fingers pierced Huo Sanniang's skull, and five thick lines of blood gushed from his fingertips, drilling into her seven orifices as if they were alive.
"Blood Demon Summoning Soul, Arise!"
With a hoarse, low shout, Dong Chang'an began to use his soul-searching technique.
The secret chamber of Miaoyin Pavilion
Chen Yi was meditating when a violent surge of magical power suddenly appeared in the mother-child talisman within his storage bag—
"Something's happened to Huo San Niang!"
Chen Yi quickly changed his appearance, his figure flashing out of the quiet room like a ghost, silently following the ripples towards the dense forest.
After the Li Wusheng incident, Chen Yi no longer owed Huo Sanniang anything, and he no longer needed to concern himself with her affairs.
However, Huo Sanniang knew too much information, and Chen Yi needed to confirm whether the person who killed Huo Sanniang could trace back to him, to see if there was still a chance for a turn of events.
If things become unmanageable, he'll have to quietly flee.
As for killing Huo Sanniang in advance and cutting off his own trail, Chen Yi couldn't do such a thing. He may be cunning, but he has his bottom line and wouldn't kill his friend for that reason.
Several dozen breaths later, Chen Yi appeared in the dense forest. The dark red array barrier, like solidified blood scabs, completely isolated the area within a radius of ten feet from the outside world.
Chen Yi stood outside the formation, his brows furrowed slightly. "A second-tier sealing formation? But the person who set it up is only so-so in terms of formation mastery."
He crouched outside the formation.
Chen Yi lightly touched the array barrier with his fingertips, and golden light seeped into the array patterns like a thin stream.
The patterns of the second-order sealing array were clearly visible in my divine sense—there was a fine crack in the Kan position array eye, as if it had been cut by some sharp weapon.
Chen Yi pointed his fingers like knives, a dark golden light flashing on his nails, and precisely pierced the weak point of the array pattern.
With a soft "pop," the array barrier burst open like a bubble, creating a gap the size of a bowl, which then instantly closed on its own.
He slipped in like a cat, his concealment technique fully activated, without even disturbing a falling leaf.
The stench of blood was overwhelming.
Dong Chang'an's withered, claw-like fingers dug deeply into Huo Sanniang's skull, and five lines of blood gushed from his fingertips wriggled like living things in the corpse's seven orifices.
His old face, covered in spiderweb-like bloodstains, looked terrifying in the moonlight, and he uttered a hoarse curse from his throat:
"Blood Demon Summoning Soul, Arise!"
Huo San Niang's corpse suddenly convulsed violently, and thick blood mist seeped from her seven orifices. Her remaining soul was forcibly extracted and condensed in mid-air into a twisted, misty humanoid shape.
As the blood mist surged, fragments of memory flashed through Dong Chang'an's mind like a revolving lantern—
[Deep in the dense forest, the scene of Chen Yi using golden patterns to remotely blast the sternum of the Dong family's Qi Refining cultivator] twisted and took shape in the blood mist.
[In the dimly lit chamber, Chen Yi smashed Li Wusheng's chest with his right arm, flashing like a blood-red lightning bolt.]
"So it was you. You were hiding so well. No wonder you wouldn't come out no matter how I tried to lure you out." Dong Chang'an's expression was knowing.
It's a soul-searching evil technique!
Chen Yi's pupils contracted sharply. Luckily, he had sneaked over today and discovered it in time; otherwise, things would have been too passive.
Dong Chang'an's withered claws suddenly tightened, and as the blood threads twisted, Huo Sanniang's remnant soul let out a silent scream. Her last wisp of soul power dissipated into threads, and she departed from this world.
"I just want to cultivate in peace," Chen Yi said, his eyes as cold as an icy pool. "Why are you forcing me—"
Just as Dong Chang'an's bloody hand was about to leave Huo Sanniang's head,
Chen Yi made a move.
Like a silent ghost, he shot towards Dong Chang'an's back like lightning.
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(End of this chapter)