Chapter 9: The Lin Mansion Gains Fame

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

"Wasn't Chu Fengmian just being beaten back by Lin Mo? Am I seeing things?"

Sounds of astonishment rang out incessantly.

The Lin Mansion disciples outside the courtyard could hardly believe the scene before them, their eyes wide as they tried to figure out what had happened.

Just a moment ago, everyone had seen Chu Fengmian being pursued by Lin Mo, yet in the blink of an eye, Chu Fengmian had arrived behind Lin Mo and defeated him with a single punch.

Even having seen it with their own eyes, they could not comprehend what had transpired.

It was as if there had been two Chu Fengmians just now.

Only Chu Fengmian himself knew exactly what had happened.

A phantom.

The Chu Fengmian who had been beaten back by Lin Mo was actually a phantom image condensed by Chu Fengmian using the Phantom Movement Technique.

This phantom was half-illusory and half-real, possessing all of Chu Fengmian's strength, but it could only be maintained for three seconds.

Just now, this phantom had exchanged blows with Lin Mo, and the power contained within those strikes made Lin Mo believe the phantom was the real Chu Fengmian. This led him to pursue it, failing to notice that the real Chu Fengmian had secretly circled behind him.

One punch was all it took to completely defeat Lin Mo.

This Phantom Movement Technique was one of the strongest movement techniques in the Martial Saint Continent. When cultivated to perfection, the condensed phantom could last for several days.

With Chu Fengmian's current strength, he could only maintain it for about three seconds, but that was enough to defeat Lin Mo in one blow.

"Where are the medicinal pills you've hoarded?"

Chu Fengmian walked up to the fallen Lin Mo and stepped on his chest.

Lin Mo, whose spiritual veins were already shattered, spat out a mouthful of blood under the pressure of that foot.

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

Lin Mo stammered out the words.

"You won't say?"

A hint of killing intent flashed in Chu Fengmian's eyes. He lifted his foot again and stomped down on Lin Mo's chest.

This time, Chu Fengmian channeled his spiritual power. With that single stomp, Lin Mo felt as if his internal organs were about to be crushed out of his body.

He was half-dead.

"It's, it's under the bed in the room."

This time, Lin Mo dared not hide anything further. He could see that the current Chu Fengmian was completely different from before; such ruthlessness meant that if he didn't speak, he might truly die under Chu Fengmian's foot today.

Shattered spiritual veins could be healed, but if one were dead, there was no way to come back to life.

"Get lost."

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

"From now on, this courtyard belongs to me."

With those cold words, the Lin Mansion disciples watching outside the courtyard almost all scrambled away in a panic.

This battle made Chu Fengmian's reputation in the outer sect of the Lin Mansion resound loudly. Being able to defeat both Lin Ye and Lin Mo, Chu Fengmian's current strength placed him among the elite of the outer sect.

The only one stronger than those two was Lin Yang, the deputy manager of the outer sect.

The strongest person in the outer sect was Li Xing, a martial artist at the peak of the seventh level of the Bone Tempering Realm.

The Li family was the most prominent family in the outer sect. Within the Lin Mansion, key positions were held by members of the Lin family, but the outer sect was composed of families attached to the Lin family.

The Li family was one of the major families in the outer sect, and Li Xing was their top genius, having entered the seventh level of the Bone Tempering Realm at a young age.

Even in the inner sect of the Lin Mansion, he would be considered a mid-to-upper-tier figure.

Because of this, he had obtained the position of deputy manager of the outer sect. If it weren't for the fact that the head manager was Chu Fengmian, Li Xing would surely have been the head manager. For this reason, Li Xing hated Chu Fengmian to the bone.

"If I've defeated Lin Ye and Lin Mo, and even seized their courtyard, I fear Li Xing will come knocking soon," Chu Fengmian thought to himself while sitting in his room.

Lin Ye and Lin Mo were both subordinates of Li Xing. In the outer sect of the Lin Mansion, Li Xing was a figure who could cover the sky with one hand. Chu Fengmian's situation in the outer sect was largely due to Li Xing's targeting.

"When soldiers come, block them; when water comes, cover it with earth. Now that I have strength, even if Li Xing comes, I will not turn him away."

Chu Fengmian sat on the bed, feeling no panic at all.

Li Xing, this deputy manager of the outer sect, was someone Chu Fengmian would have to defeat sooner or later.

The only thing to do now was to improve his strength.

In front of Chu Fengmian sat more than thirty jade bottles of various sizes, all filled with medicinal pills.

Aside from those on the stone table that were originally his own salary, most were the savings of Lin Ye and Lin Mo.

Lin Ye and Lin Mo were local bullies in the outer sect, and many disciples' salaries had been extorted by them.

Now, among these jade bottles, there were five hundred Bone Tempering Pills, and twenty Body Forging Pills, which emitted a faint blue-green hue.

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

Twenty Body Forging Pills and five hundred Bone Tempering Pills—this was a massive fortune. Chu Fengmian had once spent a long time saving up just thirty-five Bone Tempering Pills.

He had made a windfall from Lin Ye and Lin Mo.

"These pills must have been saved by Lin Mo to make a breakthrough to the sixth level of the Bone Tempering Realm. Now, they belong to me."

Chu Fengmian looked at the pills and did not stand on ceremony.

He immediately picked up a bottle of Bone Tempering Pills and poured them directly into his mouth.

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

If anyone else saw this, they might think Chu Fengmian had gone mad. Refining medicinal pills required a gradual approach; one could not be overly eager for success. Swallowing too many at once could lead to an inability to refine the spiritual power, resulting in the body exploding and death.

However, in his previous life, Chu Fengmian had refined even Heaven-grade pills. These minor Yellow-grade pills—if not for the fact that he was considering the fragility of his current body—would have been fine even if he swallowed a hundred at once.

After swallowing the ten Bone Tempering Pills, the spiritual power they emitted was easily gathered by Chu Fengmian. The refined spiritual energy was absorbed effortlessly, while the impurities were expelled from his body.

After swallowing and refining a hundred Bone Tempering Pills, Chu Fengmian felt that the spiritual power of these pills no longer had much effect on his body.

Bone Tempering Pills were, after all, the lowest-tier Yellow-grade low-rank pills, effective only for martial artists below the fifth level of the Bone Tempering Realm.

To advance further, he would need to consume higher-grade pills.

Chu Fengmian turned his gaze to two different jade bottles, picked one up, poured out a blue-green pill, and placed it in his mouth.

Body Forging Pill, a Yellow-grade mid-rank pill.

As soon as the Body Forging Pill entered his mouth, the spiritual power was ten times stronger than that of a Bone Tempering Pill.

Chu Fengmian immediately began to feel that his third spiritual vein was on the verge of breaking through.

Only with three spiritual veins could one be considered a martial artist with true cultivation potential, capable of crossing the Bone Tempering Realm and charging toward the higher Body Forging Realm.

The Bone-Breaking Rebirth Technique that Chu Fengmian practiced meant that every time he refined pills, most of the spiritual power would be stored in his spiritual veins.

Then, when enough spiritual power was stored, he would shatter them in one go, allowing them to regenerate and form new spiritual veins.

Under the influence of the Body Forging Pill's spiritual power, Chu Fengmian felt his third spiritual vein beginning to shatter.

Every time he shattered a spiritual vein, it was an extremely dangerous endeavor. If he failed to condense the spiritual power to reshape it after the shattering, he would become a cripple.

It could be said that every time Chu Fengmian cultivated, it was a gamble.