Liu Wuxie withdrew his palm, pushed off with his foot, and landed lightly outside the circle. The killing intent in his eyes flashed and vanished. Tie Li had escaped with his life.
"What happened? Why are you fighting privately?"
Xu Yilin had strictly forbidden fighting within the lineage. Ordinarily, people might bicker over petty grudges, but they rarely came to blows.
As the head of the household, he had dedicated servants attending to his daily needs. He would not visit a place like the dining hall even once a year, much less know about disputes among the servants.
"Patriarch, you must uphold justice for me!"
With tears and snot streaming down his face, Tie Li suddenly knelt before Xu Yilin and wailed as though his heart and lungs were being torn apart. Bean-sized tears actually rolled down his cheeks, making the corners of many onlookers' eyes twitch.
"Speak. If Wuxie was in the wrong, I will certainly punish him."
Before outsiders, especially servants, Xu Yilin still showed them some favoritism and held Liu Wuxie to harsher standards.
The onlookers revealed faint, malicious smiles. Quite a few looked at Liu Wuxie with sympathy, certain that he would soon have to endure Xu Yilin's wrath.
"The dining hall has been short of tables and chairs lately, so I brought out the young master's chair for temporary use. He failed to understand our good intentions as servants, verbally abused us, and attacked me. Please investigate this matter, Patriarch."
Tie Li's words made the killing intent gather in Liu Wuxie's eyes again, forming a straight line that fell upon Tie Li.
Faced with Liu Wuxie's terrifying gaze, Tie Li shrank back in fear. Since when had this good-for-nothing's eyes become so sharp?
"Is what he said true?"
Xu Yilin swept his gaze over the others, seeking confirmation. If Tie Li had spoken the truth, he would certainly not let Liu Wuxie off lightly.
"What Tie Li said is true. To save expenses, we have been making do with these tables and chairs. We hope you will understand our good intentions, Master."
Several other dining hall servants hurried forward and echoed his words. Not one stood up to speak for Liu Wuxie. It was easy to imagine what standing this body's previous owner had held in the Xu Household.
"Rest assured, I will uphold justice for you. Your thoughtfulness is appreciated. Go have your injuries treated first."
How could Xu Yilin fail to notice the many unused tables and chairs nearby? After offering a few reassuring words, he turned his gaze toward Liu Wuxie and glared fiercely at him.
"Come outside with me!"
With a sweep of his sleeve, he left the dining hall. Liu Wuxie could only follow obediently. If there was one person he respected most on the entire True Martial Continent, it had to be Xu Yilin, who had raised him single-handedly like his own parent.
Neither spoke until they had left the dining hall and were standing in a small pavilion with no one around. Only then did Xu Yilin turn to look at Liu Wuxie.
"You've had a hard time all these years. From now on, eat with us."
Liu Wuxie had expected his father-in-law to scold him, but instead, he received not a word of rebuke, only an affectionate smile. Xu Yilin was a dignified Spirit Cleansing Realm cultivator. If he could not even distinguish truth from lies, he would have lived all these years in vain.
"You aren't going to scold me?"
He looked stunned. Whenever something like this had happened before, his father-in-law would scold him and had even confined him before.
"You have already married Xue'er and become an adult. I cannot scold you the way I used to. I will investigate today's incident thoroughly. Your talent is poor, so you can only rely on hard work afterward. Too much has happened in the lineage lately, and I have no time to look after you for now. You must conduct yourself properly too, so that if Brother Liu returns, I will have something to tell him."
Xu Yilin spoke meaningfully. When he mentioned Brother Liu, a trace of respect appeared in his eyes.
Liu Wuxie had still been angry, having intended to kill Tie Li, but Xu Yilin's words brought a wry smile to his face. Since when had a dignified Immortal Emperor like him stooped to quibbling with ants?
"Father-in-law, has the weapons matter been resolved?"
Liu Wuxie generally did not interfere in the Xu Household's internal affairs, but if necessary, he would not mind lending a hand.
"You needn't worry about that. I will think of something. It's getting late, so go back and rest early. I will arrange for someone to bring you food."
The father-in-law and son-in-law parted ways. Liu Wuxie returned to his courtyard and continued practicing his saber technique.
The steward personally delivered his meal, all fine dishes. After eating, he sat cross-legged and cultivated the Grand Desolation Heaven-Devouring Instruction, stopping only when the night grew deep and quiet.
"It's time to refine the Heavenly Spirit Pills!"
He rested for an hour and regulated his breathing until it was even. Pill refining allowed no mistakes, and interruptions were what he feared most, so he waited until late at night to begin.
The dry wood crackled, and the flames burned fiercely. A true Alchemist needed to seek out a Heaven-and-Earth Divergent Flame. In his previous life, he had obtained the Samadhi True Fire, a rarity between heaven and earth.
Only Liu Wuxie would dare use ordinary flames to refine second-grade pills. Master Huo relied on pill fire to refine his pills.
He tossed the medicinal ingredients in one after another. Having refined Body-Tempering Liquid before, his movements were much more practiced. He controlled the flames with True Qi, rapidly dissolving the ingredients and releasing a rich herbal scent.
Sitting beside the pill furnace, he cultivated while controlling the flames, letting neither interfere with the other. Several more drops of liquid had appeared inside the Heaven-Devouring Divine Cauldron, enough to attempt the barrier to the fifth layer of the Houtian realm. Once this batch of pills was finished, he would use a Heavenly Spirit Pill to break through in one stroke.
Every ten-odd minutes, he tossed in several more ingredients and added a few pieces of wood. The flames hissed. His hands moved gently like broad palm-leaf fans, and the flames seemed to come alive, swaying nimbly with his palms like a fiery phoenix beating its wings.
If other Alchemists saw this, would they not be frightened to death? A mere acquired fourth layer cultivator had achieved such superb fire control that even Master Huo could not catch a glimpse of his dust.
An hour passed, and a rich fragrance wafted from the pill furnace. The first batch of Heavenly Spirit Pills was nearly ready. Because his movements were still rusty, a faint scorched smell came from the furnace. A few ruined pills had probably formed.
Achieving such results on his first attempt would already shock the world.
He stood, and a powerful stream of True Qi shot from his palm. The flames suddenly surged, enveloping the entire pill furnace. This was the critical moment.
"Condense!"
No matter how well the preliminary work was done, failure to form pills in the final step still meant failure. Many Alchemists failed at this last stage, successfully purifying the ingredients but failing to condense the pills.
This placed extremely exacting demands on the flames. Liu Wuxie had refined countless pills; ordinary pills like these could not stump him.
"Withdraw!"
In an instant, all the flames vanished. A rich medicinal fragrance poured out of the pill furnace and filled the entire courtyard.
He lifted the lid. Twenty Heavenly Spirit Pills lay inside, along with five brown ones. Those were ruined pills and could not be used.
He took out the porcelain bottle he had prepared beforehand and placed the good pills inside. He did not discard the ruined pills; they could be purified further and fed to spirit beasts as food.
"That's enough for today. Once I break through to the fifth layer of the Houtian realm, I can refine them faster, and the pill yield will improve too."
Returning to his room, he tipped a Heavenly Spirit Pill into his palm, where it rolled round and round, its fragrance filling his nose. It was worth over ten times as much as the Origin-Nurturing Pills and Heart-Nourishing Pills sold on the market and contained a trace of spiritual essence.
He swallowed it in one gulp. Powerful energy surged through the meridians throughout his body, and every acupoint absorbed it furiously. His cultivation realm stirred, ready to advance.
Without hesitation, he poured out the few drops of liquid condensed within the Heaven-Devouring Divine Cauldron, and his cultivation began to climb.
The Grand Desolation Heaven-Devouring Instruction circulated furiously. The Spiritual Qi above the courtyard gathered once more, but it still could not meet his needs. The Spiritual Qi in the other courtyards was continuously drained away.
With a deep inhalation, Liu Wuxie swallowed all the nearly liquid Spiritual Qi into his belly.
Crack, crack, crack...
Cracking sounds came from his body, like a chick breaking out of its shell. An acupoint in his body opened, and his cultivation suddenly soared, breaking through to the fifth-layer Houtian realm.
Liu Wuxie cultivated throughout the night. His cultivation climbed to the peak of the fifth layer of the Houtian realm, but he was in no hurry to continue breaking through.
His foundation was important. After being transformed by the mysterious liquid, his body was already spotless and free of impurities. Even breaking through consecutively to the ninth layer of the Houtian realm would pose no problem, but he was in no rush, polishing himself bit by bit.
The more thoroughly he honed himself in the acquired realm, the greater his future achievements would be. Once he broke through to the Innate realm, it would be too late to hone himself. It was like a house that had already been built: if he then wanted to reinforce its foundation, he would have missed the best opportunity.
The night passed quickly. He opened his eyes, and two vortices appeared before him. The Spiritual Qi inside the room suddenly dispersed, and calm returned.
He went into the courtyard to familiarize himself with his new realm, drew his long saber, and continued drawing, striking, and sheathing.
He repeated the motions over and over without finding them dull. Practicing the saber followed the same principle as tempering the body in the acquired realm: the foundation was extremely important.
The same martial technique, performed by a hundred people, would produce a hundred different results. Only with a steadier foundation could his saber technique flow more readily at his command.
"No, this saber is too light, and its length doesn't suit me either. It looks like I need to find a suitable long saber."
He stopped practicing. Both the curvature and weight of the long saber in his hand were far from suitable for the Blood Rainbow Saber Technique he practiced. A weapon had to fit its wielder to unleash the greatest combat strength.
Dawn had only just broken, and the lineage's weapons workshop had yet to open. He fetched clean water, poured in Body-Tempering Liquid, climbed in, and circulated his cultivation method to continue cultivating.
His physical strength was still rising. Although his cultivation was at the fifth layer of the Houtian realm, his body's toughness already rivaled the ninth layer of the Houtian realm. Combined with the Blood Rainbow Saber Technique, no one below the Xiantian realm was his match.
Only after the Body-Tempering Liquid was completely exhausted did he climb out of the wooden tub. He ate a little of the leftovers from last night, changed his clothes, and left the Xu Household for the weapons workshop.