The possibilities after tempering the dantian

Su Yu had no idea how long he had endured the searing pain.

When the red substance was distributed throughout his body, acting on every strand of flesh and every meridian, its effects lasted only a few breaths.

Yet when this tiny clump of red substance, so minute that his spiritual perception would normally fail to detect it, acted on a small patch of his dantian alone, its effects lasted an unusually long time.

Su Yu felt that time was dragging on far too long.

Although this clump of red substance did not look particularly small in the Inner Landscape, once converted into its real-world equivalent, it was far smaller than a grain of sand.

The Inner Landscape corresponded to the human body. Compared with Su Yu's tiny consciousness form within it, that boundless world was so vast that the scale was practically impossible to calculate.

Thus, even the size of the glowing clump of red substance perceived by Su Yu's consciousness form could not be directly compared to its size in the outside world.

It truly was as minute as a grain of sand, perhaps even far smaller.

Yet this tiny speck of red substance contained enough terrifying energy to subject Su Yu to hours of searing heat.

When the burning sensation faded, Su Yu could no longer even feel his dantian.

After a long while, once his dantian had cooled, Su Yu circulated his bloodline power into his lower dantian, while also directing his spiritual power and soul power into the area.

As he probed deeper, his eyes suddenly snapped open, a flicker of shock flashing through them.

"My dantian's toughness has gone up at least a whole tier!"

If his dantian had previously been a cement wall, it had now become a brick wall.

This was a qualitative improvement.

Of course, the part that had undergone this qualitative improvement was only a tiny patch of his dantian, equivalent to the area occupied by a single brick in a wall.

To strengthen his entire dantian, he would have to repeat the process at least several hundred times, perhaps even a thousand.

Even so, Su Yu was delighted.

He had tried striking the dantian barrier in that small area with his soul power, only to find that it did not budge in the slightest.

"If I reinforce my entire dantian, forming a soul core will definitely be much easier."

In Su Yu's view, his future development had to lead toward greater strength.

Whatever would give him greater combat power than others at the same level, that was how he would develop.

Even if difficulties arose, he could delve deeper into the Inner Landscape and find ways to resolve them.

In short, possessing greater strength at level ninety-nine was the overriding principle behind all his cultivation.

It took the highest priority!

Even if something could only increase his combat power at level ninety-nine by ten percent, it would still be worth delaying his cultivation by one or two years.

Of course, if it would delay him longer, or even cause him to miss the window before Huo Yuhao became a god, he would have to adjust his priorities.

Once Huo Yuhao became a god, becoming one himself would be all but impossible.

Of course, Su Yu meant the point when Huo Yuhao became a god in this world, not in the original story.

Even he could not say for certain whether that would happen earlier or later than in the original.

After all, the most heaven-defying thing about Huo Yuhao was his identity as the chosen son of destiny.

Even if Su Yu took every opportunity meant for Huo Yuhao, as long as Tang San continued investing in him, the resources Tang San could provide would certainly be no worse. Huo Yuhao might still rise.

After all, the ability to absorb and make use of resources was itself an extremely important talent!

Even with half the resources he had received in the original story, Huo Yuhao's progress toward godhood might not slow down.

After all, given how events unfolded in the original story, the possibility that Tang San had deliberately suppressed Huo Yuhao could not be ruled out, leaving flaws in parts of his cultivation and even delaying his ascension somewhat.

Thus, even if Huo Yuhao received fewer resources, that might lead Tang San to stop suppressing him, allowing him to cultivate faster and become a god even earlier instead.

That was something even Su Yu could not predict.

So no matter how he made the comparison, he had to measure himself against the Huo Yuhao of this era.

He had to become a god before Huo Yuhao did.

Otherwise, what chance would he have of becoming a god?

There was Tang San, Huo Yuhao, and Rong Nianbing, who had only just retired, had yet to leave the Divine Realm, and had been forcibly tied to them by Tang San.

Together, those three already constituted an immensely powerful force.

Su Yu knew that Rong Nianbing had been forcibly tied to them. Perhaps he would have a chance to cooperate with him in the future, stop him from passing his divine position to Huo Yuhao, and thereby prevent him from siding with Tang San's faction.

But all of that was speculation, an illusion with no basis in reality.

Compared with those imaginings, the more likely future was that, under the direction of God King Tang San, Rong Nianbing would be forcibly lashed to his warship, while Huo Yuhao inherited his quasi-God King divine position.

Any consideration of the future had to take this worst-case possibility as its foundation.

Any optimistic prediction had to rest on the premise that the other party had already switched sides.

For example, if he wanted to regard Rong Nianbing as part of his own faction, he first had to perceive Rong Nianbing's intention to defect and obtain confirmation, rather than merely guessing.

Only in plans made after that point could he assume Rong Nianbing was on his side.

Back to the matter at hand.

The question of factions in the Divine Realm was still far too lofty and remote. For Su Yu, his own cultivation was what mattered.

He had his own priorities to consider.

Increasing his combat power at the same level was his first priority.

Of course, there was also a T0 priority: cultivation speed.

But with his cultivation speed boosted tenfold, he did not actually need to worry about the prerequisite behind that T0 priority.

Even if he squandered ninety percent of his energy elsewhere, he could still satisfy that T0 priority at his original cultivation speed!

"If I'm pursuing greater combat power at the same level, then forming a soul core early, forming a yin-yang complementary soul core, and bringing three soul cores together are all things I have to consider."

"And whether it's forming the first soul core, forming a yin-yang complementary soul core, or finally forming three soul cores, the demands on a Soul Master are undoubtedly immense. They could even delay a Soul Master's cultivation by several years."

Su Yu had originally thought that he, too, might suffer a lengthy delay because of this.

But now that his dantian had undergone additional tempering, he felt he could simply charge straight through.

If every part of his dantian could become as tough as this small patch, he might be able to mindlessly pile soul power into it and have a soul core form on its own.

"To take it even further, I could skip forming a soul core and keep improving the quality of my soul power instead, forcibly using my dantian to hold soul power of soul-core quality."

"In that case, an immense quantity of soul power might have some merit after all."

"At the very, very, very least, I could rely on a tough dantian to withstand an even more powerful soul core."

Su Yu was quite satisfied with the new cultivation method he had stumbled upon.

People had to shake things up.

Without shaking things up, how could they ever discover their limits?

Like someone who had discovered a new toy, he began moving the red substance again, transferring it bit by bit into his lower dantian to temper its remaining areas.