"Mr. Chen, first of all, I would like to express my gratitude to you for what happened today, without you, I am afraid that we would all be lucky today. Zhao Jun stood up with a solemn face and saluted Chen Fan.

Chen Fan also stood up and returned the salute, and said: "You're welcome, I am also responsible for what happened today, there are a group of people who are coming for me, and it is my duty to solve them." ”

Seeing that Zhao Jun was about to say kind words, Chen Fan waved his hand, stopped him, and said, "Hall Master Zhao, we don't have to say kind words anymore, let's talk about what happened today." ”

"Okay, I'll tell you about my analysis. Zhao Jun nodded and agreed: "There are three groups of people who came today, the first batch is two people, attracting a large number of fierce beasts and two strange beasts to attack us, the reason is unknown." ”

Chen Fan said secretly in his heart, you don't understand, but I understand.

The two black-clothed men who escaped had been caught by the four ghost wolves they had sent and tortured their origins, unexpectedly they were actually in the same group as the black-clothed messengers with masks, but they did not belong to the black-clothed messengers' organization, they were only hired by them to harm the Zhao family, and they couldn't get any useful information from their mouths.

But in order not to expose the ghost wolf, I won't tell this myself, so let you think about it.

"The second group is the people who came to Mr. Chen for revenge. Zhao Jun didn't know what Chen Fan was thinking, so he continued, "The identities of this group of people have been found out, and they are actually from one of the seven bandit groups, the Cold Winter Bandit Group. ”

Chen Fan suddenly remembered that before killing the young man who came to assassinate him that day, he had said that he belonged to the forces of Han or something. also threatens himself with this, it seems that it is this winter bandit group.

"Is this cold winter bandit group very powerful?" Seeing Zhao Jun's solemn expression, Chen Fan couldn't help but ask.

"Very powerful. Inside the Seven Bandits. The strength of each one will not be weaker than our top ten families, and the strength of several of them even surpasses our Zhao family, and the Winter Bandit Group is one of them. Zhao Jun's expression was serious, and there was a look of worry in his eyes.

"Do you know who the man in black who came to you to avenge the murder of his son?" Seeing Chen Fan looking at him suspiciously, Zhao Juncai continued: "He is Zheng Rong, the master of the Iron Fist Gate in the Octagonal City, and he is also the hall master of the Yun'an branch of the Cold Winter Bandit Group. usually appears in front of the world as the master of the Iron Fist Gate to hide his true face. ”

Chen Fan understood. No wonder when he went to Lin's house to participate in the competition that day, he found out that there was a murderous aura against him from the Iron Fist Gate, it turned out that he killed Zheng Rong's son. That's why he showed his murderous intentions to himself.

"Those people in the remaining thieves group, I have already asked people to dispose of them all, and the headquarters of the Winter Thieves Group should not receive the news in a short time, as long as we go to the capital safely. You can tell the head of the house. Let the head of the house take care of this. At the critical moment, Zhao Jun showed his ruthless side, and he would never be soft when it was time to kill.

"The specific strength of the Winter Thieves Group is like Zhao?" Chen Fan asked the key question.

"Han Dong, the leader of the Winter Thieves Regiment, his true strength is not clear, but it will definitely not be lower than the innate fifth level. In addition, there are two deputy group leaders who have reached the innate fifth level, and the rest have several hall masters of the innate third and fourth levels, and the rest of the innate masters also have dozens of them. But the exact situation is not clear. After speaking, Zhao Jun smiled bitterly. continued: "If they receive the news and send a deputy regiment commander over, then only your senior brother can resist it, otherwise we will probably be wiped out." As he spoke, he looked at Chen Fan.

Chen Fan knew what he meant, so he said, "Don't worry, if there is really danger, my senior brother will take action, and he has always been nearby to protect me." ”

Zhao Jun's heart was relieved, and he looked at Chen Fan again, and stopped talking.

Chen Fan smiled in his heart and said, "Do you want to ask about our sect?"

"Uh, haha, yes, I don't know if it's convenient to tell me?" Zhao Jun smiled a little embarrassedly, the terrifying power displayed by the white-clothed Sword Saint today made his evaluation of Chen Fan greatly improved, he originally thought that Chen Fan was just a genius from the Hidden Family, who came out to practice. But judging from the white-clothed sword saint that appeared today, Chen Fan's origin is not simple.

It turned out that Chen Fan had already shocked him by having so many innate masters as his entourage, but after the appearance of such a peerless powerhouse as the white-clothed Sword Saint today, his mood could no longer be described as shocked, and the whole person was scared stupid, what sect did this Chen Fan come from?

The strength of this sect is too strong, just a white-clothed sword saint has already suppressed all the powerhouses of the ten major families, if another senior brother comes out, and even his master also comes out, who else can compete? In the Eastern Empire, I am afraid that only the Cold Shelter Palace can resist, and judging from the attitude of the white-clothed sword saint towards Chen Fan, it is actually Chen Fan who is in charge, not the terrifying white-clothed sword saint, doesn't that show that Chen Fan is a very important figure in their sect? Even a peerless powerhouse like the white-clothed Sword Saint was sent to secretly protect him, and his status can be imagined.

It seems that the idea of letting him fully integrate into the Zhao family will not work, but it is necessary to have a good relationship with him, as long as he superficially admits that he is a member of the Zhao family, or even just exists as an ally of the Zhao family, it is good.

So he wanted to ask about Chen Fan's origin, but this was someone else's body, so it was inconvenient to ask directly.

"I'm sorry, this is a secret, and it is inconvenient to tell you without the permission of the master. Chen Fan's words cut off Zhao Jun's desire to continue exploring.

"It's okay, it's okay, I understand, I was reckless, I should apologize to you. Zhao Jun replied repeatedly, "No matter what, you are now a member of our Zhao family, no matter what your background is, our attitude towards you will not change." ”

Chen Fan nodded and did not speak.

"Let's get back to the topic. Zhao Jun didn't want to dwell on this issue anymore, so he changed the subject. "We don't know where the third group came from, but we took a look at the weapons they used, all of which were military sabers and spears. Judging by their well-trained equestrian skills, I suspect they came from the military. ”

"We suspect that they were sent by Tian Daming, the supreme commander of the Octagon City garrison. He always suspected that it was our Zhao family who arrested Ma Yuan, but there was no evidence and he didn't dare to say anything. This time it may have been for revenge. Zhao Jun interjected next to him.

"Does he dare to deal with the Zhao family blatantly?" asked Chen Fan.

"He didn't dare, so now these people don't have armor on them, they just bring weapons, even if we catch these people. He can also deny that we have no evidence that he sent these people. Zhao Jun replied.

Chen Fan lowered his head and pondered, he felt that things were a little complicated.

Ma Yuan and the father and son of the Wang family are related to the black-clothed messenger. And it should be a subordinate relationship, and now Tian Daming may have a relationship with the black-clothed envoy again, doesn't that mean that the garrison of Octagon City is actually equivalent to the black-clothed envoy's minions.

The figures in power on both the military and political sides of Yun'an Mansion were actually hooked up with the forces behind the black-clothed messenger. It's really powerful. I wonder if it's a similar situation elsewhere?

After doing so many actions, I don't know what they are going to do, it can't be that they want to rebel, right?

Chen Fan thought about it for a while, but he still couldn't figure it out, so he didn't think about it anymore, no matter who they were or what they wanted to do, as long as they were against themselves. Then it is the enemy, and it will be destroyed.

The three of them discussed it for a while. Then Chen Fan retreated.

The next day, they continued their journey, and walked smoothly for a few days, and after five days, they came to the capital of Ha Duong Province, Ha Yang City, a large city with a population of 600,000, which was less than that of Octagonal City.

There is also a Zhao family's residence in Heyang City, and similarly, the Zhao family also has the right to recruit in this city, but it does not occupy the most dominant position, here, the Qin family is the strongest family.

The Zhao army planned to rest in Heyang City for two days, leave the injured Zhao family warriors here to recuperate, reselect some warriors here to join the escort team, and then report to the capital with the elite personnel recruited here.

After everyone settled down, Xu Shi took Hu Hongfeng to find Chen Fan and asked him if he was interested in going out for a walk together, in Heyang City, there should not be much danger, and Chen Fan was also a little bored, it was good to go out for a walk, so he agreed.

Chen Hong had been on the road for so many days, and he was a little tired, so he didn't follow. Gao Qiang and Ma Shan are seizing every bit of time to cultivate, and they won't go out. So this time, Chen Fan only brought four Shui Si, Shui Wu, Huo Yi and Huo Yi, and the rest stayed in the station.

Xu Shi took Chen Fan to the front of an armory store, Chen Fan looked up and saw that the Heavenly Soldier-Heyang City Branch turned out to be the branch of the weapons store to which Xu Shi belonged. I don't know what he's doing here.

Xu Shi showed the token to a person dressed as a shopkeeper, and then whispered a few words, and the shopkeeper immediately invited Xu Shi to come in and talk with a smile on his face. Xu Shi greeted Chen Fan and asked him to follow him.

Chen Fan followed Xu Shi to a small living room inside, and the shopkeeper asked Xu Shi and the others to sit down and wait for a while, and then walked out by himself, and soon the shopkeeper walked in again, holding a stone box in his hand.

"Master Xu, this is the Fire Yuan Stone you wanted, I only bought thirty-two, if it is not enough, I can collect some more. The shopkeeper respectfully picked up the stone box with both hands and handed it to Xu Shi.

Xu Shi took the stone box and said with a smile: "That's enough, but you should continue to collect some and come back for later use, no more, let's collect twenty pieces back first." ”

The shopkeeper hurriedly said: "Okay, Master Xu, I'll do it in a while, please see if these Huo Yuan Stones meet the requirements first." ”

Xu Shi nodded, put the stone box in his hand on the table, and picked up the stone lid.

As soon as the lid was opened, a stream of heat poured out of the box, and the temperature around the stone box suddenly rose, and after a while, it slowly subsided.

Chen Fan looked at the Huoyuan Stone placed in the stone box with a little curiosity, only to see that it was a thumb-sized stone that faintly emitted red light, roughly round, but irregular, the surface was undulating, if it were not for the red light to penetrate, it was no different from ordinary stones, and it was still emitting heat at this time.

Looking at Chen Fan's puzzled eyes, Xu Shi smiled and said, "Do you really want to know what I want these Huo Yuan Stones for?" Actually, it has something to do with you. ”

looked at Chen Fan's even more puzzled eyes. Xu Shi continued: "Yes, it has something to do with you. Because this Fire Yuan Stone is the key to refining divine weapons. ”

"Because it will melt the gold. It requires a very high temperature, which cannot be reached by ordinary furnace fires, and as long as this fire element stone is put into the fire, the fire element stone will release a large amount of heat, raising the temperature of the furnace fire, so as to reach the level where it can melt armor gold. So I have to collect some of them before I can refine them. ”

"That's it. Is it enough?"

"That's enough, don't look at these Fire Yuan Stones are very small, but the heat contained in them is extraordinary. Such one, if put into the fire, can continue to release heat for a quarter of an hour, and there are thirty-two of them. That's four hours. Enough is enough. ”

"However, there are also good and bad fire stones, you see, this surface is smoother, the red light is thicker, the heat release time will be longer, this surface is uneven, the light is thin. Even if it is poor, the time to release heat will be relatively less. Xu Shi pointed to the fire yuan stone in the stone box and explained to Chen Fan.

"These fire stones are at a temperature lower than a certain value in the outside world. It will continue to release heat, although it is not much compared to the total amount of heat contained in the fire element stone, but if this continues for a long time, the heat in the fire element stone will still be released, and the fire element stone will be useless at that time. Therefore, we made a special stone box to store it to reduce the loss of fire stones. ”

Chen Fan was a little curious and picked up a piece of Fire Yuan Stone and put it in the palm of his right hand to look at it.

"Be careful of hot hands!" Xu Shi hurriedly stopped, but unfortunately it was too late, Chen Fan had already picked it up.

"Huh?" Chen Fan looked at Xu Shi a little puzzled, not knowing what he meant.

Although this Huoyuan stone felt a little warm to the touch, and it seemed that there was a trace of warm current flowing into his body, it was very comfortable, but Chen Fan did not feel that it was hot.

"Don't you feel hot?" Xu Shi asked softly, carefully watching the change in Chen Fan's expression.

"No, I don't. It's a little hot, but it's not so hot that you don't believe it. After speaking, Chen Fan stretched out his hand and motioned for Xu Shi to touch it.

Xu Shi looked at Chen Fan suspiciously, and felt very strange, could it be that there was something wrong with these Huo Yuan stones, how could they not be hot?

Carefully stretching out a finger, Xu Shi touched the Huoyuan Stone placed on Chen Fan's palm.

As soon as his fingers came into contact with Huo Yuanshi, Xu Shi felt a pain in his fingers, and a feeling of being burned by fire came, so he couldn't help but shrink his hand and take it back.

Xu Shi stretched out his finger in front of his eyes to take a look, only to see that a red spot appeared on the part that came into contact with the Huoyuan stone, which had been burned. Stretching out his finger in front of Chen Fan, Xu Shi said in surprise: "Look at it, you still said that it is not hot, but your fingers are burned." Why are you all right?"

Chen Fan also felt very strange, why would other people be burned but they would be fine when they picked it up? When they picked it up, they just felt a little warm, and then there would be a trace of warm current flowing into the body along his hands, and then there would be nothing.

Huh! Chen Fan suddenly shook, warm currents! Why did warm currents flow into his body? Chen Fan quickly closed his eyes and looked inwardly at his physical condition.

At this time, Chen Fan discovered that in the Huoyuan Stone he was holding in his hand, a trace of warm current was released, and then along his arm, through his chest, he rushed straight to the crystal source near the dantian, and the ultimate goal of the warm current was actually the crystal source of the "Divine Qi".

A small warm current flowed into the crystal source and was converted into the energy of the "Divine Qi", although the amount was not much, but it did improve. Could it be that this Fire Yuan Stone can be used to enhance the "Divine Qi"?

Chen Fan was overjoyed. For a long time, the speed of energy increase has been the biggest worry in Chen Fan's heart. The "Power of the Beast Soul" found the Inner Dan of the alien beast to speed up the ascension, but the "Divine Qi" has never been found, so although the cultivation time of the "Power of the Beast Soul" is shorter than that of the "Divine Qi", the level improvement speed is actually faster than it, and now the human level is only eighteen, and the beast level has reached twenty-two.

This problem made Chen Fan very distressed, and he couldn't think of a solution to it. But now, there was actually a Fire Yuan Stone that could additionally provide energy absorption to the "Divine Qi", how could Chen Fan not be happy.

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Chen Fan decided to test it more. Silently transported the "first-level pulse refining technique" of the human race, and the speed of absorbing energy suddenly increased. And the warm current from the fire element stone actually increased at the same time, forming a thin stream, which quickly flowed into the crystal source. Although the rate of increase is not as fast as that of Neidan, only about half of it, it is also much faster than the original.

If there were enough Fire Yuan Stones to absorb by himself, Chen Fan believed that his human race level would soon rise. But why are you not afraid of being hot? Is it because your "divine qi" is running automatically all the time, absorbing energy from the outside world?

Chen Fan tried to stop the energy absorption of the "Divine Qi" first, and sure enough. The warm current disappeared immediately, and there was a burning pain in the palm of the hand. Chen Fan hurriedly recovered the automatic absorption of the energy of the "Divine Qi", so. The warm current reappeared, and although the burning pain was still there, it no longer felt like it was being burned continuously.

Sure enough, it was because the "Divine Qi" absorbed the heat emitted by the Fire Yuan Stone, so he didn't feel hot.

Chen Fan opened his eyes. Put the fire stone in your left hand. His right hand hung down, and the "Divine Light" activated, healing the wound he had just been burned.

"Where did you find this Fire Yuan Stone? How many are you?" Chen Fan forcibly suppressed the excitement in his heart and said calmly.

Seeing that Chen Fan didn't answer his question, but asked about the source of the Fire Yuan Stone, Xu Shi was a little strange, but he didn't mind, and replied: "These Fire Yuan Stone were found in a lava cave about two hundred miles away from here. This kind of fire element stone is the only place nearby, so I asked the people here to buy it for me. Yields are not fixed. Sometimes more, sometimes less. ”

"Is the purchase price high?"

"Because the fire element stone that meets the requirements is relatively scarce, in addition to being used to increase the temperature of the furnace, some wealthy people will also use it as a winter warmth tool, so the price is a bit high. Generally, a fire element stone like this has to be purchased for two taels of silver. ”

It was only two taels of silver a piece, Chen Fan couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard this price, he just got more than 50,000 taels of silver from the Wang family, enough to buy tens of thousands of pieces. I'm afraid that when the time comes, it's not that there is not enough money, but that there won't be enough Huoyuan Stone.

Chen Fan suddenly remembered what Xu Shi had just said, and couldn't help asking, "You just said that these are in line with the requirements, so what is the one that doesn't meet the requirements?"

Xu Shi turned his head to the shopkeeper standing aside and said, "Shopkeeper Qian, do you have a Huoyuan stone here that doesn't meet the requirements?"

"Yes, I'll go and get it. Seeing Xu Shi nodding, the money shopkeeper immediately turned around and walked out of the small living room.

Soon, the money shopkeeper came in with another stone box. Xu Shi motioned for him to hand it to Chen Fan.

Chen Fan took it and opened it, only to see that there were more than a dozen stones of different sizes placed in the stone box, the surface was a little red, but it was not obvious, it was very different from those fire yuan stones that met the requirements, almost no different from ordinary stones.

"These fire stones have not been fully formed, the heat inside is insufficient, or they have been exposed to the outside for too long after forming, and most of the heat inside has been lost, and they are basically useless. Xu Shi explained to Chen Fan.

Chen Fan picked up a fire yuan stone and put it in the palm of his hand, then looked inward, feeling the changes in the fire yuan stone, but found that there was also a trace of warm current flowing from the fire yuan stone to the crystal source.

Once again, the "first-level alchemy technique" of the human race was transported, and the warm current flowing out of the fire yuan stone immediately increased, and soon, there was no warm current flowing out of the fire yuan stone. Chen Fan sensed it and found that the warm current flowing out of this fire element stone increased by about ten points of energy value, although it was not much, but it was much faster than natural absorption. If you can keep sucking, it's not a dream to go one day at a time.

Xu Shi and the others looked at Chen Fan's strange behavior and didn't know what he was doing.

Slowly opening his eyes, Chen Fan thought for a while, and said to Xu Shi, "Can you help me buy these Fire Yuan Stones?" These don't meet the requirements, but there must be heat in them, otherwise don't. ”

"What are you going to do?" Xu Shi was a little surprised.

"I have some special uses. Chen Fan had to answer vaguely.

Xu Shi glanced at Chen Fan with strange eyes, and then said: "There is no problem in helping you buy it, but what do you want to do with those fire yuan stones that do not meet the requirements, it is useless, and they can't excite heat when they are put into the fire, and when the outside temperature is low, they can't emit heat to keep warm." You see, it's not hot anymore. If it weren't for the faint red color on its surface, it would have been treated as an ordinary stone. As he spoke, Xu Shi picked up one and showed it to Chen Fan, and it was really not hot.

"I have another function. Chen Fan replied vaguely again.

Xu Shi knew that Chen Fan was unwilling to answer, so he didn't ask anymore, anyway, it wasn't a big deal, just buy it by the way, so he instructed the money shopkeeper to do what Chen Fan asked.

"Now how many Fire Yuan Stones do you have here, give them to me first. I want those who don't meet the requirements, Master Xu, what price do you think should be used to collect those Fire Yuan Stones that don't meet the requirements?" Chen Fan was already a little impatient.

Xu Shi thought for a while and said: "I think one copper coin is enough, no one wants these Huoyuan stones that do not meet the requirements, you can pay to collect them, others don't rush to find them for you, if you want to receive them as soon as possible, then two copper coins each, as long as you release this news, you can collect a large number of them soon." ”

"Okay, then two copper coins each, money shopkeeper, please help me collect it at this price, the more the better, this is a thousand taels of silver tickets, give it to you first, and then ask me if it is not enough." As he spoke, Chen Fan took out two silver tickets worth five hundred taels from his arms and handed them to the money shopkeeper.

The money shopkeeper looked at Xu Shi and saw him nod before taking the silver ticket: "Please rest assured, I will definitely handle this matter for you." ”

"Alright, we're done here, let's go first. Xu Shi stood up: "Money shopkeeper, we will stay here for two days, how much you receive in the past two days, send as much as you want to the Zhao family's station, and then you say that you sent something to Chen Fan, and they will know." If you receive it in the future, you will first send it to the Tianbing General Store in the capital, and I will transfer it to him. ”

"Yes, Master Xu, you go slowly. The money shopkeeper respectfully sent Xu Shi and the others out.

Outside the store, Xu Shi looked at the noisy crowd around him and said to Chen Fan, "I want to visit a friend in the south of the city, will you go?"

"He is a wood carver with a very good craft, and many people want to ask him to carve, but unfortunately he has a very strange temper and only does things according to his mood. When you don't like it, no matter how much money you pay, he won't help you, but if you look at you, then he may help you without paying money, so it has always been loved and hated. ”

"You might as well go and see it, maybe he will like you, and give you a carving, his work can be sold for a very high price, and you have just lost a lot of money, so it is better to get some back from him." In the end, Xu Shi made a joke.

"Okay, I'll go. Chen Fan immediately agreed, he didn't go because he might be able to get the carving work for free, but he heard that Xu Shi's friend was a carver, he always wanted to know what the token of the natural gate and the wood carving he bought in the Octagon City were, why did he have a very strange feeling, he tried to enter the "Divine Qi" and "Beast Soul Power" into these two things, but there was no Ren Zhao reaction, the feeling given to him was still the same, it did not become stronger, nor did it become weaker, it was still the same.

Now, since there is this opportunity to solve the mystery, Chen Fan will certainly not let it go.

Hearing Chen Fan's promise, Xu Shi was also very happy, and walked to the south of the city with everyone. (To be continued......)