“Fatty, Fatty!” Lu Li gently patted Chen Zhong’s face.
“It’s you,” Chen Zhong muttered, slowly opening his eyes.
“Fatty, you can’t go on like this. The dead can’t return to life. Don’t you want to avenge him?” Lu Li frowned.
“Revenge!” Chen Zhong immediately rolled over and sat up. “You know who did it?”
Lu Li fell silent for a moment before nodding. “I know. But I can’t tell you yet. Focus on your cultivation. When you reach the Second Layer of Qi Refining, you will naturally find out.”
“He’s very strong, right?”
“Yes.”
Lu Li only said this to help Chen Zhong pull himself together. Sun Zi’an had indeed grown a level stronger after consuming the spirit fruit, but killing Lu Li without a sound would be almost impossible for him.
Lu Li also knew he couldn’t face Sun Zi’an alone, which was why he chose to endure and bide his time.
More importantly, he firmly believed this matter involved more than just Sun Zi’an. Alerting those behind it would only make matters worse.
Hearing Lu Li’s words, Chen Zhong immediately rallied, declaring he would focus completely on his cultivation. Lu Li gave him a few more instructions, urging him to keep a low profile for the time being, before finally leaving with peace of mind.
Just like that.
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, over two years passed.
For those two years, Lu Li and Chen Zhong never changed their duties. They continued the grueling labor of chopping firewood and carrying water.
Seeing that the two kept a much lower profile, Sun Zi’an no longer deliberately made things difficult for them. It was as if everything truly had passed.
It was a warm spring.
Everything was coming back to life. The bare old tree in the courtyard once again sprouted tender buds.
By now, Lu Li was already sixteen years old. He stood over seven chi tall, his dark complexion shedding its youthful softness for a more mature edge. Dressed in dark green martial attire, he looked extremely sharp and capable.
He stood quietly at the doorway, watching a burly man in the courtyard whose swinging fists tore through the air with a whistling wind, his thoughts drifting elsewhere.
This burly man was Chen Zhong. He stood half a head taller than Lu Li. Wearing a short jacket and gray pants, his bare arms looked as though they were forged from copper and iron. With his thick eyebrows and large eyes, he carried an imposing presence even when not angry.
Suddenly.
Chen Zhong pivoted his stance and blasted a fist into the nearby old tree.
The old trunk, so thick a single person could scarcely wrap their arms around it, snapped cleanly in half.
“Good! That punch carried a full five thousand jin of force.” Lu Li clapped his hands, walking toward Chen Zhong.
This technique was called Mountain Shaking Fist. Lu Li and Chen Zhong had toiled for two bitter years, saving up a full twenty thousand contribution points to exchange for it at the technique pavilion.
According to the old man guarding the pavilion, this technique was extremely formidable, bordering on a divine-grade art. If it weren’t an incomplete copy, and if the sect had anyone else cultivating body refinement techniques, he would never have traded it to Lu Li.
The results proved the technique was indeed extraordinary.
Cultivating it to the Novice stage allowed one to unleash twice their physical strength.
Minor Accomplishment, three times.
Great Accomplishment, four times.
Perfection, five times.
At Perfection, the Mountain Shaking Fist could mobilize the power of every fiber of the body. The stronger the physical body, the greater the explosive force unleashed in a single strike.
Lu Li had already reached the Minor Accomplishment stage. His raw bodily strength was around three thousand jin; paired with the Mountain Shaking Fist, a single punch could detonate with nine thousand jin of immense force. It was terrifying.
Chen Zhong’s raw strength hovered around two thousand five hundred jin. Combined with his Novice mastery of the technique, his maximum output was only around five thousand jin.
“Boss, I’m still lagging behind you,” Chen Zhong said, shaking his head with a touch of dissatisfaction.
Over the past two years, Chen Zhong had grown used to calling Lu Li “Boss.”
Lu Li smiled, placing a hand on Chen Zhong’s shoulder. “Your foundation is just a bit weaker than mine. Shoulder a few more logs to temper your body, refine your Mountain Shaking Fist, and you’ll catch up soon enough.”
“I get it.”
His muscles are growing stronger, but his brain seems to be doing less and less thinking. I wonder if the trauma from two years ago just took too much of a toll on him, Lu Li thought, his mood dropping slightly.
“There is only one acupoint left… I wonder how you are doing over there.” Lu Li looked out past the courtyard gates, clenching his fist before slowly letting it loose.
Even with the Time Hall at his disposal, over two years of effort had only allowed him to shatter the barriers of ninety-nine acupoints. The final one remained stubbornly sealed.
As for Chen Zhong, his progress was even more miserable. Though each of his acupoints possessed only seven layers of barriers, he had only managed to open forty-five of them so far.
Fortunately, both of them possessed immense brute strength. Their cultivation realms might be low, but their actual combat power could not be underestimated.
“Boss, what’s on your mind?” Seeing Lu Li fall silent, Chen Zhong walked over and asked.
Lu Li shook his head. “Nothing. Keep practicing. I’m heading back to rest.”
With that, he returned to his room.
Inside the Three Treasures Glazed Pagoda, the small tree had withered and died two years ago right after Lu Li plucked its final fruit. It seemed to have been a one-time harvest. Over the past two years, he had periodically checked the soil, hoping to see a new sapling sprout or a different kind of immortal fruit appear.
After his routine inspection, Lu Li entered the Time Hall.
Lu Li had grown accustomed to this ascetic life. He had no unnecessary social interactions; his days were nothing but cultivation. Even when practicing the Mountain Shaking Fist, he spent most of his effort inside the Time Hall. Only when he felt he had reached a new level of mastery would he step outside to test his gains.
His cultivation at the First Layer of Qi Refining had reached a critical juncture. He refused to wait any longer on this final acupoint—he had to open it immediately.
Although the qi channels anchored themselves in the Dantian, aside from the two main vessels running upward to the Heavenly Palace of the mind, the other twelve meridians threaded throughout the entire body. The final acupoint of this first meridian lay at the sole of his foot. Once completely unblocked, he would be able to perform a minor circulation cycle, allowing him to project True Qi outward at will.
Lu Li was currently at the Perfection stage of the First Layer of Qi Refining. His Divine Sense was several times stronger than when it had first condensed, now capable of perceiving Spiritual Qi within a three-zhang radius. He no longer faced the problem of having to wait for the surrounding Spiritual Qi to replenish after a bout of refinement.
Instead, he now felt that his refining speed was too slow to keep up with his absorption rate.
On his fifth day in the secret realm.
The final acupoint’s sixth wind-attribute barrier shattered. Of course, he hadn’t broken through six layers in a mere five days; he had already cleared the first five earlier. Now, only the barriers of thunder, light, and darkness remained.
These three elemental attributes were the most difficult to break. Compared to the five standard elements, they were extremely scarce within the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth.
Ten more days passed before the thunder barrier began to waver.
But by this point, he couldn’t hold on any longer. The profound weakness washing over his flesh forced him to stop.
He went out to eat and took a short stroll. Just as he was about to return to his room, he was suddenly stopped by a hurrying Deacon Wen Hong. “Kid, don’t say I never look out for you. The Grand Elder is currently refining Pills and needs a pill boy for a month. The reward? A full three thousand contribution points. Do you want it or not?”
Could there really be such a good offer?
Lu Li stared at Wen Hong suspiciously. Usually, lucrative chores like this were secretly reserved for Sun Zi’an, who would hand them out privately to take a cut of the points. When would such a turn ever fall to him?
Seeing Lu Li remain silent, Wen Hong continued, “Don’t look at me like that. It’s not your first day in the Chore Hall. You know how I operate. I’ll just be direct with you—the Grand Elder has a notoriously volatile temper. If he’s in a good mood, he might casually toss a few bottles of Pills your way.”
“But if you manage to piss him off… well, you’d better pray for luck.”
So that was why.
Lu Li weighed the options. He was on the verge of breaking through to the Second Layer and desperately needed contribution points to exchange for a spell manual.
More importantly, he would eventually need to refine Piercing Acupoint Pills. Such Pills could not be entrusted to others, meaning he had to learn the Dao of alchemy himself. This opportunity to head to Tianjue Peak was absolutely a rare Fated Chance.
With that in mind, he gave a direct nod. “When do I leave?”
Seeing Lu Li agree, Wen Hong immediately let out a breath of relief. All the veteran servants knew that the Grand Elder was a nightmare to serve. Many who went up the peak ended up being carried back down half-dead.
He grinned and patted Lu Li’s shoulder. “You’ve got guts. If you manage to satisfy the Grand Elder this time, I’ll personally throw in an extra three hundred contribution points. Go prepare yourself. In five days, the Grand Elder will come down to fetch you personally.”