Naturally, Ouyang Rong'er was far from satisfied. Coupled with sixteen sessions of punishment for slackening in her cultivation, and eighty-five failed refinement attempts, in a mere few months, she had been lashed a full one hundred and one times by the whips manifested by the Shadow Ghost Soldiers. With every strike, she would grit her teeth against the pain, muttering curses in her heart, deeming the fellow surnamed Ding the most despicable scoundrel in the world.

Before Ouyang Rong'er could even catch her breath, Lei Dong brought back another pile of medicinal ingredients, mountainous in scale. This time, it amounted to three hundred and sixty batches for the Minor Origin Replenishing Pills. After dumping the materials onto her, Lei Dong paid her no further mind, dedicating himself solely to cultivation, ceaseless cultivation, only pausing every three days for a cup of spirit tea.

Time, thus, trickled by. In the blink of an eye, another year had passed.

Lei Dong, through the sheer accumulation of countless miraculous elixirs, coupled with his unyielding tenacity and near-constant state of practice, reached the peak of the third layer. Surprisingly, he encountered no vexing bottleneck. With the aid of a single Minor Celestial Spirit Pill, he burst through the barrier and advanced into the fourth layer of the Foundation Establishment stage. This filled him with immense ecstasy, a phenomenon he attributed to the life-or-death battles he had endured repeatedly during the third layer. Regardless of the cause, advancing directly to the fourth layer was a monumental blessing for him. Another significant benefit was the strength of his divine sense, which had been honed and satisfied through continuous accumulation.

In his excellent mood, even Ouyang Rong'er, who was attending to him, seemed far more pleasing to his eye while he drank his tea.

When he cast a lecherous, "shifty-eyed" glance her way, letting his gaze linger on her figure, it caused Ouyang Rong'er’s heart to tremble incessantly. She secretly wondered if this demon had taken the wrong medicine today, or if he was finally noticing her...

For the last six months, Ouyang Rong’er had been plagued by a persistent anxiety. Her chest had gradually become more prominent, and her backside was subtly rounding and tilting upward. These changes left her deeply unsettled. She clearly remembered this detestable devil proclaiming that he disliked women with small chests and flat rears—which meant, conversely, he preferred those with large busts and lifted hips. If this continued, wouldn't it inevitably attract his "interest"?

"Oh, haven't really looked at you properly in a while. You've actually become quite a bit better looking," Lei Dong teased when he noticed her fear.

"It's over, it's over," Ouyang Rong’er thought, having only one notion in her mind: this "demon" had finally seen her transformation. In that instant, her face lost all color, consumed by immense tension.

"Alright, alright, just teasing you," Lei Dong laughed, his mood lightened, glancing over at her "flat" delicate chest. Sipping his tea, he shook his head with amusement. "Don't bind it with cloth strips anymore; it’ll deform and look ugly. I, Lei Dong, might not be a good man, but I am certainly not some lustful fiend who preys on every woman he sees. Put away those little schemes of yours." He had told her his name and identity over a year ago; by now, there was no need for further concealment.

"Ah?" Ouyang Rong'er wrapped her arms around her chest, her face flushed crimson as she glared fiercely at him.

"Rong'er, are you tired?" Lei Dong suddenly dropped his smile, his expression carrying a hint of concern as he asked the question.

"Ah?" Ouyang Rong'er paused slightly, looking at him with slight astonishment. Was this the first time he had ever asked if she was tired? Could even a fiend begin to possess sympathy? Seeing that faint trace of care in his eyes, for some unknown reason, her heart gave a tiny jolt, and she felt an impulse to cry. Lowering her head, biting her lip, she nodded and murmured softly, "Tired."

"This Lei cultivates for all twelve shichen of the day, ceaselessly, either meditating to circulate qi or practicing combat techniques. I only get a brief hour of small rest every three days," Lei Dong chuckled. "I know you envy my growing power. But these things don't just fall from the sky. Only through one's own effort can one reap rewards. The strength I possess today was built up bit by bit, having endured countless hardships."

"What?" Ouyang Rong’er had always thought her five shichen of daily practice was already extremely arduous and tedious. The subsequent tasks of planting and alchemy, though difficult, served as diversions. She genuinely could not fathom what kind of desolate and lonely experience it was to cultivate nonstop. Startled by his words, she could only stare at him blankly, as if she had suddenly glimpsed another facet of this demon.

Lei Dong continued to drink his tea, ignoring her further.

After a long silence, a flicker of realization seemed to cross Ouyang Rong’er’s eyes, tinged with complex emotion. She looked at him and murmured softly, "Thank you, Young Master."

"Thank me for having the Ghost Soldiers whip you?" Lei Dong laughed heartily, shaking his head dismissively.

"No. I realize now, Young Master is actually kind to me." A resolute look suddenly appeared in Ouyang Rong’er's eyes. "Rong'er will certainly not disappoint the Young Master."

Lei Dong finished the last sip of his tea, his gaze turning sharp. "Enough rest time. Stop your lamenting and hurry back to your chores. Also, starting today, while you cannot neglect your other duties, you must refine one extra batch of pills daily."

The Shadow Ghost Soldier materialized from nowhere, a whip cracking sharply in its hand as it lashed out. Ouyang Rong’er cried out, executing her movement technique to flee at top speed. Her speed was indeed several tens of percent faster than it had been over a year ago, clearly showing a significant increase in her cultivation level. Cultivating to the fifth layer of the Qi Refining stage—this was an achievement forced out of her, built on the foundation of Origin Replenishing Pills and mid-grade Spirit Stones.

What pleased Lei Dong even more was that refining these three hundred and sixty batches of Minor Origin Replenishing Pills had propelled her alchemy level forward significantly, particularly the final hundred batches, which boasted a success rate of nearly forty percent [Handwritten by the little beauty from The Great Devil’s Den]. A typical alchemist might not refine as many pills in ten years as she had in this past year or so. If she were to continue refining Minor Origin Replenishing Pills, she could already reach a profitable stage.

Yet, Lei Dong still kept her refining the Minor Origin Replenishing Pills. This time, when he ventured out, he returned with ingredients for a full one thousand batches of the Minor Origin Replenishing Pills, along with an additional high-grade magical artifact pill furnace, allowing her to refine two batches a day by staggering her time usage.

Days flew by swiftly; one after another, they passed.

On one such day, Lei Dong awoke from his cultivation. Counting on his fingers, he realized exactly eight years had passed since he left the Yin Sha Sect. Although his outward appearance had not changed much since his departure, his eyes had grown deep and tranquil. His current strength rested at the peak of the fifth layer of the Foundation Establishment stage.

At the peak of the fourth layer, he had encountered an immense bottleneck—a natural barrier between the early and middle stages of Foundation Establishment. Even many cultivators of extraordinary aptitude struggled to cross this threshold easily. Lei Dong, naturally, did not escape being stuck at this juncture. However, the Washing Heart Fruit proved incredibly helpful at this critical moment.

As Dongfang Fu had said, using the Washing Heart Fruit to advance from the early to the middle stage of Foundation Establishment was the most economical approach. With a success rate as high as ninety percent, Lei Dong only needed normal luck to pass through without issue. Fortunately, his innate luck was merely ordinary—neither good nor bad. He sailed past the standard probability, becoming a cultivator in the middle stage of Foundation Establishment, benefiting further from the fruit's exceptional efficacy.

From there, Lei Dong continued his cultivation until he reached the peak of the fifth layer, where he encountered another bottleneck. However, he was not overly surprised by this obstacle. For these years, he had remained secluded in this small Azure Valley for closed-door cultivation. Even when he ventured out to purchase pills or the souls of demon beast corpses, he did so in disguise, avoiding conflict. Moreover, his spiritual root aptitude was not particularly high, so encountering a bottleneck was the most natural outcome. Even cultivators with significantly better aptitude often ran into hurdles during the Foundation Establishment stage. The fact that Lei Dong had only encountered major bottlenecks was, in fact, quite fortunate; some cultivators experienced repeated setbacks even within the same stage.

Mulling over the ten-year pact, Lei Dong began to calculate in his mind. Being at the peak of the fifth layer now, if he could break through to the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment within the next two years, that would be ideal. But advancing to the seventh layer would likely prove extremely difficult, profoundly difficult, with an almost negligible chance. Thus, he concluded that for the time remaining, he might have to shift his focus away from merely increasing his cultivation level.

The many years spent in the Azure Valley had been largely dedicated to digesting the spoils from the battle in the Heart Demon Palace, which were now nearly exhausted. Even the Spirit Stones accumulated from collaborating with Li Yijian in robbing and murdering had, after years of gradual expenditure, dwindled to just 1.2 million.

As for fully nurturing Ouyang Rong’er, far from incurring a loss over these years, Lei Dong had actually profited. Since achieving a total output of four hundred batches of Minor Origin Replenishing Pills, she had entered a profitable phase. Over the subsequent two thousand batches, her overall success rate reached sixty percent, and the final hundred batches achieved a success rate of seventy-five percent... This truly exceeded Lei Dong's expectations, considering she had been refining nearly two batches simultaneously by staggering her schedule in the latter half.

Her progress was so rapid that it made Lei Dong believe she possessed an undeniable talent for alchemy, coupled with a profound grasp of medicinal properties. In the field of alchemy, she had absorbed nearly all the stored knowledge and experience of the white-haired old man over these years. She also greedily devoured knowledge from various jade slips and bamboo strips pertaining to alchemy. Furthermore, she harbored a deep interest in the refining process itself.

Given her current age and cultivation base, a seventy-five percent success rate for refining Minor Origin Replenishing Pills was nearing her limit. Further improvement would require repetitive, mechanical tempering, the effect of which would diminish increasingly. As for her execution during refining—the handling of the flame and technique—while perhaps not perfectly masterful, it was certainly quite practiced. In Lei Dong's view, these were foundational skills; only by establishing the most solid base could she advance further along the path of alchemy.

Therefore, over the next two years, his overall focus should shift toward enhancing the quality of spiritual artifacts and stockpiling various consumable goods. Contests between cultivators were not solely decided by personal strength. Lei Dong placed immense importance on his fight against Huangfu Ce, intent on ensuring his demise.