Chapter 9: The Lin Mansion Gains Fame

"What? How could Chu Fengmian suddenly appear behind Lin Mo?"

"Just now, wasn't Chu Fengmian being driven back by Lin Mo's attacks? I must be seeing things."

Voices of astonishment kept rising.

Outside the courtyard, the disciples of the Lin residence could hardly believe what they were seeing, their eyes wide open, trying to understand what was going on.

Just moments ago, they had seen Chu Fengmian being pursued by Lin Mo, but almost in the blink of an eye, Chu Fengmian had appeared behind Lin Mo and defeated him with a single punch.

What exactly had happened, even they, who witnessed it, could hardly comprehend.

It seemed as though there were two Chu Fengmians just now.

Only Chu Fengmian himself knew exactly what had just happened.

Phantom.

The Chu Fengmian who had been retreating under Lin Mo's attacks was actually a phantom conjured by Chu Fengmian's use of the Phantom movement technique.

This phantom, half illusion, half reality, possessed all of Chu Fengmian's power, but could only last for three seconds.

Just then, this phantom had exchanged two punches with Lin Mo, the power contained within making Lin Mo believe that the phantom was Chu Fengmian himself, leading him to pursue it without realizing that Chu Fengmian's real body had already stealthily moved behind him.

One punch had then thoroughly defeated Lin Mo.

This Phantom movement technique was one of the strongest movement techniques in the martial continent; when cultivated to a high level, the phantoms it created could last for several days.

With Chu Fengmian's current strength, he could only sustain it for about three seconds, but that was enough to defeat Lin Mo with a single strike.

"Where have you stored the pills?"

Chu Fengmian walked over to Lin Mo, who had fallen to the ground, and stepped on his chest.

Lin Mo, whose Spirit Vein was already broken, spat out quite a bit of blood under this foot.

"I... don't... know."

Lin Mo stuttered out his response.

"Not talking?"

A hint of murderous intent shone in Chu Fengmian's eyes as he lifted his foot and stepped on Lin Mo's chest again.

This time, Chu Fengmian also channeled his Spiritual Power into his foot, almost making Lin Mo feel as if his internal organs were being crushed.

He was half-dead.

"In... in the room under the bed."

This time Lin Mo dared not withhold the information any further. He had realized that the current Chu Fengmian was completely different from before—cruel and ruthless. If he didn't tell, he might truly die under Chu Fengmian's foot today.

A broken Spirit Vein could still be treated, but death left no options for recovery.

"Get lost."

Chu Fengmian glanced at Lin Mo and kicked him out of the courtyard.

"This courtyard now belongs to Chu."

His cold words made almost all the onlooking disciples of the Lin residence hastily retreat.

This battle had significantly boosted Chu Fengmian's reputation within the Lin residence's external estate, placing his strength at the high end by defeating both Lin Mo and Lin Ye.

The only person stronger than them was Lin Yang, the deputy head of the external estate.

The number one fighter in the external estate was Li Xing, a seventh-level Bone Tempering Martial Artist.

The Li family was the most prominent family in the external estate of the Lin residence, with the internal positions held by the Lin family members, while the external estate was comprised of families affiliated with the Lin family.

Among them, the Li family was a major family in the external estate. Li Xing, the top prodigy of the Li family, had reached the seventh level of the Bone Tempering realm at a young age.

Within the Lin Residence, he was considered an upper-middle-class individual.

For this reason, he had obtained the position of deputy steward of the outer residence. Had it not been for the fact that the chief steward was Chu Fengmian, Li Xing would have definitely been the chief steward. That's why Li Xing deeply despised Chu Fengmian.

"If I defeat Lin Ye and Lin Mo and even take over their courtyard, it's likely that Li Xing will soon come knocking."

Sitting in his room, Chu Fengmian thought to himself.

Both Lin Ye and Lin Mo were Li Xing's subordinates. In the outer residence of the Lin Residence, Li Xing nearly had absolute control. To a great extent, Chu Fengmian's situation in the outer residence was targeted by Li Xing.

"Let the soldiers block water and cover the earth with soil. Now, as long as I am strong enough, even if Li Xing comes, I will not refuse anyone."

Chu Fengmian sat on the bed without a trace of panic in his heart.

Li Xing, the deputy supervisor of the outer residence, was someone Chu Fengmian would eventually have to defeat.

What he needed to do now was simply enhance his strength.

In front of Chu Fengmian, there were over thirty jade bottles of various sizes, all filled with medicinal pills.

Besides those on the stone table, which belonged to Chu Fengmian's salary, most were savings from Lin Mo and Lin Ye.

In the outer residence of the Lin Residence, Lin Mo and Lin Ye were somewhat of local tyrants, often deducting the salary of many disciples of the Lin Residence.

Among these jade bottles, there were as many as five hundred Bone Tempering Pills, and several of them showed a touch of azure, being Body Refining Pills, totaling twenty.

Ten of these were from Chu Fengmian's salary for the month, and the other ten were accumulated by Lin Mo and Lin Ye.

Twenty Body Refining Pills and five hundred Bone Tempering Pills constituted a considerable fortune. Previously, Chu Fengmian had saved up for a long time, only managing to accumulate thirty-five Bone Tempering Pills.

This time, he made quite a windfall from Lin Mo and Lin Ye.

"These pills were probably saved by Lin Mo to break through to the sixth layer of the Bone Tempering stage. Now, they are mine to use."

Chu Fengmian glanced at the pills and didn't hold back.

He immediately grabbed a bottle of Bone Tempering Pills and dumped them into his mouth.

In one breath, Chu Fengmian swallowed ten Bone Tempering Pills.

If others saw this, they might think Chu Fengmian had truly gone mad. Refining medicinal pills should be done gradually, not hastily for immediate benefits. If one swallowed too many pills at once, it was possible that the Spiritual Power couldn't be refined, which could lead to a bursting body and death.

However, in his previous life, Chu Fengmian had refined even heavenly-grade pills. These mere low-grade yellow pills would pose no issue. If not for considering his body's frailty, he could probably swallow a hundred at once without trouble.

After swallowing these ten Bone Tempering Pills, the Spiritual Power they radiated was easily condensed by Chu Fengmian, the essence fully absorbed while the impurities were expelled from his body.

After refining a hundred Bone Tempering Pills, Chu Fengmian felt that the Spiritual Power of the pills hardly affected his body anymore.

After all, the Bone Tempering Pill was just a low-grade yellow medicinal pill, effective only for those under the fifth layer of the Bone Tempering stage.

To progress further, he had to consume higher-grade pills.

Chu Fengmian shifted his gaze to two distinctly different jade bottles, picked up one, and poured out a blue-green Spirit Pill from it.

Body Refining Pill, a mid-grade yellow pill.

The moment the Body Refining Pill entered his mouth, its Spiritual Power was ten times stronger than that of the Bone Tempering Pill.

Chu Fengmian immediately felt the third Spirit Vein within his body showing signs of breaking through.

Three Spirit Veins qualified one as a Martial Artist with a decent cultivation base, making it possible to transcend the Bone Tempering Stage and surge towards the higher Body Refining Stage.

Chu Fengmian was cultivating the Bone-breaking Rebirth Technique, where most of the Spiritual Power from each refined medicinal pill was stored in the Spirit Veins.

When enough Spiritual Power accumulated, it would break and regenerate, forming new Spirit Veins.

Under the power of the Body Refining Pill, Chu Fengmian already felt the third Spirit Vein in his body beginning to shatter.

Every breaking of Spirit Veins was extremely dangerous; failure to recongregate and reshape the Spiritual Power afterward could result in paralysis.

Every cultivation session for Chu Fengmian was effectively a gamble.