Chapter 21

"Crack!"

Muscles tensed, and bones popped crisply.

In the dim room, Luo Qingchen endured the pain radiating from his entire skeletal structure, practicing his fist techniques over and over again.

The pain of tempering bones was far more intense than that of tempering muscles.

He practiced from morning until noon, and from noon until nightfall.

He had taken two breaks during that time.

However, to achieve better tempering results, each rest period was kept very brief.

When the night curtain fell outside the window, he finished his final set of fist techniques.

After retracting his fists, he endured the exhaustion and pain to move around slightly, only then relaxing his entire body and collapsing into a heap in the corner of the wall.

The pain felt like needle pricks, rising and falling throughout his bones.

By now, his clothes were soaked through, and a thick layer of grime had accumulated at every pore.

Just then, a knock sounded at the door, followed by a maid's crisp voice: "Is Guard Luo in? Your dinner has arrived."

Luo Qingchen immediately forced himself up through the pain and went to open the door.

He had only eaten a single steamed bun that morning and was now famished; hearing about dinner, his stomach growled instantly, making the discomfort even worse.

"After you finish, take the bowls and chopsticks to the kitchen yourself."

The maid seemed terrified of this place; after handing him the food, she hurried away.

The dinner was quite simple.

Two steamed buns, a bowl of porridge, and a small dish of pickled vegetables with a tiny piece of meat inside.

Such a dinner was already considered rare in this Medicine Man Town.

However, for a cultivator who needed to temper flesh and strengthen bones, it was naturally far from enough.

It was no wonder that only one or two cultivators made it out of here each year.

Without enough to eat and with fresh blood for medicinal baths being hard to come by, breaking through to the Blood Changing Realm was naturally difficult beyond measure.

Luo Qingchen finished his meal quickly, leaving not a single drop, and then took the bowls and chopsticks to the kitchen.

Night fell quickly.

At this moment, the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion was pitch black everywhere, save for the faint light glowing from a few windows in the front building.

Emerging from the kitchen, he arrived in front of a stone hut on the right side of the backyard.

The stone hut was simple, containing only a stove, a large pot, and some firewood.

This was the place where medicines were brewed.

Luo Qingchen stood at the entrance of the stone hut, hesitated for a moment, then turned back to his room to retrieve the medicinal herbs and a wooden barrel, placing them inside the hut.

He first fetched a bucket of water and poured it into the pot.

Then, he began to light the fire to boil the water.

"Oh? Brother Luo, are you boiling water? Is it for a bath, or..."

Just as Luo Qingchen was feeding firewood into the stove, Chen Ju suddenly appeared at the doorway, glancing first at the pot before fixing a burning gaze upon him.

Luo Qingchen continued to feed the fire and said, "Preparing to brew medicine."

"Brewing medicine?"

Chen Ju's eyes flashed, and he smiled: "Is it for a medicinal bath? Does Brother Luo have fresh blood?"

Luo Qingchen looked up at him and said, "Where would I get fresh blood? I've just been practicing all day and my whole body is in pain, so I wanted to soak in some other herbs first."

"Is there something you need, Brother Chen?"

He asked again.

Chen Ju's face was full of smiles: "Nothing, I just saw the fire here and came to take a look. Brother Luo, you go ahead with your work, I'm heading back to my room."

With that, he left with a smile.

Listening to the footsteps fade into the distance, the expression on Luo Qingchen's face gradually turned grave.

He knew that taking a medicinal bath here was dangerous.

But to achieve the maximum effect from his training, he had to bathe in the medicine as soon as possible after practicing his fist techniques.

Inside his body, behind the first blood bar, the cultivation progress read: <strong>[Bone Strengthening: 2/1000]</strong>

After a full day of training, he had only gained two points.

Therefore, if he wanted to reach 1000 as quickly as possible, he had to supplement it with medicinal baths.

I saw quite a few abandoned houses while wandering the streets today; perhaps for the next medicinal bath, I can sneak outside...

He thought to himself while feeding the firewood.

This Hundred Fragrance Pavilion was riddled with hidden dangers.

The surrounding cultivators were watching like tigers eyeing their prey; bathing in blood medicine required extreme caution.

The crimson flames roared within the stove.

The clear water in the pot soon began to boil.

Luo Qingchen stood up and pinched a handful of medicinal herbs, dropping them into the water.

The water quickly turned murky, and a rich, herbal scent drifted out with the rising steam, soon permeating the entire stone house.

Luo Qingchen had closed the wooden door and windows in advance.

Yet, the thick medicinal aroma still drifted out through the gaps in the door and windows, spreading far into the dark night.

In the darkness outside, faint footsteps seemed to echo.

Luo Qingchen ignored them, boiled the mixture over a high flame for a while longer, and then poured all the scalding medicinal broth into a wooden barrel.

After letting it cool for a moment, he stripped off his clothes and stepped into the barrel.

His entire body was instantly enveloped by the thick broth, and a sensation of intense heat mixed with relief washed over him.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

Luo Qingchen gripped his dagger, looked toward the entrance, and remained silent.

At that moment, the door latch snapped with a "crack."

The wooden door was shoved open violently.

Wang Long and Wang Hu, the two brothers, appeared at the threshold, their eyes scanning the room with greed.

Wang Long wore a fake smile as he said, "I thought there was no one here. So, Brother Luo is taking a medicinal bath."

As he spoke, the two brothers barged right in, their eyes fixed on the barrel as they sniffed the air.

Wang Hu said with a cold face, "Brother Luo, did you add fresh blood to this medicine? If there is blood, let us brothers have a soak too. We're all brothers working together, that shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Their expressions, tone, and behavior were practically screaming threats and robbery.

Luo Qingchen replied calmly, "Of course, no problem. If you two brothers want to soak, feel free to do so later. As for fresh blood, I don't have the money to buy any."

"You didn't add fresh blood?"

Wang Long approached the barrel, reached out to dip his finger into the water, and sniffed it. He sneered, "Brother Luo, it's useless without fresh blood. Fresh blood is indeed expensive to buy outside, but Brother Luo, you could use your own."

Luo Qingchen extended his arm, revealing the wound on his wrist, and said, "I would like to, but someone is coming to collect blood in a few days. If they find out I've already used it, the consequences will likely be severe."

"By the way, that man's name is Tian Feng. He had another breakthrough a few days ago; I expect his status in the sect is about to rise again."

He added the sentence with a casual tone.

Wang Long and Wang Hu's expressions shifted slightly. They exchanged a glance and said nothing more.

"Then we won't disturb Brother Luo's bath."

Wang Long offered another fake smile before taking his brother and leaving.

Listening to the footsteps fade away, Luo Qingchen did not lower his guard.

About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Wang Long suddenly returned, appearing at the door again with a laugh: "Brother Luo, do you need me to help you add some water?"

As he spoke, he entered the room, walked up to the barrel, and twitched his nose.

"Many thanks, but that won't be necessary."

Luo Qingchen watched him with a calm gaze and asked, "I'm about to get out. Does Brother Wang want to soak for a while?"

Wang Long hadn't smelled any scent of blood, and a flash of disappointment crossed his eyes. He gave a cold laugh and said, "No."

With that, he turned and left the stone house, departing with Wang Hu, who had been keeping watch outside, both of them wearing gloomy expressions.

Luo Qingchen continued his bath.

The medicinal broth in the barrel had cooled, and the Demon Stone at the bottom seemed not to have diminished in the slightest.

The medicine helped a little, but it's a pity there's no fresh blood...

He muttered to himself and stood up, preparing to climb out of the barrel.

At that moment, a black shadow outside the window slipped away silently.

Luo Qingchen glanced at the window, and his two hands, submerged in the water, suddenly moved.

The sharp dagger quickly sliced open the wound on his wrist.

Under his pressure, blood from his veins flowed out rapidly, quickly merging into the medicinal broth in the barrel.

Upon touching the fresh blood, the black surface of the Demon Stone at the bottom of the barrel immediately began to crack, turning into thick, black liquid.

Luo Qingchen instantly felt a familiar energy drilling into his body through every pore!

The pain in his bones was immediately alleviated.

Inside his body, the blood in his first blood bar quickly dropped from 100% to 70%.

He released the wound, immediately refilled the first blood bar, and while rapidly absorbing the surging energy from the broth, he kept his eyes fixed on the door with vigilance.

Fortunately, no one came to disturb him this time.

Before long, he had completely absorbed all the energy from the medicinal broth.

After soaking for a while longer, he only stepped out of the wooden tub, still feeling unsatisfied, once the color of the liquid had faded into clear water.

At this moment, the cultivation progress behind the first blood bar in his body had changed to [Bone Strengthening: 12/1000]!

Just from a short medicinal bath, even before he had begun to refine the energy, his cultivation progress had surged from 2 to 12; this clearly showed the importance of this blood-based medicinal bath!

After tidying up the room carefully, he carried the wooden tub and the remaining medicinal herbs back to the second room.

Feeling no sleepiness at all, he prepared to refine the medicinal effects within his body throughout the night.

The faint light burning in the room was soon extinguished.

Outside the window, the pitch-black night grew increasingly heavy.

All around, the world was deathly silent.

Without anyone noticing, a strange black shadow appeared outside the window of the second room.

He took out a thin tube and silently inserted it through the gap in the window.

After blowing the poisonous smoke in, he did not rush to climb through the window; instead, he took out two more thin tubes, walked to the windows of the first and third rooms, and blew poisonous smoke into them one by one.

"I've poisoned all three rooms; let's see where you can run tonight!"

The black shadow waited outside for a while longer before carefully pushing open the window of the second room.