Chapter 7:Two-Layered Sky

The next morning, as dawn broke and the sun had not yet risen, the team was already ready to set off.

Stone Yan, blending in among the drug slaves, maintained a calm expression, not showing any unusual signs. He silently followed the group, while Johnson, who had been waiting to see his distress, found himself baffled as Stone Yan seemed to have returned to normal.

For the past few days, every drug slave who had taken the "Heartbreak Powder" had appeared pale and weak after the night, with some unable to even walk. Even the stronger ones showed visible signs of pain and anxiety.

But Stone Yan walked steadily, with a flushed face, clearly not injured, which puzzled Johnson greatly.

Johnson observed him for a while, and after confirming that Stone Yan showed no signs of discomfort, he furrowed his brow and approached the front of the group, explaining Stone Yan's situation to Mo Yan Yu and Carlu.

"Don't worry about him." Carlu remained calm. "Since that boy is a martial artist, he wouldn't show signs of distress so easily. Once his vital energy runs out, he'll be just like the others. I know the effects of Heartbreak Powder quite well."

"Mm, just keep an eye on him," Mo Yan Yu instructed indifferently.

Johnson, seeing that both of them were so unconcerned, didn't argue and quietly returned to his position at the back of the group, watching Stone Yan closely, worried that he might do something unusual.

"Master, how long before he starts suffering?" After Johnson left, Mo Yan Yu hesitated for a moment and asked Carlu. She couldn't wait for Stone Yan to writhe in pain, only then would she feel satisfied.

"Don't worry, tonight should be the time," Carlu replied.

Day passed by, and the moon quietly ascended into the sky.

After the group had set up camp, Carlu and Mo Yan Yu both approached Stone Yan, who was sitting a distance away, eating eagerly, seemingly unaware of the poor quality of the food in his hands.

"Master, this guy doesn't seem..." Mo Yan Yu hesitated, her face twisting at the sight of his eating habits. No matter how she looked at it, he didn't seem to be in pain at all.

Carlu's face darkened as he coldly snorted. "Are you doubting my alchemy skills?"

"No," Mo Yan Yu shook her head quickly, "Master has proven the effectiveness of the Heartbreak Powder on other drug slaves. I'm just curious why... he seems fine. Could it be that you missed something when making the last batch?"

"Miss something? Mo Yan Yu, I may not be a high-level alchemist, but I'm certainly not careless enough to make a mistake in something like this," Carlu said, clearly irritated. "If you don't believe in my ability, we can part ways right now."

"Master, please don't be angry. Yan Yu didn't mean that," she quickly reassured him, smiling awkwardly. "I was just curious."

"Humph!" Carlu ignored her completely and moved like lightning towards Stone Yan.

Stone Yan kept his head lowered, pretending not to notice Carlu, but secretly he was surprised by Carlu's speed. He was glad that he hadn't rashly acted the day before; otherwise, Carlu would have caught him without a chance.

Apart from being an alchemist, Carlu was also a martial artist who had reached the innate realm, while Stone Yan had only recently started moving his internal energy as a postnatal second-layer martial artist. The gap between them was vast, and attempting to fight back would have been futile.

"Swoosh, swoosh!"

Carlu's figure darted through the air with an unusual sound, and in the blink of an eye, he appeared right before Stone Yan.

Stone Yan calmly set down his food, lifted his head, and looked at Carlu.

Carlu's emaciated face was full of coldness as his hand shot out like lightning, grabbing Stone Yan's left arm. His bony fingers pressed against Stone Yan's arm, and a thread of pure internal energy, like an electric current, surged into his arm, traveling through his meridians and eventually flowing into his stomach before slowly returning to Carlu's fingertip.

Carlu's internal energy was incredibly refined, and as it flowed through Stone Yan's body, his meridians seemed to swell with a dull pain.

"Eh..." Carlu furrowed his brow and muttered softly, "Something's wrong. The effects of the Heartbreak Powder are still present, but why does he still have internal energy left? His stomach hasn't rotted, and for such a low-level martial artist, his internal energy shouldn't be this pure. It should be gone by now..."

Stone Yan allowed him to grab his arm without resistance.

"Master, what do you think?" Mo Yan Yu asked as she walked over, her curiosity piqued.

"Let's wait another day and see," Carlu said darkly, still not understanding what was going on. He hadn't considered the possibility of a "martial soul," since that was not something a regular martial artist could possess. He had never heard of a martial soul capable of healing the body.

Mo Yan Yu nodded. Although she was filled with doubt, she didn't say anything further and gave Stone Yan a strange look, thinking dark thoughts.

The next evening, Carlu and Mo Yan Yu came again and checked Stone Yan's body. They found that his stomach still hadn't rotted, and Carlu's face grew even darker. He said to wait another day.

The third evening, they came again, but still found nothing unusual.

On the fourth evening, Carlu returned with two bowls of Heartbreak Powder. He had called over a drug slave named Gu Luo and instructed Stone Yan and Gu Luo to both drink the new batch of the poison.

Stone Yan cooperated fully and drank it.

"I made these two bowls of Heartbreak Powder together," Carlu said after Stone Yan had finished, his tone cold.

Mo Yan Yu nodded. "Once Gu Luo's body starts decaying, it will prove that something's wrong with this guy. I understand what you mean, Master."

"Mm." Carlu nodded. "We'll come back tomorrow at this time and compare to see the results."

That night, Stone Yan sat down and quietly began to circulate his internal energy.

A strand of internal energy gradually lengthened inside his body, flowing through his primary meridian, and with each thought, the energy moved skillfully from one meridian to another. It was as fluid as a serpent.

Slowly, the internal energy reached his right index finger, and Stone Yan focused his mind. The internal energy retracted from his arm and shot toward his finger, increasing in speed.

"Shh, shh!"

There was a strange sound coming from his fingertip, and the pain increased as the energy gathered there, but it couldn't break through the skin, no matter how hard he tried.

"Hoo!"

With a deep exhale, Stone Yan reluctantly withdrew his internal energy back into his abdomen and muttered softly, "Still not enough..."

The postnatal realm had three layers. The first layer involved cultivating internal energy. The second was the ability to move that energy smoothly through the meridians, while the third layer allowed the energy to break free from the body and exit through the skin.

Stone Yan had mastered the second layer and could control his internal energy at will. He had spent the past few days gathering more energy, trying to release it from his finger in an attempt to break into the third layer, but each time, his fingertip blocked the energy, making it impossible to break through.

"Looks like martial arts cultivation isn't something that can be rushed. My internal energy still isn't strong enough. I'll need to wait until it refines further before I can continue," Stone Yan sighed inwardly after another failed attempt, realizing he had become too hasty due to the dangerous situation.

He knew that by the time tomorrow arrived, his body would still remain unharmed, and the drug slave named Gu Luo would likely show signs of poisoning, with his stomach and possibly other organs decaying.

Once Carlu compared the two of them, he would know that the Heartbreak Powder was fine, and would realize that Stone Yan's body was different from normal. That would bring new troubles, and Mo Yan Yu might act to eliminate him before he became a future threat.

Perhaps tomorrow morning, Gu Luo would begin showing signs of poisoning from the Heartbreak Powder, and the martial artists would stop their cultivation to pay attention to him, leaving Stone Yan with no chance to act.

Looking up at the sky filled with stars, Stone Yan's expression grew determined. He knew that if he wanted to survive, he had to act tonight.