Three months passed in a flash. At the Worship Hall, Golden Crocodile Douluo was glowing with delight as he laughed. "Big Brother, it's incredible! That ancient book your disciple Li Taibai produced—the whale rubber recorded in it really can improve one's physique and increase the number of years of Soul Rings one can absorb!"
"We gave both Ye Fan and him ten-thousand-year whale rubber. After refining it for three months, I tested them. They can absorb Soul Rings that are at least two thousand years old. Yesterday, they both successfully absorbed their first Soul Rings!"
"That kid Ye Fan has a beast martial soul and a powerful physique, so he surpassed Li Taibai by another three hundred years! Both of them advanced three levels in a row and became level-thirteen Soul Masters!"
The more he spoke, the more excited he became, his eyes gleaming. "At this rate, won't Spirit Hall be able to mass-produce geniuses in the future?"
Qian Daoliu stood with his hands behind his back. "Whale rubber is a rare treasure of the sea. It is not easy to obtain."
"Over the past few months, the Worship Hall has searched nearly the entire continent, yet we only obtained a few pieces over ten thousand years old, more than a hundred pieces a thousand years old, and over two thousand pieces a hundred years old. Nearly all the existing whale rubber is now in our hands."
"Take a piece of ten-thousand-year whale rubber and send it to Bibi Dong's side," Qian Daoliu said slowly.
"What? Give it to that woman?" Golden Crocodile Douluo raised his brow, visibly unwilling. "She is..."
"Sigh, it is all in the past." Qian Daoliu interrupted him, a trace of complexity flashing through his eyes.
"Ling Feng is also a genius of Spirit Hall. Relying on his formidable physical qualities, he absorbed a Soul Ring that had just reached a thousand years as his first Soul Ring. Such talent deserves whale rubber."
"Remember, refine the whale rubber before giving it to him. Do not let Bibi Dong discover its origin. And it may only be given to Ling Feng."
Though Golden Crocodile Douluo remained dissatisfied, he still bowed. "Yes, Big Brother. I understand what to do." With that, he turned to leave.
"Wait." Qian Daoliu called out to Golden Crocodile.
"Send the remaining piece of thirty-thousand-year whale rubber and the piece of twenty-thousand-year whale rubber to Xiao Xue. Tell her how to use them."
"Yes." Golden Crocodile Douluo understood at once—over the past few months, Qian Renxue had frequently sent Porcupinefish Douluo back to Spirit City to gather large quantities of rare treasures and exotic herbs, without fail once every month. This whale rubber was presumably exactly what she needed.
After Golden Crocodile Douluo left, Qian Daoliu stood alone in the empty hall. Gazing out the window, he let out a soft sigh. With a wistful expression, he murmured, "Xiao Xue, why must you do this? Is she truly worth it?"
Li Taibai's residence.
He sat at the table, looking through the system shop panel.
"Good thing I have the system. I exchanged points for that ancient book recording the uses of whale rubber, and even had the system make it look old. Otherwise, it really would have been difficult to explain."
He snorted. "That guy Ye Fan got off easy, but it does not matter."
Over the past few months, he had gone to pay his respects to Qian Daoliu every day, accompanying the old man in chess and conversation. He had finally raised their favorability to sixty-five. Now, every daily check-in earned him six hundred and fifty points.
"As long as I gather another ten thousand points, I can unlock the second linked item. There are quite a few important figures in the Worship Hall who can be linked. When the time comes..." Li Taibai's smile grew increasingly brilliant.
At Ye Fan's residence, he stood by the window, looking in the direction of Li Taibai's room.
"Li Taibai, Li Taibai, you were still too impatient. You exposed your trump card so quickly." He gently shook his head.
Several days later.
Heaven Dou City, in a secluded courtyard.
The lingering glow of the setting sun spilled across the yard.
Qian Renxue was practicing a basic sword technique over and over again. Sword light flickered as it sliced through the air, carrying sharp gusts of wind.
Thrust, chop, slash, lift, pick, intercept, wipe, sweep...
She broke down and recombined the various basic moves. Coordinating them with steady footwork, she developed eighty-one consecutive combinations, every movement flowing like clouds and water, without the slightest flaw.
This sword technique was called the Body Refining Sword Art. Chen Qingxuan had specially selected it for her. It appeared simple, yet it could temper the body to the greatest extent, combining body refinement with combat technique.
The sun gradually sank below the horizon.
Qian Renxue sheathed her sword and stood still. Fine beads of sweat covered her forehead, soaking the loose strands of hair before it and sticking them to her cheeks. Her training clothes were also already drenched through with sweat.
She walked over and sat beside a stone bench, placing both hands on the stone table and propping up her chin. She watched the darkening sky, a trace of dejection in her golden eyes.
"Master, do I not have any talent for cultivation?" Her voice was low, and her face was full of disappointment.
"Why do you say that?" Chen Qingxuan's voice sounded in her mind.
"It has been over three months, and I have only just entered the Tendon Refining Realm among the five realms of body refinement." Qian Renxue pouted, unconsciously tracing circles on the stone table with her finger.
"After this come Blood Refining, Skin Refining, Bone Refining, and Organ Refining. You said yourself that each realm is harder than the last and will take even more time. I..." She lowered her head, her voice becoming even softer. "Am I too stupid?"
"Scholarship impoverishes, martial arts enriches. Practicing martial arts is itself a path of defying fate and changing one's destiny." Chen Qingxuan's voice carried a distant quality. "It requires breaking one's own limits. Every breakthrough requires great quantities of medicinal materials to compensate for the body's losses during training."
"Only then can one enter the Dao through martial arts, draw the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the body, and transcend the ordinary from then on."
"But Master, you began martial arts at six and reached the peak of body refinement at eight. It only took you two years." Qian Renxue raised her head, her eyes filled with envy and unwillingness. "At my current pace, I do not know when I will reach the peak of body refinement..."
"Xiao Xue, do not belittle yourself," Chen Qingxuan comforted her.
"Your talent is excellent. The Primordial Nirvana Sutra I gave you emphasizes gradual progress and building the most solid foundation. Its cultivation speed is naturally much slower than ordinary body-refining arts."
"Why?" Qian Renxue crossed her arms before her chest, her face full of grievance.
"Xue'er wants to cultivate Soul Power as soon as possible. How could you choose such a slow cultivation technique for me?"
"Xiao Xue, how strong are you now?" Rather than answer directly, Chen Qingxuan asked a question.
Qian Renxue froze for a moment. She tapped her lips with a finger and thought seriously. "I do not know either. I can easily lift that stone lion outside the courtyard."
She paused, then added, "Oh, right. Over the past few months, my appetite seems to have grown a lot. I eat more than ten jin of meat every meal, but I have not gained any weight at all. Instead, my strength seems to be increasing every day."
"This is the wondrous aspect of the Primordial Nirvana Sutra," Chen Qingxuan explained.
"This cultivation technique is known as the strongest immortal-grade foundational art in the Floating Life Immortal Domain. From the start, it grants you five times the strength of others at the same realm."
"Though it cannot compare to those top-tier immortal-grade cultivation arts that grant ten, twenty, or even fifty times the strength of others at the same level, it can continuously temper your foundation."
He continued, "The five realms of body refinement are each divided into early, middle, and late stages. Each stage is further divided into upper, middle, and lower grades. Yet the most terrifying aspect of the Primordial Nirvana Sutra is that it allows every realm to gain an additional 'perfect' stage."
"Others only have the early, middle, and late stages, while you have early, middle, late, and perfect stages."
Before you continue