This was thousand-year purple cloud wood, a wood with peculiar characteristics. It was harder than most metals, and was actually toxic. Ingesting it would cause metal poisoning. It only took a small amount to endanger an ordinary person’s life. Fortunately, its hardness made it difficult to ingest.

  In spite of how dangerous purple cloud wood could be to normal people, for soul masters it was a wonderful treasure. By pouring soul power into it, a soul master could transform the wood’s toxicity into an energy that could strengthen their body and increase their flexibility. This thousand-year piece of purple cloud wood couldn’t be found in ordinary markets. It was priceless.

  Tang Wulin couldn’t help but sigh as he gazed at the four spirit items. He needed all of them just to break the fourth seal! The mere thought of what the future seals would require made him start to sweat a little. He had to make more money.

  Tang Wulin stood up from his desk and brought over a basin of water he prepared earlier. He placed the pine spirit mushroom in it first, letting it soak for ten minutes. Next he put in the mystic heaven chrysanthemum. The water took on a weak golden hue the moment the chrysanthemum entered it. After another ten minutes, a sepia color seeped from the mushroom and encroached upon the chrysanthemum’s golden domain. Third was the purple cloud wood. The instant it touched the water, inky colors spread from it, giving the water a muddy quality.

  This was a secret recipe Old Tang had told him about. Of the four spirit items, purple cloud wood was the cheapest. This was mainly due to its excessive hardness that made it difficult to use, as well as its strong toxicity. A single mistake could endanger the user’s life, so few dared to use it. However, when combined with mystic heaven chrysanthemum, the situation became entirely different. This recipe took advantage of that.

  The chrysanthemum excited the wood, and their medicinal properties spread through the water, mixing together. The wood’s toxicity faded away. It was now usable as medicine.

  The value of this recipe couldn’t be measured. Purple cloud wood only cost a sixth of the mystic heaven chrysanthemum accepted value, but if this recipe became widely known, the purple cloud wood’s price would skyrocket.

  When the water finally grew calm and its color deepened to an impenetrable darkness, Tang Wulin took the thousand-year life fruit out of the basin and ate it.

  The fruit wasn’t tasty at all. It was painfully sour to the point that it made Tang Wulin’s teeth ache. Even so, he endured the unpleasantness and ate every single one of the fruit’s berries. As he did, life energy surged through him. Saliva welled up in his mouth, transforming the sourness to a burst of sweetness. He then swallowed his saliva, and the sweetness spread through him as well. An ethereal high filled his body, a sensation that he quickly became drunk on. He felt as if he were an ascetic that had reached enlightenment.

  Tang Wulin’s skin took on a green glow as he finished eating the fruit. Oblivious of this, he picked up the basin and gulped down its contents.

  Ugh! It tastes gross.

  The murky liquid ran down Tang Wulin’s throat, combining with the life fruit he had just eaten. A sharp bitterness joined the sweet and sour that pulled at his tongue. His brow furrowed, a frown of disgust warped his mouth, and a groan escaped him, but even so, he forced himself to drink. The thought of how much money this dark mixture was worth gave him every reason to keep drinking. He absolutely couldn’t waste it.

  It was now that Tang Wulin’s stomach showed its might. He withstood the harsh taste of the liquid, which waned as he drank, and all of the it disappeared into his belly. It left his belly fuller than before, but that was it. He still had room for more.

  The remains of the three spirit items sat at the bottom of the basin. They hadn’t completely dissolved into the water, but all three looked nothing like they had before. The mystic heaven chrysanthemum had transformed from a dazzling gold to a dull gray, its aroma completely absent. The purple cloud wood now looked like an ordinary chunk of wood, the purple rings gone from its surface. Although its spiritual energies were gone, the pine spirit mushroom had fared better than the others, simply turning from sepia to black.

  Tang Wulin was amazed by the recipe. It used the properties of the three spirit items, exploiting how they reacted to one another to draw out all of their energies and medical potency.

  Then Tang Wulin’s stomach started to churn and ache. He rushed to his bed and began meditating. Only now would the breaking of the seal truly commence.

  The mystic heaven chrysanthemum and purple cloud wood both possessed powerful medicinal properties, and with their toxic edge having been dulled from being combined, their medical potency had grown exponentially. The inclusion of the pine spirit mushroom in the recipe, on the other hand, was meant to mellow out the other two spirit items further and nourish the user’s organs. The life fruit was added to boost the user’s life force. The four came together in a perfect fusion, minimizing risk and maximizing benefits.

  In spite of all of that, Tang Wulin was in intense pain. He could feel his stomach and the surrounding muscles spasming. He had to fight back the urge to vomit everything he just ingested. He couldn’t afford to squander all the money he had spent on them! Spirit items worth millions of credits and points were in his belly!

  Tang Wulin’s miserly nature easily overcame such an insignificant level of pain. He clenched his jaw and endured, urging his soul power to circulate within him, carrying the medicine along with it. The pain gradually transformed into a blazing heat. The green glow of Tang Wulin’s skin became scarlet, as if he were a human lobster.

  The heat inside Tang Wulin grew hotter and hotter, rampaging through his body. All of his pores opened up, releasing a thick medicinal aroma.

  Outside of Tang Wulin’s room, Yuanen Yehui sat cross-legged, guarding the door. Her nose twitched, smelling the aroma. Astonishment colored her face. She couldn’t believe how potent it was. A single whiff of it had relaxed her body. She straightened her back and continued to take in the medicinal aroma, breathing deeply through her nose.

  Back in the room, Tang Wulin’s entire body felt like it was on fire. A faint golden glow rippled within him, through his veins, muscles, bones, and organs. He somehow knew that this golden light was the reason for his insane recovery ability. It was this recovery ability that had saved him numerous times now.

  It’s time to break the fourth seal!

  Spurred on by his soul power, the medicinal energies assaulted the fourth seal. The seal shuddered, a boom rumbling within him. Tang Wulin’s entire body trembled. He saw a golden light envelop his body and heard a draconic roar echo from deep within himself. He could feel everything inside of him being dyed a radiant gold.

  Before this, every time Tang Wulin broke a seal he had either been unconscious or had his eyes closed. This was his first time seeing the changes that occurred to his body when he broke a seal. He could feel the fourth seal splitting open, releasing a torrent of energy that dyed his entire body gold. This energy began fusing with his flesh, bones, and blood as it devoured the remaining medicinal energy to empower him further. The golden energy filled him, and he felt bloated, fit to burst.

  But his body, hungry, ravenously so, ate it all up.