A Gold-Guzzling Body Tempering Method

Lin Li finished all the food on the table beneath Ling Xuan's incredulous gaze. How should she put this? If Wang Ning, that fool, called her a glutton to her face, she could lose her temper.

But Ling Xuan? He looked like he had not said anything, yet that expression of his seemed to say it all.

Lin Li: I'm so mad. I want to hit him, but I have no reason to.

Still, Lin Li elegantly wiped her mouth and headed outside. As she passed Ling Xuan, she threw him a meaningful look.

It gave Ling Xuan a jolt, and he feared she would come looking for him again.

He had not been able to beat her even when she only had one spirit ring. Now that she had obtained her second one, how could he possibly stand a chance?

Lin Li wore the uniform of Saint Er Junior Soul Master Academy. Since her stunning performance back then, the gatekeeper readily let her through.

Saint Er City could not compare to Heaven Dou City or Star Luo City, the capitals of the two great empires. Saint Er City's economic growth had been driven entirely by the Star Dou Great Forest.

Even the goods sold throughout the city were mostly related to Soul Beasts—fur, blood, meat, and all sorts of materials taken from their bodies.

Lin Li had always come and gone in a hurry on her previous visits, never taking the time to properly look around.

Yet as she watched the bustling streets of Saint Er City, an inexplicable emotion arose within her.

She liked such bustling crowds, yet she also hated them.

Saint Er City's foundations were still rooted in Western European-style architecture, but the language and writing of Douluo Continent were almost entirely based on Chinese characters and Mandarin.

Lin Li searched shop after shop until she entered a remarkably unassuming little store.

The shop was already located in the old district, and its exterior decoration could only be described as plain.

But once she stepped inside, it was a completely different world from outside. The whole shop was a very clean wooden structure, utterly unlike the ancient Western European buildings outside.

An elderly man with a weathered face sat in a reclining chair, dressed in a gray long robe. He lazily waved a palm-leaf fan in his hand.

He looked utterly at ease.

Squinting, he said mildly, "Little girl, this old man only sells dismembered Soul Beast materials here. You probably can't use any of—"

His words abruptly caught in his throat the moment he sensed the aura of a Spirit Master emanating from Lin Li.

The man shook his head. "What a little monster. Young lady, what do you need?"

Lin Li immediately ordered the blood of a Soul Beast called the Gold Devouring Mantis, though she only wanted blood from a ten-year-old one.

This Soul Beast was born with a love for gnawing on metal. Because it fed on metal, the hardness of its forelegs had reached an astonishing level.

Like the sharpest sword in a swordsman's hand, it had earned another name because of this: the Lonely Swordsman in the Forest.

The Demon God Body Tempering Method required her to continuously temper her muscles and bones, and the Gold Devouring Mantis was naturally imbued with the metal attribute!

The old man grunted and brought out an oak barrel as tall as his calf, with an opening more than thirty centimeters wide. "This is the blood you need. Eight Silver Spirit Coins."

Lin Li had been quite pleased with the barrel of blood, but when she heard the old man's words, her voice cracked. "How much?!"

The old man seemed to have expected her question. "A ten-year Gold Devouring Mantis can contend with a hundred-year Soul Beast. Rather than fight one of those, a Spirit Master might as well fight an ordinary hundred-year Soul Beast—it earns more! Someone happened across this mantis and killed it casually, so seven Silver Spirit Coins really isn't much."

The old man spoke bluntly, clearly having expected her to find it expensive. He lazily sank back into his recliner and leisurely fanned himself again.

Seeing his attitude, then thinking of the Body Tempering Method, Lin Li shut her eyes, steeled herself, and ground out a single word through clenched teeth. "Bought."

The old man grunted. "Take it yourself. This old fellow is too old to carry something that heavy." He completely ignored the fact that he had just carried over the Soul Beast blood himself.

Lin Li nodded, took seven Silver Spirit Coins from her Storage Spirit Tool, and placed them on the table.

Seven Silver Spirit Coins were enough to cover a month's expenses for a common family of four. Spending them all on a single blood bath was truly extravagant.

She stored the Soul Beast blood from the floor in her Storage Spirit Tool and hurried away.

After she left, however, the old man's half-lidded eyes slowly opened, revealing an unreadable expression. He murmured, "That's an interesting little one—and stingy, too."

Then he let out a low chuckle.

Naturally, Lin Li knew nothing of this. She had originally intended to buy some herbs to boil for strengthening her muscles and bones, but forget it. If even the blood was this expensive, the herbs would be even worse!

Rather than waste her time on that, she might as well make a trip to the Star Dou Great Forest herself!

Lin Li strolled out slowly. Though she had fused with two spirit rings, she was still so young that she looked only six or seven years old.

However, the aura around her was quite intimidating. Seeing her dressed in the Saint Er Junior Soul Master Academy uniform, no one dared provoke her.

Lin Li wandered around for a while, only buying a skewer of Tanghulu halfway through her walk and eating it as she went.

The Tanghulu was very sweet. The hawthorn berries had clearly been carefully prepared by the vendor—their pits removed and replaced with crisp walnut kernels, giving the treat a distinctly different texture.

As Lin Li walked, she glanced around at the shops on both sides. Though she appeared to be casually strolling along with her small frame, her actual speed was astonishingly fast.

Before long, she arrived at the entrance of the Junior Spirit Master Academy. Two people were already standing outside the gates.

One was a tall, upright man dressed in a moon-white long robe embroidered with dark pine shadows, giving him an air of tranquility and peace.

The other was a woman in a Qipao dress of similar color. Her features were delicate, and her temperament gentle.

Standing together, they looked like a perfectly matched couple, utterly harmonious.

Lin Li gave them a brief look, and the two naturally looked back at her. The moment they did, they could no longer look away.

The girl was exquisitely beautiful, with skin as smooth as jade and striking, elegant features. Though she was very young, the powerful Soul Power fluctuations around her indicated that she had already entered the profession of a Spirit Master!

Lin Li greeted them before walking straight inside.

The woman tugged at the man beside her. "Brother Feng, this must be the little girl who beat our son so badly, right?" Her voice was full of delight at her son's misfortune.

The man softly replied, "Yes." But as he carefully examined the academy, he could not help letting out a deep sigh.

Naturally, the woman knew what her man was sighing over. Had she not also sighed all the way here?

The woman sighed. "It's been so many years. Do you want to see her?"

The man shook his head. "No need. Seeing Xuan'er just now was enough. As for her, she..." The harsh words at the tip of his tongue could not be spoken.

He let out another deep sigh, took the woman's hand, and headed in another direction.

Yet what they did not know was that after their figures gradually disappeared into the distance, a woman dressed in a black Qipao emerged from behind a large banyan tree.

She held an exquisitely crafted smoking pipe in her hand. She took a deep drag, then slowly exhaled.

Pale violet smoke concealed her face, but within the swirling haze, a pair of beautiful fox-like eyes could faintly be seen... Amid the drifting smoke, an almost imperceptible sigh sounded.