Gene Potion, Great Tonic Soup

Gene Potions, Nourishing Soup

"Feel every detail of every movement. You must control the force when working your muscles, use your breathing to regulate the speed of your blood flow... No detail can go wrong. Otherwise, there will be no effect at all. In serious cases, it could throw your blood, qi, and muscles out of balance, causing backlash and injury."

Mu Xiao personally taught Jian Hanyao and An Rongru every detail of each movement, finally linking them into a complete form that could temper the body.

"Are you making us do these strange movements just to mess with us? I don't feel anything at all." Jian Hanyao had exhausted all her patience on these incomparably tedious details. An Rongru, on the other hand, earnestly followed every movement Mu Xiao taught. She had even realized how to use her mental power to regulate her blood and qi and control her strength with remarkable precision.

"For now, you're only familiarizing yourselves with the movements one by one. Once you complete the first form in one continuous sequence, your body will feel it," Mu Xiao explained.

"Then do it once and let me see." Jian Hanyao was not easily convinced.

"Fine."

Unexpectedly, Mu Xiao did not refuse.

After steadying his breathing, he began performing the first three forms on the spot.

From slow to fast, Mu Xiao executed one strange movement after another with meticulous precision. Whether it was his breathing or his motions, everything maintained the same rhythm. His muscles contracted and stretched, his blood and qi circulated, his strength burst forth... He seemed to be dancing, doing gymnastics, or practicing martial arts, yet every movement flowed seamlessly into the next. There was nothing ridiculous about it at all. Instead, his body displayed a powerful beauty that balanced hardness and softness.

The three forms contained a total of ninety-nine movement details. Mu Xiao completed every one with exceptional proficiency, without the slightest mistake, as precise as a machine.

"My physique has already reached the peak level, so the first three forms do not do much for me. But if you complete all the movements successfully, your body will give you a very clear response." A faint sheen of sweat appeared on Mu Xiao's forehead, and his face was flushed, as though he had just finished an intense workout.

Only the later body-tempering forms could raise Mu Xiao's physique to a higher level. However, he did not practice those forms, because they would consume too much of his strength. There was still a battle tonight, and he did not want to overexert himself. Jian Hanyao and An Rongru's physiques, meanwhile, were too weak; even if they expended energy, it would be easy for them to replenish it.

If body-tempering techniques were practiced with abundant nutrition, their effects would be even more obvious—such as the meat of high-level mutated beasts, precious medicinal herbs, nutrient fluid, gene potions, and other good things. That was why Mu Xiao had extorted a huge amount of credit points from Shangguan Yuanxin and ordered a large quantity of medicinal supplies. They were high-quality supplementary materials prepared for his own training.

"It does seem pretty effective." Jian Hanyao sounded half-convinced.

"You have the ability Stronger When Facing Strength. You've probably also absorbed an ability related to combat mastery, haven't you?" Mu Xiao's eye was exceptionally sharp. He had already noticed her abilities during their earlier fight.

"Back when my weapons still worked, I killed a monster that had been murdering people everywhere... Mm, one of the mutated humans you mentioned." Fearless through ignorance, Jian Hanyao said, "That mutated human was the strongest monster I'd seen, but it still couldn't withstand me secretly using the system to lock onto its movements, then using high-voltage electricity to cripple its mobility before shooting it dead."

Looking at the smug expression on her face, Mu Xiao was left somewhat speechless by her reckless courage and yet cautious, composed nature.

If she had faced a mutated human head-on, ten of her would not have been enough for it to kill. Yet she happened to control the villa district's main system and had the authority to mobilize its energy. No matter how powerful the mutated human was, it had its limits and could not contend against the entire energy supply of a high-end villa district.

Mu Xiao did not continue asking about her heroic yet absurd exploits. Instead, he earnestly instructed her, "If you want to quickly master the movement details of the first three forms, make use of your combat ability. Understand the patterns within these three forms, then incorporate your instinct for combat from Stronger When Facing Strength. That way, you should be able to quickly familiarize yourself with the subtle changes in your body and turn these movements into a combat instinct."

Then he looked toward An Rongru and praised her. "You understand how to use mental power to assist your body's memory. That is a good method. Just keep it up."

"Hanyao, work harder. Don't lose to your mother." An Rongru smiled sweetly, suddenly finding the humor to tease her.

"Hmph!" Jian Hanyao puffed herself up like a proud peacock. "I'll definitely complete these three body-tempering forms before noon."

After that, Mu Xiao continued carefully guiding the two women through the details of body tempering. Those who could evolve into new humans were generally not stupid, especially An Rongru, who possessed a mental-type ability and naturally had an exceptionally sharp and clear mind.

Jian Hanyao seemed to possess an extraordinary natural talent for combat. Of course, aside from her innocent, delicate face, which contained no hint of combat prowess, she was basically a little berserker. Yet, just as Mu Xiao had said, she used her sense for battle to grasp the body-tempering movements. It truly allowed her to master them smoothly, completely shedding her previous awkwardness and confusion.

The first three body-tempering forms were actually introductory forms, meant to consolidate the "peak" physique level, so they were not overly difficult.

By around noon, Jian Hanyao had completed and mastered the three body-tempering forms, just as she had declared. However, after performing all three forms in one continuous sequence, she looked as though she had been pulled from water, drenched in fragrant sweat. Her small mouth hung open without the slightest concern for appearances as she gasped heavily, nearly collapsing onto the carpet. The muscles in her limbs only twitched and trembled faintly, as if she had just undergone some intense weight-bearing exercise.

"Tha... that felt too good." Jian Hanyao's pure and delicate face glowed with a rosy sheen. Her soft, watery lips parted slightly, and each orchid-scented breath carried an intense warmth. At that moment, her flushed, soft, powerless, adorable expression, combined with those ambiguous words, gave off an extremely suggestive feeling.

Only Mu Xiao understood what she meant by "felt." Her entire body had been drained of strength, yet she could clearly sense a new power being nurtured both within and around her body. Sooner or later, it would be born and become a source of strength for her body.

"Rest for a while. Once you recover some strength, repeat it one more time. With your physique, that should be about your limit." Mu Xiao glanced at An Rongru, who was still meticulously repeating every movement. Understanding her cautious personality, he knew she wanted to familiarize herself with all the movements before attempting the complete body-tempering sequence. "Keep practicing. I'll make some food so you can restore yourselves. This afternoon, we'll start preparing for tonight's battle."

"Don't make it too awful," Jian Hanyao said without the slightest politeness. "All the food in the house is in the kitchen. Make more..."

Mu Xiao directly ignored the rest of what she was about to say. Taking some blood pearls, he headed for the kitchen.

The kitchen looked as though it had gone through a brutal battle. All kinds of food were scattered across the counters, strange sauces had spilled all over the floor and congealed into patches of grime, and the cooking utensils were coated in something like black charcoal. Mu Xiao found it difficult to imagine how Jian Hanyao had managed to turn the kitchen into such a spectacle in such an advanced technological era.

"Even if the robots stopped working, surely making a meal wouldn't end up like this?" Mu Xiao shook his head with a bitter smile, found some clean utensils, and repaired the energy stove.

An Rongru was a wealthy woman, so her home naturally lacked no medicinal herbs, tonics, or high-grade nutrient fluid. Mu Xiao quickly found a large supply of high-grade nutrient fluid and all sorts of precious medicinal ingredients in the kitchen. He selected suitable herbs and nutrient fluid, combined them with various meats and thirty low-grade blood pearls that had healing and strengthening effects, then simmered them into a specially made, high-concentration nourishing soup.

"But there are no mutated beast bones. Otherwise, this pot of nourishing soup would be even more effective." Looking at the rich soup bubbling away, Mu Xiao muttered to himself. In the kitchen's large refrigerator, he had found a huge amount of fresh meat—nearly every kind of poultry and livestock meat was there, all of it high quality.

However, once Mu Xiao considered An Rongru's status and wealth, he understood why there was so much premium food.

During the two hours he spent cooking, Mu Xiao also repaired the refrigerator. Its backup freezing capacity had nearly run out, and once the cold was gone, the meat inside would quickly spoil. Mu Xiao did not want the mother and daughter to struggle over food after he left, so he repaired it while he was at it.

When Mu Xiao brought out a large spread of dishes, he found Jian Hanyao and An Rongru both half-slumped on the sofa, recovering their breath. Jian Hanyao in particular looked exhausted and limp. He immediately understood that she had performed the body-tempering technique again and had nearly drained all the energy from her body.

"Rongru, do you have any gene potions in reserve?" Mu Xiao asked.

Ordinary wealthy families kept gene potions in storage in case of emergencies, so they could use them to save their lives immediately.

Sure enough, An Rongru nodded without much hesitation. "Yes, I ordered some gene potions. They're all in my bedroom."

Mu Xiao made a trip there and found three boxes in An Rongru's room. One contained three doses of the premium gene potion "Miracle of Life." As long as someone still had a breath left, it could temporarily keep them alive. Each dose cost at least a billion credits, and even money could not easily buy it.

The other two boxes contained high-grade gene potions: "Strengthening the Foundation and Cultivating Vitality" and "Spirit of Toxins." The former replenished qi and blood, strengthened the muscles and bones, and soothed the mind, while the latter could eliminate all manner of deadly poisons. There were twenty doses in each box. An Rongru did not lack money, which was why she had stored so many of these extremely precious gene potions. Especially on the path of evolution ahead, these gene potions would only become rarer and more valuable.

"There are too many rich people in this villa district. Their villas must contain plenty of valuable things. Once I take control of the entire district, I have to sweep through every last thing here." Mu Xiao silently made up his mind.

Taking two doses of "Strengthening the Foundation and Cultivating Vitality," Mu Xiao put the other gene potions back where they belonged and returned to the living room.

An Rongru and Jian Hanyao had already started eating without waiting for Mu Xiao. They had expended a great deal of energy, and their bodies were extremely hungry.

Because he had just considered looting the villa district, Mu Xiao subtly revealed how precious gene potions and nutrient fluid would become in the future. He told the two women that if they had the chance, they should immediately gather the collections of every villa owner in the district, make an inventory, and sort out the valuable items.

This included metals, certain antiques, ancient texts, and similar things, all of which might contain considerable benefits.

"Ah!" Jian Hanyao suddenly seemed to remember something. "Didn't my father collect antique famous swords before? I wonder if they're good things. We can go take a look after we eat..."

Could there really be a discovery? Mu Xiao thought in surprise, though he calmly agreed on the surface. In the future new world, antique famous swords were combat weapons that nearly every new human would fight desperately to obtain. That was why he reacted with such surprise.