Volume 1, Chapter 26 – Cleansing Pill

Shi Lan stood up and summoned the system panel.

Host: Shi Lan

Cultivation: Fourth stage of the Body Tempering Realm

Aptitude: 7 (one in ten thousand)

Cultivation Arts: Vajra Divine Fist (minor completion), Jade Tempering Art (second layer)

Divine Ability: Heaven’s Eye Qi-Sight (three-star)

Strength Evaluation: First step into the Martial Dao

Looking at the panel before her, Shi Lan once again thought of that ever-inconspicuous All-Heavens Samsara System. The name sounded ridiculously impressive, but it was basically useless.

Shi Lan shook her head and tapped into the lottery interface.

【Two basic lottery draws remaining. Proceed with the draw?】

“Start the draw.”

The lottery wheel spun rapidly. Countless items appeared and vanished upon it until, at last, it came to an abrupt stop.

【Congratulations to the host on drawing a one-star item: Bedroom Arts.】

Shi Lan’s mind went blank. What the hell was that?

She hurriedly opened the system’s temporary storage and took Bedroom Arts out.

A series of exclamations sounded in the room.

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“Hiss—impressive!”

“You can do that?!”

“How is that position even possible?!”

Half an hour later, Shi Lan reluctantly closed the booklet, having learned quite a few new poses.

Bedroom Arts was a dual cultivation technique. There were some rather ingenious things about its internal theory, but it seemed incomplete—when it came to the grand Dao of harmonizing yin and yang, it was maddeningly vague.

Once mastered, Bedroom Arts would let you “attend to ten women in a single night” without issue.

And what did that have to do with her?

Thinking of this, Shi Lan moodily sent the booklet back into the system’s temporary storage and spun the lottery wheel again.

【Congratulations to the host on drawing a three-star item: Ziwei Seven-Star Halberd (Replica).】

A weapon?

Shi Lan opened the temporary storage and pulled out a long case, almost as tall as she was.

“So heavy…”

Straining a bit, she hefted the long case onto the floor.

At her current cultivation of the fourth stage of the Body Tempering Realm, plus the buffs from the Vajra Divine Fist and Jade Tempering Art, her raw strength exceeded five hundred jin, about on par with an average martial artist at the fifth stage of the Body Tempering Realm.

With that kind of strength, even moving this case was a bit of work. Whatever was inside had to weigh close to three hundred jin.

The moment she opened the case, a majestic, awe-inspiring aura surged out and struck her mind like a blow.

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Inside lay a war halberd split into two segments. The whole thing was a deep violet; the cross-shaped halberd blade was pure white like snow, exuding a biting chill.

Shi Lan took out the halberd and fitted the pieces together. The shaft felt warm and smooth in her hands, like fine jade. Faint dark patterns were engraved along its length, keeping it from feeling slippery at all.

The halberd was nine feet four inches long, nearly half again as tall as she was.

A weapon this long and this heavy was obviously not very suitable for Shi Lan to use in her current state.

Moreover, from the Ziwei Seven-Star Halberd she could sense a very unusual aura. This was definitely no ordinary weapon—it was just that her current cultivation and eye for such things were too shallow to see what was truly remarkable about it.

“System, what’s the origin of the Ziwei Seven-Star Halberd?”

【The Ziwei Seven-Star Halberd is the personal weapon of the North Pole Ziwei Great Emperor. Item rank: nine-star. The host has drawn a crude replica.】

Shi Lan nodded. A three-star item was already the best thing that could come out of a basic lottery.

Last time she’d drawn Heaven’s Eye Qi-Sight; this time she got the Ziwei Seven-Star Halberd. Maybe her luck really wasn’t bad.

With her two lottery chances spent, Shi Lan took out the other main quest reward: the Cleansing Pill.

The Cleansing Pill was much larger than the Body Tempering Pill. Its outer surface was a dark red, about the size of a baby’s fist.

“System, what does this pill do? How should I take it?”

【Cleansing Pill: Has the effect of remolding the body and washing away impurities. It can help the host expel accumulated impurities from the body, returning the host to the golden age for cultivating the martial path. Take it directly.】

Shi Lan had been about to start right away, but after glancing at the sky, she gave up on that idea. Refining a single Body Tempering Pill had taken her from last night all the way until now.

The Cleansing Pill’s medicinal power was definitely much stronger than the Body Tempering Pill’s and would naturally take even longer to refine.

Zique would be bringing her medicinal dinner soon; it would obviously be inconvenient to take it right now.

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Before long, Zique arrived as usual with the medicinal meal.

“I don’t want the medicinal dinner tonight. I’m not eating.”

After turning down the evening meal, Shi Lan took out the Cleansing Pill and put it in her mouth. The pill melted the instant it entered, turning into a slightly cool liquid that slid down her throat.

She didn’t feel the familiar surge of heat. Just as she was wondering about it, a pain like her bones being ground to powder erupted from within her body.

Shi Lan’s expression twisted in an instant. She collapsed to the floor and curled up.

Assaulted by wave after wave of agony, she clenched her fists so hard her nails pierced into her palms, and bright red blood seeped from between her fingers.

Who could possibly endure this…

Shi Lan groaned in pain, her eyes shot through with blood.

Shi Feng, who was nearby, heard that something sounded wrong. With a single leap he entered the courtyard, calling loudly, “Young Master, what’s wrong?” As he spoke, he was already heading for the door.

Hearing his voice, Shi Lan struggled to force out a reply. “N-no… I’m fine. I just… overate at lunch.”

Overate?

Shi Feng froze for a moment, then asked worriedly, “Are you really all right?”

“I’m fine!” Shi Lan shouted back, forcing the groan that was about to spill from between her teeth back down.

After spending so long fighting in the virtual space, she had basically gotten used to the pain of things like losing a hand or a foot, or breaking a few bones. But the agony brought by the Cleansing Pill was ten times worse than that!

She could barely control herself.

After this pain lasted for nearly half an hour, it finally began to fade. Before Shi Lan could even breathe a sigh of relief, she felt all the pores on her body suddenly open, and threads of blood laced with impurities started seeping from her skin.

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In just a moment, she was dyed red from head to toe, and a pungent smell of blood filled the room.

Outside, Shi Feng caught the scent of blood and his expression changed. He slapped at the door.

“Young Master, are you really all right? Can you open the door and let me in?”

“Don’t come in! I’m really fine,” Shi Lan shouted, forcing herself up from the floor and staggering toward the bathing room.

“Open the door and let me have a look, all right?”

No response came from inside.

Smelling the blood grow stronger and stronger, Shi Feng simply couldn’t calm down. He sent out a thread of Innate true qi to slide the door lock open. As soon as the door swung inward, a wave of bloody stench hit him in the face.

Seeing the large patches of blood on the floor, Shi Feng’s expression changed drastically. Following the trail of blood, he hurried to the bathing room door and knocked again.

“Young Master? Are you in there?”

“Don’t come in, I’m bathing!”

Hearing the knock, Shi Lan—who had just stepped into the bath—was so startled she nearly jumped out, and she shouted back at the top of her lungs.

As soon as she finished, she suddenly realized: in Shi Feng’s eyes, she was a man. They were both big, strapping fellows. What was so shameful about taking a bath?

Thinking of this, Shi Lan hurriedly grabbed a piece of clothing to shield herself and stared at the wooden door in fright.

Outside the bathing room, Shi Feng did not barge in as she had imagined. Instead, he fell silent.