Sixth Rank Viscera Tempering Realm

Next, Bai Yu continuously refined Dragon-Tiger Bone Tempering Pills.

The success rate steadily rose, slowly climbing from one in five to one in three.

Sometimes, he could even refine two or three pills at once, and the quality of the pills kept improving as well.

If others found out about this, their eyes would surely pop out of their heads.

A mere greenhorn like him had actually figured out pill refinement on his own and achieved a one-in-three success rate. It was simply a tale unheard of through the ages.

In the end, he successfully refined a total of nine Dragon-Tiger Bone Tempering Pills.

Without hurry or delay, he began consuming the Bone Tempering Pills and circulating his cultivation to temper his bones.

Every time he consumed a Bone Tempering Pill, the hardness of his bones increased considerably.

That day, he sat cross-legged in meditation, continuously circulating the Black Wolf Heart Sutra.

With every cycle of true qi within his body, the pill's medicinal power tempered his skeleton once.

The bones throughout his body had faintly taken on a reddish hue, becoming hard and dense without a single spot left untouched.

Suddenly, he snapped his eyes open, a brilliant light surging within them.

"Hah!"

He threw a punch, shattering a block of granite before him.

Bones weighed like iron; fists shattered gold and stone!

The Fifth Rank Bone Tempering Realm was complete!

Bai Yu now looked a full size smaller, but his actual weight had increased by half!

Next came tempering the viscera with qi, blood, and inner strength—the Viscera Tempering Realm!

Bai Yu's attribute panel had now become:

``` Name: Bai Yu.

Aptitude: 11

Qi and Blood: 888

Strength: 233

Inner Strength: 98

Cultivation: Sixth Rank Viscera Tempering Realm.

Cultivation Techniques: Four Elephants Five Elements Fist (Mastery), Black Wolf Heart Sutra (Proficient)

Martial Skills: Soul Severing Blade (Initial Success), Dark Turtle Breath Concealment Art (Mastery), Swallow Lingxu Step (Proficient), Vajra Iron Shirt Skill (Mastery)

Divine Ability: Eternal Life.

Other Skills: Suona Playing (Mastery), Zhu You Yin Fu Jing (Proficient), Blood Talisman Art (Proficient), Essence Nourishing Powder (Proficient), Dragon-Tiger Bone Tempering Pill (Proficient), Archery (Proficient), Corpse Refining Art (Beginner), and more.

Bai Yu was overjoyed.

He had finally reached the Sixth Rank Viscera Tempering Realm.

Refining Dragon-Tiger Bone Tempering Pills these past days had nearly drained his entire fortune.

If he still could not enter the Viscera Tempering Realm, he would truly have cried himself to death.

In high spirits, Bai Yu practiced a round of the Four Elephants Five Elements Fist where he stood.

This time, his qi and blood surged vigorously, flowing throughout his entire body.

His breathing became long and fine; with each inhale and exhale, it reached every corner of his lungs.

After completing the Five Elements Fist, Bai Yu assumed a closing stance and exhaled two long streams of white vapor through his nostrils.

His breath shot out like arrows—this was precisely the sign that he had begun tempering his lungs.

"The Sixth Rank Realm is complete. It is time to think of a way to make money."

Bai Yu was now completely broke and had to earn some money to deal with unforeseen risks.

Moreover, he wanted to refine a few more Bone Tempering Pills and make the bones in his body even more solid.

In the days that followed, Bai Yu resumed his peaceful yet fulfilling life.

Conducting funerals, practicing his fists, and occasionally going to the Black Market to sell Essence Nourishing Powder.

But he no longer dared sell yellow talismans, fearing that trouble would come knocking.

Recently, Uncle Jiu had mostly recovered and began going out frequently again.

Whenever he returned, he wore a deeply troubled expression.

Bai Yu asked curiously, and learned that more and more people in Jiang City had been struck by Baleful Intent.

According to Uncle Jiu and several yin-yang masters, the problem lay with the batch of grain previously seized by river bandits.

That batch of grain had been cursed, then recaptured by the official army and circulated into the markets.

After eating the grain, many ordinary people began falling ill from Baleful Intent.

Frightened, Bai Yu hurriedly inspected the grain he had stored away.

Sure enough, some grains of rice in every sack carried dense Baleful Intent.

This gave Bai Yu quite a scare.

Who knew what curse the river bandits had placed on it? Or perhaps they had used something infectious, like germs.

With caution coming first, Bai Yu had no choice but to feed the rice to pigs, then buy another batch of grain to store.

That day, a guest arrived at the mortuary.

Although the man was dressed like a servant, he wore silk.

Clearly, he was a household servant from a wealthy family.

The servant had an arrogant look on his face as he came to invite Uncle Jiu to conduct a funeral.

But Uncle Jiu said:

"Lately, I have been tied up with countless matters and truly cannot get away."

Upon hearing this, the servant immediately changed his expression and said with a flattering smile:

"Daoist Lin Jiu, the Xiao Family's chief steward specifically named you. Please do us the honor, or this lowly one will have no way to report back."

The Xiao Family was one of Jiang City's four great families, with astonishing power and influence.

Ordinarily, Uncle Jiu would naturally not dare slight them.

But this time, Uncle Jiu said:

"It is not that I am refusing. I simply cannot keep up with everything. The prefectural governor has instructed me to properly deal with the Baleful Intent in Jiang City."

Seeing the servant's difficult expression, he thought for a moment and added:

"How about this? Xiao Yu is my disciple and has learned seventy percent of my abilities. I will send him to the Xiao Family in my stead."

The servant looked Bai Yu up and down with suspicious eyes, but in the end, he could only agree helplessly.

Bai Yu packed his things and followed the servant to the Xiao Family.

Along the way, Bai Yu questioned him and finally learned the full story.

It turned out that strange events had recently occurred in the Xiao Family.

For several nights in a row, guards on night watch had met with disaster.

Every one of those guards was a martial arts expert, yet they had all died in bizarre ways.

Some had pale faces, with every trace of qi and blood drained from their bodies.

Others had directly turned into dried corpses.

In just seven days, three guards had died one after another.

The Xiao Family's chief steward had sent martial arts experts to investigate in secret, yet they found not a single clue. Only then did he suspect something evil was at work, leaving him no choice but to seek Uncle Jiu's aid.

Bai Yu was both excited and secretly vigilant upon hearing this.

Three guards, all martial arts experts—the funeral rewards would naturally not be meager.

And the Xiao Family was wealthy and powerful, so the payment for handling the matter would surely not be lacking.

But this reward would likely not be so easy to claim.

As he pondered this, they had already arrived at the Xiao Family residence.

The estate covered an enormous area; from one end of an entire street to the other, everything was Xiao Family property.

The main gate was carved with dragons and phoenixes, magnificent and resplendent. A pair of stone lions stood in imposing majesty, warding off evil and suppressing Baleful Intent.

The servant led Bai Yu through a small side gate and into the Xiao residence.

After winding through the compound for a long while, they finally reached its depths and met the Xiao Family's chief steward.

The chief steward was a shrewd middle-aged man whose temples had already gone gray.

When he saw Bai Yu, his brows immediately furrowed as he asked:

"Xiao Fu, why have you brought a young lad? Where is Daoist Lin Jiu?"

The servant hurriedly replied:

"Reporting to Chief Steward, Daoist Lin Jiu has accepted the prefectural governor's orders and must handle the Baleful Intent throughout Jiang City."

"This young gentleman is Daoist Lin Jiu's disciple and has learned seventy or eighty percent of his skills."

The chief steward snorted coldly.

"His mouth is still bare, and he cannot be trusted with matters. This concerns the Xiao Family's peace and safety—how can it be casually entrusted to a young lad?"

Seeing this, Bai Yu stepped forward and cupped his fists.

"This junior is Bai Yu. Greetings, Chief Steward. My master truly could not spare the time, so he sent this junior here."

"If Chief Steward feels this is unsuitable, then this junior will leave at once."

With that, he turned and walked away.