The courtyard was bustling with people, a crowd of prefecture generals gathered around to watch.

Zhou Yuanfeng and a Jin Mansion General wore grave expressions as they bent down to inspect the injuries of the Mountain Patrol General.

Qin An pondered briefly before stepping forward toward the two of them.

Earlier, with just a glance at the Mountain Patrol General, the three Five Elements Divine Senses in his mind immediately stirred.

A mysterious perception surged into his heart.

This person actually carried traces of earth-elemental awareness!

Currently, he lacked any news of earth-elemental awareness, so naturally, he wanted to check if he could find clues related to it.

Zhou Yuanfeng, while inspecting the injuries with another Jin Mansion General, immediately turned his head upon hearing footsteps.

Seeing Qin An approaching, Zhou Yuanfeng instantly showed a look of joy.

"Mr. Qin, come quickly and take a look at these injuries!"

The Jin Mansion General beside him was slightly taken aback.

Zhou Yuanfeng, a Jin Mansion General of True Pill Realm, already at the top in the Evil Extermination Bureau, was addressing a Mountain Patrol Copper General as "Sir"?

"This person must have boundless potential." The Jin Mansion General was secretly astonished.

The observing prefecture generals, upon hearing Zhou Yuanfeng's address, started to speculate about Qin An's identity.

Qin An was unaware of their thoughts, but Zhou Yuanfeng's action spared him some trouble.

As Qin An approached, the surrounding prefecture generals hastily made way for him.

Qin An came forward, pressed his fingertip to the man's wrist, and his brows furrowed suddenly: "Array?"

The Mountain Patrol General had no Evil Qi upon him, but his wounds and internals were surrounded by an array.

This array was precisely what caused his injuries to persist.

Upon hearing this, the Jin Mansion General stood up and said, "I am acquainted with the Sect Leader of the Profound Celestial Array Gate. You stabilize his injuries first, and I'll go fetch the Sect Leader."

Now that the source was recognized, the Jin Mansion General planned to address the issue.

Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Yuanfeng unexpectedly interjected.

"Can you resolve it?"

The Jin Mansion General was momentarily stunned.

If he hadn't misheard, Zhou Yuanfeng seemed to be addressing Qin An.

But the injuries were caused by an array, why would Qin An be able to resolve it?

Could it be...

"Brother..." The Jin Mansion General cautiously asked, "Are you well-versed in the art of arrays?"

Having asked this, the Jin Mansion General felt he was being rather presumptuous.

How could anyone be capable of slaying demons, healing, and also mastering arrays?

Qin An didn't answer.

Zhou Yuanfeng continued, "Mr. Qin's expertise in arrays surpasses even the Sect Leader."

Upon hearing this, the Jin Mansion General's pupils shrank, and he immediately gave a wry smile, "Brother Zhou kept someone like this hidden; you should have introduced him sooner."

Xunyang Prefecture was a place chasing fame and fortune; the Jin Mansion General's first thought was to befriend Qin An.

Zhou Yuanfeng waved dismissively, "We can discuss this later, let's save the man first."

The Jin Mansion General didn't say more, just watched Qin An with interest.

At this moment, Qin An used True Essence as a needle to channel into the Mountain Patrol General's body.

First, he dispersed the residual power of the array within, then began to treat the injuries.

For other healers, this might be impossible, but Qin An, with his array talent, found it simple.

Soon, the injuries of the Mountain Patrol Copper General stabilized, and he slowly regained consciousness.

Zhou Yuanfeng's expression changed slightly as he waved his hand and shouted, "All irrelevant people, leave!"

Upon this, the present prefecture generals exchanged glances and dispersed.

Qin An did not leave.

Zhou Yuanfeng bent down and asked, "What happened?"

The Mountain Patrol Copper General replied with difficulty, "I received a task to enter the ancient battlefield ruins and hunt down a great demon, but it escaped into a desert. I chased after it, but the desert had an array; the great demon died from the array, while I barely escaped alive, fortunately discovered by colleagues."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yuanfeng and the Jin Mansion General both breathed a sigh of relief.

They initially thought it was a major issue, but now it seemed the Mountain Patrol Copper General had completed his mission and was only injured by the array during the task.

According to the rules, since the mission was completed, there was no need to pursue further.

Qin An suddenly asked, "Where is this desert within the ancient battlefield ruins?"

The Mountain Patrol Copper General instinctively replied, "The map in the records still notes it, called the Withered Sea Desert."

Even though he didn't know why the Mountain Patrol General asked, he dutifully provided the information.

Qin An nodded slightly, "Mr. Zhou, I have matters to attend to; I shall take my leave."

This event was but a small episode, yet he gained such vital information.

The location of the Withered Sea Desert was indeed noted in the map of the ancient battlefield ruins Qin An had reviewed.

When he later enters the ruins, he could search for the earth-elemental awareness there.

Zhou Yuanfeng looked puzzled but was discreet enough not to inquire.

Only after Qin An left did Zhou Yuanfeng arrange for the care of the injured Mountain Patrol Copper General with the Jin Mansion General.

...

Time passed swiftly; within a month, chaos once again erupted in Xunyang Prefecture.

Demons and pseudo-gods caused havoc, and the Evil Extermination Bureau quelled the disturbances.

Without the cover of the ancient battlefield ruins, both sides clashed repeatedly, unleashing slaughter like blooming flowers.

But amidst the carnage, a title began to circulate on a small scale.

Rumor had it that among the Mountain Patrol Copper Generals, there was a newcomer who shone brilliantly in the ancient battlefield ruins.

This person was named Qin An, a master of both blade and fist.

Many people from the Evil Extermination Bureau and Jianghu sought information, hoping to forge connections with Qin An.

But unexpectedly, since the battle in the ancient battlefield ruins, Qin An vanished completely, with no trace found.

Because of this, many abandoned their intentions.

At this moment, inside the blacksmith shop.

Qin An watched the smoke before him, a slight smile on his lips.

[Butcher lv.12 (0/12000): The livestock you butcher are more delicious, enhancing their essence, speeding up butchering time, improving butchering precision]

[Talent: Outer Pill Realm Blade Skills Great Success, Outer Pill Realm Weapon Skills Insight Great Success, Outer Pill Realm Blade Skills Damage Great Success, Outer Pill Realm Blade Skills Armor-Piercing Great Success]

...

[Blacksmith lv.12 (0/12000): The quality of the items you forge is enhanced, material consumption reduced, item properties strengthened, forging speed increased]

[Talent: Outer Pill Realm Strength Skills Great Success, Outer Pill Realm Forged Object Spirituality Granting, Outer Pill Realm Heart Forging Skill Great Success, Outer Pill Realm Spirit Cultivation Skill Great Success]

"It's done!"

Qin An focused his mind, secretly thinking.

For more than a month, Qin An almost forgot sleep and food, focusing intensely on cultivating his profession proficiency.

Now, the professions of butcher and blacksmith have reached level twelve, ushering in a new transformation.

The butcher profession gained a slaughter precision trait, allowing Qin An to be more precise in slaughtering, greatly increasing the speed at which he gains proficiency.

In addition, all talents have been enhanced to the level of Great Success in the Outer Elixir Realm, with an added outer elixir realm blade cultivation technique armor-piercing Great Success talent.

This talent is extremely terrifying because when Qin An employs blade skills, he can wield the power of armor-piercing.

Such armor-piercing not only breaks protective items but even breaches the opponent's protective cultivation techniques.

For Qin An, it's an immense improvement.

In future battles, even if the opponent has protective cultivation techniques, Qin An can use the armor-piercing talent to render the opponent's protective techniques ineffective.

As for the blacksmith talent, according to Qin An, it doesn't match the butcher's combat strength but isn't lacking either.

A characteristic has been added to shorten forging time, which we'll put aside for now.

The important thing is the talent.

All talents have been elevated to Great Success in the Outer Elixir Realm.

Moreover, there's an addition of Great Success in the Outer Elixir Realm Spiritual Nurturing Technique.

What is called spiritual nurturing is related to the previous Forged Object Spirituality Granting.

Previously, forged objects could be endowed with spirituality, but it was fixed, only upgradeable by enhancing the blacksmith talent.

This Spiritual Nurturing Technique allows the spirituality to be nurtured with True Essence, slowly enhancing it step by step.

"The enhancement of these two professions to the Outer Elixir Realm allows for cultivation technique deduction, but first, I need to complete one thing," Qin An thought, "forge a defensive item."

Currently, Qin An is aware of having offended many pseudo-gods among demons, as well as quite a few colleagues.

Now, upon returning, he needs to go out to search for materials for the Divine Spirit Pill.

Leaving Xunyang Prefecture will involve great risk.

Considering that the blacksmith profession has reached level twelve, forging a life-saving item can help in preserving his life.

With this in mind, Qin An looks at the materials on the table and places them all into the furnace.

These materials were exchanged by Qin An using meritorious deeds.

He is going to forge a soft armor for protection.

After much contemplation, Qin An concludes that only soft armor suits him.

If it were hard armor or full-covering armor, it would instead reduce his agility, greatly diminishing combat effectiveness.

The furnace flames blaze fiercely, and Qin An raises a finger to calculate, estimating a period of time required for material smelting, then he casts the Cold Star into the furnace.

Cold Star only needs to be recast, which is a simple process.

Soon, the Cold Star becomes extremely hot.

Qin An retrieves it, holds the iron hammer, and uses the Heart Forging Skill to create.

The Five-Colored True Essence flows along the iron hammer into the Cold Star.

The sounds of ding ding clang clang fill the air continuously.

Not long afterwards, the straight blade is held in Qin An's hand.

Heat flows across the blade body.

As Qin An infuses True Essence, the blade emits a slight hum, seeming to respond.

"The spirituality inside has increased again." Qin An sheaths the blade: "I wonder what the Spiritual Nurturing Technique will yield."

Cold Star falls into the sheath, gradually being nurtured by Qin An's True Essence, its spirituality increasing at a faint pace.

The materials in the furnace have become more red-hot.

Qin An realizes the time is right, retrieves the materials from the furnace, and places them on the anvil to continue hammering.

The forging of soft armor is extremely complicated, even with Qin An's talent, it still requires half an hour.

As the temperature slowly drops, a pitch-black soft armor emerges on the anvil.

Warm to the touch, incredibly light in weight, yet its defense is not low.

Especially as it also harbors hidden spirituality, significantly enhancing the defense of the soft armor.

Qin An put it on under his dark robe and tried swinging the Cold Star.

During the swing, there was no sense of obstruction at all, as if just wearing a piece of clothing underneath.

Qin An sheathed the blade, his right fist slightly clenched: "Now everything is ready, only need to deduce blade and boxing skills to Great Success in the Outer Elixir Realm before heading out to find materials for the Divine Spirit Pill."

Thinking about this, Qin An gets up and leaves the blacksmith shop, heading toward where Evil Extermination Bureau is located.

...

Night is dark as ink, moonlight like silver.

Qin An first went to the mystery library and exchanged for a cultivation technique book named Chaotic Star Fist from the Outer Elixir Realm, then returned to his room.

Candlelight flickered, casting shadows on Qin An's cheeks faintly visible.

Qin An focused, first taking out the Heaven and Earth Heartless Saber given by Green Luo, and slowly flipping through it.

After increasing his scholar profession proficiency, Qin An finally put down the saber manual.

"Infuse heartless power into the blade, with relentless momentum strike the foe, a fine blade skill!" Qin An praised inwardly.

This blade skill emphasizes heartlessly striking, with a single cut like a demon.

Even with Qin An's understanding of blade skills, he considers this as superior within the Outer Elixir Realm.

In its execution, it feels like a heartless gust sweeping through, perfectly enhancing Qin An's blade skill's ferocity.

"Green Luo indeed knows how to supplement my blade skills…" Qin An's eyes slightly narrowed: "Begin!"

With the foundation of the Mountain Patrol Golden General, the given items are undoubtedly excellent.

Qin An collected his spirits, unsheathed the long blade, cold gleams streaked across, carrying a ruthless ferocity, sweeping across.

As the long blade swung out, a line of smoke emerged.

[You cultivate Heaven and Earth Heartless Saber, triggering butcher talent]

[Heaven and Earth Heartless Saber (Great Success)]

The smoke disappeared, transforming into a large amount of information, rushing into Qin An's mind like a tide.

Qin An's eyes sparked with light: "Continue."

A single Heaven and Earth Heartless Saber cannot satisfy Qin An.

What Qin An needs now is to integrate two blade skills into one.

With this in mind, Qin An altered the saber momentum, executed Ice and Fire Blood Transformation Blade.

The smoke returned, transforming into text lines.

[You possess two blade skills in one body, intending to merge them as one, hindered by inadequate talent]

[Facing current crisis, needing to go out and search for Divine Spirit Pill materials, mindful that improving blade skills is essential to ensure safety]

[Seated patiently for years, you decide to burn the blood within your body]

[After a large amount of blood burns, a flash of inspiration arises in your mind]

[Yet this inspiration is clearly insufficient, you continue to burn blood]

[Upon further burning of the blood, you finally gain insight]

[You name the new cultivation technique Ice Flame Ruthless Blood Transformation Blade]

[Ice Flame Ruthless Blood Transformation Blade (Great Success)]

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