Martial Saint through Reading

Handing over the short blade, Jiaang Jing quickly lowered her head, not daring to meet his gaze.

Chu Ming paid little attention, channeling the Qi and Blood Power, he gripped the short blade and sliced towards the wrist guards.

Not leaving a trace of a mark, if he exerted just a bit more force, the short blade would be destroyed.

The defensive power was indeed astounding.

Chu Ming thought of the initial attacks; it seemed that Teng Sect always used their wrists to block, relying on these wrist guards.

Moonlight shone on the wrist guards, the silver sheen gleaming more brightly, and a few small characters surfaced inside the wrist guards.

”Silver Moon Wrist Guards...”

Whether the Blood-Colored Bell has lost its function or not, these two items themselves are considered fine treasures.

After securing the two items, Chu Ming looked up towards The Medicine Maniac.

”Yao Qi...” he spoke with a voice tinged with coldness.

It was time to deal with The Medicine Maniac.

At the Jingyan County mine, he did not kill The Medicine Maniac, deliberately so that The Medicine Maniac would clash with Blood Vine Castle.

The Medicine Maniac did not disappoint, poisoning thousands of thieves at Blood Vine Castle.

But this didn’t mean he would let The Medicine Maniac go.

The Medicine Maniac was one of the five Meridian Unlocking Realm experts in Xirong County, although the weakest, his poisoning methods were unmatched.

Simply releasing him would be planting a major disaster.

He deliberately allowed The Medicine Maniac here as a test for the other.

”Old me...” The Medicine Maniac’s heart trembled, he hurriedly bowed, ”Yao Qi is here.”

He knew the choice that gambled his life was about to reach a conclusion whether it would be eternal ruin or turning peril into safety.

His posture lowered, like a slave or servant.

Chu Ming’s gaze flickered, flipping his hand to produce a dark green medicine pill.

”Swallow it.”

The Medicine Maniac looked at the pill, hesitated only for a moment, then grabbed it and swallowed it.

”Aren’t you afraid I’ll poison you?” Chu Ming asked solemnly.

”This life was saved by the benefactor; without him, Yao Qi might have already died in humiliation on the gallows.” The Medicine Maniac bowed again.

”Moreover, Yao Qi is self-aware; this worthless life doesn’t require the benefactor to waste such a precious elixir.”

The Medicine Maniac understood very well the prowess of this mysterious expert; if he truly wanted to kill him, he wouldn’t need poison.

Chu Ming gave a slight smile, pleased with The Medicine Maniac’s response.

”The pill you swallowed is indeed poison.”

”Yao Qi knows.” The Medicine Maniac remained respectful, with an air of calmness in his tone.

”That pill is called Life-locking Elixir, an improvement upon your Life-taking Night and Soul-Catching Fragrance Powder, locking life, sealing Qi, equally taking life.”

Chu Ming then took out another pill and slowly explained: ”This is the antidote, but also not entirely an antidote.”

”Take one every ten days, and you’ll be fine.”

Upon acquiring The Medicine Maniac’s formula, Chu Ming continued to deduce and optimize, spending some time refining it.

With the assistance of several skill enhancements from the Book collection Lake as a foundation, the Alchemy skill advanced rapidly, growing from entry-level to Great Success in no time.

The ’Life-locking Elixir’ was refined precisely after reaching Great Success in Alchemy.

The pill formula isn’t complex, requiring fewer ingredients than the Life-taking Liquid, but this doesn’t mean the ’Life-locking Elixir’ is easy to craft.

The complexity lies in the ratio of herbs and the refining method when making the ’Life-locking Elixir.’

According to Chu Ming’s speculation, The Medicine Maniac’s Alchemy level is roughly equivalent to Minor Success; reversing to create an antidote in under a decade is basically impossible.

Moreover, to prevent any accidents, he added a primary ingredient—Primordial Qi—to the ’Life-locking Elixir.’

A mass of Primordial Qi compressed to the limit, this was a self-deduced Primordial Technique he named Primordial Qi Extreme Star Fall, based on combining the ’Ten Rings of Primordial Qi’ and repeated invocation of Primordial Qi into things.

Compressed Primordial Qi, resembling a tiny star, upon explosion, akin to a star falling and shattering, thus the name.

Since Primordial Qi tends to dissipate, The Medicine Maniac needs to take the antidote every ten days to detoxify and replenish the Primordial Qi of ’Primordial Qi Extreme Star Fall.’

The Medicine Maniac remained contemplative, accepted the pill and swallowed, even expressing gratitude: ”Thank the benefactor for bestowing the pill.”

As long as his life remains, anything is possible.

Moreover, he intended to submit, the terms of submission weren’t important.

”Hmm, there are still some troubles within the fortress, come along and help resolve them.”

”Yes.”

The thieves weren’t entirely cleared; some Blood Evil Sect members within the West Glory County Imperial Examination Hall couldn’t remain.

The spoils inside Blood Vine Castle were also awaiting collection.

”Senior, we are also willing to take the poison pill.”

Just as Chu Ming was about to leave, Jiaang Jing’s voice came from behind, sounding as if she had gathered her courage to speak.

”I’m not going to kill you, go on.”

Chu Ming could tell the two women were frightened.

They probably misinterpreted his act of letting The Medicine Maniac take poison as killing witnesses.

Yet he didn’t need to kill witnesses, for he had no intention of concealing tonight’s events.

He wanted those behind Blood Vine Castle, the Blood Evil Sect to know, this realm is not painted in blood.

...

Inside Blood Vine Castle.

Zhou Xi, the Inspector of Xirong County, was leading the Arresting Captains to attack Blood Vine Castle. Due to the Vine Castle Lord’s escape, the thieves fled as well, with no morale to speak of, the battle was one-sided.

”Kill, leave none alive!” Zhou Xi charged forth, wielding a long blade fearlessly.

A great merit lay before him, Zhou Xi must lead the charge!

He broke through from the outer fortress to the inner fortress, unstoppable.

Yet as he continued killing, he noticed something amiss; the thieves in Blood Vine Castle were behaving oddly.

It wasn’t just the thieves; even the constables who followed him charging into the castle seemed off, even he himself felt his body wasn’t right as if poisoned...

”Poison...The Medicine Maniac!”

Zhou Xi was suddenly struck by a realization.

He split two thieves with his blade and urgently checked himself.

”Itching...so itchy...” Behind him, a constable suddenly rolled up his sleeves and scratched frantically, his arms covered in red spots of various sizes.

Alarmed, Zhou Xi frantically unfastened his clothes and armor.

Red spots erupted on his arms as well, the cold wind brushing against his skin actually made it unbearably itchy.

While Zhou Xi was in a state of shock, more than fifty people emerged from the depths of Blood Vine Castle.

These people were disheveled, their clothes tattered, and their bodies covered with large red spots, already festering.

More than fifty people had escaped from the dungeon, with the first two exuding powerful auras.

Seeing Zhou Xi and the constables, the group was initially stunned, but then they charged over viciously.

They were indeed imprisoned by the Blood Vine Castle, but that didn’t mean they were much cleaner than the Blood Vine Castle.

...

Chu Ming and the Medicine Maniac returned to the site of the earlier battle at Blood Vine Castle; the place was now a complete mess.

The air was filled with a pungent smell of blood, and severed limbs were scattered everywhere.

[Sword Gourd Spirit] unfolded, and the situation of Blood Vine Castle was clearly in sight.

The poison spread by the Medicine Maniac had taken effect over a large area, with poisoned bandits visible everywhere within the fortress.

He paused slightly in one spot, then [Sword Gourd Spirit] spread deeper into Blood Vine Castle.

A few moments later.

”Let’s go.”

Chu Ming’s figure flickered as he headed toward the main fortress of Blood Vine Castle.

Inside the main fortress, there were some good things.

The Medicine Maniac followed closely behind.

Not long after, the two entered the main fortress of Blood Vine Castle.

At this moment, the main fortress was empty.

Chu Ming moved swiftly, passing through several buildings, arriving at a large pitch-black door three or four zhang tall.

Behind this door was the treasure vault of Blood Vine Castle.

The Medicine Maniac, following behind, wore a look of amazement.

How could Benefactor be so familiar with Blood Vine Castle, as if entering his own home?

Chu Ming looked around, quickly finding the mechanism to open the large door.

Rumble...

The large door opened with a sound, and golden rays shone out from within.

As far as the eye could see, piles of gold and silver jewels formed mountains.

Chu Ming, however, frowned slightly.

With treasure piled up like mountains, taking it all was basically impossible unless one possessed a Storage Space type of treasure.

However, treasures like Storage Space were incredibly rare; Chu Ming had only seen them mentioned in books and had never actually heard of them.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t be hiding Black Wind Stronghold’s treasures, and the gold and silver from Teng Family Manor.

Standing at the entrance for a moment, Chu Ming walked inside.

The amount of treasure here was truly too vast; trying to take it all was simply impossible.

It was most efficient to choose high-value, easily portable items.

After selecting about a box of treasures, Chu Ming left this area to the Medicine Maniac.

”Yao Qi, your Seven-Star Divine Flower is in the left compartment, where many medicines are stored. Take whatever you can.”

”Thank you, Benefactor.” Yao Qi was overjoyed upon hearing this.

Chu Ming nodded slightly, leaving this treasure vault and heading to another level of the main fortress.

While the treasure vault held much of Blood Vine Castle’s wealth, the true riches were not in such a vault, but in the residence of Teng Sect’s fortress master.

[Sword Gourd Spirit] sensed two peculiar items in Teng Sect’s residence.

A moment later.

The hall was forcibly blasted open as Chu Ming stepped inside.

He then entered a lavish room, reaching the left wall.

With a little exploration, he found a switch.

Click——

The mechanism activated, revealing a hidden compartment in the wall, within which was a dark red wooden box.

Chu Ming took out the wooden box, exerting a little force to break the gold lock sealing the hidden compartment.

Opening the box, a golden fragment appeared before his eyes.

”As expected...”

Chu Ming picked up the golden fragment from the wooden box, also taking out the golden fragment obtained from Jiaang Jing.

The two had the same feel, identical material, and both gave him a sense of control through Primordial Consciousness, yet with a sense of repulsion.

The two fragments seemed to be remnants from a broken treasure.

He tried to merge the two golden fragments together.

There was no reaction.

The edges of the two golden fragments did not match, not adjacent fragments.

Then, he released Primordial Consciousness, attempting to control the two fragments.

Control was possible, but the repulsion was immense.

Chu Ming stared at the two fragments, his gaze growing deeper.

This sense of repulsion reminded him of a possibility—recognition!

He shifted his gaze back to the dark red wooden box; inside, besides the golden fragment, there were two books.

”Blood Evil Technique...”

The first book was the Blood Evil Technique for devouring human organs, capable of cultivation to the Meridian Unlocking Realm.

Chu Ming quickly flipped through it, memorizing it completely in just half the time of a burn of incense.

Then, he looked at the second book.

Though it was called a book, it was actually just a bound volume.

But the content inside made Chu Ming’s eyes light up.

”The first year, feeding with Qi Blood, no reaction.”

”The second year, feeding with Qi Blood, no reaction.”

”...”

”The fifteenth year, feeding with Qi Blood, the golden fragment began to absorb blood.”

”...”

”The thirty-sixth year, after feeding the golden fragment, saw something different, wispy strands floating before me.”

”The thirty-seventh year, a mystical connection with the golden fragment, the ribbon-like gaseous substance in the world became more apparent.”

Very obviously, what was recorded in the bound volume was Teng Sect’s research on the golden fragment over thirty-seven years.

”If my guess is correct, the colorful ribbon-like gas mentioned by Teng Sect in the last two years should be Primordial Qi.”