Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber Body Tempering! Level 35 Soul Elder!

On the third day after Qian Shengyuan and Qian Yaoting left Spirit City, Li Long locked the doors and windows of the cultivation room and took out the piece of ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber from his storage ring.

The fist-sized dark golden lump sat on the table, gleaming beneath the lamplight with a dense, weighty luster. It was more than a level richer than thousand-year Whale Rubber.

He reached out and touched its surface. It was icy and hard, like a polished piece of dark jade.

Whale Rubber of this age had already undergone a qualitative transformation over the long years. Its medicinal potency was several times greater than that of hundred-year or thousand-year Whale Rubber. Even sitting in the open air, it gave off a fishy, salty scent that seemed to pierce through its packaging.

Li Long placed the Whale Rubber into a smelting vessel and heated it.

The dark golden substance gradually softened under the high heat, releasing a scent several times stronger than before.

Once it had completely melted into liquid, he poured the scalding gel into the prepared medicinal bath barrel. The barrel had already been filled with warm water. The moment the medicinal liquid entered the water, a thick cloud of hot white mist rose up, filling the entire cultivation room with its scent.

He removed his outer clothes and stepped into the barrel. The instant the scorching medicinal liquid rose over his chest, an unprecedented heat seeped directly through his skin. It felt as though every pore had been forcibly pried open, the medicinal power pouring beneath his skin without restraint and rapidly spreading through his meridians to every corner of his body.

Pain.

Far more violent than thousand-year Whale Rubber.

The torrent of heat scoured his muscle fibers and bones with savage force, and Li Long involuntarily clenched his teeth.

His body had not experienced an impact of this magnitude in a long time. Even the physique of a three-ring Soul Elder seemed unable to remain composed before ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber. His muscles trembled endlessly in the heat, while the marrow deep within his bones felt as if a lump of red-hot charcoal had been thrown into it, burning him so badly that he could barely sit still.

But he did not move.

He closed his eyes, steadied his breathing, and began circulating the Soul Power guidance method as well.

When the medicinal power met his Soul Power inside his body, they produced an intense resonance. Under the double impact, the walls of his meridians expanded and widened further. It felt as though someone were slowly prying open one sealed gate after another within him.

After the time it took to burn an incense stick, the pain began to fade.

His trembling muscles gradually stabilized. The searing sensation deep in his bones shifted from scorching agony into a lingering warmth, while the meridian pathways washed by the medicinal power had clearly widened by a fraction.

After two incense sticks' worth of time, Li Long opened his eyes and looked down at his hands.

A thin dark golden sheen had appeared along the edges of the calluses on his palms, formed from gripping a staff, as though the medicinal power had seeped beneath the surface of his skin.

He clenched his fists. The sense of strength in his palms was far more solid than before the medicinal bath.

He continued soaking in the barrel for another half hour, only getting up to dry himself and change clothes once the water had completely cooled.

The Soul Power within him circulated exceptionally smoothly after the bath. At the barrier of level thirty-four, he sensed a faint loosening. Then, a powerful force directly shattered through it, bringing him to level thirty-five!

"Ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber truly is extraordinary."

Li Long stood before the window and stretched his body. The crackling of his joints was crisper and more forceful than usual.

He estimated that if he continued using medicine of this intensity while circulating the guidance method every day, he might be able to break through to level thirty-six within three months.

He had used less than one-third of that piece of ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber.

The remainder was enough for three more medicinal baths.

Together with the batch of thousand-year Whale Rubber he had purchased from the black market, he had more than enough body-tempering materials for the next half year.

He left the cultivation room and went out into the courtyard to move his body.

Morning sunlight shone against the courtyard walls. The rubble and cracks left from yesterday's spar with Qian Yaoting had already been cleaned up. The stone surface had been repaired, but when he stepped on it, he could still feel a faint unevenness beneath his feet. Those were traces left behind after the internal structure had been shaken loose.

Li Long drew his Iron Rod and began his daily staff technique practice in the courtyard.

He tried maintaining the amplification state of his second soul skill at its lowest level, coordinating the rhythm of his breathing under the guidance method as he executed a smooth chain of attacks.

The wind produced by the Iron Rod cutting through the air sounded somewhat heavier than before, and the force behind every swing was clearly palpable.

The practice lasted nearly an hour.

When Li Long withdrew his Iron Rod, a thin sheen of sweat had appeared on his forehead, yet his breathing remained steady.

Standing where he was, he checked the path of his exertion and confirmed that, after being tempered by the ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber, the transmission of force in every strike was roughly ten percent smoother than before.

"Ten percent."

Li Long noted the figure to himself.

That ten percent was not to be underestimated. If it accumulated at this rate with every level after reaching four rings, the gap would only grow wider and wider.

As he put away his Iron Rod and prepared to return indoors to rest, a knock sounded from outside the courtyard gate.

The rhythm was light and lively, carrying a familiar feeling.

Li Long went over and opened the door. Qian Yao stood outside with a small cloth bag slung over her shoulder. Her eyes lit up when she saw him open the door. "Holy Son, you weren't cultivating today?"

"Just finished training."

Li Long stepped aside to let her in. Qian Yao strode into the courtyard without reserve, looking around as she walked. When she noticed the remaining repair marks on the courtyard wall, her steps paused. "Wow, is this where you and the Young Master damaged the place during your spar?"

"Mm."

"That's really outrageous."

Qian Yao moved closer to inspect the repaired wall, then turned back and smiled at Li Long. "I brought some pastries today. Qian Yue made them and asked me to bring them over while I was passing by."

She took a small box wrapped in oil paper from her cloth bag and stuffed it into Li Long's hands. "She said you train too hard every day, so you should eat something to replenish yourself."

Li Long accepted the oil-paper box. It felt warm in his hands. Peeling back one corner, he saw several pale green pastries inside, giving off a faint scent of herbs mixed with honey.

He looked at Qian Yao. "Thank her for me."

"You can tell her yourself."

Qian Yao waved her hand. "She's coming this afternoon too. She said she wants to ask you about some details regarding force transmission."

After saying that, she did not linger. She raised a hand at Li Long, turned, and left, her footsteps as light as when she had arrived.

Li Long stood at the courtyard gate holding the oil-paper box, watching Qian Yao disappear around the bend in the path.

He glanced down at the box in his hand, then turned and went back inside.

He sat by the table, opened the oil-paper wrapping, took out a pale green pastry, and bit into it. It was sweet and refreshing, with a subtle herbal aftertaste.

After finishing one piece, he carefully wrapped up the rest and put them away, then picked up his Iron Rod again and returned to the courtyard.

The afternoon sunlight was somewhat warmer than the morning sun.

Li Long stood still in the courtyard, closed his eyes, and felt the residual warmth of the ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber within his body before beginning another round of staff practice.

This time, he adjusted the amplification of his second soul skill to the middle level. The sound of the Iron Rod tearing through the air was several degrees heavier than it had been that morning.

What he did not know was that while he was focused on training, Qian Yue's figure briefly appeared in his blind spot. She stood at the bend in the path and watched for a while.

Her gaze swept over every detail of how he exerted force with each swing of his Iron Rod. After lingering for several breaths, she silently left. She had not disturbed anyone when she arrived, nor did she leave behind any trace when she departed.