Breakthrough

As Fu Shaoping and Zhou Pan'er drove their carriage out of Yuyang Gorge.

The gatekeeper froze when he saw that they had come out alive yet again. He craned his neck to look behind them, but saw no sign of the other two, and could not help nagging them again:

"Youngsters, the first time was luck, the second a lucky escape, but you can't turn misfortune into good fortune every time. Once you get back, work hard on your cultivation. Don't come here again."

"Thank you for your guidance, senior."

Fu Shaoping cupped his hands.

Two hunts.

Each more perilous than the last.

Fu Shaoping had achieved his goal on this trip, so naturally, he would not risk his life again.

After leaving Yuyang Gorge.

He planned to rest at the Clear Warehouse Inn for a while and consume the Hawthorn Fruit before departing.

In the distance.

The rapid clatter of galloping hooves came from the direction of the Clear Warehouse Inn.

Fu Shaoping pulled the carriage to one side.

"Whoa!"

The rider spotted him from afar and stopped.

The person on horseback.

Was none other than Junior Banner Zhuo, his face taut with anxiety.

Junior Banner Zhuo oversaw the Hall of Myriad Treasures. At the Clear Warehouse Inn, he had already learned that his daughter and son-in-law had gone hunting in the mountains with others. Now, seeing Fu Shaoping's troubled expression, his pupils contracted:

"Shaoping, my daughter... has something happened to her?"

"My lord, please accept my condolences."

Fu Shaoping shifted aside and lifted the carriage curtain.

Inside the carriage.

Lady Zhuo's remains immediately came into view.

Junior Banner Zhuo recognized his daughter at a glance. He staggered, nearly losing his footing, and a trail of tears slipped down his cheek.

After hearing Fu Shaoping's account.

Junior Banner Zhuo's expression shifted several times.

However.

He did not doubt Fu Shaoping's words.

Because.

The moment his daughter suddenly disappeared, his first thought had been that Chen Shichao must be behind it!

He had therefore called in a substantial favor to have the Intelligence Hall investigate.

Sure enough, he had uncovered traces.

For the past year, Chen Shichao had been secretly plotting how to murder his daughter.

Junior Banner Zhuo hated himself for not noticing the warning signs sooner.

Smack, smack, smack! He slapped himself several times:

"That bastard! I should have cut him down back then!"

The two had secretly conceived a child.

After the child was born.

He had investigated eighteen generations of Chen Shichao's ancestors.

From the very beginning, Chen Shichao had approached his daughter with ulterior motives.

At the time, he had thought Chen Shichao merely wanted to climb onto a higher branch. With him around, whatever little schemes Chen Shichao harbored would have to rot in his belly. Over the past few years, Chen Shichao had behaved so obediently that he had forgotten the man was a vicious husband who had slain his own beloved with his own hands!

Never in his wildest dreams had Junior Banner Zhuo imagined that Chen Shichao would one day lay hands on his daughter too!

His daughter had given Chen Shichao every good thing she had.

What more could he possibly want?

To think he had actually plotted to murder his daughter!

Even if Chen Shichao fled to the ends of the earth, he would find him and tear his corpse into ten thousand pieces!

Junior Banner Zhuo cupped his hands toward Fu Shaoping:

"Shaoping, sorry for the trouble, but please take my daughter back to Green Ox Town first."

With that.

Junior Banner Zhuo cracked his whip and galloped toward Yuyang Gorge, leaving a trail of dust.

Zhou Pan'er lowered the curtain and signed to Fu Shaoping:

"Shaoping, shouldn't we tell Junior Banner Zhuo the truth?"

If he knew Chen Shichao was already dead, he would surely feel a little better.

Fu Shaoping shook his head.

No matter what.

Chen Shichao had been an officially enlisted member of the Martial Suppression Guards.

Fu Shaoping himself was only a low-ranking Martial Suppression Guard. Even if Chen Shichao had committed a crime, he should have been arrested and brought to justice. Fu Shaoping's current rank did not authorize him to carry out an execution on his own:

"Pan'er, from now on, let this matter rot in your belly. Don't mention it to anyone."

"Come on, let's go back to Green Ox Town."

Because of what had happened with Chen Shichao.

Fu Shaoping and Zhou Pan'er felt all the more keenly how precious their love was, and cherished each other even more.

When they returned to Green Ox Town and brought the body of Junior Banner Zhuo's daughter to the Zhuo residence, Madam Zhuo fainted at the sight of it. The two children were still young and cried inconsolably, leaving the entire household without anyone in charge. Seeing this, Fu Shaoping helped direct the servants in setting up a mourning hall. Only after the family's elders arrived did he leave.

After returning home.

He pulled Zhou Pan'er into the Alchemy Room:

"Sister Pan'er, we'll each take two of these Hawthorn Fruits. Hurry and eat them."

"Shaoping, you still have to participate in the Spring Hunt after the New Year. Take the Hawthorn Fruits yourself. Besides, now that we have the Origin-Consolidating Pill recipe, I want to use this time to improve my alchemy arts by making Blood Qi Powder. We already have the Seven-Consolidation Grass. Once we buy the supplementary ingredients, we can refine Origin-Consolidating Pills. Then I'll at least be able to lend you a hand."

"All right!"

Fu Shaoping did not drag things out.

His trip to the Million Mountains had made him realize that the Spring Hunt would surely be fraught with danger too.

If, before the Spring Hunt began.

He could break through to the sixth level of the Body Tempering Realm, he would undoubtedly be on firmer footing.

Next.

Fu Shaoping bought a batch of ingredients for Blood Qi Powder from Granny Tang for Zhou Pan'er, then went straight to the Training Hall at the Hundred Households Office to enter seclusion.

Inside the training room.

Fu Shaoping brought his body and mind into peak condition.

"Whew..."

He expelled the last breath of stale air.

Fu Shaoping immediately opened the box and swallowed a thumb-sized Hawthorn Fruit. As its medicinal power entered his stomach, it burst outward with a boom. The tremendous power rampaged through his body, making him grunt in pain.

However.

With the experience of his first attempt.

Fu Shaoping was noticeably more at ease when refining the second fruit.

The bones in his body were being tempered one by one by origin energy. As the energy circulated, they rang with metallic clangs-the sign that they were being refined into iron bones.

At the same time.

The numbers on the Treasure Mirror in his sea of consciousness were changing rapidly.

After he finished refining the fourth Hawthorn Fruit.

With a hum.

A line of text flashed across the Treasure Mirror:

Body Tempering Realm: fifth level (85/100)

Clearly.

He was only one final step away from breaking through to the sixth level of the Body Tempering Realm:

"The medicinal power of these Hawthorn Fruits really is extraordinary. They're worthy of being superior-grade tier-one spirit fruits."

Fu Shaoping was very satisfied with the result.

Suddenly.

With a stir of his will.

He saw [Attribute: 1] flash into view on the Treasure Mirror.

As he silently recited:

Allocate the point to cultivation!

The next instant.

The Treasure Mirror hummed.

Tremendous energy poured out and flowed into every limb and bone. The dozen or so bones that remained were rapidly refined, their metallic clanging ringing incessantly in his ears. Finally, with a hum, his entire body trembled slightly. The last bone, his tailbone, finished tempering and became an iron bone.

Copper skin and iron bones!

Next.

After entering the sixth level of the Body Tempering Realm, he would refine strength into his marrow, merging the two so that an origin force seed could be born within it!

The origin force seed was the very foundation of cultivation.

Nothing was more important!

Fu Shaoping focused his attention on the Treasure Mirror in his sea of consciousness.

The Treasure Mirror flickered faintly.

A line of text appeared:

Body Tempering Realm: sixth level (1/100)

At last!

He had reached the sixth level of the Body Tempering Realm.

Next.

As long as he placed in the top three in the Spring Hunt after the New Year, he could be promoted to Commandant!