All Fear Stems from Insufficient Firepower!

All fear came from insufficient firepower! Boom!

The heavy stone door sealed shut, and the glow of the defensive restrictions completely severed the inside of the cave abode from the outside.

Zhao Hao had his back against the icy stone door, and his whole body slid uncontrollably to the ground. His chest was like a bellows with a hole punched through it; every breath carried a rough rasp, burning with pain.

His back had long since been soaked through with cold sweat, clinging wetly to his skin, cold enough to bite into the bone.

He slowly raised his hand. His fingertips were still trembling beyond his control.

On his shoulder, the warmth of Wu De's fat hand seemed to still linger—the chill, the stickiness, like the feeling of a venomous snake's tongue licking across him. No matter what, he could not drive it away.

Killing intent!

Just now, in that narrow alley of the market, he had felt it clear as day! That greasy-faced damned fatty, beneath his smile, had hidden a fleeting, utterly undisguised killing intent!

If that bootlicker Lu Gui had not happened to appear, Zhao Hao had no doubt that Wu De had a hundred ways to make an inner disciple at "Qi Refining third layer" "die by accident," or suffer something even worse than death.

An old devil at Foundation Establishment Early Stage wanted to crush him to death? It would be easier than crushing an ant!

No!

This absolutely could not go on!

"Cultivation! Strength! I need to get stronger faster!"

Zhao Hao let out a low roar, his eyes threaded with blood from lack of oxygen and extreme rage. A madness forced to the very edge of a cliff burned through every inch of his nerves, making him almost grind his teeth to pieces.

He suddenly sprang up from the ground. With a thought, light flashed repeatedly inside his storage pouch.

Thud, thud, thud...

Five cultivator corpses he had just bought from the market, still giving off the fresh stink of death, were dumped out all at once, scattered haphazardly across the spacious stone chamber.

Zhao Hao did not even glance at the corpses. Like a trapped beast forced into a dead end, his gaze resolute, he directly summoned the system panel.

His will turned into an invisible hand, and ruthlessly, he dragged four of the corpses into the [Material Consumption Slot].

This time, his target was his own spiritual root!

[Main Item: Spiritual Root: Fire (High Grade) strengthened to (Supreme Grade)]

[Consumed Materials: Qi Refining Early Stage cultivator corpses x4]

[Strengthening Success Rate: 120%]

Looking at the overflowing success rate on the panel, Zhao Hao's heart, which had been pounding wildly from fear, finally seemed to be seized tightly by a large hand, settling down by the slightest degree.

He panted roughly, practically gritting his teeth as he squeezed two words out of his throat.

"Confirm strengthening!"

[Ding! Strengthening successful!]

[Spiritual Root: Fire (Supreme Grade)!]

Boom—!

An unprecedented sense of clarity rushed straight from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet!

Zhao Hao's eyes flew open. In his perception, the entire world had changed!

Inside the cave abode, and even beyond the mountain itself, the fiery-red points of spiritual energy that had originally required great effort for him to draw in now seemed to have seen their sovereign. Even without him circulating his cultivation method, they drilled madly into his body!

This feeling... was like breathing!

With every breath, vast amounts of spiritual energy passively surged into his body!

Zhao Hao's heart shook wildly, but he did not immerse himself in this ecstasy. Almost instinctively, he placed the final cultivator corpse into the material slot as well, wanting to see whether this so-called "Supreme Grade" could still be advanced further.

[Strengthening Success Rate: 20%]

The success rate had dropped from the previous 30% to 20%!

Zhao Hao's eyes narrowed, and that feverish madness quickly cooled.

A Heavenly Spiritual Root was already the pinnacle of this world. If it went any higher, what would it become? Would it create some heaven-shaking, earth-shattering phenomenon and directly attract the prying eyes of those Golden Core old devils in the sect?

Develop wretchedly, don't get cocky!

That thought completely dispelled his impulse to continue strengthening.

The identity of possessing a Heavenly Spiritual Root was currently his greatest protective talisman, but also a death warrant. He had to handle it carefully.

He quickly took stock of his storage pouch.

Several hundred low-grade spirit stones, one hundred Essence Condensing Pills, and a massive amount of talisman-making materials.

Wu De's threat was like a poison thorn, deeply lodged in his heart. These resources had to be immediately, right now, converted entirely into solid, real cultivation!

After all, all fear came from insufficient firepower!

Zhao Hao did not hesitate at all. He sat down cross-legged, poured out one Essence Condensing Pill, and tossed it into his mouth.

Inside the cave abode, there was no longer day or night.

Zhao Hao had completely entered a state of madness.

Cultivation with a Supreme Grade fire spiritual root was not "a great whale drinking water" at all—it directly formed a never-ceasing spiritual energy tornado around him!

Combined with the perfected-level Mysterious Yin Qi Absorption Art, the speed at which he refined spiritual energy was outrageously fast.

The medicinal power of an Essence Condensing Pill had only just entered his stomach when, almost in an instant, he wrung it dry, transforming it into pure spiritual power that washed through his dantian.

He was like a heartless cultivation machine, stuffing one Essence Condensing Pill after another into his mouth as though chewing wax. He could not even taste the pills; he only knew to swallow.

Qi Refining fourth layer, perfected!

The bottleneck failed to stir even the slightest ripple before it was easily smashed apart by the raging torrent of spiritual power!

Qi Refining fifth layer!

The accumulation of spiritual power did not stall in the slightest and continued to surge at a terrifying speed.

The instant he broke through, a faint prickling itch came from his meridians. But at that moment, he was being chased by Wu De's shadow, and there was only one thought in his mind—faster! A little faster!

He directly ignored that trace of abnormality and swallowed another pill.

Qi Refining fifth layer, perfected!

Another breakthrough!

Only twenty days.

When the medicinal power of the final Essence Condensing Pill was completely refined, Zhao Hao's tightly shut eyes suddenly flew open!

An aura several times stronger than before erupted from within him with a boom, stirring the spiritual energy in the entire stone chamber into turmoil!

[Name: Zhao Hao]

[Realm: Qi Refining sixth layer (80/100)]

[Spiritual Root: Fire (Supreme Grade)]

Qi Refining sixth layer! He was only one step away from late-stage Qi Refining!

From a mortal to Qi Refining sixth layer, he had used less than two months!

"Wu De..."

Zhao Hao slowly exhaled a mouthful of turbid air. Feeling the vast, ceaselessly surging spiritual power inside him, a powerful sense of control welled up on its own.

He stood, just about to test his current strength.

But the moment he drew up his spiritual power—

"Hiss!"

A heart-drilling stab of pain suddenly exploded from his meridians, as if someone had stuffed a handful of shattered glass into his blood vessels!

His spiritual power circulated obscurely, sluggishly, congealed! It was far from as smooth and effortless as before.

What was going on?!

He immediately sank his mind and used his spiritual sense to look within himself.

At that look, even with the temperament of someone who had lived two lives, he felt a chill surge from his tailbone straight to the crown of his head.

He saw that on the walls of his meridians, which had originally been crystalline and translucent, there was now a thin layer of gray-black impurities attached. Those impurities seemed like living things. With every wash of his spiritual power, they squirmed faintly, as if they had fused into one with his flesh, blood, and meridians.

He immediately checked the system panel.

[Status: Essence Condensing Pill pill toxin (moderate)]

The accumulation of pill toxin had already begun to corrode his cultivation foundation!

If he did not remove it as soon as possible, forget attacking Foundation Establishment—his cultivation might even regress!

"Pill toxin..."

Zhao Hao's eyes flickered. After the sense of crisis, a thought immediately surfaced—Hundred Poisons Body Tempering Art!

This cultivation method, which he had likewise strengthened to perfection, required him to actively absorb toxins to temper his physical body. The fiercer the toxicity, the better the effect.

Wasn't the pill toxin in his body ready-made, top-quality "nourishment"?

Zhao Hao immediately began trying to circulate the Hundred Poisons Body Tempering Art, guiding the art to refine the gray-black pill toxin in his meridians.

This was his only life-saving straw!

However, the moment the art began to circulate...

Those stubborn pill toxins, like cats that had smelled fish, not only were not refined, but instead produced an extremely strange reaction with the spiritual power, flesh, and blood inside him!

Thread after thread of pill toxin was drawn by the art. As though gaining life, they actually took the initiative to bore toward the depths of his flesh and blood, then "took root" inside his flesh and blood like seeds!

An itching and stabbing pain a hundred times more intense than before erupted from every limb and bone at once!

"Mm?"

Zhao Hao's face turned deathly pale. He forcibly endured that sensation, which nearly drove him insane, his mind completely blank.

Something was wrong!

This Hundred Poisons Body Tempering Art... Why did it seem like it was treating the pill toxin as nourishment and helping them completely occupy my body?!