When Tang Wulin floated to the surface once more, he did not even have the strength to breathe. His entire body was ghastly pale like a dead fish, and he looked nothing like a human.
A tube had been inserted in his throat as oxygen was gently pumped through it to assist his breathing and heal his body.
Tang Wulin’s mind was now completely blank. He was only aware that he was alive despite what he had been through. Eventually, the darkness turned pitch black after an unknown amount of time had passed.
The weather that day was nothing out of the ordinary as sparkling starlight flickered in the sky, and the surging waves of water lapped against his body.
Tang Wulin had finally regained his ability to breathe after a full hour. His body felt lighter, and he could hear the whooshing sound of the wind. However, his vision darkened as he fainted again.
His final conscious thought was, ‘So it turns out, Uncle Mu Ye was truly not trying to kill me.”
On the next morning, the color of Tang Wulin’s face was exactly the same as when he had just regained consciousness earlier. It was still extremely hideous.
Mu Ye brought him a type of dark purple prawns from the deep sea that had pale purple flesh. They were extremely peculiar but Mu Ye did not send it to the cafeteria this time around. Instead, he brought it directly to the room for Tang Wulin.
“Were you playing a bloody trick on me?” Tang Wulin spoke to Mu Ye weakly.
A smile flashed past Mu Ye’s eyes. “If you wish to be a great man, you must suffer the bitterest of the bitters. You’ll realize in the near future that the pain you’ve suffered is worth it.”
Tang Wulin gave a forced laugh. “Uncle, I’m truly unable to join the Body Sect!”
Mu Ye’s expression changed as he slapped Tang Wulin’s head. “You little brat, can you stop infuriating me? We can discuss the matter of joining my sect later. You can ask the Tang Sect about this when you’re back on your feet. Meanwhile, you’re going to be learning from me from now on. It is my own damn unfortunate luck. However, even if you didn’t join my sect, can’t you at least call me teacher?”
This time Tang Wulin did not hesitate at all as he immediately called out respectfully, “Teacher.”
Mu Ye’s expression instantly became pleasant. “Alright. You’ll need to spend more time meditating during the day after consuming this amethyst lobster. Try not to sleep. The healing effects of meditation are much better than sleeping. Moreover, you’ll be able to sense the changes to your body more clearly.”
He left after saying that, but he did not teach Tang Wulin any cultivation methods.
Color returned to Tang Wulin’s face after he ate the amethyst lobster for breakfast. The lobster did not carry heat but instead, it gave him a refreshing chill compared to the thousand year tuna. The chill seeped into his internal organs and made his entire body feel lighter.
He returned to his room to cultivate after breakfast. This was the first time he meditated after the torture he went through.
Perhaps it was due to the amethyst lobster’s effect that Tang Wulin entered a meditative state quickly. Everything felt different.
Tang Wulin was wondering about his cultivation base that had now broken through to rank-39. This meant that there was only one final step before rank-40. He had achieved this sooner than he had expected.
It seemed like the process of squeezing out one’s potential was not only helpful in cultivating the body but even in cultivating soul power! Of course, this was also closely related to those delicacies he consumed that were like priceless heavenly treasures.
There were number of changes to his body. Tang Wulin discovered earlier that there was now a faint layer of gold on his bones, muscles, internal organs, and blood after he continuously absorbed the Golden Dragon King’s essence. Additionally, he could clearly sense that the layer of gold was becoming even more obvious, and he also discovered that his inner sight was growing in sensitivity. This was a clear sign that his spiritual power must have grown stronger as well.
The tremendous agony brought along a multi-tiered elevation in his body, giving Tang Wulin a vague understanding of the Body Sect’s cultivation method.
It was already after dinner when Mu Ye approached again. Tang Wulin shivered subconsciously upon seeing him. “Again?”
“Of course!” Mu Ye spoke with a dull tone.
Tang Wulin gave a forced laugh. “Teacher, when can I rest for a day?” No one would wish for another attempt after experiencing the agony of being on the brink of death.
Mu Ye answered, “Roughly… it’ll take forty-nine days before you’ll be able to achieve considerable initial success in your body. If your martial soul is stimulated into the second awakening by then, we can change your cultivation method.”
“Forty-nine days…” Tang Wulin was staring at Mu Ye in bewilderment. “Teacher, are you certain that this cultivation method won’t kill somebody?”
Mu Ye answered in a dull tone, “In the history of the Body Sect, only about thirty percent of the disciples died under such a cultivation method.”
“…”
Mu Ye looked at Tang Wulin. “Not everyone is allowed to use such methods to trigger one’s body. Otherwise, the Body Sect would’ve conquered the entire realm of soul masters a long time ago. In reality, there are very few soul masters who’re capable of using such methods to stimulate one’s potential. One’s blood essence must be very powerful and have astonishing potential. I brought you into the deep sea on the first day to test the potential of your abilities. I would’ve never continued if you didn’t have any potentia.”
The Body Sect was incapable of expanding because their cultivation methods were too extreme. It was so extreme such that a mishap could possibly cause someone to lose their life.
That alone was reason enough for only a few people to take a liking to the Body Sect, and more so for those people to persevere. Powerful sects that had existed for over ten millennia were always facing the same problem of having less talented personnel. There were always people with astonishing talents amongst every generation of the Body Sect’s powerhouses, but it was not a common phenomenon.
“Teacher…” Tang Wulin was about to ask him something when he was grabbed and lifted by Mu Ye before he was tossed into the deep sea again.
Tang Wulin began his new life of torture just like that.
Everybody else had a rather boring life on the ship. After all, not matter how large was the ship was, it had limited entertainment facilities. It was not as entertaining after quite some time had passed. Most soul masters would spend most of their time meditating in their rooms because it was the most time-consuming activity.
Only Tang Wulin had a life that was truly exciting.
From the first day when he almost died after he dived into the deep sea for the first time, he had went from a depth of five hundred meters to a thousand meters by the sixth day, and he could still float onto the surface of the sea in the end.
By the twentieth day, he could already dive two thousand meters into the sea and still came out alive. The deepest part of the ocean here was only two thousand meters at this point. Tang Wulin’s stimulated potential was impressive, seeing that he could sink into such depths and still came up alive despite struggling without any breathing apparatus.
However, it was also very apparent that Mu Ye would never release him to seek perfection. There was no way to increase the depth of the sea. The new challenge Mu Ye gave Tang Wulin was that a ferocious thousand year oceanic soul beast would emerge before him after he sank two thousand meters to the bottom of the sea.
He would have to float back to the surface while the oceanic soul beast gave chase to him.
A thousand year soul beast was nothing worth a mention on the land. He could definitely kill the opponent in a few simple moves.
However, this was in the middle of the sea! In a sea that was two thousand meters deep, water pressure and suffocation were his greatest enemies. He could not display much of his power at all.
He almost died in the sea when he faced the oceanic soul beast for the first time. This was because the enormous water pressure would squeeze the blood from his body once he was injured.
Fortunately, the Golden Dragon Body’s defense saved him. Tang Wulin burst out abruptly during a crucial moment and used Bluesiber Grass to bind the soul beast. He was pulled out from the sea a few hundred meters by the oceanic soul beast before he grabbed the opportunity to solve the problem by slapping it with his Golden Dragon Dreadclaw.
Ever since that day, the oceanic soul beasts that he faced became an infinite variation of strange things. He could not tell where Mu Ye found these soul beasts but they continued growing stronger as time passed.
Tang Wulin was tortured into feeling so overwhelmed with grief that he wanted to die. He was afraid that he would have a mental breakdown if not for the support of a large number of highly-nutritious delicacies he consumed each day.