Chapter 21

"Crack!"

His muscles tensed, and his bones snapped.

In the dim room, Luo Qingchen endured the pain in every bone and practiced his punches again and again.

The pain of tempering his bones was even worse than tempering his muscles.

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

He took two breaks during that time.

But to achieve the best results, he kept each break brief.

When night fell outside, he finished his final set of punches.

After lowering his fists, he endured his exhaustion and pain and moved around a little. Only then did he relax his whole body and slump down by the wall.

Pain pricked through his bones like needles, rising and falling in waves.

His clothes were soaked through, and a thick layer of grime had collected around every pore.

Just then, a knock sounded at the door, followed by a maid's clear voice. "Is Guard Luo there? Your dinner is here."

Luo Qingchen immediately endured the pain and got to his feet to open the door.

He had eaten only one steamed bun that morning and was ravenous by now. At the mention of dinner, his stomach instantly growled, making him feel even worse.

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

The maid seemed afraid of this place. After handing him the food, she hurried away.

Dinner was simple.

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

In Medicine Man Town, a meal like this was already a rare treat.

But for a cultivator who needed to refine his flesh and fortify his bones, it was nowhere near enough.

No wonder only one or two cultivators a year managed to rise from this place.

With so little to eat and fresh blood so hard to obtain for a medicinal bath, breaking through to the Blood Changing Realm was naturally no easy feat.

Luo Qingchen quickly finished every last bite, then took the bowls and chopsticks to the kitchen.

Night fell quickly.

At the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion, only a few windows in the small front building still glowed with faint lamplight. Everywhere else was pitch-black.

After leaving the kitchen, he went to a stone house on the right side of the rear courtyard.

The stone house was very simple, with only a stove, a large pot, and some firewood.

This was where medicinal concoctions were prepared.

Luo Qingchen hesitated outside the stone house for a moment, then returned to the second room. He brought out the medicinal herbs and wooden tub and carried them into the stone house.

First, he fetched a bucket of water and poured it into the pot.

Then he lit the fire.

"Hey, Brother Luo, are you boiling water? For a bath, or...?"

As Luo Qingchen fed firewood into the stove, Chen Ju suddenly appeared in the doorway. He glanced at the pot, then fixed his eyes on Luo Qingchen.

Luo Qingchen kept adding firewood. "I'm making medicine."

"Making medicine?"

A glint flashed in Chen Ju's eyes. He smiled. "Are you preparing a medicinal bath? Do you have fresh blood, Brother Luo?"

Luo Qingchen looked up at him. "What fresh blood? I've been cultivating all day, and my whole body hurts. I just want to soak in some other herbs first."

"Did you need something, Brother Chen?"

He asked again.

Chen Ju wore a broad smile. "No, I just saw a fire here and came to take a look. You go ahead, Brother Luo. I'll head back to my room."

With that, he smiled and left.

As his footsteps gradually faded, Luo Qingchen's expression grew grave.

He knew full well that taking a medicinal bath here was dangerous.

But if he wanted to get the most out of his cultivation, he had to take one as soon as possible after practicing his punches.

Inside him, behind the first Blood Bar, his cultivation progress read: [Bone Fortification: 2/1000]

After a whole day of cultivation, he had gained only two points.

So if he wanted to reach 1,000 as quickly as possible, he had to supplement his training with a medicinal bath.

While wandering the streets today, I saw quite a few abandoned houses. Maybe next time, I can sneak out and take my medicinal bath somewhere else...

He fed the stove as he pondered.

The Hundred Fragrance Pavilion was full of danger.

The cultivators all around him watched like hungry tigers. He had to be especially careful about squeezing blood into his medicinal bath.

The red flames roared in the stove.

The water in the pot soon came to a boil.

Luo Qingchen got up and dropped some herbs into the water.

The water quickly turned murky. A rich herbal scent rose with the steam, spreading through the stone house in moments.

Luo Qingchen had already shut the wooden door and windows.

But the strong medicinal scent still slipped through the cracks and drifted far into the night.

A faint sound of footsteps seemed to come from the darkness outside.

Luo Qingchen paid it no mind. He continued boiling the herbs over high heat for a while, then poured all the scalding medicinal liquid into the wooden tub.

After letting it cool briefly, he stripped off his clothes and climbed in.

The rich medicinal liquid immediately enveloped him. A hot, soothing sensation spread through his body in an instant.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Someone suddenly knocked at the door.

Luo Qingchen gripped his dagger and looked toward the door without saying a word.

Then the door latch snapped.

The wooden door flew open.

Wang Long and Wang Hu appeared in the doorway, their eyes greedily fixed on the room.

Wang Long gave him a false smile. "We thought no one was in here. So Brother Luo is taking a medicinal bath."

As he spoke, the brothers barged right in, peering into the tub and sniffing the air.

Wang Hu's face was cold. "Did you add blood to your medicine, Brother Luo? If you did, let the two of us soak in it too. We're all brothers working together. That shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Their expressions, tone, and actions practically spelled out their threat to rob him.

Luo Qingchen remained calm. "Of course not. If you two want to soak in it, go right ahead afterward. As for fresh blood, I can't afford to buy any."

"You didn't add blood?"

Wang Long approached the tub, dipped a finger into the water, and held it under his nose. He sneered. "Without blood, it won't do you much good. Fresh blood outside is expensive, sure, but you can use your own, Brother Luo."

Luo Qingchen held out his arm, revealing the wound on his wrist. "I'd like to, but they're coming to draw my blood in a few days. If they find out I used it in advance, the consequences will probably be severe."

"Oh, right. The man's called Tian Feng. I heard he broke through again a few days ago. His standing in the sect will probably rise another step."

He added this casually.

Wang Long and Wang Hu's expressions changed. They exchanged a glance but said nothing.

"Then we won't disturb your bath, Brother Luo."

Wang Long gave him another false smile, then left with his brother.

As their footsteps faded into the distance, Luo Qingchen remained on guard.

About an incense stick's worth of time later, Wang Long suddenly returned and appeared in the doorway again. He smiled. "Brother Luo, need me to add some water?"

As he spoke, he entered the room and walked up to the tub, sniffing the air.

"Thanks, but there's no need."

Luo Qingchen watched him calmly. "I'm about to get out. Would you like to soak for a while, Brother Wang?"

Wang Long hadn't smelled any blood. A flash of disappointment crossed his eyes, and he sneered. "No need."

Then he turned and left the stone house, his face darkening as he joined Wang Hu, who had been waiting outside.

Luo Qingchen continued soaking.

The medicinal liquid in the tub had already cooled, and the Demon Stone at the bottom seemed not to have diminished at all.

"The herbs have made me feel a little better, but it's a shame there's no fresh blood..."

He murmured to himself and stood, ready to climb out of the tub.

Only then did the shadow outside the window silently slip away.

Luo Qingchen glanced at the window. His two hands, submerged in the water, suddenly began to move.

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

As he pressed down, blood surged from the wound and quickly flowed from his veins, soon blending into the medicinal liquid.

The black outer layer of the Demon Stone at the bottom of the tub immediately began to crumble when it touched the blood, dissolving into thick black water.

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

The pain in his bones eased at once.

The blood in the first Blood Bar inside him quickly dropped from 100% to 70%.

He released the wound and immediately refilled the first Blood Bar. Then, as he rapidly absorbed the surging energy in the medicinal liquid, he kept a wary eye on the doorway.

Thankfully, no one came this time.

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

He soaked for a little longer. When the liquid in the tub began to turn clear, he finally climbed out, still reluctant to leave.

The cultivation progress behind the first Blood Bar inside him now read [Bone Fortification: 12/1000]!

He had only taken a brief medicinal bath and hadn't even begun refining its effects, yet his cultivation progress had surged from 2 to 12. That showed just how important a blood-infused medicinal bath was!

After carefully tidying the stone house, he carried the tub and remaining herbs back to the second room.

He wasn't sleepy at all, so he planned to refine the medicinal effects in his body through the night.

The faint lamplight in the room soon went out.

Outside the window, the dark night grew deeper and deeper.

All around him, everything was silent.

At some point, a strange shadow appeared outside the window of the second room.

He took out a thin tube and silently slipped it through a crack in the window.

After blowing in poisonous smoke, he didn't hurry to climb through. Instead, he took out two more thin tubes, went to the windows of the first and third rooms, and blew poison into each one.

"I poisoned all three rooms. Let's see where you can run tonight!"

The shadow waited outside a little longer, then cautiously went over and pushed open the window of the second room.