Chen Fan originally intended to continue his cultivation and break through to the martial artist realm in one go. However, he found that he couldn't proceed because the toxins accumulated in his body before had sealed his meridians, preventing the internal breath in his dantian from circulating.
Just as he was frowning and thinking about countermeasures, sudden footsteps came from outside the room.
"Who!"
A loud shout made the person outside the door catch their breath, and then they fled as if running for their lives. Even when Chen Fan opened the door to check, he could only see the back of a person dressed in a servant's attire.
"Humph, so what should come is finally here?"
With a cold laugh, Chen Fan left the door wide open and sat in the hall with a cold gaze.
If the people of the Li Family knew that he wasn't dead, they would surely come up with more tricks. Chen Fan had already thought of this, but he wasn't afraid because he had long since come up with countermeasures!
Things didn't go beyond Chen Fan's expectations. In less than half a cup of tea time, a somewhat short old man appeared in Chen Fan's sight, carrying a food box.
This person was Li Fu, the butler of the Li Family, a martial artist at the first - level of the martial artist realm.
"Eat!"
Li Fu spat out two words through gritted teeth, without the slightest hint of respect. One could even see a trace of disgust in his eyebrows and eyes.
Chen Fan sneered and sat there nonchalantly, not even bothering to get up. His eyes kept moving up and down Li Fu.
Seeing this, the other party immediately said in dissatisfaction, "Are you deaf, you useless wretch? I told you to eat!"
After saying this, Li Fu slammed the food box onto the table. The soup, rice, and everything scattered everywhere. At the same time, a wisp of aura circulated around his body.
Obviously, the original young Chen Fan had been coerced into eating the meals with chronic poison time and time again. And at this moment, the Li Family had reached the point of showing their true colors, not bothering to hide anything. They clearly intended to kill Chen Fan!
Seeing this, a cold smile lingered in Chen Fan's eyes. He shook his head and slowly stood up, muttering to himself, "As expected, a servant who has become too powerful dares to bully the master. A mere servant dares to bark so wildly!"
Li Fu was so enraged that Chen Fan dared to mock him to his face that he was about to strike directly. He stretched out his big hands, aiming straight for Chen Fan's throat.
"If you don't eat, I'll feed you myself!"
Chen Fan showed no intention of dodging. There was even a cold smile on his lips as he faced Li Fu and stared at him sharply.
He struck like lightning. With a click, Li Fu's arm was dislocated. Then Chen Fan directly pressed the other person's head and slammed it onto the table with a bang.
"Steward Li, you should also have a good taste of this meal. Don't waste it."
"If a single grain of rice is left, I'll break one of your fingers. If two grains are left, I'll break one of your arms!"
Chen Fan's calm yet extremely cold words shocked Li Fu. He wanted to resist, but Chen Fan's hand was like an iron clamp, and he couldn't break free no matter how hard he tried.
Li Fu was a martial artist at the first - level of the martial artist realm. Although his cultivation was not high, he still had a strength of a thousand catties. Why couldn't he resist at all in front of Chen Fan?
"Could this useless person have broken through?" Li Fu thought secretly.
Chen Fan, of course, hadn't broken through. However, since he had successfully attracted the Fenghuo Star, it had added to his combat power. Moreover, the appearance of the Great Vajra Fist made him even more powerful. At this moment, not to mention a martial artist at the first - level, even if a martial artist at the second - level were here, he would be able to fight.
At this moment, Chen Fan naturally noticed Li Fu's thoughts. With a strong force of his big hand, a crack appeared on the other person's head. This time, Li Fu couldn't stay calm. Enduring the pain, he kept crying and pleading.
"Master, master, I was wrong. Please, spare me. I'll never dare again. It was all the master's instruction before."
Looking at the other person's pathetic appearance, with his legs trembling and almost wetting his pants out of fear, a trace of disgust flashed in Chen Fan's eyes. He exerted more force with his big hand.
"Bang!"
The head exploded!
Until his death, Li Fu couldn't understand why the useless person in his eyes, someone he could beat and scold at will, suddenly had such great power and was so ruthless that he could crush a person's head with a casual gesture.
After killing Li Fu, Chen Fan let out a long breath. He would never allow someone who had tried to kill him to live.
Only after experiencing death once could one better understand the preciousness of life. In this life, he would cherish his life even more!
He squatted down and wiped all the blood and brains on his hands onto Li Fu's clothes. Then he found some loose silver and spirit stones the size of a child's fist, which were not even of any rank.
This was a good thing. It could quickly increase one's cultivation and was something that martial artists dreamed of.
Even the lowest - grade low - rank spirit stones could attract high - level experts to fight to the death. For the entire Li Family, if they could save dozens of low - rank spirit stones in a year, it would already be an extraordinary fortune.
The reason why the Tianwu Academy was so powerful was that they controlled several large - scale spirit stone veins and also had spirit - searching masters in charge.
Spirit - searching masters were a legendary profession in the Nine - Continent. It was rare to find one among millions of people. It could be said that in the entire Nine - Continent, all forces highly sought after spirit - searching masters, willing to humble themselves to make friends with them and treat them as national treasures.
Because spirit - searching masters were their Achilles' heel!
In all the ore veins in the Nine - Continent, when spirit stones were mined, their exteriors were wrapped in a thick layer of stone skin. This stone skin was so difficult to penetrate that even with extremely high cultivation, one couldn't tell if there were spirit stones inside.
Therefore, stone - gambling workshops were popular everywhere in the Nine - Continent. They were an essential industry for countless large - scale forces.
In some large - scale stone - gambling workshops, one often needed to use spirit stones to buy raw stones. After cutting them open, if there were spirit stones inside, it was considered a win. Of course, if there weren't, it would often lead to bankruptcy.
However, among them, there was an exception, that is, the spirit - searching master.
Because of their naturally strong spiritual power, spirit - searching masters could use their spiritual power to penetrate the stone skin and check if there were spirit stones inside.
In this way, the stone - gambling workshops were equivalent to becoming the money - houses of spirit - searching masters. They could obtain countless spirit stones at will.
It was only because spirit - searching masters were really scarce in the Nine - Continent. Otherwise, those large - scale forces might unite to wipe them out. After all, they were the ones who were born to block others' paths to wealth.
The introduction of spirit - searching masters only lingered in Chen Fan's mind for a moment. He didn't have time to think more at this moment. The most important things at present, apart from cultivation, were to deal with the people who would arrive next!
Li Fu's death caused a great stir in the Li Family. Chen Fan clearly sensed that right after he made his move, several figures left in a hurry. Obviously, they were going to report to the mastermind behind the scenes.
This was good. Chen Fan could also see with his own eyes who had been eyeing him all this time!
Moments later, a middle - aged man in a brocade robe with a short beard appeared in Chen Fan's sight. Judging from the other person's aura, he had already cultivated to the ninth - level of the martial artist realm and had a strength of nine thousand catties.
The cultivation levels of martial artists were strictly hierarchical. In the initial stage, it was divided into three major realms: martial artist, martial master, and martial spirit. Each major realm was further divided into nine minor levels.
That is to say, the middle - aged man in front of him was only one step away from being promoted to a martial master!
And this person was the head of the Li Family, Li Dingtian, who had always wanted to poison Chen Fan to death and obtain the key to the Tianwu Academy.