Mysterious Vermilion Reaper

Su Hao began his regular cultivation routine. During the day, he avoided going out as much as possible and stayed obediently in his hideout at night.

Two months passed quickly.

Cold winds howled, and snowflakes started to fall, covering the ground with a thin white blanket.

Su Hao's little hideout was tightly sealed, with only two air vents, making it unexpectedly warm.

"My elite blood energy is replenished! I can start engraving runes and advance to grandmaster. Although I'm still young, the physical qualities of the Vermilion Reaper's body are much stronger than the human race from my previous life. Advancing now shouldn't be a problem."

Su Hao's consciousness entered the Marble Space. His manifested body lay lazily on the sofa, pondering the advancement to grandmaster.

"What rune should I engrave?"

Su Hao's preferred choice was still the perception rune, as it greatly aided him.

This rune allowed him to sense life energy in advance, giving him a high level of self-preservation. He could prepare for any situation and take control.

He had two main points of hesitation.

First, he could use formation plates to create other runes with special functions. As long as he could think of it, he could find a way to achieve it, or at least approximate the effect. This was an excellent method to configure his innate talent freely.

Second, rune effects could stack, but that didn't mean the more complex, the better. Complex runes increased blood energy consumption and reduced functional strength.

For example, he could add a healing effect to the perception rune. Although it seemed powerful, the daily blood energy consumption would increase, reducing combat endurance, and the perception range would decrease uncontrollably, weakening the healing effect.

The benefit of this choice was diversified talent functions, but it compromised the strength of individual functions.

After some thought, Su Hao finally chose the single rune 'perception'. He preferred to control his surroundings anytime, anywhere, without panicking in emergencies.

As for other functions, he could always draw them when needed.

With perception, he would have enough time to draw runes and prepare for fights.

He wondered if this world had golden thread worms or similar creatures. If so, he could engrave runes on weapons and armor.

Su Hao wasn't sure about the difference between engraving beast patterns and formation plate runes on his body. With a researcher's spirit, he chose the formation plate runes.

In his previous life, he engraved beast patterns. In this life, he would engrave formation plate runes for a better comparison to determine which was superior or if they were equally effective.

Having decided, Su Hao immediately started engraving the formation plate rune, coordinating his body's energy to achieve a perfect engraving.

The body in this world differed from his previous life, but the engraving method remained unchanged. By controlling the eight formation plate control rods, he could slowly find the blood energy pathways, link them together, and form a new blood energy network.

Five days later, Su Hao observed the formation plate rune in the Marble Space, now integrated with his body, and knew the adjustments were successful. Following the pattern, he could advance to grandmaster.

"Initiate engraving task!"

Su Hao didn't hesitate, instructed Xiaoguang, exited the Marble Space, and quickly entered a meditative state. He began guiding the elite blood energy along Xiaoguang's markers to draw the rune.

Soon, it was done.

"Solidify! Imprint!"

Using the same method, he filled the expanded lines with blood energy and solidified them for a few days, fixing the rune permanently while his body gradually adapted.

In no more than three months,

Su Hao would return to high-rank grandmaster! Like an outsider in the city, he only ventured out for food and supplies, spending the rest of his time in his hideout, converting blood energy and increasing his strength.

Three months later, the ice and snow melted, and everything began to revive.

At four years old, Su Hao had grown taller, his body no longer frail, and his skin glowed with health.

He emerged from his hideout.

He had finally returned to high-rank grandmaster.

Simultaneously, the familiar radar reappeared in his consciousness, giving him a sense of security despite its current range of only 400 meters.

"I feel that long-lost sense of safety again, truly reassuring!"

However, compared to the grandmaster of his previous life, he was much weaker.

His blood energy strength was less than a tenth of his past life.

In his previous life, he had the "muscle enhancement function" and "bone enhancement function" aids. After nearly ten years, his body had become robust and formidable, far surpassing his current frail, young body.

But Su Hao was confident that as his body grew, his blood energy strength would gradually increase, eventually matching or surpassing his past life's strength.

Next, he needed to study various "enhancement functions" of this body to quickly strengthen it. This research would take about a year.

And Su Hao had plenty of time.

As for the grand preceptor level, it was only a minor regret.

The grand preceptor level's power was essentially optional for Su Hao.

Humans couldn't naturally generate energy cores and had to hunt grand preceptor-level beasts to obtain and transplant them into their bodies using special methods to advance to grand preceptor.

This was a shortcut to power.

To Su Hao, it held little value because in a different world, without the original core, he couldn't advance to grand preceptor.

If he had enough time in this world, he might research the grand preceptor level, but he had low expectations due to potential unforeseen events.

With time, he preferred exploring the world's secrets, which might bring unexpected surprises.

Practicing rune drawing in his palm, Su Hao walked toward the small town streets.

His goal was simple: to wander the town, record the Vermilion Reapers' radar information, and identify them instantly when encountered.

As he entered the town, Su Hao tensed, his pupils contracting.

The blood energy of the Vermilion Reapers in this city shocked him.

Most Vermilion Reapers he met had blood energy as strong as high-rank ordinary martial artists, and the rest were mostly elite-level, with many grandmasters...

In the city center, he even encountered a few grand preceptor-level individuals.

This small town was filled with powerful beings, unimaginable in his past life. Any beast would be easily crushed here.

Strangely, these powerful individuals blended seamlessly into the crowd, appearing ordinary.

Su Hao saw a grandmaster-level woman selling vegetables on the street.

"..." Su Hao was speechless!

"Delicious special veggie meat pancakes, only two Zhule!" An elite grandmaster promoted, smiling at Su Hao.

"Hey, kid, watch out! Don't spill the soup on yourself!" A high-rank grandmaster kindly reminded.

"Boss, why did the price of this herb increase in one day? It's not fair; you must lower it. My kid can't hold on!" An elite high-rank lamented.

"Custom-made new spring outfits! Only forty Zhule for well-fitting, beautiful clothes!" A grand preceptor-level lady ran a spring clothing store.

...

Su Hao's scalp tingled.

He had recently acquired some money through dubious means, possibly from grand preceptor-level Vermilion Reapers.

Too dangerous!!!

Now, he felt that his high-rank grandmaster strength was not stable.

But he couldn't advance to grand preceptor yet.

"Why are there so many elites and grandmasters in this city, acting like ordinary people?"

Without the perception rune, he couldn't identify these powerful Vermilion Reapers, who had mastered strong abilities.

Their acting skills were top-notch!

The closer he got to the city center, the more frequent the grandmasters and grand preceptors.

Su Hao stopped, turned, and quietly walked to the outskirts.

He decided to blend in as an ordinary, powerless person until he understood the city's situation.

Reflecting on the bat monster attack, he realized it was due to exposing his power during the day, attracting attention.

"It's really a... game of hide and seek!"