Chapter 206

Fu Lingyuan's clash with the Dark Moon Dharma King continued until late at night.

Eventually the Dark Moon Dharma King was forced to leave Yunzhou City, and Fu Lingyuan pursued him all the way to kill him.

Xiao Yinglin took advantage of the chaos to flee, but Qin Shuo had already locked onto his aura.

Not long after the Dark Moon Dharma King left, Qin Shuo caught up and shot him dead with an arrow.

By this point, aside from Xiao Yingqi still on Xuanbing Mountain, the Xiao family members were either dead or imprisoned, leaving them no chance to recover.

He sat cross-legged in meditation through the night until dawn.

As dawn just broke, Qin Shuo got up, leapt onto the roof, and practiced breathing exercises facing the morning glow.

Although he had already reached the Great Completion of Condensed Truth, gathering the essence of heaven and earth and accumulating true essence could not be interrupted.

After Condensed Truth comes Refining Viscera.

Refining Viscera means using one's own essence to cleanse the organs, causing them to undergo a transformation and burst forth with greater vitality.

The five viscera are the source of the body's power.

Thus, once Refining Viscera is accomplished, all the organs improve, and the martial artist's physical quality undergoes a tremendous change.

The simplest example: once the stomach is refined, a martial artist's digestive and absorptive ability can be greatly enhanced.

In martial arts cultivation, three parts rely on training, seven parts on diet.

Whether it's elixirs or exotic beast meat, even if digestive and absorptive ability improves by only ten percent, the boost to a martial artist's strength is enormous.

Besides this, the heart, liver, kidneys, spleen, intestines…

Refining these organs also greatly enhances the martial artist's physique.

Exhale!

Inhale!

With the rise and fall of the chest, true qi flows like water along the meridians into the organs.

Only after he began attempting to refine his viscera did Qin Shuo truly appreciate the marvelous use of Yuanci true qi.

Yuanci power seems illusory, yet it truly exists and is everywhere.

Compared to the fierce dominance of Vajra power and the destruction and sharpness of Heaven-Severing Blade intent,

Yuanci power is more like flowing water, present in every inch of flesh, skin, organs, and bones.

All tangible matter in the world possesses magnetism and thus a magnetic field.

Ordinary martial artists refining their organs are like a rolling river scouring stones that tumble down from the mountain, gradually grinding away their edges until they become pebbles.

Then, through years of nourishment and immersion, the organs achieve sublimation and transformation, regaining vitality.

But for Qin Shuo, who has mastered Yuanci power, all his organs feel, in his perception, as if fitted with Yuanci conduits.

By means of these conduit-like magnetic field lines, he can evenly distribute true qi to every part of the organs.

Thus, his viscera-refining efficiency is far greater than that of ordinary martial artists.

However, using the Yuanci meridians as conduits to cleanse the organs demands extremely precise control of true qi,

a slight mistake could damage the organs.

Therefore, even though he has mastered this efficient viscera-refining method, Qin Shuo remains cautious.

Refining viscera is a long, painstaking endeavor.

Normally, from Condensed Truth to Refining Viscera, it takes at least several years, even decades, to achieve great accomplishment in Refining Viscera.

Even if Qin Shuo uses his Yuanci meridians to refine viscera, achieving great accomplishment in a short time is unlikely.

Thud!

Thud!

As Yuanci true qi flows in, Qin Shuo's heartbeat becomes deeper and stronger, his organs vibrate, emitting a sound like gold and jade striking—this is the initial sign of opening the viscera-refining process.

At the moment he enters the viscera-refining stage, Qin Shuo intuitively feels his organs as if they have shed a heavy shackle, becoming much lighter and more agile than before,

and his breathing becomes lighter and more prolonged.

After casually taking an Organ-Protecting Pill, Qin Shuo increases his true qi output; the internal organ rhythms intensify, finally producing a sound like tigers and leopards accompanied by thunder.

Exhale~

Qin Shuo exhaled and opened his eyes.

After beginning viscera refinement, he felt his body much lighter, his mind clear and refreshed, his spirit invigorated, full of vitality.

This is a transformation from within outward.

Although just begun, Qin Shuo has already felt tremendous benefits.

The most direct change is that his qi and blood have become considerably stronger, and the speed at which qi and blood convert to true qi has also increased.

"I ought to make a trip to Wind Thunder Valley!"

After a period of Whale Swallowing Four Seas breathing, Qin Shuo rose and went out.

But he did not go directly to Wind Thunder Valley; instead, he first went to the Demon Suppression Office.

According to the previous interrogation progress, the Demon Suppression Office's interrogation of the Xiao family should have a result today, and he wanted to check it out.

Unexpectedly, upon entering, he encountered He Mingjing storming out of the inner hall with an angry expression.

"What's wrong? Is the interrogation not going well?" Qin Shuo asked with a smile.

These days, everyone at the Demon Suppression Office is busy to the point of not touching the ground—searching, searching; interrogating, interrogating; tallying evidence, tallying evidence.

He Mingjing is no exception.

However, he is responsible not for searching, but for interrogating the Xiao family, so Qin Shuo had reason to ask this.

"No."

He Mingjing shook his head, somewhat helplessly, and said: "The prefect of Chen has arrived."

"Oh? What's the matter?"

Qin Shuo raised his eyebrows, feeling a bad premonition.

He Mingjing glanced at the rear hall, his expression wooden as he said:

"Chen Zhouzhu says, the Xiao clan is a great clan of Yun Prefecture; their collusion with demons is far-reaching, and there are many doubts, so we should delay the execution."

"Many doubts?"

Qin Shuo slightly raised his eyebrows, "Is capturing the wood spirit not enough? What more evidence is needed?"

"General Ban Shan also said the same."

"But now the Sect Master is absent, and Chen Zhouzhu has expressed this stance; the three generals don't know what to do for a moment, so they can only wait for the Sect Master to return and make a final decision."

He Mingjing's eyes were full of helplessness.

"Even an official one rank higher can still overwhelm people, let alone a governor of a prefecture, a high-ranking official."

"Great Li has five circuits and ten prefectures."

"Its prefecture chief, though not equal to the former dynasty's integrated military and civil governor, is still a court official overseeing the prefecture's civil and judicial affairs."

"In terms of official rank, it is even higher than Fu Lingyuan, the head of the Demon Suppression Office."

"Although the Demon Suppression Office is not bound by the prefectural government, it only takes orders from the Chief of the Demon Suppression Office and the King of Martial Suppression."

"But how could such a prominent figure's words be defied by mere three Demon Suppression Generals?"

"Moreover, setting aside his identity as prefect, this Chen Prefect is truly a martial dao master."

"His martial dao realm is not inferior to Nie Jin Feng of Fenglei Valley or Master Liao Kong of Long Dragon Temple; it is only stronger, not weaker."

"With such a person arriving at the door, one can imagine the pressure on the three generals."

"Alright."

"Qin Shuo also felt angry, but he ultimately retained his rationality; it was impossible for him to rush in and confront that Chen Prefect."

"Collusion between officials and gentry is not uncommon in any dynasty."

"It was so in my past life, and it is the same in this life."

"What he didn't expect was that this Chen Prefect would dare to meddle in something as serious as colluding with demons."

"Know that the Martial Suppression Hall, which has the closest ties to the aristocratic clans, now keeps its distance from the Xiao affair, not daring to get involved at all."

"This Chen Prefect, however, fears no implication for himself."

"By the way, according to Chen Prefect, he has already reported this matter to the Chief of the Demon Suppression Office; in a few days, people from the Chief's office will come to handle it, so you need to be mentally prepared."

He Mingjing whispered a reminder.

"Huh? What does it matter to me if the Chief's people come?" Qin Shuo puzzled.

"The Dao City Chief has three Grand Inspectors, whose status equals that of the Sect Master. The inspectors coming this time……"

"They come from Xuan Bing Mountain!"

He Mingjing whispered the information.

"Unlike the Martial Suppression Hall, which only recruits well-known good families,"

"the Demon Suppression Office, in recruitment, is all-encompassing, not only taking elite constables from government offices and veteran soldiers from the army,"

"but also absorbing many experts from martial arts sects and aristocratic clans."

"This is related to the Demon Suppression Office's constant battles with demons, resulting in heavy casualties."

"If we relied solely on the court's own training, we could not make up for personnel losses; we can only supplement troops through outsourcing and external recruitment."

"Moreover, the Demon Suppression Office mainly deals with demons; as long as one can kill demons, one's background is actually not important."

"Xuan Bing Mountain?"

Qin Shuo slightly frowned, a realization dawning in his heart, "Is it related to Xiao Yingqi?"

"Exactly!"

He Mingjing nodded heavily,

"His name is Wang Liehu, a senior brother of the same lineage as Xiao Yingqi. It is said he has already condensed the True Gang Forge, his strength unfathomable."

"General Pang asked me to remind you to be careful."

"If it really doesn't work, you can go out and hide for a few days; anyway, there's nothing happening in the city lately, just take it as a trip to relax."