Chapter 105 - 103: City Lockdown, Complete Version of Iron Cloth Shirt, Refining Internal Realm

Chapter 105: Chapter 103: City Lockdown, Complete Version of Iron Cloth Shirt, Refining Internal Realm

Packing up all his things, Su Chen left the abandoned mansion while no one was watching. He searched for a while and soon found an unoccupied courtyard house. It was situated in a remote location with no one to disturb him, so he moved right in.

Before the sky turned dark, Su Chen began preparing the Blood Boiling Powder. One, two, five consecutive times—his attempts all ended in failure. It wasn’t until his sixth try that he finally succeeded. After finishing a bowl of the Blood Boiling Powder, his progress bar increased by less than the value of a single dose.

Su Chen didn’t mind. To achieve this level of efficacy on his first successful attempt left no room for disappointment. After all, compared to the amount of time the deaf-mute man had spent perfecting the recipe, Su Chen had only just started. It was completely normal for there to be a gap in the medicinal effects.

As night approached, Su Chen stopped his preparations and packed everything away, just in case patrolling soldiers barged in and discovered his stash.

Just like that, seven consecutive days passed. Su Chen had advanced his progress by a total of nineteen doses of Blood Boiling Powder. In other words, he only needed to prepare one more dose to max out his panel.

"However, I’m still short on some medicinal herbs. I need to buy another batch," Su Chen said thoughtfully, looking at his dwindling supply.

He changed his clothes, disguised himself, and walked out of the courtyard.

Meanwhile.

Inside the County Magistrate’s Office, Hong Yue flew into a towering rage.

Seven days of continuous investigation had yielded nothing more than the news that Su Chen and all of his relatives and friends had left White Stone City. How could he not be furious? They had left the city, and he had no idea where they had actually gone. Was he supposed to search for a needle in a haystack?

During this time, his soldiers had arrested a whole bunch of people, filling the cells of the Celestial Prison to the brim, yet there was still no progress. This left him feeling both helpless and angry, but he had no choice but to call off the search. Such a massive mobilization had failed to turn up a single clue; continuing the search would likely yield the same result.

Furthermore, with the city gates having been closed for seven days, the commoners were already in a state of panic. The recently stabilized White Stone City was descending into chaos once again.

Still, he was unwilling to give up entirely. After ordering the city gates to be opened, he had the City Guards keep a close eye on anyone leaving the city, instructing them to report immediately if they noticed anything unusual.

At this moment, Su Chen was completely unaware that the city gates had reopened. He was still preparing the Blood Boiling Powder, mixing the various herbs according to their specific proportions. In no time, he finished the preparation and began brewing the medicine.

After boiling it for a while, Su Chen looked at the medicinal broth shimmering with a red luster and let out a relieved smile. The final dose of Blood Boiling Powder had been successfully prepared!

Waiting a brief moment for it to cool, Su Chen picked up the bowl and downed it in one gulp.

GLUG GLUG GLUG.

As the medicinal broth entered his stomach, his panel suddenly refreshed. Su Chen looked at the panel. He had assumed that the level of his Iron Cloth Shirt would remain unchanged this time, but the sight that followed gave him a jolt.

[Martial Arts: ... Iron Cloth Shirt (Layer 1, 1%)]

[Easy Mode: ... Iron Cloth Shirt, 0 times (10 Qi Blood Pills/time)]

"Iron Cloth Shirt... it dropped the word ’Incomplete’ and became the full version!" Su Chen muttered to himself, his face immediately lighting up with joy.

But what brought him even greater surprise was the wave of tingling sensations emanating from his internal organs. This indicated that his martial energy had officially begun tempering his organs. He had stepped into the Refining Internal Realm.

"The complete version of the Iron Cloth Shirt has truly given me a massive surprise. Setting aside the fact that my four streams of martial energy have become five, it also pushed me into the Refining Internal Realm, multiplying my strength several times over.

"If I ran into Tao Dingfang right now, it would take me three moves—just three moves to kill him. One move to defeat him, one to cripple him, and one to end his life!"

After the initial shock of joy subsided, Su Chen began to carefully observe the changes brought about by the Refining Internal Realm. The most obvious difference was that his breathing had become deep and drawn out. He could distinctly feel that the tingling sensation coming from his lungs was the strongest. It seemed that martial energy tempered the lungs first before moving on to the other internal organs, which was why the sensation there was so pronounced.

He didn’t have a very deep understanding of the Refining Internal Realm. He had previously asked Hong Ming about it, but Hong Ming only half-understood it himself, knowing only that once martial energy began tempering the internal organs, one had reached this realm.

"I won’t think about this for now," he thought to himself. "It’s been so long. I wonder how Master Hong and the others are doing."

Having successfully refined his internal organs, Su Chen didn’t plan on sticking around. Although he had previously instructed Fang Rou to evacuate first if she ran into Hong Ming, a long time had passed. Since he hadn’t regrouped with Hong Ming and the others yet, they were bound to be worried.

After packing up his things, Su Chen went out to gather information. It didn’t take long for him to discover that the city gates were open, and people were steadily trickling in and out of the city. However, he didn’t rush. Instead, he observed the flow of people for a while before leaving the area. There were still patrolling soldiers on the streets, but their numbers were significantly fewer than in the previous days.

Su Chen didn’t return home. Instead, he found a tavern, ordered a few dishes, and began to eat. After eating and drinking his fill, Su Chen returned to his residence and waited for time to pass. He had already decided to leave the city tonight.

Meanwhile.

Inside the County Magistrate’s Office.

"What’s all that noise outside?" Hong Yue asked, his head throbbing as he sat on the high platform reviewing official reports.

"My lord, someone deliberately tried to falsely claim the bounty. We saw through the deception and punished him with thirty strikes of the heavy rod, so he’s crying out about being wronged," a subordinate replied.

Hearing this, Hong Yue paused. He raised his head slightly and asked, "What did he claim to have discovered?"

"This person discovered that someone was brewing medicine in an unoccupied house during the day. However, when we went to investigate, we found no suspicious individuals!"

"Oh? Where?"

"Over by Pingqi Street."

"Let’s go take a look."

"Yes, sir!"

Hong Yue pondered for a moment. Sensing that something was amiss, he immediately stood up.