Jiang Bei followed the stone path upward. Before long, the stone pavilion and the ancient tree with its gnarled branches twisting together came into view once more.
Beneath the tree, the old man in hemp robes was still seated cross-legged. Only now, his eyes were open. His murky gaze landed precisely on Jiang Bei, and he smacked his lips before saying,
"Kid, you crawled out that quickly? Tsk, look at that flesh, those bones and sinews—lustrous yet restrained, your blood and qi condensed like mercury... How did it feel? That waterfall packed enough punch, didn't it?"
Jiang Bei exclaimed in admiration, "Senior, it truly remade me from the marrow out! I never imagined such a secret realm, capable of seizing the creation of heaven and earth, was hidden in the depths of the Sacred Hall! These three days of tempering surpassed ten years of bitter cultivation!"
The old man chuckled. "Naturally! The Cangtian Waterfall squeezes out a trace of the very essence of heaven and earth. Every bit used is one bit less. Countless old monsters in the God Realm have stared until their eyes turned red, yet they cannot even find the door! Young brats like you who get to go in and soak can be counted on one hand."
Then his tone shifted. He stared at Jiang Bei with great interest. "This old man is growing more and more curious. Just what kind of bewitching potion did you feed that old fellow Huang Su? He actually let you gnaw on this piece of flesh from his heart?"
Jiang Bei froze at those words and said instinctively, "Senior Huang said that, as the Hall Master of the Task Hall, he has three chances every year to enter the Cangtian Waterfall, so..."
"Three chances? Bullshit!"
The old man's expression changed.