Entering the Game Himself

Meng Yuan took out his dagger and slit open the snake's corpse. Its gleaming white flesh spread open like a blossoming flower.

This Black Serpent was strange and extraordinarily thick. Meng Yuan rummaged around for a long time, pulling out all its internal organs.

At last, he found a gallbladder the size of an infant's fist. It was pitch-black, but once he wiped away the blood, it actually seemed to have a faint sheen.

Meng Yuan picked the Red Flame Fruit, steadied himself a little, then swallowed it in one gulp.

For a moment, it felt as though burning charcoal had scraped down his throat. Then a fire seemed to ignite in his belly. His whole body grew scorching hot, his muscles and bones burned with pain, and his Dantian felt ready to burst from the surges of hot Qi.

"Aah-!"

Meng Yuan felt as though he had fallen into a fiery pit. Seeing heat steaming from his body, he had no time to think. He grabbed the snake's gallbladder, forced it into his mouth, and swallowed it whole.

The moment the gallbladder reached his stomach, a cool sensation spread through him. Although it could not dispel the burning, it greatly eased the pain.

Meng Yuan immediately closed his eyes and calmed his mind. Drawing on that cool sensation, he circulated his internal power to wear away the endless burning Qi.

After an unknown length of time, Meng Yuan exhaled a breath of turbid Qi, then circulated his Qi to regulate his breathing.

The internal power in Meng Yuan's Dantian surged and roared. He felt boundless strength throughout his body-he had gained forty or fifty years' worth of cultivation outright!

Meng Yuan mustered his Qi and leaped thirty feet into the air, with strength still to spare.

There's still some scorching Qi inside me, but it's no longer anything to worry about.

Internal cultivation draws out one's own Qi. Swallowing a snake's gallbladder and an extraordinary fruit may mean relying on external things, but ultimately, they must still be converted into human strength.

Human strength eventually runs out. Martial arts can neither save the world nor grant immortality. Seeking immortals and pursuing the Dao is the only lasting path.

With these thoughts, Meng Yuan took out some dry rations to eat and drank some dew.

Only after practicing two sets of exercises did Meng Yuan pull Lü Yinglong's saber from the snake's eye, wipe it clean, and hang it at his waist.

He also took the Black Serpent's fangs. After searching the surroundings several times and finding nothing left behind, Meng Yuan went to search Lü Yinglong's corpse.

He obtained some banknotes and two bottles of pills, then piled some loose stones over Lü Yinglong's body to serve as a grave.

After climbing out of the valley, Meng Yuan headed down the mountain.

It was the wheat harvest season in May, and the weather was very hot. The scorching Qi still inside Meng Yuan left him restless and irritable.

Once out of the mountains, Meng Yuan changed his clothes and found a brothel.

Meng Yuan had spent two years lying low here, practiced an internal cultivation art of utmost hardness and ferocity, and was still young. Desire between men and women was only natural, and he sometimes came to brothels to lend a little support.

After bedding nine women in one night, much of the scorching Qi subsided, but when he woke, it returned.

Meng Yuan reckoned he would still have to wear it away through his own cultivation, spending three to five months fully absorbing the Red Flame Fruit's effects.

"Young master, you're a mighty man. I know a way to make a fortune that offers both pleasure and money. Would you be interested?" Once he settled the bill, the madam saw Meng Yuan's dark complexion and knew he was certainly no wealthy young master, so she tried to persuade him to sell his body.

"I'm a nine-foot man, a fine fellow who stands tall beneath heaven! Every coin I earn comes from fighting with my own fists and feet. How could I do something so filthy? Get lost!" Meng Yuan angrily berated the madam.

After packing his belongings, Meng Yuan headed straight for Spring Radiance Prefecture.

The Chen Household possessed a secret concerning immortals, but only Chen Qingyuan's branch knew it. Now that Chen Qingyuan was dead, only the siblings Chen Yucheng and Chen Yuyin remained in the know.

In his previous life, Chen Yucheng had also died that year, so Meng Yuan's plans would still have to center on Chen Yuyin.

Upon arriving in Spring Radiance Prefecture, Meng Yuan made a few inquiries and learned that neither Chen Yucheng nor Chen Yuyin had returned.

The household was now actually being managed by Chen Yucheng's wife, Wang.

Meng Yuan had met Wang in his previous life. Her two sons, Huaixian and Huaiyuan, had both been quite capable. Chen Yuyin had personally taught them, and both were accomplished in scholarly and martial pursuits.

When night fell, Meng Yuan covered his face and slipped into the Chen Household residence.

He kept at it for half a month, yet found absolutely nothing.

He searched Chen Qingyuan's quarters and those of the Chen siblings, even looking beneath Wang's bed. There was nothing!

Although the Chen Household had many books, most were medical texts and records of their ancestors' medical insights across the generations. They had nothing whatsoever to do with immortals.

There were not even any records of the Black Serpent or the Red Flame Fruit, and he failed to find a single hidden chamber.

In my previous life, Chen Yuyin said her family's secret was never committed to writing. It seems that was true!

Chen Qingyuan is dead, and Chen Yucheng will probably die too. That leaves only Chen Yuyin who knows the secret!

Over the past two years, whenever Meng Yuan had nothing to do, he pondered how to deal with Chen Yuyin.

Now that Lü Yinglong was dead, Chen Yuyin had become a widow.

Meng Yuan had quite a few ways of dealing with widows.

If a widow had children, start with them and treat them as your own.

If she had no children, it was even easier!

If she had a strong temperament, be weak and act as her son. If she was weak, protect and cherish her, and act as her father.

In short, whatever a widow lacked, you had to possess. Of course, possessing it did not mean you had to give it to her. Letting her see and touch it was enough!

But Chen Yuyin was no ordinary person. She practiced martial arts, harbored deep schemes, employed ruthless methods, and was especially skilled at putting on an act. She also placed little importance on relations between men and women, so he would have to adapt to the circumstances and prescribe the right medicine for the ailment.

Moreover, Chen Yuyin could endure and bide her time, and her thoughts ran exceptionally deep. Force probably would not work on someone like her.

Kidnap her late brother's orphaned children and use them to threaten her? Those two children were only six or seven. Meng Yuan was no gentleman, but he was unwilling to do that.

Besides, compared with two little children, the secret the Chen family had guarded for over a thousand years mattered more. Chen Yuyin could tell the difference.

If he was going to act, he would go after Chen Yuyin herself!

Meng Yuan knew deeply how to deal with Chen Yuyin.

What Chen Yuyin cared about was fulfilling her father's and brother's dying wishes: securing the throne of a mortal emperor.

Now she had no one whose strength she could draw upon and was alone and helpless. Once she felt he could become her support-and indispensable support at that-the matter would be more than half accomplished.

Meng Yuan planned not to seek immediate results. He could spend three or five years, even ten or twenty, or devote his whole life to it. As long as he obtained the secret concerning immortals, it would not be a loss!

What sort of strategist was he if he did not enter the game himself?

Taking the money he had stolen from the Chen Household, Meng Yuan changed into another set of clothes, then came to the Chen Household residence.

"Is this my brother-in-law's saber? Where did he go? Did he meet with misfortune?" Wang was around thirty, still wore mourning clothes, and was quite attractive.

"Brother Lü did indeed meet with misfortune. He left a few final words, but I can only speak them once I see Chen Yuyin." Meng Yuan cupped his fist in salute and asked, "Where is my sister-in-law Chen Yuyin? Please ask her to come out and meet me!"

"Yuyin went away to purchase medicinal herbs and hasn't returned in a long time. Because my father-in-law was gravely ill, my husband went looking for Yuyin last year. Neither has come back yet, and they even missed my father-in-law's funeral..." Wang's eyes reddened. She was not particularly scheming.

The claim about purchasing medicinal herbs was certainly a lie.

"Did they say where she went to buy medicinal herbs?" Meng Yuan asked.

"I've always only managed household affairs. I know nothing about the business, and my husband never spoke of it." Wang shook her head, looking deeply aggrieved herself.

Meng Yuan had spent most of the past half month in the Chen Household residence and often heard Wang crying at night. He knew she was not putting on an act.

However, this also showed that the Chen Household had not treated Wang as one of their own. She knew nothing of it.

"You look worn out, madam. Are you facing some difficulty? Lü Yinglong was as dear as my own brother, and Chen Yuyin is as dear as my own sister-in-law! You, too, are as dear as my own sister-in-law. If you have any difficulties, please speak freely. Though my martial skills are meager, I understand loyalty and filial duty, and I am willing to risk my life to repay them!" Meng Yuan cared nothing about speaking too intimately upon such a brief acquaintance. Faced with a frail widow, he unconsciously fell into his practiced patter.

"How could I trouble an honored guest?" Only then did Wang take a careful look at Meng Yuan.

The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and Meng Yuan went to bow several times before Chen Qingyuan's memorial tablet. Wang asked the Chen Household's paternal cousins to host a banquet for Meng Yuan, then arranged a quiet courtyard for him.

From then on, Meng Yuan stayed at the Chen Household residence.