Top-Tier Perception Starts From Basic Fist Techniques-Chapter 61: The Marrow Transformation Pill!

Around the Cui Clan's furnace chamber, the atmosphere was heavy and tense. Lu Changsheng stood like a statue before the entrance with his sword in hand while countless martial artists stared menacingly at him. Neither side moved or said a word. It felt like the air itself had frozen still.

Three hours had quickly passed. Dawn was breaking, but the two sides were unyielding. The standstill remained.

Inside the furnace chamber, Li Hongzhuang searched desperately for the Marrow Transformation Pills. She had scoured every corner of the large chamber, but they were nowhere to be found.

Her eyes were bloodshot and her face was draped with anxiety. She was under tremendous pressure knowing that Shisan was holding off the entire Cui Clan alone to buy her precious time.

Li Hongzhuang kept looking around the room. Are the pills not here? No... Master Luo Tian had no reason to lie when his life was on the line. The Three Elders wouldn't be guarding the chamber either if the pills weren't here. They must be here. There has to be a hidden compartment.

Li Hongzhuang examined the walls but found no hidden compartments. Her gaze then shifted to a massive furnace with flames burning fiercely beneath it. Pills can only be refined with a furnace like this, and in this chamber, this is the largest one here. Perhaps that's where they hid the pills.

Li Hongzhuang gathered her strength and struck the furnace sharply with her palm.

Bang!

A rush of heat burst out and washed over her face. She quickly realized that if the Marrow Transformation Pills were inside, the fire would have burned them to ash long ago. Then suddenly, her eyes lit up.

Wait, it’s scorching hot inside the furnace, but I can’t feel any heat outside. She quickly examined the two handles on the sides of the furnace and finally discovered a hidden mechanism.

Click!

With a soft click, a hidden compartment slid open, revealing two porcelain bottles inside. There were thirteen pills in them, each giving off a faint, exotic fragrance.

"The Marrow Transformation Pills!" she gasped. "So the Cui Clan never used a single one? Ha! Ten years of their hard work, and now I get to enjoy the fruits of it."

A surge of satisfaction rose within her. She had despised the Cui Clan for years, and though she couldn't wipe them out completely, knowing they would lose these precious pills filled her with joy.

"Brother Shisan!" she called out from within the furnace chamber.

"Hm?"

Outside the chamber, Lu Changsheng was still standing with his sword in hand, guarding the entrance. When he heard Li Hongzhuang's voice, he knew she had found the pills. Without a second thought he turned and walked into the chamber.

"Miss Li, you found them," he remarked.

Li Hongzhuang's expression was etched with exhaustion, but her eyes flickered with excitement as she showed him the two porcelain bottles.

She whispered, "Yes, I finally found them. Thirteen in total. Turns out the clan hasn't used a single one."

Huh. Maybe it's not that the Cui Clan didn't want to use them, but that they couldn't, Lu Changsheng thought.

For the Marrow Transformation Pill to take effect, a martial artist first had to reach Perfection in the Marrow Transformation secret technique. Without achieving that level, taking the pill would be useless. Fortunately for Lu Changsheng and Li Hongzhuang, no one in the Cui Clan had managed to do so.

"Brother Shisan, since you've contributed more in this mission, you should get one more pill than me," Li Hongzhuang said, giving the bottle with seven pills to Lu Changsheng.

Lu Changsheng accepted the bottle, opened it, and took a light whiff. Just from the scent, he could tell what ingredients had been used for the pills. A look of satisfaction crossed his face as he stored them away.

"But Brother Shisan," Li Hongzhuang quickly added, "we should leave now. The Cui Clan might have already requested help from Elder Lu Tong. Once he arrives, we'll be in serious trouble."

Lu Changsheng nodded, but instead of leaving, he walked toward the corpses of one of the Three Elders lying nearby. Crouching down, he began rummaging through their pockets.

Li Hongzhuang could only sigh. Is he seriously looting at a time like this?

Clearly, hardship had shaped Lu Changsheng into a man who never missed an opportunity. From his practiced, efficient movements, it was obvious that looting his fallen enemies had long become second nature to him.

Soon, the two stepped out of the furnace chamber. Seeing them, the Patriarch's heart sank.

They're coming out together? Does this mean they found the pills? No, we hid them so well. There's no way.

The Patriarch still clung to a shred of disbelief. Even so, he didn't dare step forward to confront them, nor did he dare order his men to attack.

Lu Changsheng’s gaze swept over the corpses scattered across the ground. While guarding the chamber earlier, he hadn’t had the chance to search them for valuables, but now that the pills were secured, the temptation had returned. Two of the Three Elders lay right in front of him. Perhaps they had something of value on them.

"Brother Shisan, let's not waste any more time," Li Hongzhuang said anxiously, as though having read his mind. "Besides, we're in the clan's residence. Why would they carry something valuable with them?"

Lu Changsheng paused for a moment, then nodded. Indeed, inside their home, the Three Elders wouldn't have kept valuables on them. After all, he didn't find anything worthwhile when he searched one of them earlier.

By now, more than three hours had passed. No one knew when Elder Lu Tong would arrive, and while Lu Changsheng was confident in his own strength, he wasn't arrogant enough to believe he could stand against a Divine Strength Realm expert.

"You're right. Let's go," he said, leading Li Hongzhuang toward the exit.

Seeing Lu Changsheng approach, the Patriarch's face turned pale. "Retreat!" he ordered, signaling his men to fall back. None of them dared to do anything; they could only watch helplessly as the two walked out of the Cui residence.

Only after they had faded into the night did the Patriarch enter the furnace chamber alone. He went straight to the furnace and opened the hidden compartment.

Crack!

The pills were gone.

"Damn bandits!" the Patriarch roared, his voice thundering through the chamber. Ten years of hard work had vanished in an instant, and they hadn't even had the chance to use a single pill.

"Find out who those two are! Turn the entire world upside down if you must! When Elder Lu Tong arrives, we'll hunt them down together!" the Patriarch bellowed.

However, deep down, he knew it wasn't going to be easy. The bandits had taken what they came for, and by the time Elder Lu Tong arrived, they would be long gone. What troubled him even more was that now he had to explain to Elder Lu Tong that they had been secretly refining Marrow Transformation Pills. He had hoped he would never have to reveal this secret. .

Suddenly, Kong Yan spoke up. "If this man can transform blood qi into swords and project them within ten zhang, and even singlehandedly kill the Three Elders, he must be well known throughout the jianghu. Let's keep an ear out for any rumors. We'll learn who he is soon enough."

The Patriarch's eyes lit up, and he nodded. "Right. And once we find out who he is, we'll make him pay."

After that, the Cui Clan began cleaning up the aftermath. The Three Elders were dead, and the Marrow Transformation Pills were gone—a most devastating blow. All they could do now was tend to their losses and wait for a chance to take revenge.