Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior

However, this raised a suspicion in Su Mu's heart. He noticed that the aura around Yan Xiaolan didn't give him a feeling of being inflated. By rights, a realm achieved through external means should be similar to taking 'Tendon Pill' or like those four guardians of Black Mountain.

Yet, Yan Xiaolan's current situation was different. Though her foundation seemed unorthodox and contrary to normal principles, it was surprisingly solid and stable. She just needed to complement her Refining Force and Bone Forging in the future without exhausting her Martial Dao potential.

"Could it be that the sequence doesn't really matter in the lower three grades Body Tempering Realm... No, you still need to cultivate power first, but after that, you don't necessarily have to forge bones first; you can refine the tendons instead?"

Su Mu on the wheelchair closed his eyes thoughtfully, falling into contemplation, and after a while, he reopened them. Now it seemed that his conjecture might indeed be possible, but Yan Xiaolan's situation was too unique to be explained by common logic.

At that moment, Su Mu stopped pondering further and began to examine the spoils from last night's elimination of the three Changping Demon Dao adherents.

With a flash of spiritual light, a stack of blood-stained silver notes appeared in Su Mu's hand, totaling two thousand three hundred taels from the three corpses.

"Not bad."

It could have been considered quite a fortune in the past, but at this moment, Su Mu was not particularly impressed, given that he had over fifty thousand taels in silver notes in his Sumeru Ring, of which the Guo Family from Canghe County contributed nineteen thousand taels from buying the Red Feather Saber, adding up to thirty-nine thousand taels altogether.

Su Mu quickly counted through the remaining items and soon found two secret manuals and a sandalwood box.

"Splitting Snake Sword, Stone-Splitting Saber... A sword and a saber, two seventh-grade martial arts. This Changping Demon Dao's background is indeed not trivial."

Finally, Su Mu opened the sandalwood box and his brows raised in a slight frown as he gazed upon the small gray-black pill the size of a jujube pit, which emitted a thick and pungent stench.

Su Mu's nose twitched slightly, discerning the smell of human blood, and noticed an indistinct pale white pattern on it.

Given Su Mu's now perfected alchemy skills and near-perfect medical skills, the pill was of high quality, though evidently not a benign one, crafted using extremely cruel methods, likely using humans as refining materials, as mentioned by the trio before.

For a moment, Su Mu contemplated crushing the pill, but eventually dismissed the thought, his focus settling on that subtle pale white pattern, reminding him of the pill acquired from Black Insect Elder.

Previously, he hadn't thought much of it, but now, having forged a half-step seventh-grade treasure artifact, he understood: although the paths of craft are wide, they inevitably converge.

There are similarities between artifact refining and alchemy. Just as there are grade-entering treasure artifacts, there are grade-entering elixirs, and this pattern is likely akin to the grade-entering artifact pattern.

"Are both this pill and the one from Black Insect Elder grade-entering elixirs?"

Su Mu's eyes narrowed as this thought emerged in his mind, recalling that some high-quality Jade Bone Pills made from Demon Blood exhibited similar white specks.

"I see now... Perhaps it's a deficiency in my alchemy skills; otherwise, I could refine the Jade Bone Pill into a grade-entering elixir, which explains its powerful effects, capable of further tempering bones after the Third Bone Forging."

Thinking of this, Su Mu couldn't help but lament the importance of insight. Previously, he might never have realized this.

Having inventoried the spoils, Su Mu on the wheelchair closed his eyes again to continue inferring Monkey Play and Crane Play.

The night passed silently.

Before dawn, Yan Xiaolan awoke on the bed and immediately sat up with a start.

"Where am I... Am I still alive?"

Checking her body, Yan Xiaolan quickly noticed that the toxins within her had been expelled, and as she lowered her gaze, her face instantly reddened, realizing someone had tampered with her clothes.

Calming herself down, Yan Xiaolan finally spotted a figure in a wheelchair not far away, at which moment she trembled fully understanding what had happened.

Only then did Su Mu slowly open his eyes.

Upon seeing Su Mu awake, Yan Xiaolan's eyes flickered but she quickly stood up from the bed and deeply bowed with clasped fists, "Thank you, senior, for saving my life... Senior, what is this?"

In the next moment, the gratitude and guilt on Yan Xiaolan's face instantly turned into astonishment, seeing Su Mu stand up from the wheelchair and then sit back down.

"Can you tell me about Fire Sparrow Blood? I don't like being deceived."

Su Mu spoke indifferently, causing Yan Xiaolan to tremble once again, recalling the fierce scene of Su Mu slaying three men in an instant in the forest, she gulped promptly.

"Senior, I wouldn't dare deceive you. As you have seen, I could refine my tendons successfully before the age of twenty precisely because I consumed quite a bit of Fire Sparrow Blood!"

Saying this, Yan Xiaolan gritted her teeth and removed her mask, revealing a youthful and striking face; anyone who saw would know she was under twenty; yet, Su Mu's face showed no ripple of emotion.

Yan Xiaolan was stunned for a moment before realizing that since the senior had expelled the toxins from her body, he surely knew of it already.

"Tell me, how do you intend to negotiate?"

Su Mu thought to himself it was as expected, and without wasting words, he got straight to the point.

"Senior, my name is Yan Xiaolan. I belong to the Yan Family Ridge, Yan Family. Years ago, my family fell victim to an attack from Changping Dao's demons, leaving us destroyed, and even my little brother has been harmed..."