Lian Chengyu Emerges from Seclusion

Late at night, at the old chief's large courtyard in the Lian Clan.

"Bang!"

The courtyard gate was pushed open, and a young man with a face like jade emerged.

"Chengyu, why have you come out?"

The old chief saw the young man and stood up. Lian Chengyu had previously said he would go into seclusion until the start of the Tai'a Divine Kingdom's Warrior Selection.

Less than a month had passed, yet Lian Chengyu had already emerged from seclusion.

"I've encountered some problems in my cultivation..."

Lian Chengyu's complexion was not good. His original plan was to spend over two months accumulating enough foundation, then consume Savage Bone Essence and break through to the Purple Blood Realm in one go!

By doing so, his foundation would be solid enough, and his accumulation sufficient. Once he broke through to the Purple Blood Realm, he could reach the peak of the early Purple Blood Realm. Among opponents also in the early Purple Blood Realm, he would be peerless. This would even greatly benefit his future breakthroughs to higher realms!

The Tai'a Divine Kingdom's selection placed great importance on the foundation and accumulated depth of the assessed warriors. If Lian Chengyu could achieve this, he might gain the appreciation of Tai'a Divine Kingdom officials during the selection, leading to a brilliant performance.

However, things did not go as planned. Despite exhausting the Lian Clan Medicine Mountain and using so many good medicines, Lian Chengyu's cultivation progressed slowly!

Lian Chengyu believed he had hit a bottleneck.

In reality, mindset is also very important when cultivating martial arts in seclusion. With a good mindset, strong self-confidence, and sufficient perseverance, breakthroughs are like breaking through bamboo.

Conversely, if one believes their cultivation has problems and has encountered a bottleneck, they inevitably lose their edge, making breakthroughs twice as difficult with half the results.

This psychological impact was originally not significant. However, Lian Chengyu was already facing resource scarcity in his cultivation. Now, the situation worsened, causing his cultivation progress to slow down more and more. Finally, he chose to emerge from seclusion early.

He would change his mindset, rest, then take the Savage Bone Essence and re-enter seclusion to break through to the Purple Blood Realm in one go.

This was Lian Chengyu's plan. This idea had some merit. Sometimes, when one cannot break through by blindly cultivating, stopping might lead to unexpected insights, making it highly possible to break through the bottleneck unknowingly.

"How is the Savage Bone refining going?"

Lian Chengyu asked the question he cared about the most. This Savage Bone could be said to be related to his life and fortune!

"Mm, it's going relatively smoothly, but... a few days ago, the commoners refining the Savage Bone were poisoned. I originally intended to let them last a few more days, but seeing they were close to death, I had to give them Blood Dissolving Pills. They have recovered now and are not affecting the Savage Bone refining."

Lian Chengyu frowned upon hearing this. "These useless people are truly incompetent. After only a few days, they can't withstand the toxicity of the Cold Python Savage Bones! After taking these Blood Dissolving Pills, their life force will be depleted. At this rate, they will die before the Savage Bone refining is complete!"

Lian Chengyu's words were cold and heartless. The old chief felt they were a bit excessive. He said, "Chengyu... your demands are too high. These people are usually underfed and poorly clothed. How can they withstand the toxicity of the Cold Python? They have sacrificed for the Lian Clan. When you achieve success in the future, you must also take care of their families."

"I understand." Lian Chengyu replied expressionlessly. "I'm just worried about the Savage Bone refining and fear it won't be completed on time. If these people die too early, it will inevitably affect the refining. Great Uncle, please issue an order to recruit more people from the clan. With more people, they can share the toxicity of the Cold Python, and last longer. Although Blood Dissolving Pills are not particularly expensive medicine in large clans, we have already spent almost all our money. Even with Blood Dissolving Pills, we should save where we can."

Lian Chengyu said lightly. The old chief sighed. He knew that every additional person recruited meant another life lost.

Pitiable were those commoners who eagerly wanted to refine Savage Bones because of the cured meat.

"For the Lian Clan, we have no choice but to do this..." The old chief shook his head. "It's a pity. If there were non-toxic Savage Bones, so many people wouldn't have to die during the refining."

"Non-toxic Savage Bones?" Lian Chengyu sneered. "With our clan's financial resources, plus the incomplete secret manual I obtained, how could we possibly acquire non-toxic Savage Bones?"

"Besides, this Cold Python Savage Bone isn't toxic. It actually just contains a difficult-to-dissolve cold energy. Once it enters the body, it can freeze the internal organs, causing one to slowly lose their life force. If there were a Savage Heaven Master, they could easily dissolve the cold energy of the Cold Python Savage Bones. But why would a Savage Heaven Master bother detoxifying such low-grade Savage Bones? And they certainly wouldn't come to our Lian Clan!"

"That's why the young masters of those large clans are unwilling to use these Savage Bones. The Cold Python Savage Bone is the cheapest among all Savage Bones. That's why it fell to me to use it!! Just like how the rich feed their leftovers to dogs, I am like a wild dog eating their discarded food to those big families!"

Lian Chengyu said the last sentence with self-mockery. His lips twitched slightly, and his fists clenched tightly, his fingernails digging into the flesh of his palms.

He hated it!

The young masters and ladies of the big families were picky even about which Savage Bones to use, discarding those with side effects or poor effects!

But he, even to obtain a discarded Cold Python Savage Bone from someone else, had to exert all his strength and exhaust all his wealth!

To place all his hopes on a Savage Bone with severe side effects, to gamble everything, and to consume it at the risk of his life – it was pathetic to think about!

"Chengyu, you've had a hard time all these years, but you also know that the elites of those big families are ultimately a minority. Moreover, even within those large families, there are many disciples with poor talent. They don't even get much Savage Beast Meat..."

The old chief felt some guilt. He knew Lian Chengyu had excellent talent, but unfortunately, the Lian Clan was too poor to support him. All these years, although Lian Chengyu never said it, the old chief knew that Lian Chengyu harbored resentment towards the Lian Clan.

Lian Chengyu found it hard to listen to the old chief's words. He said, "Great Uncle, you don't need to comfort me. Heaven and Earth are not benevolent; they treat all things as straw dogs. Since this world is unfair, then I will use my own strength to win fairness! Sooner or later, I will control my own destiny, and I will also control the destiny of others! In the future, I will trample all the disciples of those big families under my feet!!"

"I understand." The old chief sighed. "Tomorrow, I will have a public announcement made to send more people to refine the Savage Bones. As for how many will die, we can't worry about that now. With more people joining, they will absorb more of the cold energy... and when you consume the Savage Bone, the danger will be minimized."

The old chief knew that for Lian Chengyu, finding some commoners to die for him would not cause him any heartache.

Lian Chengyu resented the unfairness of heaven in his heart, feeling he was already extremely unfortunate. How could he possibly care about the misfortune of others?

In Lian Chengyu's view, those commoners were merely ants. He even saw himself as a slightly larger ant.

The concept of "the strong prey on the weak" had deeply ingrained itself in Lian Chengyu's heart. Only by devouring smaller ants could he continuously grow until he became an unparalleled expert capable of controlling his own destiny and the destiny of others.