Lu Ren pointed to the bow on Qian Jin’s back! “You can take it and try it out… with your current archery skills combined with the Nine Battles of Demon Suppression, it’s not entirely impossible.”
“Forget it.” Qian Jin shook his head dismissively: “Killing it now will only get me one Demon Core. Letting it live is like letting it roam free in the wild. When I truly need it someday, I can always come back to slay it then. Wouldn't it be better if I let it grow for a while, allowing the Demon Core to become even more valuable?”
The old man crouched before the Demon Bronze Refining Tree, staring at the swaying fruit, and said, “Kid, take this thing down.”
Curiously, Qian Jin plucked the fruit and held it in his hand. He couldn't sense any flow of Dou Qi from it; it felt like merely a very strange stone.
“Listen to me, kid.” The old man’s expression showed a rare seriousness: “A Grand Magus, with the aid of several, or even a dozen, Grand Magicians, magic arrays, and Demon Cores, can craft their own personal spatial storage vessel.”
Qian Jin nodded repeatedly with envy, his mind immediately flashing to Huang Quan, who had been approaching the rank of Grand Magus for nearly two years. He wondered if that woman would suddenly decide to do something insane like crafting her own spatial storage device again.
“Actually, Warriors have something similar too.”
The old man smiled as he watched Qian Jin’s surprised look. Over these past two years, he had frequently been shocked by the kid’s breakthroughs; to see this look of astonishment now brought him a sense of satisfaction, like sweet revenge.
Two years! In just two years, he had broken through from the Tenth Rank Warrior to the level of the Nine Battles of Demon Suppression, and he was even faintly approaching the peak of that realm. This rate of breakthrough could be described as 'soaring.' How could this kid not have awakened his Bloodline Warrior potential?
Nine Battles in Two Years! Such a number was astonishing even for a Bloodline Warrior!
Qian Jin stared blankly at the fruit of the Demon Bronze Refining Tree rolling in his palm: “Does this mean…”
“This is called the Boundary Fruit. Not many people know of its existence,” the old man said faintly. “When you infuse it with your Dou Qi, it will change, and then there might be a little bit of slight pain. Just endure it. If you really can’t bear it, you can stop infusing Dou Qi at any time.”
“Slight pain?” Qian Jin rubbed the Boundary Fruit between his thumb and forefinger, laughing: “Coming here to Lang’s Valley for the past two years, I haven't eaten much else, but pain? I’ve eaten it daily, even while sleeping. I’m truly accustomed to this stuff.”
The Three Thousand Five Hundred Turns of Dou Qi erupted fully within the One Hundred and Eight Dou Acupoints. Qian Jin’s clothes suddenly billowed out as if violently buffeted by a strong wind, then quickly settled back down.
The tiny fruit instantly burst forth with a dazzling, blinding light, as if what Qian Jin held wasn't some crystalline Dou Fruit, but a scorching, radiant sun!
The other three people raised their hands to shield their eyes from the searing brightness. Qian Jin narrowed his eyes at the Dou Fruit in his hand; under the impact of the Dou Qi, it was slowly sinking into his palm, like a person falling into a mire, gradually sinking deeper and deeper.
Pain! At the point where the fruit touched his palm, a needle-like stinging sensation arose. Qian Jin didn't even twitch an eyebrow. The Wind and Cloud Golden Body! After two years of arduous training, he had already advanced from the Wind and Cloud Stone Body realm to the peak of the Wind and Cloud Iron Body. Now, if he punched a rock, the rock would certainly shatter instead of his body.
The Dou Fruit quickly submerged into Qian Jin’s palm, and the pain, centered on his palm, rapidly spread along the Dou Meridians to every part of his body.
Qian Jin frowned slightly. This time it truly hurt, which did correspond to what his master called ‘slight pain.’
As the Boundary Fruit completely sank into his palm, the dazzling light naturally vanished. The old man watched Qian Jin’s slight frown, indicating pain, and grumbled with mock indignation: “Hey, kid! Can’t you put on a more dramatic reaction? When I absorbed the Boundary Fruit back then, I was rolling on the ground in agony. And you? Just a frown? Is that your entire display of pain? I just startled you with the fruit, and you have to scare me back with that expression to be satisfied? Have some consideration for an old man’s fragile heart, won’t you?”
Qian Jin noticed that his master, usually a man of few words, was speaking excessively today. A faint sadness welled up in his heart; his master was using excessive chatter to ward off the emotion of parting.
“Sigh,” Qian Jin sighed, his mouth twitching a couple of times as he inhaled a sharp breath: “It hurts a lot.”
“Damn it!” The old man waved his hand forcefully, clearly displeased: “Such an insincere effort at pretending.”
The two women standing by the old man nodded in unison, showing a degree of condemnation for Qian Jin’s unconvincing performance. Qian Jin managed a wry smile, thinking that if they had spent two full years, three hours every night consuming Oulala’s Winter Solstice Festival Dose—the 'Enhanced Volcanic Potion,' the 'Strong Volcanic Potion,' and the 'Level Ten Enhanced Volcanic Potion'—they might react to this current level of pain with more dramatics than the Seven Girls of Chuan’s clan.
Qian Jin’s first year of studying Mysterious Potioncraft was spent consuming various types of ‘Volcanic Potions’ and memory draughts.
In that year, Qian Jin finally understood why those bizarre, fierce plants, animals, and magical beasts feared Oulala, the Queen, so much. That woman’s vicious methods were endless; every visit was a battle of wits and courage. No matter how he tried to evade her, she would always employ various mechanisms and powders in coordination to completely subdue him, then force open his jaws and pour down the lethal Volcanic Potions.
In that initial year, what Qian Jin learned at Oulala’s ‘Mysterious Potion Shop’ was not the knowledge of mysterious potions, but rather the art of setting up traps and the ability to evade existing ones.
In the second year, Qian Jin truly began to engage with Mysterious Potioncraft. Every day, he first followed the routine of swallowing various versions of the ‘Volcanic Potion,’ and then drinking a ‘Memory Potion’ to endure the agonizing pain while flipping through Oulala’s handwritten tome, The Great Mysterious Potion Flora.
The flora of Mysterious Potioncraft was almost entirely different from Adam’s botany. A pharmacist’s plants were normal specimens, whereas in Mysterious Potioncraft, two or more normal plants were grafted together to cultivate bizarre flora whose properties even the mysterious pharmacist themselves could not fully predict.
As a mysterious pharmacist, the fundamental requirements—besides madness, fearlessness, and physical toughness—were excellent eyesight.
One had to be able to discern if a plant that looked ordinary had been cross-bred with too many plants of a similar type.
Some plants might look the same and their effects largely unchanged, but if they carried even one or two percent, or more, of impure heritage from cross-breeding, when combined with several other hybridized plants, they could generate entirely new medicinal effects. This was one of the crucial lessons in Mysterious Potioncraft.
Oulala, the Queen of Mysterious Potioncraft, had long since moved beyond merely researching plant hybridization. The bizarre animals and even magical beasts in her courtyard were the fruits of her personal labor as the great Queen of Mysterious Potioncraft.
The thought of Oulala still sent a chill down Qian Jin’s spine today. Compared to facing Oulala, the pain from the Boundary Fruit was truly nothing. Even if an arm were severed, Qian Jin felt that managing to only frown and say it hurt was already showing considerable restraint.
The old man noticed a trace of mania flickering in Qian Jin’s absent gaze, which gave him an uneasy chill, the kind a normal person feels facing a rabid dog.
“How on earth did this kid train himself?” the old man wondered secretly. Over the last two years, every time a fight broke out, the murderous aura and scent of blood around him grew denser than before, culminating in a slightly frenzied feeling during the last battle.
Frenzy? After spending two years daily under the tutelage of a maniacal Queen of Mysterious Potioncraft, it would be incredibly difficult not to absorb that aura. It was just that Qian Jin himself hadn't realized it.
The Boundary Fruit had sunk completely into Qian Jin’s chest and showed no intention of sinking further. The spreading pain began to soften, finally fading away without a trace.
“Hoo.” Qian Jin let out a long breath, raising his arms to observe them left and right: “Where is my spatial storage? Why hasn't the Boundary Fruit materialized into a physical form?”
“Who told you the Boundary Fruit would materialize into something physical?” The old man tapped Qian Jin’s head. “Use your Dou Qi to stimulate that fruit inside you.”
“The Boundary Fruit dissolved long ago,” Little Qian Jin replied sincerely. With the time for parting counted down, he cherished any extra moments to banter with his father figure.
“Stop the nonsense.” The old man pointed at Qian Jin’s chest: “I know it dissolved! Let’s see if you can truly scare me to death before you leave!”
The Three Thousand Five Hundred Turns of the Nine Battles of Demon Suppression Dou Qi churned into a new wave of rotation within the One Hundred and Eight Dou Acupoints. All the Dou Qi instantly surged into the location in his chest where the Boundary Fruit had melted. Qian Jin experienced an ineffable sensation; he ‘saw’ a space that did not belong to this reality.
It wasn't large, perhaps only about ten cubic meters. The ground was barren yellow sand, and there was nothing else around—spotlessly clean.
“What did you see?” the old man quickly inquired. “A space,” Qian Jin replied, momentarily stunned by the space he ‘saw,’ even doubting if it was a hallucination. “Nothing but sand.”
“The monthly tickets haven’t arrived yet, but I’m already updating.” Alas, I’m just an impatient wretch, I can’t even fake being calm. I won’t bother with the ‘vote for a chapter’ deal anymore; watching the monthly votes slowly climb while waiting to release updates whenever I feel like it is too stifling! Even if the strong monthly votes don't arrive, I’m releasing the update regardless of whether you vote or not! Ah, I’m just hopelessly stubborn.