Chapter 15

In the room, a rich smell of blood quickly permeated.

Jiang Ye slowly withdrew his fist.

His knuckles were stained with some warm, viscous liquid; he glanced down, his eyes calm and waveless, as if he had just accidentally gotten some common stain on them while working, rather than having just blasted a living person's head apart.

Perhaps because he had seen too much bloodshed in this chaotic world, Jiang Ye, who had killed for the first time, felt incomparably calm inside.

He shook his hand, and a few drops of still-warm blood were shaken off by his force, splashing silently onto the ground, blooming into a few small blood plums.

His gaze then fell into the room, and he began to scan calmly, looking for the target of his trip: money!

He first leaned over and searched the burly body that had already lost its head.

Jiang Ye's movements were skilled and precise; avoiding the bloodstains, he quickly pulled out a heavy gray cloth money bag and a palm-sized celadon medicine bottle from the opponent's waist pouch and inner pocket.

The money bag felt quite heavy in his hand, clinking as it moved; it was broken silver.

Jiang Ye casually placed it aside, his attention immediately drawn by the porcelain bottle.

The porcelain bottle felt warm and smooth in his hand, with three small characters engraved on the bottle body in a simple style—

Blood-Replenishing Pill!

Jiang Ye's brows moved slightly, a flash of light passing through his eyes.

Although he had never used this elixir, he had heard of it in the martial arts hall.

The disciples in the inner courtyard who were valued, especially those from wealthy backgrounds like Zhang Xu and Su Yan, used this type of elixir for daily cultivation assistance and rapid recovery of blood and energy loss.

Its efficacy was far beyond that of the "Blood-Strengthening Soup" he received daily, which had its portion skimmed.

He pulled out the cork, which was tightly plugged with a soft wood stopper.

Immediately, a medicinal fragrance, several times richer than the Blood-Strengthening Soup and carrying a faint sweet and bitter scent, drifted out; just inhaling a trace of it made him feel his blood and energy become slightly more active in his chest and abdomen, and his spirit was lifted.

"Truly good stuff, as expected."

Jiang Ye's eyes lit up.

For him, who was in urgent need of vital energy nourishment, this elixir was no less than charcoal in the snow.

He tilted the bottle mouth and looked in the dim light; inside lay four pills the size of longan, dark red in color, with a faint luster on the surface.

"A pity, only four left."

Jiang Ye whispered to himself, quickly plugged the bottle, and tucked it securely into his inner pocket.

Next, he picked up the gray cloth money bag, untied the string, and looked inside; there were several dozen taels of broken silver.

Jiang Ye frowned slightly.

With the gambling den on Changxing Street earning money hand over fist, as the hall master sitting in command here, how could Xu Tao have only this much money on him?

He must have hidden the bulk of his wealth elsewhere.

He cast a cold glance at the headless corpse on the ground, then turned and began to search the room.

Jiang Ye's gaze was like a hawk's, sweeping over every seam of the walls, floor tiles, and furniture, his fingers tapping and pressing on suspicious spots from time to time.

As an old man who had lived for seventy years, he knew too well where these people who lived in the shadows were accustomed to hiding their valuables.

After a moment.

His fingers felt an extremely subtle abnormality on the edge of the heavy bed board on the wall side of the bed—the sound of one wooden board was slightly hollow, and the dust in the edge seams was unevenly distributed.

"Hmm? There's a hidden compartment here."

Jiang Ye applied a little force with his five fingers.

Crack.

A light sound.

The hidden compartment was broken open directly.

Jiang Ye reached in, his fingertips touching a cool, smooth paper object; he took them all out and spread them in his hand.

They were five banknotes with tough texture and excellent printing; borrowing the flickering lamp light, he could clearly see the vermilion official seal and the black "One Thousand Taels" characters on them.

"Five thousand taels!"

Even though Jiang Ye's temperament was as steady as a mountain, holding this stack of light yet heavy-as-a-thousand-jun banknotes, he couldn't help but reveal a trace of ecstasy on his aged face.

One must know that for ordinary people, one tael of silver was enough for a month's food and clothing.

These five thousand taels were enough for him to purchase a large amount of cultivation resources, even better than the "Blood-Replenishing Pill," supporting him in breaking through to the Hidden Force realm, and even laying a solid resource foundation for future impacts on the more mysterious Transformation of Force realm.

The resource bottleneck that had troubled him for many days had been forcibly pried open in this bloody night in such a direct and violent way.

Killing and arson truly bring golden belts.

Jiang Ye took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed his surging heart.

This place was not a place to stay for long.

He folded the banknotes carefully and hid them securely with the four Blood-Replenishing Pills.

Before leaving, Jiang Ye quickly scanned the room again to confirm that no other valuable items had been missed and that no traces that could expose his identity had been left behind.

Like when he came, he merged silently into the deep night outside the door, as if he had never appeared.

The night wind whistled, sweeping away the last trace of imperceptible breath.

Jiang Ye returned to the gatehouse of the martial arts hall and did not go to sleep.

He took out a Blood-Replenishing Pill and swallowed it slowly.

Boom!

As soon as the elixir entered his stomach, a hot, warm current dissolved in Jiang Ye's abdomen; this medicinal power came faster and more violently than the Blood-Strengthening Soup.

As the medicinal power flowed through his body, Jiang Ye unfolded his boxing stance.

This time, he first set up the Ape Form stance.

Because when he fought Xu Tao tonight, he had used the agility of the Ape Form to easily dodge Xu Tao's fatal blow.

This deepened his understanding of the Ape Form in the Five Animals Fist by another layer.

As his thoughts flowed, he seemed no longer to be in the narrow gatehouse, but had stepped into a deep, damp ancient forest.

Vines hung like curtains, the canopy blocked the sun, and the light was dim and unclear.

In the depths of this dense forest of consciousness, he "saw" a group of apes.

They were not playing and fighting, but were engaged in a kind of near-secretive communication and imitation.

An old ape squatted on a high branch, its posture sometimes stretching like an elder sitting, sometimes curling up like a stubborn stone.

Its facial muscles and bones could actually squirm and adjust subtly with its emotions and environment, causing its expression to flow between majesty, kindness, ignorance, and vigilance, making it difficult to grasp.

And the young apes were on the side, trying hard to imitate this change, twisting their necks, contracting their cheekbones, and stretching their jaws, as if that were not flesh and bone, but dough that could be kneaded at will.

An ancient saying goes: The ape connects a hundred apertures, and the form follows the thought!

A realization that seemed to originate from the ancient wilderness drilled into his sea of consciousness like a spirit snake:

【The ape is not just about the skill of climbing, but the extreme of spirituality, connecting all the apertures of the body, and controlling the micro-details of muscles and bones!】

【When the intention moves, the form changes; when the thought arises, the appearance changes; although there is no supernatural power to be reborn, there is a wonderful method to change one's appearance!】

【Seemingly playful imitation is actually the most subtle insight and control over one's own body; every inch of muscle, every section of bone, can be guided by intention, blood and energy can be fine-tuned, and one's appearance can be changed in the subtle details to confuse the senses!】

【Your comprehension is superb; from form to spirit, you have grasped the true meaning of the 'Ape Form'—Spirit Ape's Thousand Changes!】

Name: Jiang Ye

Lifespan: 80

Fate: Ladder to Divinity 【Effect 1: Superb Comprehension】

Martial Arts Mastered: Five Animals Fist 【Minor Success, 187/500】

True Meaning Mastered: Tiger Form like Sickness, Spirit Ape's Thousand Changes

The system's prompt was cold and clear, yet it seemed to carry the dampness and agility of the deep jungle.

"Hmm..."

Jiang Ye let out a muffled groan, and inside his body, which was maintaining a seated position, came a series of extremely slight, yet dense "crackle" sounds like rain hitting banana leaves.

That was not the sound of bones breaking, but all two hundred and six bones in his body, as well as the countless tendons and fascia attached to them, being gently awakened and plucked by a mysterious intention and force at the same time.

He clearly felt that his control over this body had deepened to an unprecedented microscopic level.

A strange sense of looseness and controllability permeated.

He felt that his face, and even his entire body, had become like a clay sculpture that had not yet fully set and could be slowly carved by his inner intention.

No need for a disguise mask, no need for evil bone-shrinking arts; just a slight movement of his heart, triggering the subtle adjustments of the blood, energy, and bones in the corresponding parts, and he could naturally present another temperament, or even the foundation of another face shape.

Jiang Ye tried to focus his intention on his cheeks, slightly retracting his jawbone, relaxing his masseter muscles, and raising the muscles on his cheekbones very slowly.

He could clearly feel the subtle displacement and wrinkle changes produced by the skin and flesh on his face.

"Is this still me..."

Jiang Ye came to the bronze mirror and was slightly startled.

He saw that his appearance was already visibly different from a moment ago, with a bit less old age and rigidity, and a bit more of an indescribable sense of strangeness.

Even if Liu Liu Qingshi, who knew him best, were face to face with him, he probably wouldn't recognize him.

"Spirit Ape's Thousand Changes, existing in one heart! Changing appearance, confusing the senses!"

A faint yet deep and playful arc slowly hooked at the corner of Jiang Ye's mouth.

Although the true meaning of the Ape Form, "Spirit Ape's Thousand Changes," had no lethality, in Jiang Ye's eyes, its practicality might be even stronger than the true meaning of the Tiger Form.

This meant he had countless unknown identities.

The harvest tonight was truly too great.