Strengthening the Foundation and Nurturing Vitality VS Whale Rubber Blood Replacement

[White World]

The scene suddenly turned grim.

Bai Tang San locked his door tightly and even pasted several soundproof talismans over the cracks.

His room held none of the comforting scent of traditional medicine.

Only a nauseating stench of blood and decay lingered in the air.

Two items sat on the table.

A dark-red, amber-like lump of gelatinous substance—Hundred Year Whale Rubber.

And several glass bottles filled with dark-green liquid—the venom of a highly toxic Human-Faced Spider.

"Fortune is found amid danger."

Bai Tang San's gaze was icy as he tossed the priceless Whale Rubber into a boiling iron barrel.

Glug glug—

The Whale Rubber rapidly melted, turning into a barrel of thick red liquid that gave off an overwhelming, suffocating aura of Masculine Blood Qi.

Then.

He picked up the bottles of venom and, without hesitation, poured every last one into it!

Sizzle sizzle sizzle—!

The red Whale Rubber reacted violently the instant it met the green venom.

The entire medicinal bath turned an eerie purplish-black.

Purple bubbles rose one after another, bursting and releasing a terrifying aura that could make anyone who smelled it turn pale.

"Is that suicide?"

"That's definitely suicide!"

The audience before the Sky Curtain was terrified senseless.

Pouring venom into tonic medicine? What kind of hellish stunt was that?

Yet Bai Tang San merely glanced calmly at the barrel of "poison soup."

"Break to Establish."

"The tyranny of the Mysterious Heaven Skill lies in its ability to embrace Myriad Things."

"The resilience of Blue Silver Grass lies in finding life after being driven into a dead end."

With that said.

He drew a deep breath, leaped up, and plunged directly into the purplish-black liquid!

Hiss—!!!

It was the sound of flesh being corroded.

The moment he entered the water, Bai Tang San's skin instantly turned bright red, then blackened and began to fester.

The agonizing pain twisted his composed face at once, veins bulging like coiled dragons.

"Urgh—ahhh!!!"

A low roar was forced from deep within his throat.

It was pain akin to being sliced alive.

The venom was destroying his epidermis and eating away at his muscles.

But just as his body was about to collapse.

The immense life force hidden within the Whale Rubber was frantically drawn out by the Mysterious Heaven Skill!

The Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul automatically protected its master.

Dark-green light enveloped his entire body.

One side destroyed.

The other repaired.

Bai Tang San's body became the battlefield between those two extreme forces.

Every act of destruction tore apart his old muscle fibers.

Every repair rebuilt them into stronger, denser tissue.

This was—Whale Rubber Blood Replacement!

Cultivate the Body with Poison!

Time passed second by second.

Bai Tang San shuddered inside the bathing barrel, a physiological reaction caused by pain at its absolute limit.

Yet he never passed out.

His violet eyes remained fixed on empty space, maintaining absolute clarity.

"If I want to grow stronger..."

"I have to be ruthless with myself."

"Even more ruthless!"

[Real World]

Breaking Clan, main hall.

Yang Wudi, a man who had devoted his entire life to studying medicine to the point of obsession.

Was currently kneeling before the Sky Curtain.

Yes, kneeling.

His eyes brimmed with fanatical tears as his trembling hands stretched toward the sky, as though he wanted to touch that mad youth.

"A kindred spirit!"

"This is what a kindred spirit is!"

"Fight Poison with Poison, Break and Then Establish!"

"This is the pinnacle of medicine!"

Yang Wudi was so excited that he could barely form coherent sentences.

"What did that Yu Xiaogang soak his disciple in? Foot-washing water?"

"Relax Muscles and Activate Blood? That's for old men!"

"Soul Master Body Training requires this kind of skinning-and-tendon-pulling ruthlessness!"

"The proportion of Whale Rubber to venom is simply divine!"

"If this child belonged to my Breaking Clan, this old man would willingly hand over the position of clan leader!"

Meanwhile, at Shrek Academy.

Yu Xiaogang stared at the purplish-black medicinal bath on the Sky Curtain, at Bai Tang San's pained yet resolute expression.

The teacup in his hand shattered again.

"Madmen... they're all madmen..."

"With this method, one slip out of control and there won't even be a corpse left!"

"He's gambling with his life!"

Yu Xiaogang tried to hide his incompetence behind the word "safety."

But Hei Tang San fell silent.

He looked at his own lukewarm barrel of medicine.

Then at Bai Tang San's cultivation, like something out of hell.

He suddenly felt that his so-called "hard work" was a joke before the other's efforts.

"So..."

"Getting stronger requires paying this kind of price?"

Hei Tang San touched his smooth skin.

Then he looked at himself on the screen, whose skin was slowly reforming and becoming as resilient as jade.

A profound sense of powerlessness rose within him.

After a night had passed.

The first light of dawn appeared.

Inside White World's room, the barrel of purplish-black medicinal liquid had turned into clear water.

Every trace of essence had been completely absorbed.

Splash—

Bai Tang San rose from the bathing barrel.

By then, every festering wound on his body had vanished completely.

In its place was a warm, lustrous sheen like mutton-fat jade.

He looked delicate.

But when he casually clenched his fist.

Bang!

A crisp burst of air actually rang out!

"Hah..."

Bai Tang San exhaled a breath of turbid air. It remained condensed instead of dispersing, shooting three feet away like a sharp arrow.

He felt the power within him surge like a rushing river.

A satisfied smile curled across his lips.

He picked up the notebook beside him and recorded that night's results:

"Muscle density increased threefold."

"Bone hardness increased twofold."

"Meridians widened by thirty percent."

Finally, he wrote down his conclusion:

"Physical strength has reached the standard of a level twenty-five Assault System Soul Master."

Level twenty-five!

A one-ring Soul Master who had only just obtained his First Soul Ring.

Yet his physical strength rivaled that of a Soul Grandmaster!

This was the result of spending money and risking his life!

Bai Tang San got dressed and pushed open the door.

Sunlight fell across his face.

Those eyes were deeper than they had been yesterday, and even more... domineering.

And at that moment.

The theory class at Nuoding Academy was about to begin.

Yu Xiaogang's "Ten Core Competencies" were about to have their moment in the spotlight.

Or rather...

Their moment of execution.

When the phrase "No Useless Martial Soul" rang out again.

This time.

Someone was going to flip the table!

Nuoding Academy, lecture hall.

This was a required course for all Work-Study Students and lower-year students—Basic Martial Soul Theory.

Above the Sky Curtain, the image split apart.

The same class, two Tang Sans, and two completely different styles.

A debate over "truth" and "lies" was about to send the so-called "Master" to the Judgment Platform.

[Black World]

On the podium, Yu Xiaogang wore that faded cloth outfit, his hands clasped behind his back as his profound gaze swept over the room.

He had the air of a man sober while the world was drunk down perfectly.

"There are Ten Core Competencies in the Martial Soul world."

"They are the Heart's Blood of my lifelong research, and the shortcut that will lead you to becoming strong."

The children below listened in a daze, mouths hanging open as they stared in awe.

They could not understand it, but seeing Master's confidence, they somehow felt that it was impressive.

And in the front row.

Hei Tang San sat upright, his pen moving so quickly it nearly threw sparks.

Scratch scratch scratch!

He wished he could write down every single punctuation mark Yu Xiaogang uttered.