The Ninth Layer of Body Forging

Zhao Long!

At the sound of that name, Zhou Xuan's gaze turned icy.

Was there something wrong with this guy's head?

First, he'd sent two Body Tempering Realm disciples to kill Zhou Xuan. After they failed, he'd come after him in person.

Was this really necessary?

Zhou Xuan furrowed his brow. He had a feeling things weren't that simple.

From the way Zhao Long had sent people to ambush him before, he was clearly no man of deep loyalty or strong affection.

There had to be something in it for him.

But what did Zhou Xuan have that would make an Inner Sect Disciple scheme against him so relentlessly?

Trying to squeeze him for whatever he had?

What could a Chore Disciple possibly have worth taking?

The only possibility was that Zhao Long had been involved in both previous ambushes.

But both times, the trouble had started because Zhou Xuan had converted the spiritual energy in the Spirit Stones Liu Ruyan gave him without that guy knowing. Had he been played?

Still, those few Spirit Stones shouldn't have been enough to make an Inner Sect Disciple risk violating the Sect's rules by repeatedly trying to kill him.

Unless...

A thought flashed through Zhou Xuan's mind.

Unless there was someone else behind Zhao Long. Someone with a higher standing, an Inner Sect Disciple whose very existence Zhou Xuan didn't know about—or even a True Inheritor Disciple.

The thought cast a shadow over Zhou Xuan's heart.

If that was true, things would get complicated. He'd be an ant beneath a spotlight, every move watched, while his enemy lurked in the dark, ready to strike a fatal blow at any moment.

For a while, Zhou Xuan felt a headache coming on.

He shook his head, pushing those tangled thoughts aside for the time being.

So be it. When soldiers came, he'd block them; when water came, he'd dam it. Before absolute strength, every scheme and trick was a paper tiger.

There was no use thinking about it now. The most urgent thing was to become stronger.

If he could enter the Qi Refining Realm as soon as possible and become an Outer Sect Disciple, the world would be wide open to him. Then it wouldn't be so easy for his enemies to use such underhanded methods against him.

Having made up his mind, Zhou Xuan's gaze grew calm again. He looked at Zhou Ye, who stood beside him, tense with worry, and patted his shoulder to reassure him.

"Brother Xuan, should we find a way to hide from Zhao Long?"

Zhou Ye asked anxiously. In his eyes, Inner Sect Disciples were gods—people like them, Chore Disciples, could never afford to offend.

"Hide? There's no need," Zhou Xuan said calmly.

He turned and looked at Zhou Ye, his gaze bright. Then he suddenly asked, "Zhou Ye, would you like to improve your aptitude?"

At the question, Zhou Ye froze. A moment later, even his breathing grew ragged.

Aptitude!

It was a mountain weighing on the hearts of every Chore Disciple.

With Zhou Xuan's help, he'd cleared the Pill Poison from his body and broken through to the Fifth Layer of Body Forging, temporarily escaping the threat of being expelled.

But he knew perfectly well that he still had the same Waste Spirit Root, one already deemed utterly hopeless.

That meant his Immortal Path might end at the Body Tempering Realm.

And now Zhou Xuan was asking whether he wanted to improve his aptitude?

"Brother Xuan, do you mean..." Zhou Ye's voice trembled with excitement. He could hardly believe his ears.

"I have my own way."

Zhou Xuan offered no further explanation. He only looked at him calmly.

"But I need you to help me with a few things. And you must keep everything about me to yourself—bury it deep in your gut. If a single word gets out, you know what will happen."

Zhou Ye shuddered. Looking at Zhou Xuan, he had no doubt the warning was genuine.

He immediately thought of the violent explosion at the Miscellaneous Affairs Department a few days earlier. A chill ran through him.

He quickly straightened his back, his expression solemn, and nodded firmly. "Don't worry, Brother Xuan! You saved my life. From now on, whatever you tell me to do, I'll do! I won't betray you, and I won't let a word slip!"

Only then did he truly understand. Brother Xuan was absolutely not as simple as he seemed.

The way he'd cleared years of Pill Poison with a casual gesture was practically immortal magic. This was an enormous stroke of fortune for Zhou Ye!

"Good." Zhou Xuan nodded in satisfaction.

Lowering his voice, he instructed Zhou Ye, "From today on, while you're working at the Miscellaneous Affairs Department, keep an eye out for certain things."

"What things?"

"Waste Pills, damaged Dharma Artifacts, broken spiritual artifacts, contaminated materials..."

Zhou Xuan paused, then summed it up.

"Simply put, things that look dangerous, that no one dares touch, or that people think are completely useless."

"When you find them, don't make a fuss. Collect them in secret, hide them somewhere out of the way, then tell me."

Zhou Ye didn't understand why Zhou Xuan wanted these dangerous scraps, but he didn't ask a single question. He already trusted Zhou Xuan almost blindly.

"Yes, Brother Xuan! I understand!"

Not daring to slack off, Zhou Ye agreed at once. Then he turned and strode toward the depths of the Miscellaneous Affairs Department, his spirits renewed, ready to search for treasures on Zhou Xuan's behalf.

Time flew by, and soon three days had passed.

In those three days, Zhao Long hadn't shown up again, and Fairy Danhuo Zhang Ling hadn't blown up her alchemy furnace every day as she'd threatened.

The Chore Servant Courtyard seemed to have returned to its usual calm.

As for Zhou Xuan, he devoted all his energy to cultivation.

He had only one goal: breaking through to the Qi Refining Realm!

Only after entering the Qi Refining Realm would he truly set foot on the Immortal Path—and gain the basic strength to protect himself in this Sect.

There was no time to lose!

Fortunately, Zhang Ling's last furnace explosion had yielded a large number of Second-Rank Waste Pills. Though damaged, their quality was excellent.

After returning to his thatched hut, Zhou Xuan activated the system.

He discovered that the system could absorb the energy in Waste Pills. It could even spend a small amount of Gold Touch Value to restore pills that weren't too badly damaged, turning them into whole pills!

The discovery sent Zhou Xuan into raptures.

After a round of operations, he spent nearly a hundred points of Gold Touch Value and successfully restored five complete Qi Gathering Pills.

With those five pills, whose medicinal power was pure, his cultivation began to surge forward.

Eighth Layer of Body Forging!

Ninth Layer of Body Forging!

In just three days, his cultivation had charged ahead like a bamboo split by a blade, reaching the peak of the Ninth Layer of Body Forging!

At that moment, he felt as if his entire body brimmed with explosive strength. The vigor of his blood and qi was far beyond what it had been three days ago.

He was only one final step away from drawing qi into his body and crossing the threshold into the Qi Refining Realm.

Yet that final step was like a heavenly chasm, holding him fast.

He could clearly feel that his body was like a sieve. He'd barely drawn in a thread of spiritual energy from the outside world before most of it scattered away, not even lasting long enough to complete one full circuit through his Meridians.

"Four-Element Waste Spirit Root. Still a Waste Spirit Root in the end."

Inside the thatched hut, Zhou Xuan slowly opened his eyes and let out a breath of stale air, his face full of helplessness.

Improving his root from five elements to four had increased his cultivation speed considerably, but it hadn't changed the root's nature.

When it came to a major barrier like breaking into the Qi Refining Realm, the weakness of this aptitude was magnified beyond measure.

Zhou Xuan felt that, in his current state, without some other stroke of fortune, he might be stuck here for half a year before he had a chance of breaking through.

Half a year? He couldn't wait that long.

The longer this dragged on, the more could go wrong. The enemy hiding in the shadows and the Sect's struggle for resources both hung over him like swords poised above his head.

He had to find another way!

Zhou Xuan's gaze fell involuntarily on his Universe Bag.

He sank his awareness into it. Among the pile of miscellaneous junk, an unremarkable fragment of Green Copper lay quietly.

It was the fragment he'd found in a pile of household rubbish, made from the same material as the mysterious copper piece.

He focused his attention on the system panel.

[Metal Touch Value Balance: 1027 points!]

After absorbing Zhang Ling's Waste Pills and converting more junk that Zhou Ye had collected for him, his Gold Touch Value had quietly crossed the thousand-point mark once again.

Looking at that number, a resolute glint flashed in Zhou Xuan's eyes.

He reached into his robe, took out the cold fragment of Green Copper, and clenched it tightly in his palm.

"Good. I've got plenty of Gold Touch Value again."

"This time, let's see what you really are!"