Secluded Valley Tempering Strength, Poisonous Shadow Hiding Malice

In the tranquil valley, spiritual energy swirled in a dense mist. A babbling brook wound its way along the mountain rocks, and the chirping of birds in the forest was crisp and clear. Having shed the smoke and hostility of the previous battle in the dense woods, it was truly an excellent secret realm for cultivation.

After half a day of meditation, the Shrek group had fully restored their internal soul power. The tension and palpitations they had felt when facing the Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus had completely subsided in this peaceful environment. Having experienced the trials of life and death and the baptism of betrayal, the eyes of the six had become increasingly steady and firm. When they looked at Lin Chen, there was even more heartfelt awe and devotion.

Dai Mubai was the first to finish his cultivation, his White Tiger soul power slowly retracting into his body. He stretched his limbs, his bones emitting a series of crisp cracks. His eyes were filled with gratitude as he looked at Lin Chen: "Brother Chen, if you hadn't blocked the Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus earlier, we would have been in grave danger. Furthermore, I've discovered that after this battle, my soul power circulation is much smoother than before, and even my compatibility with my martial soul has improved."

As the team's former primary combatant, Dai Mubai had always been proud and arrogant. Yet, in the face of Lin Chen's absolute strength, he had long since set aside all his pride, fully acknowledging Lin Chen's status as their leader. Beside him, Ma Hongjun also stood up, rubbing his belly. The fiery aura of his Phoenix martial soul was much more restrained, no longer as volatile and irritable as before. His chubby face was full of admiration: "Brother Chen, you are just too amazing. You neutralized that world-destroying hidden weapon as if it were nothing. From now on, I'll follow you and cultivate properly, striving to become stronger quickly so I don't hold everyone back!"

Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, Oscar, and Xiao Wu also gathered around. Xiao Wu held Lin Chen's arm tightly, looking up with a small face, the adoration in her eyes almost overflowing. She said softly: "Brother Chen, no matter what danger we encounter in the future, I will face it with you. I will also cultivate my Soft Bone martial soul well so I won't make you worry anymore."

Ning Rongrong nodded gently, her seven-colored glazed eyes filled with agreement. Born into the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, she had known since childhood that the strong were respected. The strength and demeanor Lin Chen displayed had long since convinced her completely, leaving no trace of her former spoiled young mistress attitude: "Lin Chen, for the training ahead, we will listen entirely to your arrangements. If you say go east, we will never go west."

Although Zhu Zhuqing did not say much, her cold eyes were filled with determination, and Oscar gripped his sausage mold tightly, his honest face full of seriousness. At this moment, the Shrek group had completely cast aside their previous minor rifts. United as one and with Lin Chen as their core, their cohesion had reached an unprecedented height.

Lin Chen looked at the united group before him, a faint warmth flashing in his ink-colored eyes. His tone was calm yet possessed great power: "Since that is the case, we shall focus our training in this valley. I will point out the shortcomings in your cultivation, optimize your use of soul skills, and improve your overall combat effectiveness. The Douluo Continent is filled with experts; only when your own strength is sufficiently powerful can you handle any crisis."

As his voice fell, Lin Chen began to guide everyone's cultivation one by one.

Addressing the issue of Dai Mubai's White Tiger martial soul having strong explosive power but insufficient endurance, Lin Chen pointed out the flaws in his soul power circulation and corrected his exertion methods when releasing soul skills. He taught him to link the White Tiger Intense Light Wave and the White Tiger Barrier more fluidly, significantly reducing soul power consumption while maintaining explosive force. For Ma Hongjun's defect of having volatile and uncontrollable Phoenix flames, Lin Chen guided him to restrain the hostility of the fire, condensing the scattered flame soul power into beams to increase attack power and precision, avoiding unnecessary waste of soul power.

He helped Ning Rongrong refine the rhythm of her Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's amplification, breaking her previous limitations of fixed buffs. This allowed her to flexibly switch between the connections of power, speed, and defense based on the battlefield situation, maximizing her support effects. He provided pointers on Zhu Zhuqing's Hell Spirit Cat movement techniques, compensating for her weakness in defense despite her extreme speed, and optimized the release angle of her Nether Slash to make her ambushes and surprise attacks more lethal and inescapable. Even for Oscar's support sausage production, Lin Chen gave suggestions for improvement, accelerating his production speed and making the medicinal effects of the Recovery Sausage and Flight Sausage more stable, better serving team combat.

Regarding Xiao Wu's Soft Bone martial soul, Lin Chen was particularly attentive, meticulously correcting the subtle flaws in her grappling techniques and the exertion of her Waist Bow. He taught her how to better use leverage to her advantage in close-quarters combat, while also urging her to be cautious during battle and never to take risks rashly.

Under Lin Chen's cultivation vision and precise guidance, which far exceeded this era, everyone's confusion cleared away, and the many bottlenecks and doubts they had encountered in their past cultivation were instantly resolved. The group immediately threw themselves into cultivation according to Lin Chen's instructions. Soul power fluctuations rose and fell throughout the valley, and everyone's strength was improving at a speed visible to the naked eye, far more efficient than solitary, bitter practice.

Time passed quietly, and in the blink of an eye, two days had gone by.

The strength of the Shrek group had all seen a qualitative leap. Dai Mubai was one step closer to the thirty-level Soul Elder bottleneck; Ma Hongjun, Zhu Zhuqing, and Oscar's soul power had also steadily progressed; Ning Rongrong's support ability had greatly improved; and Xiao Wu's Soft Bone combat techniques had become increasingly proficient. The coordination of the entire team had become more tacit, allowing them to form excellent synergy in battle even without verbal communication.

Lin Chen, meanwhile, remained on guard nearby. While his divine sense enveloped the entire valley, staying alert for potential dangers, he silently stabilized his own strength. His ink-colored soul power was restrained like an abyss; while appearing calm on the surface, it actually contained world-destroying power, ready to handle any sudden situation at any time.

His divine sense occasionally swept through the depths of the dense forest, sensing that sinister, lowly, yet hate-filled aura, but he did not pay it much mind. In his eyes, Tang San, who had lost all his cultivation and was left only with poison arts and schemes, was nothing more than a clown. No matter how much he lurked or plotted, he could never shake him in the slightest, and would instead only walk step by step toward destruction in his own hatred.

Meanwhile, deep in the wild, dense forest far from the valley, in a dark and damp cave, Tang San was curled up in a corner. His face was haggard, his clothes were tattered, and his body was covered in mud and scratches, looking wretched to the extreme.

The seal at his Dantian remained bone-chillingly cold, completely blocking his soul power circulation. His shattered meridians sent waves of piercing pain from time to time, but these physical torments only made the hatred in his heart grow more intense, the madness and sinister intent in his eyes almost overflowing.

For these two days, he had survived by picking wild fruits and drinking stream water, dragging his broken body through the dense forest to search for various poisonous plants and insects. Relying on his Purple Demon Eye, he precisely identified the types of poisons, and using his Mysterious Jade Hand to resist the erosion of toxins, he gathered materials to refine the deadly poisons of the Tang Sect.

Without soul power to drive high-level hidden weapons, he gave up on ultimate techniques like the Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus that required massive soul power, turning instead to study the most sinister, hidden, and non-soul-power-dependent poisoned weapons and poison arts of the Tang Sect.

He used hard stones to grind out tiny poison needles, boiled gathered Heartbreak Grass, Heart-Rotting Insects, and Nether Flowers into highly toxic juices, and tempered the needles over and over until they were coated in a poison that killed upon contact. Following the records in the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record, he set up hidden poison mist traps and the Soul-Severing Poison Array; every method was sinister and vicious, leaving no path for survival.

"Lin Chen... that group of people from Shrek who betrayed me..." Tang San ground the poison needles with a stone, not even noticing when his fingertips were cut by stone shards. His eyes were filled with paranoid resentment as he hissed, "Aren't you all very powerful? Once I refine enough poisonous hidden weapons and set up an inescapable poison array, I will make sure you all die without a whole corpse!"

"So what if you sealed my soul power? Do you think you can make me submit like this? I have the lifelong learning of the Tang Sect; even without soul power, I can take your life with poison arts! Every humiliation and pain I have suffered today, I will make you pay back a thousandfold, ten thousandfold in the future!"

He knew well that he was no match for Lin Chen now, and a head-on confrontation would be like throwing an egg against a rock. Thus, he completely abandoned the idea of a direct duel, focusing entirely on studying sinister methods, intending to hide in the shadows, wait for an opportunity to ambush, and take his revenge in the most despicable way possible.

As he tempered his poison weapons, he moved slowly toward the valley where the Shrek group was located, carefully restraining his own aura. Relying on the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to hide his tracks, he was like a venomous snake lurking in the darkness, inching closer to his prey, waiting for the best moment to strike, wanting to deliver a fatal blow to Lin Chen and his group.

Inside the valley, Lin Chen's gaze suddenly turned cold. His divine sense instantly captured that gradually approaching, sinister aura, and a look of disdainful mockery curled the corners of his mouth.

He had long since seen through Tang San's petty schemes, but he still did not take the initiative to attack. Instead, he intended to go along with it, letting Tang San lose all hope while also letting the Shrek group see his sinister true colors.

"Everyone stop your cultivation and guard the surroundings. Something without eyes has come knocking at our door."

Lin Chen spoke lightly, his voice calm yet carrying an unquestionable power.

Hearing this, the Shrek group instantly stopped their cultivation. Their soul power surged, and they entered a combat state in an instant, scanning their surroundings with vigilant eyes. The atmosphere became tense in a heartbeat.