Seeing Mu Nujiao following him and Uncle Jiang with such an unhappy face, Lu Wu couldn't help finding it funny.
This girl was nothing like her cold, aloof self at school.
Zu Yanzhi noticed something was off with the atmosphere, and after receiving several glares from Lu Wu, she had the good sense to behave.
She didn't bring up the stakes again.
Lu Wu had already eaten and drunk his fill, and now he followed the path Uncle Jiang Chun took.
Swamps were everywhere here, and one careless step could send someone sinking in.
Nangong Pei followed behind Zu Yanzhi. He wasn't interested in that body tempering.
But he was interested in Lu Wu's cultivation.
The four soon reached the place Luo Long had mentioned. The sky had already grown somewhat dark, and over the short three-kilometer journey, they had encountered four Demon Beasts, avoiding all of them.
By the fading light of the setting sun, Lu Wu examined that patch of ground.
There wasn't a trace of aquatic vegetation on it, only a thin layer of water. It didn't look particularly special.
It was still somewhat cold outside, and Lu Wu shivered a little as he took off his shirt.
"Hiss!"
Lu Wu sucked in a cold breath. If he soaked in there, he would probably freeze half to death.
"I'll test the way first." Lu Wu wasn't worried about danger and stretched out a foot to step into the mud.
At worst, Grandpa Shen wouldn't stand by and do nothing.
An icy chill came through the sole of his foot, making Lu Wu shudder. He clenched his fists, forcing himself to withstand the cold.
"There should be something underground here. Be careful," Jiang Chun warned. He kept feeling there was something strange about this place that he couldn't quite put into words.
Lu Wu had been about to reply when he discovered that something had caught his foot and was dragging him straight toward the center of the mud pool.
The sudden pull made Lu Wu instinctively try to break free.
But that force was extremely powerful, and immediately afterward, countless unknown roots emerged from the mud pool.
"Demon Beasts!!" Mu Nujiao cried in alarm.
"Quick, save him!" Zu Yanzhi was badly startled as well and hurried to prepare her magic.
Nangong Pei said nothing. He first retreated to put some distance between them while preparing his magic.
Yet Jiang Chun, whose cultivation was the strongest, didn't move. Instead, he said, "Everyone, stop. Don't worry. Lu Wu will be fine."
Lu Wu felt it most clearly.
He couldn't break free of the tremendous force beneath his feet, but he hadn't sensed the slightest trace of a Demon Beast's aura.
And although those things looked like roots, they actually seemed to be made up of segments.
Before long, he reached the center of the mud pool, his entire body below his chest submerged in the swampy mud.
The pulling force beneath his feet had disappeared, but Lu Wu discovered that the surrounding mud was constantly squeezing him.
Bang!!
A sudden blow struck his chest, and the pain made Lu Wu bare his teeth and grimace.
"Lu Wu, are you all right?" Even when Jiang Chun said those weren't Demon Beasts, Mu Nujiao hadn't stopped preparing her magic.
Seeing Lu Wu's expression, she wanted to grow some vines to bring him back.
"Don't interrupt his cultivation. Master Shen is here; he won't let anything happen to Lu Wu. Even if you don't trust me, you should at least trust him, right?" Jiang Chun stopped her again.
If these youngsters cast their magic, they would only attract Demon Beasts.
That would make things even more troublesome.
"Don't worry, I'm fine-argh!" Lu Wu felt as though the mud around him was pummeling him madly.
"Why does this body tempering seem so painful?" Zu Yanzhi hadn't sensed any Demon Beast aura, so she chose to believe Jiang Chun.
Nangong Pei also returned without casting his magic. "I've never seen a cultivation method like this."
"Hahaha, it's fine. He's just taking a beating." Luo Long came up behind them.
When they cast the Space Element spell Instantaneous Movement, there wasn't even a trace of magical aura.
In the center of the mud, Lu Wu discovered that not only was tremendous resistance coming from every direction, but his body was also being struck constantly.
His blood flowed faster, and the pain even made him feel somewhat hot. Combined with the chill of the mud, it left Lu Wu caught between ice and fire.
He tried to catch whatever was striking his body with his hands in the mud, but he couldn't catch it at all.
His body sank a little farther.
"Try walking out without relying on magic. Don't think about grabbing anything," Shen Shitian reminded Lu Wu as he watched him.
Unfortunately, Lu Wu's cultivation still wasn't up to the mark.
Otherwise, he would have discovered that the various elemental energies in this swamp were extremely dense.
"All right." Hearing Grandpa Shen's reminder, Lu Wu pulled his hands out and placed them on the surface of the mud, only for his body to sink again.
Now, he felt as though enormous boulders weighing a thousand jin were constantly pressing against him from all around, leaving him completely unable to move.
Discovering that he was slowly sinking straight down, Lu Wu kept thinking, searching for a solution.
When he didn't move, his body didn't sink quite so quickly.
But the searing pain throughout his body made it difficult for him even to think.
He exerted a little force with his feet, only to sink a little deeper.
"Huff, huff. Calm down, calm down!!" Lu Wu kept trying to steady his breathing.
If this continued, he would undoubtedly sink.
"Pull him up. This kid has no idea how to handle it." Shen Shitian wasn't disappointed.
This was normal.
If Lu Wu could think of everything and accomplish everything, he wouldn't seem like a boy in his first year of high school at all.
"Lasting this long already sets him apart from ordinary people," Luo Long said with a smile.
As he spoke, Lu Wu felt his body being slowly lifted, and soon the mud only reached his abdomen.
Looking down, he saw red, bloody marks on his shoulders and chest. It looked as though he had bled.
No wonder the pain burned so fiercely.
"How does it feel?" Shen Shitian asked, looking at Lu Wu.
At his question, Lu Wu didn't move recklessly. He had taken the lesson to heart: the more he moved, the faster he sank.
"It hurts."
"What else?"
"Now that I've recovered a little, it's a bit itchy." Lu Wu carefully felt it out before replying, "It burns, but I seem able to bear it, and there's some itching too."
He rubbed his arm and gently washed it in the palm-thick layer of water. Lu Wu discovered that his arm was bright red.
There were many marks from the blows on it, looking like rope marks.
"My body is recovering!!"
Lu Wu discovered that this sensation seemed to be his body recovering.
Such dense energy of heaven and earth!
Lu Wu's eyes suddenly lit up. The things densely battering his body seemed to carry the energy of heaven and earth.
No.
Placing his arm on the surface of the mud, Lu Wu noticed something wasn't right.
The energy of heaven and earth had fused with the mud, making it extremely difficult to detect.
Although I don't know how it's done, as my body is constantly struck, those tiny wounds allow a little of the energy of heaven and earth to pour in and heal the injuries.
Lu Wu was deeply shocked.
Such a method truly lay beyond his current understanding.
The process was actually extremely painful. If his soul hadn't grown stronger, his tolerance would probably have given out long ago, leaving him howling.
With both hands on the surface of the mud, Lu Wu tried to move forward slowly.
The farther outward he went, the harder those blows struck. Only when the pain reached the limit of what he could bear did Lu Wu stop.
After adapting a little, he began slowly moving forward again.
Although cultivating with fire elemental magic is the fastest, other elemental energies can be converted too. It's just that the cultivation efficiency is one-fifth of what it was before... An idea occurred to Lu Wu.
If he cultivated now, although his cultivation speed would be slow, it might help temper his body.
Without delay, Lu Wu began trying it.
As soon as he did, Shen Shitian and Luo Long exchanged a glance nearby and nodded to each other.