The Body Tempering Pill Was Complete

"Whoosh..."

Just as his heart seemed to stop, a sudden gale swept across Lin Shisan's vision.

Chen Yang swung his huge palm in a full arc and sent Lin Shisan flying.

"Lin Shisan, this is all your doing, you useless bastard! You ruined Immortal Lord Zhao's pill refining. I'll chop you to pieces!"

"Crash..."

"Ah..."

As ill luck would have it,

the exploding Pill Furnace burst apart completely at that very moment.

Shattered furnace fragments, spirit herbs that had not fully melted, and scalding pill liquid...

All of it came spraying out in one furious torrent.

Naturally, the spot by the furnace mouth where they fed wood into the fire was the first to be hit.

Where Lin Shisan had stood before, Chen Yang now stood.

In a coincidence too perfect for words, Chen Yang caught the torrent full in the face.

Chen Yang became a drenched chicken.

A drenched chicken nearly cooked through by boiling water, at that.

In an instant, blister after blister rose on Chen Yang's face.

The sizzling made anyone who heard it feel an unbearable itch deep in their chest.

Watching from the side, Lin Shisan was dumbfounded.

He was utterly bewildered, too.

This... Boss Chen really is a good man. He shielded me from everything with his own body...

Even Chen Yang, with his body tempering third layer cultivation, had been scalded into a pig's head. Lin Shisan dared not imagine what would have happened if that torrent had landed on him.

"Swift!"

After a brief hesitation, Zhao Xun swept his right sleeve through the air.

A whirlwind roared into being.

It enveloped the exploding Pill Furnace at once, preventing the situation from worsening.

The five servant disciples, Lin Shisan included, were essentially unharmed.

That was, of course, excluding Chen Yang.

He was in a rather miserable state, the blisters on his face burning fiercely.

They felt like tiny worms crawling back and forth.

It hurt and itched, and an inadvertent scratch peeled away several more patches of skin.

The pain made him bare his teeth, and surging murderous intent rolled out from him.

"Lin Shisan... I'll kill you!"

Chen Yang reached to his waist and drew a black iron longsword.

With a roar, he thrust at Lin Shisan, who stood there in a daze.

Powerful Sword Qi hissed through the air. Even from a distance, Lin Shisan felt a tearing pain.

"Boss Chen... I..."

Lin Shisan instinctively tried to retreat.

But his legs felt as though they had been filled with lead.

No matter how he tried, he could not move them. He was nailed to the spot.

He watched the black iron longsword stab toward him, powerless to do anything.

Two meters...

One meter...

One foot...

Half a foot...

It reached a point three inches from his chest.

An overwhelming sense of danger struck him, but Lin Shisan could only close his eyes and wait for death.

There was nothing he could do.

Was this the end?

Was he going to die just like this?

This was even more fucking pathetic than getting beaten in the Black Maple Bamboo Forest.

"Hiss, hiss... crack... bang..."

He was not dead.

Hearing those unexpected sounds, Lin Shisan slowly opened his eyes.

Chen Yang and his black iron longsword had both vanished from before him.

Looking again, he saw Chen Yang two meters away, his face full of astonishment and bewilderment.

Shock and horror mingled there as well, while blood dripped from the web between his right thumb and forefinger.

What he held could hardly be called a black iron longsword anymore. It had practically become a black iron dagger.

The blade had snapped clean in two.

"Enough."

Zhao Xun's voice was as calm as still water, yet it carried his supreme authority.

Even Chen Yang, still seething with rage, had to forcibly quench that fire and swiftly regain his reason.

Killing someone in the Pill Room in front of an immortal lord was an offense of grave disrespect, whatever the reason.

It was not something a mere servant overseer like him could bear.

"Immortal Lord... please... please calm your anger..."

Having calmed down, Chen Yang endured the pain and came over to kowtow.

He said respectfully, "Drawing my sword to hurt someone without your permission was a presumptuous act on my part. I deserve ten thousand deaths."

"Please instruct us, Immortal Lord. How should Lin Shisan be dealt with? Should he be sliced to death, or have five swords driven through his heart?"

Chen Yang's words flowed smoothly.

But his malice toward Lin Shisan was almost tangible, like rippling water, and he made no effort to hide it.

He had directly proposed the two most barbaric and merciless bloody punishments used by the Servant Hall.

Zhao Xun's gaze remained as calm as still water.

He was silent for a moment.

First, he looked at Chen Yang, whose murderous fury was raging beyond his control.

Then he looked at Lin Shisan, who was panting heavily in terror and shock.

"Forget it. This wasn't entirely his fault. There may have been a problem with the Pill Furnace."

"I brought enough ingredients for two batches of Body Tempering Pills today. This batch exploded, so I'll simply refine the second."

"...But..."

This time, it was Chen Yang's turn to be dumbfounded.

He dug hard at his ears, afraid he had misheard.

Forget it?

He was letting it go that easily?

How was that possible?

The furnace had exploded and the refining had failed. Shouldn't Zhao Xun be slaughtering people?

What about him? How was he supposed to vent his rage? He had already drawn his sword!

But soon, reason finally gained the upper hand.

Before Zhao Xun, he was nothing more than a slightly larger ant.

He could be crushed underfoot at any moment.

Weighing the gains and losses, his thoughts flashing like lightning, Chen Yang withdrew all his anger and murderous intent.

"Yes. I shall obey your decree, Immortal Lord."

Only then did the other four servant disciples, whose souls had nearly fled their bodies, come back to their senses.

They all turned to look at the still-shaken Lin Shisan. Every one of them had been sweating for him just now.

"Dark boy, come help me choose another Pill Furnace."

At those words, Lin Shisan's head buzzed, and the world spun around him.

He wanted him to choose a Pill Furnace? What did that mean? He knew nothing about pill refining.

This was no choice of a furnace. He was clearly being forced to stake his life on a gamble.

Not just killing him, but tormenting his heart first.

Rather than that, he might as well kill him outright and make it quick.

"What, do you want five swords through your heart? Or would you rather I slap you to death?"

Seeing Lin Shisan drag his feet unwillingly, Zhao Xun grew angry, and even murderous intent began to stir.

"I'll choose... I'll choose..."

Like the counting game he had played as a child, picking soldiers and generals.

Chen Yang pointed at the westernmost Pill Furnace.

He knew nothing about it anyway, and whether he died was not up to him.

Any furnace would do. If he could cling to life a little longer, then he would.

"I choose that one..."

Zhao Xun followed his gesture.

It was Pill Furnace No. 6, carved with a flying celestial figure. The symbolism was fairly auspicious.

"Then we'll use this one."

"Dark boy, you'd better pray this batch succeeds. Otherwise, I'll settle the earlier score along with this one."

Zhao Xun walked past Lin Shisan and approached the No. 6 Flying Celestial Pill Furnace.

He called to Chen Yang, "Open the furnace."

The procedure remained the same: open the furnace, pour in water, add the herbs, feed in wood, and light the fire.

The servants followed his instructions and began their tasks in sequence.

Lin Shisan's mind was completely blank. He instinctively ran to the furnace mouth and pricked up his ears for orders.

He would do his assigned work properly. The rest was up to heaven.

After nearly another eight hours, a rich medicinal fragrance once again drifted through the Pill Hall.

This time, not only did Chen Yang refrain from offering flattery, but Zhao Xun himself no longer let delight show on his face.

Of course, the most nervous of all was Lin Shisan, who was gambling with his life.

With life and death at stake, he was surely more anxious than anyone else, and more desperate for this batch to succeed.

About another quarter of an hour passed.

The medicinal fragrance grew stronger and stronger, and Lin Shisan's heart rose into his throat.

Please, it must not explode again.

Suddenly, dazzling, brilliant light shone from within the Pill Furnace.

"Open the furnace!"

Zhao Xun called out once more.

The servant disciple who had lifted the lid earlier slowly opened it with trembling hands.

The moment the Pill Furnace opened, a glittering, translucent Body Tempering Pill, its medicinal fragrance sealed within, slowly floated out.