The Stakes

Level 21, mid-stage...

Level 21, peak...

Level 22!

Level 23!

Level 24!

The instant his Soul Power broke through the level 25 threshold, the meridians that had been widened to raise his Innate Full Soul Power were completely cleared and set in order.

His Soul Power circulated several times faster!

It felt as though every pore in his body had opened, leaving him indescribably refreshed.

Only when his Soul Power settled firmly at level 26 did the warm current gradually subside.

Gu Chensha slowly opened his eyes, a glint of light flashing across them.

"Level 26."

He murmured to himself, "Though I didn't manage to recover to level 27, I've still gained more than half a year's progress. It was worth it."

"Back then, to force your innate level 7 Soul Power up to Innate Full Soul Power, I used my own essence as a guide and spent 6 levels of your Soul Power to expand your Soul Power pool and rebuild the foundation of your meridians."

"This bargain could only make a profit."

"At this rate, it won't be long before I break through level 30 and obtain my third Soul Ring."

His gaze turned toward the window, piercing the night as if he could see the countless opportunities and secrets hidden in the depths of this continent.

"To take the first step toward becoming a god, hard cultivation alone isn't nearly enough."

"Some treasured lands and inheritances must be seized."

"I've never intended to take the ready-made path of inheriting a god's legacy."

"Inheriting someone else's divine position means living shackled by those who came before, forever trapped by the rules of the Douluo God Realm."

"Only by creating a new divine position of my own can I truly break free of those constraints and glimpse true transcendence."

"And the opportunities hidden in this world have never been limited to the inheritances of the four gods from the final battle."

"The inheritances of Asura God, Rakshasa God, Angel God, and Sea God aren't the only paths."

"The Fallen Love God's inheritance in Qiankun Asking-Love Valley, the Thunder God bloodline within the Thunder Hell Vine, the fragments of the Evil God inside the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger..."

"And the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well left behind when the Ice and Fire Dragon King fell..."

"These are all our bargaining chips!"

When Zhu Zhuqing woke, she found herself immersed in warm liquid.

A cozy warmth enveloped her from all sides, seeping through her pores and into her meridians.

Even the spaces between her bones felt comfortable, nearly making her moan.

She lowered her head and glanced down.

The water came up to her collarbone, rising and falling gently with each breath.

In the misty steam, her skin had a healthy pink glow.

Like polished white jade, it was smooth and firm, brimming with vitality.

Now that the hot water steamed her, a flush spread from her cheeks all the way to her chest.

Like peach blossoms on a branch in early spring, not yet fully open, their pink was just right.

She casually stirred the liquid in front of her.

Warm water slipped between her fingers, gliding across her palm, wrist, and forearm.

Farther down, the water hid most of the view.

But the two soft mounds, reddened by the hot water, still appeared and disappeared with the ripples.

Buoyed by the water, they looked fuller and perkier than usual.

Like two ripe peaches, heavy against her chest, they swayed gently as she stirred the water.

The hot water had softened her waist, but not an ounce of fat marred it.

From rib to hip, her body curved in a perfectly smooth line, as though shaped stroke by stroke with the finest carving knife.

She raised an arm and scooped water over her shoulder.

As droplets slid down the inside of her arm, she could see the thin layer of muscle rise subtly beneath her skin.

Long, sleek, and brimming with explosive power, like a cheetah's.

Strange.

She had exercised so intensely at her teacher's insistence...

She tried rolling her shoulder, then bent her knees.

The soreness she expected never came.

Instead, she felt an indescribable lightness.

It was as if something blocked inside her body had been cleared.

Her Soul Power circulated through her meridians several times faster than before.

Every pore in her body seemed to breathe.

Right, she was completely naked...

Then... these clothes must be...

Her face, already reddened by the steam, instantly burned even hotter.

Her ears felt as though they were about to smoke, and she instinctively sank lower into the water.

It covered her chin, leaving only her eyes visible as bubbles rose around her.

No, her teacher wasn't interested in her body. Her teacher was a spider, after all...

She shook her head hard, trying to fling away those muddled thoughts.

But how strange.

Why hadn't her teacher appeared?

Usually, her teacher greeted her as soon as she woke up.

Never before had it been so quiet, without a sound.

"Teacher?"

She called softly in her sea of consciousness.

There was no response.

"Teacher?"

Still nothing.

Zhu Zhuqing frowned and waited a few more breaths, but her sea of consciousness remained as silent as a stagnant pool.

She slowly rose from the water. It streamed down her body and ran along her legs back into the pool.

Her wet hair clung to her shoulders and back. Droplets fell from the ends, one by one, striking her feet and splashing into tiny sprays.

She picked up the towel draped by the pool and dried herself.

Only when the towel brushed her skin did she belatedly notice that it seemed smoother than before.

Not soft and delicate, but like steel that had been repeatedly tempered.

Its surface was smooth, yet within it lay astonishing resilience.

After drying off and changing into clean clothes, she noticed a note by the table.

The handwriting was sloppy and crooked, the strokes stiff as if written by a child just learning to write.

"While you were unconscious, I helped you absorb all the medicinal power of the Soul Ascension Pill and used it to temper your body."

"Next, I'll sleep for 7 days."

Zhu Zhuqing set down the note. With a thought, she quietly released her Nether Civet Martial Soul.

A halo enveloped her as two Yellow Soul Rings slowly rose.

After sensing her aura,

"Sure enough, I've recovered to level 26, but that's strange..."

She tilted her head slightly, puzzled.

"Teacher clearly said before that the Soul Ascension Pill works best when taken while breaking through a bottleneck?"

"Why use it early this time?"

"Did I misunderstand?"

After thinking it over without figuring it out, she simply stopped dwelling on it.

All she knew was that she absolutely couldn't slack off during the next seven days.

For the next seven days, Zhu Zhuqing followed the cultivation plan Gu Chensha had left behind to the letter.

It was nothing more than training her Soul Power during the day and running laps with weights every night.

And this was only the first stage her teacher had described.

But the changes were plain to see.

She could feel them clearly.

The occasional muscle soreness she used to feel when exerting herself had disappeared. Her reaction speed and explosive strength had both improved by a whole level.

Even her Soul Skill activation had become much faster.

She guessed that while absorbing the Soul Ascension Pill's medicinal power, her teacher had used a special method to purge the impurities accumulated in her body, making sure every bit of the pill's power went where it was needed most.