Chapter 62

The maid was about thirty years old, still retaining some charm, with a full and fiery figure.

Hearing Qian Ye's straightforward response, she immediately put on what she considered her most alluring smile, moved her body to squeeze into the room, and her ample bosom almost touched Qian Ye's arm. She said in a coquettish tone, "Little handsome, this time it can be half price, just fifty copper coins!"

Qian Ye was taken aback and quickly blocked the maid, whose body width was not much different from his own. He said, "No, I mean get me some food, enough for three people! I haven't eaten anything all day!"

After saying that, Qian Ye took out a silver coin and handed it over, saying, "The extra is for you."

The maid's smile froze. She looked at the silver coin, then at Qian Ye, and her expression turned very resentful. She said, "I'll bring you the food right away, but what about after you eat? This silver coin is enough for everything!"

"No, just the food!" Qian Ye felt quite helpless in the face of the robust maid's alluring and resentful aura.

The maid grabbed Qian Ye's hand, pushed the silver coin and his hand into her chest, and then left with a sway of her hips.

A moment later, she brought a full tray of food and tried to squeeze into the room again. Qian Ye barely managed to stop her and shut the door, leaving her with a resentful look.

The dinner at this inn was quite delicious. After finishing the food, Qian Ye began to practice the Bingfa Decree. With the support of the vampire constitution, the bottleneck of the Bingfa Decree's original force tide being too powerful to damage the practitioner's body was eliminated. Qian Ye even looked forward to what it would be like to break through to the ninth level solely with the Bingfa Decree.

As the Bingfa Decree ran, the original force began to surge from three nodes, gradually forming a tide within his body. Before the third node was fully nurtured, the original force tide would continuously fill this new node.

In his inner vision, the newly formed original force node was very dim, just beginning to take shape. The nodes in his chest and abdomen, however, were radiant, especially the qi sea in his chest, which was like a small sun, constantly emitting threads of original force amidst the light and darkness.

However, Qian Ye suddenly found that this time the original force tide was much weaker than usual, with the intensity of the nine waves reduced by about one-third.

Was there a problem with the cultivation technique?

He focused his mind and carefully examined the entire process of the original force tide's generation, surging, and rushing, finally discovering that when the new tide surged from the three nodes, it did not fully integrate into the large tide of original force within his body. A part of it was entangled by the seemingly stationary three-colored blood qi within his body and then slowly merged.

This discovery left Qian Ye stunned. Could the black blood be consuming the original force?

The black blood within his body had not caused him any trouble for a long time. Even after three days and nights of extreme running on the wilderness, and then suddenly entering a city with abundant blood qi, the blood thirst did not recur, which made Qian Ye increasingly at ease. But what was happening now?

Qian Ye remained silent for a while and decided to finish his daily practice.

After twenty cycles of the original force tide, Qian Ye stood up to stretch, then practiced an hour of military combat techniques on the spot. A few basic movements could effectively train strength, balance, and flexibility. After finishing the combat techniques, the entire cultivation process was complete. If he were at the Red Scorpion Legion base, he would also soak in a muscle repair solution or get a medical examination to avoid any injuries from over-practicing.

Qian Ye let his thoughts wander until the end of his cultivation, then gathered his mind to ponder the problem he had discovered.

The black blood still flowed quietly in his veins, seemingly calm, but each time the original force tide surged, a thread of original force was absorbed, a process completely beyond Qian Ye's control. After these original forces were intercepted, the impact of each original force tide was significantly reduced, to the point where it was not much stronger than that of an ordinary practitioner.

The effect was not noticeable after one cycle, but after twenty cycles, Qian Ye found that the blood qi had grown somewhat. The current visible impact was a slower cultivation speed, with no other abnormalities. However, Qian Ye had a vague worry that as the black blood gradually strengthened, he might really become a vampire.

Until the sky turned white, Qian Ye did not reach a conclusion.

This unpleasant interlude did not significantly affect Qian Ye's new life. He maintained his practical style, and since his cultivation speed had slowed, he decided to increase the intensity.

In the following days, Qian Ye buried himself in intense cultivation, never leaving his room, and had the maid deliver his three meals a day. This was also the simplest and most effective way to shake off any potential trackers in a new place.

Seven days passed quickly. During this time, Qian Ye's gain was finally mastering the technique of controlling the injection of blood qi while infusing the original force into the blank original force bullets. The three blank original force bullets given by the old man from "A1 Firearms" were genuine, but the packaging box was very much in the old man's style, feeling wrong in weight when held, and turned out to be a fake.

Qian Ye took out a blank original force bullet and began to slowly infuse it with original force. After about ten minutes, the bullet's head was filled with a mist-like original force, and a thread of blood qi could be seen slowly moving inside. Now he could skillfully add or not add blood qi during the infusion.

Qian Ye put the original force bullet into the box, but it did not have a sealing effect, and the bullet would lose most of its effect after three days. He suddenly remembered the crystal box left by the old man named Wang Bo, which seemed to have disappeared along with the destruction of "Manshusha." This thought lingered in Qian Ye's mind for only a moment before sinking into his memory along with many others.

After tidying up everything, Qian Ye finally prepared to go out and gather information about the surroundings. Since he planned to live in this city for a long time, he needed to find a way to earn some money. The prices in Dark Blood City were not just higher than in a small town; compared to Black Stream City, they were like two different countries. If the unit of measurement in Black Stream City was copper coins, in Dark Blood City it was silver coins.

Before leaving, Qian Ye, as usual, altered his appearance. After multiple frustrating failures, he finally found a trick: making his skin as dark and yellow as possible. This way, there would not be a noticeable disguise, but his appearance would look different.

Qian Ye did not know that during the days he was hiding in the inn and focusing on cultivation, Yu Renyan had passed by the inn where he was staying twice. Seven days had passed, and Yu Renyan had already gone through the entire Dark Blood City according to his plan but found no trace of the other party.

This made Yu Renyan return to his residence and think in seclusion.

A moment later, he called a subordinate from the Dark Blade and quickly sent a letter to Wu Zhengnan. In the letter, Yu Renyan said he had found some clues about the murderer, but the other party was very cunning, and he needed more time.

As for how much time, Yu Renyan summarized it with one word: indefinite. At the end of the letter, Yu Renyan asked whether the mission should continue.

A day later, Wu Zhengnan's reply arrived, with only a simple sentence: "Continue until completion."

Yu Renyan immediately understood Wu Zhengnan's determination. However, he had his own style and way of doing things, so he leisurely went out, bought a lot of things, and returned.

An hour later, Yu Renyan had transformed himself into a tall, slim man with blond hair and different eye color. The leader of the Dark Blade bought a small house with a separate courtyard in the city, registered as a free mercenary at the Mercenary Guild under a fake name, and then registered as a hunter at the Hunter's Home, and actually went out hunting.

This mission was clearly treated by Yu Renyan as a holiday on the way.

When Yu Renyan left Dark Blood City, Qian Ye had just come out of the inn.

He first found a random armor shop and bought a set of hunting leather armor. This type of leather armor was very suitable for outdoor hunting, being light and flexible with decent defensive capabilities. When Qian Ye put on this leather armor, he finally looked a bit more wild and strong.

At noon, Qian Ye casually entered a restaurant, went upstairs, and found a seat by the window.

He used the rare daylight to eat while observing the passersby, to familiarize himself with the residents' habits. After finishing the meal, Qian Ye took out some promotional materials and started flipping through them.

These were brochures from the Mercenary Guild, the Adventurer's Alliance, and the Hunter's Home. In the end, Qian Ye's gaze settled on the Hunter's Home.

Hunting dark races as prey was the profession suitable for him. He had abandoned the Mercenary Guild and the Adventurer's Alliance, which had a mercenary nature.

The former was because Qian Ye did not want to be a lackey for the nobles again; having a clear stance meant trouble would follow. The latter was because being an adventurer often required certain professional skills, such as mechanical repair. Qian Ye's mechanical class grades were always good, but he had no interest in standing at a workbench every day, polishing parts. Let others do that delicate work; Qian Ye was more interested in directly blowing up the heads of dark races.

After leaving the restaurant, Qian Ye followed the map, turned several corners, and finally walked into a dark alley, standing in front of a three-story building.

A sign read "Hunter's Home." Qian Ye read it several times to confirm that this was the place he was looking for.

The building was so dilapidated that it seemed about to collapse. The manager seemed to have no interest in repairs, and a large crack was clearly visible on the front wall, with a metal bracket of questionable quality exposed.

The door was open, and Qian Ye hesitated for a moment before walking in. His experience at "A1 Firearms" had left him with a bit of psychological shadow. The Hunter's Home was a famous hunting organization with branches throughout the Eternal Night Continent, but this one looked like it was just borrowing a name.

Inside the door was a small hall with two tables and a few chairs. Three burly men were lounging together, with several large mugs of beer on the table in the middle.

At the end of the hall was a counter, where a thin old man with a pair of reading glasses was sitting, intently reading something. His half-bald head shone brightly under the gas lamp.

As soon as Qian Ye saw the bald head, his heart skipped a beat. Without needing a good memory, the shape, the shine, and the distinctive features were unmistakable—this was the bald head of the old man from "A1 Firearms"!