Half a Black Jade Pill, Explosive Growth in Strength (Please Bookmark)

On a dark, windy night.

Amid the sound of footsteps sinking into mud, Xiong Dayou and another tenant farmer slowly emerged, carrying a heavy object between them.

The distance was only a dozen or so zhang.

Under normal circumstances, they would have crossed it in just a few breaths.

Yet today, Xiong Dayou struggled immensely. The veins on his forehead throbbed violently, and his entire body was soaked in sweat, as though he had just been pulled from the water.

Anyone who looked closely would discover that what he was carrying behind him was an enormous iron hammer as thick as a water barrel.

The hammer bore no patterns. Plain and unadorned, it gave off streaks of dark light.

Creak, creak—

The two men laboriously carried the hammer to Lu He's side, gasping for breath.

"Master He, your weapon!"

The moment the hammer entered his hand, its two hundred and fifty jin weight seemed to press the air down slightly. Yet Lu He held it effortlessly. With a casual flick of his wrist, the hammerhead cut through the air with a sharp whistle.

"With my current single-arm strength of four hundred and forty jin, this hammer is just right."

Lu He nodded in satisfaction.

"Where is he?" he asked calmly.

"In the barren hills behind the housing area."

Xiong Dayou lowered his voice, his face brimming with excitement. "That bastard was acting all sneaky, and he had a little box tucked in his clothes!"

Lu He nodded, lightly tapped the ground with his toes, and shot away like a wildcat.

He made not the slightest sound.

The housing area had been built against a small barren hill. The hill was not tall, only a little over a hundred zhang, and the little river where the tenant farmers usually washed had its source here.

In a concealed hollow, the ground was thick with weeds. Moonlight poured down, stretching a tall figure's shadow long across the earth.

Li Zhuang gripped a rusted iron shovel and slowly filled in and compacted the pit before him. Then he pulled over a patch of turf from nearby and covered it.

His movements were extremely cautious. Every so often, he looked up to survey the surroundings, his eyes full of wariness.

"Damn it, I've felt like someone's been watching me these past few days. What the hell is going on? The way Lu He looks at me isn't right. The things hidden in my quarters are probably going to be exposed sooner or later."

Li Zhuang muttered under his breath.

Not long after.

Lu He arrived silently, carrying the iron hammer over his shoulder.

But the moment he entered the barren hill, he happened to witness the other man hiding something.

"Looks like the big iron hammer won't be needed after all."

Lu He was slightly disappointed.

After waiting for the man to leave.

The phantom of the White Ape Dao Diagram flashed through his eyes and vanished. The senses of the second-tier Immaculate Heart Ape instantly spread out.

Every rustle of wind and grass within several dozen zhang entered his ears.

What Li Zhuang had considered a flawless concealment was glaringly obvious to Lu He.

Lu He lifted the turf. With a slight exertion of strength, his palm pierced the repeatedly compacted soil like a sharp blade.

He soon dug out a palm-sized sandalwood box.

He lightly tore off the copper lock outside the box.

Upon opening it, a white jade porcelain bottle carved with a hundred-bird pattern came into view. One glance was enough to tell that it was extremely valuable.

A flicker of surprise crossed Lu He's eyes.

"White jade... This bottle alone is probably worth dozens of taels of silver. Li Zhuang is practically swimming in money!"

No, this definitely was not his.

Lu He quickly came to his senses and unconsciously looked toward the exquisite piece of red silk beneath the porcelain bottle. A pair of mandarin ducks was embroidered upon it.

His expression suddenly turned strange.

There was no other reason. Why did this thing look more and more like some woman's undergarment?

He extended his thumb and forefinger.

Carefully, he pinched the porcelain bottle out from within.

When he pulled out the stopper, a dense herbal fragrance instantly spread through the air, turning into wisps of mist that slipped directly into Lu He's body through his pores.

Gurgle—

The blood in his body began to surge faster.

Shrouded in the mist, Lu He suddenly felt an intense urge to swallow whatever was inside.

The feeling was impossible to put into words.

It was like a craving buried in the depths of his primal instincts, tugging at every piece of flesh in his body.

Huff, huff—

Lu He took several deep breaths before his gaze regained a trace of calm.

He lowered his head.

Through the porcelain bottle, he could vaguely see half of a pill inside. It was about the size of a soybean, round and crystalline throughout, constantly radiating abundant spiritual energy.

An immortal-path treasure pill!

"As the saying goes, the way of Heaven takes from those with excess to make up for those in need. Master Zhuang, you have a little too much excess."

Lu He looked in the direction where Li Zhuang's back had disappeared and muttered inwardly.

"Black Jade Pill!"

Back beneath the familiar old locust tree, Lu He stared at the three ancient seal-script characters engraved on the bottom of the bottle, and he could not help thinking of the spirit grain growing in the fields.

"Black Jade Pill... Could its ingredient be Blackleaf Spirit Wheat? It's supplied exclusively for immortal masters' cultivation. I... count as an immortal master now too, don't I?"

Lu He pondered inwardly.

He had just caught a rat in the barren hills and fed it a tiny bit of pill powder.

He observed it for about half an incense stick's time.

Only after seeing it alive and kicking did he finally relax.

In truth, Lu He was not sure whether this method could test for poison in the pill, but with his limited conditions, he had no choice but to make do.

Still, he was certain of one thing—if the rat could withstand it, then the pill would not kill him.

After all, ever since cultivating the Scarlet Horned-Dragon True-Origin Visualization Diagram.

Lu He's vitality had already surpassed that of an ordinary mortal several times over. He was far beyond what a rat could compare to.

Taking a deep breath.

Lu He suppressed the excitement in his heart, poured the half-pill from the bottle into his palm, lightly scraped off about one-fifth with his fingernail, and put it into his mouth.

His saliva mixed with the pill powder and slowly flowed down his throat into his stomach.

Boom—

A burning sensation surged up in an instant, then transformed into streams of warmth that roared in all directions like wild horses breaking free of their reins.

Lu He's expression changed.

He realized that he seemed to have underestimated the medicinal potency of this treasure pill!

With a thought, the White Ape Dao Diagram trembled faintly, and Lu He directly entered the second-tier [Immaculate Heart Ape] state.

At the same time, under Lu He's activation, the Scarlet Horned-Dragon True-Intent Rune bloomed with rays of light and began rapidly sorting through the immense warm currents rampaging through his body.

The air instantly fell silent.

Only Lu He's breathing remained, echoing in a steady rhythm.

Within his sea of consciousness, the previously silent golden tome began trembling without pause. It seemed to sense the rapid changes in Lu He's body and was frantically updating its information.

Who knew how much time passed.

Lu He slowly awoke. The pale glow of dawn at the horizon reflected in his dark eyes, gradually overlapping with a strange golden radiance.

The results of his cultivation after consuming the Black Jade Pill powder all appeared clearly in his mind.

"Five hundred and forty jin of single-arm strength. An increase of one hundred jin!"

After sorting it out, Lu He could not help drawing a sharp breath.

Merely one-fifth of half a Black Jade Pill had forcibly pushed him into the middle stage of the Body Transformation realm. Its effect was terrifying, how could eating braised meat possibly compare by even a fraction?

"So this is an immortal-path treasure pill?"

His gaze grew scorching.

If it had been a whole pill, it could probably have directly increased his strength by a thousand jin!

What a pity—

He shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

Lu He looked at the remaining pill in his hand, anticipation flashing in his eyes.

"Half a pill is still half a pill. It's better than nothing."

"There are still five days left. This should be enough for cultivation. Perhaps... I'll have a chance to break past the thousand-jin threshold and enter the late stage of the Body Transformation realm before the window closes?"

With the dual enhancement of the White Ape Dao Diagram and the Scarlet Horned-Dragon True-Intent Rune at that time.

He would not even need to scavenge opportunities.

His own hard strength alone would be enough to secure a decent spot.