Weird Iron Plate!

Mid-October arrived in the blink of an eye.

This day.

The night was deep.

Zhou Boren took the longsword that belonged to his deceased father, tucked a few taels of silver, some coarse grain biscuits, and a bag of cooled boiled water into his arms, and tiptoed out of his home, heading straight for the outside of the village.

"Dad actually got this kind of treasure, no wonder he was killed!"

"Qian Yu! Humph! Crocodile tears!"

"Just you wait! When I've achieved success in cultivation, you'll be the first one I kill!"

Zhou Boren was twenty years old this year, infertile. Both his children were secretly conceived through borrowed seed. For the past two years, Zhou Boren had always felt that people were laughing at him, always felt that his wife was still secretly in contact with that person, and his mind became increasingly twisted.

This time, Zhou Shan being killed by Qian Yu made Zhou Boren sense something strange.

Recalling it carefully a few days later, he remembered Zhou Shan's abnormality from days before. Following the clues, he indeed discovered the secret.

"I have to leave quickly!"

"Delay will lead to complications!"

"Qian Yu! Chu Jingang! Neither of them are good people!"

Zhou Boren muttered to himself incessantly, actually to bolster his courage.

He was only at the Fetal Breath Stage. Leaving Yinlian Village alone in the middle of the night for the wild and desolate lands was a gamble; whether he could survive was another matter.

But he couldn't stand it. Rather than staying in Yinlian Village, living in constant fear and being pointed at, it was better to leave.

Anyway, with that treasure on him, he could cultivate quickly and break through to the Inner Qi Stage with ease.

So he left quickly.

He traveled this way without incident.

More than ten days passed. The village had already moved on from the matter of Zhou Shan. Moreover, when Qian Yu and the village chief Chu Jingang came to interrogate him at the time, Zhou Boren genuinely knew nothing about Zhou Shan's affairs, and his family had long since passed the scrutiny.

Those important figures didn't have much time to keep an eye on these small fry.

The journey was smooth.

He left his home.

He left the village.

Zhou Boren breathed a sigh of relief, feeling refreshed and joyful.

Then, without looking back, he plunged straight into the forest.

Immediately after, a black shadow flashed, and a palm strike aimed directly at his forehead.

"What!"

He didn't have time to react--

Bang!

Zhou Boren felt his forehead split open, his vision went black, and he died on the spot!

"What a bold one!"

"To dare leave the village at the Fetal Breath Stage!"

Meng Nan retracted his palm, kicked up the longsword beside Zhou Boren, and with the sword in hand, he thrust it through his throat, then through his heart, and finally through his dantian.

After these three strikes, he could finally be sure that Zhou Boren couldn't fake his death.

This action was out of caution, but Meng Nan discovered that after his three strikes, Zhou Boren's blood flowed out, and a faint light emanated from a spot on his person, near his chest.

The faint light attracted this blood, gathering it, and absorbing it.

In an instant, Zhou Boren's corpse rapidly shriveled, all his blood and moisture sucked away by this faint light.

"This--"

Meng Nan watched, his eyelids twitching.

He used his sword to cut open Zhou Boren's clothes on his chest and saw a palm-sized iron牌 tucked inside. The faint light gradually receded; it was this thing causing trouble.

"Is this the source of Zhou Shan's evil methods, the foundation of Zhou Boren's rapid rise?"

Meng Nan pondered for a moment. He didn't touch the iron plaque, but instead poked it aside. He first buried Zhou Boren on the spot. Then, using his sword to poke the iron plaque, he moved it and buried it in another location.

Finally, the longsword in his hand was wiped clean with clear water to remove any traces or scent, and it too was buried in the soil.

With everything done.

Meng Nan wasted no more time and turned back into the village.

Ten days passed.

Only a few people in Yinlian Village knew that Zhou Boren had left in the dead of night, but where he went was unknown. He was merely a twenty-year-old at the Fetal Breath Stage, and besides Zhou's family, no one paid him any attention.

Everything was as usual.

In the following days, two more ordinary Inner Qi Stage cultivators quietly disappeared from Yinlian Village, never to return after going out hunting.

Perhaps they met misfortune.

Perhaps they went elsewhere.

Who knew?

Who cared?

Just like Zhou Boren, without a sound.

Eat your rice one bite at a time. Do things one by one.

After returning in his second life, Meng Nan continued with his original rhythm—

Working! Cultivation! Killing!

The rhythm remained unchanged.

First, he killed Zhou Boren, then two Inner Qi Stage cultivators. Everything went smoothly.

Other than that.

There was nothing else.

Meng Nan might seem powerful, but he was actually still only at the Fetal Breath Stage. Too weak.

The current priority was solely cultivation.

He killed for the sake of cultivation.

"Since it's easier to kill those above my stage in the Fetal Breath Stage, I'll stay in this stage longer. I'll enter the future timeline multiple times to accumulate more foundation."

"Once I reach the Inner Qi Stage, it won't be as easy to kill those above my stage. By then, if I want to kill True Qi Stage cultivators, there are only twenty or so in the entire Yinlian Village. Where would I find them?"

"Leave the village?"

"It's not safe to leave the village at the Inner Qi Stage."

"I'd best cultivate to the True Qi Stage using the future timeline while I'm still in the Fetal Breath Stage. When I'm at the peak of the Inner Qi Stage in reality, I'll go hunt True Qi Stage cultivators. Once I complete the progress, I'll immediately advance to the True Qi Stage, ensuring my safety."

"And I can't just be an ordinary True Qi Stage cultivator. I need to be invincible even among True Qi Stage cultivators, so I can continue to unlock the future timeline and form a virtuous cycle."

He planned ten steps ahead.

Breaking through instantly felt great, but if he couldn't kill those above his stage afterward, couldn't complete the progress, and couldn't unlock the future timeline, it would be troublesome and waste a lot of time for no reason.

This principle was simple and obvious.

"I'll maintain my reality at the Fetal Breath Stage for now!"

"During this time, I will cultivate in the future timeline until I am invincible at the True Qi Stage, capable of killing True Essence Stage cultivators who are above my current level."

"Then, we'll talk about advancing!"

Sharpening the axe does not delay the chopping of wood.

Meng Nan made up his mind.

That night.

After cultivating.

Meng Nan and Zhao Xiaoshuang soaked their feet together.

Nearly four months pregnant, Zhao Xiaoshuang's belly was increasingly noticeable. She was originally a bit thin, but now she looked slightly plump.

"I wonder if it's a boy or a girl?"

Zhao Xiaoshuang touched her belly, her face full of anticipation.

Meng Nan was also looking forward to it.

He had spent time with his three children in his previous two lives, but the youngest, Meng Santan, was already seven years old then. He hadn't seen them when they were little.

Unless Meng Nan died very early in his next life, he could only wait in reality for the children to be born to see them as newborns and in their childhood.

"I guess it's a boy."

Meng Nan pressed his ear to Zhao Xiaoshuang's belly, wanting to listen for any sounds within, and said with a smile.

He had been cultivating and killing for the past month, but he hadn't neglected his attention to Zhao Xiaoshuang.

Giving birth was a physical ordeal for women, and a psychological one as well.

Before childbirth.

After childbirth.

could potentially develop psychological issues.

Meng Nan did his best to fulfill his duties as a husband.

Spending time together daily.

Chatting often.

Meng Nan had met two different versions of Zhao Xiaoshuang in her thirties, but he hadn't spent much time with her when she was in her teens. Comparing the different stages was quite interesting.

He found joy in it.

As the couple talked, laughter occasionally filled the room.

When the house was quiet and deep into the night, and Zhao Xiaoshuang was fast asleep, Meng Nan injected the last two points of Inner Breath--

Progress complete.

The third life begins!