Chapter 248: Chapter 122: "Nine Blood Soul Blades" Breaking Limit, Sword Gang Imbued with Fiend, Invading Flesh and Corroding Bone, Slaying the Mind and Spirit

Seeing Chu Fan still ignoring her, she gritted her teeth and raised her voice an octave, "I’m hungry!"

"..." Chu Fan turned to the side. He remembered how she had just arrived at the Seven Stars Gang this afternoon and devoured three whole roasted suckling pigs in one meal. His temples throbbed, and his head ached intensely.

Thankfully, this massive "food expense" was covered by the Seven Stars Gang’s public account.

Otherwise, even with the thirty thousand taels of silver he now possessed, he’d feel the pinch from this kind of spending.

’Keeping a Great Demon like her is really costing me a fortune!’

Chu Fan stepped outside and spoke to Cao Xingda and Li Qing, who were standing guard in the courtyard. He told them to get some good food for their little majesty and then planned to head back to the Chu Family’s Old Mansion.

[Technique: Nine Blood Soul Blades (Perfection) Progress: (2449/2500) (Trait: None)]

Tonight, he would achieve Breaking Limit with the Nine Blood Soul Blades.

The Nine Blood Soul Blades was far, far stronger than the Firewood Splitting Saber Technique...

He was greatly looking forward to the Trait the Nine Blood Soul Blades would gain after Breaking Limit.

Before leaving, Chu Fan specifically instructed Xiaobai, "Sister Bai, my dear lady, I’m going home for a bit. You be good and stay here. Don’t go out and cause any trouble."

Xiaobai was lounging on a rocking chair in the courtyard. She waved a delicate hand lazily, a piece of osmanthus cake still in her mouth. "I know, I know," she mumbled. "You’re so naggy. Go on, hurry back."

Chu Fan was still a little worried, but he figured that with a group of cultivators at the Entering the Realm of Strength watching the courtyard and the Deacon Hall not far away, no major trouble should break out.

Who would have thought that just as he walked out of the Seven Stars Gang headquarters, he would hear the sound of hurried footsteps behind him.

He turned to see Zhao Tianxing chasing after him, a miserable look on his face.

Zhao Tianxing looked completely helpless. "Xiaobai... our ’cousin’... she... she went to the Martial Arts Arena!"

"We tried to stop her, but we couldn’t. She said she was bored to death and wanted to see the heroic bearing of our Seven Stars Gang’s young men..."

When Chu Fan heard this, a vein bulged on his forehead.

’This Snake Demon just can’t stay still for a second!’

The Seven Stars Gang’s Martial Arts Arena was crowded and full of prying eyes. How could she just go there as she pleased?

If some undiscerning disciple offended her, or if she got upset and let a bit of her Demonic Qi leak out, it would be a huge problem.

He sighed and had no choice but to turn around and hurry back.

Sure enough, as soon as he reached the Martial Arts Arena, he saw Xiaobai standing enthusiastically by the edge of the field. She was watching the disciples practice their punches and spar, even offering her commentary from time to time.

"Hmm, that stance isn’t stable enough."

"That punch has power, but it’s too slow."

The disciples saw her extreme beauty and extraordinary aura. Knowing she was an "honored guest" staying under the Gang Leader’s arrangement, they found her words odd but didn’t dare to talk back. They only trained even harder.

Cao Xingda and Li Qing stood a few steps behind her like two door gods, nervously afraid she would do something out of line.

"Sister Bai!" Chu Fan called out, his face stern.

Xiaobai turned and saw it was Chu Fan. Instead of showing any embarrassment at being caught, she just gave a radiant smile. "Oh, you’re back already?"

"I was watching your Seven Stars Gang disciples cultivate. It’s quite interesting."

Chu Fan couldn’t be bothered to waste words on her. He strode forward and grabbed her by the wrist. "Come with me."

"Where are we going?"

"Home."

Xiaobai’s eyes immediately lit up. She instantly lost all interest in critiquing martial arts and obediently followed Chu Fan out, chirping excitedly, "You should have said so earlier! It’s so boring staying in the gang!"

Cao Xingda and Li Qing looked at each other, dumbfounded.

’It seems that within the Seven Stars Gang, only Chu Fan can handle this little majesty.’

’I just hope they don’t cause any trouble after they leave.’

After leaving the Seven Stars Gang and stepping onto the bustling streets of Cyan Yang Ancient City, Xiaobai was even more like a bird let out of its cage, finding everything new and exciting.

She pointed to the side of the street. "Chu Fan, Chu Fan, what are those bright red things on a stick? They smell so good!"

"Candied hawthorns."

She pointed somewhere else. "And that one? It’s shiny and it spins!"

"A pinwheel."

"Wow! The silk in that shop is so beautiful! Let’s go take a look!"

"..."

Her questions were endless. One moment she’d be leaning in front of a vendor’s stall, examining things curiously; the next, she’d be stopping to watch a street performer.

Chu Fan patiently explained things to her the whole way, feeling less like he was escorting a Great Demon and more like he was with a curious child on her first trip to the city.

Xiaobai’s curiosity wasn’t limited to looking and asking; it also extended to buying, buying, and more buying.

In just a short while, Chu Fan’s hands were already full of bags, big and small—all sorts of snacks, several bolts of brightly colored silk, and a few strange but useless little trinkets.

It was a good thing Chu Fan had recently come into a windfall; otherwise, the cost of this trip alone would have been enough to make him wince.

Watching Xiaobai, who was still bursting with energy up ahead, Chu Fan was speechless.

’The expenses for keeping a Great Demon like her really are no small matter.’

’But on second thought,’ he mused, ’with the threat of the Moon Worship Sect looming, trading these worldly goods for a powerful Mortal Transformation-level combatant by my side... this deal is an absolute bargain.’

After a journey of stopping and starting, they finally returned to the Chu Family’s Old Mansion.

As soon as they entered, Xiaobai eagerly unwrapped the oil-paper packages and began to enjoy the various delicacies they had bought.

Her appetite left Chu Fan dumbfounded—her body was petite, but her stomach seemed to be a bottomless pit. The food on the table vanished at a speed visible to the naked eye.

...

「Night fell.」

Xiaobai was still in her room, feasting away. The food on her table was piled up like a small mountain.

Chu Fan was already standing in the courtyard, his aura calm, preparing to break through the limits of his Nine Blood Soul Blades.

He was only fifty-one experience points away from the final step.

Gazing at the words on the panel, Chu Fan’s eyes grew solemn.

If it weren’t for the delay from the trip to the Mist Marsh during the day, he would have already broken through this barrier.

Now that he was back, there could be no more delays.

He took a deep breath of the cool, dew-laden night air and slowly assumed his stance. With a thought, the energy circulation routes and the nine life-risking Killing Moves of the Nine Blood Soul Blades flowed clearly through his mind.

This saber technique had long since reached Perfection. His qi and blood circulated smoothly and without obstruction, and his Sword Intent was condensed but not yet released, waiting only for that final leap to break out of its cage.

The so-called Breaking Limit meant leaping beyond the Cultivation Technique’s inherent framework. It required one to fuse their own comprehension of the "saber," of "blood soul," and even of life and death, to forge a path of their very own.