A Cheat for Cultivation

"Ahh!"

Zhu Zhuqing could not hold back a scream. Agony swept through her body, as though every bone had been snapped by force and then forcibly reforged.

Lu Chuan's heart jolted outside the door. He pushed it open.

"Zhu Qing, are you all right?!"

"Don't..."

Gritting her teeth, Zhu Zhuqing sank her whole body into the wooden tub, leaving only her head above water. Fine beads of sweat covered her forehead, and she trembled uncontrollably.

"Don't... look..."

Her voice shook despite her efforts to steady it. Her cheeks burned as she clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Oh! Right!"

Lu Chuan snapped out of it, spun around, and hurried out of the bathroom, gently pulling the door shut behind him.

Leaning against the wall outside, he swallowed hard.

Good lord. That was too much. I nearly went blind from the sight.

Lu Chuan pulled over a stool and sat down. As he listened to the muffled groans from inside, he toyed with the Porcelain Bottle in his hand and activated his ghost brain.

Time crept by. Two and a half double-hours passed.

The intermittent groans from the room gradually weakened, then faded into complete silence.

Lu Chuan called out at once, "Zhu Qing, are you okay?"

The bathroom remained quiet. Not a sound came from inside.

His heart sank. He rapped twice on the wooden door.

"Zhu Qing? Can you hear me?"

He waited a moment, but there was still no response.

Without further hesitation, he pushed the door open.

The bathwater, once emerald green, had turned perfectly clear. Zhu Zhuqing's head rested against the rim of the tub, and she was motionless.

Shit! Did the medicine kill her?!

Lu Chuan quickly pressed his fingers to her smooth neck. Only when he felt her pulse did he breathe a sigh of relief.

It seemed Zhu Qing had gritted her teeth and endured until she had absorbed every last trace of the medicine. The moment she relaxed, exhaustion had sent her straight to sleep.

She really is stubborn. She wouldn't waste even a bit of it.

His gaze swept over her by accident, and the sight startled him. Good lord. Those are enormous.

He cleared his throat and reached into the water, slipping one arm securely around Zhu Zhuqing's back and waist and the other beneath her knees. Then he lifted her from the tub.

The remaining bathwater dripped from her hair and skin.

Lu Chuan carried her out of the bathroom and fetched a clean, soft cloth. With the utmost care, he wiped the lingering bathwater from the sleeping Zhu Zhuqing, his touch so gentle he would not wake her.

Once she was dry, he carefully laid her down and tucked the soft quilt around her.

After finishing, he let out a long breath. Looking at Zhu Zhuqing sleeping peacefully, he murmured to himself:

"Even Zhu Qing, who can put up with just about anything, passed out from the pain. I hope I don't keel over halfway through..."

The thought left Lu Chuan more than a little apprehensive.

His gaze shifted to the Porcelain Bottle of Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid on the table.

First, he emptied the tub. Then he went out and called a waiter over to bring two large buckets of hot water, which he poured into it.

Once everything was ready, Lu Chuan opened the Porcelain Bottle and let one drop of Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid fall into the water.

He quickly stripped, sat cross-legged in the tub, and settled his mind, waiting for the agony that was supposed to bore into his sinews and eat at his bones.

"Hiss... It doesn't hurt. It hasn't expired, has it?"

Puzzled, Lu Chuan picked up the Porcelain Bottle beside him, removed the stopper, and peered inside.

"The medicine's working, and my Soul Power is rising fast. Could this be the system's invincible defense?"

Pain was a kind of harm, after all. Aside from masochists, no one enjoyed it. It made sense that his invincible defense would shield him from it.

Well, nothing left to do but cultivate.

Lu Chuan stopped dwelling on it and circulated his power, drawing in great quantities of the medicine while setting his Soul Power in motion.

The medicine streamed through the pores of his skin into every part of his body, flushing through his meridians.

Before an hour had passed, the green glow had drained from the bathwater. It was clear again, all its energy absorbed.

"Ahh, that feels good."

Lu Chuan flexed his hand and took stock of the Soul Power within him. Earlier, Zhu Qing's transaction to travel to the world of Battle Through the Heavens had granted him one level's worth of a Soul Grandmaster's Soul Power.

Since he had yet to awaken a Martial Soul, his Soul Power had been at zero. Giving one level's worth of a Soul Grandmaster's Soul Power to an ordinary person with none—and losing none of it in the process—had raised him straight to level four.

Now, after absorbing one drop of Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid, he had risen from level four to level five.

For Zhu Qing, it would be different. Her level would not rise immediately. Instead, the medicine would temper and strengthen her meridians and her body's potential, making her cultivation faster and faster in the future.

That made sense. Zhu Qing was currently a level twenty-six Soul Grandmaster, roughly equivalent to the sixth stage of Dou Qi.

In the original story, Xiao Yan had spent half a month cultivating with Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid just to advance from the third stage of Dou Qi to the fourth. According to Yao Lao, he could use only one drop a day. That came to fifteen drops over half a month.

Fifteen drops of the liquid would be enough to raise a Soul Grandmaster by one level while improving their innate potential.

Tsk. In Douluo Continent, this stuff would be an incredibly rare treasure.

Lu Chuan held the Porcelain Bottle, lightly rubbing its surface with his fingertips as he considered it.

The others could use only one drop of Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid a day because their bodies could not withstand its violent effects.

But he could ignore that limit. His invincible defense protected him from all harm, and damage to his meridians was harm too.

With that thought, Lu Chuan did not hesitate. He added another drop of Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid to the water.

After an unknown length of time, Lu Chuan slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

He picked up the Porcelain Bottle to pour out more liquid, but no matter how many times he tipped and shook it, not a drop came out. Even rinsing it repeatedly in the bathwater yielded no trace of medicine.

"That's all?"

Lu Chuan tossed the empty Porcelain Bottle aside, stood up from the medicinal bath, and stretched.

Crack, crack, crack!

A rapid series of pops sounded throughout his body, like beans frying in a pan, as strength surged into his limbs.

He had completely absorbed the Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid. His meridians felt wider, and many of the impurities hidden in his body had been washed away.

"Fantastic. My Soul Power's reached level twelve. I need to get my hands on a Spirit Awakening Stone so Xiao Yan can pay the rest of what he owes me. One bottle isn't nearly enough."

Lu Chuan dried himself, picked up his clothes, and got dressed. Then he noticed a pile of black leather clothing on the other side.

"Ahem... I'm just bringing Zhu Qing her clothes so she has something to wear when she wakes up. Yes, that's all."

He gathered Zhu Zhuqing's clothes in his arms, pushed open the bathroom door, and walked slowly into the bedroom. He set them gently by the head of the bed.

Zhu Zhuqing's eyelashes kept fluttering. She could not fool Lu Chuan; anyone could see she was pretending to sleep.

A faint smile touched Lu Chuan's lips as he sat down beside the bed.

"Stop pretending. I saw that."