Encountering a Robbery!

"Endless Life really is useful. My body can support me in battle, and my soul skill can repair me on its own. It's practically the perfect combination."

He patted the Wind Wolf on the head, then left.

The Wind Wolf lay sprawled on the ground, and for the first time, something like fear appeared in its murky yellow eyes.

Similar bouts happened almost every day.

Sometimes it was a Forest Wood Pig, sometimes a Stone Horn Deer, and occasionally he ran into a few Iron-Tooth Rats or Red-Tail Foxes.

They were all ten-year soul beasts, and their ferocity varied, but Lan Tian never used his soul skill. He dealt with them purely through his body and movement techniques.

After every fight, he carefully reviewed the timing of his punches, the angle of his dodges, the nodes where he exerted force, and his predictions of the enemy's movements, polishing his combat skills bit by bit.

Small wounds had also begun to appear on his body—skin torn by beast claws, bruises grazed by fangs—but none of them mattered. The moment Endless Life activated, they recovered in an instant.

At night, he soaked in the medicinal bath he prepared daily, letting the warm decoction envelop his entire body, dispel his fatigue, nourish his meridians, and then, together with meditation, circulate his soul power.

As for Whale Glue, he later went to the black market a few more times, but he never ran into any hundred-year-old ones again. He did manage to buy ten-year-old ones twice, though the amounts were small; added together, they were less than half a jin.

Although the age was a bit low, small gains added up. Used together with the medicinal bath, the effects were still barely acceptable.

And so, about a month passed.

That night, after soaking in his medicinal bath, he sat cross-legged amid the clump of Blue Silver Grass in the courtyard and began to meditate.

Soul power flowed through his meridians, much more condensed than it had been a month ago. He could clearly sense that he was no longer far from the threshold of rank fourteen.

At his current pace, if he maintained the rhythm of medicinal baths and practical combat training, along with the occasional low-age Whale Glue he picked up from the black market as support, he should break through to rank fourteen in about two months.

Moreover, after this month of practical combat training, his control over his own body had risen by another level.

His fists and feet were faster, his reactions sharper, and his predictions of enemy movements more accurate.

Those ten-year soul beasts were not strong enough, but their advantage lay in their numbers and variety. Each species had different attack methods and habits, and fighting them was itself the best accumulation of experience.

Moonlight spilled down, and the Blue Silver Grass in the courtyard glowed with a faint green light.

Lan Tian drew back his thoughts and sank into deeper cultivation.

He vaguely felt that when he broke through to rank fourteen, both his physique and soul power would undergo a qualitative change.

By then, perhaps he could consider going a little deeper into Soul Hunting Forest.

In the days that followed, Lan Tian's life completely settled into a routine.

He saw patients in the morning, entered Soul Hunting Forest in the afternoon for practical combat and herb gathering, and took medicinal baths plus meditated at night.

Apart from bathing, the four one-hundred-jin Weighted Rings never left his body. He had gradually grown accustomed to the weight, and the sluggishness in his movements had lessened by at least thirty percent compared to the beginning.

He restocked medicinal ingredients from Shopkeeper Chen once every ten days, buying a full Gold Soul Coin's worth each time. The medicinal bath formula also gradually stabilized through repeated trial and error, and the effect of the medicinal power penetrating his body was much stronger than at first.

As for the black market, he went around once every three days. Although he never encountered hundred-year-old Whale Glue again, he collected some ten-year-old pieces here and there. Small amounts added up, and mixed into the medicinal bath, the trips were not entirely wasted.

But when all was said and done, cultivation depended on steady accumulation over time.

He knew very well that the threshold from rank thirteen to rank fourteen was higher than any point from rank ten to rank thirteen. Steady progress was the fastest path. There was no rushing it.

That evening, the sky was already growing dark, and he was hurrying back after finishing his training in the outer perimeter of Soul Hunting Forest.

He carried several freshly picked Numb-Bone Vines, planning to process them after returning and replenish his stock.

On both sides of the road in the twilight were stretches of farmland. In the distance, the outline of Nuoding City floated hazily in the dimness, and scattered lights had already lit up on the city walls.

After walking for about two quarters of an hour, the trees by the roadside gradually grew denser. Ahead was a bend in the road, with thick low woods on both sides.

He kept walking, about to pass through this stretch of road, when his steps suddenly paused.

There were people.

In the low woods on the left. More than one.

Lan Tian continued forward without showing a thing, but his right hand had already silently settled on the hidden clasp of the medicine box at his waist.

His five senses had grown far sharper than before through this period of practical combat training. Although the other party was hidden fairly well, the sounds of breathing and the faint rustle of cloth still exposed their positions in the quiet twilight.

Sure enough, before he had taken ten more steps, two dark figures suddenly sprang out of the bushes on the left, one in front and one behind, blocking his path.

In front was a short, stocky man holding a cudgel, his face covered with black cloth, revealing only a pair of fiercely glinting eyes.

The man behind him was thinner and taller, similarly masked, playing with a short blade in his hand. The tip of the blade gleamed coldly in the dim light.

"Stop."

The short, stocky man spoke, his voice hoarse and low. "Leave behind all the money and medicinal herbs on you. We two brothers are after wealth, not lives. If you know what's good for you, hand them over obediently, and you'll save yourself some suffering."

Lan Tian stopped and quickly swept his gaze over the two of them.

Masked, blocking the road, threatening him with words but not in a hurry to attack—this was not their first time doing this sort of thing. And judging by the coordination of their positions, their teamwork was probably not unfamiliar.

But he noticed one detail.

When the short, stocky man spoke, the soul power fluctuation rising beneath his feet was very faint. If Lan Tian had not sensed wrong, the man was at most at the level of a one-ring soul master.

The aura of the thin, tall man behind him was even weaker. He might not even have broken through rank ten, just an ordinary man with a bit more strength.

A one-ring soul master bringing an ordinary thug along to commit highway robbery.

Lan Tian sneered inwardly, but his face remained perfectly calm. "Gentlemen, I'm only a passing physician. I don't have much of value on me. If you're short on money, I can hand over today's consultation fees, and we can all go our own way in peace."

As he spoke, his right hand slowly reached for the money pouch inside his clothes, as if he were about to take out the money.

Seeing him cooperate, the stocky man's fierce glare eased slightly, and his tone was no longer so tense. "At least you know what's good for you. Hurry up."

The instant Lan Tian's hand slipped into his clothes and blocked the other man's line of sight, the fingertips of his left hand gently flicked open the hidden clasp of his medicine chest, and a cold scalpel slid silently into his palm.

Immediately after, his right foot stamped hard against the ground, and his whole body shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.

The stocky man's pupils shrank. Before he could react at all, Lan Tian was already right in front of him.

The scalpel was almost invisible in the dusk light, moving as fast as a silver thread as it sliced precisely across the left side of his throat.

That was where the carotid artery was. His understanding of the human body far surpassed that of most people in this world, and nineteen years of dissection practice had made him know every lethal point by heart.