Thirty Thousand Jin of Immense Strength

After swallowing the Essence-Solidifying Organ-Protecting Pill, Lu Lin continued pouring his cultivation time into the Iron Elephant Body.

As time passed, the blood qi within him flowed like a warm, gentle stream, gradually seeping deep into his heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.

Under the continuous tempering of his blood qi, his internal organs grew ever tougher and stronger, brimming with vigorous vitality.

In the end, after three years, the Iron Elephant Body successfully broke through, stepping into the tenth level and becoming the second martial art Lu Lin had cultivated to the perfected tenth level.

"When the Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art broke through to the tenth level, it took four years. This time, the Iron Elephant Body only took three, and it used up fewer Essence-Solidifying Organ-Protecting Pills too."

Lu Lin pondered inwardly, It seems that after breaking through once, once the internal organs have been tempered, later breakthroughs become easier and easier. It's the same principle as blood qi entering the bones—the stronger the body's foundation, the easier breakthroughs become instead.

The Iron Elephant Body's consecutive two-level breakthrough brought him an increase of more than two thousand jin of strength.

At this moment, his total strength was already approaching twenty-seven thousand jin, gradually advancing toward the great threshold of thirty thousand.

"I only have thirty Essence-Solidifying Organ-Protecting Pills left. At most, that's enough for one martial art to break through to the tenth level." Resolve flashed through Lu Lin's eyes. "Then... I'll press on in one burst and keep breaking through!"

He took out a handful of Tendon Refining Pills and swallowed them, then guided his cultivation time, pouring it wildly into the Diamond Art.

The Diamond Art had originally been cultivated by him to the sixth level. Now, driven by cultivation time, it rapidly advanced toward the peak of the sixth level.

After reaching the peak of the sixth level, Lu Lin took out Bone-Protecting Pills and began attacking the seventh level...

This time, it only took one month and consumed ten Bone-Protecting Pills before the Diamond Art successfully broke through to the seventh level.

Whether in terms of time spent or pill consumption, both had been greatly reduced compared to last time.

"After repeated tempering from multiple martial arts, my bones have long since become as solid as diamond, comparable to divine weapons." Lu Lin clearly sensed the changes in himself. "If this continues, the next time another martial art needs to break through to the seventh level, perhaps I won't even need Bone-Protecting Pills. At most, I'll just spend a few more months."

He continued immersing himself in cultivation.

Without Bone Refining Pills to assist him, relying purely on piling up cultivation time, the rate of consumption was astonishing.

Before and after, he used up more than two hundred and forty years of cultivation time before finally raising the Diamond Art to the peak of the ninth level.

And at this point, the cultivation time Lu Lin had left was only one hundred seventy-two years and two months.

In the blink of an eye, the accumulation of four hundred years of bitter cultivation had been exhausted, making his heart ache despite himself.

But the gains were equally enormous.

The blood qi within Lu Lin grew increasingly majestic and vast. With the slightest movement of his will, it was like a volcanic eruption, surging and roiling, blazing hot as flame.

When he struck out with a palm, the palm wind howled, actually carrying a force that seemed able to topple mountains and overturn seas.

The strength of his muscles and bones rose another level, and his internal organs were powerful and robust, full of life.

He only felt refreshed and invigorated, his mind clear and his spirit bright, as if his whole body possessed inexhaustible energy.

At this moment, Lu Lin's condition was better than it had ever been.

His total strength broke through another great threshold, officially reaching thirty thousand jin!

Thirty thousand jin of colossal strength was known as the "strength of three elephants." To possess the strength of three elephants while still in the Body Tempering Realm—if this matter spread, absolutely no one would dare believe it.

He had once heard Fang Hong, Lan Zhu, and the others discuss that those Innate Blood Aura Realm experts who had just broken through also had a base strength that was precisely the strength of three elephants.

"My current strength is already comparable to the weakest Innate Blood Aura Realm. I wonder what it would be like if I truly crossed hands with one?" Lu Lin's heart surged, and he even felt the impulse to find an Innate Blood Aura Realm expert and spar with them.

After adapting for a short while and becoming familiar with his newly increased strength, Lu Lin took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

His breakthrough was not over yet.

The limit of the Diamond Art was likewise the tenth level.

Continue!

One Essence-Solidifying Organ-Protecting Pill after another was swallowed into his mouth, and cultivation time once again surged toward the Diamond Art.

This time, it only took two and a half years before the Diamond Art successfully broke through, stepping into the tenth level.

Compared to the Iron Elephant Body's breakthrough, it had taken another half a year less.

Of course, the Essence-Solidifying Organ-Protecting Pills had also been more or less completely exhausted.

"My strength only increased by one thousand jin. You could call that a plunge!" Lu Lin frowned slightly.

Previously, when the Iron Elephant Body broke through from the ninth level to the tenth, it had still increased his strength by more than fifteen hundred jin. This time, the increase had directly plummeted by more than five hundred jin.

Lu Lin understood in his heart that this was because his total strength had already reached thirty thousand jin.

It seemed thirty thousand jin was an enormous boundary.

Once this boundary was crossed, cultivating other martial arts again would greatly reduce the increase in strength they could provide.

"A mosquito's leg is still meat. As long as it can still improve me, I absolutely can't let it go." Lu Lin let out a long breath of turbid air. The stream of air actually shot out like an arrow, flying several meters before striking the cave wall with a muffled bang.

It was time to leave!

Only, where should he go? What path should he take?

A trace of worry could not help surfacing on Lu Lin's face.

Luo Siqing's life or death was unknown.

According to the rules of the Blood Baleful Demon Sect, if an immortal master died in battle, all personal guards under their command had to be buried with them.

If he returned to the Blood Baleful Demon Sect, he would undoubtedly be seeking his own death.

But if he did not go back, he would definitely suffer the Demonic Sect's merciless pursuit.

Once he was captured and dragged back, his end would probably be even more miserable than death.

He was truly stuck in a valley with no way forward or back!

"Forget it. I'll first find a way to leave the Floating Splendor Mountain Range. Take one step and see the next." Lu Lin quickly suppressed his stray thoughts and made his decision.

His figure flashed, and he had already left the cave.

The world outside was still pitch-black, with neither stars nor moon in sight. Although Lu Lin's recent improvement had greatly increased his strength, in truth, it had not taken too long.

He casually chose a direction and, using the cover of the dense trees, unleashed his movement technique and sped forward.

His figure was as light and nimble as a swallow, his explosive power shocking beyond belief. With a single leap, he covered more than ten meters.

The rugged, perilous mountain paths were like flat ground beneath his feet.

Before long, he had crossed several mountain peaks in succession and passed through several deep, secluded valleys...

Whoosh!

Suddenly, from an ancient tree dozens of meters away from Lu Lin, another figure also shot out swiftly, rushing quickly toward the front.

"It's him?!"

Lu Lin froze, quite surprised inwardly.

That person was actually Dongfang Yu!

The current Dongfang Yu looked extremely wretched, his whole body mottled with blood. His aura was also far from as powerful and intimidating as before; he had clearly gone through a fierce battle and was badly injured.

Dongfang Yu had clearly discovered the figure not far away almost at the same time. He was startled at once, his gaze sweeping over like lightning.

After he clearly saw Lu Lin's face, he was likewise stunned for a moment, obviously recognizing him.

Dongfang Yu's toes lightly tapped the trunk of a great tree, and his figure shifted sideways dozens of meters like a ghost, landing gracefully in front of Lu Lin, just in time to block his path.

Lu Lin had no choice but to stop.

"This subordinate greets the Immortal Master!" Lu Lin cupped his fists according to etiquette, his voice calm.

Dongfang Yu's eyes were cold and sharp, sweeping over Lu Lin like ice blades. He spoke indifferently, no joy or anger audible in his voice. "A mere martial brute like you actually managed to escape from the Red Gold Mine. You do have a tenacious life."

"It was all luck!" Lu Lin replied in a low voice.

"Luck? Heh!" Dongfang Yu gave a cold laugh, his eyes abruptly becoming even colder and sharper, with killing intent faintly seeping out. "If not for those fools like Luo Siqing rejecting my proposal, refusing to send troops earlier to wipe out the Green Duckweed Sword Sect's encampment, how could we have ended up like this? If they had followed my plan, the victors right now should have been us!"

"And you lowly martial brutes actually dared to publicly defy my orders back then. You simply deserve ten thousand deaths!"

The moment his words fell, Dongfang Yu attacked without the slightest warning.

His palm stood straight like a blade, and he chopped down through the air at Lu Lin!

A saber ray as black as ink, emanating an ice-cold aura that pierced to the bone, instantly condensed and swept toward Lu Lin. Everywhere it passed, even the air seemed about to freeze.

Lu Lin had long been on guard. The instant Dongfang Yu moved, his figure had already shot up like a taut bowstring, shifting several meters diagonally backward and to the side, narrowly avoiding that saber ray by a hair.

Bang!

The saber ray struck the spot where Lu Lin had just been standing, immediately leaving behind a slash mark so deep its bottom could not be seen, sending dirt flying in all directions.

What was even more terrifying was that the surrounding ground was rapidly covered in a layer of strange black ice crystals, and the nearby grass and trees withered and corroded at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Your reactions are quite nimble. No wonder you managed to escape alive from such chaos." A trace of surprise flashed through Dongfang Yu's eyes, but his killing intent did not lessen in the slightest; instead, it grew even stronger.

With a light wave of his hand, a pitch-black bottle covered all over in runes flew out from his sleeve and hovered above his head.

As Dongfang Yu guided the spell art with both hands, the mouth of the bottle opened, and a large amount of viscous black water, exuding an extremely cold aura, gurgled out from within.

The moment this black water appeared, the temperature between heaven and earth began to plummet sharply. With Dongfang Yu as the center, a thick layer of black ice crystals instantly appeared across the ground within a radius of over ten meters, the chill pressing in on all sides.

"Kill!"

Dongfang Yu shouted softly and chopped out with his palm again.

The black water flowing in the air moved in response, swiftly condensing into nine black blades as thin as cicada wings yet incomparably sharp. From different angles, they slashed rapidly toward Lu Lin, completely sealing off every possible path of retreat.

Lu Lin pushed Spirit Cat Step to its limit, his figure retreating swiftly. At the same time, he stomped hard against the trunk of a great tree, trying to borrow the force to change direction and rush toward another tree, using the complex terrain to evade the attack.

However, although his speed was fast, those nine black blades were even faster!

Before he could charge to the second great tree, the nine blades had already arrived with a howl, their eerie chill almost freezing him down to the marrow.

Lu Lin did his utmost to twist his body in midair, narrowly avoiding eight of the blades, but in the end, he was still half a beat too slow and was struck in the side by the final black blade!

A force that was bone-chillingly cold and contained a strange corrosive power instantly pierced through his body. The powerful impact sent Lu Lin flying backward dozens of meters before he finally smashed heavily to the ground. After rolling several times, he lay prone on the ground without moving.

On the surface of his body, a layer of ominous pitch-black ice crystals rapidly spread.

Dongfang Yu stepped soundlessly, drifting to a spot several meters away from Lu Lin. His eyes were cold as he looked down at him and muttered, "You do have some skill. No wonder Luo Siqing valued you so much and deliberately kept you by her side."

With that said, he brought the fingers of his right hand together like a sword and guided a thin, long stream of black water to stab toward the vital point at Lu Lin's back.

He was actually going to finish him off!