Raise a sword!

Old Master Dan's caution left Old Master Hao utterly helpless.

He taught Jiang Peng to cultivate, naturally with the hope that something might happen... He didn't expect Jiang Peng's body-refining skills to be hidden from Dan Laomo, but he hoped that Dan Laomo wouldn't take the body-refining skills to heart.

That's how it should be!

How could a demonic cultivator at the peak of Qi Refining take a junior who only knows how to refine his body but doesn't know how to absorb Qi seriously!

But who could have imagined that this Old Demon Dan would be so cautious, giving no hope whatsoever!

"So, that poison pill was a way for Old Demon Dan to control me?" This was not unexpected for Jiang Peng. After seeing the entry for 'chronic toxin', he had already made a guess.

As for the so-called toxins, after being purified by the furnace, there is naturally no need to worry about them anymore.

However, Jiang Peng didn't make a fuss. She even used her acting skills from her previous life to put on a slightly frustrated expression.

"Never mind, I'm not free anyway." Jiang Peng sighed and then said, "Since Old Demon Dan has agreed, then please teach me how to circulate Qi, senior."

Old Hao, with little interest, called Jiang Peng over and tapped his forehead.

A cultivation technique appeared in Jiang Peng's mind.

"This is the 'Qi Absorption Technique,' enough for you to absorb Qi and cultivate during the Qi Refining stage. Try it on your own. You should have spiritual roots, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to get started with body refining so quickly."

After giving his instructions, Old Hao sent Jiang Peng away and closed his eyes to rest.

......

Jiang Peng spent seven days mastering the "Qi Absorption Technique" and officially became a Qi Refining Level 1 cultivator.

According to Elder Hao, this speed is quite good. If he were younger, he might be accepted into the Cangshan Sect.

Life in the grotto was monotonous.

Every two days, the Old Demon Dan would appear and bring Jiang Peng two pills.

One of them was the first physique-enhancing pill that Jiang Peng had ever taken, which she named the "Body Strengthening Pill".

The other one is the antidote for the Heart-Eating Pill.

The cauldron directly named the pill "Spirit Heart Pill".

This pill's function is to temporarily alleviate the chronic toxicity of the Heart-Eating Pill. In addition, it can provide a little bit of spiritual energy, and it is no different from the purified Heart-Eating Pill.

Jiang Peng naturally wouldn't resist the pills from Dan Laomo, as they were his only source of resources for the time being.

During the process of consuming the elixir, Jiang Peng also tried the [refining] function of the cauldron.

The result seems to be that the size of the pill was reduced by one size, but the efficacy remained the same.

Jiang Peng guessed that "refining" should mean removing impurities from the elixir.

Even if he hadn't eaten pork, he had seen pigs run; he had heard of erysipelas in his previous life.

As a result, Jiang Peng's life inexplicably became regular.

I practice the "White Ape Strength" five times a day without fail, and then spend the rest of my time practicing the "Qi Absorption Technique" to draw Qi into my body.

When they were thirsty or hungry, they asked Old Hao for a fasting pill.

The Bigu Pill was left behind by the Old Demon Dan.

The Qi Refining stage is far from allowing for abstinence from grains. Keeping Blood Slaves and Cinnabar Slaves around is pointless; we can't just let people starve to death.

...

Four months have passed in the blink of an eye.

During this period, Old Demon Dan would occasionally capture a few Dan slaves.

However, the captured Dannu will be used up in no time.

Every time Jiang Peng saw that Dan Nu would die tragically within a few hours after taking the pill, she couldn't help but feel uneasy.

He could clearly sense that every time Dan Laomo came to collect the corpse, the way he looked at him became increasingly strange.

It wasn't just Dan the Demon.

...

In the prison cell.

Jiang Peng exhaled a breath of stale air, completing a cycle of Qi-guiding cultivation.

With the support of Dan Laomo's pills, Jiang Peng's cultivation speed was not slow.

Not only has his cultivation level increased rapidly and he is about to break through, but his body refinement has also reached the minor completion level of the "White Ape Force".

"I've noticed a significant slowdown in my Qi absorption recently, and I should be breaking through in the next few days."

Jiang Peng ended her Qi-gathering cultivation with great delight.

Old Hao was not surprised to hear him talking to himself.

"You have a foundation of the 'White Ape Strength' with some progress, and your body has already been subtly refined by spiritual energy. It's not bad to advance one realm in four months. However, at this rate of cultivation, you can only maintain one more small realm at most."

Jiang Peng turned to look at Old Hao, only to see that Old Hao's expression was serious.

"What brings you here, sir?"

"Why aren't you dead?" Old Hao asked, frowning.

Jiang Peng felt helpless, but her face showed a puzzled expression.

"Why do you ask this, senior?"

Old Hao's gaze held a hint of inquiry.

"Old Demon Dan isn't just using you to test his pills. It concerns whether he can establish his foundation, so he'll be extremely cautious."

Jiang Peng was well aware of this principle, but he could only pretend not to know it.

Old Hao continued, "Over the past three months, more than a dozen pill slaves have died from his poisonous pills, but you alone are still alive! Not only are you alive, but you've even achieved minor success in body refinement!"

Seeing that Jiang Peng remained silent, Old Hao gently shook his head.

"Forget it, you're just a mortal, completely ignorant about cultivation! You probably don't even know the reason yourself, maybe it's some kind of special constitution."

If Jiang Peng had been a cultivator when he was captured, Old Hao would most likely have thought that this kid was hiding some secret.

However, Hao Lao witnessed Jiang Peng's transformation from a mortal to a cultivator, which dispelled Hao Lao's desire to investigate.

"Old Demon Dan will not let you go," said Old Hao.

...

More than half a month later.

Dan Laomo suddenly appeared in the cave with a gloomy face.

Based on past patterns, Old Demon Dan should have brought back a new Dan slave this time.

But this time, something unexpected happened; he was the only one who showed up.

In addition, Jiang Peng clearly noticed that Dan Laomo's face seemed to have become paler and his breathing was slightly unstable.

"Huh, you're injured?" Old Hao raised an eyebrow and said, clearly having also noticed that Dan Laomo was acting strangely.

"Hmph, always capturing slaves in the same place has only brought some trouble." Old Demon Dan sneered.

He then raised his hand and tossed two pills to Jiang Peng.

It's still the same two pills: the Body Strengthening Pill and the Spirit Heart Pill.

After Jiang Peng took the pill, he did not leave, but said in a gloomy tone, "Boy, force out two drops of your essence blood."

Jiang Peng was taken aback.

This was the first time Dan Laomo had made such a request.

Clearly, Dan the Old Demon had realized that something was amiss with him.

Jiang Peng had no room to resist and silently forced out two drops of blood from her fingertips.

Dan Laomo collected the essence blood in a porcelain bottle, gave Jiang Peng a deep look, and then turned and left.

Old Hao's voice came from behind.

"We need to move to a different place."

"What?" Jiang Peng was taken aback.

Old Hao shook his head and said, "Even mortal lands have sects to protect them. Now that Old Demon Dan has revealed his whereabouts, it's time for him to find a new lair."

"You're lucky, kid. In the past, when he changed his base, he would kill all the Dannu to avoid exposing his whereabouts and leave with only me... But you are somewhat special, so I don't think he will let you go."

Jiang Peng laughed self-deprecatingly.

"This kind of good fortune, where life and death are beyond one's control, is truly both laughable and lamentable."

Old Hao shrugged.

"Live on, it's better to live a wretched life than to die a good death."

Three days later, late at night, Jiang Peng broke through to the second level of Qi Refining.

......

Another two weeks have passed.

On this day, Jiang Peng was cultivating when he suddenly saw a cloud of black mist sweep into the cave.

He tried to resist, but still lost consciousness.

When he woke up again, he found himself in a new cave.

Jiang Peng found herself unable to move. She moved her eyes from side to side and, in the dim light, could barely make out a few small flags.

The new grotto was extremely cold and gloomy, and Jiang Peng could clearly feel the chilling aura around him constantly converging on his body.

Even his face and body were covered in frost.

[Yin Sha Qi: One of the spiritual energies of heaven and earth]

Purification and Refinement

Golden characters appeared before my eyes.

Jiang Peng never expected that the chilling aura that was constantly seeping into his body could actually be refined.

He thought the Purple Gold Cauldron could only be used for refining pills!

Now it seems that there is still a lot of room for development in my cheat code!

At the same time, Dan the Demon's voice rang out.

"It must be some kind of constitution that is immune to poisons. I never thought that the pill slave I casually captured would have such a miraculous ability... Although the matter of pill refining has come to nothing, it is not bad to have another puppet corpse that has successfully refined its body."

Jiang Peng saw that Dan Laomo had come to her side and was looking down at her.

"Boy, just keep cultivating in this yin and evil place, hehehe."