Deep into the night, inside a secret cave at the cliff.
Ye Zhen, who had been sitting cross-legged on the ground, suddenly stood up, his eyes flashing with a surprising brilliance as they opened and closed. His fists clenched, and wherever his blood qi traveled, it moved like serpents or pythons undulating beneath his skin.
With a burst of power, he threw a punch, and as the blood qi within his body surged rapidly, it instantly condensed into a Blood Pearl. At first glance, it looked like an egg traveling under Ye Zhen's skin, scattering with the force of his punch.
Blood Qi Condensing Bead!
With several days of Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid and the three Blood Essence Pills he had exchanged for today at the Sect Main Hall, Ye Zhen's Cultivation broke through in one fell swoop that very night, reaching the Third Stage of Blood Training, the realm of Blood Qi Condensing Bead.
Overcome with excitement, Ye Zhen practiced the Bear King Mountain Carrying Fist on the spot. The explosive power in each punch brought him such a thrilling sensation that he almost wanted to roar out loud.
"Roar!"
He retracted his fists and suddenly leaped up, slamming down towards the ground—the final move of Bear King Mountain Carrying Fist, Old Bear Pounds the Ground!
Bang!
The terrifying strength contained in Ye Zhen's fists made the entire secret cave at the cliff tremble slightly, and loose stones on the cave walls fell from the vibration.
This sight filled Ye Zhen's eyes with joy.
Ye Zhen had practiced the Bear King Mountain Carrying Fist countless times in this secret cave at the cliff over the past month. He had executed Old Bear Pounds the Ground innumerable times, but never with the power it held just then.
The confidence that came with strength made Ye Zhen wish it were already morning so he could go defeat Ma Yuanwu and vent his pent-up frustration!
Crack!
A light snap abruptly turned Ye Zhen's joyful expression into one of utter shock.
The Stone Bamboo on the cave wall, the same one that precisely at midnight each night dropped two drops of Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid, had snapped off at the base and tumbled down.
The force of his punch had actually broken the Stone Bamboo!
Holding the damp shard of Stone Bamboo in his hands and staring at the broken base on the cave wall, Ye Zhen's brows furrowed deeply.
Ye Zhen wasn't sure if this was a case of joy turning to sorrow, but one thing was deeply troubling and worrying him—now that the Stone Bamboo was broken, would it still drip Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid at midnight tomorrow?
As things stood, the Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid was incredibly beneficial for Ye Zhen.
Not just now, but for a long time to come, the Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid would be very useful for him. Even if later Ye Zhen became an Outer Disciple, the effects of the Blood Essence Pill provided by the Sect to Outer Disciples were roughly the same as that of the Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid.
And they received a Blood Essence Pill only every five days.
If the Stone Bamboo no longer dripped Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid because it had broken, Ye Zhen would be truly disconsolate.
"Where exactly does this Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid come from, or how is it produced?" Suffering a headache, Ye Zhen looked thoughtfully at the base of the broken Stone Bamboo.
The shard of Stone Bamboo in his hand, apart from some very fine, web-like hollows, had nothing remarkable about it. With a pinch of his fingers, he could break off a piece and rub it into powder, nothing out of the ordinary.
If one said that the Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid was produced inside this Stone Bamboo, Ye Zhen would hardly believe it.
"Could it be?" Looking at the broken base, Ye Zhen's gaze suddenly sharpened, "Could there be more to this Stone Bamboo than meets the eye?"
After careful consideration, Ye Zhen still suppressed the impulse to dig into the broken Stone Bamboo to investigate. Who knew what lay behind it?
A treasure, or nothing at all?
"At least, I should wait until midnight tomorrow to see if the Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid still drips!"
As usual, Ye Zhen left the secret cave at the cliff and washed his body with the water from a nearby stream before preparing to go back to his room to rest.
Every night that Ye Zhen consumed the Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid, his body would exude a layer of dirt. This dirt had changed from the initial black, foul-smelling sludge to the current grayish white sweat, decreasing in quantity.
It seemed to be the impurities from his body expelled after consuming the Stone Marrow Spirit Liquid, which also brought great benefits to Ye Zhen.
On his way back, however, Ye Zhen was extremely cautious, scanning his surroundings and staying within the shadows as much as possible, fearful of being discovered and revealing the secret cave at the cliff.
When he arrived at his room's door, Ye Zhen paused in surprise. His door, which Ma Yuanwu and his people had smashed in the afternoon and that he and Sha Fei had patched up in the evening, was broken again.
From a distance, the room was a complete mess.
"No good!"
With a cry of alarm, Ye Zhen hurried inside only to see Sha Fei, bloody and tightly bound on the floor with a pair of tattered socks stuffed in his mouth.
Seeing Ye Zhen come in, Sha Fei, who was at death's door, suddenly struggled violently.
"Sha Fei, who did this, who did this?" Without caring for anything else, Ye Zhen hurried forward to untie Sha Fei's bindings.
"Mmm mmm mmm...."
Unexpectedly, Sha Fei struggled with all his might, kicked Ye Zhen with his feet, glared angrily, fiercely rolling his eyes to signal Ye Zhen with eye movements, as if his determination would roll his eyes back to make himself faint.
"It's an ambush!" Just as Ye Zhen pulled the dirty sock out of Sha Fei's mouth, Sha Fei roared.
Almost simultaneously, two loose planks in the room suddenly flew up towards Ye Zhen; two dark figures sprang out from under the bed, punching simultaneously, bringing fierce punches that attacked Ye Zhen.
"Yug Ping, Chen An, you have some nerve!" The moment he saw who the attackers were, everything became clear.
Yug Ping and Chen An were well-known lackeys of Ma Yuanwu; these two often bullied others by relying on Ma Yuanwu's power. With these two lackeys here, Ma Yuanwu, the boss, was definitely nearby.
With a thought, Ye Zhen was on guard.
Dodging to the side of Chen An on the right, Ye Zhen didn't look back as he hammered his fist toward the plank that was smashing down over his head; in the darkness, the Blood Qi Pearl inside Ye Zhen rapidly rolled towards his fist and then violently exploded.
Bang!
Crack!
The sounds of the plank and bones breaking were almost simultaneous.
Ye Zhen's fist accurately penetrated the plank, clashing hard against Yug Ping's fist.
"Ah, my hand!"
As Yug Ping's scream rang out, Ye Zhen had already executed a Lazy Bear Stretching, reaching out toward Chen An who was rushing in from the right.
"Watch out above!"
The moment Sha Fei's warning sounded, a wicked wind blasted above Ye Zhen's head.
"Ye Zhen, you're done for!"
Ma Yuanwu, sneering, swooped down from the rooftop, attacking Ye Zhen from above like a large bird; the surging Blood Qi immediately swelled his fists, and the force of the punch scattered Ye Zhen's hair.
"We'll see about that!"
Prepared, Ye Zhen met the attack with a Bear King Mountain Carrying Fist.
Bang!
Their fists collided, and Ye Zhen withstood Ma Yuanwu's sneak attack without much difficulty, retreating only slightly and maintaining his composure.
Ma Yuanwu, leveraging out of the house, saw Ye Zhen retreat only half a step, his face suddenly turning extremely ugly.
In the afternoon, when he had clashed with Ye Zhen, Ye Zhen had been forced to take three steps back. But now, with the high ground and executing a killing move, which already gave him a great advantage, Ye Zhen only retreated half a step.
Even Ma Yuanwu himself wouldn't have found it easy to withstand that killing move, yet Ye Zhen seemed unphased.
What shocked Ma Yuanwu the most was that with his Cultivation, he couldn't seriously injure Yug Ping and Chen An, both at the Third Stage of Blood Training, in one move.
Yet Ye Zhen instantly broke Yug Ping's right hand, and Chen An's left leg was still trembling uncontrollably from clashing with Ye Zhen.
Instantly, Ma Yuanwu lost his confidence.
"Ma Yuanwu, it was you indeed!" Ye Zhen shouted fiercely as he steadied himself.
"Hmph, what about it?"
The original intent of Ma Yuanwu and his gang was to launch a surprise attack on Ye Zhen, seriously injure him, and then steal some Cultivation Pills from Ye Zhen. Now that they couldn't achieve their goal, especially since Ye Zhen's strength was uncertain, Ma Yuanwu lost the will to continue fighting.
"Let's go!" With a cold snort, Ma Yuanwu intended to withdraw, showing no intention of giving Ye Zhen any sort of explanation.
It wasn't that Ma Yuanwu was thickheaded, but that he was accustomed to being domineering at Hundred Pine Peak; he would hit and run as he pleased. Why would he care if you felt good or not, willingly or not?
Yet Ye Zhen truly got angry.
"Think you can leave after losing?" Ye Zhen couldn't help but snort coldly, swiftly lunging forward, "Ma, wait for me!"