Martial Saint through Reading

At dusk, about seven or eight miles away from the County City of Xirong County on the official road, Chu Ming sensed the group of people returning by carriage from Jingyan County, led by Shen Yu.

Over twenty people, with a cargo carriage at the front, followed by a passenger carriage driven by Meng Zhen, inside which sat Shen Yu.

Chu Ming concealed himself, found an opening, and slipped into the rear carriage.

”You’ve finally returned.” Seeing Chu Ming, Shen Yu finally relaxed after two days of worry.

”Chu Chief Clerk.” Meng Zhen also relaxed his nerves at this moment.

”That Blood Vine Castle...?” the two asked in unison.

”It’s been dealt with.”

”Destroyed?”

”Yes.”

At this time, Ye Hong’s voice came from outside.

”Lord Shen, is Lord Chu’s cold getting better?”

”Thank you for your concern, Lord Ye. I’m getting better.” Chu Ming stuck his head out.

To cover up Chu Ming’s presence in the carriage, they made up a story about a cold.

”That’s good. We’re almost at the County City. After you return, Lord Chu, take a good rest.”

”Alright.”

”...”

...

Night falls.

Xirong County, An Mansion.

This is the residence of An Hengying, the Governor of Xirong County.

The guards were not particularly tight, and occasionally, a knife-wielding constable could be seen.

The servants and attendants served the masters of the mansion as usual.

Chu Ming concealed himself, entered the mansion silently.

The news of An Hengying’s death hadn’t reached Xirong County yet, and he needed to investigate the An Mansion before that.

The Sword Gourd Spirit enveloped the entire mansion, revealing its layout to Chu Ming.

In just a moment, Chu Ming had basically grasped the situation in An Mansion.

He flickered through space towards the depths of An Mansion.

In the depths, he found a secret chamber hiding some valuable items.

However, halfway there, Chu Ming’s gaze suddenly focused.

The Sword Gourd Spirit made a new discovery.

”This aura...”

”A blood pool... a girl... An Ying!”

Incredibly, the Sword Gourd Spirit had detected An Ying, the Young Master of the Blood Evil Sect who supposedly died in Baiyuan County!

He frowned as the Sword Gourd Spirit locked onto the target.

”Something’s not right...”

The girl in the blood pool, whether in appearance or aura, was identical to An Ying, but it seemed...

”Lacking consciousness?”

Chu Ming pondered for a moment before continuing towards the secret chamber where An Hengying stored his treasures.

The girl was in an unconscious and unenlightened state, so there was no rush to check her; securing the treasures in the secret chamber came first.

The secret chamber was hidden in An Hengying’s bedroom, with a mechanism set in the wall.

He twisted the mechanism, and the door to the secret chamber slowly opened.

The internal space was not large, barely two meters wide and high.

On the walls, on each side, a bright pearl was embedded, casting a soft light that fully illuminated the chamber, making its contents clearly visible.

Three large chests filled with gold, silver, and jewels.

A wall-fitted rack bore layers of herbs, approximately over two hundred in number.

Upon gazing around, none were less than a hundred years old, with Centennial Black Ginseng ranked at the bottom.

The top layer of the rack held no herbs, only a golden box with a keyhole on its face.

Chu Ming took the golden key obtained from An Hengying and inserted it into the box.

Click—

The golden box opened in response.

Looking down, there was a golden fragment pressing on a stack of papers, with a book at the bottom, and a thumb-sized blood-colored bell tucked into a nearby gap.

He first picked up the golden fragment, a look of delight flashing across his face. The third golden fragment!

And, like the one offered by the Teng Sect, it had already been nourished with blood for decades.

This meant he could use his own blood to accelerate his connection with the fragment.

Holding it in his palm, his blood flowed out, absorbed by the fragment.

Soon, that familiar sense of space returned once more.

His Heart Spirit successfully linked to this golden fragment, creating a second Storage Space, roughly one zhang in width and height.

As he connected with this golden fragment, the golden fragment in his bosom and the one before him both trembled slightly.

”This is...”

His eyes flashed, and he retrieved the fragment from his bosom.

The trembling of the two golden fragments became more pronounced, as if attracting each other.

”Fusion?”

The two golden fragments seemed like living entities, each transmitting the message of fusion to his Heart Spirit.

He placed the two golden fragments in his palm, his Heart Spirit connecting with both simultaneously.

In an instant, the golden glow of the two fragments burst forth, intertwining and winding together.

”So that’s how it is.” Chu Ming maintained the connection, quietly observing.

The Heart Spirit formed a bridge, the golden glow the beams.

Visible to the naked eye, the two fragments melded, fused until they became a single whole.

The golden glow receded, and calm returned to his palm.

The two fragments merged into a single golden fragment, and though its size remained as before, seemingly unchanged from before the fusion,

it was only an appearance.

Chu Ming restrained the joy between his brows, immersing his Heart Spirit into the fused golden fragment.

The World in the Palm expanded, doubling in size to two zhang wide and high.

This unified two-zhang space was far more advantageous than two separate one-zhang spaces.

The larger the space, the larger the items it could store or release.

The stored items remained the same, but the individual capacity doubled—this was the advantage of the fused space.

After examining it closely for a moment, Chu Ming stored the fragment, his gaze returning to the contents of the golden box.

Taking out a stack of pages from inside, the top dozens were records of golden fragments being nourished by blood, similar to the Teng Sect.

He flipped through it from start to finish but didn’t find much of use.

However, the last two pages were somewhat different.

The first page was a letter.

Chu Ming lowered his gaze, his expression slightly changing.

”Illegal salt smuggling...”

The content of the letter was Jingyan County’s report to An Hengying about the list of names involved in illegal salt smuggling.

This indicated that An Hengying was the mastermind behind the smuggling of Jingyan salt.

But, it really is so?

He thought of the brothers Shen Yi and Tie Zheng, who, seeking revenge for their parents, caused a mining accident, killing the County Magistrate of Jingyan County and several officials.

The bloody cloth that Shen Yi took out had an aura that was very different from An Hengying’s.

An Hengying was a martial artist, his aura fierce and strong.

But the aura of the bloody cloth was calm and weak, seemingly from someone who hadn’t practiced martial arts, or perhaps a civil servant.

This person who had never appeared might only be a small figure in the illegal salt smuggling ring, or they could be a significant figure.

But regardless, he would not give up tracking down the person associated with the bloody cloth’s aura.

Because based on the current signs, from Jingyan County’s mine, to Wind Vine County’s Blood Vine Castle, and then to An Hengying in the Governor’s Office, there were countless connections to the Blood Evil Sect.

In other words, behind illegal salt smuggling, there was a strong possibility it was the Blood Evil Sect.

”Blood Evil Sect...”

Chu Ming’s expression was slightly angry.

As long as it was related to the Blood Evil Sect, he would investigate thoroughly!

Putting down the letter, Chu Ming looked at the last page.

This was a paper with a rather special material, about the same thickness as ordinary white paper, but the texture was very different.

Holding it, there was a feeling of both flexibility and hardness.

With such special paper, the written content must be extraordinary.

Focusing his eyes, Chu Ming’s eyes instantly flashed with brilliance.

”Yan Hanling, the key to Great Yan Dynasty’s National Treasury!”

The content on this special paper was actually information about the Yan Hanling he obtained from Yan Huan.

”A nation’s treasury...”

Chu Ming’s heart beat slightly faster.

”If I obtain this treasure, that idea might be realized ahead of schedule...”

”Yan Imperial Mausoleum, huh...” He frowned slightly.

What was written on the paper was that the Great Yan Dynasty’s National Treasury was beneath the long-abandoned Yan Imperial Mausoleum.

And the Yan Imperial Mausoleum was located in North Snow County, not easy to access.

North Snow County was a major county in the north of the Great Qin Dynasty, historically the capital of the Great Yan Dynasty. Now it was the fiefdom of the King of North Snow of the Great Qin Dynasty, also the first line of defense against the northern enemy kingdom, the Xue Di Kingdom.

Chu Ming looked at the paper, thought for a moment, and dismissed the idea of immediately going to open the Yan Imperial Mausoleum.

Meridian Unlocking Realm strength was still not enough.

Before opening the Great Yan Dynasty’s National Treasury, he must further enhance his strength, unblock the Twelve Major Meridians, and break through to the Lower Meridian Unlocking Realm, even reach the Bone Marrow Cleansing Realm for a more secure attempt.

Moreover, with current methods, even if he opened the Great Yan National Treasury, he couldn’t carry away its treasures.

Chu Ming thought that before then, he could collect more golden fragments or spatial treasures like the Storage Space.

Of course, this might be unnecessary, as the Great Yan National Treasury might already contain Storage Space treasures.

Putting away the paper, he picked up the last two items in the golden box, the book and the blood-colored bell hidden in the crevice at the bottom.

He had not only seen the blood-colored bell before but was carrying one himself, the same blood-colored bell used in Blood Vine Castle to control the Bloodthirsty Guard.

Comparing the two bells, their structures were about the same, entirely blood-colored, as if soaked in blood, with complex patterns engraved on both inner and outer layers.

The difference was that the blood-colored bell in the golden box had more complex patterns, and the material seemed more special.

After studying it for a moment and seeing nothing further, he picked up the book to look.

”Ghost Blood Guard... Soul Capturing... Corpse Refining...”

Turning page by page, Chu Ming’s expression gradually turned serious.

The book’s content was a method of corpse refining named ’Ghost Blood Guard,’ creating zombie-like beings controlled by the blood-colored bell.

Without consciousness, emotion, or pain, they were puppets that only followed orders to kill.

Like the three Blood Slaughter Guards he slew in Jingyan County’s mine, made from the corpses of Refining Organ Realm martial artists, the two Bloodthirsty Guards destroyed in Blood Vine Castle were bodies at the Meridian Unlocking Realm.

”Meridian Unlocking Realm bodies!”

Chu Ming’s heart trembled.

The Blood Evil Sect was terrifying enough to obtain the corpses of such powerful figures.

Looking at this refining method and the blood-colored bell, his brows remained furrowed.

This method didn’t suit his character; he disliked it and wouldn’t try it.

This book’s only valuable part was the section on refining blood-colored bells—Artifact Refining.

On the panel.

[Artifact Refining (entry-level)]

[Progress: 1/100]

Through this book, he gained a preliminary understanding of Artifact Refining.

Closing the book, Chu Ming used his heart spirit to communicate with the golden fragments, and golden light gleamed, collecting all treasures and medicines in the secret chamber.

This matter here was done.

He exited the secret chamber, first burning the secret manual to ashes, then flew out, heading towards the direction of the suspected young girl, An Ying.

...

”Young Master, I’m from the Governor’s Office. I’m your mother’s...”

A woman’s voice emanated from a tranquil room.

Though sounded like refusal, it was actually seductive.

”Hehe, my father is far away in Wind Vine County suppressing bandits, how can he manage things at home? Just go along with me, stepmother.”

”Young Master...”

”...”

The moonlight shone down, reflecting the entangled silhouettes of a man and a woman.

”If the master knew...”

”This place is forbidden land, not even a ghost is around.”

”You don’t say, I don’t say, how would my father know?”

The two intertwined, soft whispers overlapped one another.

Suddenly, a cold wind swept past.

The two merging individuals trembled violently.