Tang Wulin only felt a surge of Soul Power pour into his body.
Warm and supple, threaded with seven-colored light, it slowly advanced along his meridians.
"While the medicine's still working."
Lin An's voice came from above him.
"Use all your strength and strike against my Soul Power."
Strike?
Tang Wulin snapped his head up.
That exquisitely beautiful face, almost too perfect to be real, was right before him.
There was no unnecessary emotion in those eyes, only an unquestionable certainty.
"This could hurt you—"
"It won't."
Lin An cut him off.
Tang Wulin clenched his teeth.
He closed his eyes, clearing his mind of every distraction. The Soul Power inside him began to circulate at full force, crashing hard into that seven-colored Soul Power.
Boom!
The two currents of Soul Power collided fiercely inside his meridians.
Tang Wulin's whole body shuddered.
Pain.
But not the pain of being torn apart.
It was the pain of being tempered.
Like a lump of crude iron tossed into a furnace, enduring blow after blow from the hammer.
Fine beads of sweat welled from every pore.
Mixed with the sweat were gray-black impurities. They ran down his cheeks, arms, and back, quickly washed away by the rainwater still on the ground.
Lin An was panting, too.
His constitution was frail to begin with. Pouring his Soul Power into someone else and withstanding the resulting impact took far more out of him than he'd expected.
An unnatural flush rose across that exquisitely beautiful face.
Sweat gathered at his temples and streamed down the graceful curve of his cheek, dripping onto his already-soaked collar.
Three paces away, Gu Yue stared fixedly at the flush on Lin An's face.
Her throat bobbed, and she unconsciously licked her dry lips.
The students around them were already dumbstruck.
The sound of someone swallowing stood out all the more clearly in the moment.
Tang Wulin didn't open his eyes.
But he could clearly sense that earth-shaking changes were taking place inside his body.
Soul Power surged wildly through his meridians, moving faster and faster, growing denser with every turn.
The level-twelve barrier that had held him back for so long trembled violently under the steady wash of seven-colored Soul Power.
Then—
Crack.
Boom!
The barrier shattered.
An unprecedented sense of power surged through every limb and bone.
The quality of his Soul Power leapt to a new level the instant he broke through.
He opened his eyes and stared at his hands in shock.
Level twelve.
Not some flimsy level propped up by pills.
This was a true level twelve, built on a solid foundation, with refined Soul Power.
An even stranger silence fell over the crowd.
"Level twelve?"
"Half a quarter of an hour... He went from level eleven to level twelve?"
"That works better than pills? And there's no recovery period?"
Someone pinched their own thigh hard, wincing in pain.
It wasn't a dream.
Getting a boost to your cultivation was one thing.
Helping someone break through a bottleneck was another.
This meant Lin An could not only increase cultivation speed by thirty percent, but also help people overcome barriers.
The students who had been stuck at a bottleneck for months, or even half a year, looked at Lin An differently in an instant.
Envy, jealousy, disdain... All of it vanished, replaced by the same thing—
Longing.
Barefaced longing.
Lin An paid no attention to the suddenly heated stares.
He panted heavily. The flush hadn't yet faded from his face, and sweat kept appearing on his forehead no matter how often he wiped it away.
He raised a hand and swiped the back of it across his sweaty chin.
Then he bent down and pulled another syringe from the metal case by his feet.
The needle glinted with a cold light.
"Wait—" Tang Wulin had only just started to speak.
The needle had already plunged cleanly into his arm.
"Ah—"
Tang Wulin sucked in a sharp breath.
An even fiercer vitality exploded inside him.
His muscles tensed against his will, and veins rose in ridged lines beneath his skin, coiling like dragons.
Lin An expressionlessly reached out and rested five fingers lightly on Tang Wulin's wrist. He closed his eyes and carefully examined him.
His meridians were intact.
His blood vessels were intact.
There wasn't even the tiniest tear.
Dragon Blood Boiling Potion was made by mixing and refining the juices of various dragon-type plants and Soul Beasts. It contained an enormous amount of life essence.
But its medicinal properties were extremely potent.
An ordinary Soul Master who received a shot would gain a massive surge of vitality, which could be used to heal injuries and raise their level.
The price was intense pain, along with the risk of torn meridians or even a body bursting apart.
But Tang Wulin had taken two shots, and there wasn't even a hairline crack in his meridians.
Lin An expressionlessly withdrew his hand.
He silently made a note: Good response. I can double the dose next time.
Tang Wulin had been under Lin An's gaze for a while.
The medicine still left in his body resonated with his Bloodline.
An uncontrollable heat rose from the deepest part of his marrow, burning through his limbs and bones and rushing straight to his head.
He suddenly bent forward and clamped the metal medicine case between his knees, trying to hide the strange reaction in his body.
His ears burned red.
Even his neck flushed crimson.
He gritted his teeth and avoided Lin An's eyes, not daring to look at him again.
The students around them also wore strange expressions.
"That reaction... Dragon Blood Grass really does seem to have that kind of effect," someone muttered under their breath.
"I heard Soul Beasts eat a lot of Dragon Blood Grass during their mating season. Once it's made into a potion, that effect gets even stronger..."
"Shh! Keep your voice down!"
The speaker hurriedly shut their mouth, but couldn't help glancing toward Lin An.
In the sunlight after the rain, his face was so pale it was almost translucent.
A faint blush still lingered on his cheeks from his recent exertion.
His lips were pursed, and his eyes held the focused look of someone who had just finished a careful examination.
The speaker silently turned away, their throat bobbing involuntarily.
Tang Wulin couldn't be blamed.
He really couldn't.
Who could hold out when someone that beautiful stared at them, then let their Soul Power travel through their body?
Some people even found a wildly improper thought rising in their hearts—
If a beautiful, noble young lady like that were willing to look my way, I'd gladly give up ten years of my life.
Lin An watched Tang Wulin crouch over in such a miserable state and let out an almost inaudible sigh.
As expected, men had their weaknesses.
He'd taken some medicine and managed to waste all that blood and energy on something like this.
But Lin An didn't say anything more. He bent down again and carefully checked Tang Wulin's meridians once more.
Good.
There were no serious side effects.
It was only a simple surge of blood and energy.
Tang Wulin's face flushed even redder.
Lin An's fingertips were cool against his burning skin, sending a fine shiver across it.
He wanted to pull his hand away but didn't dare move.
All he could do was stay frozen in that hunched position, his face full of unbearable embarrassment.
Gu Yue had finally had enough.
She rushed forward and yanked him backward.
Her violet eyes looked coldly down at Tang Wulin, curled up on the ground.
She looked at him as if he were a pile of non-recyclable garbage.
Pathetic.
Absolutely pathetic.
It was only two shots of medicine.
Lin An had only channeled Soul Power into his body and checked his meridians.
And this was how he acted?
She hurriedly covered Lin An's eyes, afraid that even a single glance at this disgraceful sight might sully her Dragon Queen.
With Gu Yue's hand covering his face, Lin An looked a little helpless.
He expressionlessly pried her fingers away, revealing his clear eyes.
He didn't look at Gu Yue. His gaze remained on Tang Wulin as he casually tossed over the entire case of medicine.
The metal case traced an arc through the air and landed squarely on Tang Wulin's knees.
"Recover properly."
Lin An's voice was calm and even.
"Come to my dorm tonight."
Tang Wulin suddenly looked up.
"Oh, right."
Lin An thought for a moment, then added,
his tone as earnest as if he were warning him about a matter of life and death.
"Calm yourself down first."
"I believe you're not that sort of person, but I still advise you not to go looking for a prostitute."
"Losing your virginity will be a huge impediment to your cultivation later."
He was worried Tang Wulin wouldn't be able to withstand the medicine and might go out and indulge himself, wasting all the precious blood and energy he'd finally accumulated.
Tang Wulin tightened his grip on the metal case on his knees, his knuckles turning white.
He looked up at Lin An.
Lin An's eyes were clear and free of any ulterior motives, filled only with sincere concern.
A warm current, both bitter and searing, suddenly rose from the bottom of Tang Wulin's heart and clogged his throat, leaving him unable to speak.
All he could do was nod firmly.
"No!"
A sharp voice suddenly tore through the air.
Gu Yue's eyes widened, and her silver hair seemed about to explode. She looked like a Ferocious Beast whose tail had been stepped on.
"I don't agree!"
"I absolutely don't agree!"
She grabbed Lin An's wrist, squeezing it tightly as her voice trembled with agitation.
"Fine, you can help him raise his cultivation, but you can't let him go to your dorm!"
"What if things get out of hand?"
"What if..."
She choked on the words.
What if the Dragon Queen got pregnant?
The question stuck fast in her throat.
If she said it, she was afraid she'd scare Lin An.
If she didn't, the words weighed on her chest until it felt tight.
Especially after she'd become certain that Sea God Tang San was pulling strings behind the scenes, she could never feel at ease leaving the two of them alone.
Before you continue