On the fifth day at noon.
In the great hall, Zhang Song stared at the small cauldron with bloodshot eyes, his face already extremely ugly.
Fan Zhengping, who was controlling the earth fire, kept his head buried, not daring to look at Zhang Song's face at all.
Over five days, they had intermittently refined twenty-five pill formulas, yet twenty-four of them were either wasted due to conflicting medicinal properties or directly blew up. Fortunately, the pill furnace's quality was good; otherwise, they wouldn't even have a furnace left now.
Now, only the final pill formula remained. If this failed again, all the spirit herbs Zhang Song had painstakingly gathered this time would undoubtedly go to waste.
"Why are you trembling? Focus carefully!" Seeing Fan Zhengping's body shaking, Zhang Song sharply rebuked him.
"Yes." Fan Zhengping forced himself to calm down, trying hard to control his hands.
After a while, suddenly a whiff of medicinal aroma wafted out.
Zhang Song's face lit up with joy as he rushed over, violently lifting the furnace lid. When he saw the three dark green pills inside, he immediately sighed in relief, "Good, very good."
Seeing this, Fan Zhengping quickly approached to examine them, then also said with a delighted expression, "Master, these are the best quality ones in three years, right? And there are three of them."
"Hmm." Zhang Song nodded, pondering for a moment before saying, "Although the quality is better than the previous ones, it still seems lacking. I'm not sure if it's due to poor fire control or the medicinal materials. In that case, go bring that kid out to test them."
Fan Zhengping nodded in agreement. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly frowned, turning around and saying anxiously, "Ma, master, the remaining three people... have all Awakened their spiritual roots. What do you think..."
He originally intended to plead for Lu Li and the other two, but after experiencing Zhang Song's intimidation earlier, the words he had on the tip of his tongue didn't dare come out.
"Spiritual roots?" Zhang Song eyed Fan Zhengping suspiciously, "What do you mean?"
Fan Zhengping's body trembled, his mind racing as he said, "Disc, disciple was worried about master overworking, so I took the liberty of feeding each of them five Awakening Pills. They... all Awakened, all, all are miscellaneous spiritual roots..."
"Bastard! No wonder my medicinal materials have been constantly mismatched! It turns out you're the one meddling!" Zhang Song furiously cursed, abruptly striking Fan Zhengping's lower abdomen with a forceful palm.
Instantly, Fan Zhengping flew out of the great hall, crashing with a bang in the center of the courtyard. His head tilted to the side, and he spat out a mouthful of blood with a retch.
Zhang Song stood at the hall entrance, looking at Fan Zhengping from afar, shouting, "I'll settle with you later! Go immediately and bring those three kids out for me!"
Fan Zhengping's face turned utterly pale. He finally understood now that in his master's heart, he ultimately couldn't compare to that elusive Piercing Acupoint Pill. That palm strike completely woke him up.
He struggled to stand up, staggering toward the room where Lu Li and the other two were imprisoned.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Lu Li immediately stood up. When he saw Fan Zhengping's pale face and struggling expression, he couldn't help but show surprise, "Senior Brother Fan, you..."
Fan Zhengping shook his head, "Master is back. I couldn't help you. He wants me to take you to test pills. You... just hope for the best."
"Test pills!"
Lu Li's body trembled, his mind ringing with a roar, "It's finally here."
He walked out of the room, looking at Qin Shouren and Chen Zhong who came out one after another. Both of their faces bore thick fear.
Fan Zhengping sighed softly, struggling to say, "Let's go. This batch of pills has good quality. If you're lucky, you might not only escape this calamity but even gain benefits."
Seeing the three still not moving, Fan Zhengping added, "Don't think about escaping. I was beaten like this by master..."
"Let's go."
Lu Li glanced at Qin Shouren and Chen Zhong, whispered a sentence, and walked at the front.
"I, I don't want to die." Qin Shouren followed behind Lu Li, his hands trembling incessantly.
"Afraid of what? When you die, you just face the sky. If us three brothers die together, we'll just come back in eighteen years. Maybe then we'll even have good spiritual roots." Chen Zhong seemed to have already accepted his fate, trying to cheer himself up.
Hearing this, Lu Li's heart immediately relaxed, "Fatty Chen is right. Sticking out your head gets you a slash, pulling it back also gets you a slash. Maybe just like Senior Brother Fan said, if luck is good..."
Though saying this, Lu Li actually knew that even if the pill test succeeded, they still wouldn't live.
According to Fan Zhengping's words, that pill formula was extremely precious. Even if they truly succeeded in the test, Zhang Song wouldn't let them leave alive.
When the several of them arrived at the great hall, Zhang Song was already impatient.
He grabbed Lu Li in front of him, pried his mouth open and forcibly shoved a pill inside, then said with a voice as cold as ice, "Swallow it. Don't make me lose my temper."
Lu Li met his gaze and instantly felt like falling into an icy abyss. His throat convulsed as he swallowed the pill.
Zhang Song then called Chen Zhong and Qin Shouren over, handing each one a pill, "Take it yourselves."
Fan Zhengping leaned against the doorway, watching this scene with indescribable feelings in his heart.
As the medicinal power entered his body, Lu Li immediately felt an extremely formidable force rampaging wildly in his Dantian.
After Awakening a spiritual root, cultivators would manifest their first qi meridian. The qi meridian connects to the Dantian barrier; the first acupoint lies on the Dantian barrier. Fan Zhengping had said that the Piercing Acupoint Pill's effect was to assist in breaking through acupoints.
With his mind racing, he quickly used his Divine Sense to guide that force, charging it toward the Dantian acupoint on his first qi meridian.
Ah!
A piercing pain suddenly struck. Lu Li felt as if someone were stabbing him with a sharp knife. As his concentration faltered slightly, that formidable force immediately retreated again, crashing wildly inside his Dantian.
Going all in!
Lu Li steadied his mind, controlling it again to charge toward the acupoint.
Ah!
Another scream.
Beside him, Zhang Song saw Lu Li's contorted face, occasionally emitting screams, and his heart was already half-cold.
The Qin Shouren and Chen Zhong on the side also seemed to have discovered the key point, their screams rising and falling in succession.
Moments later.
Lu Li suddenly heard a pop sound. Looking inward, he discovered that a hole had actually opened above his Dantian, revealing a dark black opening. The other end of the opening connected precisely to the qi meridian.
It's through!
Lu Li couldn't believe it. He had just entered the first level of Qi Refinement.
They say the first acupoint is the hardest to break through. Who would have thought that just this one Piercing Acupoint Pill helped him break through the most critical acupoint. Although there were still ninety-nine acupoints left unbroken for the first level, he was still considered to have entered the first level of Qi Refinement.
Lu Li swayed unsteadily, his expression gradually becoming natural.
Seeing this, Zhang Song couldn't help but feel startled and suspicious, immediately rushing toward Lu Li.
Not good!
Lu Li's face changed. His mind raced wildly. Without waiting for the other to approach, he directly fell backward, simultaneously revealing an extremely agonized expression, rolling continuously on the ground.
Beside him, Chen Zhong also broke through his acupoint. Just as he was about to happily report it, he suddenly saw Lu Li rolling on the ground, occasionally giving him meaningful glances. Frowning, he finally understood, and conveniently also fell to the ground, rolling continuously.
That Qin Shouren had been clenching his fists, his face full of pain as he controlled the medicinal power. After finally breaking through the acupoint, he hadn't noticed Lu Li and the other's glances at all, immediately laughing heartily, "Hahaha, Immortal! I'm an Immortal now!"
Lu Li: ......