He felt the changes in his body.
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Hu Long's mouth.
His strength seemed to have increased considerably again.
After downloading Innate Divine Strength earlier, he had gone to a training gym to test it.
His maximum strength had reached over seventeen hundred pounds.
In other words, the thousand pounds granted by Innate Divine Strength had been added directly to his own strength.
That was why he had been able to lift the twelve-hundred-pound Deer Cauldron with such ease during the Ancestral Rite.
And now, his strength had reached at least two thousand pounds.
Such strength was terrifying. A casual punch could smash someone's head apart.
At that moment,
he felt he had found his purpose in life.
Before, Hu Long had only wanted to stay alive.
But now, things were different. He didn't just want to survive; he wanted to grow stronger.
He wanted to see the view from higher up.
People were never satisfied. Once they had something good, they wanted something even better.
That was human nature.
And it was precisely because of this
that humanity had the drive to keep moving forward.
Thinking this, Hu Long went to the bathroom.
Steam rose from the bathtub along one side of the room.
But it wasn't filled with water.
It was brimming with black liquid, which carried a faint fragrance of plants and trees.
Hu Long took off the only pair of pants he was wearing and stepped naked into the tub.
Hiss!
The moment his skin touched the black liquid,
Hu Long's face twitched, and his whole body felt as if it were being scorched by burning oil.
Intense pain surged from every pore in his body.
The black liquid was the Black Stone Secret Medicine used when practicing the Mountain Standing Stake.
It was brewed from all kinds of precious medicinal ingredients.
Hu Long didn't know exactly what was in it. He only knew that it was essential for practicing the Mountain Standing Stake.
Without the secret medicine,
practicing the stake technique for a long time would cause irreparable damage to one's bones and organs, even if one managed to develop force.
The medicine worked quite well. After soaking, the soreness and swelling in his body vanished.
Its only drawback was that the initial soak was excruciating, like being burned by fire.
No matter how many times he tried it, the pain still made him want to leap straight out of the tub.
Hu Long took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and paid it no mind.
He submerged his whole body, leaving only his face above the water to breathe.
At the same time, he began circulating the Earth Vein Breathing Method recorded in the Mountain Standing Stake, breathing in and out at a particular rhythm.
Before long, the intense pain eased somewhat, replaced by a faint tingling sensation.
It was both agonizing and strangely pleasurable.
A little over ten minutes later,
the burning, tingling sensation faded away.
Hu Long got up.
The black liquid in the tub seemed a little lighter in color now.
He paid it no mind.
He got up and rinsed the black liquid from his body.
After showering, he had just changed into his pajamas.
Ding-dong!
Just then,
the phone resting nearby chimed, and its screen lit up.
Hu Long picked it up and glanced at the screen.
It was a news alert about a murder case.
After killing Xue Wu's family, Hu Long had followed the news for a few days.
This must have been a recommendation based on his browsing history.
Thinking this,
he skimmed the alert.
[...The killer surnamed Wang, who had once perpetrated a shocking massacre and was responsible for eleven deaths, was recently found dead in the residence he had been renting.
The police issued a statement today. After examining the scene and conducting a forensic investigation, they confirmed that Wang had been murdered.
A special task force has been established, and the police are currently conducting a comprehensive investigation into the case and looking into Wang's social connections and the circumstances surrounding it.]
There was also a picture of the deceased beneath the article.
At the sight of it,
Hu Long's expression tightened.
If it had been an ordinary victim, he wouldn't have reacted this way.
The reason for his reaction was that he knew the deceased very well. It was none other than Wang Ting, the identity of the murderer he had impersonated when he slaughtered Xue Wu's family.
If an ordinary person saw this, they would think it was just a coincidence.
But knowing the truth, Hu Long immediately connected it to several other possibilities.
It was possible that one of Wang Ting's enemies had found and killed him in revenge.
After all, he had plenty of blood on his hands, and any one of his murder cases could have earned him the death penalty. He had no shortage of enemies, either.
But compared to that possibility,
Hu Long was more inclined to believe another explanation.
"Could it be the Pure Fire Sect?"
"If so, could it be because of the Green Bag Fragment..."
Hu Long's gaze flickered.
He hadn't forgotten that Liu had stolen the item and gone into hiding in Wulin Village.
The Pure Fire Sect was a heretical sect that had mastered the Old Arts.
It had survived the Yu State authorities' campaign to wipe it out. Even an idiot could tell that its strength was no joke.
It was bound to have supernatural practitioners among its ranks.
If that was the case, and they couldn't find him, would they target his whole family instead?
After all, because of Hu Zhao, Xue Wu had appeared to be on very close terms with his family.
By the logic of a heretical sect like this, they'd rather kill the wrong person than let anyone go.
At that thought,
he looked at the mirror on the wall.
His reflection showed a face with sharply defined features.
Short hair, a high brow ridge, chiseled features, and a calm gaze.
The muscles running from his neck to his shoulders bulged slightly.
At first glance,
he gave off a faint air of menace.
Compared to when he had first arrived in this world, the difference was like night and day. No one would have believed he was the same person.
But that wasn't what concerned Hu Long.
His gaze shifted to one side.
Behind him was a wall, with nothing there.
He moved and changed his angle.
Soon,
he spotted a familiar dark green figure standing motionless beside the doorframe behind him.
It seemed a little closer than before.
Its body wasn't completely turned away from him, either. It was angled slightly to the side.
Now, under his gaze,
the ghostly thing seemed to start moving.
Seeing this, Hu Long immediately looked away and left the bathroom.
"Even reaching the Body Casting Realm hasn't helped. It looks like I'll have to break through Skin Grinding."
Hu Long furrowed his brows.
The existence of that eerie figure was like a sword of Damocles, poised to fall at any moment.
It was driving him to grow stronger without pause.
"Besides, the stronger I get, the closer that thing seems to come, and the faster the erosion gets.
"No, the threat has indeed grown, but maybe part of it is that my senses have become sharper..."
Hu Long's gaze flickered.
"For now, there are only two ways to deal with what's happening to me.
"Either I keep increasing my strength and reach Skin Grinding, or even higher, Blood Exchange or the Origin Pellet.
"Or I obtain the remaining parts of the Green Bag Fragment from the Pure Fire Sect and use them to solve my problem for good."
Hu Long didn't believe that the Blood Soul Guide couldn't be dealt with.
The Green Bag Fragment was probably just too incomplete. It had come from the Pure Fire Sect, so there was a good chance it contained a way to fix this.
"But, strictly speaking, that's only one problem. If I'm not strong enough, running into the Pure Fire Sect will be just as fatal..."
At that thought,
Hu Long checked his Source Value.
[Source Value: 2.16 strands]
Gaining Source Value by basking in the sun was too slow.
Under normal conditions, even if it was sunny every day, he would only gain three strands of Source Value in a month.
Even if he went somewhere with polar day and basked in the sun around the clock, he would only gain six strands a month.
He couldn't wait that long.
He had to prepare as soon as possible.
It was a shame. He had originally wanted to rely on his own efforts and train for a while.
But reality wasn't giving him the time to train at his own pace.
It looked like he could only use the Primordial Plain Panel to help himself for now.