Full of the Will to Live

Cautious to the Bone

The more than one hundred spirit stones from the transaction with Mystic Fire Pill Shop, together with the spirit stones and spirit sand looted from Jiang De's storage pouch, came to nearly two hundred spirit stones.

This enormous sum was absolutely enough to support Han Yi's cultivation for half a year.

Even if he cultivated with spirit stones throughout those six months, he would at most use up two-thirds of them.

That was Han Yi's estimate.

In other words, when the one-year deadline arrived, he would still have enough spirit stones to support him through the Return-to-Sect Assessment.

This was also one of the reasons he had the confidence to keep lying low in his courtyard and refuse to step outside for the next half year.

After sorting through everything, Han Yi cast aside all distractions and threw himself back into cultivation.

Spell: Spirit Void Finger.

He cleared out both bedrooms beforehand, then aimed his attacks downward.

Based on his previous experiments, as long as he focused on grinding away at it, his proficiency panel would advance. Whether he aimed downward or forward made no difference.

Pfft!

With a flick of his bent finger, he no longer used one-fiftieth of his body's spiritual power. Instead, he tried reducing it to one percent.

The reduced output of compressed spiritual power felt awkward to Han Yi at first.

But he persevered. At the beginning, after every Spirit Void Finger strike, he would pause for several breaths and carefully contemplate its mysteries.

Then, the pauses gradually shortened.

The speed at which the spiritual power in his body was drawn to his fingertips steadily increased, while the method of compressing it was continuously fine-tuned according to his deepening understanding.

Perhaps each adjustment was imperceptibly slight. Even after ten attempts, there appeared to be no difference from before.

But after twenty attempts, fifty attempts, seventy attempts, the difference was already night and day.

After stabilizing his insights, he once again tried reducing the spiritual power compressed in each strike.

This was both cultivation of the Spirit Void Finger and control over every thread of spiritual power within his body. It also improved his alchemy from the side.

Again and again, the cycle continued without end.

In the tightly shut bedroom, Han Yi waved both hands. Spiritual light shot like shuttles from between his ten fingers, weaving together as it flashed.

The floor continuously cracked apart.

Deep pits, shallow holes, shattered rocks, fine sand—the original tiles had been pulverized so thoroughly that not even a trace remained.

And with the courtyard's formation in place and the bedroom sealed shut, the sounds here could barely travel outside, drawing no attention.

Whenever he emptied the spiritual power in his body, he would go to the Meditation Chamber next door and cultivate with spirit stones to restore it.

Cultivation knew no passage of time.

One month later.

Spirit Void Finger (Intermediate 40/100)

Over that month, Han Yi had flicked his fingers until both hands were nearly numb.

His comprehension also seemed to have hit a bottleneck.

Han Yi decided to temporarily stop cultivating the Spirit Void Finger and turn to alchemy instead.

First came Evil Warding Pills, then Qi Nourishing Pills. As for other pills, he had no pill formulas. Even if he had the materials, he could not conjure a pill recipe out of thin air.

With the breakthrough in his alchemy and his improved fine control over the spiritual power in his body, the quality of the pills he refined greatly increased, while the time required fell sharply.

In just half a month, he refined twenty batches of Qi Nourishing Pills, along with six batches of Evil Warding Pills.

The success rate for Qi Nourishing Pills had reached eighty percent.

The success rate for refining Evil Warding Pills had also reached thirty percent.

Moreover, he had made a breakthrough and successfully refined three batches of Standard Quality pills. The other pills were also among the finest of ordinary quality, nearing Standard Quality.

This...

Within the Mystic Pill Sect, only inner sect disciples at Qi Refining Layer 7 possessed such alchemical ability.

After that, he began cultivating the Spirit Void Finger again.

While cultivating the Spirit Void Finger, he used spirit stones to restore his spiritual power, simultaneously advancing his progress in Qi Refining Layer 3.

As the sun rose and moon set, time truly slipped through his fingers.

At some point.

Han Yi, immersed in absorbing spirit stones and restoring his spiritual power, suddenly heard a string of continuous impacts.

Bang! Bang! Bang!!

The impacts came from outside the courtyard.

If the sound had been caused by other things colliding outside the courtyard, Han Yi in the Meditation Chamber would not have heard it with the formation's protection in place.

Yet the sound was now so clear. There was only one possibility: someone outside the courtyard was shaking the courtyard formation.

The array formation had only just transmitted the sound inside.

A malicious attack should have been impossible.

It was broad daylight, and the deed to this courtyard belonged to the Mystic Fire Pill Shop—in other words, the Mystic Pill Sect.

The Mystic Pill Sect spanned three prefectures. In Mengshan City, aside from Great Qian's authorities, no other force dared openly provoke the Mystic Pill Sect.

Then, if it was not an attack, someone must have been trying to shake the array formation and call him out.

Han Yi suddenly realized that three months had passed since the last time.

And the last time at the Mystic Fire Pill Shop, he had promised Guan Sheng that he would fill in for him at the pill shop for half a month.

Jiang De's attack in that alley on his way back had turned Han Yi into a startled bird at the mere twang of a bowstring. He had resolved to turn down every matter requiring him to go out, hole up in the courtyard, and quietly wait for the one-year deadline to arrive.

The crashing sounds were urgent and had continued for a quarter of an hour without stopping.

Han Yi could only steel himself and leave the Meditation Chamber. Holding the courtyard array's Array Disk in his hand, he went to the main gate and fed a thread of spiritual power into it.

With the Array Disk, he was effectively the master of this array formation. Aside from activating and deactivating it, he could also place it in a half-active state.

This so-called half-active state allowed sound to pass through, but prevented anyone from entering or leaving.

"May I ask which fellow cultivator this is?"

Once he placed the array formation in its half-active state, the collision sounds, no longer blocked by the formation, suddenly surged in volume. Then, the instant Han Yi spoke, they abruptly stopped.

"Junior Brother Han, it's me. I'm Guan Sheng."

Outside the gate, Guan Sheng had waited for nearly half a day. Seeing the gates tightly shut, he had finally been unable to resist using a spell to shake the array formation at the entrance. He forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart, even putting on his usual smile.

The three-month deadline had arrived. The plan he had been plotting was now underway, and all that remained was for Han Yi to walk into the trap.

Originally, he had waited at the Mystic Fire Pill Shop for Han Yi to come knocking. But after waiting for nearly half a day without seeing him, he had come personally to fetch him.

Worried that appearing too eager would arouse Han Yi's suspicions, he had even waited in hiding outside the gate for several hours.

With dusk approaching, if Han Yi still did not appear, how could the plans that followed possibly proceed?

Thus, he had no choice but to shake the array formation and force Han Yi to come out.

"Junior Brother Han, open the gate."

"The three-month deadline is up. Your senior brother is about to leave the city, so we must quickly hand over the pill shop matters. Only then can we deal with the coming inspection."

Separated by a single gate.

Han Yi's heart tangled at those words.

He did not wish to be someone who broke his word.

Moreover, Guan Sheng had said this matter was very important to him. If Han Yi suddenly went back on his promise, he would surely throw Guan Sheng's entire plan into disarray.

It would be no different from directly screwing him over.

Han Yi could not bear it.

He slightly opened his mouth, about to speak, but paused and drew back again, his expression shifting uncertainly.

"Junior Brother Han? Junior Brother Han?"

"What is it?"

"Open the gate first. If there's any difficulty, tell me as soon as possible. I'm leaving the city tomorrow, and there isn't much time for the handover."

Outside the gate, Guan Sheng's tone was sincere and gentle.

But inside the gate, Han Yi calmed down instead.

Jiang De's killing intent and the danger in that little alley had happened three months ago, yet they remained as vivid as ever. At this moment, they surfaced again, warning him to stay vigilant.

After thinking it over, Han Yi sighed and broke his silence.

Compared to his life, what did breaking his word once amount to?

"Senior Guan, my apologies."

"This junior brother happens to have gained some inspiration and insight regarding pill refinement. I'm afraid I won't be able to leave the courtyard for the next few days."

"Please seek someone else, Senior Guan. Once I emerge from seclusion, I will make amends properly."

The moment he finished speaking, Han Yi fed another thread of spiritual power into the Array Disk, reactivated the courtyard array formation, and quickly returned to the Meditation Chamber.

Outside the courtyard.

The smile on Guan Sheng's face froze.