Chapter 38

Who could it be?

Was it someone coveting his blood because he was currently "weak"?

Or some passerby who'd decided to rob him on a whim?

Or someone sent by Zhou Qingyang?

If it was one of Zhou Qingyang's people, then some slipup must have given him away, and the other party still suspected him.

Whoever it was, he couldn't keep wandering around outside.

Pretending he hadn't noticed anyone following him, he turned and went into a grocery store. He bought a few things, then went to a butcher's shop for a large chunk of meat, and headed back to the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion.

After thinking it over carefully, he decided the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion was still the safest place for him right now.

Whether he was cultivating or taking a medicinal bath, he couldn't do it outside.

The dangers outside were unknown.

His enemies might even be every cultivator in the whole town, or something else entirely.

He had no way to guard against that.

At the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion, Chen Ju and the Wang Brothers had died such grisly deaths that the other cultivators there had become like startled birds. They were scared out of their wits and definitely wouldn't dare go to the rear courtyard anytime soon.

That included Zhang Jiu.

Besides, during this time, Zhou Qingyang had personally led people in patrols around the pavilion.

Even that heart-ripping monster would probably think twice.

That meant the rear courtyard of the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion, the most dangerous place of all, had temporarily become the safest.

The little maid's actions this morning, as well as Zhou Yan and Sun Tong's, had made that perfectly clear.

The rear courtyard of the Hundred Fragrance Pavilion had become the most terrifying place, crawling with monsters and plagued by constant deaths. Unless they had no other choice, no one dared go there.

Which made this his chance!

As expected, when he returned to the rear courtyard, there wasn't another soul in sight.

He didn't know where Zhou Yan and Sun Tong had gone, either.

He didn't hesitate. He went straight to the Small Stone Hut in the corner and started a fire to boil his medicine.

By then, Zhou Qingyang and the people from the Town Guard Bureau had already left. No one would come to the rear courtyard to disturb him.

As the flames roared, the water in the pot quickly came to a boil.

He added the medicinal ingredients for cultivation and began brewing them.

Some tonic herbs he'd just bought at the grocery store outside were laid out on the stove as well.

Time passed quietly.

The rich scent of medicine filled the kitchen.

Just as he was nearing the end of the brewing process, a faint sound suddenly came from outside.

Before entering the Small Stone Hut, he had scattered plenty of dead leaves and twigs on the ground. Anyone who stepped on them would surely make some noise.

He pretended not to notice and kept brewing the medicine.

Then the wooden door creaked open, and Zhang Jiu appeared in the doorway.

"Brother Luo, brewing medicine?"

Luo Qingchen pretended to jump in surprise and turned to look at him. In a feeble voice, he said, "Yeah, Chief. My body really can't take it, so I went out this morning to buy some tonics."

Zhang Jiu smiled and stepped into the stone hut. He looked at the herbs on the stove, then at the medicinal liquid in the pot, and nodded. "You should buy some tonics and build yourself back up."

After a pause, he smiled again. "Take your time recovering, Brother Luo. There's no rush for you to take night patrols. I reckon Captain Zhou and the others will be staying here for a while. It'll be safer to let them patrol."

Luo Qingchen nodded, then said suddenly, "By the way, Chief, do you have any spare silver? I ran into Brother Zhou and Brother Sun this morning. They moved out and rented a place. I'd like to move out too, but I..."

"Ah, where would I get spare silver?"

Before he could finish, Zhang Jiu cut him off with a rueful smile.

"I can't even afford meat lately. Just like you, I've been borrowing money wherever I can."

Luo Qingchen grimaced. "Chief, I don't dare stay here anymore. Could you help me..."

Zhang Jiu hurriedly waved his hands. "Brother Luo, it's not that I don't want to help. I've already told you about this. I can't make the decision, so I can't get you moved somewhere else. As for borrowing money to rent a place, I really don't have any..."

"Oh, right, I have something to take care of. I won't bother you while you're brewing medicine."

With that, he didn't dare linger. He immediately took his leave.

Watching him hurry away, the bitterness on Luo Qingchen's face slowly faded.

He closed the door and went back to brewing the medicine.

Soon, the medicinal liquid in the pot was ready.

He poured it into the bathtub, added hot water, stripped off his clothes, and climbed in.

To be safe, he didn't draw blood right away.

He waited for nearly half an hour. When nothing unusual happened outside, he quietly took out his dagger, cut his wrist underwater, and began squeezing out blood.

Blood poured out quickly, spreading through the medicinal liquid in the tub.

The moment it touched the Demon Stone, it changed.

The blood in the first Blood Bar inside him, which had been at 100%, quickly dropped to 70%.

But he instantly filled it back up.

The blood in the second Blood Bar inside him, meanwhile, dropped from 260% to 230%.

A scorching energy began to seep into his body through every pore.

The bones inside him immediately responded, crackling with a series of pleasant pops.

Energy surged through his body!

Soon, the rich medicinal liquid filling the tub had faded to a pale color.

When he climbed out of the tub, his cultivation progress had risen from 160/1000 to 170/1000!

After getting dressed and cleaning the stone hut, he returned to the third room.

He shut the door, locked the windows, and set up traps.

Then he began cultivating.

As he repeatedly stretched and relaxed his muscles, pushing them to their limits with high-intensity training, the medicinal energy in his body rapidly tempered his bones.

His bones began to heat up, burn, and ache.

Then, nourished by the medicinal power, they eased, only for a new round of tempering to begin.

Over and over, like steel hammered and forged a thousand times.

By nightfall, his cultivation progress had shot from 170/1000 to 190/1000.

This time, he seemed to be progressing even faster!

After a short rest, he went to eat dinner and took the opportunity to observe what was happening in the pavilion.

Still, no one came to the rear courtyard.

After dark, he continued cultivating in the pitch-black room.

Beforehand, he had set up a few things beneath the windows, at the entrance, along the corridor, and in the courtyard.

That night, all was quiet.

He cultivated through the night without a trace of fatigue.

When the darkness outside the window finally faded, he rested for half an hour, went out to bathe and change, then ate breakfast.

After that, he came back and went to sleep.

Once it was dark, he continued cultivating.

After keeping this up for five days, he had completely refined all the medicinal energy in his body.

His cultivation progress had gone from 190/1000 to 260/1000!

The pavilion had remained peaceful for the past few days.

As for the rear courtyard, no one else had come by, except for the occasional night patrol by people from the Town Guard Bureau.

One morning, after carefully observing what was happening in the pavilion, he went to the Small Stone Hut to brew medicine again.

This time, no one came to snoop while he was brewing.

He successfully took another medicinal bath.

The blood in his second Blood Bar had now dropped from 230% to 200%.

Once the medicinal power soothed the ache in his bones, a wonderfully warm current began to flow rapidly through them.

After the medicinal bath, he returned to his room and continued cultivating.

After three consecutive nights of cultivation, he had completely refined all the medicinal energy from the bath.

Then he brewed another batch of medicine and took another medicinal bath.

This time, it took just three nights of cultivation to refine all the medicinal energy.

His cultivation progress had now climbed rapidly to 350/1000.

At this point, 170% of the blood remained in his second Blood Bar.

"This blood should be enough for about six more medicinal baths."

Judging by how quickly his cultivation progress had been advancing lately, six baths wouldn't be enough to break through to the Blood Changing Realm.

Fortunately, he still had silver and could buy blood.

The pace of cultivation still seemed a little too slow to him, but other cultivators wouldn't even dare dream of it.

After all, it hadn't even been half a month.

Ordinary cultivators needed at least a year to break through from the Bone Strengthening Realm to the Blood Changing Realm.

Sometimes two or three years.

Some never managed it in their entire lives.

For the blood medicine cultivators here, it was even harder.

So, making this much progress in just half a month was already quite good.

Next, he would keep taking medicinal baths and cultivating!

He would do his best to break through within a month!

One morning, after breakfast, he went to the stone hut to brew medicine again.

But after he finished brewing and was taking a medicinal bath in the tub, the door to his room suddenly flew open with a bang!