"..."
Meanwhile, the medicinal fumes in the rear courtyard had yet to disperse completely.
Beneath several enormous cast-iron medicinal cauldrons, firewood crackled.
Diluted fourth-tier medicinal dregs floated in the murky decoction. Though nowhere near as fierce as the three jars of fifth-stage Dragon Marrow Blood-Coagulating Paste in Gu Qinghe's furnace, they still brought these youths a thorough transformation, remaking flesh and bone.
Bang!
The decoction in one iron cauldron exploded.
Bare-chested, Li Meng leaped out of the scalding liquid and landed steadily on the bluestone ground beside it.
His once-scrawny body was taut with muscle, his skin gleaming a dark yellow.
He clenched his fists, his joints giving off muffled cracks. Qi and blood surged like streams beneath his skin, bringing a swelling strength unlike anything he had ever known.
Then one figure after another stepped out of the medicinal cauldrons.
More than thirty youths formed orderly ranks. Though their bodies were flushed red and sweat poured off them like rain, the breath they exhaled as their chests rose and fell was as heavy as an ox's panting.
Not one complained. Not one shrank back.
Led by Li Meng, the thirty-odd youths dropped to one knee in unison, cupped their fists, and shouted:
"Thank you for bestowing the medicine, Sect Master!"
Every one of them had broken through!
These thirty-odd refugee orphans, who had once struggled even to stay fed and clothed, had used diluted fourth-tier medicinal baths to force their way beyond first-realm skin refining and fully enter second-realm bone forging!
In cultivation sects, ordinary menial disciples took at least half a year, and sometimes several years, to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
Yet here, mortals without the slightest spiritual root had relied on brewing medicine, swallowing medicine, and tempering their bodies through punishment-like suffering to