Yi Yun Tempered His Bones

"So I can go temper the Desolate Bone?" Yi Yun asked happily.

Lian Chengyu gave a soft hum. He was actually happy about going to his death—what a pitiful way to live.

"Thank you, Young Master."

Yi Yun was genuinely happy, not pretending. He had originally feared that after encountering Lian Chengyu, the man might go crazy when he saw Yi Yun alive and slap him a few more times, using the same old trick to kill him.

Although Lian Chengyu's underhanded attack could not do anything to Yi Yun, it would cause a great deal of trouble.

The first time Lian Chengyu failed to kill him, he would probably think he had merely slipped up. But if he failed a second time, he would certainly notice something was wrong. That would not be good news for Yi Yun.

Now that Lian Chengyu was letting him go temper the Desolate Bone, it was exactly what Yi Yun wanted.

Tempering the Desolate Bone was equivalent to giving Yi Yun time to catch his breath. Yi Yun's strength could be described as advancing a thousand miles a day. If he had another month or two, everything would be completely different!

"Yun'er, why didn't you come home for dinner?"

Jiang Xiaorou had originally been cooking. After the food was ready and she brought it out, she discovered that Yi Yun was missing. When she came outside to look, she saw him chatting with Lian Chengyu.

Jiang Xiaorou's heart immediately tightened. How could this be allowed? Lian Chengyu had harmed Yi Yun terribly, nearly costing him his life!

Worried that Lian Chengyu might harm Yi Yun, she hurried over.

Although Jiang Xiaorou hated Lian Chengyu to the bone, she also knew that she could not openly fall out with him.

"So it's Young Master Lian."

When Jiang Xiaorou saw Lian Chengyu, she forced a smile. Then, without revealing anything, she pulled Yi Yun over and shielded him behind her.

"Oh? Jiang Xiaorou, I remember you."

Noticing Jiang Xiaorou's little movement, Lian Chengyu frowned. This little girl seemed very hostile toward him!

Lian Chengyu did not like any of the lowly poor people of the Lian Clan showing him the slightest disrespect. Perhaps because of the inferiority buried deep in his bones whenever he stood before the geniuses of powerful factions, Lian Chengyu cared all the more about his dignity when it came to poor people beneath him.

However, Jiang Xiaorou was, after all, a woman he admired, so he was rarely willing to show some tolerance toward her. He could slowly tame this woman.

Lian Chengyu left. Although he admired Jiang Xiaorou, he had not shown her the slightest attentiveness, nor had he even spoken to her much. He was a man of power; with women, he sought favor rather than courtship. All he needed to do was wait until Jiang Xiaorou was driven into a dead end, then have Zhao Tiezhu step forward.

Watching Lian Chengyu's back, Jiang Xiaorou gripped Yi Yun's little hand tightly. "Yun'er, what exactly happened?"

"It's nothing, Sister Xiaorou. Don't worry," Yi Yun said.

It was Yi Yun who had told Jiang Xiaorou that Lian Chengyu had harmed him. Since Yi Yun said it was nothing, Jiang Xiaorou felt a little reassured. In recent days, she had faintly felt that her little brother was no longer the pure child he had once been. He had thoughts of his own.

But after thinking it over, Jiang Xiaorou felt that something was amiss. "Yun'er, you aren't planning to go temper the Desolate Bone, are you? You absolutely cannot go there!"

Yi Yun looked at Jiang Xiaorou in surprise. She had an astonishingly keen intuition. Although she did not know what mystery lay behind tempering the Desolate Bone, she had still realized that it was a dangerous task.

Yi Yun thought for a moment, then lowered his voice. "Sister Xiaorou, I'm not as weak as you think. After coming back from the dead this time, I feel different from before... Don't you remember how I went up the mountain to gather herbs a few days ago? I climbed up a twenty-meter cliff."

Hearing this, Jiang Xiaorou also remembered. Earlier, she had found it strange that Yi Yun climbed the rocks so quickly. But then she thought that Yi Yun had always liked climbing high places and gathering herbs since he was little, so she had barely managed to accept it.

Now that she thought about it, Yi Yun's movements were indeed much more agile. When it came to climbing rocks alone, he was even better than the members of the Warrior Reserve Camp.

Thinking this, Jiang Xiaorou also relaxed a little. Her little brother really was different now.

Sometimes, one could survive a great disaster and receive a blessing afterward. Jiang Xiaorou had heard that some people were struck by lightning and not only survived, but gained special abilities instead.

Could Yun'er be in a similar situation?

That night, Yi Yun, as a new conscript, was hauled to the threshing ground.

The area around the threshing ground had long since been enclosed by wooden fences. Because of the so-called "Typhoid Fever" incident, more and more fences had been erected, until people outside could no longer see what was happening within.

More than thirty people were assigned to temper the Desolate Bone, rotating between two shifts day and night.

Yi Yun was assigned to the night shift. There were more than ten people in all. Although these men were not as sturdy as those from the Warrior Reserve Camp, every one of them had broad bones and large frames. Standing among them, Yi Yun looked like a chick among a flock of geese. His height only reached their chests.

When they saw Yi Yun, the dozen or so burly men were stunned. Their looks made it obvious: a scrawny little child like this had also been selected to temper the Desolate Bone?

Forget about his strength. At his height, even standing on a stool, he probably could not reach the mouth of the cauldron. How was he supposed to add "Li Fire Water" into it?

"Kid, are you messing with me? Someone like you can temper bones?"

"What can that little body of yours do? Your thighs aren't even as thick as firewood!"

Seeing Yi Yun's condition, the men were all displeased. If Yi Yun did no work but might later receive a share of their cured meat, how could they possibly feel good about it?

Yi Yun could not be bothered to reply. He sat down casually on the pile of firewood and let them say whatever they wanted.

"Porridge is here!"

A burly man from the Warrior Reserve Camp carried over a bucket of porridge. Those who came to temper the Desolate Bone were given porridge to drink. This was probably a benefit provided by the higher-ups of the Lian Clan to ensure that the tempering went smoothly. Only with full stomachs would they have the strength to work.

As soon as they heard that the porridge had arrived, the conscripts' eyes lit up, and they rushed over without a care for anything else.

With a whoosh, the entire bucket of porridge was snatched clean. Yi Yun was at the back, and with the others deliberately competing and shoving him aside, by the time he reached the front, only the dregs remained.

Yi Yun was somewhat helpless. There was a reason for the saying that poor villages produced crafty people. It was not that the people from poor villages had bad character, but that poverty made people short-sighted. If you played the good person, you would starve to death.

"Get to work! Get to work!" the man from the Warrior Reserve Camp shouted.

The dozen or so conscripts drifted toward the Bronze Cauldron, replacing the daytime shift.

Yi Yun was at the back. He walked very slowly, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on the Bronze Cauldron.

To others, Yi Yun looked as if he had been stunned by the enormous Bronze Cauldron burning with Purple Fire. And indeed, the cauldron was simply too large. Yi Yun was not even as tall as the cauldron's two handles.

In reality, Yi Yun's vision was filled with a faint field of light specks. They looked like a swarm of fireflies dancing through the night sky.

What profound energy! This was the power belonging to the Desolate Bone—the legendary Savage Power!

The endless specks of light left Yi Yun extremely excited. Although the Purple Crystal had absorbed some of the Desolate Bone's energy before, it had done so from far away and had not absorbed much. It was nothing like today, when he was in direct contact with the Desolate Bone.

By comparison, the Purple Jade Ginseng and Black Lingzhi he had absorbed before had all paled. It was like a poor man accustomed to coarse tea and plain food suddenly seeing delicacies from the mountains and seas. Yi Yun was so excited he could barely contain himself.

Wasn't this like a tomb raider entering an emperor's ancient tomb, or a weasel entering a henhouse?

All the energy from this Desolate Bone would be his.

"Kid, what are you standing there like an idiot for? Go chop firewood!" one of the conscripts said, tossing an axe in front of Yi Yun.

Only then did Yi Yun snap out of his dazed state. Grinning, he went to chop firewood.

"This kid's got something wrong with his head!" the conscript cursed as he began attending to his own work. Several of them were responsible for chopping Purple Fire Wood.

The Purple Fire Wood was the crucial fuel source. It was extremely tough and exceptionally heavy. Several men at the first-grade conscript level had to work for half a day just to chop off a section as thick as an arm.

The conscripts all worked with every ounce of strength they had. Those who performed well could be promoted to foreman, and when cured meat and grain were distributed, they would receive an extra share.

Yi Yun was happy, but he did not let it go to his head. He knew that tempering the Desolate Bone was related to the so-called "Typhoid Fever"!

He had to investigate what exactly caused the Typhoid Fever. If even the Purple Crystal could not resolve it, then no matter how generous the reward, Yi Yun could only flee.

Thus, while chopping firewood absentmindedly, Yi Yun carefully observed the Bronze Cauldron glowing red from the flames.

Gradually, Yi Yun discovered the problem.

The specks of light flying out of the Bronze Cauldron came in two colors.

The first was purplish-red. These specks made up the majority, dancing aimlessly around the mouth of the cauldron. Yi Yun discovered that as long as he moved his mind, the specks would fly toward him.

As the Purple Crystal fused into Yi Yun's heart, Yi Yun himself had also broken through to the second level of Mortal Blood. At some point, he had gained the ability to control the Purple Crystal's absorption of energy.

If he wanted to absorb, he could absorb. If he did not want to absorb, he could choose not to.

As for the other color of the specks, it was ice-blue...