The next morning, Li Yun threw himself into training once more. He practiced the Crimson Sun Flame Sword Art and Boulder-Crushing Fist with unwavering focus, his figure moving like a flame dancing in rhythm with every slash, and his fists hammering the air like falling boulders.
By the time the sun reached its peak, his body was drenched in sweat and completely spent. Only then did he allow himself a short rest.
"Alright... time to upgrade a few things," Li Yun murmured, settling down cross-legged on his mattress. He took a deep breath, calmed his mind, and summoned his status panel.
---
[Player: Li Yun]
– Cultivation: [Peak Stage of Bone Refining Realm]
– Physique: [Primal Chaos Body]
– Spirit Soul: [Natural]
– Comprehension: [Natural]
– Experience: [300]
---
His gaze landed on the Spirit Soul stat, and he focused.
---
[Spirit Soul]
– Experience Required to Level Up: [200]
– Upgrade: [Red]
---
A new prompt appeared before his eyes:
[Would you like to spend 200 Experience Points to upgrade Spirit Soul?]
[Yes / No]
'Yes.' Li Yun answered mentally.
---
[Congratulations! Spirit Soul has been upgraded to Red.]
---
The moment the notification faded, Li Yun felt an indescribable wave of warmth sweep through him, from the depths of his soul to the tips of his fingers.
His eyesight sharpened. His hearing grew keener. His senses became more attuned than ever, as if the world itself had slowed down for him.
"My senses... they've completely heightened," he whispered in surprise. He hadn't expected any immediate benefit, but this change was too real to ignore. "Looks like I'll need to study the significance of Spirit Soul more carefully once I join a sect."
He shifted his attention next to Comprehension.
---
[Comprehension]
– Experience Required to Level Up: [100]
– Condition: [Red Spirit Soul]
– Upgrade: [1st Tier]
---
[Would you like to spend 100 Experience Points to upgrade Comprehension?]
[Yes / No]
'Yes.' This time, he didn't hesitate.
---
[Congratulations! Comprehension has been upgraded to 1st Tier.]
---
The moment it happened, Li Yun's mind exploded with insight. The mysteries behind Crimson Sun Flame Sword Art and Boulder-Crushing Fist unraveled before him like an open book.
Stunned but excited, he picked up his sword and began moving.
This time, his movements were fluid, calm, sharp, and almost effortless. No excess motion. No wasted energy.
Scarlet Sunlight Slash.
Flame Serpent Coil.
Solar Flare Burst.
Each technique flowed into the next, refined to near-perfection with every swing.
An hour later, drenched in sweat, Li Yun finally stopped. His breathing was steady, but his eyes shone with disbelief.
"My Crimson Sun Flame Sword Art… has already reached Advanced Mastery?" he said, stunned. Just days ago, he had barely begun learning it.
"Is this the power of 1st Tier Comprehension?" he murmured, before launching into his next practice.
In just a short while, Boulder-Crushing Fist too reached Advanced Mastery.
"With comprehension like this," Li Yun said, feeling satisfied, "I can probably push both techniques far beyond what others at my level could ever hope to achieve."
After that, he shifted his focus to potion refinement.
He began with a few ordinary grade bone refining potions, smoothly producing several bottles. Then came the intermediate grade, also refined without a hitch. Feeling aligned and in perfect rhythm, Li Yun moved on to attempt an excellent grade potion.
The result was a flawless success.
Not stopping there, he refined another, and once again succeeded.
"Perfect," Li Yun muttered, satisfaction flickering in his eyes. "My success rate with excellent grade potions is now a hundred percent."
With confidence steadying his breath, he turned his attention to the next goal, the one that had eluded every pharmacist in Azure Wind City: the perfect grade bone refining potion.
In this city, such a potion was no different from a legend.
Even excellent grade potions were rare treasures, often requiring luck and talent even from senior pharmacists. As for perfect grade, most wouldn't even dare dream of refining one. To many, it was as unattainable as becoming a Xiantian Realm cultivator.
But Li Yun wasn't like the others.
He was ready to try.
"Let's begin refining a perfect-grade potion," Li Yun muttered under his breath, voice low and steady.
He laid out the ingredients on the table, each one carefully selected, measured down to the grain. His fingers moved with practiced grace, crushing, grinding and measuring. Slowly, he added the herbs into the alchemical bowl, then channeled his flame beneath it. The familiar scarlet hue of his fire pulsed gently igniting the furnace.
An hour passed. The room filled with the thick scent of burning herbs and medicinal mist.
But....
Pfft!
The bowl sputtered. A noxious puff of smoke erupted. The potion turned pitch black.
A failure.
Li Yun didn't even flinch.
"Again."
He swept the bowl clean and restarted. Fingers trembling slightly this time. The essence boiled. He adjusted the flame. Held his breath.
Pfft!
Another failure.
"Again!"
And again.
And again.
And again.
Each time, something went wrong. The balance off by a fraction. The heat just a shade too high. The essence refusing to fuse.
By nightfall, his clothes were drenched. Sweat clung to his skin. His hands were stained with crushed herbs and powdered materials.
"Damn it… it's way harder than refining excellent-grade potions," he muttered, wiping the sweat from his face, his frown deep and unwavering.
But he didn't stop.
Not even for food.
Not even for rest.
Only when the stars appeared and his vision blurred did he finally retreat to bed, collapsing onto the mattress without a word.
***
The next morning.
Li Yun's sword slashed across the courtyard as he practiced the Crimson Sun Flame Sword Art.
Scarlet Sunlight Slash. Flame Serpent Coil. Solar Flare Burst.
He followed up with the Boulder Crushing Fist, slamming his fists into the air until each punch caused a low boom to ripple across the stone tiles.
His body ached. But he didn't stop. He could feel he was improving very fast with his 1st tier comprehension.
By noon, he returned to refining potion.
Another attempt.
And another.
Failure.
Failure.
Failure.
The day passed. He went to sleep frustrated but remained silent.
The next day, the same. Practicing the Crimson Sun Flame Sword Art and Boulder Crushing Fist till noon before once again began refining potions.
But the result never changed.
Failure.
Failure.
Failure.
Days bled together like a smear of color on parchment.
One day.
Two days.
Three days.
A week.
Two weeks.
Soon, an entire month passed.
The sun rose and set. The leaves on the tree in his courtyard turned slightly yellow. Birds came and went, ignoring the figure hunched over the cauldron, brows furrowed, expression unchanging.
Not once did he visit the family hall.
Not once did he leave the courtyard.
Not once did he give up.
Every day was the same rhythm.
Sword. Fists. Refining. Sweat. Failure. Sleep.
But amidst that unending cycle, something imperceptible changed. His strikes grew sharper. His Crimson Sun Flame Sword Art and Boulder Crushing Fist had finally reached Perfection Stage of mastery with the help of his newly upgraded 1st tier comprehension.
As for his refining, his flame control became steadier. His understanding of potion deepened with every failure.
He didn't realize it yet.
But he was no longer the same pharmacist who had started this mad endeavor a month ago. With the help of his 1st tier comprehension, his refining level had improved by leaps and bounds.
And then…
"I really did it?" Li Yun whispered, his body soaked in sweat as he stared at the potion he had just refined.
It glowed faintly with a brilliant luster, a sure sign of perfection. And to confirm it, a familiar sound echoed in his mind as a notification appeared.
---
[Congratulations! You've completed the first quest of the 'Tough Alchemist Path.']
[Reward: 3,000 gold coins and 300 experience points.]
[Ding! A new quest has been triggered: 'Tough Alchemist Path – Noob Challenge.' Would you like to accept this quest?]
---
"Another quest?" Li Yun blinked in surprise. He had just completed a similar one, and now a new challenge had already appeared. Still, without hesitation, he accepted it.
---
[Quest Level: F]
– Objective: [Refine a Perfect Grade Marrow Cleansing Potion]
– Reward: [5,000 gold coins, 500 experience points, and the formula for Body Tempering Pill]
---
"So the next step is to refine a perfect-grade Marrow Cleansing Potion…" Li Yun murmured, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. From what he understood, the Marrow Cleansing Potion was indeed more challenging to refine than the Bone Refining Potion, but only slightly.
With all the refining he'd done over the past month, his skills had improved drastically. The process, the balance, the flame control, everything had become instinctual.
"But that's for later. Right now, let's stay focused," he reminded himself, pushing away the distraction and returning his focus to the cauldron before him.
After a moment of steady breathing and clear concentration, he began refining once more.
His second perfect-grade Bone Refining Potion was completed not long after.
And then another.
And another.
Driven by momentum and growing confidence, Li Yun refined non-stop, moving from one batch to the next with practiced ease. His focus never wavered, not even once.
Only when he ran out of materials did he finally stop.
"A total of twenty perfect-grade Bone Refining Potions…" he said to himself, counting the bottles neatly lined up before him.
It wasn't an overwhelming number, but considering the difficulty of refining even one, Li Yun was more than satisfied.
"Let's see how effective the perfect-grade Bone Refining Potion really is," Li Yun muttered as he uncorked the bottle and drank it in one go.
The moment the potion entered his system, a surge of wild energy erupted within his body. It was as if a storm had been unleashed inside his bones, causing his internal force to spiral out of control.
"Damn!" He cursed, gritting his teeth as he immediately dropped into a stance and began executing the first move of the Iron Pulse Fist, Hammer Pulse Strike.
His fist tore through the air again and again, each punch accompanied by the sharp crack of displaced wind. The medicinal energy in his body surged violently, flooding his bones and slowly breaking it down before reforging it, refining it.
The pain was unbearable, like molten needles threading through his bones. But Li Yun endured it.
He didn't stop.
He couldn't.
Again and again, his fist smashed forward, hammering through the air like the strike of a war drum, until, at last, an hour later, his body slumped to a halt.
Soaked in sweat, chest heaving with exhaustion… but on his face was a wide, foolish smile.
He had done it.
He had broken through to the early stage of the Marrow Cleansing Realm.
"Haha, excellent." Li Yun grinned, his eyes burning with determination. "Li Nian, I'll see you at the coming-of-age ceremony."
It was just a month away.
And this time, he would be ready.
The previous Li Yun died after being severely injured by Li Nian and this time Li Yun would make sure Li Nian learned his lesson.
Revenge was no longer a wish.
It was a promise to the previous Li Yun.