Qi and Blood Pills! Undercurrents Surge!

After returning to the cold, damp Corpse Handling Room, Lu Chen bolted the stone door shut.

The clamor and prying eyes outside were completely cut off. This was his only safe house.

He spread open his palm. Three crimson pills, each the size of a longan pit, lay quietly in it.

The pills were smooth and gave off a faintly sweet, fishy scent. Compared with the crude Blood Activating Powder from before, whether in appearance or the energy they contained, they were as different as clouds and mud.

Lu Chen did not swallow them immediately.

Working under Foreman Wang, he had to be cautious with every step.

He brought one Qi and Blood Pill to his nose and sniffed it lightly, then scraped off a little powder with his nail and rubbed it between his fingers. Only after confirming that it contained nothing but pure medicinal power and no abnormalities did he relax slightly.

Lu Chen sat cross-legged on the stone bed again and tossed a Qi and Blood Pill into his mouth.

The pill melted as soon as it entered his mouth, turning into a scorching torrent that surged into his limbs and bones in an instant!

This medicinal power was far more tyrannical than he had imagined, like a blazing fire raging through his meridians.

Had it been his former body, this energy would likely have burst his meridians on the spot.

But now, Lu Chen's body had been tempered by twenty-two years of saber practice and was incomparably tough.

With a thought, he immediately began circulating the Turtle Breath Meditation Method he had only just entered.

The faint warm current in his dantian, driven by that majestic medicinal power, was like dry kindling meeting a raging blaze, erupting in an instant!

He guided the scorching energy along the incomplete route of the Turtle Breath Technique, now completed by the system, washing through his meridians over and over again.

With every circulation cycle, a trace of the scorching medicinal power was refined and absorbed into the warm current in his dantian.

His meridians, too, became broader and tougher amid the repeated scouring and restoration.

Who knew how much time passed? When the final trace of medicinal power had been completely refined, Lu Chen slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a mouthful of scorching white vapor.

The white vapor shot out like an arrow for several feet, lingering in the frigid air for a long while.

Lu Chen examined his dantian inwardly. The warm current had grown from a barely perceptible thread into a stream as thick as his little finger. It coiled in his dantian, slowly revolving without end.

He could feel that his strength, endurance, and even his senses had all improved considerably under the nourishment of this inner qi.

"Excellent pills!"

A sharp glint flashed through Lu Chen's eyes. Just one Qi and Blood Pill had advanced his Turtle Breath Meditation Method so swiftly. If he swallowed all three, he might be able to push this technique straight into the Minor Mastery Realm!

Just as he was preparing to continue cultivating, a burst of noisy discussion faintly drifted over from outside the Corpse Handling Room.

"Did you hear? Foreman Wang was personally summoned by Captain Li just now. When he came out, his face was glowing. I heard he received quite a few rewards!"

"What happened? Did Foreman Wang stumble into some great fortune and get his hands on another treasure?"

"No idea. All I know is that it has something to do with the Imperial Guard corpse sent over this morning. It seems Foreman Wang submitted an autopsy report that greatly pleased Captain Li!"

"An autopsy report? With Foreman Wang's meager skills? He does not even dare touch demon corpses, and he can examine a human corpse?"

"Who knows? Anyway, Foreman Wang has really made a name for himself this time. Life is probably about to get even harder for us underlings..."

The voices gradually faded away, but the corner of Lu Chen's mouth curled into an imperceptible smile.

Everything was unfolding exactly as he expected.

All attention was focused on Foreman Wang. No one would notice a tiny corpse handler like him, hidden in the lowest and darkest corner.

However, Lu Chen had still underestimated human jealousy.

"Creak—"

The stone door was shoved open with tremendous force, producing a piercing scrape.

The visitor was an old hand from the office named Zhang Mazi. He had worked in the Corpse Handling Room for more than a decade and had always considered himself the leader of the others.

"Lu Chen." Zhang Mazi eyed Lu Chen askance, looking him up and down with a scrutinizing gaze. His tone was unfriendly. "I heard Foreman Wang gave you something as a private reward today?"

"Yes. Foreman Wang gave this subordinate three Qi and Blood Pills."

Lu Chen did not hide it, because there was no hiding it anyway.

"Qi and Blood Pills?" At once, greed and jealousy flared in the eyes of Zhang Mazi and the two men behind him.

These people might not receive even one dose of Blood Activating Powder in an entire year, yet this brat had only been here a few days and had already obtained Qi and Blood Pills worth ten times as much?

"A wet-behind-the-ears brat who has only been here a few days and has yet to render a single meritorious service—what gives you the right to receive Qi and Blood Pills?" Zhang Mazi stepped closer, saying darkly, "The office rules state that when you receive a reward, you must offer it up to your seniors. Do you not understand that? Hand over the pills. Since you are new, we will let today's matter slide."

The two men behind him also closed in from either side, malicious smiles on their faces as they blocked Lu Chen's retreat.

Killing intent flashed through Lu Chen's heart, but his face remained full of panic and unease.

He knew very well that if he made a move here, win or lose, it would bring monstrous trouble.

"Brother Zhang, th-these were personally given to me by Foreman Wang. I..."

"Do not use Foreman Wang to pressure me!" Clearly blinded by jealousy, Zhang Mazi impatiently cut him off. "Foreman Wang has a thousand affairs to handle every day. How could he have time to care about this trivial nonsense of yours? Today, you will hand them over whether you want to or not!"

With that, his skinny, chicken-claw-like hand shot toward Lu Chen's chest like lightning, clearly intending to seize them by force.

Though the grab lacked any proper technique, it was not slow, and it carried a gust of foul wind.

Had it been yesterday's Lu Chen, he likely would not have been able to evade it at all.

The instant Zhang Mazi moved, Lu Chen's body had already reacted.

As if frightened into slipping, he staggered backward in an exceedingly awkward posture.

To outsiders, he appeared too terrified to stand steadily, utterly bedraggled and pathetic.

But only Lu Chen knew that the footwork beneath him was Slanting Swallow Through Willows, one of the three forms of the Body Evasion Steps. Though he seemed to stagger, he had in fact calculated every possible angle of Zhang Mazi's grab, narrowly evading it with the smallest movement and least effort.

Zhang Mazi's grab missed, and he could not keep his face. He was about to make another move.

"Stop!"

A cold voice brimming with fury exploded from the doorway like a thunderclap.

Foreman Wang had returned at some point. He stood in the doorway with a livid face, terrifying ferocity shooting from his triangular eyes.

"Zhang Mazi, you have some nerve!"

Zhang Mazi stiffened all over, the arrogance on his face instantly turning into fawning terror. "Foreman Wang... Y-you... why have you come back? I... I was only joking with the new brother, teaching him the rules..."

"Rules?" Foreman Wang walked closer step by step, each step seeming to land on Zhang Mazi's heart. "My words are the rules!"

He walked up to Zhang Mazi and, without another word, raised his hand and gave him a resounding slap!