A Challenge from the Bai Clan!

The next day.

Inside a cultivation room on the upper floors of the Pill Tower.

"Since you want to cultivate this combat technique, you'll have to suffer first."

"Although your body is quite strong and your meridians are resilient enough, if you want to fully unleash the power of Blazing Flame Force, you'll still need to strengthen both your body and meridians."

Xuan Yi, dressed in a long black gown, looked at the jade slip in her hand and spoke slowly.

"President, even if I need to strengthen my body and meridians, you shouldn't be using a club, should you?"

Ye Yan looked at the arm-thick club by Xuan Yi's feet, his heart trembling uneasily.

"No." Xuan Yi put down the jade slip.

"So you're switching to something easier?" Ye Yan's eyes lit up as he asked happily.

"No. I meant that this club can only strengthen your body; it can't improve the resilience of your meridians."

Xuan Yi explained slowly.

"Huh?"

Ye Yan felt even more uneasy. That meant he would need other methods later to improve his meridian resilience.

This was practically self-torture!

If he had known, he never would have told President Xuan Yi.

Seeing Ye Yan's utterly lifeless expression, Xuan Yi's gaze softened considerably.

But she still had no intention of going easy on him.

"Are you ready?"

With a light wave of Xuan Yi's delicate hand, the arm-thick club floated into the air.

"Gulp!"

Ye Yan looked at the club, swallowed, and said as though marching to his death.

"I'm ready!"

A sharp whistle tore through the air. Then Ye Yan felt as though someone were repeatedly beating him senseless, pain erupting wherever his body met the club.

"Urgh!"

The pain made Ye Yan cry out involuntarily.

"What? Does it hurt?"

"President, the club is this big. What do you think?"

Ye Yan kept hissing through his teeth, yet he did not dare resist, allowing the club to strike him again and again.

"I don't know whether it hurts, but if you keep talking like that, I'll put more force into it."

Xuan Yi wore a gentle expression as she spoke words that terrified Ye Yan.

"President, I was wrong. I won't say that again."

As Ye Yan spoke, the club suddenly appeared behind him and ambushed this old... young man!

The force of the blow made him stagger.

"You can still talk. Looks like I didn't use enough strength."

Xuan Yi's calm voice frightened Ye Yan even more.

Ye Yan quickly shut his mouth and did not dare utter another word.

Time passed amid Ye Yan's countless muffled groans.

A quarter of an hour later.

Ye Yan lay on the ground, bruised and swollen all over, groaning without pause.

"President, you were way too ruthless."

"This was already very easy."

Xuan Yi tapped her Storage Ring with a finger, and a wooden barrel appeared in the cultivation room.

The barrel contained medicinal liquid that gave off faint wisps of chill. Xuan Yi had personally prepared it to reduce swelling and neutralize hidden injuries within the body.

"Get in!"

Xuan Yi made a grasping motion with her delicate hand. With a splash, she tossed Ye Yan directly into the barrel.

"Hiss!"

The instant Ye Yan entered the medicinal liquid, he felt waves of cold seep into his body through his wounds, making his teeth chatter.

But soon, he felt a gentle energy within the liquid continuously enter his body, slowly repairing his injuries.

"President, what kind of medicinal liquid is this? It's so effective!"

Ye Yan shivered all over as he asked curiously.

"It's a cold-natured medicinal liquid formula I developed. It's very useful for healing hidden injuries."

"After you finish soaking in this, you'll need to soak in another healing medicinal liquid!"

Looking at Ye Yan's condition, Xuan Yi inexplicably felt a sense of nurturing.

She was also looking forward to seeing this kid grow step by step under her guidance.

Ye Yan nodded, then began cultivating inside the barrel to speed up his recovery.

An hour passed.

Ye Yan had finished soaking in both medicinal liquids, and he had completely absorbed the medicinal power within them.

He rose from the clear water.

All his previous injuries had completely vanished, replaced by tougher skin.

Xuan Yi had already left while Ye Yan was soaking in the medicinal liquid.

Today's cultivation of Blazing Flame Force had ended. Next, he would have to try refining second-grade pills himself.

Ye Yan took a set of clothes from his Storage Ring and put them on, then took out some medicinal ingredients.

Aside from pill refinement, the most important thing now was finding a substitute for the Evergreen Flower.

Directly extracting Wood Qi took far too much time.

Given the Brahma Furnace's current condition, it should already be able to extract better medicinal ingredients.

Ye Yan took out a pile of all kinds of medicinal ingredients from his Storage Ring.

The Green Wood Vine had an emerald-green vine body, tough texture, and verdant leaves.

There was also the Three-Leaf Green Ganoderma, with three umbrella-like leaves and a body as glossy green as jade.

And the Green Spirit Grass, with jade-green, thick, sturdy stalks.

Ye Yan stored the wooden barrel in his Storage Ring, sat before the Earth Fire Vein in the cultivation room, examined himself inwardly, immersed his mind into his dantian, and connected with the Heaven Burning Furnace.

He then mobilized the crimson Dou Qi within his body, pouring it from his palm and condensing it into a mass of crimson energy before him.

When the furnace in his dantian trembled slightly, the crimson energy before Ye Yan seemed to gain a soul.

It continuously changed shape before finally becoming an enlarged Heaven Burning Furnace, two feet four inches tall and one foot two inches in diameter.

Once the Heaven Burning Furnace stabilized, Ye Yan located the wood attribute within his body.

A stream of green energy was drawn into the Heaven Burning Furnace.

This stream of energy was the catalyst for extracting Wood Qi, as well as the key.

Time slowly passed.

Ye Yan continuously fed medicinal ingredients into the flame-formed Heaven Burning Furnace while assessing the time spent and the Wood Qi extracted.

In the end, Ye Yan looked at the Heaven Burning Furnace in his dantian, now entwined by three or four strands of Wood Qi.

"Taking one complete strand of Wood Qi extracted from an Evergreen Flower as the standard."

"This Green Spirit Grass can yield two strands; the Three-Leaf Green Ganoderma yields one wisp; as for the Green Wood Vine, it yields the most, one wisp and one strand!"

An Evergreen Flower sold for one hundred gold coins, Green Spirit Grass for one hundred and fifty, Three-Leaf Green Ganoderma for one thousand, and Green Wood Vine for one thousand two hundred...

Just as Ye Yan, still clinging to the frugal habits of his past life, kept comparing them in an attempt to find the most cost-effective medicinal ingredient—

He suddenly remembered that his Storage Ring contained several million gold coins gifted by others.

Those gold coins had been given by Ye Zhong and the other four elders, as well as those women who judged by appearances.

He had been in Sacred Pill City for so long without using much of it that he had completely forgotten about it.

"I'm so used to being poor that I'm being needlessly stingy!" Ye Yan shook his head with a bitter smile.

Why bother choosing based on cost-effectiveness? He should simply choose whichever medicinal ingredient yielded the most Wood Qi!

Ye Yan suddenly came to his senses, finally understanding.

Besides, he could already refine pills to earn money. There was no need to fuss over such things.

Just as Ye Yan decided to purchase more Green Wood Vine—

In the plaza outside the Pill Tower.

A group of people stood watching the Pill Tower's entrance.

"Brother Bai, are we really just going to wait here?"

Cao Ge looked at Bai Li, his expression full of disbelief.

He had come yesterday intending to watch a good show.

Since when had the Bai Clan's Third Young Master become so timid?

"We came to cause trouble. If you enter the Pill Tower, do you want to get thrown out?"

Bai Li ignored Cao Ge's words and explained.

"Third Young Master, you're not completely stupid after all!"

Cao Ge teased, as though disappointed to have missed a good show.

"However, I'm not the one here to cause trouble. You are!"

"So confident? In a few years, I'd like to see just how talented your Cao Clan genius really is."

Bai Li shifted his gaze from the entrance and looked at Cao Ge, who wore an expression of eager amusement.

"You'll find out then."

Cao Ge kept his eyes on the entrance and replied.

"But is that ordinary-looking youth Han Li?"

"It really is. Go up and take a look."

Bai Li glanced over, then waved Bai Lin and the others forward.