Chapter 171
She pondered her master's question seriously, imagining herself in such an environment, back when she was just a fledgling cultivator in the Qi Refining stage. Her brows furrowed slightly, and beneath her fluttering eyelashes, a glimmer of spirit light sparkled.
“Master, I can use a technique called Chongxu Lingmu. This method channels spiritual energy through special meridian pathways into my eyes, allowing me to see many traces hidden by malevolent spirits. It’s very useful in the Qi Refining stage.”
Chen Huai'an narrowed his eyes at her words.
“Not bad. Show me a demonstration.”
Li Qingran obediently performed the technique.
However, to Chen Huai'an, this demonstration felt more like a performance with no real educational value. He steeled himself and made another request: “Hmm, good, but I’d like to see something more specific, like the flow of spiritual energy through the meridians.”
Li Qingran stared blankly at the void above her head, falling silent.
Her cheeks flushed deeper, and after a long hesitation, she lowered her head, biting her red lip, and murmured like a mosquito:
“Master… for that, I’d have to take off my long robe…”
…
…
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Chapter 184: Instant Refinement (tijin +1)
Five minutes later, Li Qingran, her face still red, had put her clothes back on.
Even though she had only shown her back to her master, she was almost completely unclothed.
Just thinking about the sensation of his gaze on her skin made her heart flutter, her mind going blank.
“Master…”
Li Qingran hung her head, her fingers pinching her sleeves, slowly turning around while mumbling softly.
But she found that the gaze in the void had already vanished.
“Master?”
“Master!”
He… just left?
After examining his disciple’s back and… oh no, shouldn’t he have said something after testing her?
Li Qingran lightly stomped her foot and sat back down on the bed, cradling her hot cheeks in her hands, gazing out at the twilight outside, lost in thought: “Master must think I’m too foolish… He always has deeper meanings behind his tests. I must think more in the future and never answer carelessly. If I’m too foolish, he’ll surely dislike me, right?”
“After all, Master is such a brilliant and extraordinary young man… hee hee~”
…
…
In the underground palace.
The extraordinary young man Chen Huai'an wiped away the blood from his nose and tightened his belt.
“Ha, it’s nothing much. How could mere beauty make me bow down?”
He walked forward, his back arched.
Having learned the Chongxu Lingmu, he had made Li Qingran demonstrate it over a dozen times.
It wasn’t due to her pure talent or graceful curves.
It was mainly because he was a meticulous person.
“Chimei Wangliang, nowhere to hide!” Chen Huai'an gathered spiritual energy according to the meridian pathways Li Qingran had taught him, opening his eyes imbued with the power of Chongxu Lingmu. The world before him instantly transformed.
“Oh.” Chen Huai'an looked at the straight corridor leading inward, flanked by rooms on either side, and suddenly realized: “So it wasn’t that the map from Xiang Xiaoyuan was flawed; it was me who had the problem.”
Haha, what a relief.
Good thing he didn’t ask Xiang Xiaoyuan, or he would have looked foolish.
Now, with a clear goal, he could see the thick malevolent aura spreading from the depths of the corridor with the help of his Chongxu Lingmu.
“Evil spirits, I’m coming!” Chen Huai'an licked his lips, a wicked smile spreading across his face as he stepped forward.
The rooms on either side were filled with shattered porcelain, the shards smooth as a maiden’s skin, their color resembling the blood of a young girl. The earthy scent in the air gradually morphed into a decaying stench mixed with the smell of blood.
As Chen Huai'an ventured deeper, the shards transformed from scattered pieces to small hills, eventually forming a blood-colored humanoid shape, wailing like a ghost, his vision shrouded in mist.
The white candles flickered along the corridor, casting distorted shadows of porcelain figures. The dying screams of women, the grinding of blades against dull surfaces, and the muffled sounds of flesh being chopped… behind Chen Huai'an, a collective gaze was forming.
When he reached the end of the corridor, the light suddenly shrank to a pinprick.
In the darkness, the sound of silk brushing against silk filled the air, countless blood-soaked garments moving on their own without wind. He didn’t turn around, but he could almost imagine the scene behind him—hundreds of pale porcelain faces standing there, their glazed surfaces cracked, just as they had been when they died, shattered.
At the end of the corridor, there was no coffin.
Only a stone pedestal.
On the pedestal sat a porcelain vase.
Its glaze was like congealed blood, and the shape of the vase seemed to depict a beautiful figure, graceful and alluring, yet kneeling on the ground, her form twisted, every contorted joint telling a tale of resentment and pain.
“This vase must be worth a fortune!”
Even Chen Huai'an, an outsider, could tell how exquisite this blood-red porcelain vase was.
No wonder those archaeology professors and students came rushing in.
If he were in that line of work, he would have come too.
“Sir, you have a good eye. This is a Mingde period sacrificial red glaze, worth its weight in gold.” A layered female voice echoed behind him, laced with a chilling smile. “If you like it, why not buy a piece?”
“Buy?” Chen Huai'an looked at the vase, a benevolent smile spreading across his face.
“I’m fated to this object, so of course… I’ll just take it!”
He suddenly reached out, his fingertips curling around seven writhing lightning snakes as he grasped for the porcelain vase.
Before the righteous thunder could strike, the vase let out a piercing shriek.
Simultaneously, the countless porcelain figures behind him also screamed in unison.
Chen Huai'an’s hand clamped down on the head of the nearest porcelain figure, spinning around to draw his black-scaled sword, a wicked grin curling at the corners of his mouth as he faced the horde of malevolent spirits filling the corridor: “Heh heh, the most beautiful things in the world belong to those fated to them, just as your ghostly forms are also rare treasures to me!”
The vengeful spirits didn’t understand what Chen Huai'an was saying; they only charged at him with a torrent of hatred.
Evil spirits…
So many evil spirits!!!
Buzz—he didn’t even need to actively summon it; a blood-red scroll unfurled in his mind.
Dense, eroded characters slithered into his pupils like living snakes.
Veins throbbed at his temples, and dark demonic patterns crawled up his jawline to his cheekbones.
His fingertips sank into the porcelain figure’s head, shattering the skull and sending shards flying.
The fragments that pierced his palm instantly melted, turning into a black liquid that seeped into his pores.
Boom! An ancient and violent pulse erupted from his tailbone, racing up his spine to his crown.
This power was not ethereal and cold like spiritual energy; it felt like swallowing a river of lava, every pore exuding heat and agitation.
Yes, this explosive sensation.
Like he had taken a ton of blue pills.
“Demonic power? This is demonic power! Damn, it feels so good! Heh heh heh!”
On the mottled walls of the underground palace, Chen Huai'an’s shadow swelled into a wild demonic figure.
The splintered porcelain shards exploded against the walls, leaving blood-ink-like stains.
And amidst the howls of the malevolent spirits, there seemed to be a hint of fear and despair…
…
In the Northern Ghost Market.
Lin Chen lay on the ground, at the end of her strength.
It was as if she had been subjected to slow slicing, her body pierced all over with tiny blood-red porcelain shards, these fragments embedded in her flesh like gossamer wings, rising and falling with her weak breaths. Her leather jacket could no longer conceal her graceful figure, exposing her bloodied flesh.
“Cough cough…”
She couldn’t move, only watching as the porcelain figure approached, holding dripping shards, smiling as she stepped closer.
She had anticipated that the evil spirits in Jinde Town would be difficult to deal with, but she never imagined they would be so tenacious. This porcelain figure had nearly devoured all the living beings in the entire food street, her red silk dress now transformed into blood, dripping down.
“Damn it… evil spirits!”
The fear of impending death made her voice tremble.
Yet, the pride of being from a noble family kept her from bowing to the evil spirits.
After all, what good would bowing do?
The dripping shards hovered above her head, the porcelain figure’s eerie smile growing closer, and the shards neared her eyes, blood droplets falling into them, staining her vision crimson.
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