Chapter 28: Songpan Town

  I've signed up and got a recommendation, so I'm shamelessly asking for some clicks on the recommendation collection, if possible, let's rush to the top of the chart... thanks to all my fellow students for your support.

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  The sword mantra is complex and profound. The first sentence of the opening chapter is "The sword follows the movement of the heart, flowing like water and clouds." The entire mantra is about the mysterious meaning of the heart sword.

  This Heart Sword Secret Art, I don't know if it's the planner's refinement based on some ancient martial arts incantations. Although it looks illusory and fleeting, but thinking carefully, it has a lot of profound meaning. Ji Ran initially just had the idea to try reading it, but as time went on, she unknowingly became deeply immersed in it.

  However, just as he was wholeheartedly devoted to the heart method incantation, his body's true energy gradually began to flow.

  With the heart as the center, the true gas quickly passes through the large and small blood vessels of the whole body, swallowing rapidly. The blood vessels, muscles, and skin all over the body are slightly shaken by this, forming a small whirlpool that slowly absorbs the scattered energy in the surrounding air into the body.

  But in these cases, Ji Ran didn't feel anything. And this absorption was quite subtle and quiet, without any commotion, nor did it alarm anyone else.

  Of course, this is because others are not strong enough. If there was a strong Golden Rank nearby, this energy fluctuation would still be felt.

  After such a cultivation, he accidentally entered the state of forgetting himself. In the end, he didn't even know whether he was reciting incantations or sleeping, or half asleep and half awake. Anyway, when he woke up, it was already early morning the next day.

  Never had such an experience, Ji Ran was extremely surprised. However, he still remembered his original intention and quickly called out the attribute panel to take a look, and his experience had increased! And it was not a short one either!

  Checking the system notification panel, I found a string of experience value increase prompts. Each time not much, but it's continuous. This cultivation is indeed able to gain experience points!

  It's not just that, it seems that the true energy has also increased a lot. This heart method can really be cultivated! Not only does it increase experience points, but it also increases true energy! Muahahaha, my biggest weakness in this world is finally made up for!

  In the future, I'll cultivate when I have nothing to do, kill magical beasts when I have the chance, and make pills every day if I have the materials... At this rate of leveling up, won't it be rapid? Why didn't I think of this earlier? I can also cultivate!

  Can't always rely on the game system, innovation is the way to go!

  A new path has been discovered, and a bright future lies ahead. Ji Ran's optimistic personality has returned naturally. It is worth noting that in the twenty or so years before he traveled through time, most of the time, he relied on this optimistic personality to get by.

  If he hadn't been so optimistic, his personality would have become extreme and gloomy, and it's unknown whether he could have gone to college or not, and his fate would have been completely different...

  Ji Ran was in high spirits all day, and several others noticed it too.

  "What's wrong with you today, you seem especially excited? Did you have a good dream last night or something?" Aileen looked up and down at Ji Ran several times, quite puzzled.

  Ji Ran couldn't help but laugh and say, "Aren't we about to leave the forest? I've never seen a big city before, I'm kind of excited."

  Indeed, a group of people is about to leave Blue Pine Forest.

  The blue pine forest wasn't that big, but the return trip still took everyone half a month. In fact, it had taken Lays and his group even more time to enter the forest, but they spent most of their time hunting.

  When they went out, in order to avoid trouble, the crowd rarely took the initiative to attack the magic beast, which saved a lot of time. In half a month, the group had already approached the edge of the Blue Pine Forest.

  The Blue Pine Forest is located in the northeast of this Alpha continent, and it's not close to the edge. Further north is a towering mountain range, and on the other side of the mountain range is a land that is covered with ice and snow for most of the year. That land is the domain of the beastmen.

  Due to the obstruction of that giant ice peak mountain range, the climate of this blue pine forest is still relatively suitable, so it has rich resources and gives birth to many magical beasts. However, because it is also close to the north, due to the long winter, the types and levels of magical beasts are not particularly high, making it more welcoming to low-level adventurers.

  They walked out of the Blue Pine Forest and arrived at a small town called Songpan Town for a short rest.

  According to Beck, the town was originally not large, with only a few thousand households. However, over the past few decades, the value of the Blue Pine Forest has been gradually developed, and various adventure groups have flocked in, causing the town's population to surge, now reaching tens of thousands. Of course, there are usually not so many people in the town, most adventurers enter the Blue Pine Forest for adventure.

  Walking on the street, others are fine, but Ji Ran is simply dazzling.

  It's not that the town is beautiful, but looking around, all you see are low houses and muddy roads. But this stuff is fresh! Ji Ran has been in modern society for too long, even his rural hometown doesn't have this kind of scenery... let alone the completely different style.

  It was just like a medieval town in a Western fantasy game, with an exotic atmosphere hitting him right in the face. The adventurers who walked by in groups added another color to this small town. Most of the adventurers were human, but occasionally, Ji Yan also saw elves and dwarves. And when he walked into a tavern, he was even more surprised, because he saw a beastman!

  Isn't it said that the relationship between beastmen and humans isn't good? Yet there are even beastman adventurers mixed in on human territory?

  "Don't be surprised. The unfriendliness between beastmen and humans is a national matter. It's not uncommon for beastmen and human adventurers to team up, each minding their own business. At most, when the beastmen and humans go to war, they'll just return to their respective countries... Beastman nations sometimes go to war with human nations, but it's usually on an individual basis. If a full-scale war breaks out... then these few adventurers won't have any significance anyway."

  Lais took the task of explaining to Jiran, and it was also the time when Jiran stared at him for a bit too long... After all, beastmen generally have bad tempers, there's no need to start an unjustified fight with people here.

  "Hey, Old Mack, come... one, two, three, four... six mugs of beer, and bread, salad, roast meat, sausage... for six people!" Beck sat down and started calling out to the tavern owner.

  This pub generally serves as a restaurant, so it's not surprising that Beck ordered these things. After ordering, Beck smiled at Ji Ran: "Ji Ran, I'm not saying the things you make are bad! It's just been a long time since I've eaten bread and stuff, and I have a strange craving for it. In fact, the things you make are much better than the roasted meat here!"

  "I couldn't pretend I didn't hear that!" Suddenly, a plate clattered onto the table in front of everyone, and the roasted meat on it jumped up. Ji Ran turned his head to look, and saw a stout dwarf staring at Beck with a huff.

  "Hey Old Mack, is this the hospitality of your tavern? Look, my clothes are all stained with oil! This is my ancestral excellent leather armor..." Beckett suddenly shouted. Of course, Ji Ran knew that his intention was probably to divert the topic...

  "Your leather armor is filthy, my oil might be able to make it look a bit better! Never mind that nonsense, you're actually saying the food I made doesn't taste good? You know Old Mack can't tolerate this at all!" The dwarf seemed to have a bad temper, and with a flick of his hand, he tossed another plate of sausages onto the table, which predictably bounced up high.

  Aileen had long since furrowed her brow and opened up a path, hiding behind Aileen's body. The other few people, although they didn't hide, also had faces full of helplessness.

  "Old Mac, no one says that! The stuff you make is still good to eat, or do you think we'd come back to your tavern the moment we got back from our adventure?" Lays glared at the dwarf.

  In fact, Lays and the old dwarf were quite familiar with each other. After all, there were several taverns in this small town, and they came straight to this one without hesitation. It was just a whisper from Beck that caught Mack's attention.

  The dwarves' temper can be compared to that of the beastmen. Once something provokes them, they will not let it go. This old Mack is also like this, staring wide-eyed at Beck: "He said it, I heard it! Old Mack's 'Giant Wine Barrel' in Songping Town is famous for its good taste and low price, he actually dares to say that the food here is not delicious!"

  "Hold on, Old MacDonald, bring out some other dishes first and let's have a meal before we talk about anything else?" said one of the men. To be honest, the aroma of the roasted meat and sausages was really not bad, even Ji Ran couldn't help but drool a little.

  "Hmph! If you say Old Mack's food is not good to eat, what are you doing eating here? It's a waste of my culinary skills..." The old dwarf muttered and walked away, but soon brought all the dishes up anyway.

  Everyone started eating, and Ji Ran was no exception. To be honest, the roasted meat and sausage were not bad, better than what he had eaten in his previous world. Of course, the dishes he could make himself tasted even better, but this style of cuisine was quite to his taste. The only thing that didn't interest him was the salad, which was just a mix of vegetable leaves, and he lost interest after two bites.

  That dwarf old Mac left in a flurry but soon came running back. He still had a scowl on his face as he approached Baker.

  "Now that you've eaten, can you tell me why you said what I made didn't taste good?"

  Everyone was speechless at the stubbornness of this old dwarf. Dwarves are just like that, if you don't give them an explanation, they can annoy you to death.

  "I... didn't say what you made wasn't delicious... it's just that, relatively speaking, our teammate's cooking is a bit better..." Beck picked up the mug of ale and took a big mouthful of food before responding to the dwarf.

  "Huh? What's going on here? I'm familiar with your teammates, but grilling some meat outdoors is okay, don't even get me started on how good the food tastes... Hmm, what's with this unfamiliar kid?" Old Mack finally noticed that there was an extra person in Lays' team...