"You did it?"
"How many acupoints did he open to unleash such power?"
Lu Xuenning and Huang Chengyue had followed Chen Fan to Cao De's residence. The two of them had stayed outside the whole time, protecting him while he cultivated.
Now, hearing a commotion inside the residence, they burst straight through the door and saw Chen Fan emerging from the ruins of Cao De's study.
"Has he gone mad from cultivation?"
Huang Chengyue stared at Chen Fan as if he'd seen a ghost and couldn't help crying out.
At that moment, Chen Fan's hair was dry and yellow, and he looked withered and emaciated, skin stretched over bone. He seemed to have one foot in the grave.
"Chen Fan, what happened to you?"
Lu Xuenning asked.
"Cultivating the Blood Sha Skill requires Myriad Spirit Essence Blood. I couldn't find any especially high-quality essence blood, so I used my own as a medium to refine Blood Sha Qi and open the Blood Sha Spirit Aperture. Thankfully, I didn't disappoint you. I managed to succeed."
Chen Fan smiled, looking even more sinister and terrifying.
"I have some top-grade healing pills here. They can restore your energy and nourish your blood. Hurry and take some."
Lu Xuenning took a small jade bottle from her sleeve and handed it to Chen Fan.
Chen Fan opened the bottle. A medicinal fragrance wafted out, and even a sniff seemed to refresh his spirits. He tipped all the pills straight into his mouth, and waves of medicinal power unfurled inside him.
He used the Thirty-Six Acupoints throughout his body to absorb the essence of heaven and earth, refining it into Blood Sha Qi. It coursed through his extraordinary meridians before finally returning to his dantian. Then the Blood Sha Qi surged out of his dantian, carrying the medicinal power throughout his limbs and bones. Chen Fan's body quickly filled out, and much of his lost vitality returned.
"Now that's good medicine. It'd be great if I could get a few more bottles."
Chen Fan remarked.
"There aren't any more! Not even one!"
Lu Xuenning hurriedly shook her head.
These were life-saving pills her master had given her, and their value couldn't be measured in money. Chen Fan had just gobbled them all down like a cow chewing peonies.
To be honest, it hurt to see them go.
But when she thought of the sacrifice Chen Fan had made, she felt that if the pills could help him even a little, they had been well worth it.
"Come on, let's see how things are in the county."
Chen Fan smiled and said nothing more. He had now entered the Spirit Aperture Realm, opened thirty-six acupoints, connected with the essence of heaven and earth, and refined Blood Sha Qi. He could use the essence of heaven and earth to temper his body at any time, and his lost vitality would soon gradually return.
It was only because there was no time to wait that Lu Xuenning's pills had been so helpful.
"Everyone in the county has gathered near the county yamen. But at the rate the Black Willow Branches are spreading, they may cover all of Ping'an County before dawn. Then everyone will become fertilizer for the Black Willow Tree. No one will survive!"
Lu Xuenning spoke gravely.
"How long until dawn?"
Chen Fan asked again.
"It's already past the third watch. Dawn will come in two hours at most."
"Even if a Martial Artist in the Spirit Aperture Realm ran all the way from here to Black Mountain, it would take at least an hour."
Lu Xuenning answered.
"There's still time. It's not too late!"
Chen Fan looked at the vast, surging crowd near the county yamen. Every face was stricken with terror. The children were still bleary-eyed from sleep, bewildered and helpless.
He decided to set out immediately for Black Mountain and put an end to the strange Tree Demon there as soon as possible!
"Can Lord Chen Fan really do it?"
Watching Chen Fan's retreating figure, the crowd couldn't help but wonder.
Beneath the moonlight, they watched Chen Fan, one man and one blade, his back to the world, stride straight toward that eerie forest of trees.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Sensing Chen Fan's arrival, the forest accelerated its spread. Countless Black Willow Branches shot toward him!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Before the Black Willow Branches could even touch Chen Fan's clothes, the Blood Sha Qi bursting from his body destroyed them, reducing them to dust!
"To release true qi beyond the body with such skill—if I didn't know better, I'd think he'd spent years in the Spirit Aperture Realm!"
"Truly a peerless genius!"
Watching the way Chen Fan handled the attack, Lu Xuenning couldn't help praising him.
If she knew it had taken Chen Fan eight hundred years to reach this point—enough time for two or three generations of Spirit Aperture Realm Martial Artists to wither and die—who knew what she'd think!
She probably wouldn't even dare imagine it!
"Heaven and Earth—One Blade Sunders All!"
Chen Fan gripped the Meteorite Iron Blade as Blood Sha Qi surged from within him and flowed over its surface. He swung the blade, and the terrifying Blood Sha Qi became a heaven-splitting blade of light, cleaving through the forest woven from the Black Willow Branches!
With every ounce of his strength, he sprinted toward the city gate. Terrifying Blood Sha Qi rolled in every direction, and wherever it swept, countless Black Willow Branches crumbled to dust!
"He made it out!"
Lu Xuenning watched as Chen Fan's blade cleaved an opening in the forest woven from the Black Willow Branches. Before the gap could close, he had already reached the tower above Ping'an County's southern gate. He leaped high into the air and jumped outside the city.
Behind him, countless Black Willow Branches stabbed after him like arrows, but a tremor of his protective true qi reduced them all to dust!
At that very moment.
On the open ground outside the county's southern gate, countless Black Willow Branches intertwined, forming one treant after another from woven black leaves and boughs.
"Tree Demon, wait for me on Black Mountain. I'll come kill you!"
Chen Fan said in a low voice.
Once he'd spoken, he used the Meteorite Iron Blade to hack a path forward and plunged straight into battle against the countless treants.
The Black Willow Branches covered an enormous area, which was precisely why their power had been greatly diminished. Under Chen Fan's onslaught, the treants shattered in an instant!
Chen Fan carved a bloody path through the countless treants, leaving the area blanketed by Black Willow Branches far behind him.
Inside the county.
Lu Xuenning saw that the Black Willow Branches had begun spreading even faster.
"Chen Fan must have made it out of Ping'an County. The Tree Demon is moving faster, which means it's starting to panic."
"We can only hope Chen Fan reaches Black Mountain and destroys the Black Willow Tree's true body before the Black Willow Branches cover all of Ping'an County!"
Lu Xuenning spoke gravely, her face tense.
Chen Fan was truly racing against time. The lives of tens of thousands of people in Ping'an County rested entirely in his hands. If he failed, not a single person in the entire county would survive.
And he might die at the hands of the Black Willow Tree as well.
But if he succeeded, he would earn an immense merit. With such a feat, it would be unthinkable not to grant him the title of Jinyiwei Baihu. They might even make him a Jinyiwei Deputy Commander.
"Godfather, protect me while I cultivate!"
"We can't put all our hopes in Chen Fan. I must do my best to comprehend the path of Sword Heart Illuminates. If I can master it, I can break straight into the Spirit Aperture Realm and open the Thirty-Six Acupoints throughout my body."
"Then, even if the Black Willow Branches cover the whole county before Chen Fan reaches Black Mountain, I can lead everyone in holding them off and buy him time!"
Lu Xuenning glanced at Huang Chengyue beside her and spoke.
Under layer upon layer of pressure, she hadn't been crushed. Instead, her will had been tempered and her character forged. She now felt she was only one step away from breaking through to the Sword Heart Enlightenment Realm!
May everything still be in time!
Before you continue