The First Red-Quality Item

That night, the disciples of Fate Defying Pavilion were destined to lose sleep.

They discovered that meditating in a Medicinal Bath increased their cultivation speed by at least thirty percent. After consuming the Spirit Liquid in the little Crystal bottles, gray impurities seeped from their skin. It neither hurt nor itched, but their Soul Power circulated more and more smoothly.

"This... this is practically divine medicine!"

Many people calculated that if they could receive resources like this every month, they would break through their current realms within a few years and perhaps even reach levels they had never dared to imagine before.

Atop Jueming Cliff.

Luo Can was checking the Mysterious Heaven Skill cultivation progress of the thirty-one Core Disciples.

The results were somewhat disappointing.

Over the past half month, only two more people had reached the threshold of the first level of the Mysterious Heaven Skill. The other disciples were still stuck at the most basic hurdle of "understanding the meridian circulation routes," making slow progress.

Luo Can did not blame them.

He understood that a cultivation method for "inner power" like the Mysterious Heaven Skill, originating from another world, was an entirely unfamiliar system to the Spirit Masters of Douluo Continent.

Not only did it require memorizing complex meridian circulation routes, it also required understanding abstract concepts like "inner power cycles" and "circulating through the heavenly circuit."

Relying solely on rote memorization truly made it difficult to get started.

Looks like I need to find time to systematically teach them about the human body's meridians and acupoint distribution, Luo Can mused.

Otherwise, relying on them to figure it out themselves would be far too inefficient.

When he returned to Fate Defying Valley, it was still early.

Qian Renxue was sitting on her usual rock by the lake, stretching her six black wings.

Seeing Luo Can return so early, she raised a brow. "Why are you back so early today?"

Luo Can sat down beside her. "Ye Qingyu is watching over Fate Defying Pavilion, and Sister Bai Ningshuang and her brother are managing the herb shop. Naturally, I can take it easy."

"You really are carefree." Qian Renxue shot him a sidelong glance. "Aren't you afraid your authority will be undermined?"

Luo Can smiled confidently. "As long as I hold the resources in my hands and possess absolute strength, no one can undermine me."

He paused and turned to look at Qian Renxue.

Under the moonlight, her profile was breathtakingly beautiful. No matter how often he looked at her, he never grew tired of it.

"I'm not like you," Luo Can suddenly said. "You clearly had unmatched talent, yet instead of cultivating properly, you insisted on playing palace intrigue games and wasting over a decade in schemes and conspiracies. If you ask me, as long as you possess absolute strength, every conspiracy is just a paper tiger."

Qian Renxue frowned, a trace of displeasure flashing through her eyes. "Are you telling me what to do?"

"No." Luo Can smiled. "I just think what you did back then was pretty stupid."

"That wasn't me!" Qian Renxue glared at him. "That was my idiot original self! Don't lump me together with her!"

Luo Can raised his hands in surrender. "Fine, fine, not you."

Just then—

"Master! Master!"

A clear call came from afar, rapidly drawing closer.

Ye Lingling rode on the Titan Giant Ape's shoulder, her little face brimming with excitement as she rushed over from the distance. Nearing the lake, she lightly leaped down and landed steadily in front of Luo Can.

"Master! When I was sparring with Mu Jin just now, I actually broke through! I'm level seventeen now!"

The "Mu Jin" she spoke of was the Titan Giant Ape. Since its skin was as hard as rock, Ye Lingling had given it that name.

Luo Can's eyes lit up. He reached out and rubbed the little girl's hair.

"Not bad. At this rate, you may be able to break through level twenty and obtain your Second Spirit Ring within half a year."

Hearing this, Dugu Yan's green eyes were filled with envy. "It hasn't even been that long, and Senior Sister Lingling is already about to catch up to me."

Ye Lingling scratched her cheek shyly. "Hehe, I just kept training, and then I broke through."

"Little girl." Qian Renxue reached out and pinched Ye Lingling's cheek, her tone carrying a hint of annoyance. "That's asking for a beating."

Luo Can smiled and said to his two young disciples,

"If you want to raise your Soul Power quickly, then starting next month, each of you will get a bottle of Soul Power Pills. I guarantee you'll experience soaring cultivation speed."

"Really?!" Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan's eyes lit up at the same time.

"Mm." Luo Can patted his chest. "Your master may not have much else, but I have plenty of pills. There'll be enough for everyone."

"What about me?" Qian Renxue pointed at herself.

Luo Can glanced at her. "You're a mighty Super Douluo, and you're competing with children for pills?"

Qian Renxue: "..."

Luo Can smiled. "I don't have any pills capable of increasing Soul Power at your level for now, but remember this. Once I get some in the future, I'll make it up to you."

At his words, Qian Renxue's eyes brightened slightly, and a smile curved her lips.

"Fine. You said it."

Time passed into the early morning.

Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan had long since gone to sleep. Luo Can arrived at the lake on schedule and took out his fishing rod.

Qian Renxue unusually did not leave today. She sat nearby with her chin propped on her hand, watching him fish.

Time passed.

For the first cast, he waited a full twenty minutes before a faint tug came through the fishing line.

Luo Can exerted force with his wrist and lifted upward.

A dense black sphere of light burst from the water and landed on the grass. The light dispersed, revealing a translucent bone gleaming with seven-colored radiance.

[Gemstone Torso Bone (Black)]

[Age: 95,000 years]

[Description: Obtained from a 95,000-year Seven-Colored Gem Beast. Comes with the skill "Gem Protection" (Defense).]

"Eh?" Luo Can was somewhat surprised. "My luck is pretty good today. Starting off with a 95,000-year Spirit Bone."

"95,000 years?" Qian Renxue leaned closer, staring at the Spirit Bone with surprise flashing through her eyes.

A Spirit Bone of this level would be a sect-defending treasure in any faction, enough to spark a life-or-death struggle between Title Douluo.

"Looks like today's going to be a huge haul." Luo Can put away the Spirit Bone and cast his rod again.

However, his luck afterward did not seem to improve as he had hoped.

On the second cast, he caught an ordinary 30,000-year Spirit Bone.

On the third cast, he caught a bottle of purple-quality Soul Power Pills.

From the fourth cast to the eighth, he caught only intermediate herbs, rare metals, low-level Soul Tools, and similar items. The highest quality was merely black, and most of them were ordinary.

Not until the ninth cast.

[Body Refining Pill (Black)]

[Description: Greatly enhances physical constitution. Each Pill can increase the maximum Spirit Ring age a Spirit Master can absorb by +5,000 years. Each person may consume at most one.]

Luo Can's expression became somewhat complicated as he looked at the Pill's information.

"What a pity..."

"What is it?" Qian Renxue asked.

"This Pill's effect is extremely powerful." Luo Can handed the jade bottle to her. "One can increase the maximum age of Spirit Rings a Spirit Master can absorb by five thousand years."

Qian Renxue accepted the jade bottle. Upon hearing that, regret also flashed through her eyes.

"It really is a pity. It can only be saved for your two young disciples."

Luo Can nodded and carefully put away the Pill.

After that, he continued fishing.

The tenth cast, the eleventh cast, the twelfth cast.

The gains remained mediocre. It was either pills or metal.

With only the last five minutes remaining of his four-hour fishing time, Luo Can thought the day would end like this.

Buzz!!!

The fishing rod in his hand suddenly trembled!

A powerful pulling force suddenly struck, instantly bending the rod and pulling the fishing line taut.

"A big catch!"

Luo Can's gaze sharpened. He pulled the rod with all his strength, but failed to lift it in one go.

He pulled for a full three minutes and even used Golden Power before finally dragging the item out of the water.

Splash—

A Pill the size of a longan, completely crimson and marked by a single golden pattern, burst from the water!

Luo Can reached out and caught the crimson Pill.

The Pill's information immediately appeared before his eyes.

[Pill: Sheng Huan Pill (Red)]

[Description: After consumption, can increase the age of one Spirit Ring by 10,000 years. One person may consume only nine in their lifetime, corresponding to the nine Spirit Rings.]