Back home, Su Fan took out the ring he had taken from Long Xiong during the day and studied it in his hand.
He always felt that this thing was unusual.
When fighting the three of them, the weapons that suddenly appeared in their hands made Su Fan think of the storage equipment in novels. So, when Su Fan saw this ring, he brought it back immediately.
The ring looked ancient and heavy, made of an unknown material, like stone but not iron.
In novels and film and television works, such treasures required a drop of blood to recognize the master before they could be used. Was this one like that too?
Su Fan cut his finger and dripped a drop of blood onto the ring. The blood instantly disappeared upon contact.
"It really works!"
Su Fan was stunned, then overjoyed.
"Activate!"
Su Fan excitedly commanded the ring.
Ring: ...
Su Fan: ...
Su Fan stared blankly at the unresponsive ring.
"Damn! I got excited for nothing."
The ring still showed no reaction.
Then where did his blood go?
Su Fan pondered for a long time and put the ring on his hand.
Following his own guess, he brought the ring close to the water cup on the table and willed it. The water cup instantly disappeared.
"As expected!"
Su Fan thought to himself.
His blood hadn't been absorbed by the ring just now, but had been stored in the ring's space. To use the ring to store items, it needed to be placed next to the item.
But how to retrieve it?
Su Fan was troubled again. If it could store but not retrieve, wasn't that equivalent to worshipping a mythical beast that only ate but didn't excrete?
"Could it be that I need to use mental probing?"
Su Fan guessed.
Su Fan's mental power was quite high, as the attribute pills had a comprehensive enhancement effect, which also included mental power.
Furthermore, the Art of Strategy also had probing techniques, similar to the perception abilities of an "eye of the mind" which were achieved through this technique.
Su Fan closed his eyes and tried to probe the ring with his mental power.
With a "swish," Su Fan felt as if he had entered a new world. It was a 3x3x3 cubic space. Various items were scattered within the space. Su Fan's sharp eyes spotted a pool of blood among these things, which was his blood.
"It really is a spatial ring!"
Su Fan suddenly opened his eyes and exclaimed excitedly.
Su Fan willed it, and his mental power enveloped an item in the spatial ring. A cup suddenly appeared in his hand, which was the water cup he had stored earlier.
Su Fan was very excited. He had always been bothered by his inability to put real-world items into his inventory, which prevented him from carrying many things. When going to fight, he had to hang weapons at his waist, which was very inconvenient.
Now, with this spatial ring, this problem was perfectly solved.
Su Fan took out all the useless items from the storage ring and discarded them. The remaining martial artist cultivation resources would be given to Dongfang Tingyin tomorrow and used as exchange items in the Martial Alliance.
Then, Su Fan put all the items he frequently used into the storage ring.
The Azure Red Sword and the Cold Moon Saber, as well as the aphrodisiac pills, attribute pills, some healing pills, qi recovery pills, and various other items.
Su Fan immediately felt a sense of lightness.
Normally, Su Fan would carry small quantities of these items with him, which was very inconvenient. Now, without these items, Su Fan felt a great sense of relief.
In a very good mood, Su Fan lay down and entered the game.
Su Fan woke up in his bedroom in the game. When he pushed open the door, he saw Xiao Yan, Long Die, and Qi Ling practicing in the courtyard.
The native inhabitants in the game were very diligent in practicing martial arts, day after day, waking up early to train. Unlike Su Fan, whose strength was gained through leveling up, they had truly put in hard work.
"Good morning."
Su Fan greeted the three of them.
"Morning."
The three nodded at Su Fan and continued their practice.
Xiao Yan and Long Die were almost done. They were both disciples of the Moon Worship Villa, and their foundations were the same.
Only Qi Ling was practicing with a long spear, which she swung with a whistling sound.
"I say, Su Fan, I've never seen you practice. Where did your strength come from?"
Xiao Yan finished his morning practice, wiping sweat from his forehead, and asked Su Fan curiously.
"Talent. You wouldn't understand."
Su Fan said with a smug smile.
"Hmph~"
Facing the smug Su Fan, Xiao Yan couldn't be bothered with him.
"Su Fan's talent is indeed excellent, but that doesn't mean you can be lazy. Laziness leads to regression. The martial path is like sailing against the current; if you don't advance, you fall back."
Long Die was the first to know Su Fan and understood his progress the most. From an ordinary villager in a small town to the champion of the martial arts tournament, Long Die had witnessed Su Fan's leaps and bounds of progress along the way.
"I know, you don't need to worry. I've been cultivating."
Su Fan said helplessly.
"My way of cultivation is to kill enemies. As long as I kill enough, I can grow rapidly."
Su Fan explained.
"You're following the path of killing?"
Long Die said in surprise.
There were many paths leading to the end of the martial path: the path of slaughter, the path of invincibility, the path of the true heart, and so on. The path of slaughter was considered one of the more difficult ones, requiring continuous killing to grow. But who could survive until the end in endless slaughter?
When Qi Ling heard Long Die say that Su Fan was following the path of killing, she looked at Su Fan solemnly. She herself was also following the path of slaughter, which she had悟出 (enlightened to) in battle, her own martial path.
"You can understand it that way."
Su Fan didn't explain further. It was fine for them to interpret it that way.
Qi Ling also put down her spear and walked over.
She communicated with Su Fan using sign language.
"The path of slaughter is a martial path with no turning back. You can still turn back now."
Qi Ling advised Su Fan.
The only drawback of the path of slaughter was its extreme danger. One was constantly engaged in battles, not knowing when they might fall under an enemy's blade.
"It's too late. I embarked on this path long ago."
Su Fan offered no further explanation. He was merely using the path of slaughter to disguise his leveling-up method.
"By the way, Qi Ling, I have something to tell you."
Su Fan said to Qi Ling.
Then he gestured for Long Die and Xiao Yan to step aside.
Long Die pouted.
"What do we need to hide from us?"
Although he grumbled, he still obediently left, giving Su Fan and Qi Ling some personal space.
Seeing them leave, Su Fan led Qi Ling into the room.
"Qi Ling, your enemy is the Grand Commandant's mansion, right?"
Su Fan asked Qi Ling.
Qi Ling nodded, not hiding anything from Su Fan.
Su Fan pondered for a moment. His mission was also related to the Grand Commandant's son, and their enemies were coincidentally the same at this time.
"I need to kill the Grand Commandant's son, and I need your help."
Su Fan said to Qi Ling.
Then he explained his plan.
After listening, Qi Ling looked at Su Fan.
"No, this is too dangerous for you. Let's switch."
Qi Ling said to Su Fan.
"No need. No one will suspect my identity. On the contrary, you are actually more dangerous than me."
Su Fan rejected Qi Ling's proposal.