Ghost Immortal

Having broken through two levels in succession, the spiritual energy in his dantian was so abundant that it was about to overflow.

The spiritual liquid was much higher than before, and the ten-inch spiritual root was completely submerged in it, greedily absorbing the nutrients.

The three cracks on the spiritual root have completely healed, leaving no scars.

The medium-length ones were also 70% healed, leaving only a trace at the deepest part.

The crack that ran through one-third of the spiritual root had also healed at least half of it.

It has regained its vitality.

"Junior brother! I've broken through!"

Qiu Sheng suddenly opened his eyes and exclaimed in disbelief, "I've broken through to the seventh level of Qi Sensing! I was stuck at the sixth level for years, and after eating tiger bone marrow, I broke through directly! My God!"

The Qi Sensing Realm is the realm before the Qi Refining Realm, which Li Feng calls the Seven-Inch Spiritual Root.

Qiu Sheng was so excited he almost jumped up, but he immediately clutched his chest, wincing in pain.

My ribs haven't fully healed yet, so any large movements could aggravate the injury.

But his face was flushed with excitement.

The seven-inch mark on his spiritual root signifies that his cultivation has officially entered the late stage of the spiritual root realm.

Although there is still a distance to go before reaching the Qi Refining stage, it is no longer at the bottom.

"Me too, I've reached level three in Qi Refining."

Li Feng slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air.

Qiu Sheng's smile froze instantly, then turned into a look of utter disbelief, causing him to stumble back several steps in fright.

"Qi Refinement Level 3! You've only been at the Qi Refinement stage for a few days? Five days ago you were only at Qi Refinement Level 1, then you broke through to Qi Refinement Level 2 when you went to Tengteng Town, and now you've broken through to Qi Refinement Level 3. Junior Brother, are you even human? You wouldn't happen to be the reincarnation of some ancient powerful being, would you?"

"Just lucky," Li Feng smiled, offering no further explanation.

He couldn't tell anyone the secret of his ten-inch spiritual root, but breaking through two levels in a row was indeed too conspicuous.

I'll have to use the Concealing Breath Technique to suppress it later, so that I only show my Qi Refining Level 2 cultivation in front of my master.

"However, the injury to my spiritual root has not fully healed yet."

Li Feng then examined his dantian and smiled, "The longest crack is still there, and it will probably take some more time to heal. But this tiger bone marrow is really effective, and it will definitely heal much faster than the three months Master said."

Qiu Sheng scratched his head, then suddenly revealed a sly smile: "Junior brother, let's split the tiger bone in half, but we have to eat it slowly. Eating too much at once can cause problems."

"Let's grind the tiger bones into powder and secretly add a little to Master's medicinal soup every day. It won't be wasteful or noticeable. As for the tiger meat, there's some left tonight. Shall we stew another pot tomorrow night?"

"All you ever think about is food," Li Feng said with a laugh, but he didn't object.

The effects of tiger meat and tiger marrow were indeed unexpectedly good. If I could eat a few more meals, the injury to my spiritual root might heal within ten days.

The two wrapped the remaining tiger bones in a cloth, poured out the remaining soup in the pot, washed the pot clean, and put it back in its original place.

Then they extinguished the fire in the blacksmith's furnace completely and poured water over the ashes to ensure that it would not reignite.

After all this was done, the moon was already setting in the west, and it was probably around four in the morning.

The two retraced their steps back to the mortuary, and once again climbed into the side room through the back window.

Qiu Sheng hid the tiger bone under his bed, covered it with old clothes, and then checked his body for the smell of medicine.

I spent half the day in the blacksmith's shop surrounded by smoke and fumes, and my clothes smelled of coal ash, which actually masked the smell of tiger meat.

"See you tomorrow, junior brother."

Qiu Sheng yawned, and drowsiness quickly overcame him.

Having eaten and drunk my fill, and having just broken through to a higher level of cultivation, my body was in its most relaxed state, and the drowsiness came on particularly fiercely.

"Take care, senior brother."

Li Feng saw Qiu Sheng to the door and watched him limp back to his room.

If word got out that he had broken through from the first level of Qi Refining to the third level within three days, the entire Maoshan Sect would be shaken.

But this breakthrough didn't come out of thin air.

He barely escaped death after swallowing the coffin fungus's essence in the Zombie King's shrine, and he burned his spiritual essence in a desperate attack on Black Wind Ridge. All of these cultivation levels were earned at the cost of his life.

He raised his right hand, palm open.

A wisp of eerie green flame leaped from the palm of his hand, like a firefly just awakened from hibernation.

The flame was still very weak, only about the size of a candle flame, but its color was purer than before.

The flames transformed from pale green to a deep, emerald-like green, with even fine, dark green lines appearing at their center.

This is a sign that the ghostly fire is about to enter the next stage.

Li Feng put away the ghost fire, took out the small jade bottle given to him by He Xiangu from his pocket, poured out a breath-holding pill and swallowed it.

As the pill entered his stomach, a cool sensation enveloped his dantian, suppressing the spiritual energy fluctuations of the third level of Qi Refining to the level of the second level.

He had already thought of this on the way.

Keep your breakthrough to the third level of Qi Refining a secret until at least your spiritual root injury is fully healed.

Once the cracks in the spiritual root have completely healed in a few days, and a suitable opportunity is found to "break through," then there will be no suspicion.

The next morning, Li Feng was awakened by the aroma of medicine.

Qiulan pushed open the door and came in, carrying a bowl of dark, murky medicine.

Seeing that his complexion had improved significantly, the worry on his face lessened somewhat.

"Junior brother, Master asked me to brew this medicine for you. It's a prescription specially prepared by the master of the pharmacy. It uses Ganoderma lucidum, Polygonum multiflorum, Panax notoginseng, and dragon's blood to simmer for two hours. It has a miraculous effect on damage to the spiritual root."

Qiulan placed the medicine bowl on the small table by the bedside and then carefully examined his complexion.

"You look much better today. When you came back yesterday, your face was frighteningly pale. I thought you were going to be bedridden for a long time."

"It's because of Senior Sister's medicine that it's so good." Li Feng smiled as he picked up the medicine bowl. The medicine soup was as black as ink and had a strong bitter smell.

He pinched his nose and gulped it down in one go, wincing at the bitterness.

Qiulan nodded in satisfaction, then pulled out an oil paper package from her sleeve: "I brought you two sugar cakes from Chen's Pastry Shop. They're fresh out of the oven and still warm. Have a sugar cake after you finish your medicine to ease the bitterness."

"Thank you, senior sister." Li Feng took the sugar cake and took a bite.

The sweet brown sugar filling melted in my mouth, effectively suppressing the bitterness of the medicine.

Qiu Lan sat down by the bed, watching Li Feng eat his pancake, and suddenly lowered her voice to ask, "Junior brother, tell me honestly, did you and Qiu Sheng sneak out last night?"

Li Feng continued chewing without changing his expression: "No, I slept in my room all night. Why do you ask that, Senior Sister?"

"Still pretending." Qiu Lan snorted, reached out and rubbed her fingers on his collar, getting a little bit of blackish-gray coal ash on her fingertips.

"What is this? You can find coal dust in your sleep? And Qiu Sheng actually got up early this morning to practice his martial arts, which is unusual for him. He used to hate it when asked to practice, but today he actually went to the yard to practice a couple of rounds of boxing. Isn't that strange?"

Li Feng cursed Qiu Sheng inwardly for being such a terrible teammate.

Even if you made a breakthrough, you don't need to be so high-profile. Isn't this just blatantly telling everyone that something fishy happened last night?

"Perhaps my senior brother's injuries have improved, and he's in a good mood so he wants to stretch his muscles and bones," Li Feng continued, pretending to be clueless.

Qiu Lan stared at him, then suddenly chuckled: "Alright, fine, don't tell me then. Anyway, you and Qiu Sheng are definitely up to something behind my back again."

"However, when Master went to change Qiusheng's dressing just now, he said that his ribs were healing much faster than expected, at least five or six days earlier. Master was wondering when Qiusheng's physical condition became so good."

Li Feng silently munched on the sugar cake, thinking to himself that it was the effect of tiger bone marrow.

But Qiu Sheng could never say those words.

"By the way, Junior Brother, have you prepared your medicinal bath for today?" Qiu Lan stood up.

"Master told you to go to the bathhouse after you finish your medicine. The medicinal soup has already been brewed and contains many herbs, which are said to be able to repair damage to your spiritual roots."

Li Feng nodded, stuffed the remaining sugar cake into his mouth, and followed Qiu Lan out the door.

The mortuary's bathhouse is a small, separate stone house located in a corner of the backyard.

In the middle of the stone house is a large bathtub paved with bluestone, and there is a fire channel at the bottom of the bathtub for heating.

At this moment, the bath was filled with dark brown medicinal soup, with a thick layer of medicinal residue floating on the surface.

Angelica sinensis, Ligusticum chuanxiong, safflower, peach kernel, Dipsacus asper, Drynaria fortunei, and several other spiritual herbs that Li Feng couldn't name were all boiled until thoroughly cooked.

The strong smell of medicine, mixed with water vapor, filled the entire stone house, and just smelling it made one feel more relaxed.

Master Si Mei was already waiting in the bathhouse.

He held a slender silver needle in his hand, its surface engraved with fine runes. It was a magical artifact specifically used to guide the medicinal power to penetrate the meridians.

"Take off your clothes and soak in the pool," the Taoist priest with four eyebrows said, pointing to the bath.

"Soak your feet for two hours, and do not come out in the middle. I will use silver needles to help you clear your meridians and guide the medicinal power into the cracks in your spiritual root."

Li Feng did as instructed, took off his Taoist robe, and stepped into the bath wearing only a pair of shorts.

The temperature of the medicinal soup was slightly higher than body temperature, and the moment you soaked in it, all the pores on your body opened up.

Countless tiny medicinal forces, like living things, burrowed into the skin through the pores and converged along the meridians towards the dantian.

The cracks in the spiritual root, soaked in the medicinal power, sent a tingling sensation through them.

Unlike the warm current brought by the tiger bone marrow last night, the medicinal bath had a gentler, more subtle effect.

The Taoist priest with four eyebrows circled behind him and inserted silver needles into several acupoints on his back.

After inserting the three needles into Lingtai, Zhiyang, and Mingmen, Li Feng felt a cool sensation flowing from the tips of the silver needles into his meridians.

Guided by this energy, the medicinal power in the herbal decoction, like tangled hair combed, became orderly and flowed systematically along the meridians to the dantian.

"This morning, Senior Brother Lei Jian led his men back to the mountain gate."

Master Si Mei spoke as he performed acupuncture.

"Of the thirty-four ghosts that escaped, thirty-two were captured. The remaining two drifted to the southern border, beyond the tracking range of the Innate Bagua Formation. Senior Brother Lei Jian said he would send a message to his fellow Maoshan disciples in the southern border, asking them to help search for them and also investigate the real cause of the strange deaths."

"What will happen if those two ghosts can't be found?" Li Feng asked.

The Taoist priest with four eyebrows spoke with a slightly more relaxed tone.

"It won't be a big deal. I've already communicated with Bai Wuchang using a communication talisman. The thirty-two ghosts have been sent back, and with the addition of the soul-soothing incantation and the guiding lamp, Bai Wuchang and Hei Wuchang said they can report back."

"Once the procedures at the underworld are completed, this matter will be considered closed. As for the ten billion ghost money, Aunt He has already started working on it and should be able to raise the funds by the end of the month."

He suddenly changed the subject: "Aunt He sent Qiulan with a letter, saying that her condition for agreeing to help was that I personally go to Hejia Village to see her."

The four-browed Taoist priest's silver needles stopped on Li Feng's back.

"You little brats, are you gossiping about your master behind his back again?"

Li Feng lay on the edge of the bathtub, pretending not to hear anything.

Master Four Eyebrows sighed and continued administering acupuncture: "Very well, we really owe her a lot for what happened during the Ghost Festival. Once the paper money is finished, I will personally go to Hejia Village to thank her in person. As for the rest, we'll talk about it later."