Chapter 277: Chapter 252: Fifth-level Grandmaster, Twenty-eight Threads of Inner Strength_1
He remembered in many novels in his previous life, treasures could recognize their owners through blood, so he tried it, but to no avail.
"Let’s try using inner strength."
Lu Yan controlled his inner strength, encapsulating the bag, but felt a force on the bag resisting his inner strength.
Lu Yan amplified his inner strength, continuously grinding this force away. A moment later, the force on the bag was completely eradicated by Lu Yan.
Lu Yan’s inner strength successfully entered the bag.
The space inside the bag, in his eyes, suddenly seemed to expand.
Inside, various items were arranged.
"It really is a Sumi Mustard Seed Bag."
Lu Yan was overjoyed.
Lu Yan carefully examined it.
The space inside the bag wasn’t that big, about three meters in each dimension, approximately the size of a small bedroom.
Inside, there were five or six divine weapons, along with some boxes.
With a thought, a strand of inner strength wrapped around a box and pulled it out.
The next moment, the box appeared in Lu Yan’s hands.
"This is truly magical."
Lu Yan opened the box to find it filled with martial coupons worth two thousand.
Closing the lid, with a thought, the box was returned to the bag.
Then his inner strength wrapped around another box, bringing it into his hands.
"This box..."
Lu Yan’s heart beat rapidly for a few moments.
Because he recognized this box, he had seen it at the auction.
When he opened it, there lay a jade book inside.
"The Yanluo Fragment, it really is the Yanluo Fragment. The Yanluo Fragment from the auction was purchased by that man, and after all this, it has ended up in my hands. This must be fate."
"Could it be, I have the opportunity to collect all seven Yanluo Fragments? Bring together the entire Yanluo Golden Body?"
Lu Yan began daydreaming, then shook his head and smiled, thinking that he was being too whimsical.
Right now, he only has two fragments, and the whereabouts of the other five are unknown. He was thinking too far ahead.
If it were that easy, nobody would have been able to gather them all over the course of several thousand years.
He put it back into the Sumi Mustard Seed Bag, apart from that, there were a few other items that were not valuable. He discarded several completely useless ones to make space.
Then he put all the martial coupons, martial pills, and Dao food from the package into the Sumi Mustard Seed Bag, and hid the bag close to his body.
With everything purified, he felt a lot lighter.
"Having a Sumi Mustard Seed Bag is so convenient. When I go out, I no longer have to worry about running out of martial pills, I can prepare a bunch in advance."
Lu Yan was in high spirits.
Then he remembered the origins of the middle-aged True Body Realm expert.
The man had shouted that he was from Tianque Sect in Qizhou before he died.
Of course, Lu Yan had heard of it.
Like the Shengxuan Sect, one of the seven founding sects of Da Chu, although its strength was far superior to that of Shengxuan Sect.
Tianque Sect, on par with the Mansion of King Ming, ruled over three states and was one of the strongest among the eighteen feudal princes.
The seven founding sects of Da Chu had profound heritage, each one extremely strong, especially in recent hundreds of years. Having lost the suppression from the court, their power rapidly expanded.
The Shengxuan Sect was at the bottom among the seven sects.
"Tianque Sect of Qizhou, neighboring the Mansion of King Ming, both parties constantly struggle for power. This man, thinking that mentioning the Tianque Sect could save his life in the end, was rather naive."
Lu Yan laughed lightly, not taking it seriously.
With a step, he left like the wind.
Two days later, he silently returned to Xuanhuo City.
Once back in Xuanhuo City, the first thing he did was to visit the World Bank to exchange for martial pills.
And, he exchanged a thousand at once, an entire box full.
After leaving the World Bank with the box, he found a secluded spot and put the box in the Sumi Mustard Seed Bag. Then, disguising his appearance, he walked around the city for a while before returning to the Gao Residence.
In the following days, whenever he had free time, Lu Yan hid in the practice room refining martial pills.
Now, Lu Yan’s ability to digest martial pills had greatly increased and he could refine eight a day on average.
With a constant supply of martial pills for refining, his cultivation level was rapidly improving, getting closer to the Master Peak.
In the blink of an eye, another four months passed.
Nothing major happened to the Yan clan in Xuanhuo City.
Lu Yan found time to return to Hidden Dragon Camp once because the annual Hidden Dragon List challenge was about to take place. If he didn’t return, he would be struck off the list and wouldn’t receive any rewards for an entire year.
That would be a waste of three hundred and sixty meritorious points, which Lu Yan was not willing to waste.
This time, the rankings didn’t change much and he did not initiate any challenges.
After the Hidden Dragon List challenge was over, he put the Yanluo Fragment previously hidden under the bed in his separate courtyard of the Hidden Dragon Camp in the Sumi Mustard Seed Bag. Then he went to the Merit Hall and exchanged for a Supreme Physical Martial Arts technique, Tian Gang Red Dragon Body.
At the auction, buying a physical martial arts technique book and Divine Intent Diagram was extremely expensive.
But in Merit Hall, the cost to gain insights for a short period of time was low, only requiring three hundred meritorious points.
In almost a year’s time, starting with just over three hundred, Lu Yan’s account had accumulated over six hundred meritorious points.
After exchanging for the Tian Gang Red Dragon Body, he had over three hundred left.
Before leaving, Lu Yan gave Wen Yuan a hundred martial coupons to buy martial food to enhance his cultivation.
Even though free martial food was provided for the first three years, it was sufficient for Wen Yuan to cultivate. But leaving him some martial coupons could be useful for contingencies.
After making arrangements, he returned to the Gao Residence in Xuanhuo City.
Subsequently, besides refining martial pills, he would focus on understanding the Tian Gang Red Dragon Body.
More than two months later, he successfully mastered the basics of the Tian Gang Red Dragon Body.
Lu Yan brought out a bronze pendant that he bought at an auction and fed it to the Dao Book.
The progress of the Tian Gang Red Dragon Body’s avatar began to advance rapidly.
However, top martial arts aren’t easy to improve. Even after exhausting all the energy of the bronze pendant, it was still a bit short. So, Lu Yan brought out the second Dao food.
This Dao food, although not as powerful as the bronze pendant, wasn’t much weaker either.
After the energy of this Dao food ran out, his Tian Gang Red Dragon Body finally achieved the Unity of Man and Martial Arts.
The Acquired Martial Body was a gift from heaven and earth.
His physical body underwent another round of refinement, and his cultivation level improved overall, reaching the peak of the fourth-level master.
At this state, he was fully capable of advancing to the fifth-level master.
However, the three newly added inner strengths hadn’t reached the peak of the fourth-level master yet. Only by elevating these three inner strengths could he break through.
"Twenty-eight inner strengths, the effect of the top martial arts becomes weaker with each iteration. It seems like it raised about one and a half percent this time, next time, I guess it could raise a maximum of one percent. After that, it’s hard to say if it’ll be of any use at all," Lu Yan mused.
However, breaking through thirty inner strengths seemed to be a foregone conclusion.
The next thing to do was to take martial pills and enhance the three new inner strengths.
With plentiful martial pills, and just over a month, the three new inner strengths had caught up with the other twenty-five.
"Let’s begin."
In the practice room, Lu Yan activated his inner strength, propelling it towards his kidneys.
Given Lu Yan’s foundation, small breakthroughs came naturally without any suspense.
Two days later, Lu Yan reached the secure realm of the fifth-level master.
Immediately after leaving seclusion, Lu Yan received news that Chu Long had secretly arrived at a second level Blood Land Vein near Xuanhuo City with some expert bodyguards of King Ming.
The second level Blood Land Vein was directly managed by the Mansion of King Ming.
Moreover, they had also sent someone to find Lu Yan.
Then, Lu Yan met an handsome young man in a white robe.
While the young man was not familiar, his physique and playful characteristics were highly familiar to Lu Yan.
"Brother Yi?"
Lu Yan asked tentatively.
"Zhang Wei?"
The young man replied.
They stared at each other and then laughed heartily.
In the bedroom, both restored to their original appearances and sat opposite each other.
"Brother Yi, did the Leader Chu Long send you to find me? Is there something wrong?" Lu Yan asked.
Feng Yuanyi nodded, saying, "The Yan Clan’s Martial Chef Conference will be held soon. As a martial chef family with honorable-level martial chefs, their conference is of significant weight. It will attract martial chefs from the three provinces of the Mansion of King Ming and even from other provinces to participate in the competition and exchange of skills. The winner will not only receive guidance from honorable-level martial chefs, but also generous rewards."
Lu Yan nodded. He had heard this news before entering seclusion. However, he was still unclear as to why Feng Yuanyi mentioned it.
That’s why he kept silent, waiting for what was next.
"The Yan Clan’s Martial Chef Conference happens once every ten years. But only seven years have passed since the last conference. Leader Chu Long feels that there is something unusual happening, so he personally came to supervise. He also plans to send someone in to investigate the situation."
"Lu Yan, as you are proficient in the ways of the martial chef, this honourable task is yours. You must participate in the martial chef competition, try your best to achieve a good ranking, and find out what is going on," Feng Yuanyi said.
Lu Yan was stunned.
Tasking him with participating in the Martial Chef Conference?
He only knows one type of third-level martial food and a few second-level ones. That might be enough to pass but to achieve a favourable ranking could be difficult.
"Can I refuse?"
Lu Yan asked.
"You know that Leader Chu Long always stands by his word," Feng Yuanyi spread his hands and said, "Besides, if you complete this task satisfactorily, the rewards will be plentiful. Leader Chu Long also said that if you have any requests, feel free to raise them, and he will do his best to accommodate you."
"Oh?"
Lu Yan’s eyes flickered. He said, "I have recently encountered a bottleneck with my martial chef skills and I need other recipes to reference in order to break through this bottleneck. Ask Leader Chu Long to prepare for me a few recipes for third-level martial food and the ingredients to cook them. Also, prepare a few pieces of Immortal Bone for me. They will be of great use."
If rejects are unacceptable, then trying to gain as much advantage as possible is the practical approach.
What’s more, the Martial Chef Conference is two months away.
With the guide and ample materials, paired with the Immortal Bone, he would have ample time to elevate a few third-level martial foods to Man and Food Integration. At that time, his martial chef skills would greatly improve.
"Okay, I’ll report to him. I’ll leave now," Feng Yuanyi said, then turned and left.
Only three days later, three third-level martial food recipes, a plethora of alien beast meat and spiritual medicine, and three pieces of Immortal Bone were delivered to Lu Yan.
After communicating with the Dao Book, he sensed that two of the Immortal Bones had pretty good energy, two were worth twenty Meritorious Points each, and one was worth thirty.
Lu Yan immediately moved all these things into a martial chef room in the Gao Residence, and then took out a recipe to study carefully.
After all, he already had a third-level martial food of Man and Food Integration as a foundation. Training the second one would be much easier.
Of course, failure was common at the beginning.
