Chapter 306: Condensed Ring (5/10, Autumn Subscription)

"Try it yourself and see if it suits you."

Suits me?

Fang Yue opened the box to look, and was momentarily stunned.

Inside the box lay a ring.

"What's this ring for?"

After putting on the ring and observing it for a while, Fang Yue found it really was just a ring—even channeling internal force into it produced no reaction.

"This is a blade."

"What?!"

"So dumb!"

Ni Dongmei impatiently took the ring from Fang Yue's hand, channeled internal force into it, and flung it forward.

Hum!

Streaks of hexagonal ice crystals flew out from the ring and rapidly assembled into the shape of an ice blade.

With a casual wave, the ice crystals glittered, seeming extremely sharp.

What a fine treasure!

Fang Yue's eyes immediately lit up.

"How do you use it, how do you use it? Why couldn't I make it work just now?"

Ni Dongmei returned the ring to Fang Yue.

"This thing is called the Ningtai Ring. I obtained it during my travels in the past. You circulate your Internal Breath—don't pour it all into the ring at once. Instead, feed it in stages, bit by bit, keeping the rhythm right, and you'll be able to quickly condense an ice blade for combat."

So it requires delivering internal force in batches.

Fang Yue understood instantly. He immediately controlled the rhythm of his internal force output, feeding in only a tiny stream of internal force.

Tsk tsk tsk!

Tiny sparks of fire flickered twice on the ring.

The scene looked a bit like a lighter with no fuel that just wouldn't light.

"I forgot you're using the Fierce Flame Sect's Heart Method, so what condenses out is a Fire Blade. When I was traveling, I used this thing as a hidden weapon—because the blade formed by the Condensed Ring can be flung out. For me back then, with my pitifully low strength, it was like gaining an extra ranged attack method. It's just that the operation is cumbersome and it consumes internal force."

While Ni Dongmei was saying this, Fang Yue tried several more times, but still couldn't successfully 'light the fire'…

Ni Dongmei grew annoyed watching him and chased Fang Yue out.

Fang Yue wasn't discouraged either. On his way to find Chief Captain Lang Wu, he kept trying to light the fire. A few times, flames kept flickering out, making Fang Yue think he was about to succeed—but the moment he got excited, his internal force rhythm broke, and he was back to square one.

"Ni Dongmei wouldn't be tricking me, would she…"

If Ni Dongmei hadn't said that the Fire Blade formed by this thing was far more powerful than the Leng Yue Blade, Fang Yue would have been tempted to give up.

While trying to light the fire, Fang Yue had already arrived at Chief Captain Lang Wu's location in the center of the formation.

"Ni Dongmei said you have a big gift for me."

The moment they met, Fang Yue reached out asking for the thing, leaving the excited Chief Captain Lang Wu awkwardly frozen in place.

"Ahem, I do indeed have something good for you. This trip, you resolved the trouble brought by the 【Yang Xu Gui】 colony, which is equivalent to resolving Mo Cun's crisis. On behalf of Mo Cun, I'll give you a reward separately, and I'll submit it for approval from above. Once approved, the reward will be sent down as well. However, the reward from Qing Si, like inheriting the Captain position, will require you to wait a bit longer."

Small mission rewards, the Mo Cun Guard Team can handle on their own. But for major missions and great deeds like saving the village, big rewards still have to go through the proper channels.

Fang Yue felt a bit sullen after hearing this, but he could accept it.

And when Chief Captain Lang Wu had someone bring the big gift forward, Fang Yue grew even more excited.

Chief Captain Lang Wu had actually given him a full 100 【Fire-Piercing Leaves】.

One 【Fire-Piercing Leaf】 plus one black stone equals one fire stone, or fire-black stone. For those who cultivate fire-attribute Heart Methods, its value is extraordinary.

"That's generous, Chief Captain Lang Wu!"

"That's not all. Within the Guard Team's authority, I'm additionally rewarding you with 6 months of lifespan. Just bring the Bronze Life Order to the Guard Team tomorrow to collect it."

There's lifespan to collect too—yay!

After putting away the Fire-Piercing Leaves, Fang Yue thought for a moment, then briefly told Chief Captain Lang Wu about the Huanggui Yiji and Lord Mo's matter.

"There's such a thing?!"

Chief Captain Lang Wu's eyes widened. Clearly, Ni Dongmei hadn't told him anything about this at all.

"The Ancient Script in the Bronze Room, Lord Mo's avatar and experimental subjects…"

He pondered carefully for a while, then finally sighed: "Lord Mo is unfathomable—it's not something I can guess at. But I firmly believe that whatever he does, it must be for the good of Mo Cun. If Mo Cun truly faced a crisis of annihilation, and Lord Mo is still alive, he would definitely step in to help!"

Regardless, having news of Lord Mo is ultimately a good thing—far better than him being completely missing with no word at all.

As for the ancient formation, although Chief Captain Lang Wu was doing his utmost to maintain and repair it, the situation was not optimistic. He urgently needed Fang Yue to go persuade Lord Han to classify Mo Cun as a subsidiary village of Gu Yue Cun.

"Then I'll set out tomorrow? Anyway, your third Captain is still in the selection process. If nothing unexpected happens, Lang Mo should be able to secure it steadily and take the Captain position."

"Tomorrow, huh… Alright, I'll make the arrangements for you tonight. You can set off back to Gu Yue Cun tomorrow."

Once this matter was settled, Fang Yue made a few more requests to Chief Captain Lang Wu, got some supplies, and then left.

Continuing his 'lighting the fire' business, a dark figure suddenly appeared on the dark streets of Mo Cun, walking amid flickering sparks.

Anyone uninformed who saw it would probably think Mo Cun had encountered another strange incident.

In truth, Fang Yue was still a bit sullen.

The Fluorescent Bead he'd finally obtained from the Huanggui Yiji turned out to be the key item for opening the Yiji.

So the Fluorescent Bead was left behind in the Huanggui Yiji.

Fang Yue could only return to his previous Human Soul Torch stage.

The Human Soul Torch's lifespan consumption was already a minor issue. The main problem was having to hold it up every time, wasting one hand for illumination. Sometimes when encountering enemies, Fang Yue had to drop the torch and rely on the Fierce Flame Heart Method's glow to fight them.

This was very inconvenient and troublesome.

If he had a Fluorescent Bead for illumination, things would obviously be much more comfortable.

With a sigh, the An Fu estate ahead became faintly visible.

Tap!!

At that moment, the Ningtai Ring in his hand suddenly stabilized a spark for one second.

The spark, like falling maple leaves, flew out from the ring and scattered around.

Fang Yue then realized Ni Dongmei had left out some details.

Besides injecting Qi at a fixed rhythm and frequency to form sparks, Fang Yue also needed to control the output of Qi to shape and fix a Fire Blade around the Ningtai Ring.

This was too troublesome…

Fang Yue's head ached; no wonder Ni Dongmei said it was complex and tedious.

If, after all this, the Fire Blade's power didn't satisfy him, Fang Yue would definitely buy an actual, tangible knife to use.

Fortunately, the Ningtai Ring wasn't entirely left to the user's own skill; when the sparks formed, Fang Yue clearly felt a guiding force, directing him where to fix the spark leaves.

Fang Yue tried a few more times; when he gathered the spark leaves again, he followed the Ningtai Ring's guidance and quickly fixed the first spark leaf.

A surge of excitement in his heart caused the spark leaf to suddenly vanish.

Damn!

(End of Chapter)