At night, Su Zhen rested in a small detached courtyard behind the Worship Hall. Qian Daoliu had arranged it for him, and it stood right next to Qian Daoliu's own courtyard.
Lying on the soft bed woven from Heavenly Silkworm Silk, Su Zhen tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. In the end, he sat down at the table and began admiring the gifts his elders had given him.
Su Zhen looked at the bracelet Grandpa Golden Crocodile had given him. It seemed to hold five or six million Gold Soul Coins, so he also put the fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins Qian Daoliu had given him earlier into it from his ring.
Staring blankly at the mountain of Gold Soul Coins inside the bracelet, Su Zhen fell into a daze. A month ago, he had said he would earn a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins. Now he had dozens of times that amount before him, yet he couldn't bring himself to feel happy.
The spirit medicines Azure Luan and Qian Jun and Jiang Mo had given him had been taken by his teacher to prepare the body-forging medicinal bath. Tomorrow, he would begin the treatment. Su Zhen had changed into the soft armor Guang Ling had given him as soon as he entered the room. Surprisingly, it could adjust to the wearer's size, fitting him perfectly. As for the soul bone Grandpa Xiongshi had given him, he figured his teacher wouldn't let him absorb it until he was a Soul Elder or Soul Ancestor.
After sitting by the table for another quarter of an hour, Su Zhen started feeling a little sleepy and decided to rest.
"Creak~"
The door slowly swung open. Su Zhen turned at the sound and saw a little head poke in first. When their eyes met, the person outside froze in embarrassment.
"Are you the new disciple Grandpa just took in? I have to say, you're pretty handsome. Your Martial Soul is a Kirin? Bring it out. Let me have a look."
Realizing she'd been spotted, the girl pushed the door open and walked straight into the room. She was a young girl in her early teens, dressed in a pure-white palace gown that fell to her ankles. Her golden hair spilled down her back, and her golden eyes sparkled with vitality. A hint of childishness remained in her cheeks, yet she was also charming and lovely. Though young, she gave off an air of holiness and nobility—an angel descended from heaven in the flesh. This little angel was now sizing Su Zhen up from head to toe.
One look at the delicate girl before him, and Su Zhen immediately guessed who she was. At her age, the only girl who could come and go so freely in the Worship Hall was his teacher's granddaughter, Qian Renxue, the future Angel God.
"All right."
Su Zhen replied, then used Martial Soul Possession. A dashing young man appeared in the room, the lifelike phantom of a Kirin looming behind him. Qian Renxue circled him, giving him a thorough once-over.
"Wow, you're still this handsome even with your Martial Soul possessed? That Martial Soul is so imposing. You're sure to be strong someday. Do you know who I am? I told you to bring out your Martial Soul, and you just did it? You're that obedient?"
After examining him, Qian Renxue turned her gaze back to Su Zhen and questioned him.
"I don't know who you are, but only the descendants of the grandpas could be here. If one of their granddaughters wants to see my Martial Soul, of course I should indulge her."
Su Zhen withdrew his Martial Soul and replied calmly.
"You're not stupid, at least. Your teacher is my grandpa, so from now on, call me Sister Xue."
Qian Renxue pulled Su Zhen over to a chair.
"By seniority, shouldn't I be your martial uncle?"
"What did you say?"
"Nothing, nothing. Hello, Sister Xue."
Seeing the little fist she raised, glowing with golden light, Su Zhen could only bow his head for now.
"Hmph! You know what's good for you."
Seeing Su Zhen back down, Qian Renxue lowered her fist.
"Sigh, in a few days, I'll be leaving on a mission far away. I'll be gone for a long time. Stay by Grandpa's side and keep him company. Don't make him angry, got it?"
"I will. He's my teacher too, so I know what I should do."
Su Zhen knew what Qian Renxue was going to do, but he wouldn't say or ask. Having only just joined Spirit Hall, he couldn't know—and shouldn't know—such a secret.
Qian Renxue gave him a few more instructions, then left. Su Zhen watched her go, not knowing what to say. As the only peerless genius on the continent with Innate Level 20 Soul Power, why would she choose a mission that took so much time and wasted her talent? If she had focused on cultivating, she wouldn't have needed to wait until she was forty to become a god. Unable to make sense of it, Su Zhen went to bed. Tomorrow was going to be rough.
Beneath the Angel Statue, Qian Daoliu sat cross-legged. He withdrew his spiritual power and let out a slow sigh.
Early the next morning, Su Zhen was dressed with the help of a maid. Having never been looked after like this in either of his lives, he felt awkward. A life of being waited on had only just begun, so he could only try to get used to it.
He wore a close-fitting purple outfit. His purple-gold hair, draped over his shoulders, was tied up in a bun with a white jade cloud-shaped hairpin. His handsome, fair face still carried the childishness that came with his age.
Su Zhen touched the spot over his heart. Yesterday, he had asked the maid to sew an inner pocket there, using the strip of cloth embroidered with a lotus by his mother. He kept the wooden hairpin inside. Only by touching his chest could he calm the longing for his family.
Su Zhen arrived at the Worship Hall. Only Qian Daoliu and Golden Crocodile were there. They were discussing something around a huge golden cauldron. When Qian Daoliu saw Su Zhen, he beckoned him over.
"Xiao Zhen, this medicinal bath in the cauldron was prepared overnight by your teacher and me. We added many herbs that are beneficial for body forging and expanding the meridians. The Heavenly Spirit Fruit and Yin Yang Body Forging Lotus we gave you yesterday have been added as well. They'll be extremely effective at your current stage, but the medicine is too potent, so we divided it into five portions. For the next three days, you'll bathe in it once in the morning and once in the evening. After your final bath on the third day, you'll be ready to hunt for a Soul Ring."
Golden Crocodile explained it to Su Zhen.
"This is the meditation method your teacher asked me to 'buy' from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect half a month ago. It's the most suitable cultivation method for Soul Masters with lightning attributes. Your Third Granduncle, Fourth Granduncle, and I spent nearly half a month testing and improving it. I can say that this is now the finest meditation method on the whole continent. If you meditate while taking your medicinal baths, the results will absolutely be twice as good with half the effort."
Golden Crocodile then took a beautifully bound book from his Storage Soul Tool and handed it to Su Zhen.
Su Zhen accepted the meditation method. The cover bore five bold characters: "Lightning Heart Meditation Method." He caught the key detail in Grandpa Golden Crocodile's words: they had started preparing the meditation method half a month ago. He really couldn't have asked for a better teacher.
Su Zhen opened the Lightning Heart Meditation Method and quickly began studying it. Having awakened the memories of his past life, his spiritual power was already far beyond ordinary, so he memorized it quite quickly. With two of the world's top experts, Qian Daoliu and Golden Crocodile, guiding him, he fully mastered the technique in ten minutes.
With the preparations complete, Golden Crocodile infused the cauldron with Soul Power. The thick medicinal liquid boiled in an instant. Seeing this, Su Zhen stripped off his clothes and jumped in.
The moment his skin touched the medicinal liquid, a violent tearing sensation surged through his whole body. The pain nearly made him cry out, but he hurriedly began circulating the Lightning Heart Meditation Method, absorbing the medicine's power into his meridians.
The medicinal liquid tore Su Zhen's body apart again and again, then rapidly healed it. He felt as though a thousand blades were cutting him at once, only for someone to stitch him back together with needle and thread the moment they were done. The repeated torment brought his consciousness to the brink of collapse, but familiar faces appeared in his mind: the villagers who had died at Tang Hao's hands. Rage ignited within him. His burning desire for revenge drove him to circulate the Lightning Heart Meditation Method to its limit, madly absorbing the medicinal power in the liquid.
Su Zhen felt as though he had stayed in the cauldron for a year, or even longer. In reality, only five minutes had passed.
Watching Su Zhen struggle to endure the bath, Qian Daoliu and Golden Crocodile were gratified. He had excellent talent and extraordinary willpower. As long as he could grow up safely, Spirit Hall would gain another Limit Douluo.
An hour passed before Golden Crocodile lifted Su Zhen out of the medicinal liquid. In truth, Su Zhen had already passed out a quarter of an hour earlier. Only his body continued to circulate the meditation method on instinct.
"The effect is good. A few more treatments and he'll definitely be able to absorb a Soul Ring with an extremely high limit. It may even reach a thousand years."
"A thousand years is still a bit much. I'd say eight hundred years at the very least."
The discussion between Qian Daoliu and Golden Crocodile echoed above the Angel Statue.
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