Li Xuan tried to use his mental power to carefully penetrate into the silt in order to sense and distinguish.
In Li Xuan's perception, this jar of sludge was like a complex miniature world, filled with all sorts of chaotic energy and matter.
He diligently searched for those points of light emanating a gentle, spiritual energy from plants (images perceived by his mind), attempting to separate them from the murky substances that represented corruption, inertia, and even potential harm.
This was an extremely meticulous and mentally taxing process. Soon, fine beads of sweat appeared on Li Xuan's forehead, and his face turned pale.
Progress was very slow, but Li Xuan could sense that, under his mental guidance, the sewage at the top of the earthenware pot seemed to have become a little clearer.
The small section of silt at the bottom appeared to be even darker in color, and the spiritual energy it emitted seemed to have increased slightly.
There's hope! Li Xuan persisted until he felt dizzy and had to stop.
Seeing that the silt in the earthenware pot wasn't changing much, Li Xuan wasn't discouraged. This proved that his approach was correct!
In the days that followed, Li Xuan performed this arduous "refining" work every night. The process was incredibly tedious and mentally exhausting, leaving him utterly drained after each session, but the rewards were immense!
As he continuously applied and improved his mental power, and became more familiar with the composition of the silt, his refining efficiency gradually increased.
Seven or eight days later, Li Xuan finally managed to separate a small, glossy, black mud paste, about the size of a pigeon egg, from a large jar of silt. The paste emitted a pure, fresh scent of herbs and plants.
The spiritual energy contained in this lump of mud made the surrounding sewage pale in comparison. Li Xuan carefully carried the lump of mud back to the thatched hut.
Li Xuan dared not eat it directly, but instead took a tiny amount, about the size of a grain of rice, and dissolved it in a bowl of water. The water immediately turned into a pale green, vibrant liquid.
Li Xuan took a small sip, and a pure, gentle spiritual energy, far superior to polluted water, instantly burst forth and flowed throughout his body.
The refreshing feeling almost made him groan. Every cell in his body was greedily absorbing the nutrients, and the process of expelling impurities was smooth and gentle, several times more effective than drinking sewage directly!
"It's a success!" Li Xuan exclaimed with ecstasy!
Although the extraction process is extremely time-consuming and laborious, the resulting "spiritual mud paste" has amazing effects. Moreover, it seems to be more easily absorbed by the body, and the development of drug resistance is much slower.
This allowed Li Xuan to temporarily break free from his dependence on quantity and shift his focus to the pursuit of quality. With the Spirit Mud Paste, his chain-repairing speed soared once again.
His physical strength was steadily advancing into an unknown realm, and he felt as if his power was growing without limit.
At the same time, Li Xuan did not give up practicing "mind-guided water". Now he can extract relatively clear water from the sewage pool with ease, greatly improving his efficiency.
Li Xuan even began to practice in the rain, using his mind to guide the rainwater. Although the effect was minimal, it was still a form of training in self-control.
His life became extremely regular: during the day he worked and completed tasks to earn contribution points for emergencies, and at night he went to the sewage pool to refine spirit mud paste and repair chains.
His strength was increasing rapidly and silently. Li Xuan was now confident that even against outer disciples at the third or fourth level of Qi Refining, he could put up a fight with his physical strength alone!
But he still carefully hid himself. In front of everyone, he was still Li Xuan, the good-for-nothing handyman who was slightly stronger but whose spiritual fields were a complete mess.
Li Xuan's life seemed peaceful, but the outer sect of Haoyue Sect was not a stagnant pool.
That day, Li Xuan was fetching some ordinary water by the stream as a formality when he happened to run into Zhao Tie.
Zhao Tie's expression was somewhat solemn, and he said in a low voice, "Junior Brother Li, be careful lately."
"What's wrong, Senior Brother Zhao?" Li Xuan asked while fetching water.
"I heard that Wang Mazi previously tried to curry favor with a senior brother named Liu from the Pill Hall," Zhao Tie said in a low voice, then continued:
"That Senior Brother Liu has some influence in the outer sect. It's said he has a bad temper and is very vindictive. Wang Mazi, relying on his power, has recently become arrogant again and even said he would deal with you."
"Take care of me?" Li Xuan frowned slightly. "I haven't offended him recently, have I?"
"Who knows? Maybe it's because you embarrassed him before, or maybe he just doesn't like your 'natural strength'?" Zhao Tie shook his head and continued:
"Just be careful and try not to be alone. Those kinds of people are capable of anything if they have someone backing them up."
"Thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother Zhao." Li Xuan nodded and noted it down, becoming more vigilant.
He wasn't afraid of Wang Mazi, but rather of Liu, the senior brother behind Wang Mazi.
Even outer disciples who are only at the Qi Refining stage have mastered real spells, and he cannot easily deal with them using only his physical body.
Moreover, if the conflict escalates and attracts attention, the consequences are unpredictable, so we must be even more careful.
However, trouble sometimes comes knocking on your door.
A few days later, Li Xuan was returning from handing in a task at the servants' office when he was ambushed on the road by Wang Mazi and two of his henchmen.
Wang Mazi, looking smug, glanced sideways at Li Xuan: "Oh, isn't this 'Divine Strength' Junior Brother Li? You've been doing pretty well lately, haven't you? You've been doing quite diligently with your missions, haven't you?"
Li Xuan didn't want to cause trouble, so he lowered his head and tried to walk around to the side: "Senior Brother Wang is joking. I'm just trying to make a living."
Wang Mazi stepped forward, blocking his way again, his tone turning hostile: "Kid, don't push your luck. You were lucky Zhao Tie helped you last time. Now we're giving you a chance. From now on, work for us obediently and share half of the contribution points you earn from missions with us, and we'll call it even. How about it?"
Li Xuan felt a surge of anger, but he forcibly suppressed it and still said politely, "Senior Brother Wang, my tasks are also very heavy, and I really don't have time to help others. I don't even have enough contribution points for myself..."
"If you won't listen to reason, you'll have to suffer the consequences!" Wang Mazi's face darkened, and he gave the two people behind him a wink.
The two men immediately stepped forward, approaching Li Xuan from the left and right, and reached out to grab his arms, wanting to teach him a lesson.
Li Xuan's eyes turned cold. He didn't provoke trouble, but he wasn't afraid of it either. The other party was clearly looking for trouble, and tolerating it would only embolden them.
He slightly shifted his body to the side, skillfully dodging the two men's grabbing and pulling, while seemingly tripping unintentionally.
"Ouch!"
"Thump!"
The two henchmen felt their feet slip, lost their balance, and fell to the ground with a cry of alarm, looking utterly disheveled.
Wang Mazi was stunned, not seeing what was going on, and cursed, "Two pieces of trash!"
He stepped forward himself and threw a punch at Li Xuan's face, which actually produced a slight whistling sound, as if he had practiced a few rudimentary martial arts moves.
Li Xuan sneered inwardly. Compared to his current strength, this Wang Mazi was like an infant. He didn't want to reveal his true power, so he simply raised his arm to block.
Bang!
Wang Mazi felt as if he had punched a hard rock, the impact making his wrist ache. He grimaced and took two steps back, looking at Li Xuan with suspicion and uncertainty.