The Lungs Belonged to Metal!

Rose Hotel.

As the largest hotel in Suotuo City, Yun Chuan naturally set his sights on it the moment he started looking for a place to stay. Of course, Tang San and the others apparently had not arrived yet, but he did not care. After casually booking a room at the front desk, he took the key and headed toward his own room.

He gently opened the door. The interior was lavish yet elegant—a suite.

After looking around and finding nothing unsatisfactory, Yun Chuan drew all the curtains. Then, he took the head-sized crystal from his Soul Tool and placed it on the table. Gently stroking its uneven surface, he felt the rune between his brows tremble faintly and began recalling the original novel's description of this crystal.

This crystal was the most precious type of crystal: rutilated quartz. So-called rutilated quartz formed when natural crystal, under certain conditions and external influences, developed golden thread-like strands within it. These golden strands were called quartz hair, also known as gold filament, much like the crystal's hair. Regardless of a crystal's color, as long as it contained even a single strand of quartz hair, its value would exceed that of the finest natural crystal. Crystals containing quartz hair were called rutilated quartz!

The rutilated quartz before him was also the most precious kind of rutilated quartz—tabular quartz, the finest among its kind! The gold filaments within rutilated quartz were generally sparse and disordered. Only rutilated quartz that had existed for an exceptionally long time had a chance of developing more gold filaments. When the amount of gold filament reached a certain level and gathered within the crystal to form something resembling a golden plate, such rutilated quartz was called tabular quartz.

Because it contained a vast quantity of gold filament arranged in an extremely regular pattern, tabular quartz was considered the finest of rutilated quartz.

Yun Chuan examined the crystal on the table before him. Though its surface looked cloudy and impure, a careful look revealed glimmers of golden light within. The golden plate was merely concealed by impurities in the outer crystal. He remembered that the original novel stated it contained tens of thousands of gold filaments!

This was a miracle that could only appear in tabular quartz that had existed for at least a hundred thousand years. Let alone two thousand gold coins—even two million gold coins would be worth paying for such a treasure to certain people.

"This is a pretty good hidden weapon, but I don't mess around with this flashy stuff... Why is the rune between my brows reacting to this thing?" Yun Chuan wondered as he stroked the crystal's uneven surface.

"Forget it. I'll extract the gold filament inside first." Yun Chuan pressed both hands against the crystal. Soul Power surged out, tightly enveloping the entire crystal. Then he forcefully pressed down with his palms!

Bang!

A muffled explosion like thunder rang out.

The unremarkable-looking crystal shattered, and then a strange scene unfolded. Countless golden points of light burst from the tabular quartz. Fortunately, he had already wrapped it in a layer of Soul Power, so those golden points could not escape and were all trapped within the Soul Power barrier.

After a while, once he sensed that the shattered crystal had settled, Yun Chuan withdrew his Soul Power. Immediately, he saw that the table where the crystal had been was now covered in a large pile of fine golden sand—or rather, golden particles.

Every golden particle was remarkably uniform in size, about the size of a grain of rice. They were perfectly round and gleamed with faint golden light. Yun Chuan picked one up and inspected it closely. He instinctively squeezed it and found that while the golden particle was slightly soft, it was also highly elastic and could not be flattened easily.

"What exactly is special about this thing?" Yun Chuan wondered, only to discover that the rune between his brows was trembling more intensely. It began emitting a faint ripple, and he immediately sensed something different.

For some inexplicable reason, as he looked at the golden particle before him—

Yun Chuan suddenly felt hungry!

This thing could be eaten!

Under the strange ripples emitted by the rune, his body's instincts told him so. But that left him in a dilemma.

After all, this was not candy. It was a needle curled into a ball! Once infused with Soul Power, these tiny golden particles would turn into Dragon Beard Needles!

If he swallowed one of these and accidentally circulated his Soul Power to activate the Dragon Beard Needles, would he not be pierced full of holes?

"I'll risk it!"

After hesitating for a moment, Yun Chuan ultimately chose to trust the rune between his brows. It had never harmed him before, and swallowing this thing was not guaranteed to kill him. As long as he did not infuse it with Soul Power, it would not cause much harm inside his body.

Having decided to eat it, he held the golden particle in his fingers, swallowed, then opened his mouth and tossed it in. He closed his mouth, his throat moved, and he swallowed it into his stomach...

"Huh?!"

At that moment, Yun Chuan closed his eyes and carefully sensed his body. He immediately felt something different. Looking inward, he could sense that after the golden particle passed down his throat, the rune between his brows rippled once more. Then, that golden particle actually melted into a tiny warm current. The warm current flowed along his meridians to his lungs, where it finally merged into them.

After absorbing that tiny warm current, Yun Chuan felt as though his body had gained something.

"It really can be absorbed!"

Yun Chuan opened his eyes, his face filled with astonishment. Looking at the large pile of golden particles on the table, he no longer hesitated. He grabbed a large handful and stuffed it into his mouth. Several hundred golden particles were swallowed directly into his stomach.

At that moment, the rune between his brows once again released mysterious ripples. The golden particles he had swallowed likewise melted into tiny warm currents that flowed through his meridians and eventually gathered in his lungs... With the addition of these hundreds of warm currents, Yun Chuan immediately felt a distinct change.

He instinctively clenched his fist. He could feel that his physical attributes, which had not improved for a long time, had risen by at least one percent at that moment.

And that was not even the most important part. He could sense that after these golden particles merged into his lungs, they affected his entire body. After all, organs were also part of the body. Tug one hair, and the whole body moved.

"What will happen if I eat them all?"

Feeling the tangible benefits, Yun Chuan no longer hesitated. He began grabbing handful after handful of golden particles from the table and stuffing them into his mouth. Soon, he had eaten every last one.

Threads of warm current continuously merged into his lungs.

Yun Chuan gently closed his eyes and felt the marvelous changes. He could sense his physical attributes rapidly increasing! His defense, toughness, endurance, and every other aspect had improved.

Especially after his lungs absorbed the gold filament, they seemed to undergo some mysterious transformation.

"This feeling..."

Yun Chuan opened his eyes and carefully examined his hands. Looking at his neatly trimmed nails, a thought flashed through his mind. Immediately, his nails began to grow longer... The newly grown nails were golden, like blades forged entirely from gold. One look was enough to tell that they were extremely sharp!

Wanting to test the power of his nails—

Yun Chuan cautiously reached out and lightly drew the golden nails on his five fingers across the table!

It was as though he were slicing tofu.

The ten-centimeter-thick marble tabletop instantly gained five penetrating scratches. Through the scratches, he could see the carpet beneath the table.

"So sharp!" Yun Chuan was startled, because he had not used any Soul Power, nor had he exerted any force. He had merely brushed the table lightly, yet it was as though some miraculous force on his five nails had cut straight through the marble!

That power did not belong to Soul Power. To Yun Chuan, it felt more like some kind of elemental power. This elemental power was incomparably sharp, as though it could cut through anything!

"This power... originates from the lungs. The lungs belong to metal. Could this be Geng Metal Power?" Yun Chuan made a bold guess as he recalled the cultivation novels he had read before. And since gold filament itself was metal and exceptionally sharp, specializing in breaking tough defensive techniques, it was not impossible that absorbing it would grant him a Geng Metal attribute.

"This Geng Metal power seems to have given me armor-piercing properties!" Yun Chuan looked at his long nails. With a thought, the nails began to retract and shorten, returning to their usual flesh-colored appearance in the blink of an eye.

At this point, he could feel that his skin's toughness, the density of his muscles and bones, and his physical attributes in every respect had strengthened. Furthermore, Geng Metal Power did not seem limited to his nails. He could also attach this elemental power to other objects, or simply infuse it into his attacks to achieve an armor-piercing effect.

Yun Chuan took out a writing brush from his Soul Tool, then focused slightly, attempting to use his thoughts to attach the extra Geng Metal attribute within his body to the brush.

A moment later, the entire brush was covered in a faint golden gleam. Clearly, the Geng Metal Power had already attached itself to it.

Yun Chuan examined the brush, whose appearance had not changed much. Treating it like a blade, he lightly drew the tip across one corner of the table.

"Bang!"

A ten-centimeter-thick corner of the marble table fell to the floor.

"It really works!" Yun Chuan stared at the brush in his hand, his face filled with delight. As long as he attached Geng Metal Power to any object, not only would the object's material be strengthened, but it would also gain a sharp attribute—turning it into a keen weapon!

"With Geng Metal Power, my close-combat options will be much more varied in the future!" Yun Chuan realized that since this power could attach itself to anything, it could naturally be attached to his body as well. For example, his fists, knees, or other parts. The damage it could inflict that way would be tremendous!

"It seems these unique metal ores will be an enormous help to my growth. If I want to become stronger in the future, I should start from this direction." Yun Chuan murmured to himself. He suddenly realized that, to him, these metal ores were not much different from soul bones to soul masters.

And speaking of metal ores, a place name surfaced in Yun Chuan's mind: Metal City—Gengxin City!

That place definitely had the greatest number of precious metals in the world!

It seemed he would have to make a trip there someday.