Chapter 27: Major Achievement!

Night rain poured down outside; inside Room 303, Ding Xie paced the floor.

He was still practicing the seven-step method used for concluding the 【Iron Cloth Shirt】.

But unlike before, Ding Xie, having consumed the 【ziwei xia pill】, had already paced thirteen cycles.

His heart felt no abnormality whatsoever.

Ding Xie held his breath and focused, continuing the process.

The fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth… until the forty-ninth cycle, his heart suddenly gave a powerful throb.

Thump!

Thump-thump!

His heartbeat was like a beating drum.

The pumping blood felt like a heat wave.

Ding Xie noticed the difference immediately.

This wasn’t the warning his heart would give when reaching its limit at the seventh step; this powerful throb was… a qualitative change!

A qualitative change triggered by quantitative accumulation!

Ding Xie could clearly feel the blood in his body growing hotter and flowing faster. His bones, internal organs, fascia, muscles, and skin all became scorching hot under the circulation of his own blood, and his pores instinctively opened wide—

Sizzle!

Like boiling steam, wisps of visible blood mist rose from Ding Xie’s body.

The blood mist was like a cloud, rising three feet high.

As he breathed in and out, it shifted incessantly.

This lasted for a full ten seconds before the blood mist followed Ding Xie’s inhalation and funneled back through its original path.

Ding Xie’s entire being was enveloped by the blood mist.

He looked like a crimson chrysalis.

After another breath, the chrysalis turned into a robe of blood.

With one more breath, the blood mist completely retreated back into Ding Xie’s body.

The entire process was extremely eerie.

It seemed both demonic and diabolical.

But Ding Xie seemed oblivious, continuing to follow the cultivation method of the 【Iron Cloth Shirt】. He walked into the bathroom and soaked in a bathtub of hot water, nourishing his body with 【tendon strengthening soup】.

By the time Ding Xie emerged from the bathtub, the text before his eyes had already been flashing rapidly.

Most of it consisted of check increases, just like when the 【Iron Cloth Shirt】 had leveled up before.

However, some parts were different—

【Click to view collapsed checks】

【Consuming precious medicine ziwei xia pill, checking…】

【Checked as first consumption; Iron Cloth Shirt cultivation efficiency receives Peerless enhancement!】

【Iron Cloth Shirt: Level 3 → Level 5】

【Iron Cloth Shirt Level 5: An Iron Cloth Shirt that transcends common sense, forged through secret medicine, precious medicine, and extraordinary talent and Physique. The robe of flesh and blood has not only reached Major Achievement, leaving the body without a single weak point, but has even broken through its original scope, gaining further room for improvement; Effect: Ignore fists, feet, clubs, and blades from those with Physique 5 or lower; Physique +5】

…When he took the 【ziwei xia pill】, Ding Xie knew he would reap great rewards.

But he hadn’t expected the 【Iron Cloth Shirt】 to jump two levels directly to Major Achievement, eliminating all weak points and even breaking through its original limitations.

‘As expected of a Peerless enhancement!’

Ding Xie thought silently to himself.

His gaze lingered on the ‘first consumption’ note.

Clearly, the first dose had the best effect.

Taking another 【ziwei xia pill】 would likely result in greatly diminished returns.

Still… Ding Xie wanted to try it again.

After all, even if the effect of the 【ziwei xia pill】 was reduced, it would surely be stronger than a 【bone forging pill】, right?

After taking the 【ziwei xia pill】 once, Ding Xie really looked down on the 【bone forging pill】 a bit.

Even when combined with 【meridian activating oil】 and 【tendon strengthening soup】, it was the same.

It wasn’t that he was fickle.

It was just that the new stuff was far superior.

It was like getting used to riding a high-speed train; if you were then told to walk, anyone would find it hard to adjust.

Ding Xie was no exception.

However, Ding Xie would not change his original plan because of this—

Tap, tap, tap.

Ding Xie walked barefoot, pacing around the room.

Unlike his previous practice, this time he was adjusting to and acclimating himself to his current state.

At the same time, Ding Xie took out the 【Blood Nurturing Yin Fiend Technique】 which he had hidden in the inner lining of his blade bag and read it carefully.

The 【Blood Nurturing Yin Fiend Technique】 was about two thousand words long.

It described how to use unique breathing combined with hand gestures and footwork while killing to nurture the baleful qi of slaughter using the enemy’s blood.

A single wisp of baleful qi could intimidate an enemy.

A hundred wisps of baleful qi could cause an enemy to hallucinate.

A thousand wisps of baleful qi could kill a person out of thin air.

However, cultivating the 【Blood Nurturing Yin Fiend Technique】 required extremely high talent.

Those with insufficient talent could still practice it.

But to harm others, one must first harm oneself.

The more baleful qi one gathered, the faster one would die.

Especially when encountering someone cultivating the same secret art, one would collapse almost instantly upon contact.

‘No wonder “Flying Dagger” Xiao Zhang died so cleanly!’

Ding Xie thought to himself as he began to silently memorize the 【Blood Nurturing Yin Fiend Technique】.

Ding Xie wasn’t worried about backlash; when he was reading it carefully just now, the text before his eyes had already given him a definitive answer.

【Contacting a secret technique that exceeds the scope of the current instance world, checking…】

【Checked as a rookie instance; check passed, no additional difficulty added!】

【Providing relevant prompt: To Cultivate the Blood Nurturing Yin Fiend Technique, mind 2 and Transcendence 2 are required】

…What Ding Xie needed to do now was to memorize the breathing, gestures, and footwork recorded in the 【Blood Nurturing Yin Fiend Technique】, and then nurture his first wisp of baleful qi.

Ding Xie believed this would not be a difficult task.

In fact, it was exactly so.

Just as Ding Xie finished memorizing the 【Blood Nurturing Yin Fiend Technique】 for the third time and confirmed there were no errors, footsteps echoed in the hallway.

They were familiar—it was the hotel receptionist.

In the afternoon, to play the part fully, Ding Xie had used a silver dollar to ask the receptionist to help find bodyguards.

Knock, knock-knock!

“Mr. Yao, are you resting?”

After the rhythmic knocking, the receptionist’s polite voice rang out.

“No.

Is something the matter?”

Ding Xie threw on a dressing gown and opened the door with a kind smile on his face.

“Mr. Yao, I heard you are in the medicinal herb business and want to purchase some?”

The receptionist inquired. When Ding Xie nodded, confirming his fake identity, the receptionist immediately flashed a sweet smile.

“What a coincidence! Among our hotel guests, there is a Mr. Qin who is also in the medicinal herb business and has a large stockpile.

He was also frightened by what happened at the Hall of Returning Spring today and wants to find a safer sales channel.

He asked me to find a reliable buyer.

And I thought of you!

Right now, this Mr. Qin is in the hotel lobby. If you are interested, you can go and meet him.”

After saying this, the receptionist gave a slight bow to Ding Xie and headed straight for the stairs.

She didn’t even ask for a tip.

But in Ding Xie’s ears, four silver dollars were jingling against each other in her pocket.

One of them was his.

The remaining three should be from that Mr. Qin.

Naturally, there was nothing strange about that.

However, silver dollars were always the more the better.

Especially since the receptionist had brought such important news, she certainly could have received a handsome tip, yet she uncharacteristically didn’t ask for one.

This only showed that she had a guilty conscience and… was plotting for more!

Immediately, a cold light flickered in Ding Xie’s eyes.

The other party definitely knew that Mr. Qin wasn’t in the medicinal herb business, and she definitely knew that Mr. Qin harbored ill will toward him.

Coincidentally, the ‘bear, tiger, eagle, leopard’ among the Thirteen Protectors were surnamed Qin.

Even more coincidentally, ‘bear, tiger, eagle, leopard’ were currently in the hotel’s Gripes Bar.

Ding Xie slowly closed the door, the coldness in his eyes intensifying.

Without a moment’s pause, after setting up warning traps, Ding Xie walked into the bedroom, opened the wardrobe door, and reached out to take out the Great Sage mask.

Putting on the mask, he holstered the 【peacemaker】 and 【MK1-G】, strapped on the 【Thirteen Protectors】, picked up the body of the Right Cavalry Commander from inside the wardrobe, and went straight out the window.