How to Get Strong Without Potions

"Just a little. As they say, poison and medicine aren't far apart."

Yu Cheng replied casually.

By then, he had finished collecting the venom and pulled several medicinal herbs from his Soul Tool, including a freshly picked Seven Leaf Purple Orchid.

"You're planning to refine medicine here?"

Dugu Yan frowned.

Refining medicine was a delicate task—doing it in a soul beast forest was just asking for trouble.

Yu Cheng shook the snake venom in his hand. "White Phosphorus Snake venom is a very precious medicinal ingredient. I couldn't resist the urge to work with it."

Seeing Dugu Yan's concern, he added, "Don't worry, Captain. I'll be quick."

As he spoke, he set up a pill furnace and silently chanted:

Heaven Tier Battle Skill, Ghost Possession!

"This body really is frail!"

Youth Yu Cheng drifted out of the bone ash box.

The next moment, he manipulated his Soul Power to wrap around the Seven Leaf Purple Orchid, plucking the leaves one by one.

At the same time, he poured the White Phosphorus Snake venom into the furnace, and a fierce flame ignited beneath it.

"Yu Cheng, you've got some skills!"

Osler leaned in to look at the furnace. There was no firewood—how was it burning?

"Slap."

Dugu Yan smacked him on the head.

"Don't touch Yu Cheng. This furnace is a Soul Tool; it consumes Soul Power."

She watched Yu Cheng handle the herbs, a flicker of surprise in her eyes.

She could refine medicine too, especially poisons.

But when she processed herbs, she could only do them one at a time, sometimes needing to prepare in advance.

Yet Yu Cheng managed two or three ingredients simultaneously.

His movements were precise, with no wasted steps.

"Could he be a master alchemist on top of his theoretical expertise?"

Dugu Yan thought to herself.

Before long, a faint wisp of green smoke rose from the furnace.

Yu Cheng moved swiftly, taking out a transparent glass cup and pouring the liquid from the furnace.

In an instant, a rich medicinal fragrance wafted out.

Just smelling it made everyone feel refreshed and inexplicably energized.

The refining was complete. Youth Yu Cheng logged off.

"What is this?"

Osler's eyes widened as he asked curiously.

Yu Cheng cleared his throat and put on a knowing air. "This is called a White Snake Pill—no, it's only White Snake Liquid. It's both a poison and a tonic."

"I've been researching ways to get stronger quickly, and recently I had some insights. I found a few unorthodox methods... oh, no, a painless way to boost strength."

"That's doping!"

Youth Yu Cheng was an elder of the Tang Sect Medicine Hall, highly skilled in alchemy.

How else could you get stronger without doping?

"Isn't that a banned substance? Banned substances are very harmful!"

Yu Tianheng said.

Coming from the Upper Three Sects, Yu Tianheng was well-informed and naturally knew about banned substances.

Some Soul Masters used banned drugs to rapidly increase their power, draining their potential until they ended up sharp-headed wrecks.

The Breaking Clan were experts in that field.

But they didn't call them banned substances; they called them legally made secret medicines.

"Talking about toxicity without dosage is just being a thug."

Yu Cheng said.

"Strictly speaking, all secret medicines have side effects. The difference is whether they're temporary or permanent, and whether they can be recovered from."

"My poison—pfft, secret medicine—can stimulate Soul Power growth. You'll feel a slight dizziness for three days, but it won't affect daily life."

Osler's face lit up with understanding. "So the side effects disappear after three days?"

"No."

Yu Cheng shook his head. "I'll get used to it in three days."

"..."

At that, the members of the Imperial Fight team were left speechless.

This was terrifying—a single small cup of medicinal juice, and the side effects lasted this long.

It was almost more frightening than Yu Cheng's First Soul Skill.

Yu Cheng raised the cup and waved it in front of Osler's eyes.

"Want a sip?"

Osler shook his head like a rattle-drum. "Master Yu Cheng, please spare me."

The others quickly took two steps back, afraid Yu Cheng might inflict this on them.

"Tch."

Yu Cheng lifted the cup, tilted his head back, and downed it in one gulp. Then he sat cross-legged and began to meditate.

Inside the ossuary.

Youth Yu Cheng watched Yu Cheng's actions and couldn't help but sigh. "As expected of my past self—no hesitation about such methods."

Orthodox soul masters mostly relied on hard training to advance their soul power.

Taking shortcuts by consuming forbidden drugs went against the mainstream values of soul masters.

And some extreme cultivation methods, like devouring blood or souls, were unacceptable to the world; those soul masters were called Fallen Ones.

But Yu Cheng...

He had a foot in both camps!

Over ten minutes passed.

"Phew~"

Yu Cheng slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a mouthful of turbid air.

He saw the Imperial Fight fighters surrounding him in a circle.

Ye Lingling had also finished absorbing her soul ring and was watching him curiously.

"Yu Cheng, how do you feel?"

Dugu Yan asked with concern.

As the captain, if Yu Cheng accidentally poisoned himself, she wouldn't know what to do.

"I feel fantastic right now!"

Yu Cheng said as he stretched his body freely.

He felt full of strength, an indescribable sense of comfort, as if every pore was breathing freely.

Just over ten minutes of cultivation was comparable to three days of hard training.

Only, his head felt a little itchy.

"Good, as long as you're fine."

Dugu Yan patted her chest and returned to her usual calm expression.

"Yu Cheng, next we need to help you hunt a soul beast. What soul beast are you planning to hunt for your second soul ring?"

Dugu Yan spread out a map marked with the locations of some rare plant-type soul beasts in this area.

"I plan to hunt a Spike Thorn, preferably over a thousand years old."

Yu Cheng pointed at a red circle on the map.

"A thousand years! Are you sure?"

Dugu Yan asked in a serious tone.

The Spike Thorn was a soul beast skilled in defense, its thorns carrying some toxicity, and its roots possessing powerful devouring abilities—a fairly versatile soul beast.

If Blue Silver Grass absorbed such a soul ring, the resulting soul skill shouldn't be bad.

According to Yu Cheng's theory, after absorbing the ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber, his second soul ring indeed had a chance to break through to a thousand years.

However, Dugu Yan had yet to hear of anyone achieving this.

"Yu Cheng, isn't a thousand years too risky?"

Yu Tianheng spoke up.

It wasn't that he cared about Yu Cheng; rather, he didn't want Yu Cheng to be able to absorb a thousand-year soul ring.

When Yu Tianheng broke through to Soul Elder, Yu Cheng hadn't yet published his theory, and his third soul ring's age was thirteen hundred years.

He had been quite satisfied with his Third Soul Skill.

But after Yu Cheng published his theory, everything changed.

The entire Imperial Dou Team, except for him, had third soul rings exceeding two thousand years!

The gap in soul ring age limits made up for the difference in martial souls to some extent.

Now, if he wanted to defeat Osler, he would have to use eighty percent of his strength.

"Thanks for the concern."

Yu Cheng patted Yu Tianheng on the shoulder.

"A mere Thousand-Year Second Soul Ring, no big deal."

"Besides, I still have many secret medicine theories I haven't published. Brother Tianheng, would you like to give them a try?"