Breaking Through the Mid-Stage of Marrow Cleansing

[Your clinic has returned to tranquility.]

[You practice medicine while simultaneously cultivating.]

[Your medical skills have become even more renowned.]

[Many of the wealthy and influential people of Youtong County have begun to seek your medical advice and prescriptions.]

[Even people from nearby prefectures and counties come to you for treatment.]

[Through treating patients and saving lives, you have gained a deeper understanding of the human body.]

[Your alchemy has benefited from this feedback, increasing significantly.]

[There has been a noticeable improvement in the refinement of Tier 3 pills.]

[The success rate of refining has increased from one pill to two.]

[However, it has still not reached the initial proficiency of three pills.]

[One day, you are seeing patients.]

[A girl of fifteen or sixteen timidly approaches you.]

[She is wearing coarse cloth clothes full of patches.]

[But she is very beautiful, with bright, sparkling eyes.]

[She brings two wild gastrodia elata that she dug up in the mountains to thank you for curing her illness.]

[Originally, her parents had already given up on her, leaving her to fend for herself.]

[You felt sorry for her before and cured her illness for free.]

[She doesn't recognize gastrodia elata, but she saw this particular medicinal herb in your pharmacy, so she dug it up to express her gratitude.]

[You remember that her name is Liu Jing.]

[You only tried to treat Liu Jing's illness, and you weren't very confident.]

[Seeing her recover validates several of your hypotheses.]

[This allows you to solve several problems in refining Tier 3 pills.]

[You accept Liu Jing's two gastrodia elata and want to give her money at the market price.]

[She only accepts enough money to buy two steamed buns and happily trots away.]

[After Liu Jing leaves, you immediately go to the backyard of the clinic to begin refining Tier 3 pills.]

[The effect is immediate.]

[You refine ten Tier 3 pills in one batch and successfully refine four.]

[Your proficiency in Tier 3 alchemy has reached the initial level.]

[After this, Liu Jing often brings you some Chinese medicinal herbs picked from the mountains.]

[When you give Liu Jing money, she still only accepts enough for a few steamed buns.]

[Liu Jing has been coming like this for a month.]

[Each time, she brings some Chinese medicinal herbs.]

[You suspect that Liu Jing might have some special constitution.]

[That allows her to discover natural treasures in the mountains.]

[You ask Liu Jing to help out at the clinic when she has time.]

[You pay her some wages.]

[After your careful observation,]

[You realize that you've been reading too many novels.]

[There is nothing special about Liu Jing.]

[She is just lucky and can find some Chinese herbal medicines.]

[Sometimes Liu Jing even pulls up two weeds and brings them back.]

[Thinking they are something good, she smiles and hands them to your face.]

["No, thank you." You wave your hand.]

[Liu Jing cherishes this job very much.]

[When the farm work at home is not busy, Liu Jing comes every day.]

[After arriving, she rushes to do all kinds of work.]

[This reduces the workload for Bai Chen and Jiao Mingxu a lot.]

[Bai Chen has even more free time.]

[He runs to the Manchun Courtyard even more frequently.]

[Bai Chen has recently become infatuated with a prostitute named Qiu Niang.]

[To win her favor, Bai Chen had already spent most of his fortune.]

[He even promised Qiu Niang that he would definitely help her redeem herself.]

[Bai Chen, surprisingly, put his heart where he should have just used his loins.]

[You recall the old saying—a simp never wins.]

[The honest and simple Jiao Mingxu has also been acting a little strange recently.]

[He's often nowhere to be seen, and you don't know what he's been up to.]

[Your focus remains on cultivation.]

[After your not-so-diligent cultivation,]

[Three months later,]

[Your True Qi has completed its sixth refinement.]

[The True Qi in your body is frighteningly solid.]

[Your martial arts talent has been strengthened again.]

[With your current talent, you could be a core disciple in a first-rate sect.]

[A few more days pass.]

[Liu Jing suddenly stopped coming to the clinic.]

[Her family sent you a wedding invitation.]

[It turns out that Liu Jing was sold by her father to a middle-aged businessman as a concubine.]

[In three days, this businessman will come to take Liu Jing into his household.]

[Liu Jing's father won't allow her to run around anymore.]

[Your face turns cold.]

[You rush straight to Liu Jing's house, intending to stand up for her.]

[But it's not what you imagined.]

[Liu Jing isn't crying and refusing to marry.]

[On the contrary, Liu Jing is very happy.]

[She happily tells you that she's getting married.]

[Although it's as a concubine, it's much better than having one meal and not knowing where the next one will come from at home.]

[You then realize that you were wrong.]

[Your mindset assumed that being a concubine was always forced.]

[But in reality, poor families like Liu Jing's are desperate for a chance to marry into a wealthy family.]

[You give Liu Jing a jade bracelet as a wedding gift, a full emerald imperial green, very impressive.]

[Three days later, you attend Liu Jing's wedding banquet.]

[Liu Jing smiles very happily at the banquet.]

[You return to the clinic to see patients.]

[You gradually feel that practicing medicine is no longer helping your pill refining.]

[You gradually stop practicing medicine.]

[You teach Bai Chen and Jiao Mingxu some simple medical skills.]

[You have Bai Chen and Jiao Mingxu see patients.]

[If they can't handle any difficult cases, they'll call you.]

[You usually cultivate silently in the backyard of the clinic.]

[You have more than three hundred Inner Divinity Pills left.]

[You have to be careful with them.]

[You can no longer swallow them by the handful like you did with the Qi and Blood Pills.]

[Now you savor them one by one.]

[You plan to reveal your mastery of Qi and Blood Pill refining to the Great Accomplishment level next year.]

[Get the Inner Divinity Pill recipe as soon as possible, to avoid complications.]

[By then, your Inner Divinity Pills should be almost used up.]

[When you get the Inner Divinity Pill recipe, you should be able to seamlessly continue the supply of Inner Divinity Pills.]

[That night, you finish cultivating.]

[You prepare to take a leak and then go to bed.]

[After you finish peeing, you shiver.]

[Then, you unexpectedly broke through.]

[The breakthrough was quite sudden, and you were so excited that you wet your shoes.]

[Your Desolate Heaven Saber Technique has reached the late Marrow Cleansing stage.]

[The Heavenly Desire Formless Skill, which you cultivate simultaneously, has also reached the late Marrow Cleansing stage.]

[Vast True Qi continuously roars within you.]

[The sounds of dragons and tigers are deafening.]

[Now, even when facing a martial artist at the late Essence Refining stage, you can instantly kill them with a wave of your hand.]

[You revealed your hidden cultivation to the peak of Skin Refinement.]

[Steadiness is your defining trait.]

[On this day, you were concentrating on your cultivation in the backyard.]

[Bai Chen rushed in anxiously.]

["Senior Brother, the medical center across the street is causing trouble again! They've smashed our shop!"]

[You stopped cultivating: "As usual, close the doors and release Mingxu!"]

["He's already out there! Jiao Mingxu got beaten so badly by them that his own mother wouldn't recognize him!"]

[At that moment, Jiao Mingxu ran into the backyard with a bruised and swollen face.]

["Senior Brother, I can't hold on any longer!"]

[This time, they've gathered a group of local gang members.]

[There are more than twenty people in total.]

[Among them are two Bone Tempering martial artists.]

[They are determined to ruin your business.]

[Bai Chen panicked: "Senior Brother, let's notify the Danxia Sect!"]

[Jiao Mingxu also agreed: "Senior Brother, the other side is too strong. We can't beat them!"]

[He Youshan said, "Senior Brother, Brother Xu is right!"]

[You stood up directly, intending to walk towards the front hall.]

[You suddenly felt that something was not quite right.]

["Wait a minute." You turned to look at He Youshan, "Who the hell are you?"]

[How is there one more person?]

[She almost slipped past.]

[Jiao Mingxu hurriedly chimed in: "Senior Brother, it's hard to explain in a few words. Let's escape from the backyard first!"]

[Bai Chen rolled his eyes: "Senior Brother, she's the girl Jiao Mingxu has been flirting with recently."]

[You looked at Jiao Mingxu: "Wasn't that explained in one sentence?"]

["Ahem, yeah..." Jiao Mingxu scratched his head embarrassedly.]

[You have rarely gone out to practice medicine recently.]

[You've been cultivating in the backyard.]

[You didn't expect the honest and loyal Jiao Mingxu to be picking up girls.]

[You feel that the world is changing too much.]

[You said to them, "I'll go out for a bit. You guys just stand here and don't move."]

[You lifted the curtain of the backyard door and walked to the front hall.]

["Senior Brother!"]

[They still wanted to call you back to escape together, but you had already disappeared.]

[Your voice faintly came from the front hall: "Have you guys really never seen the mafia before!"]

[Jiao Mingxu's honest face was full of anxiety.]

[Finally, he hardened his heart and said, "Youshan, you quickly escape to the Danxia Sect. We'll rescue Senior Brother and then meet up with you!"]