When There's Trouble, the Mount Does the Work; When There's No Trouble, the Mount Sits and Waits

Liu Erlong stepped out of the Mercenary Guild, her mood light and airy.

She had given those trashy, foul-mouthed fools a harsh lesson, leaving the guild deacon unable to squeeze out a single word in response, and she had a thousand gold soul coins tucked into her pocket.

As she walked down the street, her steps felt three parts lighter than usual.

Reaching a crossroads, she was just about to head toward the west side of the city when Jiang Ce's voice suddenly echoed in her mind.

"Wait. Do you know where to get some whale glue around here?"

Liu Erlong's footsteps came to an abrupt halt, her brows knitting together. "Whale glue? What do you need that stuff for?"

Whale glue—who among those who had scraped by at the bottom of the continent didn't know what that was?

It was a permanent fixture in every apothecary, and while it wasn't cheap, those who bought it never did so for medicinal purposes—it was entirely for affairs in the bedroom.

Swallow it, and your body would burn with heat; the effects could last an entire night.

Whenever the rough-hewn men at the Mercenary Guild would nudge each other and whisper about the "miraculous" effects of the stuff, she had always looked on with utter disgust.

"Obviously, for you to eat."

Liu Erlong's pupils shrank, and the tips of her ears turned bright red. "You bastard—what are you thinking!"

She hissed the words out, and though passersby turned to stare, she didn't care.

"That stuff makes your whole body burn and drives you mad with desire. What the hell do you mean by making me eat it?"

"Idiot," Jiang Ce's voice sounded lazy. "That stuff is a treasure. If you process it with a bit of fire, it becomes a top-tier material for body tempering—

Strengthening the flesh, widening the meridians, and increasing the age limit for soul ring absorption—it's all within its capabilities."

"It's just you people who treat it like an aphrodisiac; it's a complete waste of a heavenly treasure."

Liu Erlong was stunned.

Realizing that the people around her were still casting strange looks her way, she quickly shifted her feet and hurried away from the scene.

Once she reached a quiet corner, she pressed him, "That stuff can increase the age limit for soul ring absorption?"

"What else did you think determined the age limit for soul ring absorption?"

"For a ten-thousand-year soul ring, your physical strength, willpower, martial soul intensity, and attribute compatibility all play a role in raising the limit."

"Ten-thousand-year soul rings carry a soul shock that requires powerful mental strength and willpower; otherwise, you're highly likely to be blasted into a fool."

"If the soul beast's mental strength is far superior to the soul master's, and its resentment is sufficiently fierce, its residual will could truly seize the opportunity to counterattack, devour, and possess the soul master's consciousness."

"The boost I'm giving you triples everything across the board—your mental strength, the quality of your soul, its capacity, and its total volume."

"But the stronger your own foundation, the more terrifying the results of that multiplier will be."

"With your current physical foundation, eight thousand years is the absolute limit for your third ring."

"If your original foundation were just a bit stronger, you could definitely absorb a ten-thousand-year ring under this boost."

"If you want to break through to a higher age limit for your fourth ring, getting a piece of whale glue is the first step."

Liu Erlong nodded.

The guy certainly had a point.

When it came to strength amplification, if the foundation was thin, a triple boost was already terrifying; if the original foundation were solid, how strong would it be after being tripled?

Besides, absorbing an eight-thousand-year soul ring for her third ring was already shocking, yet she had managed it with ease.

"If we're going to get whale glue, we'll have to go to an apothecary."

"It's best to get one with a higher age, preferably Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue."

"Ten thousand years?" Liu Erlong frowned. "If that's the case, I'll have to go to an auction house. Regular apothecaries only carry stock that's a few hundred years old at best."

Auction houses—the old Liu Erlong would never have stepped foot in one, as the prices for items there would skyrocket during bidding.

But things were different now.

She touched the cloth bag in her pocket, which contained several soul tools stuffed to the brim with gold soul coins scavenged from the Red Flame Earth Dragon's nest.

All the belongings of the soul masters and mercenaries that the mother dragon had killed over the years were piled deep within her lair.

Gold soul coins, remnants of soul tools, and sealed treasures—it all added up to at least two million, enough to buy her enough cultivation resources to reach the rank of Soul Saint.

The most valuable item was naturally the external soul bone, the Red Flame Dragon Wings, but the other funerary objects were not to be underestimated—after all, there were several other soul bones in the mix.

Mentioning soul bones reminded her of something.

Not a single soul bone collected by the Red Flame Earth Dragon was less than three thousand years old.

It seemed she would have to find time to absorb them.

Liu Erlong calculated in her mind—

For an ordinary person, a soul bone of several thousand years was already an incredibly precious item.

"You aren't actually thinking of absorbing those pieces of trash, are you?"

Jiang Ce's single sentence cut her thoughts short.

"Trash? Those spirit bones are at least three thousand years old—do you have any idea how much a thousand-year spirit bone sells for out there?"

"I don't care what it sells for. With me around, every single spirit bone on your body must be top-tier."

"Those three-thousand-year spirit bones are just trash. Once you absorb them, they'll become dead weight as your level increases."

"Of course, if you really want to absorb them, go ahead. Just use them for now."

"When we get better ones later, I'll just chop off your limbs and extract the bones. I can regrow your limbs anyway."

Liu Erlong's mouth twitched.

Once a spirit bone was absorbed, there was indeed no conventional way to remove it—

To get a hand bone, you had to chop off the hand; to get a leg bone, you had to chop off the leg.

A normal person certainly wouldn't want to be dismembered.

"Then just chop them off when the time comes. Like you said, I can just have them reattached later."

Liu Erlong thought that more power naturally meant more benefits.

"Refining all of them is a waste of time. It's better to consume the Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue to strengthen yourself, then go hunt some more spirit beasts while we have the time."

"Who knows, you might even get a higher-grade spirit bone. Forget about these few-thousand-year ones."

"Remember, if you want to become a true powerhouse, the set of spirit bones on your body should start at a minimum of one hundred thousand years."

"One hundred thousand years?" Liu Erlong felt he was just bragging. "Are you crazy?"

A hundred-thousand-year spirit bone was something even a Titled Douluo would covet; you couldn't find more than a few in the entire continent.

She had felt like her ancestors were smiling upon her just for getting lucky enough to obtain an eight-thousand-year external spirit bone, yet this guy was talking about a full set of hundred-thousand-year ones as if it were nothing.

"And you even mentioned becoming a god—"

"Why not? If you're going to become a god, set a small goal: start by becoming a God King. What's the point of a first-class or second-class god? Those things aren't worthy of you."

Liu Erlong opened her mouth, momentarily unsure whether to call him arrogant or be moved.

She was an illegitimate daughter; her sect wouldn't even put her name on the family tree.

The only person who had ever sheltered her from the wind and rain was her mother—and her mother was dead.

Now, there was someone else protecting her and looking out for her.

She couldn't even describe what she was feeling inside.

"...Are you serious?"

"When have I ever lied to you?"

Liu Erlong irritably brushed the stray hair from her forehead. She felt her heart starting to lose its rhythm.

It was clearly only because she was unwilling to give up and wanted to live, to become stronger, that she had offered her body to him.

But now that he was considering everything for her so wholeheartedly, she felt her heart beating uncontrollably.

"Oh, it seems this master is quite charming. Are you falling for me already?" Jiang Ce's voice suddenly changed its tone. "Heh heh, it seems both your body and soul are about to belong to me."

The black, rubbery bodysuit tightened abruptly. Liu Erlong let out a muffled groan, her cheeks burning. "Don't squeeze so tight."

"You need to get used to our relationship. Your body is mine."

As the saying went: when there's nothing to do, ride the mount; when there's work to do, work the mount.

Liu Erlong endured the overwhelming discomfort and decided not to dwell on that issue.

She seized on a practical question to change the subject: "Gods are divided into first and second class? And there are God Kings?"

"We'll talk about that later. The priority is to get our hands on that Whale Glue."

"Fine. But what should we do with these spirit bones?" Liu Erlong thought for a moment, suddenly remembering how Jiang Ce had devoured the spirit beast carcasses earlier. "You swallowed those spirit beast corpses before; can you swallow spirit bones too?"

"Theoretically, these things are also part of a spirit beast's physical body, just in a different energy form. Give me one and let me try."