12: Can you let me stay in your house overnight?
The girl hiding under the eaves watched Li Yan return to his room with the medicine gourd.
She secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
The other children gathered around, asking, “Sister, what’s going on with that Senior Brother?”
“In short… he saved our lives. Don’t spread it around, understand?”
Heart Zhi made a shushing gesture.
In the girl’s eyes, Li Yan taking those Blood Ovum Pills away and not forcing them to consume them was him saving them.
The girl obviously overestimated Li Yan’s morality, but in some ways, Li Yan did save their lives, at least temporarily.
If no new ‘guests’ were brought into the Stone Workshop in the following days, then Li Yan would have no choice but to feed them the Medicinal Pills.
Turning his attention back inside the room.
Li Yan consumed six Blood Ovum Pills in one go, and these six Blood Ovum Pills made his Blood Qi boil throughout his body.
“Detected host consumed 6 Blood Ovum Pills with strong side effects!”
“Level 2 Blood Qi Theft upgraded → Level 8 Blood Qi Theft.”
“Current Blood Qi Theft: Can steal a Cultivator’s Blood Qi within 80 steps!”
A Tang dynasty step was roughly 150 centimeters, so 80 steps would be within a 120-meter radius.
Within this range, he could recklessly and secretly absorb the Blood Qi of Cultivators at the same level.
At the same time, after the side effects of the six Blood Ovum Pills were removed, they transformed into a fierce surge of Blood Qi, which began to impact Li Yan’s Dantian Qi Sea.
The Blood Qi value brought by the six Blood Ovum Pills, like a torrent, surged fiercely into his Dantian.
Feeling a faint swelling pain in his Dantian, Li Yan immediately sat cross-legged in quiet cultivation.
Through absorbing Senior Brother Mingzhe’s memories, he brought out a set of “Jingxu Mind-Cultivation Technique.”
He suppressed the flood-like Blood Qi within his body, guiding it to circulate through all his Meridians, nourishing them by condensing the Blood Qi.
“Seek emptiness in stillness, and embrace Qi in emptiness.”
“The Minds Eye is the master of the five viscera. Nourish it with stillness, embrace it with emptiness. Blood Qi flows along the Meridians, like streams returning to the sea, nourishing the hundred bones.”
“Guide Blood Qi, nourish the Qi Meridians.”
Li Yan gradually grasped the knack. He sat cross-legged, his tongue gently touching the roof of his mouth, his eyes lowered to visualize his Dantian.
When the area three inches below his navel felt warm and slightly trembled, he used his mind to form invisible threads, stirring the Blood Qi in his Dantian, which was like molten red gold.
Initially, the Blood Qi was like scattered streams, but as his consciousness guided it, it gathered into a line, ascending along the Ren Meridian to the Tanzhong acupoint, then splitting into two streams to enter the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian and the Hand Shaoyin Heart Meridian.
After a long while, a faint golden Blood Qi emerged through his skin—this was a sign of ‘Blood Aperture Initial Opening’!
“Phew, I just faintly seemed to grasp the trick of the Ban Xue Realm…”
“Absorbing all the side effects of these six Blood Ovum Pills, I jumped from Blood Condensation Realm Layer Four to Layer Six. It seems the saying ‘a horse won't get fat without extra feed at night’ really holds true.”
Li Yan realized that holding even a little power within the Jingxu Sect could bring him endless benefits.
For instance, if he took a few Blood Ovum Pills from the Stone Workshop, who would even notice?
Slowly exhaling a turbid breath, his current cultivation at Blood Condensation Realm Layer Six gave him increasing confidence.
However, the increase in strength also brought another kind of crisis.
From Mingzhe’s memories, he learned that Disciples who advanced too quickly were also easily targeted by Old Daoist Xuan Wang.
Old Ghost Xuanwang, that old devil, in order to gain absolute control, would not allow any Disciple’s strength to surpass the Ban Xue Realm.
Once Li Yan broke through to the Ban Xue Realm, he would be qualified to be on equal footing with Old Daoist Xuanwang.
Before that, the old devil would surely act first and disembowel him to take his Dantian for Alchemy.
“Hmm…”
Li Yan stroked his chin, trying to find the answer to break the situation from Senior Brother Mingzhe’s memories.
If Old Ghost Xuanwang discovered his rapid increase in strength, it would easily arouse the old devil’s vigilance.
Just as Li Yan was deep in thought, Old Ghost Xuanwang’s voice suddenly rang in his ears!
The sudden sound startled him.
“All Disciples, heed my command. Your Master is going out for a trip to Broken Sword Valley.”
“All matters within the sect will temporarily be handled by your Senior Brother Ming Shan and Second Apprentice-sister Ming Yue.”
Only after clearly hearing Old Ghost Xuanwang’s words did Li Yan finally relax.
“How many days will the old devil be out?”
Suddenly, a bold idea surged into his mind.
If the old devil wasn't here for these few days, and he was in charge of the Stone Workshop, wouldn't all these Medicinal Pills belong to him, Li Yan?
His thoughts immediately became active, and Li Yan began to plan his escape from the sect.
Hiding in his room, he saw Old Daoist Xuan Wang, accompanied by a few young attendants, rushing out of the Jingxu Sect through a crack in the window.
It was as if he had some urgent matter to deal with in Broken Sword Valley.
While this old devil was away, his, Li Yan’s, chance had come!
But amidst his excitement, Li Yan suddenly felt as if he had missed something.
“Hmm?”
“Mingzhe’s memory is a bit blurry, is it because the absorbed memory is incomplete?”
“It seems something will happen after Old Ghost Xuanwang is no longer in the sect?”
Li Yan vaguely felt that the memory absorbed from the Divine Pill was not entirely complete, possibly because the old Dao’s Alchemy skill was insufficient, leading to the production of only low-grade Medicinal Pills.
“What exactly is that important thing? Why can’t I remember it?”
“The old Dao’s inferior Medicinal Pills are truly harmful.”
Li Yan, sitting cross-legged in his room, racked his brain, remembering that something big was supposed to happen, but he just couldn't recall it.
He thought to himself that he still needed to secretly learn some Alchemy techniques, but Old Daoist Xuan Wang was very cunning and never taught his Disciples Alchemy methods.
Just as Li Yan was thinking, there was a knock at the door.
Li Yan raised an eyebrow and used his Minds Eye to sense the person outside the door.
It was an ordinary person with weak Blood Qi. From the form of her Qi, she should be a young girl.
Currently, at Blood Condensation Realm Layer Six, he could already use his Minds Eye to perceive some things around him, things that could not be seen with the naked eye.
The girl who came to knock on the door, with weak Blood Qi, should be one of the ‘guests’ from the Stone Workshop.
Li Yan said, “The door isn’t locked, come in.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the girl named Heart Zhi enter the room, carrying a wooden basin.
The girl, with her long black hair, had a docile expression.
“Daoist Li Yan, this is freshly boiled water.”
“What are you doing?” Li Yan frowned slightly as he saw the girl kneel before him, helping him take off his boots and socks.
“Please… please allow this humble girl to wash for you. Your great kindness cannot be repaid, I can only…”
Saying that, she lowered her head and silently knelt on the ground to wash for Li Yan.
To be honest, Li Yan didn't dislike this girl.
It was just that he was in danger himself right now and couldn't save her.
When he, Li Yan, was going to escape, it was impossible for him to take a burden with him.
This girl had no cultivation, so taking her would be a hindrance.
Rather than letting this girl harbor fantasies about him, it was better to make her face reality.
“Heart Zhi, I can’t save you. Unless you can be promoted to a Utility Disciple, otherwise, the fate of you ‘guests’…”
Li Yan spoke bluntly, laying it all out for the girl.
The girl slowly raised her head, her eyes like stars, clear and bright.
Her childish face clearly showed that she would definitely be a beauty when she grew up.
The girl knelt and moved closer, saying in an almost pleading voice.
“Tonight, may I stay overnight in your room?”