Chapter 261: Great Fire Gāng Perfected! Old Jiang Acts! (1)

Jiang Ye glanced at Yin Qingqing with a detached gaze; his aged eyes held no extra emotion, yet Yin Qingqing’s heart jolted, every hair on her body standing on end.

“Master, wait a moment—I’ll get it right away!”

She nearly ran to a hidden corner of the courtyard, squatted down, and skillfully moved aside an ordinary-looking blue brick, pulling out a bulging cloth bundle.

“You’ve got quite a few good things hidden in this courtyard.”

Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow and gave a faint, knowing smile.

This woman understood the principle of the cunning rabbit’s three burrows—she hadn’t stored everything in one place.

Just now, the *Yin-Yang Combined Qi Method* had been taken from a hidden brick in the corner; now this bundle was hidden in a completely different spot.

Yin Qingqing lowered her head and carefully offered the bundle with both hands: “Master, everything is inside.”

Jiang Ye took the bundle, untied the cord, and pulled out several thin, cicada-wing-like disguise masks and a few slender branches.

The branches glowed with a faint dark purple hue, their surfaces smooth as wax, emitting a peculiar sweet fragrance identical to the strange scent he’d smelled on the mountain path—though much weaker, not enough to overwhelm.

“Could this be the hypnotic incense?!”

Jiang Ye’s gaze swept over the disguise masks, then settled on the slender branches, a flicker of interest in his eyes.

Yin Qingqing quickly looked up and explained:

“Master, these branches come from a rare tree deep in the Ten Thousand Mountains of Miaozhou—it naturally emits a bewitching fragrance.”

“After I obtained these branches, I soaked them in a secret potion to enhance their power.”

“Simply ignite them with true Gang, and the fragrance will spread automatically—unpredictable and impossible to guard against.”

“Any martial artist below the Primordial Realm who inhales this fragrance will fall into a dreamlike daze, unable to distinguish illusion from reality.”

She paused, then cleverly added at the end:

“You’re the only person I’ve ever met who can stay awake in this fragrance.”

Jiang Ye ignored her flattery, continuing to examine the disguise masks and branches, silently calculating.

As for disguise techniques, his Monkey Form True Intent—“Spiritual Monkey’s Thousand Transformations”—was undoubtedly the supreme method.

By controlling his two hundred and six bones, he could freely alter his appearance and posture.

But the only flaw in his Monkey Form True Intent was its inability to change skin texture.

His current skin state simply couldn’t compare to that of a young man.

Yin Qingqing’s disguise masks perfectly compensated for this weakness.

Thin as cicada wings, they felt weightless on the face; with slight adjustment via the Monkey Form True Intent to reshape bone contours, they became utterly convincing.

As for the branch incense, Jiang Ye had experienced it firsthand—it was truly impossible to guard against.

Even a seasoned expert like him had nearly fallen for it.

Ordinary Gang Qi cultivators had no chance.

“Perfect—I can use this right away.”

Jiang Ye gazed toward the fading silhouette of Zheng Lin, a cryptic smile tugging at his lips.

Without a word, he slipped the disguise masks and incense branches into his sleeve, then said calmly: “Very well, I’ll return now.”

Seeing Jiang Ye finally show signs of leaving, Yin Qingqing’s heart relaxed instantly; the weight she’d carried for so long finally settled, every cell in her body rejoicing.

This damned old man was finally leaving.

She could finally breathe.

Though she thought this, she forced a look of reluctance, barely squeezing out two dimples, her voice soft and sweet: “Master, are you leaving already? Qingqing is truly reluctant… I haven’t even had the chance to properly entertain you…”

Jiang Ye replied calmly: “Then I won’t leave.”

The “reluctance” on Yin Qingqing’s face froze instantly; her lips twitched uncontrollably, the two dimples she’d just forced into existence now absurdly stuck on her cheeks.

Seeing this, Jiang Ye chuckled, turned, and walked toward the courtyard gate with his hands behind his back.

Yin Qingqing hurried after him, hands folded before her, walking step by step behind him, her voice eager:

“Master, take care—I’ll see you off…”

Only when Jiang Ye’s figure vanished completely at the end of the Danyun Peak path did Yin Qingqing dare return to her courtyard.

She slammed the gate shut, leaned against it, and exhaled a long, heavy breath; then her legs buckled and she slumped to the ground, clutching her buttocks tightly, stifling sobs of pain:

“This is unbearable…”

“So painful!!!”

“I won’t be able to eat for days…”

After returning to Tianyun Peak’s courtyard, Jiang Ye wasted no time—he swallowed a Qian Gang Pill and sat cross-legged beside the Qingyan Grass field, beginning to refine and temper his Gang Qi.

Days passed.

The spiritual energy surrounding Jiang Ye, seated beside the Qingyan Grass field, grew denser and hotter.

Among the Five Element True Gāng, the Great Sun Heavenly Flame True Gāng was the most ferocious.

Now, through repeated refining, the crimson-gold Qi core in his dantian was visibly becoming denser; layer upon layer of impurities on its surface peeled away, leaving only pure crimson-gold radiance.

One day,

when the crimson-gold core finally reached its critical threshold,

BOOM—

an invisible wave of searing heat exploded outward from Jiang Ye’s courtyard.

Within a radius of nearly a thousand meters, temperature surged instantly.

Morning dew among the pine trees evaporated into mist.

Several disciples training nearby felt a wave of heat strike their faces; their back robes were soaked in sweat within mere breaths.

“This aura…”

Wen Yueyao, who had been nurturing her furnace fire beside the cauldron, snapped open her eyes; her bright gaze gleamed with wonder as she stared at Jiang Ye’s courtyard, exclaiming with barely concealed excitement:

“Old Master Jiang has broken through again!”

At that moment, not just her—Zheng Feng and his sister, Chen Lili, and Lü Ming—all turned instinctively toward Jiang Ye’s courtyard, their faces alight with excitement.

Meanwhile, inside the courtyard,

Jiang Ye slowly opened his eyes; within them, crimson-gold flames blazed fiercely, like two miniature suns that would never fade.

The aura radiating from him was as scorching as midday sun, causing even the Qingyan Grass—renowned for its fire resistance—to droop listlessly.

Had the Qingyan Grass not been naturally resistant to fire, Jiang Ye’s current aura alone would have reduced them to ash.

Feeling the surging, perfectly refined Great Sun Heavenly Flame True Gāng within his dantian, Jiang Ye’s lips slowly curved into a satisfied smile.

Fire True Gāng—fully perfected!