Chapter 64

"Can I collect this month's benefits all at once right now?"

"Of course you can, but wait until tomorrow—everyone's busy tonight, no one has time to handle these trivial matters."

"Alright…"

Fang Yue calculated: he currently had 29 days of yang life, plus 10 days from his yang life stipend and this mission's reward, totaling about 1 month and 10 days.

More than a month of yang life should be enough for me to break through to the first level of the Starfire Heart Method, right?

And the Refined Weapon—surely it's better than the Rusty Blade? Then I won't have to waste money repairing weapons anymore?

As Fang Yue thought this over, he followed Lin Ling into Chen Fu.

Then, at first glance, he saw a knife stuck in the ground.

A straight blade gleaming with chilling light!

"It didn't break? Then Chen Mu died far too miserably—he probably didn't even get to fight…"

Lin Ling was slightly surprised, staring at the knife and its scabbard beside it, murmuring to himself.

His eyes held complex emotions; finally, he drew the blade, examined it for a moment, then flicked his wrist and tossed it behind him to Fang Yue.

"This is Chen Mu's Leng Yue Blade. He's dead, so by rights his belongings belong to the village. But since you're his 'disciple,' I'm giving you the blade directly. Also, since you've received this blade, I won't give you the Refined Weapon from your Deputy Captain benefits—no objections?"

Lin Ling waited for Fang Yue's reply, but saw no reaction—he turned back and found Fang Yue staring fixedly at the Leng Yue Blade he'd just caught, his eyes gleaming intensely, blurting out:

"Good blade!"

This wasn't a second bloom—it was truly a good blade; Fang Yue could hardly let go of it.

The Analysis Pupil had already displayed the blade's attributes.

"Name: Leng Yue Blade."

"Rank: Mortal Grade Low."

"Restriction: None."

"Sharpness: 3 points."

"Durability: 30/30."

"Description: Cold blade like the moon—deadly sharp."

"Note: Ordinary (pants-puller)—just a watermelon knife."

This durability, this sharpness—I love it!

He swung it twice and found it perfectly balanced.

"Put the blade away—we've work to do."

Lin Ling frowned and urged him.

Though he hated to admit it, if Chen Fu still hid some strange menace, only Fang Yue could handle it.

Fang Yue replied and caught up with Lin Ling, beginning to inspect the interior of Chen Fu.

Along the way, Fang Yue found Chen Fu covered in slash marks and severed limbs, as if looted by bandits—utterly chaotic.

Most terrifying of all: every single person in Chen Fu—from the steward down to the servants—was dead, not a single survivor left!

"How ruthless this strange menace is!"

Fang Yue couldn't help but sigh, feeling a quiet sense of relief.

He knew the complete annihilation of Chen Fu had occurred after he'd left—if he'd left even a little later, he might be dead too.

"Strange menace is strange menace—there's no such thing as 'ruthless.' They all deserve to die!"

Lin Ling snorted and continued his inspection.

Soon, they had searched every corner of Chen Fu and confirmed no strange menace remained.

Now it was the Guard Team's and villagers' turn—they only needed to direct.

Under their direction, the cleanup of Chen Fu began.

Corpses were carried out one by one; those with relatives were taken home for families to handle funerals as they wished.

Unclaimed corpses were piled outside the village to be burned and buried together later.

Only Chen Mu's body was placed separately.

Chen Mu's status was special—even without a complete corpse, he deserved a grand funeral.

Once all this was done, Fang Yue and Lin Ling returned to Lord Han to report on Chen Fu's situation…

"System Prompt: Congratulations, player, you have completed the personal task 'Handling Chen Mansion Corpses.'"

"System Prompt: Lord Han's favor +1, yang life +1 day."

"Yang Life: 1 month (30 days)."

Done!

Fang Yue felt a surge of joy—this reward had been too easy, too comfortable.

Also, the night patrol duty time was approaching; once submitted, it would grant another 6 shichen of yang life.

Plus the standard 3-day yang life reward everyone received, and his outstanding performance on night patrol, he'd likely harvest even more yang life.

Fang Yue silently calculated, then went to ask Lord Han for another task—but this time, Lord Han assigned him to meditate at Di He.

"I told you to sit and cultivate for one hour daily at Di He for a week to dispel 【Yuhan zhi shi】. You haven't finished today's session yet, have you?"

I didn't sit during the day because I was exhausted, and now I have night patrol again…

Fang Yue was annoyed, but obediently sat down to meditate.

Listening to the stonecutters beside Di He argue fiercely, watching the villagers bustling in the distance, Fang Yue felt like an outsider.

He checked the time—by the time his meditation ended, dawn would be nearly here.

Fang Yue didn't care anymore; he greeted Lord Han and immediately sat down to meditate, practicing the Starfire Heart Method.

Yang life transformed into energy, heavenly and earthly qi flowed into his body, internal force began circulating.

Small heavenly cycle, small heavenly cycle, great heavenly cycle... internal force circulates repeatedly within the body.

At first, this internal force meant little; as the internal breath gradually strengthened, it transformed from a faint, elusive stream into a tangible, solid trickle, and Fang Yue felt his body slowly undergoing refinement by the internal breath, becoming warmly comfortable all over.

Is this— is this about to break through?

Fang Yue's heart leapt with joy, trembling with excitement.

Then he heard the system prompt.

"System Prompt: Congratulations, player, your cultivation of the Starfire Heart Method has slightly improved. Control +0.3."

Fang Yue:...

The surge of excitement instantly cooled.

Listening to the system prompt, he felt as if the system was telling him: You're dreaming of peaches!

Then again, if breaking through an Internal Energy Heart Method were this easy, players would have taken off long ago.

He opened his eyes and checked his stats.

"Name: Yese Liming."

"Realm: Post-Heaven Third Rate."

"Status: Curse 【Right Hand】."

"Health: 200/200."

"Internal Force: 35/35."

"Control: 43.3 【+20-3】 【26.3】."

"Dissipation: 43 【+20-3】 【26】."

"Talent: Night's Breath 【Human Upper Grade】."

"Skills: Analysis Pupil 【Human Lower Grade】, Starfire Blade Technique Level 1 【Post-Heaven Third Rate】, Starfire Heart Method Level 1 【Post-Heaven Third Rate】."

"Lifespan: 28 days, 5 hours."

The curse, Fang Yue was already used to it; the Starfire Heart Method not breaking through was also expected.

But why did his lifespan burn away two full days?

This was just too...

Think about it—Niu Niu gains 0.7 after a full day and night of training, and I only gain 0.3 by burning two days of lifespan?

What a bloody loss!

The only advantage was the speed—it only took one hour of sitting meditation to gain Control.

No, to be precise, it was the sum of yesterday's training time and this hour that added up to such a small gain in Control.

Also, his internal force increased by ten points.

Fang Yue didn't know Niu Niu's talent 【Innate Divine Strength】 provided a bonus; comparing silently, he only felt the Internal Energy Heart Method was garbage.

"Just consider it for the internal force."

Fang Yue comforted himself and prepared to resume cultivation.

But before he could enter meditation, he saw a Guard Team member sprinting toward him from afar, panicked.

"Bad news! Bad news! The village entrance... the village entrance!"

The village entrance?

Fang Yue's heart sank.

Could it be... that Divine Doctor An is in trouble?

(End of Chapter)