"After entering the medicinal bath, one must use the breathing technique to activate the medicinal power."
After adapting to the temperature of the medicinal bath, Xu Taiping began to perform the breathing technique as taught in the *Canzha Gong*. Not long after, he felt a burning sensation in his lower abdomen.
The steps for breathing and exhaling were all taught by Ziyang Zhenjun during his lectures. Over the past few days, Xu Taiping had tried many times, although he had never managed to refine the spiritual energy into his body, he was already very familiar with the steps.
Just as Xu Taiping was wondering why the medicinal power had not yet taken effect, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back, as if a nail was being hammered in bit by bit.
"If this kind of pain is all there is, I can still... Uh!"
Xu Taiping was about to say he could endure it, but then he felt the same intense pain in his chest, leaving him speechless.
More terrifyingly, this was just the beginning.
After the pain appeared in those two areas, he began to feel intense pain in various acupoints all over his body, giving him no chance to catch his breath.
Normally, under such pain, a person would faint, but for some reason, Xu Taiping, immersed in the medicinal bath, did not faint no matter how much pain he felt; he could only endure it.
The pain lasted for a full hour.
During this time, Xu Taiping wanted to crawl out of the bathtub countless times. Each time he had this thought, the image of his grandfather on his deathbed would appear in his mind, seeing his grandfather's wide-open eyes looking at him and saying:
"Strive for a breath, Taiping, you must strive for a breath, for yourself, for the common people of this world!"
Xu Taiping, breathing heavily and extremely exhausted, leaned against the bathtub. After his breathing calmed down, he slightly raised the corners of his mouth and proudly murmured:
"Grandfather, your grandson hasn't let you down, has he?"
Although the intense pain had subsided, the minor pain still lingered.
His body now felt as if it had countless cuts, and even the slightest movement would tear these wounds, causing intense pain.
"Seven days in a cycle, this bone-washing and marrow-refining soup must be taken six more times, and there cannot be a single day's interruption, otherwise all previous efforts will be in vain."
Thinking about having to endure this level of pain for six more days, even with his strong will, he couldn't help but doubt whether he could ultimately hold out.
Looking at the steaming medicinal bath in front of him, Xu Taiping suddenly felt as if he had been transported to another world.
The past six days had been longer than the ten years he had lived.
After six consecutive days of soaking in the bone-washing and marrow-refining soup, both his mind and body had reached their limits.
On the first day of soaking in the medicinal bath, he hadn't made a sound, but he never expected that in the following days, he would scream in pain, cry, and call out to his parents and grandfather.
Xu Taiping had never thought he could be so fragile.
This clearly showed how intense the pain from the bone-washing and marrow-refining soup was.
But even so, even while crying and shouting, Xu Taiping finally made it to the seventh day.
During these seven days, he had also plowed the three acres of medicinal fields and planted all the seeds of the nine-leaf white perilla.
"Strive for a breath, Xu Taiping, you must strive for a breath."
Xu Taiping, standing in front of the bathtub for a long time, kept muttering to himself.
At this moment, his face was pale, with no trace of blood, and his body was as thin as a stick. In just six days, he had lost at least twenty pounds, and he was on the verge of collapse.
In the end, Xu Taiping stepped into the bathtub, and his body was quickly swallowed by the white liquid.
Although he tried to endure it, the intense pain still made him scream. If there were people within a hundred miles, they would have surely been drawn by the commotion.
Of course, his screams were not unheard.
For example, Lingyue Fairy, who was now floating outside Xu Taiping's window as a wisp of green smoke.
"Little Taiping, this is the last day. Hold on, whether you will step onto the path to heaven or drift aimlessly through life, it all depends on your decision."
Lingyue Fairy, hearing the painful groans inside the room, finally couldn't help but murmur to herself.
"You make it sound so easy. The pain from the bone-washing and marrow-refining soup increases day by day, and by the seventh day, it is seven times as intense as the first day. Without another formula, who could endure it?"
But as soon as she said this, she laughed bitterly, mocking herself and feeling guilty for rashly giving the formula to Xu Taiping.
"Actually... really made it through?"
When she saw the pure and refined spiritual energy of heaven and earth gathering towards the small courtyard like a tide, Lingyue Fairy's face showed a look of disbelief.
This was the sign of successful bone-washing and marrow-refining.
She, who had been hesitant to look inside the room, couldn't help but peek through the window.
In the bedroom, Xu Taiping, who had fainted, was half-lying in the bathtub. The medicinal bath, which had been milky white, had turned black, stained by the impurities continuously seeping out of his body.
At the same time, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which only Lingyue could see, gently caressed Xu Taiping's body and then entered his body.
Lingyue Fairy looked at Xu Taiping inside the room and then at the newly cultivated medicinal garden behind the courtyard, and a smile appeared on her lips:
"I only took a chance because time was running out, but it seems I didn't misjudge him."
After saying this, her figure dissipated on the spot, leaving only a lingering voice in the courtyard:
"Little one, I need to focus on refining the spirit crystal to extend my life for a few more years. See you in a while."
When the first ray of sunlight shone through the window, Xu Taiping, still immersed in the bathtub, opened his eyes.
He had the sweetest sleep of his life.
Noticing the black, foul-smelling liquid in the bathtub, Xu Taiping didn't feel scared; instead, a look of joy appeared on his face.
According to the instructions for the marrow-refining soup, this was the sign of successful bone-washing and marrow-refining, indicating that the impurities in his body had been expelled, and he truly had the qualifications to practice cultivation.
Excited, Xu Taiping stood up from the bathtub, then ran naked to the well in the backyard.
He first drew a bucket of water to wash away the impurities from his body, then sat cross-legged on the spot and began to practice the *Canzha Gong* cultivation technique.