The Hehuan Sect cultivates alchemy; my senior sister helps me refine alchemy throughout the world.

For the next month, Shen Yifei experienced both joy and pain.

Bai Lu somehow obtained a thousand-year-old blood ginseng, sliced ​​it, and stewed it into a soup. After Shen Yifei drank the soup, his whole body turned red, and his spiritual energy exploded.

Leng Shanyue hunted down a Nascent Soul Peak Iron-Bone Python and used its gall to make wine. Shen Yifei drank half a jar, and the spiritual energy in his dantian boiled all night.

Shen Yifei discovered that his physical body had also improved!

"You're recovering quickly," Bai Lu said, pointing to his chest.

"It's not that the recovery is fast, it's that the skin has thickened."

Leng Shanyue refused to believe it and scratched his arm with her fingernail.

The red mark had barely appeared when it faded away in a few breaths.

"Strange."

Shen Yifei asked Bai Lu to punch him.

Bai Lu lightly punched Shen Yifei in the stomach with a dull thud, but Shen Yifei remained standing still.

"Doesn't it hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt. Add a little more."

Bai Lu added some force, and with this punch, Shen Yifei took two steps back, his back slamming against the stone wall, and he rubbed his stomach.

"It hurts, but not as much as before."

Bai Lu looked at her fist, then at Shen Yifei's stomach.

"You were burned by the black flames, destroying seventy percent of your meridians. After they regenerated, their resilience increased several times over. The same goes for your bones; after the scabs fell off, the new bones were much harder than before. This time, you turned misfortune into a blessing; the black flames tempered your body!"

Leng Shanyue poked Shen Yifei in the lower back from behind.

"A blessing in disguise. When the black flames burn a living person, nine out of ten will die, and the remaining one will be burned to a state like yours."

Shen Yifei circulated his spiritual energy, and the golden core in his dantian had grown larger than it had a month ago. A layer of black patterns faintly appeared on the dark golden core. Those were the traces left after the remnants of the black flame were refined.

In the past month, Shen Yifei's cultivation level rose from the Great Perfection of Golden Core to the early stage of Nascent Soul, and then climbed to the middle stage of Nascent Soul.

Bai Lu's gaze towards him became increasingly strange.

"Your cultivation speed is too fast. It takes an ordinary cultivator at least ten years and at most a hundred years to go from Golden Core to Nascent Soul. You have completed the course that others take ten years to complete in a month."

Shen Yifei sat cross-legged on the stone bed.

"Don't you know? Maybe it's because I have a good constitution."

"Your foundation?" Leng Shanyue sneered. "You were used as a furnace by two Mahayana demon kings for a month. Even a pig would have been refined into a Golden Core by now."

Bai Lu shook her head.

"More than that. After his meridians were burned and regenerated by the black flames, his absorption rate of spiritual energy increased several times over. In addition, he eats supplements every day, and our demonic energy circulates in his body during our dual cultivation at night. It's like two Mahayana cultivators are helping him with initiation."

Leng Shanyue thought for a moment and nodded.

"Indeed. In the past month, my demonic power has circulated through his body no less than a hundred times. His meridians have long since adapted to the impact of Mahayana-level spiritual energy. It would be strange if his cultivation wasn't progressing quickly."

Shen Yifei got off the stone bed and stretched his limbs. His joints cracked and popped all over, and afterwards he felt full of energy.

"How much of your strength can I take over now?"

Bai Lu extends one finger.

"One-tenth."

"So little?"

"I am a Mahayana cultivator. You, a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, should be content that you can withstand even a tenth of a Mahayana cultivator's power."

Leng Shanyue suddenly darted in front of Shen Yifei, wrapped her tail around his waist, and lifted him up.

"Try mine."

"Try mine."

With a flick of her tail, Shen Yifei was sent flying and crashed into the cave wall, scattering gravel all over the ground.

Shen Yifei climbed out of the rubble, dusted himself off, and was perfectly fine.

Shen Yifei said with a grin, "Give it a little more effort!"

Leng Shanyue began to throw Shen Yifei around repeatedly until she used up 50% of her spiritual energy. Shen Yifei could barely get up, but his body was still unharmed!

When Leng Shanyue increased his strength to sixty percent, Shen Yifei could no longer withstand it. His back slammed against the stone wall, and gravel fell down with a clatter, leaving a sweet taste in his throat.

"Stop, stop, stop." He waved his hand.

Leng Shanyue retracted her tail, and Shen Yifei slid down the stone wall and sat on the ground, panting.

"You only coughed up blood at 60% strength? Are you some kind of bastard?" Leng Shanyue squatted down and pressed on his chest. "No bones are broken."

Bai Lu walked over and examined his dantian. "Mid-stage Nascent Soul, to withstand 60% of the power of a Mahayana cultivator, that's incredible."

Shen Yifei stood up and stretched his shoulders. The spot where Leng Shanyue's tail had struck him was still a little numb, but it hadn't actually injured his bones.

He himself has also felt the changes over the past month.

Before, I would feel sore and achy after dual cultivation, but now, after fighting two Mahayana demon kings, I recover after a good night's sleep.

"Can I come out of seclusion now?" Shen Yifei asked.

Bai Lu and Leng Shanyue exchanged a glance.

"What's the rush?" Leng Shanyue curled her tail and pulled him back. "Your physique is still developing and not stable yet. Wait another month."

"Still waiting?" Shen Yifei calculated that it had been more than two months since he left the Hehuan Sect. He wondered how anxious Su Wuwang was, and Sun Yiran had probably lost even more weight.

Bai Lu saw through his thoughts.

"Want to go back?"

"Yes. There are still matters to attend to at the sect."

Leng Shanyue snorted, "Are there many women in the sect waiting for you to return?"

Shen Yifei did not respond.

Leng Shanyue snorted and loosened its tail.

"Men are heartless. They supported me for a month, and now they want to leave."

"I didn't say we're leaving now." Shen Yifei sat back on the stone bed. "Staying a little longer is fine. Your breakthroughs aren't completely stable yet, are they?"

Bai Lu nodded.

"It's not easy to go from the early to the middle stages of Mahayana cultivation. Although I've broken through, my demonic power still needs time to mature."

Leng Shanyue also became obedient.

"Although my demon core is stable, two of my nine tails are still not fully refined. Only when all nine tails are fully refined can I truly be considered to be in the early stage of Mahayana cultivation."

"That's perfect." Shen Yifei lay back on the stone bed. "You two continue cultivating, and I'll continue to be your cultivation furnace."

Leng Shanyue lashed his leg with her tail.

"You've become addicted to it?"

"Otherwise what? For me, a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, to be able to help two Mahayana Demon Kings cultivate is my supreme honor!"

Bai Lu couldn't help but smirk.

The relationship between the three of them has changed quite a bit in the past month.

Bai Lu and Leng Shanyue stopped seeing each other and then had a fight.

We still bicker occasionally, but it's different from before.

In the past, we would bicker for the sake of bickering, wanting to expose every secret about the other person. Now, bickering is more like a habit; we feel uneasy if we don't exchange a few words, but once we're done bickering, we go about our business.

Shen Yifei played a significant role in this process.

When Bai Lu practiced dual cultivation with him, Leng Shanyue would deliberately avoid her. When Leng Shanyue practiced dual cultivation with him, Bai Lu would also guard the cave entrance. A tacit understanding had formed between the two; neither of them mentioned it, but they both understood.

That evening, Bailu stewed a pot of venison.

The three sat around the campfire. Leng Shanyue skewered pieces of meat and grilled them over the fire, while Bai Lu used a dagger to slice a plate of thin slices and handed it to Shen Yifei.

Shen Yifei ate two pieces and then suddenly spoke.

"I saw some things while I was in a coma."