I Can Merge Techniques

After a simple dinner, the cold leftovers not yet cleared away, he sat at the table, lost in deep thought.

The Qing Province Demon Suppression Bureau had made their move so suddenly. The curtain had officially been raised on the bloodbath surrounding the Zhang Family.

He and the Demon Suppression Bureau still knew precious little about the Zhang Family’s secret "Burial Immortal Valley plan." They were fumbling in the dark, unable to see the whole picture, and this left him feeling faintly uneasy.

But when he recalled Leng Qingqiu’s calm and certain expression, it was clear the Qing Province Demon Suppression Envoy knew something about the Burial Immortal Valley.

For some reason, however, she was unwilling to say a single word more about it.

The Qing Province Demon Suppression Bureau had now requested aid from the Imperial Capital Demon Suppression Bureau. Their movements were swift and decisive, with no hesitation.

If the Demon Suppression Bureau picked up the pace, the Zhang Family would certainly accelerate their own plans. They would never just sit back and wait for their doom.

It was foreseeable that Qing Province City would not know a moment’s peace from now on.

A storm was about to rise, and a bloodbath was inevitable.

Originally, Chu Fan had thought all the chaos would erupt during the Profound Origin Secret Realm competition several months from now—

—after all, that competition was intimately tied to the secrets of the Burial Immortal Valley.

But now it seemed that this battle surrounding the Zhang Family and the Burial Immortal Valley had begun ahead of schedule.

’In that case, I’ll just have to take this one step at a time and adapt as things unfold.’

A sharp glint flashed in Chu Fan’s eyes. He pushed aside his distracting thoughts, his expression growing ever more resolute.

According to intelligence from the Demon Suppression Bureau, the Blood Shadow Sect was secretly controlled by the Zhang Family. It had become their most capable instrument, committing countless evils.

’So, if I pull the rug out from under them by first cutting off this "black hand," it will be enough to deal the Zhang Family a crippling blow and severely reduce their strength.’

Chu Fan’s eyes narrowed. With a single thought, he connected to the depths of his Sumeru Ring. An innumerable, dazzling array of treasures within it instantly materialized in his consciousness.

This Sumeru Ring had long since become a massive, mobile treasury.

Jade Boxes of all kinds and countless jars and bottles were piled up like mountains. In one corner, there was even a heap of high-grade Spirit Jade that radiated a dense Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, its flowing light and potent Spiritual Mechanism palpable.

Most of this wealth came from the young mistress of the Medicine King Valley, Mo Daozi, Ye Chang’an of the Medicine King Valley, and that black-robed woman from the Moon Worship Sect.

In comparison, the collection of the so-called "old hand of the martial world," Mo Daozi, could be described in two words: dirt poor. It paled in comparison to the "gifts" from the other three and wasn’t even worth mentioning.

And the great gifts "sent" by those three were enough to drive any Acupoint Realm expert mad. Chu Fan would even laugh out loud in his sleep just thinking about these treasures.

Ye Chang’an’s Sumeru Ring mostly contained rare and exotic flowers, strange herbs, Treasure Plant seeds, and various high-grade Elixirs.

Though it wasn’t his entire fortune, the lifetime accumulation of a top Alchemy Master was of incalculable value, enough to make countless people flock to it.

The Sumeru Ring from the Moon Worship Sect’s black-robed woman seemed simple, lacking many flashy items. However, the twenty flawless pieces of high-grade Spirit Jade and several Profound-Rank Divine Weapons shimmering with a faint light inside made Chu Fan feel she was even more "generous" than Ye Chang’an.

After all, Spirit Jade was the true hard currency of the Cultivation Realm—a resource Cultivators desperately needed for their training, with broad applications and immense value.

As for the Sumeru Ring from the young mistress of Medicine King Valley, that was a veritable bottomless Treasure Basin.

The Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, Ancient Spiritual Medicine, and supreme-grade Elixirs treasured within were so valuable that it was no exaggeration to call them priceless.

Chu Fan’s mental gaze swept past countless treasures before finally locking onto an unremarkable black Jade Box.

With a flicker of his thoughts, a white light flashed from within the Sumeru Ring, and the black Jade Box appeared, resting quietly in his palm.

The box was cold to the touch, suffused with a hint of Yin Cold Qi.

He slowly opened the Jade Box. Inside, there was a pile of black Elixir Pills exuding a sinister, chilling aura—they were the exceptionally potent "Bone-Eroding Pills."

This elixir was a specially concocted poison. Upon contact with water, it dissolved into a toxic mist containing a bizarre and incomparably potent poison.

Whether inhaled or absorbed through the skin, the poison was potent enough to incapacitate an Acupoint Realm expert in a matter of breaths. Their meridians would rupture, their cultivation would be crippled, and their body would be left broken and in excruciating pain.

This was the very trump card he intended to use against the Blood Shadow Sect in the Burial Demon Marsh.

According to Demon Suppression Captain Li Mubai, the depths of the Burial Demon Marsh were perennially shrouded in a toxic miasma, creating an incredibly hostile environment.

Even with high-grade poison-warding elixirs, an ordinary Acupoint Realm Cultivator wouldn’t dare linger there for long. They would have to proceed with the utmost caution.

The Blood Shadow Sect had used this natural barrier of poisonous miasma to evade the Demon Suppression Bureau’s encirclement and pursuit for a long time, remaining at large to this day.

The tyrannical poison of the Bone-Eroding Pill, combined with the natural miasma of the Burial Demon Marsh... when stacked together, the resulting toxicity would be so fierce that even the Blood Shadow Sect would likely be unable to resist it.

Chu Fan could already picture the horrific scene: Blood Shadow Sect members struggling and wailing in the toxic mist, dying in agony.

After carefully storing the Bone-Eroding Pills away, he sat cross-legged on his bed, closed his eyes, and focused his mind. He began the final refinement of his Shenxiao Imperial Golden Shield.

[Art: Shenxiao Imperial Golden Shield (Perfection) Progress: (2425/2500) (Trait: None)]

Since he began cultivating the Shenxiao Imperial Golden Shield, he had only used this top-tier Defensive Martial Arts in actual combat a handful of times.

When he intercepted Ye Chang’an in Lingyou Valley, he had indeed used the Shenxiao Imperial Golden Shield in a hurry to defend himself, only for it to be shattered by a single slash from one of the man’s sword-wielding guards.

However, that wasn’t because the Shenxiao Imperial Golden Shield itself was weak or fragile. At the time, his mastery of the Martial Art had only reached the Small Success Realm, so its power was limited.