Forced Breakthrough

Ge Lao Si was already surrounded by a crowd.

"Congratulations, congratulations!"

"Old Ge, you're soaring to great heights now. Don't forget us fellow sufferers!"

"Exactly. You've got to put in a few good words for us before Immortal Master Lin."

"..."

The crowd chattered over one another with congratulations, their eyes more or less tinged with envy. Why should that squat little runt be the first to enter the sect?!

Hearing the commotion, Su Hao stepped out of the courtyard and saw Ge Lao Si being fawned over like the moon surrounded by stars.

Name: Ge Lao Si

Cultivation: Qi Refining Level 1

Talent: Medicine Slave (White): Upon consuming pills, can purify their active ingredients and concentrate the essence of all medicines within the heart. Once perfected, the heart can be made into the main ingredient of a certain pill that enhances talent; a necessary material for the Hundred Profound Gang Body!

"Medicine Slave?"

Su Hao fell into thought. The white talent "Medicine Slave" was a rank above the gray talent "Medicine Person"?

Just as he was about to move closer, he abruptly stopped.

Some of the people around Ge Lao Si had also undergone changes.

Name: Ye Kun

Cultivation: None

Talent: Medicine Person (Gray)

"Ye Kun, Zhao Shisan, Li Ming..."

Including Su Hao himself, eight people in total had gained the talent of Medicine Person!

"It must be because of the Heart Nourishing Pill!"

Su Hao's suspicions were completely confirmed, and his expression turned incomparably grim.

Su Hao now fully understood Lin Zhi Shan's malicious intentions.

They were nothing more than human-shaped tools to him, to be used whenever he wished!

But... what could they do?

Amid everyone's cheers, Su Hao alone sat in restless unease.

Not long after, a paper crane exuding black mist descended into the courtyard.

Lin Zhi Shan, immortal and ethereal in bearing, drifted lightly to the ground.

"Immortal Master Lin!" Ge Lao Si was incredibly excited. The moment he saw Lin Zhi Shan, he immediately bowed with clasped hands. "I have mastered the breathing method of the Hundred Profound Medicine Veins and have entered cultivation."

"Good, very good!"

Lin Zhi Shan patted Ge Lao Si's shoulder. "I keep my word. I will accept you as a registered disciple. If you perform well, I will make you a formal disciple. Work hard! Later, I'll have someone bring you more pills to help you raise your strength as quickly as possible. Once your cultivation is higher, I'll teach you spell arts and alchemy."

"Thank you, Immortal Master Lin."

"Hm? You're still calling me Immortal Master Lin?"

"Master! Thank you, Master!" Ge Lao Si hurriedly dropped to his knees and kowtowed to Lin Zhi Shan. "This disciple pays his respects to Master."

"Get up." A meaningful smile curled Lin Zhi Shan's lips.

After a while, he turned and swept his gaze over the others, lingering for an extra moment or two on Su Hao, Ye Kun, and the rest.

Su Hao lowered his head, not daring to meet Lin Zhi Shan's eyes.

Only after Lin Zhi Shan left once more aboard his magical artifact—

Ge Lao Si had already assumed the airs of a senior brother, smugly declaring that he would guide everyone in cultivating their techniques.

Seeing that Ge Lao Si had not met a violent death like Zhang Yunfei, the others could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. Secretly, they took Ge Lao Si as their goal, striving to become the next registered disciple.

Another three days passed.

Five more people acquired the "Medicine Person" talent.

Ge Lao Si progressed at breakneck speed. One morning, he even boasted that he had reached Qi Refining Level 2, then snapped a tree trunk as thick as a bowl with a single punch before everyone.

But Su Hao lived each day in constant alarm.

"Something's wrong. Where did Ye Kun and Zhao Shisan go?"

While eating, Su Hao suddenly realized that he had not seen the two of them for two days.

He hesitantly moved closer to Ge Lao Si. "Senior Brother Ge, where are Ye Kun and Zhao Shisan? I haven't seen them in days. They didn't run away, did they?"

"What kind of joke is that? How could those two pieces of trash possibly have the strength to escape? Master needed assistants for alchemy, so he transferred them to the cave dwelling to watch the pill furnace. Tsk, he probably thinks their aptitude is too poor. Keeping them here any longer would just waste food and pills."

Ge Lao Si gave a disdainful smile and looked Su Hao over. "Kid, worry less and spend more time cultivating. I'm already at Qi Refining Level 2, yet you still haven't even entered the cultivation method. It's one thing to have poor talent, but you're not even willing to work hard."

He lectured him for a few sentences.

"Sigh, I don't have aptitude like yours, Senior Brother Ge. Even if I cultivated for another hundred years, I couldn't do it." Su Hao responded with a placating smile.

In truth, he had been capable of cultivating the Hundred Profound Medicine Veins from the very first day, but he had not dared to.

Ge Lao Si had entered the path of cultivation and could cultivate, receiving even more spiritual pills and wondrous medicines.

No matter how one looked at it, he seemed to be receiving special care. Who knew when they would fatten him up and slaughter him?

He would delay for as long as he could.

Another three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Three more people were gone!

It was said they had been transferred to the medicine fields to plant medicinal herbs.

Had they truly been transferred for work?

Su Hao was thoroughly panicked. If those people discovered that their constitutions had changed and that they could serve as mediums for extraction and purification, they would surely grow suspicious of where Ye Kun and the others had gone.

But he did not dare tell Ge Lao Si and the others.

If Lin Zhi Shan found out once he told them, could his end possibly be a good one?

"Where are you going?"

The guard at the main gate watched Su Hao, who was trying to leave the residence.

"Just taking a walk nearby." Su Hao forced a smile. "I've been cooped up in my room for too long lately."

"Be back before dinner!" the guard reminded him, unconcerned about whether Su Hao might run away.

Su Hao could leave the residence, but he could not leave Heavenly Medicine Mountain.

He wandered around nearby several times. Guards stood at every key passage, while white mist coiled around the foot of the mountain like a natural barrier. One glance was enough to tell that special arrangements had been made.

Deep in the night, when all was quiet.

Creak.

The door bolt suddenly shifted.

Su Hao jolted awake. Already as skittish as a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring, he had been unable to sleep at all.

A black-robed Daoist had appeared beside his bed. Lin Zhi Shan's features were kindly, but his eyes glimmered with a ghostly light in the dimness, carrying a trace of mockery.

Su Hao's expression changed slightly, yet he forced himself to remain calm. "I-Is that Immortal Master Lin? Y-You... why are you here?"

With a flick of his finger, Lin Zhi Shan shot out a flame that landed upon the candlewick atop the bronze stand. He stared at Su Hao with a smile. "Su Hao, you seem rather restless these past few days. Has something happened?"

"I..." Su Hao gave an awkward laugh. "No, nothing. I just occasionally miss my family."

"Nothing?" Lin Zhi Shan's face darkened. "A medicine like the Heart Nourishing Pill is quite special. It requires the one taking it to have a steady state of mind and a tranquil spirit. The more uneasy you are, the worse its effects will be, and it will also show in your complexion and between your brows. Everyone else is happy and motivated, so why are you letting your imagination run wild? What are you thinking about?!"

He had always kept every movement of everyone in the courtyard under his control.

The others were all working hard and full of drive. Only Su Hao had been acting furtively.

"Do you know something?" Lin Zhi Shan reached out and pressed a hand onto Su Hao's head.

"Know what?" Su Hao continued playing dumb.

"Hmm?" The strength in Lin Zhi Shan's five fingers increased, as though he intended to crush Su Hao's head in one go.

"Immortal Master Lin, this lowly one would never dare deceive you! It's only that I've gained some insights into cultivating the Hundred Profound Medicine Veins and can already sense spiritual energy, but I've remained stuck at the final step. My meridians have been faintly aching, and I was worried something might go wrong. I was hesitating over whether to ask you or Senior Brother Ge to help guard me at the side."

Su Hao hurriedly shouted, scrambling to patch up his story, terrified that his head would be crushed.

"You can already draw in and circulate spiritual energy?" Lin Zhi Shan loosened his grip, delight appearing on his face. "Go ahead and try cultivating! If you dare lie to me, I'll turn you into fertilizer for the medicine fields!"

Su Hao had no choice. Suppressing his fear, he sat cross-legged and began using the breathing method recorded in the Hundred Profound Medicine Veins to draw in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, guide it into his body, and circulate it along the paths of his meridians.

"You're truly almost there... You didn't lie to me. Good, very good!" Lin Zhi Shan was overjoyed as he watched Su Hao's complexion.

As for whether Su Hao was hiding anything else, that was unimportant!

Su Hao transformed part of the medicinal power and spiritual energy within his body, successfully stepping into Qi Refining Level 1.

Detected resonance between the power of a special cultivation method and the talent 'Medicine Person'. Talent upgraded!

Name: Su Hao

Realm: Qi Refining Level 1

Talents: Fire Elemental Sword Physique (Blue), Medicine Slave (White)

Medicine Slave (White): By consuming pills, one can purify their active components, condensing all medicinal essences into the heart. Upon completion, the heart can be made into the main ingredient of a certain pill that enhances talents; a necessary material for the Hundred Profound Gang Body!

"It is all thanks to Immortal Master Lin... No, thanks to Master! This disciple has not failed your expectations and has reached Qi Refining Level 1."

The moment Su Hao withdrew from his cultivation state, he immediately knelt and bowed to Lin Zhi Shan.

"Very good! Tomorrow, you and Ge Lao Si are to come to my cave abode." Lin Zhi Shan nodded in satisfaction.

Early the next morning, when everyone heard that Su Hao had also entered Qi Refining Level 1, they all came to offer their congratulations.

Their eyes concealed envy. Why should this frail little brat be the second to become a registered disciple?

Su Hao could not smile at all. Together with Ge Lao Si, he headed for Lin Zhi Shan's cave abode at the mountaintop.

Lin Zhi Shan's cave abode was not extravagant: a stone gate entwined with vines, two stone lamps, and faint clouds of mist carrying the scent of medicine drifting through the air.

A Dao-robed boy had long been waiting at the entrance. The moment he saw the two of them, he cast them a haughty glance. "You're far too late! Master has been waiting for ages. Master has been far too good to you—if any other disciples dared neglect him like this, he'd have buried you in the herb garden long ago to nourish the medicinal herbs!"

Name: Lin Miao

Realm: Qi Refining Level 4

Talent: Medicine Slave (White)

Su Hao glanced at the youth. He had no idea how long this child had been here, yet he was still alive and well. Could it be that he had wrongly blamed Lin Zhi Shan?

"Sorry, sorry. It's all Su Hao's fault. He dawdled along the whole way—I kept telling him to hurry up!" Ge Lao Si apologized with a placating smile, shooting Su Hao a glare as he spoke.

Su Hao lowered his head without arguing.

The two followed him into the cave residence. It was enormous, with a front hall and a courtyard. They then passed by a pill room.

"Talent Power 'Medicine Person' detected. It will disappear in 3320 seconds."

"Talent Power 'Medicine Person' detected. It will disappear in 1968 seconds."

"..."

Three notifications appeared in succession.

Su Hao abruptly halted, staring into the pill room at the three clusters of flame scattered around the pill furnace.

These Talent Powers would dissipate before long.

Another notification rang out in his mind. "It has been detected that the host possesses the 'Medicine Slave' talent. 'Medicine Person' and 'Medicine Slave' are the same type of talent and conflict with one another; only one may take effect, with the higher-level talent taking priority. Every two talents of the same name may be fused, upgrading the talent!"

"Three 'Medicine Person' talents discovered. They may be fused. After fusion, 'Medicine Person' will evolve into 'Medicine Slave'!"

"Preview of new talent: Medicine Slave (White): Upon consuming medicinal pills, it can purify their active ingredients, concentrating all medicinal essences into the heart. Once complete, the heart can be made into the main ingredient of a certain pill that enhances talents; an essential material for the Hundred Profound Gang Body!"