Lu Chen's eyes gleamed. He was about to press on and refine the remaining pill as well.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
A violent pounding on the door interrupted his cultivation.
"Lu Chen! Open up! Foreman Wang has a job for you!"
Lu Chen furrowed his brow. He carefully put away the pill, dispersed the qi and blood around him, and returned to his slightly weakened appearance. Only then did he unhurriedly slide back the bolt.
Outside, several strongmen were pushing a handcart piled high with corpses, their faces full of disgust.
A dozen or so demon corpses lay sprawled across the cart. They resembled ferocious wolves, but their bones showed through their flesh, and they reeked of rot and gave off a chaotic killing intent. They were low-tier demons known as Rotten Bone Demon Wolves.
"Foreman Wang has orders!" One of the strongmen pinched his nose and slapped a task slip into Lu Chen's hand. "There's some use in the marrow inside these wolf demons' bones, but extracting it is a pain and a disgusting job. It's yours. Get it all done within two days!"
With that, they pushed the foul-smelling cart into the Corpse Handling Room and fled as if their lives depended on it.
Lu Chen looked at the mountain of exhausting work before him without a hint of complaint. He simply closed the door in silence.
Rotten Bone Demon Wolves were the low-tier demons most often encountered by the Demon Suppression Division's patrols. They were numerous and of little value, but the killing intent on their corpses was a chaotic mess, making them an extremely tedious and tiring nuisance to process. It was the wretched job every corpse handler dreaded most.
Foreman Wang was treating him like an inexhaustible beast of burden, squeezing every last bit of value out of him.
Lu Chen picked up his tools and began the dull, grueling, repetitive labor.
One, two, three...
His movements were mechanical and precise, without a single motion to spare.
Even amid this seemingly tedious work, Lu Chen never let his mind slacken for an instant.
He deliberately treated every demon wolf corpse as a practice target.
As he moved corpses through the cramped Corpse Handling Room, he worked the essence of Body Evasion Steps into his movements. He practiced darting and weaving within a few feet without colliding with any obstacles, honing his fine control over his body.
He carefully drew a thin thread of Turtle Breath Qi from his dantian and slowly coated the specially made iron awl in his hand with it.
At first, the moment the qi left his body, it dispersed. He couldn't make it cling to the awl at all.
But Lu Chen kept at it, trying again and again without tiring.
Finally, after more than a hundred failures, he managed to make a faint thread of qi linger at the tip of the awl for a brief instant.
In that instant, when the awl pierced the demon wolf's hard bones, he clearly felt the resistance lessen considerably!
The efficiency of extracting the marrow improved a little too!
The discovery filled Lu Chen with delight.
He threw himself into the monotonous work with relish.
Time slipped by unnoticed.
His control of the qi progressed from awkward and difficult to increasingly practiced.
His Body Evasion Steps, too, grew smoother and more fluid after countless trips carrying corpses and dodging obstacles.
And with every wolf he processed, his Demon Devil Lifespan slowly accumulated.
[Processed Rotten Bone Demon Wolf, gained 8 months of Demon Devil Lifespan.] [Processed Rotten Bone Demon Wolf, gained 11 months of Demon Devil Lifespan.] [Processed Rotten Bone Demon Wolf, gained 6 months of Demon Devil Lifespan.]
Two days later, when Lu Chen had finished processing the last demon wolf, he was so exhausted he could barely stand. His face was pale, and his eyes were bloodshot.
Seven-tenths of it was genuine exhaustion; the other three-tenths was deliberate pretense.
Foreman Wang arrived right on schedule, pacing over to inspect the results.
He looked at the rows of neatly arranged jars, filled with purified demon wolf marrow. He casually opened one. The marrow was pure in color, without a trace of impurities, and the extraction was astonishingly complete.
"Mm... not bad, not bad!" That greedy, satisfied smile appeared on Foreman Wang's face once more. "You're quite the hand at this kind of rough, tiring work, kid."
He patted Lu Chen on the shoulder and launched into another round of false praise and empty promises.
"Keep up the good work. Once we sell this batch of materials and get the money, there'll be a reward in it for you!"
Lu Chen lowered his head, looking deeply grateful and eager to work, while silently calculating what he had gained.
His strength was steadily improving.
His lifespan was steadily accumulating, drop by drop.
Foreman Wang's exploitation had become an unusual kind of gift to him!
"Clerk Chen, the Rotten Bone Demon Wolf marrow has arrived." Lu Chen gently set the heavy jars on the ground. His voice wasn't loud, but it was enough to rouse the old clerk from his doze.
The man they called Clerk Chen remained slumped over the counter, dozing with narrowed eyes. On the small table beside him, a pot of cheap, cloudy liquor gave off a sour, astringent smell.
After a moment, his eyelids twitched. He unwillingly cracked one eye open, glanced at Lu Chen with cloudy eyes, then looked at the dozen or so clay jars on the ground. Impatiently, he waved a hand. "Put them there. Same as always—make the entry yourself."
"Yes."
Lu Chen picked up the writing brush nearby and deftly wrote his name and the material details in the register.
This time, however, Clerk Chen didn't immediately slump back down as usual. Instead, he slowly rose and walked over to the pile of jars.
He casually picked one up, pulled out the wooden stopper, and brought it to his nose to smell. Then he poured a little onto his fingertips and rubbed it between them.
The next moment, a rare flicker of surprise crossed his cloudy eyes.
The marrow was far better than he'd expected.
Not only was it exceptionally pure, but even the faint trace of demonic power within had been preserved remarkably well. That wasn't something brute force alone could accomplish.
Clerk Chen looked up, his cloudy eyes settling on Lu Chen again as he studied him carefully.
He saw the exhaustion Lu Chen could barely hide, and those bloodshot eyes of his, still as calm as a deep pool.
This kid seemed different from the other corpse handlers in the division—so restless, greedy, and stupid.
Clerk Chen fell silent for a moment. Just as Lu Chen finished the entry and was preparing to bow and take his leave, he suddenly spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear.
"Three inches behind a demon wolf's neck, there's a piece of crisp bone, faintly green in color, with a trace of Moon Essence inside. When extracting it, never use brute force. Shake it loose with a gentle force instead. That'll keep it intact and make it even more effective as a medicinal ingredient."
Lu Chen stiffened. Even the hand holding the brush paused for an instant.
He abruptly raised his head and looked at Clerk Chen, his eyes full of shock.
Clerk Chen acted as though he'd merely made an offhand remark about nothing important. He waved a hand, turned, and walked back to the counter. Then he picked up his flask again and said no more.
Lu Chen stood rooted to the spot for a moment. Then he bowed deeply to Clerk Chen's back.
"Thank you for your guidance, Clerk Chen."