In a room at the Rose Hotel, Yan Lingji hung suspended against the wall, her toes barely touching the floor.
One day and one night had brought a considerable improvement.
The results were obvious, too.
She could feel that her bones, muscles, and meridians had all grown stronger once more.
But it had been her first time, after all.
She had been put through the wringer.
Only after Jiang Ce released her did she catch her breath. She collapsed onto the bed like a puddle of water.
After a long while, she braced herself against the edge of the bed and sat up, leaning against the headboard.
"My master, I'm starting to think more and more that you made me eat that Whale Rubber just so you could torment me." Her voice was seductive, tinged with reproach.
"Don't talk nonsense. I did it to increase your strength."
"Oh-ho... Is that so?"
Yan Lingji's eyes shifted, and the corners of her mouth curled into a meaningful smile.
"That's not what I think."
"Then we'll keep going."
As Jiang Che spoke, a tentacle wrapped around Yan Lingji's ankle and hoisted her upside down.
"Master... I was wrong."
Yan Lingji surrendered at once.
Her master was no ordinary person.
If he made her go through it day and night again...
She couldn't take it.
"I'll let you off this time."
"Test your current condition properly."
The tentacle let go, and Yan Lingji fell onto the bed, her chest heaving with Three Thousand Lightning Movement.
Yan Lingji cast a resentful glance at the state she was in.
Jiang Che then used Super Healing to treat her inverted White Tiger Dagger and restore her strength.
Feeling her own body, Yan Lingji smiled seductively.
"Your Super Healing really is useful, Master."
With that, she stood naked in the middle of the room.
She raised her hand.
She threw a punch.
"Pow!"
The air cracked with a sharp report.
Yan Lingji froze for a moment.
She threw another punch, this time using a tenth of her strength.
"Pow!"
The sound was even louder. The gust from her fist swept across the bed, sending the covers billowing into the air.
She lowered her gaze to her fist, astonishment filling her eyes.
Then she kicked.
"Whoosh!"
Her kick cut through the air, so fast that the naked eye could only catch a blur.
She even felt that, without a boost from Venom, her bare strength alone would be enough to shatter yesterday's boulder with a single punch.
She threw a series of punches and kicks.
Every fist broke the wind; every kick cracked through the air.
Jiang Che could only watch as she moved about naked.
Three Thousand Lightning Movement was truly an eye-catching sight.
She turned the room into a mess. The blankets and pillows flew everywhere, and even the curtains were ripped by the force of her punches.
When she finished, she lowered her hands and stood still, breathing evenly, without even a trace of a flush or shortness of breath.
"I never imagined this stuff would be so effective," Yan Lingji murmured to herself.
"Of course it is." Jiang Che paused. "Now do you know you wronged your master?"
Yan Lingji's lips curled. "Yes, I wronged you, Master."
"Since you were wrong, then you'll take your punishment properly."
Jiang Che had her bend over into a pose with her head lowered and hips raised.
"Whap!"
A pitch-black tentacle lashed her from behind.
A while later.
Suddenly, urgent knocking sounded from outside the door.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
As usual, the knocks were hurried, as if something urgent had happened.
Meanwhile, rain pattered down outside the window.
The sun was already high in the sky.
Sunlight streamed through a gap in the curtains, falling across the edge of the bed.
Yan Lingji clutched a tentacle, barely managing to support herself.
She was so exhausted she didn't even want to move a finger.
"Master... I really can't go on..."
"Fine. I'll spare you this time."
Jiang Che lowered her, gently setting her on the bed.
Yan Lingji lay motionless, panting heavily.
After a while, she rolled onto her side and reached for the cup of water by the bed.
Just then, one of Jiang Che's tentacles curled around a Stone Bead and held it out to her.
"Where did you get this?"
Jiang Che sounded puzzled.
Yan Lingji looked at the bead and paused.
"I found it during that fire." Her voice grew quieter.
"That fire... It burned down the whole village. My younger brother died then, too."
"I kept the bead afterward and have carried it with me ever since."
Jiang Che stared silently at the bead in his hand.
It looked ordinary, dull and gray, like any old stone picked up beside a river.
But strangely, when he possessed Yan Lingji with the symbiote, all her clothes had been devoured—
Yet the bead hadn't changed at all. It had remained inside his body, as though Venom couldn't affect it.
"How long have you had it?"
"Almost five years."
"Five years?"
Jiang Che frowned.
The original story had never mentioned Yan Lingji having anything like this.
He turned the bead over and over in his hand, but couldn't make anything of it.
Then he probed it with his mental power.
The next second—
His consciousness was dragged inside.
A boundless space unfolded in his mind.
It wasn't a void or a dream, but a real, endless chaos.
There was no heaven or earth, no direction, no up or down—only an endless expanse of hazy gray mist.
But within that chaos were two points of light, one on the left and one on the right, faintly connected.
Jiang Che sent his consciousness toward the light on the left.
The point of light suddenly swelled—
Mountains and rivers appeared before his eyes.
Ranges stretched into the distance, rivers wound through the land, and cities and villages dotted the landscape.
His perspective plummeted from high above, plunged through the clouds, and came to rest over a magnificent city.
Palace towers and pavilions rose in layer upon layer of splendor, all gleaming with gold and jade.
He recognized those buildings at a glance.
Xianyang Palace.
Not the Xianyang Palace from history, but the one from The Legend of Qin.
He knew this not because of the buildings themselves, but because of the person standing in the square.
A young Ying Zheng.
He stood on the palace steps, dressed in a black royal robe, his hands behind his back as he gazed into the distance with a cold expression.
A middle-aged scholar stood beside him, holding bamboo slips and respectfully waiting at his side.
Jiang Che's perspective hovered in midair, looking down on the scene.
He could even hear the wind chimes beneath the palace eaves ringing in the breeze.
It was too real.
So real that it didn't feel like an image. It felt as if he were truly standing there.
He tried to pull his perspective farther away.
The streets of Xianyang City, its shops, its pedestrians—all were clearly visible.
Some people haggled by the roadside, others drank tea in a teahouse, and a patrol of soldiers marched down the main street.
This wasn't a static map, but a living, breathing world.
Jiang Che's heart jolted.
He hurriedly pulled back his consciousness, then probed the point of light on the right.
Another view unfolded.
Heaven Dou City.
The layout of the city, its streets and buildings, the flow of people—all spread out before his eyes, like a living holographic map.
He could even see the roof tiles of the Rose Hotel where he was staying.
Not long afterward, his consciousness was ejected.
Jiang Che held the bead and stayed silent for a long while.
What exactly was this thing?
Could it be that this bead had drawn him to Douluo Continent when he had originally been meant to land in The Legend of Qin?
Anything that could travel between different worlds had to be a powerful spiritual treasure.
And if it was a spiritual treasure, there should be some way to bond with it.
By dripping blood on it?
But in this form, he didn't have any blood.
Refining it with mental power?
He'd tried, but nothing happened.
Infusing it with Soul Power?
That didn't work either.
He pondered for a moment, then thought of another possibility—could it be that he was simply too weak?
Were both the world he was in and his own power insufficient to activate it?
"Master, there's a little ink spot on the bead."
After drinking some water, Yan Lingji had noticed something strange on the Stone Bead.
Jiang Che looked down.
At some point, a black mark had appeared on the surface of the dull gray bead, like a drop of ink that had fallen on it and was slowly seeping into the stone.
Yan Lingji leaned closer and poked it curiously.
"I've had this bead for almost five years, and I've never seen it react. Why did it change as soon as it got into your hands, Master?"
Jiang Che's heart tightened.
Could this thing sense what he was thinking?
He stared at the bead, trying to communicate with it through his thoughts.
There was no response.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
What the hell was this thing?
He tossed the bead in the air, temporarily suppressing his doubts.
"Interesting. If I can't figure it out, I'll leave it for now. The most important thing is to get stronger first."
He paused.
"Let's go."
"Are you going to help me hunt a Soul Ring now, Master?"
"Of course."
"Then what kind of Soul Ring would suit me?"
Before you continue