"Bone Tempering Spring"

Su Yuanpeng listened to the two of them talking from the side, utterly speechless.

His third sister had definitely fallen for Xiao Chen. Otherwise, how could she believe whatever Xiao Chen said?

How could that possibly have been a real Fireball Art?

Though it looked identical, it was clearly some advanced spell disguised as a Fireball Art, and its grade was definitely not low. Otherwise, he would not have been defeated so directly.

Xiao Chen insisted it had been a Fireball Art, unwilling to reveal the truth. He was probably afraid of exposing the details of his cultivation technique.

Yet Su Wanqing had actually chimed in, saying she believed it was a Fireball Art. She was plainly talking nonsense with her eyes wide open.

After saying that, she even gazed at Xiao Chen with a gentle, foolish smile, making Su Yuanpeng's eye twitch.

Sigh, forget it.

Xiao Chen was indeed formidable. He probably had some powerful inheritance, which meant his third sister's eye for people was not bad.

A bet was a bet. Since he had lost, he would let her do as she pleased.

Su Yuanpeng's expression turned solemn. He walked over seriously and bowed. "Junior Brother Xiao, I'm sorry. I was wrong. I withdraw my earlier offensive remarks. Please forgive my recklessness."

"This is the Azure Wood Spiritual Liquid and cultivation technique that belong to you. Also, this is a small token of apology from me. Please accept them all."

He held out both hands. In his left was a glass bottle containing Spirit Liquid; in his right were a Secret Manual and a small jade bottle—a bottle of Qi Gathering Pills.

Xiao Chen could not help but regard him more highly.

Su Yuanpeng was a Late-Stage Qi Refining Inner Sect senior brother and a cultivator from a Great Family, yet he could accept defeat so readily.

He neither relied on his higher cultivation to bully others nor threw his background around. Instead, he admitted defeat cleanly and apologized with compensation.

He bore none of the arrogant, overbearing manner rumored of the other young masters from Great Families.

Set against those spoiled scions, such ordinarily proper conduct seemed rather rare and precious.

Xiao Chen accepted the Spirit Liquid, pills, and spellbook. "It's fine. Then I won't stand on ceremony."

Seeing this, Su Wanqing also took out her share of Spirit Liquid and handed it to Xiao Chen. "Here, Senior Brother Xiao, your Spirit Liquid."

Xiao Chen accepted it as well. "Thank you, Junior Sister Su. You've been thoughtful."

Su Yuanpeng immediately proposed, "I interrupted Junior Brother's meal earlier. Please give me another chance. Let's go back and have a proper drink."

Xiao Chen had originally tried to refuse, since he had already obtained the Spirit Liquid he wanted most.

But Su Yuanpeng became exceptionally enthusiastic, insisting on using wine to apologize and blocking Xiao Chen from leaving.

Su Wanqing also helped persuade him from the side, urging Xiao Chen to at least finish his meal. "Senior Brother Xiao, it's almost midnight. Go eat something, at least. Don't go back on an empty stomach."

"Senior Brother Su, Junior Sister Su, I appreciate your intentions. But look, it's already so late. White Jade Teahouse is probably closed by now. Let's make plans another time."

Su Yuanpeng patted his chest. "It's fine. I know their manager. This isn't a problem at all. Let's go!"

The next day at noon, under the blazing sun, Xiao Chen finally woke groggily in his bed.

"Hiss!"

The moment he moved even slightly, intense soreness shot through his entire body, as though he had just gone through a brutal workout.

"What happened? Right, that bottle of wine!"

He remembered now. Last night, the Su Siblings had taken turns toasting him.

He had not intended to drink, but Su Wanqing had been especially eager. She had even gone to the manager and asked for a jar of his treasured Spirit Wine, called "Bone Tempering Spring."

It was said to replenish Vitality and strengthen the body. With long-term consumption, it could even rival ordinary Body Refining Techniques.

In short, it sounded like an absolute treasure.

Xiao Chen had thought that since it had already been unsealed, not drinking it would be wasteful, so he had sampled it.

The rich, mellow wine entered his mouth and immediately transformed into a warm current. It traveled from his throat into his stomach, then quickly spread through his limbs and bones.

Then his entire body began to burn with heat, as though he had just completed a vigorous, thoroughly satisfying workout.

Su Yuanpeng had wanted another drink, but Su Wanqing slapped his hand away. She deliberately sat beside Xiao Chen with the wine jar, pouring drink after drink for him.

Considering that the wine barely tasted alcoholic, did not seem very strong, and was indeed effective, Xiao Chen drank two more cups.

He even clearly remembered bidding farewell to the Su Siblings afterward, walking back to Branch 2, and entering his little room.

Up to that point, his memory was clear. Everything had been normal.

But after that, he had been so drunk that he remembered nothing at all. It was not until the fierce sunlight woke him at noon that he realized he had failed to close his window the night before.

Bone Tempering Spring was a genuine body-refining treasure wine. One of its traits was that it used intoxication to suppress the pain produced when cultivators refined their bodies.

It contained a specially prepared secret formula. It went down smooth, but its aftereffects were fierce; even cultivators found it difficult to resist its drunkenness.

Normally, a jar like this had to be shared among four people. By the time they woke up, the body refining would be finished, and it would not hurt too badly.

But it was Xiao Chen's first time drinking this kind of wine, and he had drunk more than half the jar by himself. As a result, the Medicinal Effect was far too strong.

He lay helplessly in bed for One Hour before finally recovering a little strength.

"The Cultivation World actually has secret formulas like this. I'll have to stay on guard in the future. If they're not acquaintances, I'm not drinking."

Xiao Chen struggled to climb out of bed, and a rumble of hunger immediately sounded from his stomach.

At once, he felt as if he had not eaten for three days and nights. His chest was nearly sticking to his back.

He took out some flatbread from the food box by his bedside and began wolfing it down dry.

Su Wanqing had insisted that he bring the food box back last night. She must have anticipated this situation long ago.

If so, why had she not known to stop him from drinking?

"Eh, what's this?"

After eating eight flatbreads in one go, he found a folded little note at the very bottom of the food box.

The note contained several lines of graceful handwriting. At a glance, it was clearly a message from Su Wanqing.

"Senior Brother Xiao, I'm very sorry. Yesterday, because I did not communicate properly in advance, my second brother misunderstood you."

"The body-refining 'Bone Tempering Spring' actually has another hidden effect: it can replenish a cultivator's meridians and increase the chance of successfully breaking through to Late-Stage Qi Refining."

"This was originally something I intended to trade with Senior Brother for, but after what happened, I temporarily changed it into an apology gift."

"I imagine this gift should be of some use to Senior Brother. Please do not blame me for making decisions on my own."

Su Wanqing had originally planned to use this invitation to reach some new agreements and trades with Xiao Chen.

But the way events unfolded had completely exceeded her expectations. The unexpected wager had made it inconvenient to continue with the original deal.

Considering the strength Xiao Chen had displayed during the wager, as well as the fact that he was still only a Mid-stage Qi Refining Realm Outer Sect Disciple,

Su Wanqing had simply used the precious Bone Tempering Spring to do him a favor.

Oh, so there was something like this?

After reading it, Xiao Chen immediately circulated the Yang Qi Breathing Technique once. Sure enough, he found that his Mana flowed more smoothly than before.

If this state could continue, then the difficulty of breaking through to Late-Stage Qi Refining could be reduced by at least half.

No wonder Great Families produced talented people one after another. It seemed that as long as their bloodline was pure, none were mediocre. So they could rely on good things like this as well.

This gift was not merely somewhat useful. Its effect was enormous.

For an ordinary cultivator, it could save several years of arduous cultivation.

Even for Xiao Chen, it could save several months of accumulation.

Late-Stage Qi Refining should originally have taken a year.

But now, it felt as though only the final step remained.

If everything went smoothly, Xiao Chen was confident he could complete the breakthrough within a month and advance into the Inner Sect.

Please keep reading! If any readers are stockpiling chapters, please remember to help click "keep reading" after next Tuesday's update. I'm trying to secure a recommendation spot—please, I'm begging you.