The Aura of Killing

Sea Breeze City, Market.

The bald butcher handed a gray cloth bag to Gu Fan with a strange look on his face, and then quickly picked up the gold leaf from the chopping board.

The butcher wiped the blood off the gold leaf on his dirty apron, took a small bite, and after confirming it was gold, stuffed it into his pocket, seemingly afraid that Gu Fan would change his mind.

Although he didn't know what strange quirk Gu Fan had that insisted on buying his old knife, he wouldn't mind that gold was too hot to handle; why not make a profit?

Gu Fan didn't care about the butcher's reaction, picked up the gray cloth bag, and turned to leave.

After reaching an empty alley, he threw the cloth bag into his storage bag and then headed towards another butcher shop in Sea Breeze City.

Over the next month, the same scene repeated itself many times in the towns surrounding the Cloud Realm Mountains.

When Gu Fan returned to the Lingxiao Sect, he emptied his storage bag in the courtyard. A series of clanging sounds of metal clashing rang out, and in the blink of an eye, a pile of knives appeared on the ground.

Among these knives were not only butcher's pig-slaughtering knives, but also many bloodstained daggers, kitchen knives, and even several black, grizzly gauntlets.

Over the past month, Gu Fan has swept away all the tools used for killing animals in the surrounding towns.

This includes knives used for slaughtering livestock, murder weapons used in secular government offices, and executioner's knives.

As the saying goes, a generous reward will surely attract brave men. Gu Fan is generous enough to throw gold leaves at people, so he is not afraid that no one will be unmoved.

Ever since discovering the mysterious silver, Gu Fan has had some aversion to it, and when exchanging money, he simply exchanges it for gold leaves.

Of course, there were also those who were blinded by the gold and wanted to secretly plot against Gu Fan.

Gu Fan showed no mercy to these people, using a fireball spell on each of them to burn them all to ashes.

Gu Fan collected these knives, naturally for the purpose of practicing the True Technique of Connecting Machines.

The Wei royal family is supported by three clans, and there has been no war for many years. Ancient battlefields are very difficult to find, but these killing tools are easier to obtain.

In the past few days, Gu Fan had already memorized the cultivation method of the "True Technique of Pulling the Mechanism" through the Myriad Manifestations Dharma Eye, and only lacked the ability to gather the killing energy.

The autumn wind was bleak, and a desolate atmosphere pervaded the air.

Gu Fan sat cross-legged on the futon, first placing a calming talisman on his chest, then slowly closing his eyes. In front of him was the pile of killing tools.

After taking a deep breath, a pale red smoke appeared on the suicide device and entered Gu Fan's mouth and nose.

This red haze is precisely the killing aura recorded in the "True Secrets of the Machine".

As the murderous aura entered his mouth and nose, Gu Fan first noticed a strong metallic smell, as if he had a mouthful of blood, making him want to vomit.

Frowning and enduring the discomfort, Gu Fan channeled his killing energy along his meridians.

Wherever the killing energy passes, a faint stinging sensation is felt in the meridians, as if tiny needles are pricking them.

Moreover, when the killing energy flowed through his divine court, swords flashed in his sea of ​​consciousness, and angry roars seemed to echo in his ears.

Xia Lingfeng had already mentioned this situation in the jade slip; it was an inevitable phenomenon in refining the killing energy, and one only needed to keep a close watch on one's mind.

If one's mind is disturbed by the shouts of killing, the killing intent will dissipate, resulting in damage to one's blood and qi, or even a shock to one's consciousness, rendering one unable to cultivate for several months.

Gu Fan was prepared for this.

The moment the screams and shouts of killing rang out, the calming talisman on my chest began to take effect.

A wisp of pure energy emerged, protecting the sea of ​​consciousness, and instantly the flashing swords and shouts of battle vanished.

The killing energy circulated along the meridians for several cycles, but instead of sinking into the dantian to transform into magical power, it gradually merged into the meridians and flesh, accompanied by a pricking sensation.

As the last trace of murderous intent dissipated, Gu Fan opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of turbid air.

After examining his body for a while, Gu Fan felt no abnormality and finally felt relieved.

"The killing intent has been refined, and I can be considered to have entered the first level of the 'True Technique of Pulling the Mechanism'," Gu Fan muttered to himself.

After speaking, Gu Fan's mind stirred slightly, and an indescribable change immediately occurred to him.

It was as if an autumn wind had erased his presence; if someone were to scan the courtyard with their divine sense, they would probably think it was empty and deserted.

Gu Fan maintained this state of restraint, silently calculating the time.

Half an hour later, a sparrow flapped its wings and flew into the courtyard. After hopping a few times on the ground, it fluttered and stood on Gu Fan's shoulder, as if it regarded him as a piece of dead wood.

The sparrow hopped from side to side on Gu Fan's shoulder, preened its feathers, and then slowly crouched down.

This scene made Gu Fan extremely satisfied with the effect of the "True Technique of Connecting Machines". The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, and he suddenly withdrew the secret technique of concealing his aura, and his aura was immediately exposed.

In an instant, the sparrow, as if targeted by a natural enemy, bristled and flew away in a panic.

Gu Fan watched the sparrow fly away and laughed twice.

In the following days, Gu Fan focused on gathering killing energy and cultivating the "True Technique of Connecting Mechanisms".

These mundane tools were, after all, merely manifestations of mortals' murderous intent, and the killing aura they contained was not strong. In just a few days, Gu Fan collected them all.

Fortunately, the first level of the "True Technique of Pulling the Mechanism" is already solid, so we can find a more suitable source of killing energy in the future.

Gu Fan had already experienced the aura-concealing effect of this secret technique, but he was still unable to verify the effect on sensing the killing intent from others, as described in the jade slip.

The effect of sensing the killing intent did not require Gu Fan to cast spells to maintain it; it was activated passively, which saved him a lot of trouble.

It is worth mentioning that the Purifying Talisman was very effective in the process of underwater treasure hunting and refining the killing energy, which made Gu Fan pay more attention to it.

According to Xia Lingfeng's records, when he first tried to master the "True Technique of Pulling the Mechanism," he failed to refine it because he could not resist the interference of the killing energy. It took him two months to recover.

Without the Heart-Cleansing Talisman, Gu Fan could only let Bei Wang escape, and he would suffer a lot while cultivating the "True Technique of Pulling the Mechanism".

Thinking of this, Gu Fan felt even more grateful to Chen Suzhen.

"Uncle Chen is such a good person."

......

Time flies like sand slipping through your fingers; in the blink of an eye, the courtyard is covered with fallen leaves.

Under the warm autumn sun, a deep blue light streaked across the courtyard, leaving a trail in its wake.

Gu Fan reached out and summoned the deep blue light and shadow, which immediately fell into his hand as a small, deep blue three-pronged fork.

This magical artifact is one of the two magical artifacts that Gu Fan obtained from Xia Lingfeng's storage bag.

As he expected, both the Azure Light Shield and the Trident were mid-grade magic artifacts.

In the world of cultivation, the quality of magical artifacts is assessed based on the number of restrictions inscribed on them: three or fewer restrictions are considered low-grade, six or fewer restrictions are considered mid-grade, and nine or fewer restrictions are considered high-grade.

If it can reach the tenth level of restrictions, it can be called a magic weapon.

The Azure Light Shield contains five restrictions, while the Trident contains six, making it quite good among mid-grade magic artifacts.

As for the small gray sword given to new members of the Lingxiao Sect, it only has one restriction, making it the worst magical artifact.

After mastering the "True Technique of Pulling the Mechanism," Gu Fan had refined the two magical artifacts, thus gaining offensive and defensive means in addition to the talismans.

Gu Fan put the trident into his storage bag and calculated the time with his fingers.

It's time for another sermon at Shenji Peak.