Martial Sage from the Vajra Skill

But the courtyard was empty. The Pill Master probably only goes there to practice alchemy at a set time. The identity the broker found was just a fake.

But as long as he continues to make pills for the Zhu Family, he won’t be able to get away.

"What’s our next move? Please instruct me, Brother."

Su Jianye’s expression turned vicious. "Gather our best men and stake out that place. The moment that Pill Master shows up, I want him killed on sight."

He had no intention of taking him alive. If they captured him, the Zhu Family would surely not let the matter rest. It was better to just kill him and be done with it; the Zhu Family wouldn’t go to war with the Su Family over a dead man.

"Yes!"

Su Jiangong clasped his fist in salute and departed.

"Master, it’s terrible! The young miss is acting up again! The mistress requests your presence," a servant hurried over.

Su Jianye’s face darkened. He strode to Su Man’s courtyard and snapped, "You brat! What are you causing a scene about now?"

Su Man’s face was a mask of fury. "I’m going to avenge Su Chen! Xu Yang killed him! He’s the only one who had a grudge against him. On the day it happened to Su Chen, Xu Yang was seen in the city."

Su Jianye’s expression was as cold as ice. "Pig brain! Xu Yang is only at Gang Qi Minor Achievement. How could he possibly have killed Xiao Chen? If he *did* kill Xiao Chen, his talent would be more terrifying than even Li Chuyang’s."

"A person like that... Forget killing Xiao Chen; even if he killed you, our Su Family wouldn’t dare retaliate."

Hearing this, the fight went out of Su Man. Powerlessly, she said, "I know, Father... but my heart aches."

...

[Fuyue Bear Scripture Gang Qi Chapter·Small Achievement (3991/4000)]

After consuming the fourth Gathering Essence Pill, his Fuyue Bear Scripture was just a step away from Great Success.

Xu Yang bolted his door from the inside and practiced the Golden Gang Skill for several more hours. Only after confirming that his Gang Qi hadn’t become impure from consuming too many elixirs did he begin his attempt to break through to Gang Qi Great Success.

’Thank goodness for the Golden Gang Skill. Anyone else, even someone with an A-class Root Bone, wouldn’t dare try to break through to Gang Qi Great Success so quickly after taking this many elixirs in such a short time.’

Elixirs could rapidly raise one’s cultivation, but they weren’t without their downsides. If one’s Gang Qi was impure, breakthroughs could easily fail.

Normally, after taking an elixir, a person would have to spend a great deal of time refining their Gang Qi to purify it.

But he had been constantly practicing the Golden Gang Skill, so his Gang Qi didn’t have this problem. Coupled with his Perfect Root Bone, his foundation was terrifyingly solid.

He took out the fifth Gathering Essence Pill and consumed it. The Fuyue Bear Scripture began to circulate with a ROAR.

A faint golden light emanated from Xu Yang’s body. His Gang Qi roared like a river inside him, causing his blood and qi to surge in tandem.

As the medicinal power of the Gathering Essence Pill was refined into Gang Qi, his Gang Qi reached a peak and stopped increasing, as if constrained by an invisible force.

The Fuyue Bear Scripture circulated frantically, beginning its assault on the bottleneck.

CRACK!

He had a Perfect Root Bone, and his Gang Qi was the Golden Gang Qi cultivated from the Golden Gang Skill. A bottleneck of this minor realm was nothing to him.

After just a few Circulations, he felt the invisible shackles within him shatter, and his Gang Qi began to increase at a terrifying rate.

Xu Yang felt a tremor run through him as his bones and tendons hummed. A much more tyrannical power broke free from every corner of his body, and his aura climbed steadily higher.

A powerful surge of Gang Qi erupted from his pores, inflating his robes and causing his body to slowly float up from the bed.

It was a good thing the houses in the Outer Disciple residences were built with special materials, or the vibrations would have surely brought it down.

His whole body glowed with a faint golden light. In the time it took to complete just a few Circulations, the amount of his Gang Qi had nearly doubled.

His meridians, Dantian, and even his flesh and blood were all filled with faint golden Gang Qi.

[Fuyue Bear Scripture Gang Qi Chapter·Great Success]

"Success!"

Opening his eyes, Xu Yang couldn’t suppress the joy on his face.

He had reached Gang Qi Great Success.

Looking at the entire Outer Disciple division, among his batch of Dragon Ascending Disciples, he was definitely the first to reach Gang Qi Great Success.

Even people like Li Chuyang, Du Chuan, and Jiang Fan were still trying to break through the bottleneck to Gang Qi Great Success.

’Is this Gang Qi Great Success?’

With a thought, Xu Yang’s Gang Qi surged out, forming a thick layer of Protective Gang Qi around his body.

Before, his Protective Gang Qi was only one inch thick, but now he could condense a layer three inches thick—a threefold increase.

’A typical Martial Artist at Gang Qi Great Success wouldn’t be able to break through my Protective Gang Qi now.’

Before, a Martial Artist at Gang Qi Great Success could still break through his Protective Gang Qi and trade a few blows with him. But now, he was confident that few at the same realm could pierce it.

Reaching Gang Qi Great Success didn’t mean he could immediately aim for the Marrow Cleansing realm.

His Gang Qi cultivation had not yet reached its limit. When Gang Qi was truly pushed to its peak, the Protective Gang Qi would be a foot thick.

’A foot-thick layer of Protective Gang Qi... given the tyrannical nature of Golden Gang Qi, I’m afraid only a Bone Marrow Cleansing Martial Artist could break it.’

For the next few days, Xu Yang continued to consolidate his cultivation.

Whenever he went out, he would activate the Breath Concealment Skill, hiding his Gang Qi Great Success cultivation.

On this day, Xu Yang finally finished consolidating his cultivation.

In high spirits, he changed into a clean set of Outer Disciple training clothes and pushed open the door to his room.

In the courtyard, he saw Zhang Yong, Sun Tao, and the others gathered together.

Zhang Yong was glowing with health, his injuries clearly healed. His entire aura seemed more condensed than before. Jiang Ping, on the other hand, looked more and more dispirited.

"Li Chuyang reached Gang Qi Great Success yesterday, and I’m still stuck at the bottleneck of Gang Qi Minor Achievement. The gap between people is just too big," Sun Tao sighed.

Xu Yang’s interest was piqued. ’Li Chuyang reached Gang Qi Great Success?’

’The number one of the Ten Heroes is truly impressive, only a few days behind me.’

"Why are you comparing yourself to him? With Li Chuyang’s family background, he could eat one Guiyuan Pill a day without any problem. Can you even afford one Guiyuan Pill a month?" Jiang Fan said, shaking his head.

The gap between Sun Tao and Li Chuyang wasn’t just talent; it was also family background and resources.

Li Chuyang could take a Guiyuan Pill every day, while Sun Tao couldn’t even get one a month. There was simply no comparison.

Li Chuyang had already been attempting to break through the bottleneck to Gang Qi Great Success over a month ago.

"For those of us from ordinary backgrounds, we can only risk our lives to keep up with these geniuses." Zhang Yong’s eyes burned with determination.

Once he had fully absorbed the benefits from his recent gains, he planned to head back into the Yunling Mountain Range to test his mettle.

Xu Yang walked over and joined the idle chatter, learning that Du Chuan, the second of the Ten Heroes, was also close to reaching Gang Qi Great Success.

"I should also be able to reach Gang Qi Great Success in the next few days," Jiang Fan said with a smile.

His words drew another round of astonished gasps from everyone present.

"We’re all among the Ten Heroes, but we’re clearly not on the same level. Brother Xu, I remember you only reached Gang Qi Minor Achievement a few months ago, right?"

Xu Cheng looked at Xu Yang with a smile and asked, "How long do you think it’ll take you to reach Gang Qi Great Success?"

Xu Yang smiled. "Barring any surprises, probably about a year."

"If you were willing to go treasure hunting in the Yunling Mountain Range, with your talent, you could reach Gang Qi Great Success in half a year at most," Zhang Yong said.

It wasn’t talent Xu Yang lacked, but resources.

He wanted to persuade Xu Yang to team up with him and venture into the Yunling Mountain Range, but Xu Yang was clearly unswayed and avoided the topic.

"You’ll regret it when my cultivation surpasses yours one day," Zhang Yong said.

If Xu Yang continued to hide in the Purple Sun Sect and refused to take risks, he was confident he could surpass Xu Yang’s cultivation.

Time passed slowly. Xu Yang took the remaining Gathering Essence Pills while also taking on a mission to patrol the sect gate for twenty contribution points a month.

The contribution points weren’t much, but the job had the advantage of being safe. Few people had the guts to try and force their way into the Purple Sun Sect.

...

「Cyan Yang City」

Zhu Bin waited at the pharmacy for an entire day, but the Pill Master never appeared. He immediately realized something was wrong. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The Pill Master had agreed so readily only to placate the Zhu Family; he had no intention of refining any more Blood Coagulation Pills for them.

"Patriarch, this is bad!"

Zhu Bin rushed back to the Zhu Family estate. "The Pill Master didn’t show up! He’s stopped cooperating with us."

He had been against pressuring the man from the start, but the Patriarch had insisted on using their exclusive partnership as leverage. Now the man had simply disappeared, and the Zhu Family was in deep trouble.

All the markets they had cornered with the Blood Coagulation Pill were about to revert to how they were before.

"What? He didn’t show up? But didn’t we have an agreement?" Zhu Xiancheng’s face fell.

Could it be that because of this small matter, the Pill Master would stop refining Blood Coagulation Pills altogether?

Who else besides the Zhu Family would he dare sell the Blood Coagulation Pills to?

Zhu Bin said anxiously, "I waited for him all day at the shop, but he never came. I also sent someone to check that courtyard—the medicinal ingredients are all untouched. He must have stopped cooperating because we asked him to increase the quantity."

Zhu Xiancheng was furious and flustered. "How dare he? Does he not want our Zhu Family’s Guiyuan Pills anymore?"

It was precisely because he held these pills over the man’s head that he had the confidence to work the Pill Master like a beast of burden. Now that the man didn’t even want the Guiyuan Pills, he was completely out of options.

"Find him! Find him for me!" Zhu Xiancheng roared.

But this was nothing more than a powerless rage. The Su Family had gone to great lengths and still failed to find the man; how could the Zhu Family possibly discover the Pill Master’s true identity?