Breakthrough! Third Blood Qi Realm! (Please Keep Reading!!!)

At this moment, Zhao Gang, who had been waiting not far behind the two of them, saw that they had finished talking and spoke at the right time:

"Lord Liu, has the matter in Tianmen Village been dealt with?"

"Not yet."

Old Daoist Liu shook his head.

Zhao Gang could not help but look puzzled. "Could there still be some evil lurking in Tianmen Village?"

To his surprise, Old Daoist Liu still shook his head. "This old Daoist can confirm that there are no more Skin-Peeling Puppets in Tianmen Village."

Zhao Gang became even more confused. What did it mean that the matter was not settled, yet Tianmen Village had no Skin-Peeling Puppets?

Chen Yan explained at the right moment:

"Uncle Zhao, Daoist Liu means that although Tianmen Village no longer has Skin-Peeling Puppets, Shanxi Town governs six villages. The other villages... may not be free of them."

Hearing this, Zhao Gang's expression turned grave as well.

That was right. Even Tianmen Village, the closest village to Shanxi Town, had Skin-Peeling Puppets. What about those mountain villages farther away?

Tianmen Village's village head had concealed the massacre out of fear of being held accountable. Could the heads of the other villages not do the same?

At that thought, all three men wore solemn expressions. They had all realized the severity of the matter.

Especially those mountain villages far from Shanxi Town. They were practically beyond Shanxi Town's jurisdiction, left in a no-man's land where no one took charge. If murders occurred there, there might not even be time to report them.

"Time waits for no one. Constable Zhao, return to Shanxi Town at once. Inform Magistrate Wu about Tianmen Village, and have him gather all the yamen runners and constables at the County Yamen to investigate every mountain village under Shanxi Town's jurisdiction!"

Old Daoist Liu's expression was solemn, his aged face imposing without anger.

"Yes!"

Zhao Gang accepted the order, hurriedly gathered the constables at the village entrance, and rushed toward Shanxi Town.

After giving Zhao Gang his instructions, Old Daoist Liu turned to Chen Yan beside him.

"Let's go. We will not return. We'll head straight for the next village."

"Alright!" Chen Yan nodded.

And so, over the following days, Chen Yan followed Old Daoist Liu as they traveled tirelessly between the villages of Shanxi Town.

The results were just as the two had expected. Massacres had occurred in nearly every village under Shanxi Town, and a few villages were in even worse condition than Tianmen Village.

The farther a village was from Shanxi Town, the more massacres there had been, and the more Skin-Peeling Puppets lurked within it.

Not every village head had concealed matters like Tian Gui of Tianmen Village. In fact, several villages had immediately sent people to Shanxi Town to report what had happened, yet every one of those messengers had vanished like stones sinking into the sea.

Clearly, every messenger who had headed to Shanxi Town to report the matter had met with misfortune along the way.

The true culprit behind the Skin-Peeling Puppets had been gathering strength in the shadows all along!

During this time, Chen Yan also helped destroy quite a few Skin-Peeling Puppets. Nearly every fatal blow against them had come from his hand.

Chen Yan did not always get to pick up easy kills. There were times when he encountered danger as well.

In particular, there had been one mountain village where more than ten family massacres had taken place. Even the village head's entire family had died at the hands of Skin-Peeling Puppets.

That Skin-Peeling Puppet was also the strongest Chen Yan had encountered so far. Its strength surpassed even that of a martial artist in the Second Blood Qi Realm, pressing close to the Third Blood Qi Realm.

One swipe of its claws had nearly ripped open Chen Yan's belly. Had Old Daoist Liu not intervened at the critical moment, Chen Yan would most likely have met a grim fate.

However.

As the saying went, fortune leaned on calamity, and calamity concealed fortune. Opportunity and danger often existed side by side.

The several life-and-death battles of the past few days had greatly improved Chen Yan's practical combat experience. In particular, his Blood Fiend Saber Technique was not far from breaking through to its next realm.

Of course, his greatest harvest had been merit.

In the wilderness, within an unoccupied tree hollow, Chen Yan sat cross-legged and examined his status panel:

Name: Chen Yan

Realm: Blood Qi Realm

Technique: Blood Fiend Saber Technique (Entered the Hall)

Item: Fish Dragon Saber (Thousand-Forged)

Merit: 1,203

One thousand two hundred and three points of merit!

This was the most merit Chen Yan had obtained since transmigrating.

And on the Heavenly Book of Merit, a new line of small Cloud Seal Script had appeared.

"Once merit exceeds one thousand, Medium Fortune of Great Luck may be obtained."

Medium Fortune of Great Luck!

Clearly, Medium Fortune of Great Luck was a level higher than Minor Fortune of Great Luck.

Merely opening Minor Fortune of Great Luck had yielded precious martial treasures such as the Great Return Pill and the Blood Fiend Saber Technique.

Then within this Medium Fortune of Great Luck, which was clearly one tier higher, could there be the cultivation method Chen Yan had been longing for?

It would be a lie to say he did not want a cultivation method.

Yet as the moment to open it drew near, Chen Yan hesitated.

The reason was simple.

He was hesitating over whether to open Minor Fortune of Great Luck and obtain enough Great Return Pills to raise his martial cultivation to the Third Blood Qi Realm first, or directly open Medium Fortune of Great Luck and acquire a cultivation method.

From a long-term perspective, opening Medium Fortune of Great Luck was undoubtedly the best choice.

After all, the sooner Chen Yan came into contact with cultivation, the more advantageous it would be for him.

But given his current circumstances, even if he obtained a cultivation method, it would not immediately increase his strength within a short time.

Minor Fortune of Great Luck, on the other hand, could provide enough Great Return Pills for Chen Yan to break through to the Third Blood Qi Realm at once, greatly increasing his combat power.

That way, whether facing the current situation or the unknown true culprit in the future, Chen Yan would have enough confidence to deal with them.

After considering it again and again, Chen Yan ultimately chose not to open Medium Fortune of Great Luck for now. Instead, he would open all of his Minor Fortune of Great Luck at once.

Once his strength rose, would he still need to fear being unable to obtain more merit?

Chen Yan believed that as long as he was strong enough, accumulating the next thousand points of merit would only be faster!

With that thought, Chen Yan no longer hesitated and silently recited:

"Open all Minor Fortune of Great Luck!"

At once.

Twelve hundred points of merit were instantly cleared, dropping Chen Yan's merit back to a single digit.

In return, he received ten Great Return Pills, one pill he had never seen before—snow-white in color and giving off a medicinal fragrance—and a martial arts manual, Dragon Step!

Having experienced the empowerment of the Blood Fiend Saber Technique once before, Chen Yan was much calmer when it came to Dragon Step this time.

Just like the Blood Fiend Saber Technique, the Heavenly Book of Merit directly infused Chen Yan with ten years of experience in Dragon Step, bringing it to the realm of Entered the Hall as well.

After roughly sensing it out, Chen Yan found that Dragon Step was a movement technique. It could make him faster in battle and render his movements more elusive, like a ghost's.

Although it was slightly inferior to the Blood Fiend Saber Technique, Chen Yan was still quite satisfied.

As for the newly obtained pill, the Heavenly Book of Merit had also identified it. Its name was the Life Creation Pill.

Chen Yan was not unfamiliar with this pill either. Unlike Shaolin Temple's Great Return Pill, the Life Creation Pill was a divine medicine purely for healing wounds and extending life. It could cure all strange poisons under heaven. Chen Yan had no use for it at present, but that might not be the case in the future.

After putting away the Life Creation Pill, Chen Yan turned his gaze to the ten round, plump Great Return Pills in his palm.

This was the main event of the night!

Without much hesitation, Chen Yan swallowed all ten Great Return Pills in his hand, sending the medicine into his belly!

Boom—

In an instant.

An incomparably powerful medicinal force surged up from within Chen Yan's body and swept through his entire being in a breath.

His blood qi boiled!

His sinews and bones trembled!

His flesh roared!

At that moment, Chen Yan felt as though he were enduring some immense pressure. Every bone and piece of flesh in his body crackled sharply beneath that pressure.

His face flushed red like a boiled shrimp. Sweat poured from the top of his head like rain, only to rapidly evaporate into wisps of white vapor.

Yet because Chen Yan's physique had already been close to the Second Blood Qi Realm.

This improvement brought him no pain at all. Instead, it felt remarkably comfortable.

Time passed, second by second.

When the powerful medicinal force within him gradually settled and his turbulent blood qi softened into streams of warmth that flowed through his limbs and bones, everything slowly returned to calm.

Chen Yan woke from meditation. Feeling the surging blood qi within him, like ten thousand horses galloping forth, he revealed an exhilarated smile.

"I've broken through."

Opening the panel, he found that it was exactly as expected:

Name: Chen Yan

Realm: Third Blood Qi Realm

Technique: Blood Fiend Saber Technique (Entered the Hall), Dragon Step (Entered the Hall)

Item: Fish Dragon Saber

Merit: 3

The Third Blood Qi Realm—achieved!