Financial Freedom

Time passed by, little by little.

No one knew how long had gone by, but the pain on Jiang Lin's face gradually faded in the spring, replaced by a steady calm.

Ice-blue and crimson patterns alternately appeared across the surface of his skin. They were the outward signs of the ice and fire forces circulating within him.

His aura kept rising—not because his Soul Power Level had increased, but because the foundation of his body had undergone a qualitative change.

At last, Jiang Lin opened his eyes.

He slowly surfaced, then leaped straight out of the spring.

The frost and scorch marks congealed on his body fell away at the same time, revealing fresh skin underneath.

His skin looked no different from before, but in the sunlight, it gleamed faintly with a pale golden sheen.

His bones crackled, and Soul Power surged through his meridians like a mighty river, far stronger than before.

His Soul Power Level had not broken through, but his physical strength had climbed another notch.

With this golden body, tempered by ice and fire, he dared claim he was invincible among those at the same level.

No, saying "the same level" was a bit too unfair to everyone else.

Jiang Lin drew a deep breath, taking in the peculiar air of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Only after retrieving the clothes he had prepared from the Storage Soul Tool on the ground nearby did he take a proper look around.

He had no idea how much time had passed, but it probably wasn't the next day yet, since the items in the System Mall hadn't been refreshed...

At that thought, Jiang Lin immediately realized what he had forgotten.

He hurriedly bought the random Talisman in the System Mall.

He had been so excited earlier that he had only just remembered to buy it.

Now, the only things listed in the mall were the Nuclear Weapon and the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum.

The former was powerful, but completely unnecessary—and outrageously expensive.

Wouldn't it be better to use that money to keep his cheat system running smoothly?

As for the latter, there was even less reason to buy it.

At that moment, the random Talisman's result appeared.

"Ding! Congratulations, host. You have obtained the Rat Talisman."

The Rat Talisman?

The one that could turn inanimate objects into the living beings they represented?

That was a bit of a shame.

Honestly, what Jiang Lin wanted most was still the Dog Talisman.

After all, life came first, no matter what.

With a faint sigh, Jiang Lin began considering how he could use the Rat Talisman on Douluo Continent...

Just then, he heard Elder Chen's voice in his mind. Elder Chen told him that the three of them were in the small house where Dugu Bo was in seclusion, and that he could call them if he needed anything.

Jiang Lin stopped thinking, curious about what the three of them were doing.

But after a moment's thought, he decided to take care of business first.

With a determined look, Jiang Lin went straight for his target—the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew.

Crouching before the Immortal Herb, he carefully drank the dew resting on its petals.

A crystal-clear chill shot straight into his mind, as though an icy spring had poured in through the crown of his head, washing through his entire mental world in an instant.

First came a bone-deep cold. Then a fierce stabbing pain, as though countless needles were piercing the depths of his brow at once.

Before long, the pain slowly receded, replaced by a clarity unlike anything he had ever known.

Jiang Lin opened his eyes, and every detail of the world came into sharp focus. He could make out every strand in the spiderweb in the corner, hear the faint rustle of a fallen leaf touching the ground in the courtyard, and even sense the three powerful auras inside the wooden house above.

With a thought, his spiritual power spread outward like a tide.

Everything within several hundred meters entered his perception. Tang Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly, evidently sensing the probing spiritual power.

Jiang Lin withdrew his spiritual power, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth. The Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew truly lived up to its name.

Unfortunately, after he drank the dew from the Immortal Herb, it seemed as though its life had been drained away, and it withered on the spot.

Jiang Lin rose to his feet, a flame unlike his usual one flickering in his eyes.

He was already a very different person from the one he had been yesterday.

Ice and Fire Body Tempering had made him immune to water and fire.

The Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew had made up for his weakness in spiritual power.

"Phew..."

Jiang Lin let out a deep breath, then took several jade boxes from his Storage Soul Tool.

Inside were the Immortal Herbs he had yet to sell.

The Lovesick Heartbreak Red, the Eight-Petal Immortal Orchid, the Blood Swan Kiss, the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, the Aromatic Silk Beauty...

Besides several familiar Immortal Herbs from the original story, there were also some rare medicinal herbs that had never appeared in it.

As expected of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well—the place that had nurtured seven gods.

This wasn't some flashy display of cultivation. It had truly laid the foundation for godhood.

After a moment's thought, Jiang Lin kept the Earth Dragon Golden Melon, the Aromatic Silk Beauty, the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, the Lovesick Heartbreak Red, the Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower, and... one Immortal Herb he had set aside for himself.

He sold all the rest to the system.

"Ding! +15,000 points."

"Ding! +18,000 points."

"Ding! +16,000 points."

The system's notifications kept chiming in, and Jiang Lin's balance soon reached 400,000 points.

Both batches he had sold consisted of Immortal Herbs, along with some old medicinal herbs that weren't Immortal Herbs.

So Jiang Lin started a third round of sales.

"Ding! +11,000 points."

"Ding! +8,000 points."

"Ding! +6,700 points."

Time flew by, and soon it was the next day.

By then, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well had changed beyond recognition.

The various medicinal herbs had become empty patches of soil, though their roots remained.

Jiang Lin sat cross-legged in an open space.

His face was filled with happiness.

700,000!

His balance had reached the enormous sum of 700,100 points.

The medicinal herbs that weren't Immortal Herbs might not have been as valuable as Immortal Herbs, but each was worth between 3,000 and 12,000 points.

There were simply so many of them.

He stared blankly at his points balance.

Only after his eyes had grown sore did he reluctantly close the system window.

He planned to consume another Immortal Herb.

In the original story, Tang San hadn't refrained from eating several Immortal Herbs because he didn't want to. He simply couldn't.

When Tang San absorbed the Immortal Herbs, his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul had yet to evolve into the Blue Silver Emperor.

At the time, that ordinary Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul was extremely fragile. It couldn't support him absorbing the medicinal power of more top-tier Immortal Herbs.

If he had forced himself to take them, he wouldn't have gained any benefits. Instead, he might have died from the overwhelming energy.

Besides, every Immortal Herb contained immense energy capable of defying the laws of heaven and earth.

Even the number a god-level Martial Soul could consume at once was limited, though its limit was certainly higher than that of an ordinary Martial Soul.

At the time, Tang San's body and Martial Soul could barely refine the medicinal power of three Immortal Herbs. Taking more would have carried a very high risk of serious consequences, as the medicinal powers might clash inside him or grow too violent.

Besides, for the vast majority of Soul Masters, Immortal Herbs were about finding the right match, not accumulating as many as possible.

But Jiang Lin was different. He was far stronger now than Tang San had been back then.

His body and spiritual power had improved. How could he let his Soul Power and Martial Soul fall behind?

So Jiang Lin had set aside an Immortal Herb that suited him—the Thunder Prison Blood Dragon Vine.