At noon, the sky was clear and bright.
The warm sunlight struggled to pierce the leaden-gray clouds, scattering across the blue stone courtyard.
The snow in the courtyard had long since been cleared away, revealing the ground paved with blue stone slabs.
A few inches of snow still clung to the surrounding walls, glittering with fine silver light beneath the sun.
The cold wind swept snowflakes in from beyond the courtyard wall. They landed on Chu Fan's bare forearms, yet failed to leave behind even the slightest chill.
Chu Fan held a vermilion-red pill between his fingers and slowly raised it to his mouth.
The pill's surface shimmered with fine patterns of light. It was the Blood Refining Pill Instructor Cao had given him that day, a pill that helped martial artists temper their Blood Qi.
Three days had passed since he killed the Huang Family steward and the guard instructor...
This was the fifth Blood Refining Pill he had taken.
Chu Fan knew well that Blood Refining was like burning one's body, and the medicinal effect of this Blood Refining Pill was especially overbearing. Thus, before cultivating today, he had already taken off his outer clothes, leaving himself in only a short jacket.
Fortunately, his Blood Qi was now abundant, and his muscles and bones were far stronger than before. Standing in the cold wind, he did not feel particularly cold.
"Glug." Chu Fan tipped back his head and swallowed the Blood Refining Pill.
The pill melted as soon as it entered his throat. A scorching, warm current flowed straight down his esophagus, like a ball of burning charcoal he had swallowed, yet in the blink of an eye, it spread into his limbs and bones.
Chu Fan did not dare delay. He stamped both feet against the blue