Song Wen sat cross-legged and adjusted his breathing. After a moment, he placed the pill into his mouth.

Once the pill entered his stomach, it transformed into streams of heat just like before, flowing throughout his entire body.

The Spiritual Qi in his meridians began to surge wildly, rapidly penetrating his limbs and bones before finally gathering within his Dantian.

Similarly, the blood qi in his body suddenly began to deplete, as if the pill's true effect was to refine and transform his vital essence into Spiritual Qi.

The mysterious energy that had appeared during his previous trial manifested once again, swiftly replenishing his drained blood qi.

Song Wen had always wanted to uncover the secrets of his physical body, so from the very beginning, he had allocated a portion of his mind to observe these physiological changes.

This time, he finally noticed the source of that mysterious power.

It actually came from deep within the bones throughout his body, released from the latent blood essence stored within them.

'Could it be that the essence blood I absorbed from killing those men was digested by my body, turning into my own blood essence and hiding deep within my bones?'

'Essence blood is the core vital essence of a person, directly tied to health and longevity. I wonder if storing this essence blood can actually extend my lifespan.'

Perhaps because Song Wen had recently devoured the essence blood of three more people-making five in total-the vital energy emerging this time was far greater than before.

This kept his body's blood qi in a perfect state of equilibrium, showing no obvious signs of weakening.

Watching from the side, Jiyin grew incredibly excited. After years of failure, he finally saw the dawn of success.

However, Song Wen, who was actively refining the medicinal force, was not nearly as optimistic as his master.

'Dammit, what's going on? The potency of this pill is more than twice as strong as last time! How on earth did Jiyin refine this batch? The medicinal properties are completely unstable.'

'Luckily I devoured the essence blood of Gou Hang and his two underlings, otherwise I might not have survived this.'

While silently refining the medicinal force, Song Wen cursed bitterly in his heart.

The stronger the pill's potency, the more blood qi it consumed, which meant more Spiritual Qi was being converted for Song Wen.

Unknowingly, his cultivation base suddenly surged, breaking straight through the first layer of Qi Refining and reaching the second layer of Qi Refining.

"Success!"

Jiyin was so excited he could barely control himself. He widened his eyes and muttered softly under his breath.

His hands trembled with exhilaration. He wanted to immediately swallow a pill himself to smash through the cultivation bottleneck that had trapped him for years.

However, Jiyin ultimately suppressed the urge. To be safe, he decided to wait until Song Wen completely finished refining the medicinal force before assessing the situation.

Half an hour later, Song Wen thoroughly refined the remaining power of the pill, and his cultivation base stabilized at the second layer of Qi Refining.

Song Wen's eyes shone with a mix of excitement, looking both relieved to have survived a calamity and thrilled by his breakthrough and newfound strength.

"Master, there are no issues with the pill. My cultivation has successfully broken through."

Jiyin nodded. He grasped Song Wen's wrist and sent his own Spiritual Qi into the youth's body to inspect it.

In his perception, Song Wen's body was perfectly healthy, and his cultivation had genuinely reached the second layer of Qi Refining.

All of this proved that he had successfully refined the Blood Qi Pill-a variant that could truly help a cultivator break through a bottleneck.

"Good!" Jiyin laughed aloud. "Truly excellent!"

"Song Wen, go down and rest. Your master is about to enter secluded cultivation to break through. You will be responsible for everything in the courtyard and will serve as my Dharma Protector. Forbid anyone from stepping onto the second floor."

Song Wen hesitated for a moment, his voice carrying a hint of eager anticipation. "Master, can you first bestow the antidote for the Seven-Day Heartbreak Pill upon your disciple?"

A flash of killing intent crossed Jiyin's eyes, but it was quickly masked.

"Wait until your master emerges from seclusion. At that time, I will give you the true antidote for the Seven-Day Heartbreak Pill."

Song Wen happily cupped his hands. "Thank you, Master. Your disciple will surely guard this place well and ensure no one disturbs your breakthrough."

With that, Song Wen turned and walked down from the second floor, taking up a position outside the wooden building, standing as still as a statue.

Jiyin stood up and glanced down at Song Wen through the window, a cold smile curling the corner of his lips.

"Once this seat breaks through to the mid-stage of Qi Refining, you will have outlived your usefulness."

Jiyin closed his door and sat down to regulate his breathing. He did not rush to take the pill; he wanted to adjust his essence, qi, and spirit to their absolute peak before consuming it, ensuring the highest probability of a successful breakthrough.

It took Jiyin several hours to fully align his state, by which time the night had grown deep.

Through his divine sense, he could perceive that Song Wen was still dutifully guarding the grounds downstairs, never moving a single step away. During this time, the servant woman, Chen Yi, had come twice to deliver meals, but Song Wen had turned her away both times.

'Truly a foolish yet loyal wretch. You almost make your master feel a touch of guilt for planning to kill you.'

Jiyin dismissed all lingering thoughts, opened his mouth, and swallowed a Blood Qi Pill.

The violent medicinal force erupted instantly within his stomach, transforming into streams of scalding heat that rushed fiercely into his meridians.

At the same time, vast amounts of Spiritual Qi manifested out of thin air within his meridians.

Jiyin hurriedly operated his cultivation technique, trying to refine this surge of power to break his bottleneck.

"What is happening?!"

Suddenly, Jiyin discovered something terribly wrong.

He sensed that the rampaging medicinal force was rapidly consuming his own blood qi.

'How can this be! When Song Wen took the pill, his blood qi clearly didn't suffer such depletion!'

Jiyin could not fathom the reason, but the arrow was already on the bowstring-there was no turning back.

He could only grit his teeth and force himself to continue refining the pill, praying that the medicinal force would exhaust itself before his own blood qi ran completely dry.

He no longer dared to hope for a breakthrough to the fourth layer of Qi Refining; at this point, merely surviving would be enough.

As the pill continued to dissolve, his blood qi depleted at a terrifying rate. Deprived of vital energy, his body rapidly withered and weakened.

In this moment, he finally experienced the exact same agony and terror felt by all the innocent victims he had previously used as human test subjects.