Chapter 28: Bone-Forging and Organ-Tempering Pill

“Who… who is it? Show yourself!” Wang Xiangnan scrambled to his feet in a flustered manner, fumbling until he felt the sword he carried with him. Only then did he roar with a bluster that concealed his fear.

Li Qingyu also tightly gripped the hilt of the sharp sword at his waist. His eyes darted around, his face filled with panic and anxiety.

Having learned a hard lesson at the Mu Manor, Li Qingyu did not yell or shout this time. Instead, he remained silent.

Whoever had come was able to infiltrate the Wang Manor without a sound and eavesdrop on their conversation for so long without being detected. This indicated that the person possessed profound cultivation, at least far beyond what he and Wang Xiangnan could handle.

“Stop looking around. You are not yet qualified to lay eyes on me.” A cold voice continued from the shadows, but it was impossible to pinpoint its direction. It seemed to come from all sides.

“You need not be so tense. If I wished to take your heads, even your desperate resistance would be useless.” In the darkness, a disdainful voice drifted like a ghost, causing Wang Xiangnan and Li Qingyu to shudder involuntarily.

Realizing that the person hidden in the shadows indeed held no killing intent towards them, Wang Xiangnan and Li Qingyu exchanged a glance. They both calmed down, and the panic in their hearts subsided.

“Esteemed senior, what instructions bring you to our humble abode so late? Please bestow your guidance.” After a moment of silence, Wang Xiangnan respectfully inquired.

“Fool, was my earlier statement not clear enough? Qian Tian Wang has no connection whatsoever with the Mu Manor, nor will he settle scores with you later.” Hearing Wang Xiangnan’s words, the person in the darkness snorted coldly and sharply rebuked him.

Wang Xiangnan had naturally heard what the hidden person said earlier. However, his mind had been too rattled to ponder the words carefully. Now, hearing the person repeat them, a look of doubt and suspicion appeared on his face, and he turned his gaze to Li Qingyu.

Although the Wang Family’s strength was somewhat greater than the Li Family’s, when it came to quick-wittedness, Wang Xiangnan privately admitted he could not match Li Qingyu.

“Esteemed senior, Qian Tian Wang’s attitude towards our two families directly concerns our survival. We cannot afford the slightest oversight. How can you prove that every word you speak is true?” After hesitating for a moment, Li Qingyu mustered his courage and asked.

This time, Li Qingyu had staked everything. If he could continue to stay in Shitang Town, he would never willingly lead his clansmen away from their homeland. The person in the shadows had given him this sliver of hope. Therefore, even at the risk of offending this hidden expert, he had to ascertain whether those words were true or false.

Hearing Li Qingyu’s question, Wang Xiangnan inwardly nodded in agreement, and he also felt genuine admiration for Li Qingyu’s courage from the bottom of his heart.

Li Qingyu’s words clearly stumped the person in the shadows. For a full dozen breaths, there was no sound in the room.

Just as Wang Xiangnan and Li Qingyu, their faces filled with disappointment, thought they had been tricked, a streak of golden light, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound, suddenly shot towards Li Qingyu.

Li Qingyu had offended the hidden person with his words and was already feeling somewhat guilty. Suddenly seeing a golden flash heading straight for him, his legs went weak with fright, and he nearly collapsed to the floor.

Only when the golden light abruptly halted before his chest, carrying no sense of killing intent, did his mind settle.

Focusing his gaze, Li Qingyu saw that what floated before him was a token about the size of an adult’s palm. The token was reddish-gold and vividly carved with nine Five-Clawed Golden Dragons, almost identical to the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon he had seen over the Mu Manor that evening. In the center of the nine dragons was a dazzlingly radiant character: “Qian”.

The surface of the character “Qian” seemed to flow with a divine charm, as if the character contained a universe within itself. Li Qingyu only glanced at it briefly before feeling dizzy; he hurriedly averted his eyes.

“Your humble subject, Li Qingyu, pays homage to the Prince!” The next instant, Li Qingyu knelt before the token as if moving mountains and toppling pillars, kowtowing with genuine terror and reverence.

Upon seeing this token, the last shred of doubt in Li Qingyu’s heart vanished. His face lit up with wild joy. Seeing the token was like seeing the person himself. Since the token of Qian Tian Wang had been produced, who the person in the shadows was no longer mattered.

Wang Xiangnan was startled by Li Qingyu’s exaggerated movements. Then, he too knelt down. Although he hadn’t seen it clearly earlier, the aura emanating from the token was exactly the same as that of the Golden Dragon carriage from the evening. This allowed him to guess the token’s origin.

“Now that you have seen the token, your lives are no longer your own to command. I give you three days. If you cannot kill Mu Xian within those three days, then do not wait for me to come for your lives. End them yourselves.”

“If you dare reveal even a single word of tonight’s events, I will likewise not spare your lives!” The person in the darkness paused, added this sentence, and then the token abruptly vanished. Immediately after, the temperature in the room returned to normal.

For a long while after the person in the shadows had left the Wang Manor, Wang Xiangnan and Li Qingyu did not dare move.

“Old Wang, what should we do now?” The might radiating from the person as they departed was immense, giving them the feeling their bodies might be crushed to dust. Li Qingyu was still shaken, filled with lingering fear.

“At this point, do we have any choice?” Wang Xiangnan glanced at Li Qingyu’s pale face and sighed.

Li Qingyu was startled by these words, realizing he had spoken nonsense. From the moment the hidden person produced the token, he and Wang Xiangnan had only two paths: either kill Mu Xian, or commit suicide. Clearly, neither Wang Xiangnan nor he would choose suicide.

“Old Wang, why do you look so dejected? Since the Mu Manor has no connection to Qian Tian Wang, we should be happy. That senior merely wants us to kill Mu Xian. That’s not too difficult, and besides, we already planned to deal with the Mu Family anyway. Killing Mu Xian is just an extra task.” Li Qingyu forced a light laugh and spoke with pretended ease.

“I also know killing Mu Xian should be very easy, but for some reason, I keep feeling a sense of unease.” After saying this, Wang Xiangnan shook his head heavily and said quietly, “I think I’m worrying needlessly. The Mu Family’s strength is greatly diminished now, and Mu Xian is a good-for-nothing. The task that senior gave us should be easy to complete.”

Having reached this stage, both Wang Xiangnan and Li Qingyu knew that besides killing Mu Xian, their only other option was death. Moreover, they were now bound together on the same war chariot. So, they had no choice but to sit down again and discuss how to cooperate in killing Mu Xian.

In the following time, the two old foxes frequently put forward their own thoughts and suggestions, then continuously pointed out flaws in each other’s plans. The gloomy, despairing atmosphere in the room gradually disappeared. Instead, hearty laughter occasionally rang out from the study of the Wang Manor. A shocking plot targeting Mu Xian and the Mu Family was freshly hatched during the two old foxes’ night-long discussion by candlelight.

Mu Xian was unaware that he had already become a target that the Wang and Li Families wished to eliminate as soon as possible. After a good night’s sleep, he took out the Thousand Gold Vine that Qian Tian Wang had given him.

Mu Xian was a man of action, decisive and swift. Now that he realized his own lack of strength, he naturally wanted to enhance his power as soon as possible.

There were essentially two methods and paths to increase strength. The first was to absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy. The second was to consume Spiritual Medicines and treasures.

Among these, Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy was the purest, containing no impurities. After absorption, there was no need to cleanse or remove impurities. However, cultivating by absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy was a slow process, requiring gradual progress—it could not be rushed. This was clearly unsuitable for Mu Xian at present.

Spiritual Medicines and treasures, while containing vast energy, were full of impurities. Consuming them could indeed quickly boost strength, but the aftereffects were immense. To reach higher levels of cultivation in the future, one would still need to find ways to cleanse and remove the impurities from the body. This process was extremely tedious and painful.

However, in this world, there existed the profession of Spiritual Pharmacist. Spiritual Pharmacists could refine Spiritual Medicines and treasures into pills. This method could both rapidly increase cultivation and eliminate impurities, retaining the advantage of quick power gain from Spiritual Medicines while removing the future worries. It could be said to achieve the best of both worlds.

Although the Thousand Gold Vine that Qian Tian Wang gave Mu Xian was a generous amount and was over a thousand years old—even if Mu Xian consumed it directly, it would be enough for his cultivation to break through the bottleneck and reach the Condensed Essence Realm—being a Spiritual Pharmacist himself, Mu Xian naturally wasn’t foolish enough to eat the vine raw. He not only planned to refine the Thousand Gold Vine into pills but also wanted to select suitable supplementary materials to fully utilize the medicinal properties of the vine.

“Greenrock Wood, Crimson Flame Fruit.” After repeatedly comparing the effects of several pill recipes where Thousand Gold Vine was the main ingredient in his mind, Mu Xian finally decided to refine the Bone-Forging and Organ-Tempering Pill.

The Flesh Body Realm was divided into four minor stages: Early Stage, Middle Stage, Late Stage, and Great Perfection. The Early Stage tempered skin and flesh, the Middle Stage tempered meridians and tendons, the Late Stage tempered bones, and the Great Perfection stage tempered internal organs.

For over a decade, Mu Xian had remained at the Early Stage of the Flesh Body Realm. His skin and flesh were tempered to exceptional hardness. Pills with Ironwood Forest Leaf as the main ingredient primarily broadened and strengthened meridians, making his Middle Stage cultivation also exceptionally solid. However, Mu Xian’s bones and internal organs were only tempered incidentally while resolving his meridian issues and advancing his Spiritual Power cultivation. Although his cultivation level had risen, these aspects were not stable. This was the reason Mu Xian was stuck at the bottleneck of the Great Perfection stage, unable to break through.

Now that he understood his weak points, Mu Xian naturally refined pills with more targeted intent.

“The family warehouse should have Greenrock Wood and Crimson Flame Fruit, right?” Mu Xian took a few steps toward the courtyard exit but then suddenly turned around and headed straight for the direction of the family warehouse.

Before Mu Xian even entered the warehouse, he spotted his second uncle, Mu Yuanfei, from a distance, angrily counting inventory while muttering curses. Mu Xian was taken aback for a moment, then immediately understood the situation. Previously, the Grand Elder, Mu Deyu, had been in charge of the family warehouse. Now that Grand Elder Mu Deyu was dead, someone else naturally needed to take over.

“Leeches! A bunch of leeches! Actually filling their own pockets, emptying the entire family warehouse! They deserve ten thousand deaths!” Just as Mu Xian approached Mu Yuanfei and was about to greet him, Mu Yuanfei suddenly kicked over a medicine cabinet in front of him and shouted in fury.