Chapter 2

Being demoted to a household servant, Luo Zheng didn’t care; becoming a punching bag for the Luo family’s young disciples, he could also ignore it; even if the Heaven-Earth Alchemy Pill that should have belonged to him was taken by Luo Peiran, he could still remain indifferent.

But his sister Luo Yan was his greatest weakness!

Luo Yan was the only hope of the Luo family’s main branch. Due to her extraordinary talent, she was recruited as an inner disciple by the Qingyun Sect at the age of thirteen, leaving the Luo family, and thus escaping the turmoil within the family.

For the past two years, Luo Zheng, due to his status as a household servant, had no way of knowing any news about his sister. Now, hearing from Luo Peiran that her situation seemed very dire, he instantly fell into endless worry.

He even forgot to dodge the beatings from the Luo family’s young disciples, taking several solid punches before he finally reacted...

At night, with his body covered in injuries, Luo Zheng returned to the cellar.

"Here’s your medicine!" The Luo family steward casually threw a paper package and then retreated outside.

After all, the punching bags were not made of steel. Without medicine to treat their injuries, they would die from internal bleeding within a few days. Therefore, the Luo family distributed healing medicine to these punching bags every day.

However, these medicines were ordinary and not very effective.

Luo Zheng opened the paper package and saw only one pill inside. His face darkened, and he angrily asked, "Steward Fang! Why is there only one pill today?"

"You should be grateful to have something to eat. What? Do you think it’s too little?" Steward Fang said in a sarcastic tone.

"The Luo family distributes three healing pills every day. Now there’s only one, clearly you’ve embezzled them. Embezzlement in the Luo family is a serious crime, Steward Fang, are you not afraid of death?" Luo Zheng sternly demanded, his eyes fixed on Steward Fang.

"Heh, I, Old Fang, am certainly afraid, but I’m not afraid of you, a mere household servant. What? Planning a rebellion? I just can’t stand your attitude, always thinking you’re still a master. Pah! Don’t even look at yourself in the mirror! Hahaha!" Every word from Steward Fang was like a sharp thorn.

Hearing this, Luo Zheng became calm. His clear eyes looked at Steward Fang indifferently, but deep down, a fierce killing intent lurked, as if he were looking at a dead object.

Seeing Luo Zheng’s expression, Steward Fang felt a bit uneasy. He stepped forward and poked Luo Zheng’s chest, "Not convinced? Are you looking at me like you want to eat me?"

Luo Zheng suddenly exerted force in his chest, sending a powerful shock through Steward Fang’s body, causing him to stumble and fall to the ground.

"You... You, a mere household servant, want to rebel?" Steward Fang got up from the ground, his face full of panic.

Luo Zheng took two steps forward, his fingers cracking, and said sternly, "A steward from another family dares to be so arrogant. Do you really think I won’t dare to touch you?"

Seeing this, Steward Fang didn’t want to stay a moment longer and fled outside, slamming the iron door of the cellar shut.

"Despicable!" Luo Zheng sneered, shook his head, and didn’t bother to argue with such a person.

He sat down quietly, took out a flint, and lit the oil lamp. He flipped through a few pages of a book, but his mind was preoccupied with worry about his sister Luo Yan. His agitation made it impossible to focus on reading.

I can’t stay in the Luo family any longer! But my current strength is only at the Flesh Refinement stage. Not to mention going to the Qingyun Sect, I can’t even leave this cellar.

Luo Zheng paced quickly in the small cellar, his chest heaving like a trapped beast unable to find an exit.

Strength, my strength is still too weak. Otherwise, how could a small family like the Luo family confine me?

But cultivation in this world follows a step-by-step process, one step at a time. As a household servant, I have to be a punching bag every day, leaving no time for cultivation. If this continues, I will eventually be beaten to death.

The more he thought, the more anxious he became. His gaze fell on the table, where the old book "Tian Dao Wen Xian" lay quietly.

"What’s the use of this old book? It’s full of grand principles that are of no help to me. Why read it?" Luo Zheng angrily picked up the book, tore it in half, and placed it on the oil lamp, burning it to ashes.

The small flame instantly ignited the book, sending up a fierce blaze.

Watching the book burn, Luo Zheng felt a twinge of regret, blaming himself, "Luo Zheng, why vent your anger on a book? This book teaches people to be good and understand principles. What’s wrong with that? The fault lies in your weakness, allowing you to be manipulated and treated like a lamb for slaughter!"

Unfortunately, the fire was too fierce, and the book had already turned to ashes.

Just as he was feeling regretful, Luo Zheng noticed a glint of gold in the ashes.

"Huh? What’s this?"

Luo Zheng sifted through the ashes and picked up a thin piece of gold foil. He had never noticed this gold foil before, so it must have been hidden in the book’s pages.

What use is a mere piece of gold foil?

In this world, gold is abundant, especially for a large family like the Luo family, where gold is as common as dirt!

But as Luo Zheng focused on the gold foil, something extraordinary happened!

The gold foil was inscribed with densely packed characters, resembling tadpoles, none of which Luo Zheng recognized.

As his gaze swept over it, the gold foil quickly disintegrated into thousands of smaller pieces, each carrying a tadpole character. These small pieces of gold foil then attached themselves to Luo Zheng’s body.

His face, eyes, neck, arms, torso, legs...

Every part of Luo Zheng’s body was covered by these small pieces of gold foil.

The last piece of gold foil shot directly into Luo Zheng’s brain, causing him to tremble violently as if struck by a large hammer. At the same time, the small pieces of gold foil glowed brightly.

As the golden light gradually faded, the thousands of small pieces of gold foil quietly merged into Luo Zheng’s body. In his mind, new memories appeared, memories that did not belong to him.

"The Supreme Art of Refining Tools..."

"The first refining art of ancient times..."

"Using the body as a tool, the self as the spirit, through thousands of hammerings and temperings, to purify the body, one can achieve the state of Hongmeng..."

Is this a refining art?

Luo Zheng, though not a refiner, knew that refiners were highly sought after. Even with the Luo family’s vast wealth, they could not recruit even a low-level refiner, showing how valuable refiners were.

But using the body as a tool, what does that mean?

Could it be... this refining art turns the body into a magical tool?

This unbelievable hypothesis soon became reality.

He suddenly felt his body heating up, as if he had a fever, with his temperature rising rapidly.

So hot! If this continues, I’ll be cooked alive.

In a panic, he rushed to a water vat at the end of the cellar, used for drawing water.

Without hesitation, he jumped into the vat.

"Sizzle..."

Steam rose from the vat, and soon the entire vat of water was evaporated by his body heat, filling the cellar with mist.

The large amount of water did not lower Luo Zheng’s body temperature; instead, it rose even higher, his skin glowing a dark red, like a piece of red-hot iron.

Finally, he spun around twice and fell into the mist-filled cellar.

In Luo Zheng’s mind, something incredible was happening.

A huge furnace suddenly appeared in his mind, its body a dark green color, with nine dragon carvings on its walls.

Each dragon carving was a different color: green, black, white, purple... These dragon carvings were vivid and lifelike.

Eight of the dragons had their eyes closed, while the green dragon at the bottom had its eyes open, staring intently at Luo Zheng.

The green dragon’s gaze seemed to have accumulated over thousands, even millions of years, looking at Luo Zheng with a sense of immense authority.

Gong, gong, gong...

Luo Zheng’s soul trembled under the dragon’s gaze, and soon cracks appeared in his soul, threatening to collapse.

Just as his soul was about to collapse, a dragon’s roar came from the green dragon’s mouth, and the huge furnace began to spin, with strange flames igniting inside.

It was a black flame!

In this world, there was such a flame, capable of burning everything!

Luo Zheng had no time to marvel, as the huge furnace descended upon him, and the black flames instantly enveloped his soul.

The pain of the soul being burned was unbearable, but as a soul, Luo Zheng could not even faint and had to endure it.

"Ah, ah, ah, let me die!"

At that moment, Luo Zheng only wanted to die to escape the pain.

But even death was a luxury for him. As a soul, he could not bite his tongue to commit suicide.

Whenever his soul was about to shatter and dissipate,

A beam of seven-colored light suddenly emitted from the furnace, instantly repairing Luo Zheng’s soul.

Thus, burning, shattering, repairing, burning again, shattering again, repairing again...

This cycle repeated endlessly.

This pain of life and death lasted for an unknown duration but eventually stopped.

"Finally, it’s over," Luo Zheng sighed, thinking of the pain he had endured, feeling a lingering fear. At the same time, he noticed that his soul was emitting a faint golden light.

After a long while, he emerged from his mind, slowly regaining consciousness.

In his mind, the huge furnace had stopped spinning, but the black flames inside had not gone out, only becoming less intense and less terrifying.

Luo Zheng understood that his soul and body had just been refined by the furnace.

In this vast world, there were many strange methods used by refiners to create weapons. Some refiners would kill people to collect blood for tempering, and some would seal souls into weapons to create evil tools.

But this refining art, which turns the body into a magical tool, was unheard of and truly insane...

Fortune and misfortune are intertwined. Calming down, Luo Zheng realized that this happening to him might not be a bad thing!

The magical tools and weapons in this world are divided into five stages: Mystic, Spirit, Immortal, Sacred, and Divine, with each stage further divided into upper, middle, and lower grades.

Luo Zheng’s body had just been refined into a magical tool, but it was only at the lowest Mystic stage.

Describing himself with the grade of a magical tool was indeed strange, and Luo Zheng’s face showed a bitter smile.

Looking out the only ventilation hole in the cellar, the sky was already faintly bright. He had unknowingly spent the entire night.

Strangely, despite not sleeping all night, he felt no fatigue, instead feeling refreshed and full of energy.

His mood had also calmed down, free from the agitation of the previous night. As the book said, every action has its cause, and only by stabilizing one’s mind can one face things calmly.

He carefully cleaned up the ashes of the burned book and moved the water vat back to its original position. At that moment, the sound of a lock being opened came from the cellar entrance, and the time for beatings had arrived again...