Bat Vision

Edel has been apprehended, and Chen Xia has no further business here.

Patrol officers are handling the scene at the residential building, sealing everything. Chen Xia hadn't seen anything when he entered earlier, but there was indeed something.

It was all stored in a secret room, piled with considerable wealth, experimental notes, and materials.

This experience made Chen Xia realize his own strength was lacking. If not for Jiang Xinglan and the others, dealing with the cultists and Edel's methods wouldn't have gone so smoothly.

Fortunately, he obtained a secret technique during this operation. Combined with the Eternal Night Blood Scripture, he now has more options.

"I need to study this when I get back!"

Chen Xia was eager to go home.

Jiang Xinglan had offered to send someone to escort him, but he felt it was unnecessary.

He sent a message to Xiao Qiang, who was waiting at a distance.

"Understood, Captain Chen, I'll be right there!"

A taxi was parked at a rural fork in the road outside Tongxin Village. Xiao Qiang had witnessed everything that had happened.

He had initially thought Chen Xia was investigating a missing persons case, but seeing so many Patrol Inspection Office personnel and a Laser Flyer nearby, he was somewhat stunned.

Since he was responsible for surveillance, he hadn't dared to move without Chen Xia's order. Only after Chen Xia messaged him did he wake the sleeping driver to pick him up.

"Let's head back," Chen Xia said as he got into the car. He didn't say much with the driver present.

When the car arrived at Chen Xia's doorstep, he got out.

"Captain Chen, I'm heading off."

Xiao Qiang said goodbye, looking a bit tired. Chen Xia smiled, "Yes, I really appreciate your help this time. I'll report your contributions, don't worry."

Hearing this, Xiao Qiang chuckled, "Captain Chen is joking. It was just surveillance; I've done this before. It's hardly a major contribution."

Xiao Qiang naturally didn't think much of it. He had done this hundreds of times since joining the Patrol Inspection Office; it wasn't worth mentioning as a contribution.

"This time is different. You should head back; it's getting late," Chen Xia said with a smile, offering no further explanation.

Xiao Qiang guessed that this incident was unusual, but he wasn't entirely sure. Wasn't this the resolution of a missing persons case?

Only Chen Xia knew that Xiao Qiang's contribution was significant. They hadn't just solved a Gathering of Righteousness kidnapping case; they had uncovered a far more serious matter: the Night God Sect's ritual to summon the Blood God, which threatened the public security of the entire Yijiang region.

Chen Xia returned home at one in the morning.

He quietly opened the door, not wanting to disturb his family, and went up to his room on the second floor.

His house had a similar structure on both floors. The ground floor housed a supermarket and a courier station. The second floor was a modest three-bedroom, one-living-room setup, with Chen Xia occupying the innermost room. His elder brother and younger sister were not home, so he essentially had the place to himself.

He sat down and took a red book from the inner lining of his jacket, carefully flipping through its pages.

This book looked similar to the one Chen Xia had found in the Gathering of Righteousness basement. Both had red covers and thick pages filled with dense text and illustrations.

Chen Xia skimmed through it and indeed found two techniques recorded within.

Blood Shadow Bat and Blood Soul Bewitching Heart.

These two spirit techniques didn't have specific ranks, but he had seen Night God Sect members use them before. As secret techniques of the Night God Sect, they required the Eternal Night Blood Scripture as a foundation and sufficient spiritual power to be effective, possessing considerable terrifying power.

Chen Xia's spiritual power should be sufficient, so he immediately reversed the two secret techniques.

[Blood Shadow Bat: Condenses one's own blood energy into a bat for scouting, expanding vision. If destroyed, it causes mental damage.]

[Negative Reversal: If destroyed, it can be recondensed and has the effect of strengthening spiritual power.]

[Blood Soul Bewitching Heart: Manipulates the target's mind, causing them to fall into an illusion. If the target's will is too strong, the caster may suffer backlash and mental damage.]

[Negative Reversal: If the target's will is too strong and the casting fails, it can strengthen spiritual resilience.]

After the reversal, a flood of information and illustrations poured into Chen Xia's mind through the book, naturally making him understand many things.

It felt as if Chen Xia had already mastered the manual and understood it thoroughly, with the secret techniques upgraded and free of side effects.

According to the information in his mind, Blood Shadow Bat could convert the Yin Sha within his body—which for Chen Xia was Blood Yang—into a bat imbued with his own spiritual will. This bat could fly out to gather information and provide a better field of vision.

Blood Soul Bewitching Heart was an illusion technique that could cause enemies to become dazed or even controlled, with no side effects for the caster.

"By mastering these two spirit secret techniques, I can be considered a sorcerer. Combined with my strength as a martial warrior, among those of the same level, they will not only have to defend against my martial force but also against my spiritual attacks."

Chen Xia understood that spirit secret techniques could sometimes be far more lethal than martial force and were extremely practical. For instance, vision could allow a martial warrior to gain information beforehand and avoid danger.

With this thought, Chen Xia began to learn the first secret technique, Blood Shadow Bat.

He first took a shower, washed off the facial makeup, tidied his clothes, and then returned to his bed to sit in meditation, circulating the Eternal Night Blood Scripture. After mobilizing the Blood Yang within his body, he began to mentally visualize the Blood Shadow Bat.

This process lasted for two hours.

Finally, above Chen Xia's head, enveloped in a mist of blood, a bat the size of his palm gradually became clear. The sensation was incredibly strange. He experimented multiple times before successfully condensing it, and then his vision changed.

Or rather, he gained two modes of vision: one was the darkness he experienced with his eyes closed, and the other was a top-down perspective, allowing him to see his own head and his legs crossed, covered by a quilt.

"Out!"

Chen Xia willed it, and the bat above his head began to flap its wings and fly. It was a bit clumsy at first, bobbing up and down, but it eventually reached the window not far away and flew out through a gap, ascending into the sky.

Instantly, the scene within a radius of several hundred meters unfolded before him: a cluster of low-rise houses, three to four stories high, dilapidated walls, utility poles, dark alleys, and the faint movement of stray cats and dogs on the road. Though it was dark, he could see everything.

"This feels so magical..."

Chen Xia finally understood why some people practiced Evil Techniques. Without spiritual talent, mastering such secret arts would be impossible through any other means.

The bats he controlled had been flying, but after reaching two hundred and thirty meters, he clearly felt his energy waning, so they returned.

Chen Xia's complexion was slightly pale. Casting this technique was quite draining mentally, but the benefit was that the more he practiced, the more his spirit could be improved. Over time, he would become more proficient, and his spiritual power would grow stronger.

Too excited to sleep, Chen Xia spent hours practicing the Blood Shadow Bat technique, finding endless joy in it.

Only when the bats could be freely controlled, flying around in the sky, and he had gained a certain level of proficiency did Chen Xia, exhausted, finally lie down for a good sleep. Four hours later, he woke up early and continued practicing.

"Sizzle..."

A Blood Shadow Bat, easily overlooked, flew out from the edge of the window. In Chen Xia's mind, the image became even clearer.

In the morning, the streets of the old town were already bustling with people. There were aunties selling vegetables, old men riding tricycles to collect recyclables, or workers rushing to their jobs. Everything was in full view, yet no one noticed the small bat resting on the rooftop, quietly observing everything around it.