Chapter 10

At the Maple Forest Town government office, Liao Yunfeng reported to Zheng Ming: "Sir, after my subordinates' analysis, the culprit is likely a martial artist above the Martial Master Realm."

Zheng Ming doubted: "How can you tell?"

Liao Yunfeng said: "Within ten zhang of the crime scene, I found only a single footprint that might belong to the culprit."

"A martial artist of the Martial Master Realm can leap over three zhang in a single bound, while even those skilled in body techniques manage no more than seven or eight zhang."

Having heard this, Zheng Ming also understood.

"In that case, this affair is exactly as you guessed, isn't it?"

Liao Yunfeng remained silent, which amounted to an admission.

Zheng Ming glanced at Fang Xu beside him and said: "Today's questioning ends here; you may go back. For the next few days, do not leave Maple Forest Town. If needed, I will summon you at any time."

Fang Xu slightly bowed and withdrew.

Leaving the government office, Fang Xu wore a look of doubt.

He never expected that Wang Ergou's death would involve a martial artist above the Martial Master Realm!

Why would a martial artist above the Martial Master Realm strike at an ordinary person like Wang Ergou?

Moreover, there is the corpse at the Charity House wearing flashy gold-embroidered boots……

Could these two matters be connected?

After a moment's thought, Fang Xu secretly chuckled; this matter is not something he needs to worry about now.

At present, the urgent priority is to first refine the viscera, then step into the Martial Apprentice Realm; other matters are not pressing.

Returning home, Fang Xu cut a piece of blood food and put it in the pot to stew.

Refining the viscera consumes a great deal of Blood Qi Power; without blood food to replenish it, ordinary food alone cannot meet the body's demand.

While the meat stewed, he again took out the Divine Extension Canon hidden in the secret compartment.

Stroking the smooth beast skin, Fang Xu's eyes flickered a few times, yet he still spread it out.

"All things arise from the Dao's evolution; the spirit belongs to those who follow the Dao……"

The content on the Beast Skin entered his sight, his consciousness again fell into the Inner Viewing State, his whole body's flesh, blood, and bones clearly appeared, followed by the 108 acupoints that emitted fluorescence.

However, this time Fang Xu was mentally prepared; he did not overly focus on those acupoints, but forcibly turned his consciousness toward his viscera.

Leveraging the marvel of the Inner Viewing State, he immediately mobilized his Blood Qi Power within his body and began to refine his viscera.

The Inner Viewing State is a rare marvelous realm for early-stage martial cultivators, somewhat akin to the epiphany found in novels of his previous life.

With a sudden epiphany, his cultivation leaps forward, and his divine skill attains great accomplishment.

Although the effect of the Inner Viewing State is not that exaggerated, it yields twice the result with half the effort for refining the viscera.

After a short while of cultivating with the Inner Viewing State, he could clearly feel the subtle changes in his viscera, which is far stronger than the effect of refining viscera by feeling alone during the day.

Gurgle!

Gurgle!

After only a brief moment of cultivation, Fang Xu felt a wave of dizziness and blurred vision, and his abdomen rumbled like a drum.

By evening of his daytime cultivation, he had already exhausted most of his Blood Qi Power; before he could even eat, he was summoned by Liao Yunfeng to the government office to assist in an investigation, and then he followed them to the foot of Carry-Blue Mountain, running back and forth for so long that he didn't even have a sip of water.

At this point, he was suffering from unbearable hunger.

Waking from his cultivation state, he guessed the blood food should already be stewed; Fang Xu then rose and went to the kitchen, eating the whole pot of blood food.

His Blood Qi had been replenished; he returned to his room again and cultivated with the aid of the Divine Extension Canon.

In the blink of an eye, two days had passed.

During these two days, the fifty jin of blood food sent by Zhang Mingliang had actually been completely consumed by him; the Blood Qi Power required for refining the viscera was far greater than he had imagined.

Fang Xu, helpless, could only head to the street of Maple Forest Town, preparing to purchase some more blood food.

Just as he arrived at the Zhang family's blood food shop, he saw Zhang Mingliang angrily berating two assistants on the side.

"Little Brother Fang, coming to buy blood food?" Seeing Fang Xu, the shopkeeper of the blood food shop smiled and spoke.

Fang Xu nodded, took out twenty taels of silver from his bosom and handed them to the shopkeeper, saying, "Give me one hundred jin of blood food."

The shopkeeper received the silver, counted it without error, and immediately had his assistant prepare it.

"What's wrong with Young Master Zhang?" Looking at the assistant being drenched in dog blood from the scolding, Fang Xu casually asked.

The old shopkeeper glanced at Zhang Mingliang, lowered his voice, and said:

"The Second Young Master failed to break through the Martial Apprentice Realm; he suspects that the blood food of these two days is problematic, and..."

Hearing this, Fang Xu's expression turned somewhat strange; this really is like blaming the earth for having no gravity when you can't even defecate.

Breaking through the Martial Apprentice Realm and opening the acupoint divine repository depends on daily accumulation; Blood Qi Pills and blood food are merely auxiliary aids.

It is said that some cultivators with sufficient accumulation, when breaking through, need no aid from Blood Qi Pills or blood food to easily open the acupoint divine repository; Zhang Mingliang surely is someone who usually refuses to endure hard training, resulting in insufficient accumulation, making the acupoint walls too solid, hence his breakthrough failure.

Instead, he blamed the blood food prepared by the two assistants.

"Little Brother Fang, the blood food is ready."

The two assistants carried a one-hundred-jin heavy ferocious beast blood food to Fang Xu and said, "Would you like us to deliver it to your home, Little Brother Fang?"

Fang Xu waved his hand, directly lifted the one-hundred-jin blood food in his hand and left the blood food shop.

Having reached the Viscera-Refining Realm, his strength is now considerably greater than that of an ordinary person; a one-hundred-jin object in his hand is nothing.

Carrying the blood food home, Fang Xu, as if possessed, glanced at the deep sea of consciousness' "friend list," and his expression slightly froze.

He discovered that among his five "friends," the percentage numbers after the names of Zhang Mingliang and his two attendants had actually dropped from 15% to 10%!

What does this signify?

Fang Xu was quite puzzled.

The system gave no explanation for this, and he also did not know what exactly these percentage numbers represent.

After much thought to no avail, he could only suppress these doubts in his heart and begin stewing meat and cultivating as usual.

Maple Forest Town's Zhang family.

After venting his frustrations at the Blood Food Shop, Zhang Mingliang returned home, intending to find another clueless servant to take out his anger on, but instead he ran into an old man with a wispy white beard and a gaunt face.

"Master Gu." Zhang Mingliang bowed respectfully.

The old man gave a slight nod, fixed his gaze on Zhang Mingliang, frowned, and asked, "Second Young Master, have you encountered anything lately?"

Zhang Mingliang stared for a moment, then shook his head. "Master Gu, what's wrong?"

The old man before him was not a martial artist, but a rare feng shui master.

In this world, feng shui masters all possess genuine skill; they are not only versed in feng shui, but also cast divinations to judge fortune and misfortune, helping people avoid calamity and attract blessings—they are truly formidable.

The plot of land belonging to the Earth God Temple was an auspicious feng shui site calculated by the old Mr. Gu, which prompted the Zhang family to consider demolishing the temple and building a shop in its place.

"Your luck has been poor lately, Second Young Master; you should go out as little as possible to ward off disaster," the old Mr. Gu said with a solemn expression.

Bad luck?

Zhang Mingliang blinked in surprise, then laughed. "I said my inability to break through as a martial disciple wasn't my fault… turns out it's just bad luck."

"Master Gu, could you please tell me when my fortunes will turn so I can try to break through again?"

The old Mr. Gu shook his head slightly. "A person's luck is constantly changing; Second Young Master, you just need to remember to go out less during this period and focus on self-cultivation."

Having said that, he turned and left.

Zhang Mingliang's eyes flickered; it seemed he hadn't taken the old man's words to heart as he strode straight toward his residence.

(End of chapter)