"Fatty, fatty!" Lu Li gently patted Chen Zhong's face.
"It's you." Chen Zhong slowly opened his eyes.
"Fatty, you can't go on like this. The dead cannot return to life. Don't you want to avenge him?" Lu Li frowned.
"Avenge!" Chen Zhong immediately rolled over and sat up upon hearing this. "You know who did it?"
Lu Li paused for a moment, then nodded. "I know, but I can't tell you now. Focus on cultivating. When you reach Qi Refinement Second Layer, you'll naturally know."
"He's... very strong, right?"
"Yes."
Lu Li said this mainly to motivate Chen Zhong. While Sun Zi'an had indeed grown much stronger after eating the spirit fruit, it was almost impossible for him to take Lu Li's life silently.
He also knew he couldn't handle Sun Zi'an alone, which was why he chose to remain patient.
More importantly, he believed this matter definitely didn't involve just Sun Zi'an. If they acted rashly and alerted others, it would be troublesome.
Hearing Lu Li's words, Chen Zhong immediately regained his spirit, directly promising to focus on cultivation. Lu Li gave him some additional instructions, telling him to keep a low profile recently, before finally leaving with peace of mind.
And so.
Time passed swiftly, and in the blink of an eye, over two years had gone by.
During these two years, Lu Li and Chen Zhong hadn't changed their work assignments, still doing the tasks of cutting firewood and carrying water.
Seeing that Lu Li and the others kept a much lower profile, Sun Zi'an no longer deliberately made things difficult for them, as if everything had truly passed.
It was warm spring.
All things were reviving. The old bare tree in the courtyard was once again sprouting tender buds.
Now, Lu Li was already sixteen years old. He stood over seven chi tall, his dark complexion shedding its childishness and gaining more maturity. Dressed in dark green close-fitting clothes, he appeared extremely capable.
He stood quietly at the doorway, watching the burly man in the courtyard whose fists made whirring sounds as he swung them, his mind wandering to who knows where.
The burly man was Chen Zhong, half a head taller than Lu Li. He wore a short jacket and grey pants, his exposed arms like copper or iron. With thick eyebrows and big eyes, he commanded respect even without anger.
Suddenly.
Chen Zhong adjusted his fist and punched it into the nearby old tree.
Crack!
The old tree, thick enough that one person could barely wrap their arms around it, snapped in half at the waist.
"Good! That punch must have five thousand jin." Lu Li clapped his hands as he walked toward Chen Zhong.
This fist technique was called Mountain Shaking Fist. It was something Lu Li and Chen Zhong had painstakingly exchanged for after two years of hard work, spending a full twenty thousand contribution points at the technique building.
According to the old man guarding the technique building at the time, this fist technique was extremely formidable, comparable to a divine-level technique. If it weren't for being an incomplete copy, and the fact that no one in the sect cultivated body techniques, he would never have exchanged this fist technique with Lu Li.
The facts proved that this fist technique was indeed formidable.
Cultivating it to the Novice stage could unleash twice one's physical strength.
Minor Completion, three times.
Major Completion, four times.
Perfection, five times.
The perfected Mountain Shaking Fist could mobilize the power of every single cell in the body. The stronger the physical body's strength, the greater the force unleashed with a single punch.
Lu Li had now reached the Minor Completion stage. His physical body strength was around three thousand jin. If he used Mountain Shaking Fist, one punch could unleash a terrifying force of nine thousand jin.
As for Chen Zhong, his physical body strength was about two thousand five hundred jin. With his Mountain Shaking Fist at the Novice stage, the force he unleashed was only around five thousand jin.
"Big Brother, I'm still a bit worse than you." Chen Zhong shook his head, somewhat dissatisfied.
Over these two-plus years, Chen Zhong had gotten used to calling Lu Li "Big Brother."
Lu Li smiled and placed a hand on Chen Zhong's shoulder. "Your base strength is a bit lower than mine. Just carry more trees for training and refine your Mountain Shaking Fist further, and you'll catch up to me."
"I understand."
"His muscles are getting more developed, but his mind seems to think less and less. I don't know if it's because of the excessive stimulation two years ago," Lu Li thought with some low spirits.
"There's still the last acupoint left. I wonder if you're doing well over there." Lu Li looked toward the courtyard gate, clenching then releasing his fist.
Even though he had the Time Hall in hand, after two-plus years, he had only broken through ninety-nine acupoints, with just one left unopened.
As for Chen Zhong, it was even worse. Although each of his acupoints only had seven layers of barriers, so far he had only opened forty-five acupoints.
Fortunately, both of them had immense brute strength. Their cultivation realms were low, but their combat power was not to be underestimated.
"Big Brother, what are you thinking about?" Seeing Lu Li silent, Chen Zhong walked over and asked.
Lu Li shook his head. "Nothing. Keep practicing. I'm going back to rest first."
With that, he returned to his room.
The small tree in the Three Treasures Glazed Pagoda had withered and died two years ago after Lu Li picked all its fruits, as if it was a one-time thing. Over the past two years, he would periodically check to see if any new saplings had grown inside, or if other immortal fruits would appear.
Unfortunately, after two-plus years, that piece of land remained barren.
After his routine check, Lu Li entered the Time Hall again.
Lu Li had gotten used to this kind of life-no extra social interactions, nothing but cultivation. Even when practicing Mountain Shaking Fist, he mostly trained inside the Time Hall. Only when he felt he had achieved something would he test his skills in the outside world.
Qi Refinement First Layer had reached a critical juncture. He didn't want to wait any longer for the last acupoint; he had to break through it immediately.
Although the connection points of the qi channels were in the Dantian, aside from the two main qi channels running from the Dantian to the Heavenly Palace in the mind, the other twelve were distributed throughout the body. This last acupoint of the first channel was at the sole of the foot. Once completely opened, he could perform minor circulation cycles, freely releasing True Qi as he wished.
Lu Li was currently at the Perfection stage of Qi Refinement First Layer. His Divine Sense was several times stronger than when he first condensed it, capable of sensing Spiritual Qi within a radius of three zhang. There was no longer a situation where after refining, he had to wait for the surrounding Spiritual Qi to recover.
Instead, he now felt that his refining speed couldn't keep up with his absorption speed.
Fifth day in the secret realm.
The sixth wind-attribute barrier of the last acupoint was finally broken. Of course, he hadn't broken six layers in just five days-he had already broken through five layers before, leaving only thunder, light, and dark.
These three attributes were the hardest to break because, compared to the five elements, these three attributes were extremely scarce in the heaven and earth's Spiritual Qi.
Another ten days passed, and the thunder attribute began to waver.
But by this time, he couldn't hold on any longer. The feeling of weakness from his physical body forced him to stop.
He went out to eat, took a stroll, and just as he was about to return to his room, he was suddenly stopped by the hastily arriving deacon Wen Hong. "Kid, don't say I never take care of you. The Grand Elder is recently refining pills and needs a medicine assistant for a month. The contribution? A full three thousand points. Will you do it?"
There was such a good thing?
Lu Li looked suspiciously at Wen Hong. Usually, such opportunities were secretly kept for Sun Zi'an, allowing him to assign them privately to share some contributions. When would it ever be his turn?
Seeing Lu Li silent, Wen Hong continued, "Don't look at me like that. You're not new to the Servant Hall. You know my character clearly. Let me tell you directly-the Grand Elder has an extremely peculiar temper. When he's happy, casually rewarding you with a few bottles of pills isn't impossible."
"But if you make him unhappy... well, you'll have to pray for yourself."
So that's how it was.
Lu Li thought for a moment. He was about to break through to the Second Layer and just happened to need contributions to exchange for a technique.
More importantly, he would need to refine Piercing Acupoint Pills in the future. Such pills couldn't be entrusted to others, so he had to learn some knowledge about pill refining. This opportunity to go to Tianjue Peak was absolutely a rare Fated Chance.
So he directly nodded in agreement, asking, "When do I go?"
Seeing Lu Li agree, Wen Hong immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Veteran servants all knew that the Grand Elder was extremely difficult to serve. Many who went ended up being sent back half-dead after being beaten.
He smiled and patted Lu Li's shoulder. "You're quite something. If you satisfy the Grand Elder this time, I'll give you an extra three hundred contributions. Prepare yourself. In five days, the Grand Elder will personally come here to fetch you."
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